Week of rest

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

Thursday, March 11, 2021 • Volume 74, Issue 20

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Some classroom SGA garners support for ‘Week of Rest’ layouts fall short of Legislation demands modified spring break six-foot distancing amid burnout complaints Frankie Rowley Beacon Staff The Student Government Association passed its first piece of spring semester legislation, “An Act To Advocate For The Community’s Well-Being” Monday night after students expressed burnout as a result of the college’s decision to cancel spring break.

“An Act To Advocate For The Community’s Well-Being” was drafted by Annie Noel, Patty Tamayo, and members of SGA’s Legislative Review Board. The act calls for some form of modified spring break in lieu of the traditional week-long March break canceled in October to

curb travel that could drive COVID-19 transmission. The legislation was developed after the organization circulated a Google Form to elicit community members’ opinions on the cancelation and gauge interest in a variety of solutions.

SGA proposed five solutions to the college “as a guide for the administration and faculty to create a modified spring break,” including a five-day break for the week of March 15, an extended weekend from March 12 to 16, a period of no assignments for the week of March 15, the reinstitution of optional pass/fail grading, and asynchronous class days for the week of March 15. A “none of the above” option was also included.

“If none of the above solutions are viable, we request that the College present an alternative solution(s) that would address the needs of the community in terms of well-being and productivity,” the act said.

Following SGA’s launch of the Google

Form, Tamayo, who was introduced to the initiative by co-author Noel during a class they share, immediately wanted to get involved. She was added to the email list and began attending meetings to discuss the legislation. Neither Tamayo nor Noel are members of SGA. The survey garnered 1,702 responses from community members, all but four of whom were students. Of the responses, 800 were reported within 12 hours of the survey’s publication.

In the form, 43 percent of respondents said they were “very exhausted,” with 87 percent responding the currently scheduled “free” day off on March 12 was not enough to recuperate from the stressors of the semester. 97.6 percent said they supported a modified spring break as long as COVID-19 policies stay in place, with the most popular option—at 52 percent—being a five-day break.

SGA, Pg. 3

South Street Diner on Kneeland (top); Garbanzo on Boylston (left)

to keep its capacity levels at the current 40 percent—15 people—for the near future. Operating partner Derek St. George said he is wary of immediately raising the seating limits—especially given the abrupt roll back of the state’s reopening process in December.

“We’ve been in and out of phases so many times—we take a step forward, and we take a step back—so we’re just going to play this as it comes,” St. George said. “If we see the need to go up in capacity, we will.”

Before restrictions were lifted, restaurants had been operating under capacity limits since June 22, when indoor dining first returned after the state’s initial shutdown in March 2020. Until early this year, capacity limits were set at 25 percent of normal indoor occupancy, increasing to 40 percent on Feb. 15.

South Street Diner, a Kneeland Street eatery that was able to return to its hallmark 24-hour service only last month, welcomed the capacity change given the diner’s tightly-constrained seating situation.

“We have under 20 customers [in at a time], and that’s just under 50 percent,” owner Solomon “Sol” Sidell said, before the restriction was officially lifted. “Before it was 51 or 52, nobody was really counting. Now, we’re counting every person. It’s stressful—and it decimates your business.”

Despite the elimination of capacity limits, various other restrictions effectively prevent most restaurants from actually operating at 100 percent capacity. Six-foot social distancing requirements, 90-minute eating time caps, and a six-person-per-table policy all remain in place for Massachusetts restaurants.

“While they’ve taken [the capacity limit] out, there’s still an implied restriction,” John Pepper, owner of Boloco Modern Mexican, said. “You still have to social distance, the tables should be six feet apart—that part isn’t different. That’s why we’re continuing to keep [our indoor layout] probably about the same.”

In the interest of social distancing, Garbanzo also plans to maintain its current table layout despite the policy changes, according to St. George. The Mediterranean restaurant will keep its “table tents”—self-standing folded paper tops marking off unavailable tables—as well as the appropriate social distancing placards and signage.

Restaurants, Pg. 2

Desks seperated by plexiglass. Zhuoli Zhang / Beacon Staff

Patrick Pierce Beacon Correspondent The structure of some classrooms on Emerson’s main campus make six-foot social distancing nearly impossible—causing some students to lose faith in the quality of the college’s social distancing measures.

