Coronavirus limits castle travel

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

Thursday, February 27, 2020 • Volume 73, Issue 20

COVID-19 halts Kasteel Well trip Marlboro

to restrict access to meeting minutes

Lara Hill, Beacon Kasteel Well Bureau WELL, NETHERLANDS—Kasteel Well officials canceled the four-day mandatory academic excursion to Milan, Italy Monday and banned student travel outside the Netherlands until March 15 due to recent cases of CODVID-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, across Europe.

According to an email sent to Kasteel Well students and parents Monday, the trip, planned for March 6-9, was canceled on the advice of the Italian government as a safety precaution. The email was sent following a mandatory meeting on Monday for all castle students regarding the cancellation of the Milan excursion.

“As we diligently monitor news reports and receive direct information from Italian officials, we have taken the precautionary measure of canceling our spring 2020 Milan, Italy academic excursion,” Kasteel Well’s Office of Student Affairs wrote in the email.

The number of CODVID-19 cases rose in Italy to 142 diagnoses and two deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Germany has 16 diagnoses, the United Kingdom has nine, and France has 12 with one death as of Feb. 24.

Students who already booked trips outside the Netherlands during spring break are required to cancel their travels, according to the OSA announcement.

Sophomore Kasteel Well student Samantha Hodgdon is canceling a trip to visit her family because of this news.

“I had planned on traveling to Venice to visit my mom,” Hodgdon said in an interview with The Beacon. “We had everything booked. I was just about to book stuff for after spring break but now I’m going to have to hold off.”

The email told students they could no longer travel outside the Netherlands until March 15, but in the mandatory meeting earlier that same day, Morgan said students are not restricted in their travel plans this upcoming weekend.

See Students, page 2

Jacob Seitz, The Marlboro Monitor

With the uptick in coronavirus diagnoses across Europe, Kasteel Well officials has banned student travel outside of the Netherlands until March 15. • Aaron Miller / Beacon Staff

Marlboro unites over ski race

Charlie McKenna, Beacon Staff

ond day at Emerson when she walked up to Enright and asked if she liked the band Cage the Elephant. The two became friends and soon after decided to start a band together. In early October 2019, Freedman heard from a friend that Grant played the drums temporally for the band Sunsetta, also formed by Emerson students, and she messaged him through her friend’s phone about joining the band.

Later that week, Grant told Cabreza about the band through a written letter. Grant and Cabreza met each other through Grant’s roommate.

Grant and Cabreza wrote letters to each other and slipped them under each other’s dorm room door.

Members of the Student Government Association voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution in support of the Emerson College Chapter of the American Association of University Professors after the union advised its members to discontinue directed study courses beginning next semester.

The recommendation by ECCAUP comes in the wake of a decision by the college to stop paying professors for their role in directed study courses—courses in which a professor meets with a student one-on-one to study subject matter not covered by the college’s curriculum. The college previously paid professors $400 for their role in directed studies, according to the union.

The resolution, written by Writing, Literature and Publishing Senator Alison Michalak, will be distributed to members of the college’s administration. Exact details remain unclear but Executive Vice President Melissa Bordelon said during the meeting SGA would most likely give the resolution to Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan.

In an interview after the meeting, Executive President Will Palauskas said the resolution, which serves only as a show of support for the union, was passed to provide a student voice in support of the faculty union.

See WECB, page 3

See Resolution, page 2

New student band Identity Crisis releases song titled “Cat eyes” on Jan. 15.

Montse Landeros Cabrera / Beacon Staff

Identity Crisis plays WECB concert Emily Cardona, Beacon Staff One night in October 2019, freshmen Hailey Freedman, TJ Grant, Elizabeth Enright, and Jake Cabreza decided, out of boredom, to start a band called Identity Crisis.

“We were bored and we figured masturbating will only get us so far,” Cabreza said in an in-person interview. “We are making heroin music for the new age of Xanax.”

The band includes Freedman as the lead singer, Enright as the bassist, Grant as the drummer, and Cabreza as the guitarist. The band describes their sound as “DIY Post JazzPunk Fusion” or “Junk” for short. They released their first song, “Cat Eyes,” on Jan. 15.

Freedman said she met Enright on their sec-

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Sacrificing sleep should not be the norm of college life Pg. 5

See Restricted, page 2

Joint Session supports the Faculty Union with vote

Ethan McDowell, The Marlboro Monitor Dozens of Marlboro community members gathered on the campus’s soccer field Sunday to cheer on over 70 skiers and snowshoers competing in the Wendell-Judd Cup. People crowded the finish line, clutching hot chocolate and pizza cooked in a student-constructed stone oven next to the field. They were celebrating what might be the last edition of the 10 kilometer race, a tradition that has endured for decades.

Spencer Knickerbocker, the ski director at the college, crossed the finish line to a cacophony of cowbells and applause with a time of 41 minutes and 15 seconds.

“I think this is our biggest turnout ever,” Knickerbocker said in an interview after the race. “We had over 70 people registered to do the whole race, which is awesome. It was fun, it was warm, it was sunny, it was great.”

As the ski director, Knickerbocker said he worked 10 hours per day this week grooming the trails in preparation for the race.

Knickerbocker’s prize for the victory was a ceramic cup engraved with the letter ‘W’.

Leah Silverman won the women’s category with a time of 45 minutes and 19 seconds despite what she described as less than ideal snow conditions.

See Tradition, page 6

MARLBORO, VT—Marlboro College’s Selectboard will no longer release detailed minutes of the college’s weekly Selectboard and Town Meetings, according to a statement from Selectboard.

Selectboard—the body comprised of Marlboro students, faculty, and staff that governs and runs Town Meeting—has released extremely detailed minutes from weekly meetings since Sept.

2019, when Felix Bieneman took over the role of Selectboard Clerk. The decision to cease publicization of detailed minutes was announced in a precursive statement found in the Selectboard Meeting minutes from Thursday.

“In light of recent events, Selectboard has made the decision to circulate a more abbreviated procedural version of the minutes for both Selectboard and Town Meetings,” the statement reads. “The transcript-style minutes still exist but will not be shared outside of the immediate members of the respective bodies of Selectboard and Town Meeting.”

The new minutes—the first of which were published on Thursday—provide a detailed account of what is covered in the Selectboard meetings, but do not provide specific quotes or discourse. Head selectperson Charlie Hickman could not elaborate on what drove the decision but said that Marlboro as a community is under more of a microscope than before.

The Beacon online

Alum creates documentary about lack of LGBTQ+ women spaces Pg. 6

berkeleybeacon

Berkeley Beacon

The Berkeley Beacon

@BeaconUpdate

The Berkeley Beacon

News

The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

2

Forum addresses racism Town Hall minutes restricted

Faith Bugenhagen, Beacon Correspondent Emi Bague, assistant director of international student career services, shared her initial reaction to learning of last month’s on-campus racist vandalism during a talk in the Cultural Center on Tuesday.

“When this happened on campus a couple weeks ago, I have to say, off the top, I was numb, and I responded emotionally two or three weeks later,” Bague said.

The “Creating and Holding Space for our Community” event gave Emerson community members the opportunity to discuss their disdain towards anti-Asian discriminatory graffiti found on the doors of student dorms in Little Building on Jan. 24.

The event was hosted as an open forum— students and community members aired their grievances and reactions towards the graffiti and other anti-Asian discrimination on campus that has resulted from rising fears related to Coronavirus.

Along with Bague, Assistant Director of Intercultural and LGBTQ+ Services Jamaica Siroky, and Director of the International Student Affairs Office Andrea Popa, hosted the gathering in hopes of creating a dialogue in a safe-space for Asian and Asian American members among the college.

