COVID-19 Variants

Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 14

Maria’s Taqueria in financial limbo amidst COVID-19 pandemic Ann E. Matica Beacon Staff Cristian Mancia, the owner of Maria’s Taqueria, starts his day working his fulltime job at a financial company. Once finished, he heads over to his family-owned restaurant on Tremont Street, sometimes staying as late as 1 a.m. cooking, balancing the books, and washing dishes.

Since March, when the coronavirus first hit Boston, Maria’s—like many local businesses— struggled to navigate the financial repercussions of the pandemic.

Mancia said his business lost nearly 70 percent of its revenue since last spring.

“This year was supposed to be a phenomenal year for us,” Mancis said. “Ev-

ery year we are always like, ‘This year is going to be good,’ and then always something happens.”

Inside, the once-bustling business now stands largely desolate, relying almost entirely on takeout orders to keep the lights on. On average, Mancia said Maria’s has three or four tables seated a day. On weekends before the pandemic, there was a line of customers out the door.

“I thought [the pandemic] was going to be like two or three months,” he said.

“I never thought it was going to be this slow, especially with everybody working from home.”

Maria’s, which has been the go-to spot for Emerson students’ late night burritos and tacos since 2008, was forced to scale

back its hours after Governor Charlie Baker ordered new restrictions for restaurants on Nov. 2. On Jan. 21 Governor Baker announced the lift of the 9:30 p.m. curfew on restaurants which went into effect on Monday. Previously open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. every night before the pandemic, Maria’s began closing at 9:30 p.m. for nearly three months. Mancia said he has not yet decided on new restaurant hours since the lift of the curfew.

Mancia said reducing the hours of operation, plus losing the revenue from nightclub and theatergoers, has plummeted their business to an all-time low.

“I should have closed in the very beginning in the first two months, before money really started draining,” he said.

“We’ve already wasted all this time paying rent and bills and all that, so it’s way too late to make that decision.”

Rent is the biggest cost for the business, according to Mancia. The restaurant space, located at 226 Tremont St, costs $8,000 a month for the duration of their three-year lease. On top of that, Mancia said relying on third-party delivery services such as Uber Eats and GrubHub— which take anywhere between 25-30 percent of their profits—has also proven devastating.

At the outset of the pandemic, Maria’s, along with other small businesses, received grant money from the city of Boston.

Maria’s, Pg. 3

Katherine Mancia, daughter of Maria’s owner Cristian Mancia. / Courtesy Jakob Menendez

Media arts exhibit “Hurricane Lost” occupies Emerson Contemporary Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

To kick off the spring semester, Emerson Contemporary’s Media Art Gallery is hosting Boston-based interdisciplinary artist Georgie Friedman’s Hurricane Lost sculptural media art exhibition.

The exhibition, opening on Jan. 27, features eight video installations inspired by extreme global weather conditions imposed by the global climate crisis. Each

INSIDE THIS EDITION College will maintain flu vaccine requirement Pg. 3 Editorial: Emerson, support students’ mental health Pg. 4 The mental toll of starting college in a pandemic Pg. 5 Alum film “EXAM” awarded Oscar qualification Pg. 7 Spring sports season up in the air amid COVID-19 Pg. 8

piece is immersive through both the location of the visuals in the gallery, as well as independent artist Radio Sloan’s original soundscape.

Friedman designs her exhibits based on what the space allows, projecting her digital work onto sculptural pieces of fabric that surround the room. The storm-like imagery of the exhibition, along with the soundscape, emulates the feeling of a hurricane.

Emerson Contemporary’s curator-in-residence and professor of contemporary art Leonie Bradbury said that Hurricane Lost was initially supposed to open last fall, but had to be pushed back due to the pandemic. The exhibit is part of a partnership with the Feminist Art Coalition, a national effort founded in 2017 by Apsara DiQuinzio to showcase projects by female-identifying artists that are “informed by feminisms”, according to their website.

Friedman drew from the beauty and power she saw from hurricanes to create this project, which is exactly what caught Bradbury’s eye.

Exhibit, Pg. 6

College maintains flu shot policy despite state reversal

The main entrance of the Walgreens in downtown Boston.

Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Correspondent

Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

Emerson will continue to require students to receive a seasonal flu vaccine despite the reversal of the Massachusetts policy that initially brought on the mandate, college officials confirmed this week.

The college mandate, instituted as part of a statewide directive to minimize flu outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, required all students attending in-person classes to submit documentation of influenza vaccination by Dec. 31. While the Massachusetts Department of Public

Health dropped the requirement on Jan. 15, citing a flu season that was less severe than expected, the college will retain the rule for the spring term.

“The Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] did change their guidance— last minute, which is always fun,” Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said. “But it’s really important to be safe as a community and to also make sure that everyone in our community has their flu shot. So we are still requiring it, and we are thankful for everyone’s cooperation.”

Flu, Pg. 3

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As new COVID-19 variants appear, experts fear deadly surge Andrew Brinker Beacon Staff

As the coronavirus’ grip on the region begins—tentatively and ploddingly—to loosen after months spent bludgeoning communities with deadly surges of new infections and hospitalizations, several new variants of the virus have emerged, perhaps carrying the potential to breathe new life into the pandemic.

At least four of the new variants, identified first in Britain, South Africa, Brazil, and California, possess mutations that appear to make them more infectious than the original virus, preliminary studies indicate. A few may also be capable of evading the antibodies the body generates to fight the virus and may lower the efficacy of existing vaccines.

The variants, though their exact significance remain unclear, have already driven outbreaks in several countries, and infectious disease experts are warning they could ignite similar surges in the U.S. if the proper precautions are not followed.

California state health officials believe a variat first discovered in the state was largely responsible for two outbreaks in Santa Clara county.

“It is even more imperative that we take these protective measures,” Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University said in an interview.

“If we don’t, the consequences become greater, because more people becoming infected means that more people are going to suffer the consequences, and more people are going to die.”

For colleges and universities, attempting to walk the tightrope of reopening their campuses without fueling virus outbreaks among their communities, the variants may offer a uniquely serious threat.

For the first time on Jan. 25, Emerson administrators acknowledged the new variants. They told students that now, more than ever, strict adherence to the college’s safety protocols would be necessary to keep virus transmission rates low.

Officials do not appear to be on the path to enforcing any new safety restrictions to respond to the newly emerging variants. Similar to their messaging from over the summer before campus reopened for the first time, administrators struck a tone of optimism.

“As we have learned these past eleven months, information comes quickly and can be ever-changing as it relates to the virus and guidance,” Assistant Vice President for Campus Life Erik Muurisepp wrote in the email.

In a later interview Muurisepp, who serves as the college’s “COVID Lead,” acknowledged the variants as cause for concern.

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The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

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Coronavirus variants prompt worry

Cont. from Pg. 1 “Certainly, it concerns me and I think that is where it does go back to reinforce all of the protocols we have in place,” he said. “While it does seem to spread easier, maybe faster, we’ve been reassured that the measures in place also can help limit that. So mask-wearing, distancing, hand washing, avoiding gatherings, all of that.”

As of publication, three of the four more transmissible variants of COVID-19 had been found in the U.S. The science It’s not a surprise that COVID-19 has mutated. Viruses, by nature, mutate constantly. The particular strain of the coronavirus the world is currently at odds with, SARSCOV-2, has likely already mutated thousands of times. Most mutations are harmless, but sometimes, if enough mutations pile up or occur in a certain part of the virus, they can make significant alterations to its basic nature, Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth said in an interview.

