The Tam

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

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 15

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Hot Pockets, Popcorn, and Pints The Tam weathers the pandemic by offering a limited menu

Dana Gerber Beacon Staff The Tam, a venerable Tremont Street dive bar, is best-known amongst Emerson students for its potent drinks. But this summer, it was a menu of turkey sandwiches, Hot Pockets, and popcorn that enabled their quintessential green doors to once again welcome patrons last July.

Massachusetts’s phased reopening does not allow bars to reopen until Phase Four; restaurants, however, could reopen in Phase Two, a goalpost reached in late June. This led many Boston businesses to apply for a food establishment license and start serving up grub made on the premises.

During a shift in management in 2018, The Tam—which has been open since the 1940s—received a food establishment license, according to data from the city of Boston. It wasn’t until the Theatre District haunt reopened last summer after shuttering in March due to the pandemic that they put the license to use beyond basic vending machine snacks.

“I think the popcorn was pretty popular, honestly,” alumna Kate Foultz ‘20, a barback and bouncer for The Tam until August, said. “I’d always get people be like, ‘Oh, can I actually have another bag of popcorn?’”

Although the storied watering hole now nourishes its patrons, the pandemic has forced a goodbye to many of their other services and traditions.

Bar seating is cut up by plexiglass, the Tuesday trivia nights are abandoned, and the usual throngs of college students dancing to ’80s music

The glow of the green neon sign outside The Tam on Tremont Street. Alec Klusza / Beacon Staff and putting away cheap shots are now limited to about a 25-person capacity, according to Lyn Grande, a bartender at The Tam. The statewide dining curfew established on Nov. 6 forced the bar to close at 9:30 p.m. for nearly three months. Since the Jan. 25 lift on the curfew, they are now back to their late-night hours of closing at 2 a.m.

Thursday through Saturday, and 1 a.m. every other night.

“Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,

SOPHIE, a trailblazer in the world of pop music Josh Sokol Beacon Staff SOPHIE, a Grammy-nominated electronic-pop producer and artist who revolutionized the genre of hyperpop, died on Saturday in Athens, Greece. At 34 years old, she was known for her reinvigoration of the pop genre and producing some of the most unique and new-age sounds in modern music.

Transgressive Records, SOPHIE’s management, put out a statement breaking the news of the artist’s death on Saturday stating, “True to her spirituality she had climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.”

The producer and songwriter

INSIDE THIS EDITION A tale of two quarantines Pg. 2 Editorial: Local businesses need our support Pg. 4 Wall Street’s contempt for the “free” market Pg. 5 Norman Lear awarded Carol Burnett Award Pg. 6 ECAPS helps student athletes’ mental health Pg. 8

was not only known for her revolutionary use of sound in her own music, but also for producing some of the most renowned songs of the modern era, namely Charli XCX’s “Vroom Vroom,” Vince Staples’ “Yeah Right” and a production appearance on Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica,” released in 2020.

To see an artist who identified openly as a trans woman resonated deeply with LGBTQ+ audiences, myself included. Owning your identity and using that to act as an idol for those who may feel lost or who feel they do not have proper representation is a powerful and essential part of SOPHIE’s legacy—one that should not be forgotten. In her song “Immaterial,” the lyrics, “You could be me and I could be you / Always the same and never the same,” gave the listener a sense of infinity. She told us that we can be whatever is true to ourselves, always changing and ever fluid.

Sophie Xeon, SOPHIE, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986. She was raised listening to her father’s cassettes, attending raves and regularly making music throughout her teenage years. Her career started initially in a band called Motherland, and in 2011, she created the score for a short film titled “Mr/Mrs.” SOPHIE, Pg. 6

we usually had a line all the way down the street,” Grande, who has worked at The Tam for 16 years, said in an interview with The Beacon. “It’s gone from feast to famine.”

Foultz said she adopted more hostess duties once the bar reopened, ushering patrons in to safely seat them at proper distances. This, with the required mask-wearing and constant sanitizing, changed the atmosphere of the stomping ground.

“It definitely was weird, in terms

of just having such less people in The Tam,” she said. “When I’ve talked to the bartenders and stuff in the past few months, they’ve been like, ‘The Emerson kids do not come in here anymore.’ Or if they do, it’ll be obviously a much smaller group.”

Emerson students, Grande said, now come in “dribs and drabs.” Since the crowds—once made up of theatregoers, club hoppers, and sports fans— are now far more modest, they’ve had to cut back on workers’ shifts.

Though the flocks are smaller, many Emerson students and alumni still regard the neon “Michelob” and “Budweiser” signs as the glow of a safe haven. Going to the bar, a stone’s throw from Emerson’s stretch of Boylston Street dorms, is a “rite of passage” for students, said Eleanor Hilty, a ’20 alumna.

“Before I was even of age to go, I had heard the tales of The Tam from older students and walked past and seen the line and everything and understood that it was a bit of an Emerson hot spot,” she said.

Hilty hasn’t been to The Tam, which she termed “a weird little outcasts club,” since the onset of the pandemic. Despite this, she found a way to bring some of the bar’s panache to her home in Walpole, Massachusetts over the summer.

“A bunch of my friends, we all got on a Zoom call and changed our background to the stock picture of The Tam that’s on their Google page, and we had a virtual Tam,” she said.

“We all made drinks a little bit too strong.”

For others, the bar was a social mecca. Junior Fabiana Muci said going to The Tam for a whiskey sour was a weekly ritual. The jam-packed space, she said, lent itself to mingling.

“The reason why I made so many friends last year was because of the Tam,” Muci said. “It was [often] people I had class with that I would just never talk to, but then when I would see them at the Tam I’d be like, ‘Oh, you have class with me, so we should talk.’”

Tam, Pg. 8

Pelton’s successor to be named by end of academic year Dana Gerber, Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

With just under four months until current President M. Lee Pelton is slated to step down to head the Boston Foundation, Emersonaims to find his successor by the end of the academic year with the help of Storbeck Search, an executive search firm that specializes in leadership hiring for education and nonprofits.

The board of trustees’ Presidential Search Committee, made up of 19 college community members— including five board of trustees members, four professors, and two students—will begin meeting soon to scout the college’s 13th President.

More details about the search process are expected in the following weeks, and input from members of the Emerson community— including students, faculty, and staff—will be included throughout the search. The next update is expected in mid- to late-February, according to a Jan. 29 email from Michael MacWade, chair of the Presidential Search Committee, and Jeffrey Greenhawt, chair of the board of trustees.

The timeline of the search may complicate the adjustment period for the new President. Pelton’s predecessor, Jaqueline Liebergott, announced in December of 2009 she would be stepping down at the end of the 2010-11 academic year. Pelton was announced as the successor in September of 2010 following an intensive national search—also spearheaded by Storbeck. The 12th President of Emerson and the first Black person to hold the position, Pelton did not assume office until July of 2011,

President M. Lee Pelton after his inaugural speech in 2012. / Beacon Archives following an eight-month transition period.

Sofiya Cabalquinto, associate vice president of communications and marketing, declined to comment on the timeline of hiring Pelton’s successor.

“The college will share more information about the search process with the Emerson community, including a sense of the timeline, as soon as that becomes available,” Cabalquinto wrote in an emailed statement to The Beacon.

Given the stated timeframe of the hiring process, if Pelton’s successor is hired at the end of the academic year, there will likely be no transition period. Instead, the 13th president will take the helm of the college as it navigates reopening for the fall 2021 term— likely still amid the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine distribution. The hastened hiring process raises the possibility of the college appointing an interim pres-

ident until a permanent replacement is found.

Cabalquinto declined to comment on whether or not Emerson will appoint an interim president.

Liebergott served as interim president beginning in 1992 before fully assuming the role in 1993.