“I want to ensure that this is a place that we can talk, we can practice sharing, even if it pushes us a step out of our comfort zones,” Bague said.

Bague emphasized that communication might help people in the community grasp the emotional impact racially charged incidents can have on individuals.

“I was thinking about other folks, not even

realizing my tears on the table,” Bague said.

Siroky echoed similar sentiments to feeling detached from the personal impact of the news of the graffiti had on Emerson’s community.

“There is a level of nonchalance to this that I think also exists as we go through the process,” he said.

President M. Lee Pelton informed the Emerson community about the derogatory graffiti, the second incident of discriminatory vandalism that week, Jan. 26 in a campus-wide email.

“While the occupants of each vandalized space are of varied cultural backgrounds, the language included derogatory words that have been used to demean Asians and Asian-Americans,” Pelton wrote in the statement.

Siroky constructed an interactive poll to facilitate a conversation with the students and community members present, so they did not have to verbally express their reactions toward the incident.

The poll brought singular words onto the screen in the shape of a cloud in frownt of all the audience members. The terms “disgust”, “heartbroken”, “angry”, and “pissed,” appeared to be the main responses.

“The cloud of words is gloomy,” Siroky said. “But it doesn’t have to stay that way.”

Siroky said she did not discredit any emotions present in the room, but wanted to encourage community members to move towards what can be done in the future rather than dwell on the hateful incident.

“It’s encouraging conversation,” he said to the audience, “Whether it is addressing the stupidity, the ignorance, the hate, the powerlessness, or even just the naivety of it all.” faith_bugenhagen@emerson.edu

Continued from page 1 “We were never expecting for these minutes to be publicized in the way they are,” they said in an interview with The Beacon. “Before the merger, our minutes were not used in newspaper articles or posted in full in Facebook groups.”

Past minutes have included key details related to the Emerson-Marlboro merger proceedings. Selectboard is in charge of “community leadership, running the community government and representing student interests,” according to the Selectboard website.

In the past three months, Selectboard minutes have detailed the announcement of the Emerson-Marlboro merger, students’ concerns for the future of the Vermont campus, Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton’s visit to Potash Hill, and detailed how Emerson’s proposed tuition increase will affect Marlboro students.

Hickman said they encourage people who want to receive information released in Town Meeting to come to the meetings themselves.

“I think there is something very important about being in the room when these statements are made because there is so much lost in translation,” they said.

Section 3, Article D of the Marlboro Col-

lege Community Constitution—which lays out requirements for the positions on Selectboard—charges Selectboard Clerk with keeping minutes at Selectboard and Town Meetings and posting them for access by the external community—but the structure and specificity of those minutes are not stated.

Hickman cited this clause, saying Bieneman—who has been Clerk for four semesters—keeps minutes in detail unlike any prior clerks.

“Felix is incredible at typing very fast and getting these things down,” Hickman said. “And that’s not a skill that is shared by all of the clerks for Selectboard.”

Hickman said the most important updates about the transition would still be included in the abbreviated minutes but recommended that alumni who would like access to full transcripts email the Selectboard and specify why they would want the full minutes.

A more formal announcement of the new minutes procedures will happen at the next Town Meeting, Hickman said, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26.

“I think there is something very important about being in the room when these statements are made because there is so much lost in translation.”

- Charlie Hickman

jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

SGA passes resolution supporting faculty union Continued from page 1 “Now it’s not just going to be coming from the full-time faculty union, it’s not just going to be coming from one student, it’s going to be a resolution that was authoared by one student and then sponsored by maybe 20 others,” he said. “And those 20 students represent a good portion of the 3,800 undergraduates here at Emerson. It’s like saying the vast majority of un-

dergraduates at the college believe that what’s happening is not ok and it’s important that we start to create some really big change.”

Joint Session also appointed two new members Tuesday—Class of 2021 President Naomi Jones and Transfer Student Commissioner Annie Kew. Jones’ appointment officially fills SGA’s president’s council.

Jones said in an interview after the meeting that she was interested in the position because

it gives her an opportunity to represent more voices on campus.

“I have a bunch of different connections with people that are looking to be involved in student life and how to benefit student life and how to grow it,” she said.

Kew said during the meeting that while she had an easy time getting involved at Emerson, she recognizes that the experience can be challenging for other transfer students.

“Immediately coming here I got very involved in a lot of different organizations on campus so I felt as if I was able to kind of find my place in this school,” she said. “But I know for other people that could be a little more difficult.”

charles_mckenna@emerson.edu

Coronavirus causes travel restrictions for Kasteel students Continued from page 1 OSA declined to provide further comment to The Beacon.

According to the email, there could be more travel restrictions to come throughout the rest of the semester.

“As we move forward with the semester we will update our student population with critical travel information that may include further travel restrictions. We understand this is not what you want to hear as you have planned a semester abroad to explore your surroundings that are the Netherlands, and Europe as a whole. But our first priority is always the health, safety and well being of our students, faculty and staff here at Kasteel Well,” OSA wrote in the email.

To replace the Milan excursion, OSA officials said at the meeting they are attempting to plan several day trips within the Netherlands and nearby countries such as Belgium and Germany. Senior Advisor for Student Affairs Tike-

sha Morgan told students during the meeting that it is necessary to make up for the canceled excursion through additional trips because the excursions fall within required academic hours.

The dates and locations of these academic excursions will be announced during the week of March 2, according to the email.

During Monday’s meeting, students raised concerns about where the money for the mandatory Milan excursion would go. Morgan said during the meeting they do not know if the college will receive refunds for the flight and hostel costs, so they cannot guarantee full reimbursement from the college.

The excursion to Milan falls in the $2,100 European Travel Package within tuition billing, which covers the costs of the mandatory Amsterdam and Milan excursions and the costs of flying to and from the United States.

Sophomore Kasteel Well student Anthony Feola said he hopes to receive partial compensation for the canceled Milan excursion.

“I think we should see at least some of the money back,” Feola said in an interview with The Beacon. “I know we aren’t going to get all of it back. That money went towards the flight, the museums, the tours, and the hostels. It’s more than just the flight.”

Sophomore Kasteel Well student Caitlin Johnson said she is frustrated with OSA and the Emerson administration for the lack of clarity in regards to future traveling and reimbursements.

“I think restricting us to just the Netherlands [for spring break] is really unfair,” Johnson said in an interview with The Beacon. “[OSA] not having a direct response to our questions about reimbursement felt really shitty. I just wish we had clear answers because we are all freaking out right now about the prospect that we might not be able to travel at all. Now we are being placed in this situation where we are rapidly trying to figure out if we can get our money back.”

Feola said that the travel restrictions will

have a large impact on his overall experience studying abroad in Europe.

“I’m just upset that we might have to stay in Amsterdam for the rest of our time here at the castle,” Feola said. “A lot of students come here to travel outside of Amsterdam. I was planning on going to London to see some shows and I wanted to go to Spain for my birthday. I don’t want to just stay in the Netherlands.”

Feola said a group of students spent Monday night writing a frustrated email to various administrative staff at the Boston campus and he said he hopes to get some answers.

“I want [the school] to hear us, first of all,” Feola said. “I also want to know what they’re going to do to compensate us. We haven’t received any answers. We have spent a lot of money to be here. There’s also going to be a tuition increase, let’s not forget.” lara_hill@emerson.edu

Corrections & Clarifications The Feb. 19 story “Treasurer refrains from hiring team, cements her power” incorrectly referenced the SGA treasury team as an asset commonly utilized by past executive treasurers.