The variants that have popped up, he said, have a high number of mutations, some of which are found on the virus’ spike protein, which binds the virus to a person’s cells. Those mutations, essentially, allow the virus to attach to a cell more efficiently, which is why these variants are more transmissible.

B.1.1.7 - the U.K. variant In mid-December, new coronavirus cases in Britain were on an alarming rise, driven, U.K. officials announced for the first time, by a new variant—B.1.1.7. That variant, now commonly referred to as the U.K. variant, charged a surge in cases unlike any Britain had seen in its nearly year-long bout with the virus.

At the peak of the surge, the seven-day average of new, daily cases sat at nearly 60,000. The previous high for that metric was around 25,000, which Britain hit in November during a strict national lockdown.

Researchers would soon discover that B.1.1.7 is significantly more infectious than the original virus—preliminary research indicates somewhere between 30 and 70 percent, Ellerin said.

“The thought is that… [the virus can enter] the cell faster, better, more efficiently, more effectively, and it can enter the cell more,” Ellerin said. “That means it can spread more efficiently from person to person, And the amount of virus potentially can be greater. Why is that important? Because we think that most likely, the more virus that someone has, the more contagious they can be.”

Adding to Britain’s dilemma, Prime Minister Borris Johnson indicated for the first time last Friday that B.1.1.7 may too be more deadly than the original virus, though the evidence to bolster his claim is based on mathematical comparisons of death rates associated with the U.K. variant and other versions of the virus.

On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’ leading infectious disease expert, signaled that he believed the variant could possibly lead to a higher rate of mortality, though he emphasized the preliminary nature of the data.

Further research will be necessary to determine if the variant is, in fact, deadlier.

Masked students walk by Tatte Bakery & Cafe at the Boylston and Tremont intersection. Alec Klusza / Beacon Staff But regardless of B.1.1.7’s relative mortality rate, what’s clear is that a more transmissible variant of the virus will intrinsically lead to more death, as it will spread to more people at a faster pace. The more infections of the virus, the more deaths, even at the current estimated mortality rate.

“There’s some preliminary observational evidence that shows that it may be a little bit more deadly,” Ellerin said. “But what we don’t know is, the difference was 10 per 1,000 people versus 13 or 14 per 1,000 people. I’m not saying that’s nothing. That’s real. But the question is, is it the virus itself? Or were we observing at a time when the hospitals were over capacity?”

Researchers have now traced the first occurrence of the B.1.1.7 in the U.K. back to mid-September, when restrictions in Britain were greatly relaxed.

Britain now appears to have passed the peak of the surge, the seven-day average of new daily infections down to around 32,000.

But the effects of the surge are far from gone. Britain’s hospitals are now overwhelmed, their workers seeing firsthand the deadly ramifications of a consequential variant identified too late.

Britain’s plight may serve as a warning to the U.S. of how quickly infections of B.1.1.7 may be capable of spiraling out of control.

In a Jan. 15 projection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the U.K. variant may be the dominant version of the virus in the U.S. by as early as March.

As of publication, B.1.1.7 has been detected in 26 U.S. states, including Massachusetts.

501Y.V2 - the South African variant In October, researchers in South Africa identified what was the first case of another COVID-19 variant— this one named 501Y.V2.

Three months later, the country was battling its most powerful surge in cases since the pandemic began, driven by the newly discovered variant.

Like B.1.1.7, 501Y.V2 is believed to be significantly more infectious than previous variants of COVID-19.

But of all the newly detected strains, the South African variant is perhaps the most worrisome, Ellerin said.

Early research has found that 501Y.V2 may potentially possess the capability to “dodge” COVID-19 antibodies, the proteins a person infected with the virus develops to fight it. That means that those who have already been infected with COVID-19 may be at greater risk of reinfection from 501Y.V2 than other versions of the virus.

Studies from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the manufacturers of the two COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use in the U.S., indicated that their vaccines, while still enough to protect against the virus, may be less effective against 501Y.V2 than against other versions. The study conducted by Moderna found that, while the vaccine still provided what researchers believe to be enough antibodies to neutralize the virus, it produced fewer than generated against other variants.

“The concern about this is that it looks like in the lab, that this South African variant is resistant to some of the monoclonal antibody therapeutics,” Ellerin said. “Moderna just gave a press release that says that, for both variants, it looks like there’s enough neutralizing antibodies. The South African variant had a six-fold reduction in the amount of neutralizing antibodies but what they said is they think that even with a six-fold reduction, it’s still robust enough that it should be okay when it comes to vaccines in real life.”

Moderna has said that, as a precaution, it will begin work on creating another version of its vaccine to serve as a “booster shot” against 501Y.V2.

As of publication, 501Y.V2 had not yet been detected in the U.S., though Ellerin said he believes it is likely present and spreading.

P.1 - the Brazillian variant

In Manaus, Brazil, COVID-19 cases are soaring to unimaginable heights. The city, already ravaged once by the virus in April, is in agony once again, with hospitals overwhelmed and deaths piling up.

Scientists are scrambling to figure out why. In April, such a high percentage of Manaus’ population was infected with the virus, that researchers believed the city had hit the threshold for “herd immunity.”

The theory was that enough people had been infected with the virus, and inherently built up COVID-19 antibodies, that the entire population of the city would be protected against another surge in cases.

While little research is available, fingers are pointing to a variant of COVID-19 known as P.1, to explain the city’s decimation.

Like B.1.1.7 and 501Y.V2, researchers believe P.1 is much more transmissible than other versions of COVID-19—and Manaus is perhaps an example of just how fast this variant may be able to spread.

A Jan. 27 study in The Lancet, one of the world’s most trusted medical journals, noted that the variant possesses several of the same mutations as B.1.1.7 and 501Y.V2.

And like 501Y.V2, the study said, it appears that P.1 may also have mutations that allow the virus to avoid COVID-19 antibodies. So those previously infected in Manaus may have been at risk of being reinfected with P.1, effectively eliminating the city’s herd immunity.

The first known case of the P.1 variant in the U.S. was detected in Minnesota on Monday.

The implications Much is unclear about the true implications of these new, more transmissible variants. Research is so preliminary that it is still unknown whether the variants are capable of spreading even when the proper safety precautions, like wearing masks and social distancing, are in place, Ellerin said.

What we do know, however, is that if the precautions are not followed, variants of a more transmissible nature appear almost certain to take advantage.

“Our behaviors become very important,” Ellerin said. “But it does, knowing that it’s more contagious, make us say, ‘You know what, we really do want to make sure we’re optimizing the infection prevention measures that we know work.’

Masking is important, but making sure you have the best mask or a better mask is probably more important now than it was before.”

Emerson was largely successful at keeping the virus at bay during the fall, with the exception of an uptick in cases near the end of the semester related to spread off campus.

In a vast majority of cases where mass spread of the virus did occur at colleges that reopened for in-person instruction, like Boston College, the spread was driven by off-campus gatherings where safety protocols were flouted.

More transmissible variants would make those gatherings all the riskier, Professor Jamie Lichtenstein, a biologist who was one of three health experts the college recruited over the summer as a consultant on reopening, said.

“We’re worried about gatherings in people’s homes, not just apartments, and it’s not unique to Boston, it’s really throughout the U.S.,” Liechtenstein said. “The ventilation standards for homes haven’t been based on infection control, they’re based on not having that smelly dish you made in your kitchen hang around too long.”

