Vaccines

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

Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 16

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

As vaccine rollout stumbles along, Emerson community gets in line

Photo Courtesy Jesse Battilana Students walking down Boylston Street. Hongyui Liu / Beacon Staff

Administrators blame sudden rise in virus cases on student behaviors Andrew Brinker & Diti Kohli Beacon Staff Top Emerson officials pinned the recent surge of positive COVID-19 tests on students’ lax behaviors Saturday, despite repeatedly touting the strength of the safety measures they have in place to keep the virus at bay.

In emails and interviews, administrators acknowledged for the first time that the virus is spreading between students due to repeated violations of social distancing and mask-wearing protocols. But officials’ faith in the college’s long-standing COVID-19 restrictions, which have only been narrowly tightened since statewide infection numbers rose and prominent virus variants emerged late last year, is unwavering. (Emerson’s fall positive tests came almost entirely from isolated instances of spread off campus, contact

tracing efforts indicated.)

Since Jan. 11, 60 community members have tested positive for the virus, tying the number of positives that accumulated through the entirety of the fall semester. Just 10 had tested positive at this point in the fall.

“This is serious, and there’s really no margin for error,” Vice President and Dean for Campus Life Jim Hoppe wrote in an email to students Saturday.

“Higher positivity rates around the U.S., the influx of more contagious virus strains, and the cold weather heighten the need to observe safety guidelines. This is a reality, not a ‘what if.’”

The spate of positive test results prompted two firm emails from the college, but no decision to bear down on existing guidelines like capacity limits or temporarily shift to online classes.

(36 of the 60 positive tests reported by

the college this semester came in the last two weeks.) Instead, administrators doubled down on their assurance in the current protocols—and lambasted students for violating restrictions.

“If your lack of compliance is because you don’t want to follow the rules, then being in Flex classes this spring is not the right choice for you,” Hoppe wrote. “Let’s cut to the chase and make it easy for you to leave campus now before you spoil it for everyone else.”

It’s an abrupt shift from the optimistic community messages sent last fall and in the first weeks of the spring semester. When cases on campus spiked ahead of Thanksgiving, administrators praised students for adhering to protocols, though there were notable instances of students gathering on and off campus.

Virus, Pg. 3

Dana Gerber Beacon Staff

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues to plod along in the state and nation, some members of the Emerson community have gotten one or both of the doses of the two authorized U.S. vaccines, marking the beginning of the end of a pandemic that has upended nearly every aspect of college life.

Most states’ vaccines are still limited to health care workers, adults over a certain age, or certain essential workers. However, some members of the Emerson community, by virtue of their jobs, locations, or loopholes, have been able to receive the life-saving dosages.

Emerson College Police Department officers and Center for Health and Wellness staff received COVID-19 vaccines as part of Phase One of the Massachusetts Vaccination plan. The rest of the general Emerson community is planned to follow in Phase Three, which is expected to occur between April and June.

Status of vaccine distribution

Emerson alumni team up to adapt ‘The Fact of a Body’ for HBO series Campbell Parish Beacon Staff CONTENT WARNING: This article contains mention of sexual violence and murder.

Alum and writer Alex Marzano-Lesnevich’s ‘09 book The Fact of a Body has been picked up by fellow alum Jermaiah Zagar ’03 to be adapted into a HBO Television series. The book, a memoir and an autobiography, follows Marzano-Lesnevich’s own childhood intertwined with a story about a murderer.

Marzano-Lesnevich received their MFA from Emerson and published their book in 2017 after working on it for nearly a decade, they said in an interview with The Beacon.

“My publisher likes to say that the book was a decade in the making. I like to say that it was three years in the avoiding and seven years in the writing,” Marzano-Lesnevich said.

In 2003, Marzano-Lesnevich was studying at Harvard Law School, where they interned at a death penalty defense firm in New Orleans over the summer.

Marzano-Lesnevich and other interns learned of the Ricky Langley case after being shown his confession tape.

Langley was on parole after prior child-molestation convictions when he murdered his six-year-old neighbor, Jeremy Guillory, by strangulation, then hid the body in his closet during the search for the missing child. Langley was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to the death penalty; the sentence was upheld on appeal. In his third trial in 2003, however, he was acquitted of first-degree murder, convicted of second-degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison in 2009.

HBO, Pg. 7

Quarantined students describe abysmal food conditions, allergen violations Dana Gerber Beacon Staff

INSIDE THIS EDITION Lambert’s Marketplace now accepting Board Bucks Pg. 2 Op-ed: I deserve to have an opinion as a journalist Pg. 5 17 must-watch movies to celebrateValentine’s Day Pg. 6 Farming legislation sparks protests across India Pg. 7 Tom Brady scores seventh Superbowl victory Pg. 8

A nut-containing meal delivered to a student in isolation. / Photo Courtesy Sean Facey

Photo Courtesy Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Five students in quarantine and isolation housing in the Paramount residence hall, cut off from many of the college’s services and completely dependent on twice-a-day meal delivery to their door to eat, have reported abysmal and sometimes life-threatening menus.

On Feb. 9, when senior Sean Facey woke up for his fifth day of quarantine in Paramount, he was greeted with a food pack labeled “nut-free.”

The pack contained a breakfast sandwich, lunch sandwich, a salad, Honey Nut Cheerios, and an orange. The sports communication major, who has a severe peanut and tree nut allergy, could eat only the orange—ev-

erything else was pre-packaged by York Street Market, which makes its food in the same facility as nuts.

Though he immediately called Food Services and a replacement food pack was delivered around 11 a.m., the experience was troubling, he said.

“I’m not a very picky guy for the most part—I’ll eat whatever is given to me as long as it doesn’t kill me,” Facey said in a Zoom interview from quarantine. “It’s just kind of stunning to me that a lot of this stuff keeps slipping through the cracks and that there was actually a time where I was able to just theoretically not have any food available for me to eat.”

Facey went into quarantine on Monday, Feb. 5, after his friend junior Jeremy Guerin tested positive.

varies state by state. In Massachusetts, which is currently in Phase Two of its three-phase plan, residents over the age of 75 are eligible to book appointments to get vaccinated, following the inoculation of health care workers, employees in long-term care facilities, and first responders.

In their vaccination report card released Feb. 9, The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School gave Massachusetts an F grade in vaccinations per capita and vaccinations as percent of doses available, making the state 42nd and 44th in the nation, respectively.

As of Feb. 10, out of the more than four million adults Governor Charlie Baker said would receive vaccines, 950,515 have received at least one dose, according to state data. The rollout has been eased by the influx of appointments available after the opening of four mass vaccination sites, according to The Boston Globe. There are currently over 140 active vaccination sites throughout the state, according to the state’s website, though the volume of available vaccines varies.

For health care workers, the vaccine is the signal of the light at the end of the tunnel after nearly a year of strained resources and heightened precautions. Jesse Battilana, a nurse practitioner who works at the Center for Health and Wellness, received the vaccine in Phase One at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where she worked before coming to Emerson in January.

“I showed up a couple minutes before my appointment,” she said.

“I went through a series of screening questions with the nurse that administered it, and then waited for 15 minutes afterwards, just so they could monitor and make sure there weren’t any adverse effects.”

Vaccine, Pg. 2 Facey, Guerin, and Guerin’s three suitemates, senior Anton Lee (who later also tested positive), and juniors Justin Voegelin and Jeff Pratt, packed up their belongings in their Colonial Residence Hall suites to go to Paramount for isolation and quarantine.

Isolation is for those who are “known or reasonably known to be infected” with COVID-19. Quarantine is for those who may have been exposed to the virus, but are not showing symptoms.

Each of the students described the substandard food delivered to them twice daily; a breakfast and lunch pack in the morning, and a dinner in the early evening. Christie Anglade, director of the office of housing and residential education, said students also receive a “snack pack” delivered twice a week. Students in Paramount have a mini fridge and microwave.

Lee, who was also placed in quarantine on Jan. 24 and released Feb. 2 before returning just three days later, said he then once received an “old sandwich” for lunch, eating only the meat he peeled off the bread.

Quarantine, Pg. 3

120

positive COVID-19 tests

.18%

positivity rate *Accumulated from 2020-2021 school year

News

The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

2

Supermarket and deli Lambert’s Marketplace begins accepting Board Bucks Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

Lambert’s Marketplace experienced a slew of technical difficulties as the convenience store and sandwich shop transitioned to accepting Emerson’s Board Bucks last week.