In the fall, the college instituted six-foot physical distancing policy in all classrooms, as part of an effort to promote social distancing. However, some students now say the layout of specific classroom spaces falls short of the required distance.

The seats in computer lab 633 in the Walker Building are not spaced six feet apart, with plexiglass dividers between seats instead. There also are not assigned or taped-off seats to mandate distancing, so students are free to sit wherever they wish—even directly next to each other.

Plexiglass barriers are helpful in blocking large airborne particles, but they do not prevent viral transmission, according to a study released by the University of Washington. They are not a replacement for social distancing, the study notes, and six feet of distance between each person is still necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“As we reviewed it over the summer with our facilities team as well as our consulting medical team from Tufts and epidemiologists—for the labs because [students] are forward facing towards the screen the plexiglass shields that are between each station do help create and mimic the distance needed for safe learning,” Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp said.

“I don’t think they do a really good job enforcing it,” first-year journalism major Amanda Winters said.

“It has to do a lot with professors not being used to teaching distances.”

In other classrooms, the desks are six feet apart, but are moved during class meetings. Winters described one of her professors asking students to move themselves and their desks during class—something she wasn’t sure if they were allowed to do.

“My professor was like, ‘Can we all go to this side of the room?’ And then we had to move chairs, and I definitely think you’re not supposed to move chairs,” Winters said.

In addition to classroom layout adjustments, Emerson’s reopening plan implemented numerous safety policies such as capacity limits, frequent sanitation, and physical distancing to reduce spread of COVID-19.

Desks, Pg. 2

Photos: Madison Goldberg and Alec Klusza, Beacon Staff

Restaurants navigate reopening under loosened restrictions Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff The progressive relaxation of the state’s coronavirus restrictions over the past several weeks cleared the way for Emerson-area restaurants to start returning to normal operations— though the shift to business-as-usual is anything but straightforward.

Restaurants in Boston are now free to op-

erate without any percentage-based occupancy limits as part of the state’s move into Phase Three, Step Two of its reopening plan, effective March 1. Despite the new freedoms, some business owners are approaching the revised guidelines with caution, even as the restaurant industry continues to recover from the prolonged closures and revenue shortfalls brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, an Emerson Board Bucks partner on Boylston Street, plans

Emerson Flows combats period poverty Campbell Parish Beacon Staff Student organization Emerson Flows launched a menstrual product drive on Monday, aiming to encourage community members to get involved with menstrual advocacy.

The organization, which works to help educate members of the community about menstruation and break the stigma surrounding periods, hopes to “Free the Period” with help from the Emerson community. Emerson Flows is donating all unopened menstrual products collected through Friday, with the goal of combatting period poverty in the greater Boston area. Students can find donation boxes in the lobbies of residence halls across campus Emerson Flows President Claire Kong discussed the goals of the organization, as well as this specific menstrual product drive.

“The first step to combating period poverty is to talk about it,” Kong said. “It’s hard to think about the last time I had a conversation with someone about my period or their period because there is such a heavy stigma around menstruation.”

According to the American Medical Women’s Association, period poverty is defined as “the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education, including but not limited to sanitary products.”

The organization’s Treasurer, Elizabeth Pine said student participation in the product drive is essential for the organization to achieve its goals.

“For our donation drive, we ask that any Emerson students that are willing or able to donate any unopened containers of menstrual products [do so].

Including but not limited to: tampons and pads, “ Pine said.

Pads, Pg. 7

155

positive COVID-19 tests

.17%

positivity rate

89,000+ tests completed

*Accumulated from 2020-2021 school year

INSIDE THIS EDITION Noise complaints in Little Building lightwell Pg. 2 Second Marlboro campus sale falls through Pg. 3 Editorial: Why students deserve a ‘week of rest’ Pg. 4 Op-ed: How Gov. Abbott is putting Texans at risk Pg. 5 ‘Emerson Sweets’ funds production studio Pg. 6 Here’s our 2021 Grammys predictions Pg. 7 Senior Lindsey Lowe celebrates last softball season Pg. 8

News

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

2

Noise complaints abound in Little Building lightwells Bailey Allen Beacon Staff

Little Building residents who live in a lightwell-facing room say their sleep, class, and work schedules are being disrupted by the recurrence of intrusive voices and loud music echoing off the building’s walls until the early hours of the morning.