Now, public health experts are pushing for Americans to shift away from cloth masks and invest in some of higher quality, like surgical masks or N-95s. Those masks, they say, are more effective at preventing COVID-19 particles from reaching the wearer.

“The other change that epidemiologists and scientists and medical professionals are starting to talk about is having people use higher filtration, better-fitting masks,” Lichtenstein said. “The nice thing about this higher filtration mask is they don’t just protect others, they also protect the wearer.” andrew_brinker@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

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Emerson keeps flu shot policy despite state reversal

Emerson reports 25 positive coronavirus tests prior to beginning inperson classes

Cont. from Pg. 1

Charlie McKenna Beacon Staff

Emerson has reported 25 positives out of 5,117 COVID-19 tests administered since beginning its spring semester testing on Jan. 11, pushing the semester’s positivity rate to .49 percent as students continue to flock back to campus from across the country. Emerson is set to begin in-person courses on Feb. 1.

In the fall, the college reported just seven positives on 5,704 tests before the start of in-person classes, a positivity rate of .12 percent.

The spike comes as cases in Massachusetts decline from record highs hit in late December but remain considerably higher than they were in the fall. The seven-day average of new coronavirus cases in Massachusetts sits at 2,677 as of Jan. 27. On Aug. 31, when fall semester classes began, that figure sat at 316. The state’s positivity rate, including higher education testing, sat at .09 percent on that date—it is now 4.67 percent.

Just two days of spring testing data reported on the college’s COVID-19 dashboard showed no positive tests at Emerson, and the college reported 14 new positives last week. The highest figure for any single week in the fall was 16, a surge that triggered the cancellation of all non-academic in-person activities.

The uptick in positives this spring mirrors the increase seen at the conclusion of the fall semester. The final month of testing brought 28 new positives and a positivity rate of .38 percent, as compared to 32 positives and a positivity rate of .07 percent across the first three months of fall testing.

The college has now reported 85 positive tests out of 56,128 tests administered since testing began in August, a positivity rate of .15 percent. That rate sat at .12 percent at the conclusion of the fall semester.

Despite the surges on campus and in the city, administrators remain confident in their reopening strategy.

Assistant Vice President of Campus Life and “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said the 25 positive tests came from a variety of community members. The college has not identified any on-campus transmission from these positive tests.

“Most of the cases, as to be expected, have all been caught in baseline testing,” he said. “[It’s] people coming to campus already positive.”

Muurisepp said he is not concerned about a larger uptick in cases as long as community members continue to follow the college’s safety guidelines, like weekly testing and mandatory mask-wearing.

“I would go back to everything we know that works, that’s why it’s critical to wear proper face coverings, that is why it’s critical that folks are keeping distance, avoiding gatherings,” he said.

“The classroom experience and the on-campus experience is safe, it’s when

Graphic Dana Gerber / Beacon Staff everyone congregates in apartments or off-campus or social gatherings, restaurants, things like that, that exposes and increases the risk.”

Muurisepp said the college has no plans to delay the start of in-person classes on Feb. 1.

Throughout the fall semester, administrators repeatedly told The Beacon they expected there to be positive tests but believed the college’s protocols would insulate the campus from rampant spread.

“We’ve always tried to be very clear that we anticipated there will be positive cases,” Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Jim Hoppe said in September.

“At the same time, we’re always concerned that anyone tests positive.”

In November, Muurisepp attributed the 12 positives said the college found no evidence of transmission in the classroom.

“If we believed that there were connections, or there were concerns for in the classroom experience… we would take the appropriate action that was needed,” he said.

Dana Gerber and Andrew Brinker contributed reporting. charles_mckenna@emerson.edu

Muurisepp said the vast majority of students currently on campus submitted documentation, and few applied for religious or medical exemptions.

Originally, the deadline for uploading vaccine documentation was set for Dec. 31. After that date, non-compliant students received warnings that their tap access to campus buildings—including the testing center—would be revoked until documentation was uploaded and verified. Effectively, this meant students would be blocked from moving into their dorms.

“You will not be able to access any Boston campus buildings, including the COVID testing center and campus housing, until your documentation has been uploaded and verified,” read a Jan. 14 email from Jim Hoppe, vice president and dean for campus life, to non-compliant students. “Since documentation must be reviewed by staff of the Center for Health and Wellness (CHW), you must submit documentation into the Student Health Portal at least 72 hours before your arrival on campus.”

Despite this, Muurisepp said some residential students were able to move in without receiving their flu shots with the expectation they would be vaccinated in the coming days.

“There are very few,” Muurisepp said. “We’re working with them on a case-by-case basis to give them a new deadline—I be-

lieve it’s Feb. 1—once they leave their quarantine.”

Residential students who have not received their flu shots have been directed to the Walgreens located in Downtown Crossing. The price of the flu shots is covered as a preventative health benefit for students enrolled in Emerson’s health plan. Without insurance, influenza vaccinations at Walgreens cost $41.

The requirement was first announced by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Aug. 19. Baker said he enacted the requirement in response to concerns that a flu season outbreak would overwhelm the state’s healthcare system—already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Massachusetts was the first and only state in the country to impose a requirement; other states only mandate shots for children five and under.

In late December, the DPH postponed the deadline to Feb. 28—well after most university move-in dates—before dropping the statewide requirement altogether in January.

“Preliminary data show that this has been a mild flu season to date, presumably as people have received their seasonal flu vaccine and have been adhering to mask-wearing and social distancing due to COVID-19,” a DPH spokesperson said in a statement to The Boston Globe.

The Massachusetts DPH continues to recommend seasonal flu vaccines for all state residents, including students.

Whether the college will, in the absence of state guidance, maintain its flu shot requirement in the coming years has yet to be determined.

“Certainly we will have conversations around whether we continue this going forward,” Muurisepp said. “Will the state require it again? Will we require it? We haven’t made any decisions yet.” camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

Maria’s Taqueria loses 70 percent of revenue since last spring Cont. from Pg. 1 That money, Mancia said—which helped keep their doors open in those first brutal months—has since run out.

On top of the financial toll of the pandemic, Maria’s began losing business from Emerson students after the college signed a ten-year lease with El Jefe’s Taqueria for restaurant space in the Little Building last March.

Before the pandemic, a Maria’s food truck would go to events in the city during the weekends. Now, it only visits the Boston Medical Center every Thursday to provide meals to healthcare workers. The closure of the food truck alone lost them approximately $300,000, Mancia said.

“We go because we have a lot of regulars, but, if anything, we only make even for the day,” he said.

Mancia, his wife, and their four children operate the restaurant as a family business. Though their restaurant is struggling, Mancia said he can’t imagine closing their doors for good.

“It’s personal,” he said. “My daughter says it’s our baby and we have to take care of it.”

Nancy Mancia, Cristian’s daughter, said Maria’s has always felt like home to her. She said she spends her time off from studying nursing at Johns Hopkins University to help out however she can.

“Maria’s is part of my whole life,” she said. “It gives a different feel, like I used to be a server and the way I care for these people compared to me working

at my other jobs is completely different.

It’s part of us and it’s been part of us for so long.”

Even after business dropped off, she said her father, born in El Salvador, still finds ways to give back to the Boston community. Over the course of the pandemic, Maria’s has gone to Tufts Medical Center twice, donating 200 meals each time to staff.

“He came from this childhood where he didn’t have much,” Nancy said. “I feel like we are so blessed and, even though we are really tight on money, God always provides. I think [my father] has that mentality that we will give and we will get our good karma back.”

Mancia said he feels that the Emerson community is interwoven with Maria’s.