The locale was announced as an Emerson Dining partner on Jan. 25.

It is the newest local business to offer Board Bucks services for Emerson students, joining locations such as El Jefe’s Taqueria, Tatte Bakery & Cafe, and Blaze Pizza—which accepted Board Bucks during the fall but was not officially announced as a dining partner until January.

Lambert’s has stood on the corner of Tremont St. and Temple Pl. for fourteen years, serving both the Emerson and Suffolk student populations as well as the general downtown community. While the establishment has accepted ECCash for about a decade, Hany Gad, a former employee who bought the location four years ago, said he initiated the process of becoming a dining partner at the behest of a student.

“He came in and tried to use his [Emerson ID],” Gad said. “It didn’t work, but we figured out he was trying to use Board Bucks. So I reached out to the school and said, ‘Can we activate it here?’”

Within a few weeks, the semiannual Emerson Dining Newsletter officially announced Lambert’s as a new Board Bucks location.

However, the transition to accepting the college’s currency was rocky after it became apparent that the Lambert’s registers were unable to properly read Emerson ID cards. Gad eventually determined that UGryd, the third-party vendor contracted by Emerson to control the software behind Board Bucks, was the root of the problem.

“When you’re using your Board Bucks, you’re swiping it through a

machine,” Jordan Mackenzie, customer experience coordinator for campus services, said in an interview. “That device is controlled by that third party.

We [at Emerson Business Services] are on the back end, shaking hands and making sure that all goes smoothly, but in terms of customer support, [business partners] would work with them.”

After Mackenzie’s office was made aware of the issue, she notified UGryd, who then reached out to Lambert’s. As of Feb. 4, Gad said the issue had been resolved, praising the college for its support—which he said was “99.9999 percent” responsible for the resolution.

“They didn’t just help me alone, they helped the students,” he said. “If they help you all, they help me.”

The decision to extend Board Bucks services to Lambert’s Marketplace is part of the Emerson Dining Alliance initiative, which has been working to bolster the college’s partnerships with local eateries since fall 2020.

“All of that was in an effort to create more resources on campus while working within the guidelines of OneEmerson,” Mackenzie said. “It’s an incentive to offer our students a controlled meal price and make sure they’re giving the goods to our community—which [Lambert’s is].”

Mackenzie noted Lambert’s fulfills the chief requirement to be considered as a Board Bucks partner: offering a full meal—an entree, side, and drink—for a “controlled” price.

“You can get a sandwich, a bag of chips, and a drink over there for $10,” she said. “That’s similar to the on-campus cost—and that’s really the requirement.”

Lambert’s meal offerings also include soups and salads, but the establishment also functions as a convenience store, in a similar fashion to the Max’s C Store; barring alcohol, cigarettes, and lottery tickets, students are able to use their Board Bucks to

The exterior of Lambert’s Marketplace. Zhihao Wu / Beacon Staff purchase anything in the store.

“We have all this variety of items that students can come in and grab, be it coffee, ice cream, chips, snacks, groceries for the dorm,” Gad said.

“Anything, we have it—and at an affordable price.”

However, Gad stressed that the sandwiches—which feature unconventional, Boston-themed names like the Salem Street (classic Italian sub) and Boylston Street (chicken salad sub)—are the foremost attraction for Emerson students.

“Our sandwiches are different than others—ours are better,” he said, laughing. camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

Half of the shelf is empty in Lambert’s Marketplace. Zhihao Wu / Beacon Staff

Professors, staff, and students begin to receive vaccines

Megan Rose Gavia (right) and her mom recieved vaccines. / Courtesy Megan Rose Gavia

Cont. from Pg. 1 She received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in a 15-minute appointment in January, and the second dose on Feb. 5.

“I could not stop smiling the entire day,” Battilana said. “Not having to worry quite so much that every wrong move might kill someone’s grandmother is a huge weight off my shoulders.”

The vaccinations in Phase Three will be distributed in line with “Massachusetts protocols, order of priority, and as its supplies allow,” according to a Jan. 11 announcement from the col-

lege. These shots will be administered by Tufts Medical Center, the same institution that coordinated Emerson’s COVID-19 testing.

Erik Muurisepp, assistant vice president for campus life and “COVID Lead,” said the college has not determined if the vaccine will be required in order to return to campus in the fall. He said individuals should not wait to receive the vaccine through the college if they can get it quicker elsewhere.

Though vaccines in the state are currently limited to those 75 and older, one 68-year-old Emerson professor, who requested to remain anonymous, received the first dose of vaccine on Feb. 6. He

has a blood disorder, and his wife, who also received the vaccine, has a comorbidity—an underlying health condition that might make one more vulnerable to infection—as well.

They both got the vaccine at CareWell Urgent Care in Cambridge, a location he heard about from a friend, and they were both honest about their ages when they gave the clinic their information over the phone. The hour-anda-half process, which he called “a totally seamless operation,” scheduled them for their second dose. Though he said he felt guilty about “cutting the line,” he added that it was a “relief to get it over with.”

“It’s like the Wild West; there’s no rules,” he said. “There’s only advice.”

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Feb. 10, over 44 million vaccines had been administered through the U.S., about 13.5 percent of the nation’s population.

Megan Rose Gavia, a senior visual and media arts major currently taking a gap year, took a job on Long Island, New York, as a diagnostic support associate at the Northwell Health Imaging at the Center for Advanced Medicine. She was eligible to receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in the first week of January after the company sent every employee

a text message with a link to submit her information.

“I immediately jumped to it,” Gavia said. “I’m not screwing around.”

The hospitals near her were booked, so she traveled to a location thirty minutes away. She took a five-mile run the day after her first dose, but she said she struggled with worse side effects after her second dose 21 days later. She had chills, a low-grade fever, sore muscles, and a headache, all common side effects, according to the CDC. “The fact that I was getting this reaction from [the COVID vaccine] makes me scared of what would have actually happened if I got the actual strain of COVID,” Gavia said.

A study released Feb. 9 from the CDC said less than half of U.S. adults say they are “absolutely certain or very likely” to receive the vaccination, reflecting a hesitancy that may be exacerbated by the spread of inaccurate information about the vaccine. Despite misinformation she saw abounding on social media regarding the dangers of the vaccine, Gavia said she was eager to get the shots.

“The first time I got my dose was really like, ‘Just put it in me, bro,’” she said. “But then the second one was fun. They were playing music and stuff.”

Tina Jiang, a senior marketing communications major, received

the first dose of the vaccine in Shenzhen, China, on Dec. 29. She was able to register online (after uploading her ID, Visa, and student ID information onto the platform) to get the vaccine at a center about 20 minutes away. The line was long, and she said she waited for over an hour.

She said there were almost seven tables for people to take the vaccine, two to three lines for people to check documents, and two to three lines to check in.

She needed to stay for 30 minutes following the shot to ensure she didn’t have an adverse reaction.

“I didn’t feel anything uncomfortable, as normal as taking [the] flu shot,” Jiang said in a written statement to The Beacon.

Battilana, the nurse practitioner, said she hasn’t seen her family in over a year due to her constant exposure to the virus. She contracted COVID-19 in December, waiting nearly a month after she was eligible for the vaccine because of the post-infection immunity.

“It felt monumental because we’ve all been waiting for it for so long, but it hurt less than the flu shot when I got it,” Battilana said.

“I want to make sure that people know that just because the process was expedited doesn’t mean that any corners were cut in safety and testing. This is very safe—I was scrambling to get it.” dana_gerber@berkeleybeacon.com

The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

Amid rising virus cases, blame placed on student behaviors Cont. from Pg. 1 “I feel very confident with the protocols in place, the mitigating steps we’ve taken inside the classroom,” “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said in an interview two weeks ago. “The plans we have in place for our classroom experiences and classroom buildings with de-densified spaces, distancing, and masking make our classroom experience a safe one.”

But as cases stack up, Muurisepp maintains the surge is an unavoidable consequence of the pandemic’s grip on the nation—“to be expected.” The COVID-19 positivity rate in Boston is far higher than it was in August, he said, and some students returning to Emerson from various states carried the illness back to campus unknowingly.

He was pointing to a trend made clear by the fall semester; the higher the city’s positivity rate, the more pervasive the virus will be at Emerson.

The last four weeks of the fall, when Boston’s positivity rate was notedly higher than the rest of the semester, turned up almost 50 percent of the

3

term’s total positives.