The treasury team was first added to SGA’s constitution in the fall 2018 semester and has only been utilized by former executive treasurer Ian Mandt.

The Feb. 19 story also misquoted Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple as saying, “I say a lot of things that are jokes but consolidating power so I can’t get impeached. Yeah, it’s not funny at all.”

The word ‘jokes’ in the quote was implied. The quote should have read, “I say a lot of things that are [jokes] but consolidating power so I can’t get impeached. Yeah, it’s not funny at all.”

The Feb. 24 story “ECSU releases email correspondence with President Pelton concerning tuition hike” incorrectly quoted the Emerson College Student Union’s statement that the college spent $5 million more on 172 than the sixyear financial aid budget. The story has been amended to reflect the correct version of the statement: the college spent $5 million more on 172 Tremont than it spent increasing financial aid over the last six years.

Arts The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

3

Organization highlights forgotten musical theatre genres

Shruti Rajkumar, Beacon Staff Late one night in October 2019, freshman Garrett Traer sat in his dorm room writing a pitch for the Musical Theatre Society of Emerson College, a student-run organization that produces fall and spring musicals.

Traer said he began questioning whether his pitch fit the contemporary pop-rock genre that Emerson theater groups tend to focus on, sparking a conversation with his roommate Anthony Allocca about how they could address the lack of attention given to other genres.

Traer and Allocca, both performing arts majors, created Musical Theatre Against the Grain in mid-November 2019. MTAG is an organization focused on furthering musical theater opportunities on campus and shedding light on less mainstream genres.

“It’s almost like we’re all being focused on one genre of theatre, but there are other avenues that people should be ready for in their professional careers as well,” Allocca said in an interview. “Quite literally, we [want to go] against the grain and do all these contemporary shows that aren’t pop-rock, anything golden age, jazz standards, you name it.”

Traer said the group’s name came easily to him and Allocca on the same night they decided to create the group.

“We were trying to figure out [a name] that was short and to the point but that didn’t lock us in, because ‘against the grain’ is a very broad term, so we wanted to find that happy medium,” Traer said in an interview. “We like MTAG as an acronym and it worked really well so that’s what solidified that idea.”

MTAG’s first performance debuts on March 11 at 9 p.m. at the Cabaret. Traer said the show consists of 20 acts, which include a combination of duets, trios, and solos that Traer, Allocca, and the directors assigned to cast members. The performances include musical theatre genres such as golden age, contemporary bluegrass, folk, jazz, and broadway standards.

“With cabaret’s on campus, they usually have a theme,” Allocca said. “We’re calling [ours] the MTAG Debut Cabaret [and] we basically just want to show [that] this is our brand, so it doesn’t have a specific theme, it’s just showing the people what we are and what we can do with the future.”

MTAG started out with an executive board of nine members, including Traer and Allocca. On Feb. 10 and 11, they held common auditions.

The group has since expanded to include 13 board members and faculty advisor SiouxSanna Ramirez-Cruz, as well as 14 cast members who will perform at the “MTAG Debut Cabaret!”

“The thing that made [the creation of the group] so smooth was the fact that there really isn’t anything like it and people would so easily hop on because they agree,” Traer said, “It was very easy to get people involved, so we never really had a personnel issue because a lot of people feel the same way.”

Freshman Kandyce Whittingham said that MTAG’s focus on non-contemporary musical theatre genres will allow students to explore classical pieces while looking at them through a modern lens.

“I think there are misconceptions about ideas in golden age musicals or more classical pieces [that] are outdated or [that] don’t align with

New organization, Musical Theatre Against the Grain, focuses on furthering musical theater opportunities on campus. Photo Courtesy of Anthony Allocca beliefs that we have now,” Whittingham said in an interview. “There’s the huge misconception that we’re not allowed to take a look at older [pieces] that are problematic, but I think there’s something really cool about being artists who are able to look at what’s wrong with it and enter into something that’s radical and revolutionary.”

Whittingham is the treasurer of MTAG and a member of the cast. She said she is excited about the opportunities that this group will open up for her and others within the Emerson community.

“As a person of color and as a woman, it’s hard to see yourself on stage if the content is a lot older, so I hope that Emerson audiences and cast members find something that they never thought they’d be cast in, they actually get to

see themselves in,” Whittingham said.

Allocca said they chose the Cabaret for their first performance so they can set their footprint and show the Emerson community who they are. In the future, Traer said the goal for the group is to put on at least one musical each semester, similar to the format of other group’s on-campus such as Kidding Around and MTS, with an annual Cabaret performance as well.

“For me, the long term goal is to fill the gap that wasn’t full so people in the future don’t need to make their own outlet to perform these works,” Traer said. “We’re really happy about it and it just shows that people out there want to perform [these genres] as well, so it’s leading to a bright future.” shruti_rajkumar@emerson.edu

Freshmen band to play WECB spring concert band should be named Milk Foot or Cat Eyes, Freedman yelled out a remark, determining the official band name.

“We were all sitting in a room during this one Christmas party and I was like ‘God we can’t think of a name we are just having an Identity Crisis, and it was like God spoke to me herself,’” Freedman said in an in-person interview.

Grant said the band’s songwriting process is collaborative and spontaneous. The band’s

“We have this very weird thing where we can play something very spontaneous, very out of the blue, and then it’s a song.”

- Hailey Freedman

Freshmen Hailey Freedman, TJ Grant, Elizabeth Enright, and Jake Cabreza started a new band called “Identity Crisis.”

Montse Landeros Cabrera / Beacon Staff Continued from page 1 “[In] one of the letters, he talked about the band so I wanted to be a part of the band,” Cabreza said. “So I learned guitar to be in the band.”

After Columbus Day weekend, Enright, Freedman, and Grant hung out together for the first time. Grant showed them the bass riffs—simple and appealing music motifs repeated throughout the song—for a song he made called “Cat Eyes.”

“For the Columbus day weekend, I was at home and it was 3 a.m. when I was playing around with my bass and made the bass riffs for ‘Cat Eyes,’” Grant said in an in-person interview. “So then after I wrote some lyrics for it, but that was how we kinda got our first

“[In] one of the letters, he talked about the band so I wanted to be a part of the band ... so I learned guitar to be in the band.”

- Jake Cabreza

song.”

Freshman Sonny Aronow is a close friend of the band and their audio mixer. Aronow mixed the audio for “Cat Eyes” for the band and is working on their next track “She is Mean” which is coming out soon.

“Through the time I have known them and the time they have been a band they have changed their tone of music,” Aronow said in an in-person interview. “The topics or content of their songs are based on disagreements they have but in the end, they are all friends.”

The band members struggled with generating a name for the band. They went through many names until one night during a creative argument about deciding if the

songs are autobiographical, meaning all their music is based on life events the band experienced.

“We have this very weird thing where we can play something very spontaneous, very out of the blue, and then it’s a song,” Freedman said.

“It’s because of astrology and the stars have such an influence on who we are.”

The band is working on making an extended play but they are having trouble finding a recording studio that puts their EP on pause.

“We were going to have much of it done by the end of spring break but because of the new rules, we can’t record at the school anymore so there is no way for us to find a facility to record,” Cabreza said. “It is very expensive to record off campus.”

The band said they are always working on new music and trying to expand their setlist for shows. The band’s main goal for the spring semester is to play in more house shows. They will play the closing act at the WECB 2020 Spring event on Feb. 26.