“We really feel like we are part of the block,” Mancia said. “We have a great relationship with the students. We don’t really communicate with the college— we [get] a lot of workers, professors, security, maintenance, but we don’t have any relationship with the college directly.”

Senior visual and media arts major Matt Mitchelle said he reached out to Mancia as a sophomore in the fall of 2018 to ask if he would be open to sponsoring a recruitment event for his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

“I wasn’t really asking for anything except to use their logo on our shirts and our flyers,” he said. “I actually got on a call with them before I was on-campus and they said they were totally open to catering one of our events. It was super

nice of them to want to help out Emerson kids like that, and so of course I said yeah. They made us—oh my god, you wouldn’t believe it—huge tins of quesadillas, salads, chips, salsa.”

Mitchelle said Maria’s continued to sponsor his fraternity and provide them with free catering “out of the kindness of their hearts” for another two semesters.

He said because he grew up in a Hispanic household, Maria’s has always provided him a sense of comfort while away at school.

“When I was coming to Boston freshman year I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m not going to have any good Mexican food,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Okay there is a Mexican place nearby, I’ll try it out when I get there.’ I was immensely happy with what they had, and it was real authentic Mexican Hispanic food that I have grown to always love.”

Maria’s employee Dinora Ochoa prepares Birria tacos. / Courtesy Jakob Menendez For sophomore interdisciplinary major Sam Gutkin, Maria’s became a special place to him after many latenight visits to the restaurant with the rest of the Emerson baseball team when all other nearby locales were closed.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Maria’s,” he said. “Many of my friends know that I’m a huge vocal supporter of that place, and I hate El Jefe’s for moving in and going on Board Bucks and taking their business. I hate Emerson for allowing another restaurant like that to come in and take their business, because it’s pretty much impossible to get anyone to go to Maria’s at this point.”

Matt Walting, also a senior VMA major, said he would be upset if Maria’s

closed.

“This is an extreme statement, and I know I can’t personally do it, but I would personally fund [them] to keep them open,” he said. “It’s become my go-to [restaurant], especially living off-campus. The amount of times that I go there has gone up because it was so perfect for me to just go in between classes or after class if I needed food.”

Walting said he still remembers the first time he set foot in Maria’s during his freshman year and ordered a burrito.

“Eventually you find exactly what you want, and in time you just keep going back for it because you love it so much,” he said. “For me, it’s the chicken ann_matica@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

4

Opinion Emerson, support your students’ struggling mental health Editorial Content warning: This editorial discusses topics of depression, anxiety, suicide, and self-harm.

This fall, most Emerson students dutifully followed college-mandated COVID-19 restrictions on travel and social gatherings, which effectively limited the spread of the virus on campus. For many students, it is an easy decision to prioritize the health of their community over the desire to engage in unsafe social practices—nonetheless, the anxiety and social isolation a pandemic presents has taken a toll on students’ mental health.

Although Emerson found success in reducing the spread of COVID on campus, they certainly could do more to support students’ mental health during the pandemic. Mental health decline became an especially prevalent issue since the pandemic began, and asking students to self-isolate for extended periods of time, stop visiting family, and engage in high amounts of screen time in place of social contact, increases the toll on mental health.

Emerson does offer mental health services, like Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services for free counseling, and The Healing & Advocacy Collective for those who have experienced trauma. These services can benefit students’ mental health, but taking a closer look reveals weaknesses in these services; like limited access to psychiatrists, a focus on short-term solutions, and lack of resources dedicated to mental illnesses other than depression and anxiety.

Isolation has a profound impact on everyone, but in particular, 18-24 year olds—a demographic mostly made up of college students. According to a September report from Inside Higher Ed, 58 percent of college students said they were “moderately or extremely” worried about their mental health, and 46 percent reported that they were anxious about physically returning to campus.

About one-quarter of the surveyed students had “seriously considered suicide” in the past 30 days. In 2013, the American Psychological Association reported that only 36.4 percent of students surveyed experienced depression.

For first-year students especially, social isolation can come as a challenge. The first year of college is a time in which students explore their interests, meet people from different backgrounds, and make new friends.

The isolation on campus amid the growing dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic and the separation from home can prove to be a difficult tran-

sition.

Shannon Garrido discussed this in her recent op-ed for The Beacon: “For me, moving to another country away from everyone and everything I have known my whole life is an experience within itself. But what’s most difficult is not having anyone to show you around and make the first few days in the city easier,” she wrote.

In October, The Beacon reported that 30 percent of the 256 students who visited ECAPS in the fall reported seeking services due to COVID-19. Furthermore, 65.6 percent of students who visited ECAPS last semester said the pandemic negatively affected their mental health.

Students also reported increased feelings of loneliness, with 58.6 percent of ECAPS visitors reporting that COVID-19 has made them feel lonely or isolated.

Emersons Counseling and Psychological Services provides a number of services such as individual and group therapy, substance abuse counseling, some prescription medications, and even free psychiatric consultations.

However, many of these services are framed as short-term solutions, and counseling is now fully virtual due to COVID-19. Not to mention none of these services are available on weekends, when students do not have classes and often have more scheduling availability.

© 2021 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief Katie Redefer

The Beacon is published weekly.

The Beacon receives funding from the Student Government Association of Emerson College. Anything submitted to the Beacon becomes the sole property of the newspaper.

No part of the publication may be reproduced by any means without the express written permission of the editor.

(617) 824–8687 berkeleybeacon.com contact@berkeleybeacon.com 172 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116

The Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services Office in the Union Bank Building. Diana Bravo / Beacon Staff

“Emerson cannot increase mental health support during the pandemic only to return to their current system after the fact.”

Editorial Board

While ECAPS does not have a specific session limit for students, they are self-described as a shortterm therapy center. The ECAPS website states in their frequently asked questions, “We are not able to see students weekly for their entire time at Emerson, so we may discuss a long-term referral when it feels appropriate to do so.”

Although referral to outside therapy can be helpful, the college cannot control whether these offices accept students’ health insurance, while counseling at ECAPS is free to all students. A solution to this could be to hire more therapists and psychiatrists, so ECAPS would have the staffing necessary to offer free, long-term mental health services to students.

ECAPS lists only one part-time psychiatrist on their website. Psychiatrists can offer counseling, as well as diagnose patients and prescribe medication for treatment. Other mental health experts, like psychologists, can offer patients diagnoses and counseling, but cannot prescribe medication. Considering the undergraduate student population sits at almost 4,000, it seems unusual that there’s only one professional who’s able to prescribe medications for this volume of students.

There is a broad spectrum of mental health issues students experience,

Managing Editors Madison Goldberg, Content Charlie McKenna, Content Maximo Aguilar Lawlor, Multimedia Dylan Rossiter, Business Operations

Mariyam Quaisar, Deputy Arts Editor Karissa Schaefer, Assistant Editor Opinion Editors Juliet Norman, Opinion Editor Shannon Garrido, Deputy Opinion Editor Claire Rodenbush, Assistant Editor

Copyeditors C. Fox Ditelberg, Chief Copyeditor Theo Wolf, Copyeditor Madison Browning, Copyeditor Diana Bravo, Copyeditor Christina Horacio, Copyeditor Sofia Olsson, Copyeditor Sarah Perry, Copyeditor

News Editors Dana Gerber, News Editor Ann E. Matica, Deputy News Editor Frankie Rowley, Assistant Editor Camilo Fonseca, Assistant Editor Alec Klusza, Assistant Editor

Sports Editors Chris Williams, Sports Editor Joey Dubois, Deputy Sports Editor Tyler Foy, Assistant Editor Brendan Beauregaurd, Assistant Editor

Living Arts Editors Josh Sokol, Living Arts Editor Lucia Thorne, Deputy Lifestyle Editor

Photo Editors Hongyu Liu, Photo Editor

Podcast Danielle Shojai, Podcast Anchor Drew Ascione, Podcast Anchor Sophia Boyce, Podcast Anchor Benjamin Levine, Podcast Anchor Jack Looney, Podcast Editor C. Fox Ditelberg, Podcast Editor

and solutions that work for one person may not always work for the other. On-campus events, like Cirque de De-stress, dedicated to helping students’ mental health during finals week are helpful, but they are almost always centered around relieving anxiety or depression. There is a variety of less-common mental health conditions that ECAPS does not advertise support for in their counseling services or workshops.