That correlation has proved true again. The city’s positivity rate is up, and more than four dozen people have tested positive out of the 16,000 tests administered this semester. Emerson’s positivity rate sits at .36 percent. Thirty-six students have entered quarantine or isolation since Thursday, Hoppe’s email said.

In an interview Saturday night, Muurisepp said “it is fair to think that we also have some post-baseline positives coming through.” That means, as Hoppe indicated in his email, that the virus is jumping from student to student—what public health experts call “community spread.”

Students who test positive report spending prolonged periods of time with more people than they did last semester, often up to six or more. “That’s too high,” Hoppe’s email read. Those close contacts are required to quarantine, causing the number of community members housed in quarantine spaces on campus—and presumably off campus—to balloon.

Muurisepp said unmasked off-campus gatherings and group meals are largely to blame.

“Eating together, socializing, having folks over to your apartments, or working on projects together,” he said.

“That is where we are seeing some concerning potential themes.”

Emerson’s plight is in line with other Massachusetts colleges, many of which have seen an uptick in cases after experiencing relative success containing COVID-19 last fall. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst banned gatherings and tightened restrictions after hundreds of undergrad-

uate students tested positive. Stonehill College in Easton opted for remote learning until Feb. 14 after registering 36 new positive tests.

The trends directly contradict what one of the epidemiologists consulting with Emerson on safety measures told multiple Beacon reporters weeks ago.

Dr. Jamie Lichtenstein, who teaches courses in biology at the college, was so confident in the protocols she said she would not be surprised to see zero cases of on-campus transmission in the spring.

“I think it’s very possible—likely—that we’re going to get through the spring semester with these layers of protection with zero on campus transmissions,” she said in an interview in mid-January.

Now instead of taking concrete action to curb the rise in cases, Muurisepp and other officials are focusing their efforts on messaging to students and “hoping it works.”

“All I think we can do, and hopefully, folks will listen and rise to the occasion, is that everyone just needs to adhere to the guidelines,” he said.

“And if we could do it for a few weeks, we should be able to come out stronger on the other side.”

The new variants of COVID-19 that have emerged in recent months may make the months ahead further challenging for the college to weather; they’ve proven to be more transmissible than other versions of the virus, some more resistant to vaccines and antibodies, and have already driven huge surges of infection in several countries.

Muurisepp said administrators have no plans to tighten restrictions based on current infection data. A more severe

outbreak, like a cluster of 20 cases, would likely prompt stronger action, Muurisepp explained. In the fall, when Emerson racked up 12 positive tests in two days, officials quickly shut down all “non-academic in-person activities” and slashed space capacities until students returned home in late November.

So administrators are charging ahead, vying for another semester in Emerson’s “bubble,” relatively un-

body.

“When you’re sick, you don’t have that much appetite to begin with, but when the selection of food is what it is right now, that’s when it really becomes a problem for me, because I didn’t have a ton of energy,” Guerin said. “I was in basically a stupor, and little to no food is not helping that.”

Lee said he and his friends have requested double portions, because they eat so little of the food which often arrives damp from steam accumulated along its journey from the Dining Hall to Paramount.

“Every single time your lunch or dinner comes, it’s soaking wet,” Lee said. “Everything inside is a weird mix of too steamed and not cooked.”

it’s just twice a day is not enough.”

During his most recent bout of quarantine, Lee said he emailed Anglade after a day of receiving no hot food—which he said has happened a couple of times. Anglade responded on Feb. 9 that caring for the number of students in Paramount—seven in isolation and 31 in quarantine, as of Wednesday evening—was putting a strain on their food delivery capacity.

“Some of the meals have to be prepackaged at this point because of the number of people that are in quarantine and isolation—prepping over 40 meals for delivery in a limited period of time that need to be delivered across multiple buildings presents various challenges,” Anglade wrote. “As the number of students

like, ‘Well, we could use all of Paramount, but if 10 percent of Paramount gets filled, we’re fucked,” Lee said. “What happens if there’s 60 people in here? What happens if there’s 80 people, 100 people, 200 people?”

Anglade told The Beacon OHRE routinely coordinates with Dining Services to ensure students have adequate food when they enter Paramount and can report any issues that arise—including if students have particular dietary restrictions.

“I met with dining earlier today and they had actually said, ‘You know what, what we’re going to start doing is anytime a student goes into quarantine or isolation, if they have any dietary restrictions, we’re going to go ahead and do a phone call with them to work out what they actually mean so we can go ahead and meet those needs,’” she said. “So if a student will share it with us, we’ve been pretty quick to go ahead and respond to that.”

Facey said Anglade’s sentiment failed to align with his experiences.

“Early on in the quarantine process everyone was incredibly helpful and communicative,” he said.

“Over the first 24 hours, any questions I asked got immediate answers.

Since then, though, it’s been spotty at best. Sometimes they’ll respond to emails within minutes, sometimes it takes days. It’s just crazy that a college renowned for its communica-

touched by the virus that is ravaging the world.

“It’s OK to be frustrated. It’s OK to be sad at the loss of things you miss. It’s not OK to let those feelings drive you to behaviors that could lead to community spread,” Hoppe wrote in his email. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

con

Graphic Dana Gerber / Beacon Staff

Crunched boxes, soggy sandwiches, and flouted allergies in Paramount

Cont. from Pg. 1 “The mayonnaise had liquefied,” Lee said. “It was kind of almost watery at the bottom—it all kind of pooled at the bottom.”

He then contacted dining services, who later responded by delivering him a hot breakfast of eggs, hash browns, and turkey bacon. Lee said the college, though responsive when concerns are raised, has neglected to consistently provide them with better food without prompting. During this quarantine, he described wet, unlabeled wraps for lunch.

“I was like, ‘Hold on. So you had hot breakfast food that you could have given me but you chose not to do it just for whatever reason, be-

“It’s like we’re afterthoughts.

It’s like we don’t exist.”

A sandwich and peices of bread delivered to Anton Lee for both breakfast and lunch. / Courtesy Anton Lee cause you probably knew I wasn’t going to complain about it, I was just going to suck it up and eat it?’” he said. “It should be the standard.”

Guerin, who struggled with symptoms of the virus including a fever, a headache, and losing his sense of smell and taste, said the lack of adequate nourishment took a toll on his

Voegelin said the bags of food contain fruit and bottles of water piled atop the box with the main meal.

“By the time I get to my box, it’s scrunched down, it’s just completely crushed,” he said. “I’m just constantly hungry, because I can’t eat this food. It just doesn’t like suffice and

in quarantine and isolation grow, that means that it’s not always possible for every meal to be a hot-prepared meal.”

Lee said he did not understand how the college’s quarantine and isolation program could be choked by only 40 residents.

“You can’t have a system that’s

-Anton Lee tions school can be so woefully inept at communicating with its students.”

Beyond the insufficient meals, Guerin described a general lack of communication from the college regarding his isolation. By contrast, Guerin said he received frequent communication from the state’s Contract Tracing Collaboration, who

told him that he would have to show no fever in order to be released ten days after testing positive without the aid of any medication, a detail he said the college did not inform him of.

“It’s just kind of disappointing,” he said. “I wish that they had been a little bit more forthcoming when it came to information that may have been actually pretty helpful for us... they basically just left me in here for the next ten days to, like, culture, like a petri dish...it’s kind of like a punishment.”

Guerin told one of the contact tracer representatives about the food conditions, later informing Guerin they’d told the college students were complaining.

Lee said it often feels like he and his friends check in on each other’s health more than the college does.

“Emerson—they do a good job of keeping people safe in terms of protocol and the system,” he said. “But when it comes down to how they act and treat everyone in here, it’s like we’re afterthoughts. It’s like we don’t exist.”

Pratt echoed Lee, saying Emerson’s preparation in terms of protective measures, like testing and contact tracing, far outnumber the infrastructure they have set up for students who test positive.

“It’s almost like they put so much effort into their protocols to keep us safe, that when people actually get sick, they’re not prepared,” Pratt said.

In the last four months, Facey has filled out the college’s dietary restriction form three times, and believes the administration has his allergy on file. He was diagnosed with his allergy at three years old, so he said he’s used to being vigilant about what he eats. He said he’s worried, though, about other students, who might not take their allergies as seriously.

“I just don’t understand how it got to that point where I had to basically take my dining experience in quarantine into my own hands and reach out to them on my own rather than them actually just taking care of it,” Facey said.