Pelton, Pg. 2

113

positive COVID-19 tests

.18%

positivity rate *Accumulated from 2020-2021 school year

News

The Berkeley Beacon

Two isolations, a world apart Alec Klusza Beacon Staff

For four days in September, off-campus student Devin Davis-Lorton received little communication from the college after testing positive for COVID-19. Only after sending 49 emails to the Office of Student Success were they supplied with a $150 voucher for groceries and a single delivery of Thai food to last their entire mandated ten-day isolation.

Davis-Lorton, a senior performing arts major, tested positive after returning to Boston from Mount Kisco, New York, at the start of the fall semester. A contact tracer from the Tufts Medical Center told them to isolate for 10 days in their Boston apartment. Their three roommates, all of whom are Emerson students were told to quarantine for 14 days—none of Davis-Lorton’s roommates ever tested positive.

“It was a very terrible experience,” Davis-Lorton said in a phone interview. “On Sep. 1, I got my positive test back—we didn’t have groceries, we couldn’t leave the apartment to go get anything, and I didn’t have my textbooks for class.”

On-campus student Carolyn Hibbert, who was isolated in the Paramount residence hall for 11 days after testing positive for the virus on Jan. 23, said the college is doing “everything right.” Hibbert tested positive on her baseline test at the Tufts Medical Center after returning from California, but was asymptomatic. She said Emerson cares effectively for students on campus with the virus.

“They’ve been really helpful,” the first-year journalism major said.

“They make sure they deliver three meals a day, and I’ve got all the stuff I need. It’s not my favorite thing on the planet, but they’re doing a really great job here. I would have liked a little more communication about things such as laundry. Other than that, they

were great.”

When students who live off-campus test positive for COVID-19 through Tufts Medical Center, they receive a phone call from a contact tracer telling them to self-isolate in their residence, regardless of if they have roommates. College officials then give them information about food delivery options and connect them to other resources.

On-campus students, on the other hand, are similarly contacted by a contact tracer, but most are swiftly moved into isolation in the Paramount residence hall on Washington Street.

Students who are living in “single occupancy spaces with sole access to a bathroom,” like resident assistant spaces or rooms at the W hotel, are allowed to quarantine or self-isolate in their own space, according to the college’s website.

In the Paramount Building, students receive a bedroom and a bathroom to themselves to minimize the risk of infecting roommates or suitemates. They also receive delivered meals three times a day.

Though Davis-Lorton’s experience happened early in the college’s reopening period, when the protocols were first put in place, the difference in the ways the college treats on- and off- campus students who test positive is striking, they said.

“On-campus students are different,” they said. “On-campus students are brought to self-isolation in Paramount and given three meals a day, but we weren’t able to buy groceries for five days.”

Food, Davis-Lorton said, was their main concern. Since the four roommates moved into their off-campus apartment the day before receiving Davis-Lorton’s positive test, they had not yet gone grocery shopping and were left in quarantine without much food. Because their quarantine prevented Davis-Lorton from going to their job at Starbucks, they said the

Courtesy Devin Davis-Lorton

“On-campus students are brought to self-isolation in Paramount and given three meals a day, but we weren’t able to buy groceries for five days” Courtesy Carolyn Hibbert group’s collective income was diminished—precluding food delivery from services like Instacart as a viable option. They finally received Thai food from the college at 11 p.m., five days after their isolation began.

Davis-Lorton said they fell behind on their schoolwork and were forced to seek the aid of an Emerson professor they contacted online to pick up their textbooks from campus.

“I had missed so many assignments that I had to make up the week that I got back from quarantine—it was unreal,” Davis-Lorton said. “I wasn’t able to access any of Emerson’s re-

- Devin Davis-Lorton sources, and it really made me think that Emerson doesn’t really have those resources that we would need to actually respond to people who are off-campus and have COVID.” Despite Davis-Lorton’s claims of negligence, the college maintains support is given to all off-campus students who request it.

Carol Smolinsky, the director of the Office of Student Success, said assistance is available for off-campus students who state their needs.

“When students are contacted to inform them of their need to quarantine or isolate, they are asked if they have

February 4, 2021

2

any needs they are most concerned about related to this new restriction on their ability to move about,” Smolinksy wrote in an emailed statement to The Beacon.

Smolinsky said if a student mentions financial burdens or food insecurity caused by their quarantine to the contact tracer, they are referred to the Office of Student Success, who then works with that student to determine if they are eligible for funds from the CARES Act or the Student Assistance Fund.

“It all depends on what the student needs and what the most accessible way of getting them assistance is,” Smolinsky said. “Some students, for example, might only request help with a couple of meals, while others might request longer-term support.

Each situation is unique, and we tailor the support to the situation.”

Davis-Lorton, who reached out to the Office of Student Success on their own after testing positive, said they felt that they and their roommates fell through the cracks of the college’s bureaucracy, lacking accessible information and protocols. “[Emerson said], ‘In the future we will be working towards initiatives to give off-campus students food,’” they said. “And I’m like, ‘I am an off-campus student who is hungry and not able to get food.’”

Due to the health risks posed by the pandemic, the college’s food access initiatives, like the food pantry, are operated at a reduced capacity.

Though Davis-Lorton described being left to fend for themself for nearly a week, Hibbert spoke of a positive and responsive experience in the Paramount residence hall.

“It’s nice,” Hibbert said. “They’ve got everything set up when you walk in—sheets and stuff and towels—and they give you an instruction booklet that you can read through. They give you an emergency exit [card] in case there is some sort of emergency, so you know how to exit properly. They deliver your mail once a week and a snack pack once a week, on top of the food they give you every day.” alec_klusza@emerson.edu

Firm hired, committee formed to scout Pelton’s successor

President M. Lee Pelton / Beacon Archives Cont. from Pg. 1 The college anticipates incurring only $30 million in losses for the 2021 fiscal year, a figure considered a “best case scenario” following projections of up to $100 million in losses. Pelton’s succes-

sor will likely have to navigate the continuing financial impact of the pandemic, including deciding when to discontinue mitigation efforts, such as the partial hiring freeze, college-level cost-cutting, and a pause on retirement contributions.

Pelton will step into the presidency at the Boston Foundation, a philanthropic organization that partners with donors to provide grants and other support to local nonprofits, on June 1.

Storbeck Search recruited seven positions within the institution, in-

cluding Vice President for Administration and Finance Paul Dworkis in 2019 and Vice President and Dean for Campus Life Jim Hoppe in 2016.

Storbeck Search is “committed to working proactively to recruit excellent and diverse pools of candidates to ensure an equitable and inclusive process for all,” Greenhawt wrote in the email.

Founded in 2007, Storbeck has worked with other institutions in the Boston area, such as Berklee College of Music, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Suffolk University, and Tufts University.

When recruiting and assessing potential candidates, Storbeck Search will “draw on our broad networks and proactively recruit accomplished candidates who may not be looking for new positions as well as candidates with strong ties to the client institution,” according to their website. They help the Search Committee evaluate potential candidates, as well as pursue a six-step vetting process, which includes exhaustive background checks and references.

Storbeck Search consultants also advise on the terms and compensation of employment.

Storbeck Search declined to comment to The Beacon.

MacWade, a class of ’84 alumnus and incoming chair of the board of trustees, also declined to comment to The Beacon.

In his decade-long tenure, Pelton oversaw the creation of the business of creative enterprises and comedic arts majors, the development of the Office of Internationalization and Global Engagement, and the opening of Emerson’s Los Angeles campus.

Pelton, who earns nearly $900,000 a year, according to the college’s most recent tax forms, also led a merger with Marlboro College last year that netted Emerson approximately $20 million in assets.

When announcing his resignation, Pelton reflected on how the college has personally impacted him in the decade he served as president. He added that he intended to remain president for “the next several years,” but said “the triple pandemic of COVID-19, economic devastation, and the public exposure of systemic racial disparities that have long plagued our country” compelled him to turn his attention elsewhere.