Using inclusive language in describing health services and staffing counselors that specialize in less common mental illnesses can help students feel more comfortable reaching out when they need support.

The existing resources certainly are beneficial to our community, but they should be inclusive of all students’ needs.

Emerson plans to merge ECAPS with its Center for Health and Wellness following the conclusion of the spring semester. In an interview, Vice President and Dean for Campus Life Jim Hoppe said the decision was made to increase the resources available for students.

“The American College Health Association found that when institutions combine the centers, there is greater care, greater satisfaction, and greater utilization of resources,” Hoppe said.

Hopefully, these mental health resources can be given priority now that both departments will be housed in one office.

While the state of the world isn’t improving anyone’s mental health right now, it’s important to remember that if you’re struggling, you aren’t alone. The isolation that accompanies the pandemic may make you feel like you’re alone if you’re struggling, but the opposite is true. This issue is widespread and too often goes ignored by authoritative bodies who are able to provide assistance.

Millions of people were struggling with their mental health prior to the pandemic. For many, mandatory quarantining only brought to the surface mental health issues that may have otherwise gone unaddressed.

These people need more help right now, yes, but a short-term approach isn’t going to help them cope with long-term problems. Emerson cannot just increase mental health support during the pandemic only to return to their existing system after the fact.

This editorial was written by the Beacon’s editor-in-chief, managing editors, and opinion editors. The opinions expressed by the Editorial Board do not impact the paper’s coverage.

Advisory Board Meghan Irons Greg Lee Bianca Vásquez Toness Lisa Williams Anthony Miller Faculty Advisor Rachel Layne

The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

5

The mental toll of starting college during a pandemic Shannon Garrido Beacon Staff

Moving onto campus for the first time as a freshman is daunting. Stepping out of your comfort zone while meeting new people from different backgrounds is one of the building blocks of the college experience. During a pandemic, the freshman experience is isolating and intimidating.

For first-year students living on a college campus for the first time, COVID-19 has made it especially difficult for them to transition into life away from home. From getting used to living without your friends and family from home, to the feeling of isolation that comes with quarantining, it can be difficult to differentiate the first month of freshman year to time spent in an underground bunker.

As a freshman myself who just moved on campus this semester, I struggled to say goodbye to my friends and family while knowing they couldn’t visit or help me settle into my dorm room.

It’s even more challenging knowing that making friendships this semester will be especially hard because I must always keep a safe distance to protect them and myself.

After rushing to move everything in my dorm under two hours, I barely had enough time to say goodbye to my parents. My college move-in experience became even more disheartening once

I realized I’m not going to see them for another four months.

This applies to all college students living through the coronavirus pandemic. The consensus from several studies show that COVID-19 has a direct impact on students’ mental health.

The American Psychology Association found pre-COVID in 2013 that amongst all college students, 36.4 percent of them were depressed, while 41.6 percent of them suffer from anxiety. Now, with a pandemic that shut down most schools in March of last year, these numbers began to rise. According to The Jed Foundation, in October 2020, 82 percent of students reported struggling with anxiety, 68 percent with feelings of social isolation or loneliness, and 63 percent with depression. What is more troubling is that 60 percent of these students are finding fewer healthy ways to cope with stress.

Due to the long-lasting isolation that comes with the onerous measures on lockdown and stay-at-home orders, COVID-19 has brought negative impacts to the experience of higher education.

The Beacon published an article last Tuesday titled, “Students express grievances with new spring overnight travel policy”, where Brianna Maloney, a junior at Emerson, talked about how the college’s new overnight-travel policy negatively affected her mental health.

Maloney said the policy has robbed

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

her of the few weekends she would use to visit her family and unwind.

“I would go visit home because I get overwhelmed easily… whenever I come home, it’s like a mental reset for me,” Maloney said.

Social distancing measures, although necessary to stop the spread of the virus, also prevent students from engaging in day-to-day interactions that could keep them on their feet. The Economic and Social Research Council explains that social isolation has long been known as a key trigger for mental illness, and relationships with friends, family, and neighbors are beneficial to the overall mental health of individuals.

With our social lives becoming more difficult to maintain, freshman and upperclassmen alike have to consider all health repercussions when discussing new regulations for the upcoming semester—because a mental health hotline and a speech from President M. Lee Pelton might not do the job.

This is especially true for schools in Boston. A survey conducted by the Healthy Minds Network shows that in March, April, and May of 2020, 60 percent of students said the pandemic had made it more difficult for them to access mental health services. For me, moving to another country away from everyone and everything I have known my whole

life is an experience within itself. But what’s most difficult is not having anyone to show you around and make the first few days in the city easier.

Despite Emerson’s Spring 2021 regulations that have made adjusting to a new city or home especially difficult, it’s important to recognize that this is only temporary. In the hopes of keeping our community as safe as possible, we must adjust the ways we maintain our personal relationships.

shannon_garrido@emerson.edu

The decline of ‘fast fashion’ in a post-pandemic world How your wardrobe can impact the environment

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

Jialin Xu

Beacon Correspondent COVID-19 has heavily impacted the fashion world, which has led to more than a one-third drop in revenue within the fashion industry. Even though the world is forced to adapt to the pandemic, the fashion world may never be the same again.

As the pandemic changes our view of the world, it also changes how clothing companies view their products. A notable change would be the recent trend of sustainable fashion that consumers can participate in by purchasing less clothes in general or buying second hand apparel.

The clothing in your closet today has decades of history behind it, and it is important to look at how today’s world will impact the meaning of these clothes. Before World War II, slinky and sumptuous evening dresses dominated womens’ closets. However, as

women began to integrate into workplaces—while men were busy fighting in WWII— jumpsuits and pants became the new norm. Post WWII, Christian Dior introduced the “New Look” to bring back femininity into women’s fashion, though trouser pants still remain a mainstay.

Through understanding history, we can discover that each major fashion movement has helped reshape the public’s relationship with clothing. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception.

During this pandemic, many fashion companies had to temporarily close down physical retail stores, in which 80 percent of transactions are done, and move entirely to e-commerce. What’s worse, many factories in garment-producing countries are shutting down because of the shortage of raw materials from China.

On the other hand, the pandemic has given the fashion industry a break, and

has allowed companies to rethink the issue of overproduction.

According to McKinsey & Company, 100 billion items of clothing are produced each year when there are only 8 billion people living on the planet.

In what is called “fast fashion”, businesses compress the production line to replicate runway pieces, regardless of the quality, focusing instead on generating huge revenue through the use of mass-production.