“We haven’t had the chance to enter the DIY scene and it’s something we really wanted to do because there are a lot of people we look up to that are involved with that scene,” Grant said. emily_cardona@emerson.edu

Editorial Prioritize student safety amid COVID-19 concerns Kasteel Well officials announced on Feb. 24 that they canceled their planned four-day mandatory academic excursion to Milan, Italy, and barred students from traveling outside the Netherlands until March 15 out of concern for the recent spread of COVID-19 in Europe.

Students studying at Kasteel Well expressed their concerns regarding the school’s decision to implement the travel ban and wondered whether or not they would be compensated for the trip.

Sophomore Caitlin Johnson said she is frustrated with the Office of Student Affairs and the Emerson administration for the lack of clarity in regards to future traveling and reimbursements. “[OSA] not having a direct response to our questions about reimbursement felt really shitty,” Johnson said in an interview with The Beacon. “I just wish we had clear answers because we are all freaking out right now about the prospect that we might not be able to travel at all.

Now we are being placed in this situation where we are rapidly trying to figure out if we can get our money back.”

Emerson’s official billing website shows that the Milan trip is located within the $2,100 European Travel Package billing. This package covers the costs of the mandatory Amsterdam and Milan excursions and the flying costs to and from the U.S. In the email, the college said they will schedule additional excursions to make up for the cancelled trip. The date and location of these additional trips will be determined during the week of March 2, according to Kasteel Well’s Official Office of Student Affairs’ email on Monday.

Despite students’ concerns about not being able to travel outside of the Netherlands for their semester, the college took the proper precautions to prioritize students’ safety.

According to a report sent out by the World Health Organization on Feb. 26, Italy has had 93 new cases in just one day, for a total of 322 cases and 11 deaths nationally.

The most affected region of Italy is Lombardy, and The Guardian reported that experts believe one patient, nicknamed “patient-one,” infected at least 13 people.

Eleven towns within Lombardy are currently in lockdown, and authorities have told residents to stay home and avoid social contact. In addition to Italy,

the virus has also traveled to nearby countries such as Croatia, Switzerland, and Austria, according to France 24.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is unsure how contagious the virus is, which is why remaining cautious during this time is important.

Additionally, the CDC considers the outbreak in Italy a “sustained community spread,” meaning the spread is ongoing, even though experts are unsure of how or where patients were infected. Because of the overall unclear nature of the outbreak, the college is right to put a halt on future travel and place student safety in the first place.

WHO suggests keeping at least 3 feet between yourself and anyone who is sneezing or coughing to prevent inhaling virus-infected droplets. In tourist-infested places such as Milan, this level of distance may be less attainable, especially when students don’t know who could potentially infect them.

While influenza has a far greater magnitude, especially within the U.S., that does not mean COVID-19 should be disregarded entirely. One difference between the flu and COVID-19 is that the latter is potentially airborne, according to Hopkins Medicine, which makes it more difficult to control. This means that infected droplets in the air could infect others, even if the infected person is no longer present. Thus, regardless of its magnitude, COVID-19 is still a serious virus that should be treated as such.

Traveling in an area where the virus continues to grow is unwise and not in students’ best interest. Furthermore, as this cancellation came per the Italian government’s recommendation, students should take this situation even more seriously. Of course, the school needs to consider students’ experiences when studying abroad and they should make sure that it’s a worthy trip. However, in a time when a growing list of US colleges are canceling or rerouting study abroad programs because of COVID-19, the school administration ultimately has to prioritize keeping the students and faculty safe.

Students are right to be concerned about their cancelled trips and lost money, and we hope that the college will further address these concerns. However, safety– not travel–should be everyone’s priority at this time.

This editorial was written by The Berkeley Beacon editorial board, which consists of the Editor-in-Chief, the Managing Editors and the Opinion Section.

Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk © 2020 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

The Beacon is published weekly. The Beacon receives funding from the Student Government Association of Emerson College. Anything submitted to the Beacon becomes the sole property of the newspaper. No part of the publication may be reproduced by any means without the express written permission of the editor.

Website berkeleybeacon.com Email contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Phone (617) 824–8687 Office Address 172 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116

Letters To The Editor If you want to respond to, or share an opinion about, an article in The Beacon, you can write a short letter to the editor. Email it to letters@ berkeleybeacon.com. Please note that letters may be edited.

Submissions for print must be fewer than 250 words.

Digital Managing Editor Stephanie Purifoy Print Managing Editor Domenic Conte Visual Managing Editor Jakob Menendez Businesss Managing Editor Dylan Rossiter Advisor Douglas Struck

The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

4

Editorial Cartoon Illustration by Christine Park

Student priorities.

Crossword

by Ethan Spitalney

Across 1.Colloquial clothes 5. No longer fashionable; outdated 10. Place for a mud bath 13. Foot or second 14. Film-house 15. New Years in ‘Nam 16. Currency of Ethiopia 17. Rodent’s response to “What are you?”

18. FedEx competitor 19. Television show created by and starring Donald Glover 21. Worldwide workers’ rights gp.

22. Mad cow disease, abbr.

23. Genus of grasses, for short 24. New York Ivy 26. Threw salad?

29. I agree; done neatly 30. Painting or poetry 31. Honeyed drinks 33. J-pop band 35. Expected golf stokes 36. ___-advised 37. Brit. law degree

40. Firearms lobby org.

42. “___ me know” 44. Faithful; true 46. Took charge of, say 47. Sketched over 50. Kept afloat 52. A suburb in London - but a town in Yorkshire?

54. ___ key (out of tune) 55. Pokémon trainer Ketchum 56. It makes Rob more formal?

57. Home to the NFL’s Bills 61. “It ___” (2 wds, usually followed by a title or name) 62. Opposite a writer 64. NFL sportscaster Andrews 65. “Here Comes the ___” (Beatles song) 66. 19,24, 52 and 57 across 67. Bread does it 68. Machine that rec. brain activity 69. Places of paradise 70. Coll. Board exams

Down 1. Large brass instrument 2. “Taking care of that” 3. Chick 4. Guitar accessories 5. Strong cotton variety 6. “Give me ___” (2 wds, cheerleader chant, maybe) 7. “Are you joking?”

8. Rapper Biggie 9. Go to a restaurant (2 wds.)

10. In an obstinate manner 11. Coke competitor 12. Away from port (2 wds.)

14. Stronghold or fortress?

20. Refuse Emily? (in brief) 24. Extremely rare, fatal brain disorder, abbr.

25. Albuquerque hrs.

26. Sink water, say 27. ___ fixation, Freudian term 28. Extending 32. Leading exponent of New Criticism 34. WIthout cost 38. Works hard 39. Attempted deception 41. A in PEMDAS, as a verb 43. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone, abbr.

45. Like numbers 1,3, and 5 48. Punish with a fine 49. Leaf-footed bug; squash bug 51. Bids; volunteers 52. Pay increase 53. Problem 57. “The ___ knees” 58. Many a “Les Miz” performance 59. A-___ (top tier) 60. Vending machine bills, often 63. Half your supper?

Answers available on https://berkeleybeacon.com/ crossword-answers/

The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

Thoughts

5

The failures of Boy Scouts of America are not failures of scouting Alexander Hahn Hahn is a senior VMA major.

2020 marks the 110-year anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. This year will also mark the first time in history a Scouting organization announced bankruptcy after several hundred sexual abuse lawsuits were filed against the BSA. Other branches of the Scouting Movement have been exiled, dissolved, split, or absorbed.