Lightwells—unroofed air shafts within large buildings—allow light and fresh air to enter the 198 inward-facing dorm rooms housing first-year students. Since the fall semester, some students who reside in the lightwell rooms have filed noise complaints due to loud noises that occur past the residence hall’s set “quiet hours’’ of 11 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Sunday through Thursday and from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Nick Powell, a first-year visual and media arts major, lives on the building’s eighth floor—in the lightwell facing the green-colored common room. He said every time he opens his window, he is in for a clamorous surprise.

“I wake up every day and I don’t know if I’m gonna hear Gwen Stefani or Wonderwall or just people screaming,” Powell said. “I’m not usually trying to sleep because I don’t go to bed until like 4 a.m., but still, it’s not nice.”

He said closing the window minimizes the noise, but the varying temperatures of his dorm room make it hard to keep them shut.

“When the thermostat doesn’t really work, you open the window and you let some cool air in, but then you’re also letting in ‘No Scrubs’

by TLC,” Powell said. “It’s kind of a trade-off.”

Roommates Nathalie Calvillo, a first-year visual and media arts major, and Sara Fergang, a first-year

The three vertical shafts allow light and fresh air into 198 inward-facing dorm rooms. Zhihao Wu / Beacon Staff

writing, literature and publishing major, filed a noise complaint when the lightwell sounds became too much to bear. They also live in the green-colored lightwell, but on the 10th floor.

“Last semester, we called a noise complaint,” Calvillo said. “It was like one in the morning on a school night. I know it’s hard to pinpoint it within the lightwell, so I get that it’s hard to control, but I don’t expect much–just a little bit of peace. An RA finding the source of it and being like, ‘Hey, people are complaining,’ is really all I ask for.”

On Feb. 8, Little Building Resident Director Britt Locklin sent an email to all of the lightwell-facing residents.

“It has come to our attention that there have been multiple community disruptions coming from the rooms that face into the lightwells,” she wrote. “This has included music, screaming, and other loud and inappropriate occurrences.”

Locklin outlined the repercussions students may face if they are caught deliberately making loud noises in

Desks crammed close together in some college classrooms Cont. from Pg. 1 Muurisepp said while classroom setups are sometimes shifted by faculty and students during class time, the facilities team resets every classroom at the end of each day.

“Facilities is making sure they go around as they are disinfecting the spaces with the Clorox 360 machine [and are resetting] the classrooms to what the original setup was, which allows six feet of distance between students,” Muurisepp said.

If students see desks fewer than six feet apart, Murrisepp encouraged them to report the building, classroom number, and class time to the college. Reported classrooms will undergo extra disinfecting, desks will be reset to their original distance, and the faculty member will be notified of the violation of the college’s guidelines, according to Muurisepp.

First-year journalism major Jacob Ireland said implementing the

six-feet guideline in every classroom was a logistical challenge.

“The social distancing kind of works, for what it is,” he said.

“It’s difficult to be able to separate a lot of students six feet. I’ve seen other schools attempting it, too. I really can’t complain with how Emerson is doing it.”

Ireland said the precautions students are taking—mask-wearing, sanitization, and frequent testing—allowed him to feel comfortable with irregular desk layouts.

Nevertheless, Ireland took issue with the plexiglass dividers present in many classrooms. He said he doubted their effectiveness, describing how students “move past” it to talk to each other—rendering it useless.

“It’s hard to talk with the plexiglass sometimes,” Winters said, echoing Ireland’s comments. “So we’ll go around.” patrick_pierce@emerson edu

“I wake up every day, and I don’t know if I’m gonna hear Gwen Stefani or Wonderwall or just people screaming.”

- Nick Powell

the lightwell.

“If this behavior continues, formal action through the Community Standards and Student Conduct process may occur to people in violation,” the email read. “We ask that residents of the lightwell rooms report noise disturbances to the RAs on duty for your respective area immediately so that we can address concerns at the moment it happens.”

Locklin declined The Beacon’s request for comment.

Caitlin Farrell, a first-year visual and media arts major whose room is on the 12th floor of the yellow-colored lightwell said deliberately making loud noises, especially in the middle of the night, is disrespectful to the students who have class or work early in the morning.