Ann E. Matica contributed reporting. dana_gerber@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

4

Opinion

Natice Nations Rise - Stand with Standing Rock - march on Washington, D. C. in March 2017 / Courtesy Wikicommons

Climate justice must include Indigenous sovereignty Joshua Sokol Beacon Staff

When I think of the year 2016, it seems like eons have passed. In the past four years, time has moved awry, with one headline after another bringing waves of turmoil caused by the Trump administration. Empathy and compassion are tapped resources, much like oil, and when they are abused they can become dry wells that leave nothing but a devastated and tainted body in their wake.

But 2016 fell into the hands of the Obama administration. President Obama is a popular political figure among moderate liberals and left-leaning (I use that term loosely) demographics. Many people forget, however, that no matter how “progressive” the Obama administration may have seemed at face value, the orchestrated attacks against Indigenous communities were committed en masse before and during the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

For those unfamiliar, the Dakota Access Pipeline, otherwise known as the Bakken Pipeline, is a 1,172-milelong underground oil pipeline operated by big oil company Energy Transfer LP, which runs through multiple states, including North Dakota and South Dakota. When construction began in 2016, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service granted a sovereign land construction permit to allow the pipeline to run through the area. These permits allow construction in areas that fall below ordinary areas of water—the defining characteristics that determine a waterline—depending on the individual state’s sovereignty.

In May of 2016, however, the sovereign land construction permit was revoked because the pipeline would cross the Big Sioux River—named after the Teton Sioux—which acts as an essential body of water for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike. Despite this, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the water-crossing permits, and construction on the pipeline resumed.

When former President Trump took office in 2017, he issued a “Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline” four days into his presidency. This memorandum reversed former President Obama’s attempt to halt construction and rushed authorization for further development of the pipeline.

Leaders of the Standing Rock

Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe authored a letter to President Biden just before his inauguration requesting “quick, decisive action on the Dakota Access Pipeline” in the first 10 days of his administration.

So far, President Biden, 20 days after he was sworn into office, has not taken any action against the Dakota Access Pipeline. That said, President Biden has signed a bill effectively killing construction of the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota. But this action should not be treated as a pat on the back or as a measure of “progressive politics”; it is what should be expected from elected officials.

Expect more and demand more.

Indigenous people voiced their concerns about the conception, construction, and location of this pipeline before the project even began. Throughout American history, Indigenous voices are silenced and suppressed by the government in regards to the land that they built their lives upon.

In 1868, the United States government, after declaring the Black Hills of the Dakotas as the Great Sioux Reservation, invaded the reservation when gold was discovered in the area. This violated the treaty in a manner that has been a commonplace throughout American history. The violation of sacred land for material value is not new, and it will not stop unless it is actively fought against.

For the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous communities throughout the United States, this pipeline became a declaration that land was able to be owned and abused for the sake of resources and profit. The Standing Rock Sioux, in response, initiated a grassroots movement in order to protect their land, water, and sacred burial ground.

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a tribal historian, and Joye Braun, a member of the Indigenous Environmental Network, established a water protector’s camp alongside a group of Standing Rock youth who called themselves “ReZpect Our Water.” These groups are composed of figures that became the first of many Indigenous communities who stood in solidarity with protests against the pipeline. The term “water protectors” was soon adopted to describe the demonstrators who are against the pipeline’s construction.

Indigenous protesters were met

with aggression and force at the hands of a private securitywho used “dogs and pepper spray” to attack demonstrators. In November of 2016, demonstrators were blasted down with water cannons in freezing temperatures.

I remember watching coverage of the Standing Rock Protests where militant “security” forces brutalized and suppressed Indigenous people.

It was shocking, but in no way was it surprising. It repeats historical patterns that are all too familiar.

Indigenous communities, when put in the position to protect land, water, and significant cultural sites, are expected to be the sole carriers of this weight. They put themselves on the front lines and use their voice to fight against corruption of land, and they are met with violence and apathy from those with privileged voices with large and accessible platforms. In December 2020, New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first of

two Indigenous women to be elected to the United States Congress, was nominated to be secretary of the interior under the Biden administration.

Haaland is an avid supporter of the Green New Deal, as well as sponsoring a bill that would seek to conserve 30 percent of US lands by 2030. A longstanding advocate for climate reform, Haaland is the type of quick-thinking progressive that we need after four years of the Trump administration ignoring the ticking time bomb of climate change.

When Haaland learned of her nomination, she gave a speech starting with acknowledging the land of the Lenape Tribal Nation, where she was audibly choked up.

“Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce,” Haaland said.

This is significant not only due to the fact that Haaland would be the first Indigenous person to hold an executive cabinet position, but because the secretary of the interior is “responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources.” This includes but is not limited to the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“My grandparents were sent to boarding schools and taken away from their families as children in an effort to destroy their traditions and identities,” Haaland said. “This moment

“Colonization is not past tense; it lives in every facet of American society.” is profound when we consider that a former secretary of the interior once proclaimed his goal was to ‘civilize or exterminate [Indigenous people].’”

Congresswoman Haaland is referring to Native American boarding schools, which were institutions implemented by the United States gov-

Congresswoman Deb Haaland of New Mexico / Courtesy Wikicommons

ernment and the early Bureau of Indian Affairs to colonize tribal land and forcibly assimilate Native Americans, attempting to erase Indigenous cultural identities throughout America.

These schools used methods of shame, religious “conversion”, and family separation on Indigenous children to force them into assimilation. They were operating as recently as 2007, and they are not long-forgotten anecdotes.

These “boarding schools” leave a legacy of dehumanization, racism and colonization on Indigenous communities that are alive today.

While Haaland’s nomination is not an end-all solution to this issue, it is the first step of many to acknowledge the importance of Indigenous voices in regards to Indigenous land.

When we consider the steps we should take towards addressing climate change, we shouldn’t just consider reform, we should consider justice.

That justice starts with confronting and dismantling systems of oppression and legacies of colonization that thrive in white America. This also means giving a platform to Indigenous people whose land continues to be taken from them. This is not just essential to our morality as a nation but to the survival of culture and life as it exists. joshua_sokol@emerson.edu

Ribbons hanging from flags in Oceti Sakowin camp, Standing Rock, Dakota Access Pipeline protests / Courtesy Wikicommons

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The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

5

I still deserve to have an opinion as a journalist Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

As journalists, we are taught that objectivity is the key to good reporting. We’re taught we must not allow our biases to seep into our reporting and writing. We either must keep our opinions to ourselves or drop them off in the opinion section.

To ensure this, many news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer bar reporters from having bumper stickers, buttons, or signs that support any political movement and from participating in political protests, to protect their papers’ objectivity.

While these policies may seem to be the proper precautions to take against bias and maintain an objective reputation, they could actually be doing more harm than good.

Last semester, one of my classes had a Canvas and Zoom conversation about ethics in journalism. As a first semester freshman, I felt I was here to learn ethics (not question them), seeing as my high school journalism program was lacking in several ways, to put it lightly. I was eager to gain the wisdom of experienced journalists at my dream school, until we actually got around to the case study we were to discuss.

In 2006, Allentown, Pennsylvania’s Morning Call features writer Frank Whelan and his partner co-grand marshaled a gay pride parade. As a result, questions were raised and his editors threatened consequences if he went through with his plans to attend.

At the time I read this case study, I was in the closet. I hadn’t disclosed my sexuality to anyone at that point, so to learn that because I’m going into journalism, I don’t get to experience my first pride — was soul crushing to me.

My professor let us decide amongst ourselves what was right, it was implied that the participation in activism for journalists was a very fine line, and we should avoid crossing it. Whelan ended up quitting and settling lawsuits against Morning Call out of court.

Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand how threatening consequences was acceptable for the news outlet to do, and perhaps even considered the “right” thing to do by many journalists’ standards. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.

Journalists should keep their biases in check when reporting, there is no doubt about that. However, is it biased for any BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, or otherwise marginalized journalists to express, whether it be through social media or protests, their right to exist without fear? The way these objectivity policies are implemented send a message that

Trump supporters and Biden supporters clash following the election of President Joe Biden. Lizzie Heintz / Beacon Staff as journalists, we do not have a right to care about the social issues that affect us as individuals, and the world we live in.