“We are called to seize the moment, to help write a new chapter for Boston and for future generations that will follow,” he wrote in a community-wide email on Dec. 1. “I believe the Foundation has enormous potential to address these inequities and make a difference for people long overlooked by society, and I intend to do just that. I hope that I will make you proud.” contact@berkeleybeacon.com

The Berkeley Beacon

February 4, 2021

3

Incident Journal

Administrators say spring semester positives unsurprising

Friday, Jan. 8: ECPD officers responded to a fire alarm in the Little Building. Emerson community members were evacuated from the basement, first and second floors.

There was no fire. The alarm was deactivated and community members were allowed to reenter the building.

Charlie McKenna Beacon Staff

With in-person courses officially underway this week, the pandemic appears to have taken a firmer grip on the Boston campus in less than a month than it did over the course of the entire fall semester.

As of publication, Emerson has reported 53 positive COVID-19 tests this spring over the course of three-and-ahalf weeks of testing. In the fall, the college reported 60 positives in total over nearly four months of testing.

The surge comes just weeks after cases nationwide and in Massachusetts hit record highs. In late December, the state reported more than 7,000 new cases on back-to-back days, each setting records.

Cases are now on the decline, falling below 2,000 in Massachusetts for the first time in more than two months Tuesday.

Assistant Vice President for Campus Life Erik Muurisepp, who serves as the college’s “COVID Lead,” said the college always anticipated a rise in positives this semester considering the state of the pandemic as compared to the fall.

“In this new environment of high positivity across the board, it is to be expected,” Muurisepp said. “So that’s where I think other institutions are seeing it, other cities are seeing it, and our city certainly is seeing it as well. And there’s new variants that do seem to be... more transmissible, and so that is obviously of concern. We need to treat that as if those strains are already around, that could be also why they’re seeing more of those spikes.”

In the fall, Massachusetts was averaging approximately 300 new coronavirus cases a day, and had progressed to Phase Three, Step Two of its reopening. The state now sits in Phase Three, Step One. The 53 positives reported thus far

Wednesday, Jan. 20: ECPD officers responded to a fire alarm with evacuation from the basement, first and second floors. There was no fire. The alarm was deactivated and community members were allowed to reenter the building.

Sunday, Jan. 31: ECPD responded to a fire alarm going off at the W Hotel. The alarm was caused by a faulty sprinkler head on the first-floor, according to W Hotel security.

during the spring come from 10,832 tests administered at Emerson’s testing site, a Tufts Medical Center facility. At the conclusion of the first week of in-person courses in the fall, Emerson had reported 10 positives out of the 9,509 tests administered. The spring’s test positivity rate of .49 is nearly five times higher than the rate at this time in the fall, .1 percent.

On Wednesday, the college reported 10 new positive tests from the 1,702 administered on Feb. 2. In the fall, the college canceled all non-academic in-person activities after reporting 10 new positives in one day with just one week left in the semester. In November, Muurisepp sent an email announcing the surge to the community; in the spring, no

such communication has materialized.

Muurisepp said the college has not observed any “concerning patterns” in the spread of the virus amongst the community thus far.

“We would communicate if we felt there were concerning patterns that we’re seeing or anything like that, and we’re not seeing that,” he said. “What we’re seeing is, unfortunately, a [positivity rate] of just under 4 percent [in the state]—luckily it’s gone down significantly. We’re seeing a city that is at 6.2 percent and so… I guess we’re in that new normal.”

It took until Nov. 15 for the college to reach 32 positive tests. In the spring, Emerson hit that marker in two-and-a-

Graphic Dana Gerber / Beacon Staff half weeks.

Muurisepp said the college is not considering sending students home or shifting courses online for the duration of the semester, but could re-implement a “stay-at-home” order where courses would be temporarily shifted online for students as a way to limit the spread of the virus.

The college knew it was going to take time to rebuild what Muurisepp dubbed “the Emerson bubble,” he said, which is why the college implemented the “soft quarantine” for the first two weeks of the semester. The soft quarantine involved online classes and asking students not to leave their rooms except for essential

tasks.

“We know it was going to take a little bit of time to rebuild the Emerson bubble, I think that’s what we’re seeing,” he said. “That’s what we’re experiencing, we’re seeing positives, we’re responding to positives quickly, contact tracing is working, we can identify any folks that are in close contacts of others, get them isolated, quarantined, and tested—and that will still take some time as we rebuild that bubble.”

Muurisepp said the college anticipates the rate at which community members are testing positive to slow down as the semester progresses, so long as safety protocols like mask-wearing and social distancing are followed.

“We never know 100 percent, but if we’re looking at projections we should start seeing things decline,” he said.

“That is only if folks are following all the protocols. If we don’t adhere to those really important practices, the numbers aren’t going to go down.” charles_mckenna@emerson.edu

SGA treasurer vacancy prompts paid position openings Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff

With the spring semester underway, the Student Government Association is staring down a vacancy in one of its most crucial positions—the executive treasurer—for the first time at the start of a semester in at least two decades.

Executive President Lindsay Debrosse is poised to assume the role, despite no such procedure being outlined in SGA’s constitution. The position was vacant for much of the summer following former Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple’s graduation in May, and later filled during the fall by Thomas Coughlin, who declined to run for re-election.

“If we don’t find one soon—or ever this semester—I’m going to be left chairing and facilitating [the Financial Advisory Board],” Debrosse said. “That’s something brand-new I have to learn. It’s another meeting on my list. But if that’s what has to happen, that’s what has to happen.”

Sharon Duffy, the organization’s former advisor, told The Beacon in April 2020 that during her 19-year tenure with SGA, they never began a semester without an executive treasurer.

SGA’s constitution dictates the vice treasurer is to fill any vacancy in the executive treasurership. That position, however, has remained empty since Rachel Levin filled the role in 2018. In the absence of a vice treasurer, the constitution calls for the Financial Advisory Board to appoint a “treasurer pro tempore,” in which case the board would likely split the duties of the treasurer amongst themselves.

The executive treasurer controls more than $1 million in funding collected from the pockets of students via the annual

student services fee, which is then doled out to student organizations. The treasurer is also responsible for overseeing the new financial equity committee, which aims to provide more direct financial assistance to students through appeals and advocacy.

To help fill the void of the position, the college plans to hire two “student organization financial assistants,” according to SGA Advisor Jason Meier. The pair, who would be paid by SGA, would take over some aspects of the treasury role, such as processing reimbursements and ensuring organizations file paperwork correctly.

“We are in the process of hiring two student workers, who will handle a lot of those day-to-day responsibilities that the treasurer used to,” Meier said. “They’re going to be the ones who are approving financial transactions, working with orgs who don’t have proper documentation, and sending those over to [Student Engagement and Leadership].”

Semple, who served as executive treasurer for the 2019-20 academic year, told The Beacon she believed the demanding workload of the position was the reason for the lack of interest in the organization’s spring elections, when no candidates ran for the treasurership, leading to Coughlin’s appointment in August.

“I don’t think anybody ever wants to do this job,” Semple said in an April 2020 interview. “This job is impossible.

This job is overwhelming. This job is excessive. This job is unforgiving. This job is like a million rocks on your shoulder all day long.”

Semple repeatedly called on the college to remedy the overwhelming responsibilities by offloading some of the treasurer’s tasks to college employees.

A Student Government Association meeting in Spring 2020. Yongze Wang / Beacon Staff “I’m a student and I don’t get paid to do this job,” Semple said. “There are not enough hours in the day to do this job.

And it is a bit unfair to me as a student for this to fall on my shoulders. On the other side, it is unfair for students to be reliant on a fellow student to get their money back—it doesn’t feel that that is the most productive system.”

Joseph Davidi, who ran for executive treasurer against Semple before dropping out, said he lost interest in the position after realizing he would not be able to pursue other extracurricular opportunities.

“The final decision came after sitting through most of the [Annual Budget Request] and realizing that this is not something I can do at the same time with everything else,” he said in an interview in Spring 2019. “[Ian Mandt, former executive treasurer] had mentioned that he used to do a lot of TV stuff, similar to me, and had to pull it back because of treasury… I don’t want to do that.”