I’ve been a scout for as long as I can remember. Because of Scouting, I have been blistered, bruised, burned, frostbitten, lacerated, soaked wet, and nearly killed at least three— arguably six—times in the last 15 years. I loved every minute of it. Climbing up mountains, and crawling through caves, the smell of dead leaves and campfire smoke— it was fun, and it was transformative. I didn’t realize it at the time, but while I thought I was goofing off, the Boy Scouts were teaching me to be a better person. I am who I am because of the great role models in my Scout Troop, and to this day I proudly pass on their lessons to scouts after me.

Being a card-carrying Eagle Scout does not blind me to the problematic and damaging history of this organization. The BSA was extraordinarily slow to racially integrate, has been involved with a court case to deny LGBTQ+ youth membership, and has been cripplingly reliant on financing from the Mormon Church.

On top of all that, Scouting became ripe for exploitation by pedophiles until at least the late 1980s, due to loose or nonexistent youth protections and a policy of blacklisting abusive leaders from the organization instead of notifying law enforcement. That abuse has led to a deluge of lawsuits, pushing the BSA’s National Council to the brink of financial collapse.

So good riddance? Scouting is dead and gone? This deeply problematic and horribly outdated organization finally crushed under the weight of the skeletons in its closet? I hope not, and I think not. The failures of the BSA are not the failures of Scouting as a concept. They are the failures of the organization built to enable it. That organization can, and is, changing to address its core problem: a lack of Scouting.

Scouting is the brainchild of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, a British war hero who blended romanticized ideals of chivalry, Zulu coming-of-

“Being a card-carrying Eagle Scout does not blind me to the problematic and damaging history of this organization.” Illustration by Christine Park / Beacon Staff

age traditions, and his own military experience into a flexible set of aims and methods.

Baden-Powell’s experiment was intended to form youth into ideal citizens of the British Empire, but, according to Timothy H. Parsons, these same principles were later used to resist and repair the damage done by colonialism.

Scouting as a system worked across cultures because Baden-Powell managed to harness something universal— children’s inherent love of adventure—and turn that into an engine for self-improvement.

There are more than 50 million Scouts across 171 countries. The movement had particular success in the United States, where well-known figures like Norman Rockwell, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ernest Thompson Seton helped cement The Boy Scouts of America’s image as a backbone of American

Culture and a vanguard of its values. That allowed others like Juliette Gordon Low to use Scouting to push for reform. Low founded The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), by blending Baden-Powell’s ideas of Scouting with 1910s radical feminism. This gave the GSUSA a more progressive slant and a fierce sense of independence from the BSA. The BSA took an opposite route and found itself leaning into the connection with military and religious communities, making them a “barometer of how far the country’s attitudes have shifted,” according to Michael Sarah Kaplan who has been reporting on the BSA’s reforms for the Washington Post.

When Scouting works, it works miracles.

Books like Four Percent, I Wanna Go Back, and Legacy of Honor and are brimming

“When Scouting works, it works miracles.”

with how Scouting makes careers, improves communities, and saves lives. In my experience, Baden-Powell created the most effective youth development program ever launched.

Scouting taught me accountability, effective communication, planning and problem-solving and it made me comfortable with accepting failure, overcoming obstacles, and teaching others.

Scouting employs a beautify way of bringing people to those ideals. It teaches with trial and error, peer-to-peer mentorship, and hands-on experience—not lectures or readings. Scouting works across time and cultures because the lessons it imparts come not from a rigid dogma dreamt up by a British man 100 years ago, but from the replicable first-hand experiences of children across years and cultures.

It is easy to reduce Scouting to 1950s fashion choices and overnight camping trips, but those barely scratches the surface of Scouting’s methods and entirely overlook its aims. The aim of Scouting was to equip young people with the tools they’ll need to navigate the world. That means the practical leadership skills that have led Eagle Scouts to Academy Awards, Fortune 500 Companies, Olympic Gold, the Oval Office, and the Moon, but also a moral compass rooted in mutual trust, respect, curiosity, and honor.

But, as years of problematic leadership have shown, the lessons Scouting imparts on its youth have not always reflected in its management. The individual and flexible nature of Scouting has opened it up to problems, but it could also save it. The past three years have seen the BSA undergo incredible change.

Opening membership to trans youth and femaleidentifying youth, decoupling itself from the Mormon’s fiscal support, doubling down on conservation efforts, bolstering STEM-based programming tracks, and strengthening youth protections have rapidly brought the Boy Scouts into the 21st century. This bankruptcy does not mark the death of Scouting, in fact, it is part of that evolution, letting the organization shoulder responsibility for its past mistakes while building a better future.

In all honesty, there has never been a better time to join Scouting.

alexander_hahn@emerson.edu

Sacrificing sleep should not be a college norm Jocelyn Yang Yang is a freshman journalism major and The Beacon’s Assistant Opinion Editor..

The ‘college triangle’ states that students can only have two of the following: good grades, a social life, and enough sleep. The first time I saw this triangle years ago, I chose to prioritize “good grades” and “social life” without hesitation. The third option—”enough sleep”— seemed less essential to me. Within my first year of college, I realized that my two choices had aligned with reality.

I wish I could get more sleep, especially considering I have 8 a.m. classes four days a week, but making my dream of having an early bedtime come true seems impossible.

I plan to go to bed early every night, but hours later, I often sit in front of my laptop, finishing homework or talking to friends on the phone. I’ve become a night owl; meanwhile, I have to be an early bird because of my morning classes.

Sleep deprivation has become an unofficial norm of college life. An estimated 56.8 percent of college students feel rested only three nights per week, according to the Center for College Sleep. At Emerson, I constantly hear students talking about sleeping only two or three hours at night in order to meet deadlines for schoolwork or extracurriculars. A freshman on Unigo reviews said about Emerson student activities

and groups, “If you’re doing your job right, sleep doesn’t happen at Emerson.”

The review struck me because it’s true.

Coming to a school full of aspiring writers, filmmakers, actors and other creative professionals, we work hard to achieve our dreams. At the same time, we know once we graduate we’ll be facing industries that may require irregular sleeping schedules or insufficient sleep. Yet, we still need to remember to prioritize sleep in the equation of our lives.

Prioritizing things such as school, work or friendships over the basic human need for sleep has negative consequences.

Pennsylvania State University’s professor Orfeu Buxton said “when people don’t get enough sleep, they have more stressors and negative things occur the next day.

It’s probably not just bad luck.”

This, however, is easier said than done. Many of us promise ourselves to get a good night sleep, but more often than not, we easily break that promise by binge-watching shows, going on our phones or finishing our procrastinated assignments.

For behavior changes to stick, it’s best to put thoughts “to rest” and stay away from a phone or laptop before bedtime, because screens can jeopardize a good night’s sleep. Using electronic devices before bed messes with and delays our circadian rhythm, according to Physiological Reports’ research on nighttime tablet and phone

“I’ve become a night owl; meanwhile, I have to be an early bird because of my morning classes.”

“Prioritizing things such as school, work or friendships over the basic human need for sleep has negative consequences.” • Illustration by Christine Park / Beacon Staff usage. In addition to avoiding screens, 15-30 of the tricks I have found particularly helpful minutes of daytime napping, exercising and is to turn my phone on airplane mode during meditating can also help improve sleep quality. bedtime and place it away from my bed. This Some universities have started to combat has helped me avoid looking at my cell phone students’ sleep deprivation with various in the dark, which can cause eye damage, and counseling and courses to help students also allows me to get out of my bed instantly improve their sleep habits. Baylor University when I hear the alarm, instead of immediately initiated “The 8-hour Challenge” that offers hitting snooze. bonus points for students who get an average As spring break approaches, I’m glad we can eight hours of sleep for five nights during finals finally relax and get some good sleep. However, week. According to the challenge, students who the ultimate goal of gaining healthy sleep habits slept more performed better on their exams, shouldn’t only occur during a school break, excluding the extra points. It would be nice if but all the time. Remember, adequate sleep is someday, Emerson can introduce sleep classes a basic human need for health and wellness, not too. an impossibility for college students.