The intention of these policies aren’t bad— their intended point is to create fair and objective news for their audience. The argument for the validity of these policies are generally the same. They state that staff should avoid publicly displaying their political views in order to reduce confusion of the papers’ stance to their readers. Yet even if the intention is good, these policies silence marginalized journalists and in turn, these policies tell society that being apolitical, even at the expense of your own human rights, is required to pursue the truth.

By telling these journalists that simply demanding their basic rights makes them biased implies that those who oppose the oppressive systems deep-rooted in our society are untrustworthy. This also subconsciously tells the general public that people who belong to a minority group are incapable of fair and honest reporting if they advocate for their own rights.

As Gina Baleria states in a Poytner op-ed, “The ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ that have generally been deemed objective are actually centered on a mainstream, white, male, able-bodied, cis-gendered perspective— not actually objective or neutral at all.”

BIPOC, LGBTQ+ persons, women, immigrants, religious minorities, and people with lower socioeconomic status have faced oppression for hundreds of years. Each of these groups include journalists. Telling a journalist who belongs to any of these groups that they cannot protest for their rights upholds systemic oppression.

As a lesbian, a woman, and a journalist,

I write objective stories all the time, like my coverage of the Disclosure panel, Boston Ballet, and alum profiles. Does my sexuality or my gender determine whether or not the story I wrote is truthful, unbiased, and objective? If not, I should be able to go to a Pride parade.

If not, I should be able to attend a women’s march.

I should be allowed to stand up for myself, for others, and for what is right, especially at a time when hate crimes are on the rise. The truth is systemic racism, classism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, anti-semitism, and xenophobia are major problems in our society, and have been since the beginning of time. So, why can’t we convey these issues for what they are and not pretend otherwise for the sake of readers’ guilt? If not in print, why can’t we do this in our own lives?

Promoting diversity in the newsroom (or any workplace, for that matter) means hiring reporters of color, LGBTQ+ reporters, women, and reporters who come from different countries, financial situations, or religions.

Yet if they are not allowed to voice their opinions (on their own time outside of reporting, I might add) after they’re hired, then this isn’t about promoting diversity. It’s about promoting the image of progressive change for the sake of the social capital of the organization.

Following the killing of George Floyd in May of last year, Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country, and held strong through the summer months.

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei sent out a memo stating that employees who chose to participate in these protests would have the full support of the organization. While the

move may have been frowned down upon in the world of journalism, I believe it to be a step in the right direction in creating a fairer new media space.

For decades, the news was reported with inherent bias to appease their white readers.

When reporting on civil rights movements, the media would often bury stories and leave out the voices of black protestors.

NPR spoke with Hank Klibanoff about the history of front page coverage in the Birmingham News, to which he recalled the story about the protests at Kelly Ingram Park in 1963 was pushed to page two or three for the sake of white readers. Klibanoff said, “If you go through the entire story, it’s straight reportage minus the voices of an entire segment of people and that is the blacks that were out there demonstrating.”

This kind of story placement and biased exclusion only changed after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and more of the public started to denounce the inhumane treatment of Black Americans. But even nearly 60 years later, the issue still persists.

This past summer, Alexis Johnson, a Black reporter of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was barred from covering the Black Lives Matter protests because of an observational tweet she posted, poking fun at how people vilified the BLM protests. When dozens of her co-workers at the paper stood in her defense on social media, they too, were barred from reporting on anything protest related.

The behavior of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is the same treatment Black veteran journalists like Slyvester Monroe dealt with when working as a correspondent with TIME

during the Rodney King protests in 1992.

Being in a predominantly white newsroom, Monroe recalled how frustrating it was to deal with their ignorance.

“Just as the people demonstrating in the streets felt their cries for police reform and justice had fallen on deaf ears, I wanted to scream at my bosses who had not been listening to me. I wanted to scream the frustration of being a Black reporter and having to bury my personal feelings .… But I was a TIME correspondent, and I could not,” Monroe said.

It has been almost 30 years since Monroe had that experience, but reporters like Alexis Johnson still face this discrimination today.

The industry needs to do better regarding workplace equity as a whole, and allowing reporters to make observations on social media like Johnson’s is a necessary step. Gina Baleria writes, “Her perspective is actually needed as we navigate coverage of this important and ongoing story — her personal objectivity isn’t.”

My sexuality, my gender, and my views on the world’s many injustices should not be a determining factor of my credibility: my work should. Again, as journalists, we are taught that objectivity is key. We know this, and we regularly practice it. The majority of us keep our opinions out of our reporting and only in the opinion section, just as I am doing now. But I should be able to attend a protest advocating for my reproductive rights or my right to be paid based on my job title and work ethic, not my anatomy.

I should be able to protest for my rights as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

I should be able to protest with my fellow humans; protest against the murder of Black Americans, protest against the infringment of rights and assaults on BIPOC, protest against xenophobia and anti-semitism, and protest.

We need to stop enforcing policies that do not allow BIPOC and LGBTQ+ journalists to advocate for their right to live without fear of assault, harassment, or, god forbid, fatal harm.

We shouldn’t have to live in a world that forces us to reassess where we want to work, because the options are personal liberty or sacrificing your beliefs for your dream job. I would love to work at any one of the papers I have listed above. But I also want to be happy and true to the person who I am finally embracing. I spent 18 years of my life acting, I deserve to be myself for the rest of my life, in both my personal and professional life.

Our duty as journalists is to tell the truth and serve the greater good. I am only a credible and truthful journalist if I can be true to myself and what I believe in as an individual.

lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

Why you should care about Trump’s second impeachment

Illustration Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

Shannon Garrido Beacon Staff

It’s been one month since the House of Representatives introduced articles of impeachment against former President Donald J. Trump for incitement of insurrection. The argument against him? The role he played in encouraging a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

On Feb. 9, the Senate voted to proceed with Trump’s second impeachment trial, making him the first president to

ever be impeached twice and the first president to ever be impeached while out of office.

With COVID-19 a leading cause of death in the U.S. as of last December, another impeachment trial seems like the least of our concerns. After all, Trump is no longer president. However, this impeachment is just as important as the first, maybe even more so.

The impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is simple: the president commits a “High Crime or Misdemeanor,” the House votes to impeach, and the

Senate conducts a trial. Despite sounding simple on paper, this impeachment will go down in history for many reasons.

For one, there is little to no investigation needed to conduct a trial. Because Trump’s called for his followers to “fight like hell” on live television, he committed his crime in broad daylight, the House can impeach at will. Compared to the impeachment proceedings in 2019–– which took 86 days––this year’s trial is predicted to only take about a week.

Although barring him from office is possible with a second vote, convicting Donald Trump of his crimes is not. It requires the Republican support Democrats simply don’t have, even with the Senate majority. In late January, 45 Republicans voted for Sen. Rand Paul’s motion to dismiss the entire idea of trying a former president as unconstitutional—which is far more than the 34 votes necessary to block conviction. Impeachment requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate, and sadly, it doesn’t seem Republicans are ready to band together and convict Trump.

So what is the penalty for Trump if he’s convicted? There’s the possibility of him being barred from holding public office ever again. Barring him from holding further office would require a second vote by senators, although it would not require a two-thirds agreement. Now that Democrats hold a narrow Senate majority, the possibility is more likely.

If the Senate does not convict Trump, then there is a possibility he can run for office again. With 53 percent of Republicans willing to vote for him again in four years, according to a January poll by POLITICO/Morning Consult, another “Trump era” seems entirely possible.

Online betting agencies seem to think that self-pardon is still on the table, and whether that is possible or not, there is little doubt that he will not try. In fact, in 2018, Trump said he had the “absolute right” to pardon himself and has already issued many pardons, including Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Barring him from ever running for any public office is a consequence of impeachment specifically mentioned in the Constitution and one that would prevent him from ever disrupting our democracy again.

Lastly, there is the possibility that the former president could lose pensions, security, travel allowances, and a raft of other entitlements that are usually guaranteed to former presidents and vice presidents. It’s not certain at this stage exactly which of these benefits Trump would get to keep and which he wouldn’t. There’s also a chance the Senate could vote to limit Trump’s Secret Service protection, but this issue would likely only come up for debate if Trump is convicted in the first place.

The reason we should care about this impeachment is not that Trump is fun

and easy news coverage but because he deserves to be charged for his crimes.

Speaking at a rally shortly before thousands of his followers stormed the Capitol, he said, “We fight. We fight like hell.