Fast-fashion is a leading factor of climate change. After wearing certain clothes a few times, people will throw out unfavoured pieces, which will end up being burned or disposed of in a landfill. An article from The World Resources Institute reports that it takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt—the same amount of water to meet an average person’s drinking needs for two and a half years. It also said that garments made by non-biode-

gradable fabrics will remain in landfills for 200 years. This data demonstrates how fashion industries deplete the planet’s natural resources.

Fortunately, we can see that fast fashion is facing backlash and that sustainability could become the mainstream post-pandemic.

Designers are conscious about their relationship with nature even before the pandemic. In September of 2019, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri collaborated with the Paris-based environmental design collective Coloco to set up the Christian Dior Spring 2020 Readyto-Wear Collection runway show. The catwalks were surrounded with jungles and trees. After the show, the trees were replanted around Paris.

The purpose of this, as Chiuri explained in an interview, is “to translate this idea of a garden into concrete action: a support project that can create other gardens in the community.”

Though it is unrealistic for brands, especially for luxury brands, to transfer its supplies into sustainable ones overnight, many designers reflect the concept either in their collections or on the runway.

Alongside COVID-19, sustainability has been brought back to the spotlight again. The pandemic has demonstrated how fragile human bodies are.

If we continue indulging in fashion, despite the ongoing harm the industry inflicts on natural resources, then the sustainable solution will no longer be available to us.

Gucci, the leading luxury fashion brand, launched its first sustainable collection, “Off the Grid”, in June. In this collection, all garments are made from recycled, organic, bio-based materials.

The brand is sending a message that “if we lighten our environmental footprint we can enjoy the world with greater freedom.”

From its fashion video, the producer kept a good balance shifting the scene

from the modern buildings to a smallscale treehouse in the city. It implies that modernity can coexist with nature as long as we maintain reverence toward it.

Another crucial factor in accelerating the use of sustainability within the fashion world is consumer behavior.

Due to COVID-led store closures, consumers’ desire to support fast-fashion has drastically decreased. Masha Birger, who runs sustainability consulting firm ESG alpha, confessed that the crisis pushed her to clean out her closet and focus more on buying well-made, classic, multifunctional pieces.

Birger is not the only case. According to a survey of U.S. consumers aged from 20-22, 63 percent of respondents reported that they expect to spend less on apparel. This result is not surprising since no one wants to buy new clothes when they’re stuck at home. This is a special period of time, where consumers are—more than ever—cautious about their spending.

Subsequently, when consumerism is forced to decrease, the fashion industry produces less to avoid a surplus of unsold stock.

Elizabeth Segran, a staff writer at Fast Company, commented that “the next phase of fashion’s evolution will really come down to our individual choices.” Industries always pivot to cater to what the market wants and needs.

Not retailers, not influencers, not celebrities, but you and I can change the fashion industry. If we keep a sustainable mindset, purchase fewer clothing items, and keep a curated wardrobe, we can eliminate the damage that the fashion industry has and continues to bring to the environment.

jialin_xu@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

6

Living Arts

A tale of almosts, masterfully told in reverse, in Clarah Rae Grossman’s new book “Seat of the Soul” Alec Klusza Beacon Staff

When we graduate high school, we assume that part of our life is over. The trials and frustrations of social life alongside the harrowing decision of ‘what the f*ck am I going to do with my life?,’ suddenly seem less daunting and augured.

Our trepidations—put on the backburner—are not so truculent and pressing. We enter a state of vicissitude as we mold ourselves into the people we want to be.

We lose touch with our closest friends and watch from afar as they slowly lose hair and turn into their parents. Some of us get interesting jobs and lead lives of distinction, while others settle for the banal—‘what our parents wanted us to do.’ Clarah Rae Grossman explores these themes in her new book “Seat of the Soul,” published through Publishing Club’s Wilde Press Publishing.

Maisie and Cole, after graduating high school and starting their separate lives as a writer and a

high school gym teacher, respectively, reconnect at their five-year high school reunion. The story is told in reverse chronological order, starting with their reconnection and then back peddling through their high school years as they fall in love while working together in their local coffee shop.

“Seat of the Soul” is a beautiful love story told in expressions of almosts under the pressing march of time. Grossman reminisces over our adolescence—exploring the ‘what could have been’ and ‘what almost was’ of our characters’ youths. Victims of nostalgia, her characters are tormented by their past as they are forced to reconcile with lost love.

Love acts as a glue—an epoxy— eternally confining Masie and Cole together. As Grossman digresses through the characters’ past, we see a spark lit between the pair, ebbing further and further into their collective history.

Masie and Cole find love in the minutiae of everyday tribulations of growing up, from working in a

coffee shop together to reminiscing about a baseball’s damage to a little boy’s bedroom. Follow the trail of crumbs the author leaves for us to discover the connection our main characters built that can not help but persist through the banalities of maturity.

“They are new, even though it feels like no time has passed…”

Grossman writes.

Time is an endless march, and for Grossman, one must appreciate the present—love or hate it—or risk being trampled and overwhelmed by the vanguard of the clock.

“The pit in Cole’s stomach isn’t raging with regret and Maisie’s thoughts aren’t on the future for once. She thinks about right now and how she wants it to last for longer than sunrise…” Grossman writes. alec_klusza@emerson.edu

“They are new, even though it feels like no time has passed” - Clarah Rae Grossman

Courtesy Clarah Grossman

Author Clarah Rae Grossman of “Seat of the Soul.” Courtesy Jordyn Vasquez

Emerson Contemporary introduces spring Media Arts exhibition “Hurricane Lost” by Georgie Friedman Cont. from Pg. 1 “On the one hand, it’s just visually so beautiful and elegant, so I love that you can kind of get lost into the experience of the work. But then at the same time, her work has a message,” Bradbury said. “You can be drawn to it by the climate activist message and then seduced by the visuals or the other way around.”

The 2016 presidential election and the Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2017 inspired DiQuinzio to create the coalition, who intended to showcase exhibits nationally leading up to the 2020 election.

“We decided to move this exhibition forward, and all the programming from the FAC moved forward so it no longer aligns perfectly with the election, but that’s okay,” Bradbury said. “All these issues, all these projects we are bringing to the forefront are still important, regardless of who’s our president.”

An important issue facing the

“Hurricane Lost” by Georgie Friedman. Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

world is climate change, and Friedman conveys the message of its urgency through this selection, drawing from her own experience.

“I’ve lived many places, but I

lived in New Orleans for some time before Katrina hit, it affected so many of my friends and family,” Friedman said. “A bit of it is survivor’s guilt. I was totally fine and

so many people’s lives were totally ruined.”

Friedman said that she learned more about the role of climate change and came to admire these tropical storms for their intensity.

“I’m really in awe of these things that are so beautiful, so strong but so powerful and emphasize our fragility,” Friedman said.

The exhibition’s virtual walkthrough will take place on Jan. 27.

Students can visit the exhibit in-person once the Emerson’s “stay in your room” directive concludes. The policy calls for students to avoid social gatherings and only leave their rooms to pick up meals and mail, work, or attend medical appointments. It is in effect until the end of the day Jan. 29.

While keeping COVID in mind, Friedman said she hopes students will come view her exhibition, safely.

“I really hope people come down here in person. I made it for them,”

Friedman said. “When it’s down, it’s just a pile of metal and fabric and digital files. It doesn’t exist otherwise. It will never exist like this again, so it’s a once in a lifetime experience.”

Bradbury also hopes that students come check out the gallery, as it can provide some sense of creative normalcy.