As for myself, I’ve been experimenting with various challenges to improve my sleep. One jiaxuan_yang@emerson.edu

Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

6

UPCOMING ACTION BASEBALL: Emerson vs. New England Col., 7 p.m., Thu. MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: Emerson vs. Lasell, 7 p.m., Fri. MEN’S LACROSSE: Emerson at Mt. St. Mary, 1 p.m., Sat. MEN’S TENNIS: Emerson at Endicott, 11 a.m., Sat.

Marlboro communtiy unites behind ski race tradition Continued from page 1 “It was definitely mashed potatoes, but we work with what we got,” Silverman said in an interview after the race. “Of course number one is have fun and push yourself and do your best, and I think we all succeed in that area today.”

Matt Ollis, the only racer who preferred snowshoes to skis, placed first in the pedestrian category. As a math professor at the college snowshoeing in what he said is at least his tenth Cup, Ollis is familiar with the tradition behind the Cup and hopes it goes nowhere anytime soon.

“The trails are beautiful,” Ollis said in an interview. “It’d be a real shame to see it go, so I’m really hopeful that it will be going on next year.

I’ll still be living down the road, so I’ll hopefully be competing again next year.”

The race began as a tradition in 1965 when Marlboro Professor Dick Judd decided he wanted to start an outdoor event at the college. At this time, Ted Wendell, who was a math professor at the school, left Marlboro to attend a graduate program at University of Washington.

Because of his departure, Judd decided to title the ski race “The Ted Wendell Memorial Cup”.

Once Wendell returned from graduate school as the full-time dean of students, he said they dropped the memorial part. After Judd died in 2007, they renamed it again to be the “Wendell-Judd Cup”.

In the years that have followed, the cup has provided an opportunity for a small community to grow even closer.

Wendell started Sunday’s race by ringing a cowbell, beginning another year of an event he has watched evolve for 55 years.

“In the very, very first years, there were just a few people,” Wendell said in an interview.

“Actually, there were three categories. There were skis and snowshoes, and after everybody’s skied or snowshoed anyone who just wanted to plod along in their boots could go as well. That kind of chewed up the course, but who cared at that time?”

Wendell’s fond memories of the event include seeing his daughter win the junior category one year and eating post-race meals at the Judd household.

The only racer who preferred snowshoes to skis placed first in the pedestrian category. Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff “It has been a terrific race,” Wendell said. “It has been really a fun event for Marlboro over the years. . . It has been an unbelievable and funny thing in my life.”

According to Wendell, Winter Olympics Cross Country Skiing silver medalist Bill Koch started his career in the Wendell-Judd Cup. Koch, who is the stepson of former Marlboro College President Tom Ragle, won his first race at 12 years old while competing in the cup.

“When he was interviewed after [the Olympics], they asked him ‘what was the first race you ever won?’” Wendell said. “He said, ‘the Wendell Cup at Marlboro College!’ That’s our moment of glory.”

At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Austria, Koch became the first American to medal in cross-country skiing and remained the only American to receive a medal in this category until 2018.

Director of Outdoor Programs Nikolas Ka-

trick is in his third year in the position, but he said he’s been involved with Marlboro outdoor programs since 2003. In those 17 years, he said he’s come to recognize how important the race is to the community.

“It’s a blending of the college, plus the town, and many people in the region, and skiing is one of the things we do in southern Vermont,” Katrick said in an interview. “It’s a very family friendly and really community building event, so it’s exciting to be in the middle of all of that with some fantastic staff who work for the outdoor program.”

Malcolm Moore founded Marlboro’s outdoor programs and raced on Sunday, skiing the Wendell-Judd Cup for what he said is the 12th or 15th year, which included three or four wins.

He said he began the program with the goal of teaching the student body about various outdoor activities including skiing, whitewater rafting, and biking.

Moore said he is proud of the growth of the program he jumpstarted. Under Katrick, the outdoor programs are now scheduling worldwide expeditions, including one to Iceland this year.

“I think it’s wonderful what they’re doing now,” Moore said. “It’s evolved somewhat now.

It’s much more of a formal sports program, with races like this that have bigger crowds of participants.”

Despite the lack of certainty that surrounds the future of the event, Biology Professor Jaime Tanner is remaining optimistic about the race continuing regardless of what happens to the college.

“I have a hard time believing this is the last one,” Tanner said in an interview. “I would be shocked if the community didn’t come together to make this happen.” ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu

Men’s basketball falls in tense quarterfinals Ethan McDowell, Beacon Staff The men’s basketball team lost to the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday by a score of 80-78 after a potential game-winning three-point shot fell short, ending the Lions’ season with a 14-12 record.

Coast Guard made its first three shots of the game, helping them build a 10-3 lead. Nine first half points from sophomore guard Nate Martin helped the Lions take a 13-12 lead with 13:52 left in the half.

“It’s ingrained in them that, you know, if they quit, people die.”

- Bill Curley Head coach Bill Curley said the Lions’ offense improved after they adopted an unselfish mentality.

“We just moved the ball,” Curley said in a post-game interview. “We didn’t hold it, we got to our spots, and we were just tough with it.”

The first half remained close after that point, and neither team held a lead of more than four until under the one minute mark. With 1:21 remaining in the first period, freshman shooting guard Max Davis made a three point shot to give the Lions a two-point lead. Davis scored the

Nate Martin (center) scored 19 points in the loss Wednesday. Rachel Culver / Beacon Staff next eight points of the game, giving the Lions a ten-point advantage going into halftime.

“He’s a phenomenal player and is going to be an amazing player,” sophomore center Jarred Houston said in a post-game interview. “I’m really, really happy that he gets to play with me for the next two years that I have.”

With 14:52 left in the game, Coast Guard began an 8-0 run to give them a one-point lead.

Coast Guard sophomore guard Garrett Drummond scored 18 second half points on 80 percent shooting. The Lions shot 35 percent in the second half, and Houston said the team missed opportunities.

“Just off the top of my head, I know I left sev-

en points on the board,” Houston said in a postgame interview. “I missed a layup at the end, and I missed another layup earlier in the half, so I probably left nine or ten points on the board.

When you have a team as good as they are, leaving points on the board is something you can’t do, especially in a playoff game because every possession really is crucial.”

After Coast Guard missed a free throw with just over four seconds remaining, the Lions had a chance to win the game trailing by two.

A three-point attempt fell short and the Lions’ defense of their 2019 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship ended.

“We gave a good effort and then we just didn’t lock in the way we had to, and I think that’s something that happened all season long for us,” Curley said. “We don’t focus on the next play, and we just we just dwell or we celebrate or whatnot, and we just gotta move on. When you have a young team, you’re going to see a lot of that. “ Houston scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the game, Martin led the team in scoring with 19, and Davis added 15 points. Senior guard Jack O’Connor grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out six assists in his final collegiate game.

Curley gave Coast Guard credit for its toughness.

“It’s ingrained in them that, you know, if they quit, people die,” Curley said. “It comes down to that, so you know they’re going to play the full 40 minutes.”

Houston said the team plans on remembering the feeling from this loss going into next season.

“I just think it’s a really big shock for us,” Houston said. “I think coming into our freshman year, we did what we wanted to do. This year, we didn’t really get done what we wanted to do. So I think we just have to just build off that during the summer. I know a lot of guys are upset right now, myself included, so it’s just remembering this feeling as we get ready for next year.”

ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon February 26, 2020

Sports

7

NEWMAC releases Lion-heavy all-academic teams Emily Cardona, Beacon Staff The men’s and women’s basketball team earned 13 spots on the NEWMAC Academic All-Conference teams for the 2019-2020 season.

The 13 student athletes are required to have a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average out of a 4.0 scale and reach second-year academic status to be eligible for the all-academic award.

“Not surprising at all because our kids do really well academically, and they are very good and hard-working students,” women’s basketball head coach Bill Gould said in an interview.

Both men’s and women’s basketball teams are tied with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for first place in the academic all-conference selections.

Women’s basketball filled nine of the 49 spots across the NEWMAC conference. For seniors Natalie Clydesdale, Kate Foultz, and Quinn Madden, this is their third straight year receiving this award. Sam Boyle, Ashley Toner, and Rachel Davey have earned the all-academic for two years straight.

Four men’s basketball players received spots on the all-academic team.

Sophomores Nate Martin, Trevor McLean, and Zachary Waterhouse are first-time honorees, while it’s senior Ben Holding’s third straight year earning the all-academic award.

“I am very proud of the commitment that I put in my grades,” Holding said in an interview. “It is a lot of work but it takes commitment to be a student athlete.”

“I am very proud of the commitement that I put in.”

emily_cardona@emerson.edu

Women’s basketball earned nine spots on the NEWMAC Academic All-Conference team.

Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff

Freshman volleyball player stands out above the net Alberto Gilman, Beacon Correspondent Going into high school, freshman middle blocker Parker Gray had several options on the table to play baseball in college.

Four years later, he’s starting on the Emerson men’s volleyball team, putting up 10 kills in four of his last six matches, including a career-high 13 in the team’s most recent match against St. Josephs College on Feb. 21.

“When I got to high school, I was in my 10th year of playing baseball, and at that time I was being recruited for pitching from two or three colleges in the local area,” Gray said in an interview. “It was kind of like a lot on me.”

Gray, a Los Angeles, California, native, is a starter in his first season with the Lions.

Through the first 11 matches, Gray’s statistics include 83 kills, 51 digs, 12 total blocks, 202 total attacks, seven service aces and seven assists.

After deciding to not pursue baseball, which he described as more of a family interest rather than a personal one, a teacher offered Gray the opportunity to play on his high school’s volleyball team. Gray told his father he would quit baseball and join the volleyball team, and he has been playing ever since.

“Baseball, in general, has always just been something that my dad has been pushing,” Gray said. “When I got to high school, I just kind of saw it as something I didn’t have a true interest in.”

Gray said he is thankful for the opportunity

to play at Emerson.

“It was kind of just the fact that someone showed interest in me at all, and it was at a school that I kind of knew somewhat about,” Gray said. “After I started doing research on it, I found out that it’d actually be like a really good fit for me and like what I want to do in my career.”

Before Gray stepped on the court, Gray knew the college would be a good fit.

“After I like came on my visit and met everybody on the team, I could just feel like these were people I could truly see myself spending like my time with and not feel like I was an outsider,” Gray said. “I honestly have felt like that on teams where I just didn’t really fit in with any of the players, but when I met like all these guys, I could really feel like these could be my friends for the next four years or going past that.”

Head coach Ben Read, in his fourth season with the Lions, said he already sees Gray’s potential.

“He’s a great player,” Read said in an interview. “He’s stepped up and done a great job in multiple roles on our team. The fact that he’s been able to kind of mold his game into what we’re looking for in him will help us down the road.”

Sophomore defensive specialist Leon Chen said he and Gray share a bond on and off the court, and he sees the impact Gray has on the team.

“It’s great to like actually see someone that I

Parker Gray totaled 83 kills through 11 games this season.

Kate Foultz / Beacon Staff can see being friends with actually come to join “His vision is that he wants me to develop our team,” Chen said in an interview. “It’s also into a lot smarter of a player to the point where great that Parker, as a freshmen player, is able he doesn’t have to like worry about me doing the to lead in terms of our offense, defense. He’s right thing,” Gray said. “Our relationship is still always there to support the team, especially in growing.” performance on the court. He’s a very passionGray returns to the court as the Lions take ate player.” on Lasell College at home on Friday, Feb. 28, at As the season progresses, Gray said playing 7 p.m. under Coach Read will continue to develop his game and build a solid career. alberto_gilman@emerson.edu

Softball looks for playoff spot as season nears Megan MacLaren, Beacon Staff The softball team ranked fifth in the NEWMAC conference in 2019. This season, with nine players entering their sophomore season, the team is aiming to not only return to the playoffs but climb higher in the conference rankings.

“Being in the middle of the pack is something to be proud of,” head coach Phil McElroy said in an interview. “We have a goal to be better than that, but we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves.”

The Lions enter the season looking to fill the void left by catcher Kallista Leonardos, who declared for the American Softball Association draft at the end of the 2019 season. As one of three seniors last season, along with outfielder Marisa DeFranco and shortstop Alena Jones, Leonardos made an impact both on and off the field as a team captain. Leonardos played in all 40 games in 2019, totaled eight home runs, and recorded a .319 batting average.

McElroy said he will take multiple approaches to fill the spot Leonardos left on the roster.

“She was one of those kids that you don’t often get,” McElroy said. “I think we’ll try it in different ways, try and string a couple more hits together rather than just waiting for Kallista’s bombs.”

Nine of the 15 players this season are sophomores, with shortstop Micaela Dix as the only senior on the roster this season.

“The sophomore group got to spend a lot of time on the field as freshmen,” McElroy said.

“So we’re hoping that they take that experience

Softball returns 13 of 16 players from last season with playoff hopes. • Courtesy of Kate Foultz and run with it.”

For spring break, the Lions will be traveling to Tucson, Arizona, to play in the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association Leadoff Classic

against other Division III teams. For the players, the games will be a way to prepare for their challenging New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference opponents.

“We’re playing some really good teams in Arizona, so it’s going to be a level of competition that will definitely prepare us, if not be more intense than what the NEWMAC might be,” sophomore outfielder Mallory Shofi said in an interview. “It’s going to be challenging for us, but I think that it is going to teach us to be resilient.”

Junior pitcher Neely Eddleston started in 24 games during the 2019 season and received a spot on the 2019 all-conference second team.

“The teams that we usually play in Florida, some are hard and some are easy,” Eddleston said in an interview. “We need to have a hard time in Arizona and then be ready for the NEWMAC.” Eddleston, one of four upperclassmen, said she is more confident going into the season and wants to use her position to help the Lions succeed this season.

“We have a lot of talent, but we haven’t figured out how to use it yet,” Eddleston said. “I get to have this upperclassman role and help the underclassmen but also help my team in a bigger way than I have in the past two years.”

The Lions will play their first regular-season games in Massachusetts at Suffolk University in a doubleheader at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on March 20. The first home game for the Lions will be a doubleheader on March 21 against NEWMAC opponent Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 4 p.m and 6 p.m.

megan_maclaren@emerson.edu

Lifestyle

The Berkeley Beacon

February 27, 2020

8

Everything has changed—except my love for Taylor Swift Jess Ferguson is a freshman journalism major, The Beacon’s deputy opinion editor, and this edition’s music columnist.

It was 2007, and I distinctly remember opening up my seventh birthday present: a black SanDisk MP3 player. At the time, I thought I was the coolest first-grader in the world. I blew out my candles and immediately ran downstairs to purchase my first song, which changed my life forever, “Teardrops on My Guitar” by Taylor Swift.