If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Not even a month after the insurrection, more than 70 people have been arrested in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths and undermined confidence in American democracy. There are no words that accurately describe the severity of the crimes that occurred in this nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6. Rioters beat Capitol police over the head with flag poles while Congress members removed their badges to hide from insurrectionists.

Many truly believed they were going to die and said so as they made phone calls to their loved ones while stuck in a basement.

These past four years, even these past four months, should be enough to convince anyone that Donald Trump is not fit to hold any political office ever again, let alone the office of the president.

Keeping that in mind, it seems that the Democrats in the House and the Senate have stepped up and are determined to finally hold Trump accountable for his actions, even after his presidency has expired. shannon_garrido@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

6

Living Arts

Feeling romantic? Frisky? Cynical?

Here are 17 movies to watch this Valentine’s Day...

Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff

February 14 is fast approaching, and the love-filled day stirs up quite a few emotions. Luckily for you, The Beacon has a number of movie suggestions for you to watch for each emotion you might be feeling on Valentine’s Day. Being single on a holiday dedicated to love can be a bummer.

For people who want to wallow in your favorite pair of sweats and cry, here are your movies: Nicholas Sparks’s novelturned-film The Notebook is probably one of the most tear-inducing films you could watch, and it’s perfect for a night curled up on the couch.

James Cameron’s 1997 classic Titanic is an epic V-Day film filled with drama, thrills, and, of course, plenty of cry-worthy scenes.

Back again with another Nicholas Sparks story: A Walk to Remember will most definitely make you ugly-cry, so be sure to have a box of tissues nearby for this one.

Nick Robinson in Love, Si-

mon will keep you smiling, but his journey with self-identity and sexuality will have you reflecting, too. This is a V-Day must-watch.

Last but definitely not least, The Fault in Our Stars will either make you happy-cry or ugly-cry.

I mean, is there any point in a romance film that doesn’t make viewers emotional? Fair warning: this movie may bring flashbacks of your middle school John Green phase.

For those of you who love Valentine’s Day and the red-andpink romance floating through the air, here are some feel-good movies to watch with your gal pals or significant other:

Illustration by Lucia Thorne / Beacon Staff

Courtesy / Wikicommons

Courtesy / Wikicommons

Courtesy / Wikicommons

for you. It’s funny, charming, and yeah, it has Channing Tatum.

Crazy Rich Asians is adorable, quirky, and beautiful. Plus, all of the extravagant clothes and homes and THE WEDDING. I just want to meet Awkwafina in person.

Saving the best for last, The

The film that popularized modern romantic comedies, Pretty Woman will have your heart gushing and cheeks blushing.

The Proposal with a glass of wine and comfy blankets is a whole vibe. What’s better than a cliche rom-com starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds?

For anyone who previously or still is crushing hard on Channing Tatum, She’s the Man is the movie

Half of It explores love, sexuality, and the hardships of an immigrant family in the U.S. Showing the importance of platonic and romantic relationships, this film is definitely a masterpiece.

Now, taking a step back for those who are in an “anti-Valentine’s” mood this coming Sunday, here are some films that do their part in criticizing love: The 1951 gem A Streetcar Named Desire is a drama-filled adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play representing romance as none other than a disappointment. If the last thing you want to see is a basic love story, this is a must-watch.

The First Wives Club not only has an incredible trio of lead ac-

ArtsEmerson screens film on NYPD victim, Akai Gurley Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

During a post-screening chat about her new documentary “Down a Dark Stairwell” hosted by ArtsEmerson, journalist-turned-director Ursula Liang said she was drawn to Akai Gurley’s case–who was shot and killed by NYPD Officer Peter Liang–mainly because she saw this story as an opportunity to start an important conversation.

“I saw the film as an access point for Asian American communities to come into this conversation about police accountability, and I thought it was very important that this was a story with Black and Asian points of view because our communities definitely need to have a conversation right now,” Liang said during the post-screening panel.

The documentary focuses on the case and community reaction–specifically Black and Asian-Americans’ reactions–to the death of an unarmed African-American man, Akai Gurley, at the hands of Chinese-American officer Peter Liang. Gurley was walking down the unlit stairwell of the Brooklyn housing project he lived in when officer Liang shot him.

From Feb. 5 to Feb. 7, ArtsEmerson screened the film on demand through

Still from “Down a Dark Stairwell” / Courtesy Ursula Liang

their website as a part of their “Shared Stories” film series. On the night of the premiere, ArtsEmerson hosted a post-screening discussion. The discussion was moderated by University of Massachusetts Boston Professor of American Studies Denise Khor with panel guests director Ursula Liang, co-writer and editor Jason Harper, former Boston public school principal and community activist Suzanne Lee and executive director of Center for Empowered Politics Alex Tom. The fatal shooting and the trial that followed led to rising tensions between

the Black community and the Asian American community as shown in the documentary, leading to protests by both groups. When discussing the socioeconomic and cultural divides within the Asian American community, Alex Tom praised Liang’s ability to showcase all sides of the story.

“I feel like this film provides a lot of those complex viewpoints of the diversity of the views within the Chinese community but also even within the [BLM] movement,” Tom said.

During the discussion, Khor asked Liang about the unconventional lack of

tresses with stars Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler, but it’s also a perfect revenge comedy that’ll make you want to hug your besties and say f@#!$ you to your exes.

Nick Cassavetes’ comedy The Other Woman will empower you to not take any crap from anyone, and it also has a knockout cast. Cameron Diaz, Kate Upton, and Leslie Mann show the man who hurt them the laws of karma, and they look great doing it.

Last but not least, A Star Is Born has impeccable singing and undeniable chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga paired with raw emotions and intense realism. It may be a heartbreaking love story, but it’s definitely not like the traditional ones.

For the drama-lovers, don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you: Based on the story by Jojo Moyes, Me Before You is for those who love a good romantic tragedy that will take you through the emo-

tional journey you never thought you needed. Also, Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke paired together is a genius move by director Thea Sharrock.

Joe Wright turned Jane Austen’s famous novel Pride and Prejudice into a beautiful film, and we thank him for that. The film is captivating with its flawless directing and realistic approach, involving two people who are meant to be together and their journey to get there.

Many romantic dramas make the audience cry, and The Best of Me definitely matches that description. And, shocker, it’s another movie based off of a Nicholas Sparks novel. I highly recommend this film if you want to watch a heart-wrenching romance.

No matter what mood you’re in this Sunday, Happy Valentine’s (or anti-Valentine’s) Day to all!

narration and audience-leading in the documentary. Liang avoided focusing too much on the case itself as she felt it was more necessary to cover the community reaction to Gurley’s death and officer Liang’s sentencing.

“We wanted to find a way to draw the viewer away from the specifics of the case to think about some of the larger systemic issues of solidarity and systems of oppression,” Liang said. “In order to make change, it’s important for people to not be talked at. People come out with stronger convictions when they have their own experience.”

Liang said with her journalistic background, her instinct was to highlight the different viewpoints from these communities, especially since they’re communities of color.

“It’s all the voices of people of color we were trying to center because we don’t get heard enough,” Liang said.

As stated at the end of the documentary, Peter Liang is the only NYPD officer convicted of a police involved killing in the last 14 years. Meanwhile, at least 113 Black men have been killed at the hands of NYPD officers during this time period. As a result, the documentary showed Asian-Americans in dozens of cities protested the conviction of Officer Liang, stating they believed he was being used as the NYPD’s “scapegoat.”

Suzanne Lee discussed the proper sentiment behind the protests against a Chinese-American being the only NYPD officer convicted of killing in recent history, but also stated that they needed to address the blindspots of

their activism as a community.

“When so many people came out [to protest], they were not against the Black community. They were against the institution that created the situation, but they didn’t articulate it that way,” Lee said. “We’re not saying that Peter Liang should not be charged, but all the other cops should be charged too. The Chinese community and Asian community need to come out in support of the demand that all cops need to be charged.”

Liang said mainstream news outlets were opting to show the more “loud and salacious moments” by using intense moments from the protests for the sake of entertainment. To Liang, the sensationalism of such a complex issue drove her to focus on the discussions within the movements to more accurately portray the situation.

“One of the things we tried to do was to pivot away from what the mainstream media was doing and sort of tone down the volume a little bit and give it to quieter safer spaces so that people could really hear what was being said,” Liang said.

Editor Jason Harper also shared this sentiment when asked about the editing process and the importance of these personal discussions between activists and communities during the panel.