Chief Justice Lilly Meehan-Egan said

she believes a shift in the duties and responsibilities of the treasurer will make the position more attractive.

“The role of the treasurer is to monitor SGA-allocated funds for organizations,” she said. “They don’t necessarily need to be the ones that are doing the reimbursements, and that was a lot of the work that the treasurer was doing, and so now that that has been given to student employees, the role of the treasurer can really be to facilitate conversations about how funds are impacting orgs. Hopefully, with that focus, we’ll be able to rebrand the position and advertise on social media to recruit someone into the position.”

Meehan-Egan, whose job it is to interpret the organization’s constitution, said the creation of the two student employee positions didn’t require an amendment to the organization’s constitution.

“Those are two paid positions, and the money is coming out of our SGA budget to pay them,” Meehan-Egan said.

“That’s not a change we have to make in the constitution.”

Due to the student organization financial assistants, Meier said, the role of the executive treasurer can now be reconfigured.

The new role, according to Meier, will allow the treasurer to focus on “the bigger picture,” such as training organizations on how to submit budget requests, filing appeals and accompanying paperwork, and collaborating with the college and students about financial equity.

“This is someone who can then do a better job of educating student organizations about financial policy, how to spend the money,” Meier said. “The treasurer can really focus on that training aspect, appeals and facilitating a good process so that if student organizations have financial needs, that we’re able to hear them on a timely basis.”

Charlie McKenna, Chris Van Buskirk, and Andrew Brinker contributed reporting. frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 4, 2021

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Opinion Unity in America is a far-off dream Jacob Seitz Beacon Staff

On Jan. 20, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stood in front of the Capitol Building and gave his inaugural address. His words had a resounding theme, one that I wasn’t surprised by but was still startled to hear. He spoke of a unified country under a common goal. But unity in America, at least in the form sought after by Biden, is nothing more than a neoliberal wet dream.

“And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat,” Biden said, whilst standing on the same steps that were mobbed by Trump supporters just two weeks prior.

“To overcome these challenges—to restore the soul and to secure the future of America—requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: unity.”

couldn’t help but laugh to myself at all the unity talk.

“Unity with who, Joe?” I thought.

“The neo-Nazis?”

Lest we forget there are people in this country who actively hunt marginalized people. Lest we forget the flags and hats under which the Capitol rioters stood. Lest we forget the hypocrites who rolled into Washington, D.C. with “back the blue” stickers on their cars who then beat police officers within inches of their lives. Are those the people Joe Biden wants us to unify with?

Calling for unity in America—to once again use the trite politics-as-asport metaphor—is like calling for peace in the middle of a football game.

It isn’t going to happen, and it would be antithetical to the purpose of the thing.

That’s not to say that division is

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

This country was founded on division. Wars with the British, wars with ourselves, wars on foreign land whose oil and resources we decided to pillage.

We have never been, nor will we ever be, unified. Especially not during such a polarizing moment in our history.

Unity can only be had when people agree on policy, politics, or facts as a whole. Our country has never had that—at least, not in my lifetime.

That’s not to say there’s an absence of individual and community unity in America, though, and that can give us some hope.

Over the summer, millions of people took to the streets to protest police brutality—again. People chanted, marched, organized, and—at times— were brutalized by the very police they were protesting against, which hammered home the points of the protests.

That, in its most basic form, is unity: speaking up and out as a united front against injustice.

I listened to his address on my phone, sitting on a bench in Boston Common, having just walked out of my first baseline COVID-19 test. I

inherently good, though. Division, at least the kind we have right now, leads not only to gridlock and a lack of quality policy but inequality in our social lives. Diversity of thought and opinion can be good but not when those opinions are disagreements of fundamental rights. Differences of opinion on economic policy are tolerable. But weaponizing diversity of thought to be exclusionary is inherently evil.

The means by which our current political landscape operates actively prevent any sort of unity. The two-party system, and the ways in which the Republican Party is actively seeking division and turmoil, is inhibiting true progress. Conversely, Democrats allow this division by condemning the GOP but not too harshly so that they can still work with them, whatever that means.

Until we as a country decide to come together and condemn white supremacy, racism, and injustice against marginalized communities, there can be no unity. Any calls by politicians for such unity should be seen as wishful thinking and not an actionable plan.

© 2021 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief Katie Redefer

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

172 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116

jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

News Editors Dana Gerber, News Editor Ann E. Matica, Deputy News Editor Frankie Rowley, Assistant Editor Camilo Fonseca, Assistant Editor Alec Klusza, Assistant Editor Living Arts Editors Josh Sokol, Living Arts Editor Lucia Thorne, Deputy Lifestyle Editor

Outside of Maria’s Taqueria on Tremont Street. Hongyu Liu / Beacon Staff

Our local businesses need us Editorial COVID-19 has decimated countless American businesses. In 2021, many are struggling under new COVID safety regulations, which force them to reduce seating capacity and often reduce late night hours, an essential for many near Emerson. As a result, Yelp’s September economic impact report found nearly 100,000 businesses had no choice but to permanently shutter their doors from the heavy financial burden the pandemic presents.

If we want the small businesses we love to stick around, and we should seeing as they generate 44 percent of US economic activity, we need to give them the financial and vocal support they need to survive COVID-19. We also must call on Emerson to support the small businesses that invigorate our community, considering their vast ability to influence economic success of businesses neighboring the college.

Corporate chains with yearly profits in the millions will likely survive the pandemic. Some large restaurant chains, after pressing for a federal bailout, have done much better than expected from drive-through customers, delivery, and takeout orders. Amazon’s profits in the first nine months of 2020 were up 70 percent from a year earlier.

However thousands of small, family-owned businesses will fade away without the support of customers that allowed them to open in the first place.

For Emerson-local businesses, like Maria’s Taqueria and The Tam, the pandemic alone is nearly enough to close their doors forever. In a story from last week, Christian Mancia, who owns the authentic Mexican restaurant known for its hospitality towards Emerson students, said Maria’s is his family’s baby.

Mancia told The Beacon his business lost nearly 70 percent of its revenue since the pandemic began last spring.

“This year was supposed to be a phenomenal year for us,” Mancia said. “EvMariyam Quaisar, Deputy Arts Editor Karissa Schaefer, Assistant Editor Opinion Editors Juliet Norman, Opinion Editor Shannon Garrido, Deputy Opinion Editor Claire Rodenbush, Assistant Editor Sports Editors Chris Williams, Sports Editor Joey Dubois, Deputy Sports Editor Tyler Foy, Assistant Editor Brendan Beauregaurd, Assistant Editor Photo Editors Hongyu Liu, Photo Editor

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

The financial state of small businesses across the country is already in shambles from the pandemic alone.

What doesn’t help is Emerson’s tunnel vision for financial success instead of supporting smaller, local businesses that give back to our community. Emerson must support the surrounding small businesses during their time of need, rather than stunting their growth by inviting competing chains to campus.

The two commercial spaces in Little Building were given to Tatte and El Jefe’s, both already large, successful, corporate chains. Tatte serves “elegant comfort food” at 18 locations, 16 in Boston and two in Washington DC. Many of the locations are in affluent or student neighborhoods. El Jefe’s has three locations including their Emerson spot, with the others in Harvard Square and Bethlehem, PA. While they are convenient and offer great menu options, why the lack of support for the businesses that have been serving Emerson students for decades?

The college also only gives a small selection of restaurants the ability to charge students in Board Bucks–making meals essentially free for on-campus students, as $800 of the free currency are included in their meal plan. This gives Tatte, El Jefe’s, Garbanzo, and other restaurants that accept Board Bucks, a significant advantage over the other local restaurants in the area, as students are more likely to use Board Bucks than pay out of pocket.

This is especially unacceptable in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused small businesses to suffer through stay-at-home orders and new safety precautions.