I had heard the song on the radio a few times, and my sister frequently listened to her debut album. And at the time, my older sister liking something automatically validated it in my mind.

Very few things have followed me from first grade to college—aside from my stuffed dolphin named Piggy and my adoration for High School Musical 2. Over the past 12 years, my interests, friends, hairstyles and outfits have changed, but my love for Swift’s music is unwavering.

Each of Swift’s albums marks a distinct time period in my life.

In 2006, when Swift’s self-titled album came out, I was a kindergartener. I listened to the album with my sister during our car ride to Cape Cod, where my family spent our summers when

I was in elementary school. three days away from leaving for my first year In 2008, when Fearless came out, my friends of college. I listened to the album in my car as I and I choreographed dances to each song in my drove through my hometown of Walpole, Masbasement. For my first concert, I went to see sachusetts, with my sister, savoring every last Taylor Swift open for Keith Urban at TD Gar- moment with her. den. When Urban came on, my family and I left.

On my 15th birthday, I finally could relate In 2010, Speak Now came out, and my sister to “Fifteen,” which is a moment my 2008 self and I blasted the music in our shared bedroom, dreamed of. When my freshman year crush singing along to every lyric, as if we, at 10 and didn’t reciprocate my feelings, I sat in my bed13 years old, could relate to the heartbreak she room crying to “Cold As You” as if the world felt. was going to end. When one of my best friends In 2012, when wronged me in Red came out, I my junior year, I put on red lipstick drove home from and a red top to go school blasting “There is a Taylor Swift song for to Gillette Stadi“This Is Why um with my sisWe Can’t Have every mood, event, and mileter for our fourth Nice Things.” As Swift concert: The I coped with the stone in my life.

In times of both Red Tour. loss of my beloved In 2014, when nana, who died of celebration and sadness, I tend 1989 came out, lung cancer last my family and I April, I listened to to gravitate towawrd Swift’s had just moved “Soon You’ll Get out of my childBetter.” music.” hood home into As I grew older, my grandfather’s I watched many house across town. people around I listened to the alme grow out of bum as I got ready for school every morning.

Swift’s music or “cancel” her following her In 2017, on the release day of Reputation, I 2016 feud with Kanye West. But for me, nothgroggily put in earbuds to listen to the album ing has changed. If you had asked me who my at 6 a.m. for my college road trip to New York favorite artist was in 2007, I would have the City. same answer as I do now: Taylor Swift.

Finally, in 2019, when Lover came out, I was I take comfort in the sense of stability her

music provides for me. It makes me feel as if I still carry a part of my old self with me, even 12 years later. Even if I’m no longer the same naive 7-year-old, I still have the memories attached to her music.

There is a Taylor Swift song for every mood, event and milestone in my life. In times of both celebration and sadness, I tend to gravitate toward Swift’s music because it provides me with a sense of comfort. The familiarity, as well as the relatability of the songs, makes it feel like I’m with a friend rather than some unattainable celebrity.

My sister Jamie is my best friend, and we have shared our love for Swift over the years, even when she went through her Hot Topic phase and seemed too cool for anything except black eyeliner and Panic! At The Disco. This summer, we will share our seventh Swift concert together, Lover Fest East at Gillette Stadium. I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else, with anyone else, to see anyone else.

Twelve years of my life have included laughs, tears, loss, career changes, different homes, school changes, concerts, graduations, vacations and a lot of Taylor Swift music. Though I no longer have that 2007 MP3 player, a piece of my younger self is still with me today when I listen to old Taylor Swift songs in my dorm.

And maybe, years from now, “Lover” will be my wedding song.

jess_ferguson@emerson.edu

Alum documents lack of LGBTQ+ women spaces

Clements was present at a screening of “All We’ve Got” on Feb. 19 2020 at the Coolidge Corner Theater. Photo courtesy of Alexis Clements Katiana Hoefle, Beacon Staff After coming out in her twenties, Alexis Clements ‘01 sought a community space for queer women but soon learned that the majority of them were closing across the country, inspiring her to research the spaces and showcase the narratives of queer women within these communities in a documentary.

The result of Clements’ research, a documentary titled “All We’ve Got,” showcases the importance of spaces for queer women in America. “All We’ve Got” utilizes various narratives from owners and participants of these spaces—locations where queer women can organize politically, express art, and build community—to highlight their importance to the women who are a part of them. GlobeDocs Film Festival screened the documentary with Clements present at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline on Feb. 19 for people to view and discuss the film.

“It’s been super exciting to be at screenings

like the one in Boston where people are able to speak across generations and across communities and really like have a moment to think about what it means to be in the queer community today,” Clements said in a phone interview from Brooklyn, New York.

The film focuses on five spaces and their own ways of creating community. Alibis in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is a lesbian bar. The Lesbian Herstory Archives in Brooklyn, New York collects materials by lesbians to document their history. Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas is a space for advocacy work as well as cultural and educational programming predominantly centered around inequalities faced by minorities. Wow Cafe Theater is a feminist theater space in New York, New York.

The documentary closes with a Facebook group called Trans Ladies Picnic, where transgender women can meet up in public spaces.

“It is not simply to find people to date,” Clements said. “They are places to gather strength

and strategy.”

Clements originally intended for the documentary to be a play entirely cast by queer women. After a script reading at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Brooklyn, New York, Clements felt moved to do more community readings at queer women’s spaces around the country. Through researching these spaces, Clements became more invested in how areas for queer women are closing down.

Clements primarily attributes the businesses’ closing to gentrification. Clements said people commonly believe that it is not only the business being pushed out but customers being pushed out as well. Clements found that articles reporting on the topic often claim queer women are at fault for the loss of these spaces.

“They often end with a little note, ‘If you just bought another beer this place would still be here.’ And that is so bullshit,” Clements said.

“Sure if you still could afford to live in a neighborhood next door to that bar and then you

could also afford to buy that second beer, but the reality is that most of the people who occupy the bars that have closed have also been pushed out. It is such a kind of victim-blaming, and like a crappy game that gets played against queer women.”

Clements wrestled with the idea of community throughout the process of the documentary. She said the term is often used in too broad of a form to describe groups of people. “[Community] is something more than just being in the room together,” Clements said.

“What it provides is that you’re sitting in the room, you’re working with people who you might share something in common with, but you care enough about the shared purpose to work through difficulty.”

This topic was a shock to some of the audience members when discussing the various queer women’s spaces that have closed in Boston after the screening.

“You don’t think about it, but then you are like ‘Oh…yeah,’” Caitlin Hamill, who attended the screening, said. “This is a really important narrative that doesn’t get the same recognition.”

The process for filming and editing the documentary took five and a half years, which Clements said is quick compared to most directors’ first documentaries. Clements traveled around the country, filming different spaces in New York, Florida, Louisiana, and California, among other places.

After the editing process, Clements decided to send the individual film sections that showcased the five spaces to their respective organizers.

“It felt important for the people speaking to not feel like we were taking anything away from them,” Clements said.

While Clements argued that these spaces are still important to queer women today, GlobeDocs audience member Denise Lagault noted that they were more important in the past.

“These spaces aren’t as needed as they were because [queer people] can hold hands [in public],” Lagault said, “You don’t have to find these spaces. I lived two separate lives.”

Clements urged the crowd at the end of the screening to continue the conversation about these spaces closing down.

“I do think if we are going to have space together and we’re going to get anywhere together, we’ve got to dig into this,” Clements said.

katiana_hoefle@emerson.edu