“The intimate conversations in the wake of that are where a lot of the movement happens,” Harper said.

“Down a Dark Stairwell” will premiere on PBS and the PBS Video app on Apr. 12.

mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

February 11, 2021

7

New Modi legislation sparks farmer protests across all of India Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff

Since Aug. 2020, farmers in India are protesting new laws passed

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that significantly lessen government regulation around sale, pricing and storage of produce. Three bills were passed on Sep. 14, 2020 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the governing political party of India.

BJP is India’s Republican Party, India’s Modi plays the role of America’s Trump and the Hindu nationalists are equivalent to white supremacists. The news of protests in India was barely published due to the heavy corruption that lies within the Indian government to shut down important stories such as this one.

The first bill, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation Bill, 2020), is the most controversial of the three. It relaxes rules on the purchase and sale of farm produce, allowing private entities—any establishment that is not a part of the government—to purchase agricultural produce as they please and not requiring buyers to have licenses.

The lack of government regulation will allow private investors to do as they please. While the government thinks the new bills will bring growth and “unshackle farmers,” farmers fear that the removal of already insufficient state protections will leave them at the mercy of greedy corporations.

With government support, there were previously guaranteed minimum prices for certain essential crops like wheat and sugarcane, which helped India move past the hunger crisis of the 1960s.

The second bill, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, relaxes rules on stocking under the Essential Commodities Act of 1955.

A new subsection was introduced to amend the act so certain foods—cereals, onions, potatoes—can only be regulated by the government under extreme circumstances, like war and famine. Thus, there will be no control of production, supply and distribution of these foods unless one of the mentioned circumstances occurs.

Finally, the third bill, the Farm-

ers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, brings forth legislation to allow contract farming, which involves agricultural production based on an agreement between a buyer and farmers, through written agreements with minimal obligations and no government mandates.

Big corporations will have no legal obligation to pay the once guaranteed price, and farmers already struggle with those prices enforced. The bills will favor large corporate farms, devastating the earnings of many independent farmers, especially those who only have small pieces of land.

According to Associated Press, 68 percent of Indian farmers are smallholders who own less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of land, and in some states, those farming families earn an average of only 20,000 rupees a year, which roughly accounts to $271 annually.

Farmers are concerned that the new bills will lead to the end of wholesale markets (“mandis”) and assured prices, giving them no backup option. In other words, even if a private buyer isn’t giving good prices for products, farmers will have to accept them because there could be no other place for them to sell.

“First, farmers will feel attracted towards these private players, who will offer a better price for the produce. The government mandis will pack up meanwhile and after a few years, these players will start exploiting the farmers. That’s what we fear,” Multan Singh Rana, a farmer in the state of Punjab, told BBC Punjabi in September.

Protests are heavy in Punjab and Haryana, where the “mandi system” is heavily prevalent. Farmers have been camped out in front of New Delhi, the capital of India, since the beginning of December 2020. They have left their families and sit out in the cold to fight for their basic workers’ rights.

Another large issue is that the bills were not discussed publicly and farmers’ opinions were not taken into consideration upon creation of the bills on June 5, 2020. The BJP refused to further debate on the bills despite requests from those in opposition.

Courtesy Mariyam Quaisar

Even former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, among many others, is upset with how the bills were pushed through Parliament in a hurry.

According to the Indian government and Modi, the bills will allow farmers to sell their produce at competitive prices as buyers fight for the products, but there’s no guarantee of that happening. Many buyers will coordinate on pricing and agree to not outprice each other, leaving no competition.

“Leaving farmers to the mercy of the markets would be like a death sentence to them,” said Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert, in an interview with AP News.

The Sikh minority is the most affected by the new bills, as most of India’s agriculture production occurs in heavily Sikh populated states. However, Modi’s government has discredited Sikh farmers and their concerns.

The BJP is calling farmers “terrorists” for standing up for their basic rights.

Under Modi and the BJP, Hindu nationalism has risen greatly, pushing away minority groups in India like Sikhs and Muslims. Those who go against Modi or his policies are named “anti-national.” Despite that farmers are romanticized as the heart and soul of India, they are the ones being ignored.

International superstar Rihanna and activist Greta Thunberg caught the attention of their millions of followers by tweeting about CNN’s recent story regarding the farmers’ pro-

tests, causing instant backlash from India’s government and its Hindu nationalists.

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut responded to Rihanna’s tweet with aggressive attacks on the superstar’s career, appearance and qualifications, calling her a fool and the farmers “terrorists who are trying to divide India.”

Ranaut called Thunberg “dumb and a spoilt brat” and then went on to call Rihanna a “porn-singer” and said, “What is so special about her, well... she can shake her bum cheeks and expose her ass crack right into the camera lens while singing..ya that’s all. Nothing else.” To top it off, Ranaut told India to “destroy these communists who are trying to take advantage of terrorist activities in our nation.”

The top 1 percent of India, including several actors, actresses, athletes and business tycoons, enforce the Hindu nationalist agenda alongside the Indian government. Others tweeted telling India to stay united and to not “fall for any false propaganda against India or Indian policies,” referring to posts such as Rihanna’s.

BJP is affiliated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a known hate group in India. They are working to make India into an authoritarian Hindu nationalist state, and the farmers bills are just one of their many plays.

For decades now, BJP and other Hindu nationalist organizations have heavily discriminated against Mus-

lims. Under Modi, the Citizenship Amendment Act was dropped, marginalising Muslims.

Under the pretense to give sanctuary to people escaping religious persecution, CAA allowed migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who are Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian, to be eligible to apply for an Indian citizenship after living or working in India for six years. CAA blatantly separates Muslims and non-Muslims, with means to rid of all Muslims, especially ignoring the Muslim religious minorities who are also facing persecution.

Fortunately, the divide Modi and his government have tried to enforce between Hindus and Muslims has only brought them closer. With these new farmers protests, Sikhs and Muslims are now bonding over their fight against discrimination at the hands of the BJP and Modi.

Emerson students: keeping in touch with international news is incredibly important to help advocate for those who can’t for themselves.

Educate yourselves and stand up for others.

To help the struggling farmers, two humanitarian non-profit organizations are collecting money to feed and support the farming families.

Visit Sahaita and Khalsa Aid to be a helping hand for the farmers in India whose voices aren’t being heard. mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

Emerson alumni work together to bring each other’s art to life Cont. from Pg. 1

Courtesy Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Courtesy Jeremiah Zagar

“It’s a beautiful, personal, intimiate book, and those are the kind of stories I love to tell.”

Jeremiah Zagar

“My goal was not to write about it initially; my goal was to learn as much as I could about the legal case so that I could stop thinking about it,” Marzano-Lesnevich said. “I could move on with what I wanted to be doing, write about stuff that I thought had nothing to do with my life.”

Marzano-Lesnevich recounts the extensive research process, remembering the numerous boxes of court records that they looked through while writing the book.

“I received the first set of court records, and I ultimately wrote the book drawing inspiration from 30,000 pages of court records that I spent many years tracking down,” Marzano-Lesnevich said.

They recounted the first time they received edits on the first draft of “The Fact of a Body” from their editor, who they said made all edits on a paper copy with a red wax pencil. The final copy of the book was published on May 16, 2017.

One of Jeremiah Zagar ’03s favor-

ites professors while at Emerson was Richard Hoffman who also had Marzano-Lesnevich. Hoffman told Zagar about “The Fact of a Body” while he visited Emerson and that is how they each found each others art.

Zagar returned to Emerson to show students his film, “We the Animals,” when he ran into his old professor after the screening. This casual encounter would lead Zagar to Marzano-Lesnevich.

“I was hanging out with my teacher Richard Hoffman who I really love,” Zagar said. “He told me that one of his students wrote this book called ‘The Fact of a Body’ and that I should read it. I thought it would make a great television show, and I started talking with Alex.”

Zagar said he has been drawn to filmmaking since he was a kid, and saw this as the perfect opportunity to make art from a fellow Emersonian’s art.

“Jeremiah sent me an email from a contact form on my website saying: ‘look, I have read this, and I didn’t reach out to you because I kept think-

ing that someone else should make it; specifically, he thought that someone queer should make it,” Marzano-Lesnevich said. “Yet it’s six months later, and I still can’t stop thinking about it, so maybe I should make it.”

Zagar signed on to do a show for HBO, and his agent brought them the project of “The Fact of a Body.” The show is currently in development.