“With our students being on campus, and there being so few opportunities to see artwork or to have an experience that might take you out of your Zoom world or the stress of living in COVID times, I’m hoping this can also be a place of reflection and a place of transformation,” Bradbury said. “Art can offer an escape. I’m hoping they will take that step and come into the door even if they haven’t been here before. This is a welcoming space.”

To attend the virtual walkthrough of the exhibition, you can RSVP on Emerson Contemporary’s website. In addition to the virtual walkthrough, Emerson Contemporary will be holding a virtual Artist Talk with Friedman on Feb. 10, which you can register for online. lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

January 28, 2021

7

Boston Public Libraries expand anti-racism book selections, online accessibility

How an anonymous donation of $75,000 helped BPL reduce wait times for popular titles Campbell Parish Beacon Staff

An anonymous donation of $75,000 helped extend the Boston Public Library’s collection of anti-racist materials. They saw a 500 percent increase in the circulation of anti-racist titles in the month of June 2020.

As the BPL shifted entirely to online operations due to the pandemic, they initiated their BPL To Go program. This program helps ensure that the library’s benefits are still accessible for the greater Boston community amid the ongoing pandemic.

The BPL To Go program allows patrons to place a hold online and schedule a time to pick up their material. Each material that is checked out from the library is put in a fourday quarantine hold, then returned to circulation.

“Through the BPL To Go program, we were able to circulate more than 203,000 physical items and complete about 200,000 in-person patron transactions while continuing to offer an even greater range of online events and services,” BPL President David Leonard said in an official statement on the BPL website.

During the height of the Black Lives Matter protests last June, the BPL saw a 500 percent increase in check-outs of popular anti-racist titles such as How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. At the end of the summer, the BPL received an anonymous donation to keep up with the demand for these titles. The BPL published their “Antiracist Reading List”, enlisting the help of staff and the community to formulate the list.

The funds from this donation also helped grow the anti-racist e-book collection, which allows instantaneous access to these titles for all community members. The anonymous funding that the BPL received reduced holds on their books by 89 percent, according to the BPL, eliminating long wait times for members.

“We received an anonymous donation of $75,000 specifically to buy additional copies to keep [up with] demand for [anti-racist] titles,”Andrews said.

The BPL is a publicly funded

institution, but it utilizes the Boston Public Library Fund and private philanthropy to ensure that library programs can continue to be accessible and free to all.

“We had a few different librarians recommend titles; we were looking at checkouts and demands,” Andrews said. “Some of [the anti-racist collection] was based on patron demand as well.”

Among their list are the titles How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, and Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad.

“A portion of that budget went to making 20 of the most popular BLM and anti-racism books instantly available to all patrons, completely eliminating wait times for those titles,” Andrews said.

All of the books in the anti-racist collection are in e-book format. For some titles, an ebook edition can only be checked out by one person at a time. With the help of the anonymous donation, the BPL was able to purchase copies of these books without this restriction in order to limit wait times.

On Jan. 11, the BPL announced their new Repairing America Initiative to help bridge the political gap that divides America. The main themes of the Repairing America Initiative include economic recovery, civic engagement, COVID-19 recovery, racial equity, workforce development, and youth engagement.

BPL cited a PEW research study that found nearly 80 percent of American adults believe that public libraries are trustworthy and reliable.

The BPL’s new Repairing America Initiative uses their trustworthy platform as a way to help bridge the political gap and hopefully spark a conversation between patrons.

“The library is focusing its institutional priorities on finding ways to help Americans become more resilient and able to face and recover from the challenges of today,” an official statement from the BPL said.

Actress Sadaf Asgari, starred in alum film “EXAM.” ‘17. Courtesy Sonia K. Hadad

Oscar qualified short film “EXAM” written and directed

by Sonia K. Hadad ‘17 Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff

The short film “EXAM,” created by writer and director Sonia K. Hadad ‘17, qualified for an Oscar on top of 33 other awards it’s received since the film’s release in 2019.

Among the 33 awards the film has won are the Grand Jury Prize for Live Action Short at AFI Fest 2019 and the Special Jury Award for Acting at Sundance Film Festival 2020. Winning the AFI Fest Award qualified the film for the short film category of the Oscars 2021.

According to Hadad, 170 short films can be Oscar-qualified before the voting process. The preliminary shortlist will come out on Feb. 9 and the final nominations will be announced on Mar. 15.

“I am very excited but it’s a really tricky process. You can never predict what happens,” Hadad said.

Hadad came to Emerson in 2014 to complete her Masters in Fine Arts degree in Film and Media Arts and graduated in 2017. She has written short stories since the age of 10 and many of her pieces were published in youth magazines.

Her film, released in 2019, depicts the patriarchal pressures placed on women, specifically in Iran. The main character, played

by Sadaf Asgari, is a young woman who is ordered by her father to

deliver a packet of cocaine the day she has an important exam— a task which puts her life in serious danger.

“The story of ‘EXAM’ is a mixture of my own personal experiences I had during highschool and a true story I heard from one of my friends,” Hadad said.

“[In the movie] the characters at the school are symbols of this patriarchal society and all the pressures, in the body of females.”

– Sonia K. Hadad The making of “EXAM” took about three months, including the final drafting of the screenplay, pre-production, shooting, and post-production.

“Almost all of the actresses in the movie were my friends from the time I was working in theater,” Hadad said. “It took me a couple weeks to find a good actress for the main role, then my co-writer reminded

me of Sadaf from a feature movie we had watched two years before.

So we called her and had like two rehearsal sessions together and she was super good.”

Hadad’s film sheds light on the lives of young women in modern-day Iran, revealing the strict lifestyles they must abide by, enforced by patriarchal systems and traditions.

“Let’s say my own idea of my story is about the patriarchal society in Iran. The pressure of patriarchy is on women everywhere, even in high school,” Hadad said. “[In the movie] the characters at the school are symbols of this patriarchal society and all the pressures, in the body of females.”

Despite the plethora of positive feedback the film got from reviews around the world, Hadad said male Iranian filmmakers did not share the same view of her film.

“They couldn’t accept that a female director had made this movie, but I haven’t gotten any negative reactions outside of Iran,” Hadad said.

“EXAM” has screened at over 100 film festivals and 40 high-profile film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival, Tampere Film Festival, and Cleveland International Film Festival. mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

campbell_parish@emerson.edu

The main entrance to the Boston Public Library. Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff

Actress Sadaf Asgari stars in “EXAM” as a a young woman who is ordered by her father to deliver a packet of cocaine the day she has an important exam. Courtesy Sonia K. Hadad

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

Lions baseball team training under the pandemic. / Courtesy of Lions Baseball

Spring sports teams adapt to safety regulations ahead of uncertain season Tyler Foy Beacon Staff

With the status of the spring sports season still up in the air following the cancellations of the fall and winter seasons by the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, teams are innovating clever solutions to stay connected and prepared.

Amid the uncertainty, players and coaches say they are optimistic about the chances of the season heading into the spring. Affected teams— like baseball, lacrosse, softball, and tennis —used the fall off-season to stay ready for the next season, even as they watched their peers miss out on opportunities to play.

“It’s still up in the air just because everything is so ever-changing in this pandemic,” head women’s lacrosse coach Jesse Koffman said in an interview. “I feel like everyone just needs to be patient…and you see the light at the end of the tun-

nel.”

Athletes were active in their efforts to stay prepared for the season over winter break. The women’s lacrosse team received a workout packet from their coach focused on conditioning to keep them in shape.