“You don’t know what people are doing and what they’re trying to work on,” Farrell said. “What if they’re in class on Zoom and they can’t focus because you’re playing music? Or what if it’s really late and somebody has an 8 a.m. or work the next day that they need to get up and

The exterior of Boloco on Boylston. Maximo Aguilar Lawlor / Beacon Staff

Eateries still struggling under new restrictions Cont. from Pg. 1 “We haven’t pulled any of those off quite yet, because this stuff is just beginning to happen,” he said. “But even if we did, we still wouldn’t have a situation where people are bumping into each other at tables—the habits of people eating out have changed so drastically.”

He also drew attention to the fact that, aside from Emerson students, there have been thousands fewer individuals present in the downtown area since last March. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported foot and vehicle traffic in Boston was “less than 20 percent” of its 2019 levels, largely a result of people being forced to—or electing to—work from home.

“Now you don’t have that half a million people in the Financial District in their offices ordering delivery, ordering DoorDash, catering events for their office parties or meetings,” St. George said.

“That revenue would offset the lower foot traffic due to the bad weather. Unfortunately, you’re just not getting what you normally would.”

For many restaurants already forced to operate at fractional capacity, the lessened foot traffic has been debilitating. Boloco, which reopened its Boston Common location on Jan. 12, currently faces a revenue shortfall of about 70 percent year-over-year. Yet returning to business-as-usual is more complicated than reversing capacity restrictions, Pepper said.

“We don’t have any fantasy that taking away those precautions would all of a sudden draw our same level of business back,” he said. “It’s not like the seats we even have are full.”

As a result of the pandemic, indoor dining has fallen significantly. Health authorities, chief among them the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

be responsible for?”

Katie Broderick, a theater and performance major who lives in the blue-colored lightwell on the 10th floor, said she understands the appeal of connecting with other students through means of the lightwell, but draws the line when it becomes disruptive.

“The first few weeks I was here, I thought it was kind of fun,” Broderick said. “People were in isolation for a week so no one was able to communicate any other way. That’s fine. We didn’t really have much going on but now, since it’s constant and during school nights, it’s annoying and inconsiderate.”

Besides back-and-forth discourse, bizarre noises are among the sounds Broderick said she’s heard from the lightwell.

“One time I heard someone doing Elmo impressions at like one in the morning, just really loudly,” she said. “And I’ve heard people yelling ‘shut up’ when others have been being loud.”

Fergang said she hopes the “quiet hours” signs in the Little Building will resonate with students.

“Courtesy hours are 24/7,” she said. “I don’t care if I hear noise, but if it’s yelling and loud enough so anyone in the lightwell can hear it, that’s when it becomes a problem— even when it’s just 3 p.m. on a school day.”

Powell said he understands the woes of being in college during a pandemic, but believes lightwell residents should quiet down for the sake of their peers.

“If you’re reading this right now, I know it’s hard out there,” he said. “I know that it’s hard to sleep and you want to play music but just wait until, like, 8 a.m., if you don’t mind.” bailey_allen@emerson.edu as well as Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci, continue to caution the public against indoor dining, which is still labeled a “higher risk” activity even with the improving vaccination rate.

“The sad reality is that, over the last year, a lot of guests and people who frequent restaurants have gotten into the habit of not eating in,” St. George said.

“It’s not as if we’re not allowing people to sit in the restaurant to the capacity that the Governor is [already] allowing. It’s just that nobody’s doing it.”

Typically, Garbanzo would have a roughly even split between in-person diners and to-go or third-party orders, St. George said. Now, he estimates the proportion of patrons choosing to dine indoors to be “maybe one out of ten or fifteen people who come in.”

“The purchasing habits of society have changed overall, from all the restrictions and safety concerns,” he said.

At South Street Diner, Sidell said he too has felt the reluctance of patrons to eat in—a trend that has challenged him to try to preserve the eatery’s nostalgic brand.

“Our business has gone from being 90 percent in-house business to a 50 percent delivery business—because people don’t want to go out to restaurants,” he said.

“We’re taking the memories that people have created, a 1950s comfort food experience, and we now have to box that up and ship it to people. We’re learning.”