It makes sense that these smaller businesses are struggling, even with students back on campus. Allowing students to use their Board Bucks primarily at chain restaurants forces them to forgo the many smaller business options that surround Boylston and

Tremont St. This makes supporting struggling businesses, like Maria’s and Dumpling Cafe, difficult for students enrolled in the school’s meal plan. Why would students spend money out of pocket when they could eat using their $800 of Board Bucks, which is covered under their meal plan?

Emerson knows this— it is an intentional business move that prioritizes the college’s need for financial gain over the livelihood of local businesses that have served the community for years.

Emerson needs to consider adding these smaller businesses to their list of restaurants that accept student Board Bucks, giving students the option to support these businesses at no extra cost to them.

The places that you choose to dine at make a huge difference in what restaurants succeed, especially when people are already dining out less because of the pandemic. When you think about where to eat dinner next, consider supporting the small, local businesses that make our city unique instead of chain conglomerates. If you care about local businesses surviving through the pandemic, you should put your money where your mouth is.

This is not to put the blame on students. Most Americans have financially struggled in some way because of the pandemic, and college students are no exception. Emerson will always have a larger financial impact on the community than an individual student ever could. That’s why it’s up to Emerson, which has the financial means to prop up local businesses, to ensure that restaurants which mean so much to their community aren’t forced to shutter permanently.

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

Advisory Board Meghan Irons Greg Lee Bianca Vásquez Toness Lisa Williams Anthony Miller Carole Simpson

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

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.

Faculty Advisor Rachel Layne

The Berkeley Beacon

February 4, 2021

5

Wall Street’s masked contempt for the ‘free’ in America’s free market

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

The stock market uproar over the past two weeks has enthralled financial institutions and social media platforms alike. It threatens to prove, if nothing else, that the “free” in “free market” exists only in the eye of the beholder—that is to say, for those who can afford to make it so.

The saga began with the abrupt, meteoric rise in the stock price of GameStop (ticker GME), along with various other securities. Yet what is most remarkable isn’t GME’s swelling market capitalization itself—exploding nearly 1,600 percent last month, from its Jan. 3 price of $17.25 to an intraday high of $483—but rather the fact that it was accomplished almost exclusively by individual, not professional, investors.

Retail investors, trading for themselves rather than on behalf of institutions or corporations, first hatched the plan on the Reddit community r/wallstreetbets almost a year ago. In other words, the spike was brought on by amateurs, “dumb

money,” and outsiders to the world of finance. Common people.

The snag is for those most accustomed to reaping the market’s lucrative rewards: the hedge fund managers of Wall Street.

GME is one of many securities that hedge funds have liberally “short-sold”, meaning managers borrow a stock from brokers and sell it to third parties, hoping to buy it back from them at a lower price and thus profit off the return. In waiting for the price to lower, they effectively bet against the company, waiting to cash in on its decline.

Yet when the price rises—as it did drastically for GME—the short-sell scheme becomes a “short squeeze,” meaning that short-sellers have to buy back their stock at a loss. For Wall Street, that loss falls in the vicinity of $19 billion for the last week alone, according to Business Insider.

Predictably, the suits on Wall Street were baying for blood the moment their profit fell into the red. No sooner did GME rise than did the financial press turn on retail investors, slandering them as immature mavericks. They labelled the

spike as a “frenzy”, a “stampede”, even an “insurrection,” and they called for someone to step in and stop the madness.

On Jan. 28, after having witnessed GME rise to an all-time intraday high at $483 a share, the online broker app Robinhood banned stockholders from purchasing further shares on its platform.

American Movie Company (AMC), Nokia, Blackberry, and other surging stocks faced similar restrictions.

Robinhood claimed (days later) that the stoppage was necessary for them to raise transactional collateral and clearinghouse deposits. The obvious explanation for the move is that it was designed to placate the hedge funds and short-sellers—who, of course, also happen to hold significant stakes in the brokerage. Regardless of the truth, on Jan. 28, Robinhood afforded its traders no justification. For stockholders of those select securities, there was only one option: sell.

As could be expected, stock prices plummeted. Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief—their losses stemmed, at least for the moment. Yet the outcry from

retail investors was swift.

Leon Wenhao, a sophomore visual and media arts major, purchased an undisclosed amount of GME shares after first learning of the surge on social media. For him, the trading cutoff was yet another illustration that the hedge funds and short-sellers—the elite— would stop at nothing to protect their supremacy over the market.

“We can make this argument—one that a lot of people really believe—that this country is built on the free market,” Wenhao said in an interview with The Beacon. “But what we’re seeing now is that the free market is free until the average people make money and the billionaires lose money. What we’re seeing is not a ‘free’ market; it is blatant market manipulation by Wall Street.”

While some retail investors have reported spectacular returns, most, like Wenhao, are not just concerned with profit.

“I’m not really making a lot of money in this,” Wenhao said. “I’m pretty sure that’s a common thing for most people buying GameStop right now. This isn’t about how much money you can make; it’s about sending a message to Wall Street.”

More than a declining video game retailer, Wenhao is investing in a social movement—one that reflects the anti-establishment consciousness of a generation that has seen its future “shorted” too many times.

There’s no coincidence that this episode has been driven by millennials and zoomers, the generations molded from the embers of the 2008 recession. This is a rejection of the elite’s monopoly on the stock market, a rebuke of the financial institutions openly lining their pockets from America’s decay—a narrative only confirmed by their furious reactions.

At best, the financial elite dismiss retail investors as irresponsible novices— at worst, tarring them with spurious links to conspiracy theorists and altright groups. They throw around words like “fraud” and “collusion” to focus the government’s attention on r/wallstreetbets while ignoring the collusion at fund managers conferences and luncheons. Most vehemently, they call for “regulation”—a first for Wall Street—to ensure that these upstarts never cause this sort of “market volatility” again.

“I only see these kinds of questions asked when the average people are

making money,” Wenhao said. “Where are these questions when people on Wall Street are doing this?”

“They love to tell poor people, ‘Hey, use your money and invest,’” he continued. “Well, we did, and we made money and they lost money, and only now are there all these questions about rules and regulation in the market.”

Because of the decentralized nature of the jump, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will have a difficult time demonstrating GME’s rise to be a fraudulent scheme, noted CNBC. “We’re just playing by the trick that has been played for decades,” Wenhao said.

Instead, traders like Wenhao are hoping that the SEC will intervene on their side.

“People need to go to prison,” Wenhao said, referring to the short-sellers who allegedly pressured Robinhood into clamping down on trading. “You can’t just slap them on the wrist; if they don’t go to jail, ten years down the line this might happen again. If we really are in a free market, these things should not happen, and people should definitely not get away with them.”

The company is currently facing a class action lawsuit from the very traders it betrayed, as well as the possibility of an SEC probe. Given the wide range of political forces arrayed against the brokerage (everyone from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Sen. Ted Cruz), the eventuality of a full exoneration seems unlikely.

That is, barring external pressure from Wall Street or from others in government; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen received $810,000 in speaking fees from Citadel LLC, a large hedge fund and affiliate of Robinhood, Slate reported.

As for GME, AMC, NOK, BB, and other securities, their market caps had fallen by the end of trading on Feb. 2, but remained far above their early January lows. They were not sunk by the cries of Wall Street or even the iron fists of brokers; they survived.

So too does this ragtag movement survive, at least for the moment. Yet it would be a mistake to say that this social consciousness has its sights set on shorted stock alone.

In terms of ambition, it is being sent to the moon. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

The missing half: The reality of Mexico’s femicide crisis Ana Sophia Garcia- Cubas Assemat Beacon Correspondent Content warning: This Op-ed discusses topics of domestic violence, murder, sexual assault, and gender-based violence.

On Mar. 9 of last year, millions of women carried out one of the largest protests in Mexican history. We did not leave our homes—we did not go to school, we did not go to work, we did not cook, we did not clean, we did not answer any messages or calls, and we did not post on social media.