“It’s a beautiful, personal, intimate book, and those are the kind of stories that I really love to tell,” Zagar said.

Both Marzano-Lesnevich and Zagar said they are excited for the process of “The Fact of a Body” coming to life and to see what happens in the future with the project.

“The way that the community that Emerson fostered truly helped make a life for me as an artist. [It] helped me see how to make a life as an artist and continues to sustain me as an artist. I’m very grateful to Emerson for that, and it seems so right that this is happening through Emerson connections,” Marzano-Lesnevich said. campbell_parish@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Sports

February 11, 2021

8

Another win in the books for Tom Brady Brendan Beauregard Beacon Staff

Head coach Aaron Bergeron watches his player during a match. / Courtesy Aaron Bergeron

Emerson tennis coaches welcome new additions —

off the court Joey Dubois Beacon Staff As tennis coaches’ families grow at home, questions arise about the teams’ upcoming spring seasons, a fate not unfamiliar to spring sports athletes.

Last fall, head coach Aaron Bergeron welcomed a child into his family, and assistant coach Andy Severance found out his wife is pregnant and due to give birth in June. The coaches head into the season with added commitments off the court, yet their focus remains with their team.

Bergeron said he is certain he will be devoting just as much time to the team as ever before, despite the baby at home.

“Nothing about the team changes whatsoever,” Bergeron said in a phone interview. “It won’t affect the team at all.”

Bergeron has been on paternity leave since the birth of his child in November and will return to Emerson this week. In his absence, Bergeron said assistant coach Burke Paxton led the way with recruiting and preparation for the upcoming season. Players and coaches praised Paxton

for how he stepped up given the circumstances, but he viewed it as part of his job. “[Bergeron] wanted to make sure he was able to take care of his family, and family always comes first,” Paxton said in a phone interview.

Severance and his wife found out a baby was on the way in September, but they waited to tell people until November.

Soon after hearing the news, players began to wonder about the upcoming season despite their happiness for Severance.

“I was excited for Coach Severance because it’s an exciting part of your life to have a baby, but as I started to think more about scheduling, it definitely will be more difficult,” men’s tennis sophomore Michael Polivko said in a phone interview.

Paxton reiterated Bergeron’s belief that the staff is just as committed to the team despite the new addition to Bergeron’s family.

“I don’t think, in terms of coaching for them, it’ll be any different,” Paxton said.

Women’s tennis captain Thea Nagle described Severance as the “team dad” in a phone interview and praised him for his

Incident Journal The Emerson College Police Department provides the Incident Journal to The Beacon every week. Beacon staff edit the Incident Journal for style and clarity but not for content.

Monday, Feb. 1 ECPD responded to the Colonial Residence Hall for a reported attempt to bypass security. Three Emerson College students were identified in connection

The dream of becoming two-time Super Bowl champions turned into a reality for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night as Tampa Bay defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV. In Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans’ mind, Tampa Bay’s chances of winning the Super Bowl this season increased astronomically during the offseason. The main reason behind the improved odds was the franchise signing legendary quarterback Tom Brady in the offseason.

“When we got Tom, I knew it was a possibility,” Evans said in a post-game interview with NFL Network.

Brady completed 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, earning his fifth Super Bowl MVP award and seventh Super Bowl trophy—the most of all time. Brady now has more Super Bowl wins than any NFL franchise. He can now pull a “how do you like them apples?” style counterpoint whenever a team brags about their Lombardi trophies.

“We knew we were playing a great football team tonight, and we got the job done,” Brady said in the post-game press conference. “[If] you want to get this far, you got to get the job done, and we did it.”

For a guy who’s adding another championship ring to his already absurd and exalted resumé, Brady knows what he’s talking about.

It wasn’t just Brady making plays for Tampa Bay’s offense. Star tight end Rob Gronkowski caught two of Brady’s touchdown passes. Running back Leonard Fournette chipped in 135 yards from scrimmage and a rushing touchdown.

However, the unofficial true MVP award for Tampa Bay be-

dedication. “[Severance] commutes from Maine, so it takes him quite a bit to even show up to practices regardless with his travel,” Nagle said.

Severance said the only thing that may impact his availability is the ongoing pandemic and safety concerns, but he made it clear that he will still be as present as possible.

“With my wife being pregnant, the biggest consideration isn’t really time as much as I want to make sure I don’t get sick and pass it along to her and the baby,” Severance said in a phone interview.

The team will look for their captains to step up and be an extension of the coaching staff on the court. The coaches and fellow teammates expressed the utmost confidence in the captains of each team. If Bergeron or Severance had to miss a practice or two, the team believes it would be in good hands.

The women’s team is captained by juniors Nagle and Eliana Flores-Barber, while junior Maximo Aguilar Lawlor is the captain of the men’s team. The captains and coaches have lead team bonding sessions once a week since March 2020, where they frequently spend over an hour discussing tennis, their families, and everything in between. “[Lawlor] has always been a great leader,” Polivko said. “He’s always been someone I looked up to both in respect and in terms of tennis.”

Bergeron is ready to return to the team after spending the first couple of months of his newborn daughter’s life at home.

When asked about any advice he would give to Severance about his experience as a new father, Bergeron got straight to the point.

“The only real advice is ‘sleep now,’” Bergeron said.

Nagle expressed excitement and happiness for both coaches and her desire to get back on the court.

“We’re treating this as an opportunity to allow those underclassmen to step up and start doing more at an earlier stage in the team dynamic,” Nagle said. “We’re excited to have a new team mascot [in] Bergeron’s baby.”

Maximo Aguilar Lawlor, who serves as The Beacon’s multimedia managing editor, did not edit this story.

longs to its defense. The Buccaneers’ defense played tremendous football against the NFL’s top-ranked offense, limiting the Chiefs to only three field goals and forcing two turnovers, per ESPN. “[Tampa Bay] played a heck of a game defensively and offensively,” Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in the postgame press conference. “They kind of took away our deep stuff, took away the sidelines, and they did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles.”

Tampa Bay executed its best defensive performance of the playoffs during “the big game.” When you face a Kansas City team that averaged 30 points per game coming into Sunday and hold them to just nine points, your defense earns a round of orange slices.

Before Brady arrived in Tampa Bay, the franchise sat between a rock and a hard place. The Buccaneers’ last winning season occurred in 2016, they hadn’t made the playoffs since 2007, and their last playoff victory happened to be their first Super Bowl win back in 2003—all according to Pro Football Reference. The team’s misfortunes primarily changed thanks to No. 12.

Wherever Tom Brady goes, success follows. Look at what happened to Brady’s former team in the New England Patriots.

That franchise devolved from a perennial Super Bowl contender with Brady for the last 20 years to a sub .500 team this season without Brady. Now look at what Brady’s done in Tampa Bay in just his first season as a Buccaneer.

For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, success knocked on their door for the first time in 18 years, along with the earned recognition of Super Bowl champions.

joseph_dubois@emerson.edu

brendan_beauregard@emerson.edu

with the attempted bypass and were referred to Community Standards and Student Conduct for violating community standards.

to contact the building’s owner but was not able to get in contact with them.

ECPD responded to a fire alarm going off at the W Hotel. Upon arrival, W Hotel security said the alarm was triggered during attempts to repair the sprinkler head on the first-floor that was the cause of a similar alarm on Jan. 31.

Tuesday, Feb. 2 An alarm went off by Boylston Place Alley. On arrival, ECPD discovered the alarm was from the 130 Boylston Street building, a non-Emerson property. After checking the area ECPD attempted

Wednesday, Feb. 3 A fire alarm went off at the Park Plaza Hotel. ECPD responded and found the cause of the alarm was dust in a smoke detector. After confirming that there was no fire and deactivating the

Ex-Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

alarm community members reentered the building.

Thursday, Feb. 4 Graffiti was found on the opposite end of the Somerville Scene Shop. The graffiti was not on the portion of the building leased by Emerson College.

Emerson Facilities was notified and contacted the building owner about the graffiti.

Saturday, Feb. 6 ECPD responded to the Little Building Residence Hall for a reported by-

pass of security. Two non-community members were found in the south stairwell of the building. The individuals were issued trespass notices and escorted from the property without incident.

Sunday, Feb. 7 There was a report of a bypass in security at 25 Boylston Place. ECPD responded to the report and found a non-community member had entered the building to use a restroom. They were informed that Emerson College is a closed campus and departed campus without incident.