Koffman said she doesn’t have to worry about her players slacking off during the break.

“I’m not worried about them not conditioning or not doing what was asked,” Koffman said. “They take the initiative, they want to work hard. They want to be in the best physical conditions so that hopefully, when we do come back and if there’s a season, they’re ready.”

The softball team kept close contact with their coaches through TeamBuildR, a team messaging/ virtual training app. Assistant coach Jen Boyder sent workouts to help players stay active over the break.

Freshman softball position player, Claire Overton, had an opportunity that most athletes didn’t over the

New Faces: Pietrzak eager to bring her passion to the women’s volleyball team Christopher Williams Beacon Staff Surrounded by purple and gold balloons and wearing an Emerson College sweater, Lauren Pietrzak officially committed to join the women’s volleyball team in the fall semester. She signed her NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Celebratory Signing Form from her home in Orono, Minnesota on Dec. 23.

“I made a verbal commitment I think around October, and then I officially signed about a month ago,”

Pietrzak said in an interview. “It was very exciting to make everything official.”

Pietrzak, a libero and defensive specialist, will major in media arts production. She said the combination of academics, athletics, and city environment made her feel Emerson was the perfect school for her.

“The main thing that drew me to the college was that it’s a really good school for what I want to study,” Pietrzak said. “On top of that, I was able to play a sport that I really like. I also knew that I want-

winter break. She was able to reunite with her former travel team in Pennsylvania, which enabled her to practice with them over the break “I’m sure, in comparison to the other girls, I was actually able to keep all of my skills up,” Overton said in an interview. “I was still able to hit, field, and throw. For me, it was sort of normal like I never took a big break from softball.”

Head baseball coach Nicholas Vennochi believes the future of the season will be decided in the next month, and his team is preparing to play.

“I know the presidents of the conference are meeting a few times between now and the first of February,” Vennochi said in an interview.

“I think we should know within the next few weeks, but we’re all just kind of waiting. Obviously, from a mental standpoint, the other guys I’ve talked to definitely want to play.

You have to plan to play.”

Despite the uncertainty, athletes ed to go to a school in a city because I don’t really live in a city, and I didn’t want a super big school.”

Pietrzak began her volleyball career in third grade. She honed her skills on the court as a four-year member of Orono High School’s varsity team while also competing for two Junior Olympic club teams throughout high school. She played for Vital Volleyball Club as a first year student and sophomore before switching to Midwest United Volleyball Club for her junior and senior years of high school.

She said winning the JVA MKE Jamboree—a tournament hosted by the Junior Volleyball Association in Milwaukee, Wisc. featuring 250 teams from the Midwest and Great Lakes—along with Vital Volleyball Club is one of the biggest accomplishments of her career.

“My team won, which was pretty exciting because it’s a really big tournament and a lot of teams travel there,” Pietrzak said.

In addition to being an accomplished club player, Pietrzak is a decorated high school player. She was named Orono’s captain for her

began preparing for the possibility of a normal season during their off-season in the fall. Teams were forced to find alternative ways to improve their skills with COVID-19 limiting athletic resources across the country. Players searched for open fields and resorted to using their own hardware to work around the absence of weights and equipment.

Jack Lewis, a junior defender for the men’s lacrosse team, said he believes there is a way for an athlete to push through any adversity they face and improve themselves. Lewis and his father created their own dumbbells in their hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to train while gyms were shut down.

“My dad and I made some homemade weights to go out to a field or to put in backpacks,” Lewis said. “We made 15-pound dumbbells out of concrete because they weren’t available anywhere.”

Once players returned to campus, teams scheduled adapted practices to comply with new guidelines and hosted team meetings over Zoom.

The baseball team trained for nearly five weeks in small groups on and off the field during the fall semester. Vennochi said the smaller groups had their drawbacks, but were better than not training at all.

“It was different because we weren’t really together with the team,” Vennochi said. “Instead, we were in small groups, and we weren’t able to scrimmage.”

Head men’s lacrosse coach, Matthew Colombini, said he focused on fundamental training rather than full-team activities when the team got a chance to practice in small groups on the field. “[During] a normal fall for us on the field, we would usually have 16 practices over four weeks that we go about two hours a session,” Colombini said in an interview. “This fall, when we were on the field, it was almost exclusively all position-based stuff. It was all socially distant and non-contact.”

Koffman said first-year students benefited from practicing in smaller groups rather than as a complete team.

“We were able to do practices in the smaller groups with all the restrictions, and I think that was good for the [first-years],” Koffman said.

“It went well because our upperclassmen were really tough to the younger kids and were extra attentive to them.”

The softball team focused on

Courtesy of Lauren Pietrzak senior season, and she earned a spot on the Wright County Conference All-Conference team following the fall season.

Many volleyball players begin the recruitment process in their freshman and sophomore years of high school. Pietrzak, however, decided she wanted to play college volleyball “at the last minute” during her junior year.

“It just wasn’t something that I thought could be a reality,” Pietrzak said. “Thankfully, that all worked out well.”

After discovering Emerson’s me-

January 28, 2021

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strength and conditioning when they had the opportunity to get onto the field. Karagan Knowles, a junior pitcher, said that the team didn’t get to use their equipment with the exception of one practice.

“I think the weather and sharing Rotch Field became a conflict,” Knowles said in an interview. “We ended up only having one practice where we actually could play softball. There were supposed to be two other ones, but conflicts just got in the way, so it was a lot of conditioning and running.”

The uncertainty of the spring season placed athletes’ seasons and careers on hold, forcing them to come up with new ways to motivate themselves.

Before the 2020 spring season was canceled in March due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the women’s lacrosse team posted two victories against Rhode Island College and Nichols College. Koffman said those two victories play a major part in the team’s fight to keep the competitive spark alive heading into the spring semester.

“For the players that were on the team last year, even though our season was cut short, we did have two wins,” Koffman said. “I think that has been the motivation knowing that we have the ability to be a great team and that the possibilities are endless once we are able to get on the field.”

The men’s lacrosse team utilizes the phrase “doesn’t matter, get better” as their way to stay driven to compete. The motto hangs in the team’s locker room for players to view each time they walk in or out for practices and games.

Vennochi said whether the baseball team plays or not in the spring, the program’s culture would not change.

“We always tell all of our players that they should want the program to be better when they leave,” Vennochi said. “You want to leave an imprint on this. It’s not just [going to] affect us, it’s going to affect everybody. I think it’s really just about taking it day by day, which is boring, but I think it’s the only way to stay in it.”

The men’s and women’s tennis teams are still awaiting word on the future of their seasons, but are expected to be able to practice. Tennis, which typically competes in the fall, did not practice at all last semester.

tyler_foy@emerson.edu dia arts production program, she began speaking to head coach Benjamin Read via email with highlights and live streams of her games. Pietrzak visited Emerson in October to meet some of the team and see the campus—all while following COVID-19 restrictions.

“I wasn’t able to go into most of the buildings, but I had met pretty much most of the team,” Pietrzak said. “It was very good, and I really wanted to do that.”

Pietrzak is eager to bring her energy and passion for the sport to the Bobbi Brown and Stephen Plofker Gym when she joins the team in the fall.

“For all the teams I’ve been on so far, I feel like I play a role of being a very energetic player,” Pietrzak said. “I think that’s the main thing that I bring to the team—a really good attitude and love for the sport, and a lot of energy on and off the court.”

Read declined to comment on Pietrzak’s recruitment, citing NCAA regulations.

christopher_williams@emerson.