This was not a protest of presence, like workers striking in front of their company or protestors rallying in front of government buildings; it was a protest of absence, a refusal to participate in a society that doesn’t value us. Every day, 10 women are killed in Mexico, women who were sisters, mothers and daughters, but who were also humans with the right to live. On this day, Mexican women disappeared to honor those of us who have disappeared forever.

In the midst of the pre-lockdown confusion, Mexico was reeling from the aftermath of the femicides of Ingrid Escamilla and Fatima Aldriguetti. Their murders were brutal and highly publicized, and for many women, they were the match that lit the fuse. As the name “femicide” entails, Escamilla and Aldriguetti were two individuals that were murdered because they had the misfortune of being female in a society that deems them as inferior. Their murders were the tipping point that sparked a feminist movement,

from protests, to riots, and nation-wide strikes.

They were not the first, nor would they be the last, victims of such a crime—but they were the ones that broke through the numbness and acceptance of violence that had seeped into Mexican society. After months of protests failed to achieve any sort of change, Mexican feminists organized a strike called “A Day Without Us.” The purpose of the strike was to show men how women are an important part of society and to make them reflect on what they would feel if a woman they knew fell victim to gender-based violence. There was hope that, if enough women participated in the strike, the government might finally take steps to end gender-based violence.

The Mexican news outlet Milenio estimates that around 22 million women participated in the strike—17.4 percent of Mexico’s entire population. They also estimate that the economy lost 37 billion pesos ($1.83 billion) in one day because of the lack of women in the labor force.

Although the strike had a large impact on the country’s economy, the government brushed it off and did nothing to combat femicide. The Mexican government hasn’t done anything to reform the judicial system since the strike. No preventive measures have been put in place, so femicide keeps happening.

Systemic issues haven’t been addressed, so perpetrators keep getting away with these violent acts.

According AltoNivel, a Mexican news outlet, “Nine out of ten aggressions towards women remain unpunished because of the preconceived notion that the treatment of women is

a matter of familial relations and not a topic for public policy.”

Although femicide is considered a crime under the Mexican penal code, in practice there are many systemic and cultural barriers that allow it to go unpunished. Local governmental institutions usually turn away any report of femicide because there is no system that would punish them for doing so, and if they turn away reports of femicide, they can proudly say that femicide rates are lower in their city. Often, if someone is allowed to report a missing woman, they’re told to put up posters, and the police will not help find the victim. Even more often, they accuse the victims of running away with their boyfriends or insinuate that she somehow brought it upon herself for running in the wrong circles. On many occasions, the perpetrators are caught and then declared innocent because it is difficult to play the “he-said, she-said” game when one of the parties is dead.

Prior to the strike, feminist protests had become increasingly violent due to a feeling of hopelesness surrounding violence against women. Protestors had been occupying government buildings, burning and painting over national monuments and public property, and leading public demonstrations to demand change.

Part of the reason why the protests have become so large-scale is because of social media. Sharing someone’s missing person poster has become an act of protest that is nearly impossible to ignore, making people painfully aware of the extent of the problem.

Whenever I scroll through Facebook, I see at least four or five posts of people desperately trying to find their daugh-

ters and sisters, and at least once a day, I read a news article about someone’s body being found. It’s hard to not feel fear, anger, and impotence when you scroll past the faces of victims every day, wondering if you’ll be next. Even with a lockdown in place in the middle of a pandemic that has killed thousands of Mexicans, violence against women is on the rise.

On Mar. 10, we came back to school, back to work, back to society, hoping to see some sort of reaction. One of the largest protests in Mexican history had to have had some sort of impact. Maybe people would finally realize that tolerating domestic abuse often escalates to murder. Maybe people would stop blaming women for being raped and abused.

Maybe men would reflect on the role that women play in their life and stop calling feminists hysterical.

It’s been almost one year since the protest. Since then, the femicide rates keep rising. Ingrid Escamilla’s murderer was sent to rehab instead of prison. Fatima Aldriguetti’s body was found inside of a trash bag a week after her disappearance. The only true change in one year is that women are now being murdered in their own homes rather than on the street.

Although Mexico’s fight against femicide seems never-ending, we cannot underestimate the power of the people.

Mexican feminists are fighting tooth and nail, and they have had many victories, too: instituting a sex offender registry, criminalizing revenge porn with Olimpia’s Law, and protecting the dignity of victims of femicide after death with Ingrid’s Law. Slowly but steadily, we see Latin American countries moving to

Ana Sophia Garcia- Cubas Assemat

Courtesy Ana Sophia Garcia-Cubas Assemat

protect women’s rights, with countries like Argentina moving forward to legalize abortion. Even if these large-scale protests haven’t had the major impact in Mexico we hoped they would have, the movement has set a precedent. Legislations like Ingrid’s Law and Olimpia’s Law may be small victories, but any step forward is a reason to celebrate.

One day, I hope girls will be born without targets on their backs—but there is still a long fight ahead of us. If women want equality and humane treatment in Mexico, there must be a continued and increasing effort on our part. The government can only ignore the cries from half of its population for so long. a_garciacubasassemat@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 4, 2021

6

Living Arts

Why Miley Cyrus is the musical chameleon of Gen Z ‘Plastic Hearts’ proves Cyrus can carve out genre for herself

Karissa Schaefer Beacon Staff

Gen-Z follows Miley Cyrus through it all. From living a double life on screen as Hannah Montana to a Tiktok trend where fans do whatever Cyrus comments. Throughout her career, fans appreciate her authenticity and knack for doing whatever she wants.

On Nov. 27, Miley Cyrus released her first pop-rock album and seventh studio album “Plastic Hearts.” The album spent six weeks as Billboard’s number one rock album and currently stands at number two. Features on the album include Dua Lipa, Joan Jett, Billy Idol and Stevie Nicks.

With heavy classic rock and synthpop influences, “Plastic Hearts” revives ‘80s culture. Cyrus, along with other artists like Dua Lipa and The Weeknd, took inspiration from ‘80s music and turned them into modern hits. For instance, “Midnight Sky” parallels the likes of ‘80s singer Blondie, utilizing the synthesizer that makes synthpop what it is: a large element of pop and rock music. Now, Cyrus even flaunts a blonde mullet, embodying the ‘80s rock n’ roll style.

This is not the first time Cyrus has defined an era for herself.

With each album she crafts, a distinct persona accompanies her.

Hannah Montana started her pop career in 2006, transitioning to the “Can’t Be Tamed” rebellion after her palatable Disney career. This was followed by her hip-hop influenced “Bangerz,” and then her experimental album “Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.” She crossed into country music with “Younger Now,” and now rock with “Plastic Hearts,” possibly making her one of the most versatile musicians of our generation.

Gen Z has seen Miley’s transformation firsthand, growing up

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

alongside her. She is authentic and not afraid to be herself, something a lot of people can respect and look up to. Cyrus keeps that “Hannah Montana” influence—a popstar with hints of country brought on from her Nashville upbringing—even today with the first track on “Plastic Hearts,” “WTF Do I Know.”

The new album features 12 original songs, one remix and two covers. The lead single “Midnight Sky,” which got rave areviews from critics, was compared to Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen,” with the two collaborating on the remix “Edge of Midnight.” The second single, “Prisoner” featuring Dua

“She is

authentic and not afraid to be herself” - Karissa Schaefer

Lipa, did not disappoint either, released a week before the album debut.

From soft country and ballads to hard-hitting pop synth, Cyrus’ unique, distinctive raspy voice is captured well. According to ‘Metacritic,’ Cyrus “is passionate and self-aware” and “proves that [she] can be derivative and still be an original.”

The songs are cohesive throughout the album. While each song sounds individual, they all flow narratively and sonically. A skip button isn’t needed while listening to this album, and it’s difficult to come up with a ranking. Sometimes I’ll be alone appreciating

the slower songs like “High” and “Angels Like You.” Other times, I’ll want to dance and sing to “Night Crawling,” featuring Billy Idol, and “Bad Karma,” featuring Joan Jett.

The title track doesn’t disappoint either, with a chorus that is extremely catchy. The deep bass of “Gimme What I Want” is a hit.

The last original song, “Golden G String,” is a perfectly deep song about men in power and reflects on Trump’s presidency. Cyrus is also reflective on her own career and the media’s judgemental opinions. Featured lyrics include “The old boys hold all the cards, and they ain’t playin’ gin” and “They told me I should cover it, so I went the other way.”

Themes of the album reflect Cyrus moving on from a breakup, as told in the candid lyrics such as “It’s not your fault I can’t be what you need,” (“Angels Like You”) and “And I don’t miss you but I think of you and don’t know why,” (“High”). Cyrus is self assured with this album and was even featured on the cover of “Rolling Stone” for the January 2021 issue.

“Plastic Hearts” is a nice call back to the classic rock era. There is not as big of a mainstream rock fanbase that there is for genres such as pop or hip hop on social media, but even still, Cyrus does not shy away from the genre.

“Rolling Stone” touched on the idea of commercialized rock in 2018. Cyrus is bringing attention to the genre in modern times. The singer’s songs were also used in plenty of Tik Toks, which helped promote her music and bring new fans to the rock genre.

The album has been out for two months, yet every time I listen to it, I can find something new to appreciate. This feels like a natural progression for Miley Cyrus, as she seems to have found a near-perfect sound. karissa_schaefer@emerson.edu

Veteran, producer, Golden Globe nominee

Norman Lear ‘44 to be given Carol Burnett Award on Feb. 28 ceremony Juliet Norman Beacon Staff

Courtesy Emerson College

Statue-guardian of the Boylston Place Alley Norman Lear will be the third recipient of the annual Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes. The award recognizes Lear’s work in television spanning several decades.

Lear, who achieved remarkable success in producing and screenwriting, attended Emerson for about two years until he dropped out in 1942 to join the U.S. Army.

After serving in World War II, Lear launched his professional career in which he helped produce more than 20 hit television shows.

The Carol Burnett Award, a lifetime achievement award named after the actress and star of “The Carol Burnett Show,” was created in 2018 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to honor those who have exhibited “outstanding contributions to television on or off

the screen.”

Burnett accepted the inaugural award in 2019, followed by comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres, who took home the award in 2020. The award is paired with the ceremony’s other lifetime achievement award, the Cecil B. de Mille Award, for achievement in film, which will be presented to Jane Fonda this year.

This isn’t the first time Lear’s work has been celebrated by the award show. His 1971 sitcom “All in the Family” secured eight Golden Globes while it was on air, setting a record for Best Comedy Series.

Most recently, Lear produced the Netflix Original-turned CBS family sitcom “One Day at a Time,” a retelling of Lear’s 1975 version with the same title, but this time with an all Latinx cast.

Lear is also set to serve as executive producer for the animated revival of the 1974 sitcom “Good Times,” premiering on Netflix later

this year. Many of his older popular sitcoms have celebrated diversity in their storylines, such as “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” the first television series to depict an interraccial married couple in the U.S. Ali Sar, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), called Lear one of “the most prolific creators of this generation.”

“His career has encompassed both the Golden Age and Streaming Era, throughout which his progressive approach [to] addressing controversial topics through humor prompted a cultural shift that allowed social and political issues to be reflected in television,” Sar said in a statement.

Lear will be given the award during the Golden Globes’ 78th ceremony, which will be hosted

by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The ceremony will air Feb. 28 on NBC at 8 p.m. EST. juliet_norman@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 4, 2021

7

“Broadway Smashes COVID” virtual benefit announcement poster / Courtesy Healthcare Without Walls

Non-profit ‘Healthcare Without Walls’ to host virtual Broadway Fundraiser Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

In an effort to raise funds for their organization, the Wellesley-based non-profit Health Care Without Walls (HCWW) is hosting the “Broadway Smashes COVID” virtual benefit on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.

EST. The virtual benefit event aims to help the organization continue to provide free healthcare for women and children facing housing-insecurity and homelessness in the Metro Boston area during the pandemic.

The event, to be hosted by singer and comedian Chris Mann, will feature performances from several stars of the stage and screen, including opera singer Renee Fleming, Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley, season 10 winner of “The Voice” Alisan

Porter, “American Horror Story” star Cheyenne Jackson, Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young, “Rent” star Adam Pascal and star of “NCIS: Los Angeles” Barret Foa. Founded by Dr. Roseanna Means, M.D. in 1999, Health Care Without Walls usually provides their free healthcare services and case management to the homeless. Since homelessness makes it incredibly challenging to access primary health care, HCWW brings health care to them through homeless shelters located around Boston.

“Because [being homeless] is so challenging and chaotic, sometimes somebody with a chronic condition just cannot get to their primary care,” Means said in a phone interview. “Their first priority is gonna be to get a meal for the day. It’s not going to be going to the doctor’s office. When they go to the

“We felt that we needed a fundraiser to help off the cost of opening our own space” Dr. Roseanna Means

shelter to get food, we make ourselves available to check a number of things, and we can connect them with primary care.”

Means said their operations are reduced due to pandemic-related closures of their shelter clinics. The need for their own permanent clinic became more apparent to Means.

“We needed enough room for social distancing because the women are desperate to continue to get our services,” Means said. “We felt that we needed a fundraiser to help off the cost of opening our own space, getting medical equipment, more PPE and having the staff available to help the growing numbers.”

Means said at the start of the nationwide quarantines, women’s shelter in Boston’s South End, a shelter they have been working with for over 20 years, offered clinic space to the organization in their shelter.

“Operating out of the shelter clin-

ic has been very, very convenient for the women because they can again get a meal or meet an advocate at the same time,” Means said. “Since March, we have been there every day doing medical screenings of the women who need to come inside to get warm, to take a shower and be unhassled for the day.”

In addition to being able to provide some care in-person, Means said they have been using telehealth communication—providing medical care electronically—to treat the clients they are able to reach. The organization plans to open a clinic just a few blocks from Emerson on West Street.

As the importance of frontline workers and access to medical care has become increasingly clear during the pandemic, Means said that securing Broadway stars to headline the fundraiser was far from challenging. Through her musician son’s connection to Chris Mann, the host of the event, Mann was able to recruit plenty of enthusiastic entertainers.

“He offered to connect us to talent that did Broadway music because Chris had some connections in that space,” Means said. “We put together a package with some of our videos and some of our material. We gave it to Chris, and people signed up immediately.”

As the pandemic halted all sorts of productions in the entertainment industry, Means said the performers are thrilled to be performing again and for a good cause.

“These are people whose livelihood depends on being able to perform and to be in front of audiences,” Means said. “They are more than happy to support the work that we’ve been doing because we’ve been on the front lines of the pandemic.”

The night will include performances from the star studded lineup and a pre-show, which starts 15 minutes before the show. Means also hinted at a surprise at the end of the show. “All I will say is, be prepared to dance,” Means said.

Traditionally, the organization fundraised by hosting galas every five years. Means said she is excited to host this new event and hopes it will become an annual benefit with viewers from around the country and world. Tickets are $50 per person; however, students can purchase tickets for the virtual event at a discounted price online at ticket registration. Those who are unable to attend but would like to donate, can donate at ticket registration or HCWW’s website. lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

SOPHIE, pop artist behind ‘Chromatica” production, dead at 34

Media: OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES NON-STOP REMIX cover Cont. from Pg. 1

In 2019, her debut album “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES,” was nominated for “Best Dance/Electronic Album” at the Grammys, and in 2018, she won the “Innovator Award” at the AIM Independent Music Awards.

In her own music, SOPHIE

touched audiences with her intimate approach to identity and the reflection of self. SOPHIE, a trans artist herself, approached queer fans both in her comforting lyriscm and in her sound—which could either be heard in a racey nightclub or a quiet, reflective night at home.

What made SOPHIE so compelling was the duality she expressed through sound. Violent and aggressive screeches could follow soft, dreamy overtures, which sent the listener through a whirlwind, through the eye of the storm into the rain.

In her music video for “It’s Okay to Cry,” she took this imagery literally, naked in front of green-screened backgrounds of rainbows, thunderstorms and night skies. SOPHIE, in her material form, transcended into a being that was fluid and walked across static boundaries of gender and expression without fear, without a need to be a single concept. She was free, arcane and beautiful, without bounds.

She addressed the complexity of human existence through all of its hardships, “Just know whatever hurts, it’s all mine,” she sings in “It’s Okay to Cry,” a declaration of empathy and understanding that we are not alone in our struggles. She reassures her audience, “just know you’ve got nothing to hide,” and that our identities are sacred, safe within the space that she created for expression.

Her high-pitched vocals almost acted as satire on modern pop music. SOPHIE somehow subverted a

hyper-mainstream genre and made it sound fresh. The sounds she created had a transformative property, an act

“Her music was a battle cry, while all the same being a shoulder to cry on.” of alchemy that held a mirror to the listener and prompted introspection.

Her music embodied the old adage “recognition of the self through the other.”

Thinking about what is lost with SOPHIE is immeasurable. Her music was a battle cry, while all the same being a shoulder to cry on. Singer Charli XCX wrote on Twitter about her friend, “All I can say is that I miss her terribly; her smile, her laugh, her dancing in the studio, her gentle inquisitive voice and her incredible vision and mind.”

Other musicians who worked with SOPHIE also expressed their loss via social media. Singer-songwriter Rihanna wrote a short post on Twitter saying, “still can’t believe this. Rest Peacefully Sophie,” along with a picture of the two artists. Rapper and singer-songwriter Vince Staples wrote on Twitter “you ain’t never seen somebody in the studio smoking a cigarette in a leather bubble jacket just making beats not saying one word.”

But SOPHIE’s death should not be mourned in silent, quiet pensiveness; it should be honored with her sound and dance. She gave us her gift; she peeled back her layers and told us, without direction, to find ourselves with them. joshua_sokol@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

February 4, 2021

8

Super Bowl LV Predictions Sunday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m.

Brendan Beauregard

Chiefs 28, Bucs 24 Charlie McKenna

Chiefs 31, Bucs 24 Christopher Williams

Bucs 28, Chiefs 24 Joey Dubois

Bucs 30, Chiefs 27 José Ríos

Bucs 35, Chiefs 24 Nate Lannan

Sam Willinger (right) / Photo Courtesy Sam Willinger

ECAPS and student athletes discuss loss of identity in new event series ‘It’s really, really a hard time’

José Ríos Beacon Staff lasdhgoiasjfoidsgsdihgiashgldshgkldsgdsghdsgoisgosjgWith the fall and winter sports season canceled, and the future of the spring uncertain, Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services partnered with the Emerson Athletics Department to address the mental strain the COVID-19 pandemic has on student-athletes.

The Student-Athlete Workshop Series: Resiliency Through COVID-19 is open to all Emerson student-athletes, and it will be divided into three separate workshops.

The first workshop, which focused on the loss of an athlete’s identity after a cancelled season, took place on Monday, Feb. 1.

“I think for a lot of people, it’s really, really a hard time, and not everybody’s comfortable talking about it right now,” Men’s volleyball Cap-

tain Sam Willinger said. “But the goal is to kind of just support people

as best as they can.”

The idea for the series came during the fall, according to Kyle Rundles, the associate director of counseling services.

“During a meeting last semester, we began to discuss the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on student-athletes, some of whom are facing the loss of multiple seasons in their sport,” Rundles said in an interview, “Athletic identity was chosen as the first topic to build a community foundation to move forward with other topics in the series—processing grief and fostering resilience.”

The adjustments to COVID-19 vary from person to person, but Rundles said the community of athletes can point out a more clear and obvious loss—the fall and winter sports seasons.

“Student-athletes are one of many groups facing specific loss during

the pandemic,” Rundles said. “I think it’s important to come together and seek resiliency strategies together while also processing specific losses.”

The college launched the series due to the potentially traumatizing loss of a season for athletes. For student-athletes, their sport can turn from a simple activity into part of their identities. Collegiate sports also demand a significant time commitment, and losing this commitment can create a level of confusion within athletes, as discussed during the panel.

Erin Brennen, senior associate director of athletics, helped construct the workshops. Brennen said the loss of the season is especially hard for student-athletes because they have to adapt to life without the sport that typically occupied most of their time.

“You’re not getting up and going to the gym every day; you don’t have practice, so it’s, ‘How do I see

Bucs 31, Chiefs 24 Tyler Foy

Chiefs 30, Bucs 24 Winner: Tampa Bay Buccaneers myself without this big part of who I am?’,” Brennen said during the workshop. “It’s been such a part of my life for 15, 18, 20 years, and how do I make that shift [forward]? And what happened traumatically, it’s hard to make that shift.”

Beyond providing athletes a space to discuss the various issues that come from this loss, ECAPS also wrote a blog post on Emerson Athletics’ website. The blog not only explains how student-athletes may be feeling after loss of their seasons, but it also clarifies the seven stages of grief—shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance.

“You may have feelings that are completely different [than] your friends and teammates, and please know that this is okay,” the blog post stated.

Willinger said the importance of having these workshops relates to how emotionally connected athletes can be to their sport. He stressed that

The Tam creates limited menu to keep doors open in COVID-19 Pandemic Cont. from Pg. 1 Foultz said the regulars at The Tam formed a Facebook group, where they planned meet-ups over the summer to drink together or hold barbecues.

“I think this place is something that all the regulars really appreciate going to and find is an escape for them,” she said. “It would be pretty devastating for them to not be able to go there anymore.”

Hilty said she met people within “the hallowed walls” of The Tam who she had never encountered on

Emerson’s campus, as well as people she knew. Seeing familiar faces was a large part of the appeal of her usual Thursday night trek—besides her order of a gin and tonic with an extra lime.

“I think there’s a little magic in the griminess of it… The Tam definitely has that hidden gem feel even though it’s in downtown Boston—you feel kind of cool for going,” Hilty said. “It’s definitely one of the highlights of my Emerson experience, and it’s not even connected to Emerson at all.”

Muci said the bar houses some

Bartender Lyn Grande sitting on a barstool at The Tam between sheets of plexiglass. Alec Klusza / Beacon Staff of her favorite memories, but she too hasn’t been back since the pandemic began.

“It would be really tragic if the people that didn’t get to experience

The Tam are never able to experience it,” Muci said. “For the people that were able to experience it they won’t talk about their Emerson experience without mentioning

athletes tend to have a lot of emotions to manage despite popular misconceptions such as, “we don’t have problems, we’re just athletes we’re free,” said Willinger, “Or we’re not in touch with our emotions.”

“I think athletes, if anything, are very in touch with at least a couple of their emotions,” Willinger said in an interview. “Maybe not all of them, but they’re very in touch with anger, fear, goal-setting. There are so many things that go into being an athlete that actively play on your mental health.”

For Brennen, the blog and workshops focus on providing aid to the Emerson athletic community amid these uncertain times.

“We want to make sure we’re providing all the resources we can for support for the student athletes,” Brennen said. “So, if one student athlete benefits from this, that’s what I’m looking for.”

jose_rios@emerson.edu their nights at The Tam.” Foultz said it was hard to precisely pinpoint the magic of the place.

“It has this kind of aura about it that pulls people in—all the regulars call it The Tam hole because they’ve just been going everyday for years,” she said. “Time moves slower when you’re at The Tam.” Grande described the space as an equalizer.

“Everybody treats everybody the same,” she said. “You come in here for beer you end up leaving with friends. That’s the kind of place it is.”

Despite the financial setback the pandemic has wrought, Grande said she’s not worried about The Tam’s long-term survival.

“I have faith in this place,” Grande said. “This place, for some reason, always seems to come up fighting. No matter what, we’re always here. Through blizzards, everything. We never close. We’re open every single day.”

dana_gerber@emerson.edu