St. George said even with the lifted restrictions, he was unsure when Boston restaurants would truly be able to approach a semblance of normalcy. “[Even with] all that—going to 100 percent capacity, taking all the social distance signs down a year from now, whenever that is—the habits are still going to be in place,” he said. “I don’t know how long it’ll take for indoor dining to really return to what it traditionally has been.” camilo_fonseca@emerson edu

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

3

Second Marlboro campus sale falls through Jacob Seitz

Beacon Staff Democracy Builders will retain control of the former Marlboro College campus, according to its founder Seth Andrew, after it was purportedly sold to Vermont-based education company Type 1 Civilization Academy, setting up a possible legal battle over the Vermont campus.

The arrangement between educational nonprofit Democracy Builders and Type 1 was not as concrete as previously reported, Andrew said during an invite-only Zoom call Tuesday when the cancelation was announced.

Andrew declined The Beacon’s request for comment.

After due diligence was done by Democracy Builders’ legal team, the group pulled out of the deal, according to the Brattleboro Reformer.

“We were engaged, not married,” Andrew said during the Zoom call.

Democracy Builders entered into a purchase and lease agreement with Type 1 last month, in the hopes of offloading the campus’ estimated $1.2 million yearly operating cost. Degrees of Freedom—a hybrid college education model created by Democracy Builders and Seth Andrew—was still set to use the rural campus, located in the foothills of the Green Mountains in southern Vermont.

Under the terms of the deal,

Type 1 was to operate the campus, completing renovations and maintenance. In January, Andrew and Democracy Builders reportedly relinquished all liability from the grounds via a quitclaim deed, which transferred the entire property to Type 1. A new quitclaim deed was filed this month by Democracy Builders, transferring the property back to themselves. It is unclear who the legal owner of the campus is at the moment.

Adrian Stein, who operates Type 1, told the Reformer that Andrew and Democracy Builders “erroneously released pre-signed quitclaims” and “repurposed these instruments to re-convey the property back to themselves.”

Stein, an elusive Canadian businessman who agreed to purchase the campus, wanted to host cryptocurrency conferences on Potash Hill, according to sale documents obtained by The Beacon.

The issue of campus ownership may end up in court, unless an “equitable settlement” can be reached, Stein said.

“I am reasonably certain that we will prevail and that we will retain our full and legitimately conveyed ownership rights to this magnificent property,” he told the Reformer in an email after the announcement.

With Democracy Builders now retaining ownership, Andrew

said the Degrees of Freedom program—which is still slated to start on the campus this fall—will have to rely heavily on philanthropy to remain in operation. The program would need 500 students enrolled, all paying the full $9,000 tuition, to break even, Andrew said in the Zoom call. Currently, 150 students are expected to attend the first fall session, according to Degrees of Freedom Vice President of Talent Karen Reece, who spoke on the Tuesday Zoom call.

Andrew stated in February the money saved due to Type 1 leading upkeep would go to student support for the higher education program.

Democracy Builders purchased the campus—once valued at $10 million by Emerson—in July for $1.725 million in cash and debt the day before the Emerson-Marlboro merger was finalized.

The deal with Type 1, which was approved by the Vermont Attorney

Democracy Builders will retain control of the campus. Beacon Archives

General, was worth $9.4 million, according to documents obtained

by The Beacon. It included $2.5 million in cash, $2.5 million in escrowed prepaid rent, another $2.5 million as a mortgage-backed structured donation, and $1.5 mil-

lion in Type 1’s takeover of lease obligations to the Marlboro Music Festival. Democracy Builders would have also received $416,000 in rent abatement. jacob_seitz@emerson.edu

Student government proposed five spring break alternatives

An SGA meeting in 2019. Beacon Archives

Cont. from Pg. 1 The data provided by students in the survey, Tamayo says, increases the legitimacy of the community’s needs in the eyes of the college due to the overwhelming response, and consideration of the legalities of creating a modified spring break.

“We wanted to do it very data-driven and precise because we understand that there are other issues outside of the college’s hands,” Tamayo said. “We wanted to make sure that the administration knew that we are thinking about all the repercussions that this would have.”

The act also provides a disclaimer about the proposed solutions, noting SGA took into account the

risks associated with a spring break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the accreditation requirements— educational standards an educational institution must meet to achieve the school’s objectives—Emerson must meet.

Despite students’ concerns, college officials have stated the college cannot make changes to the academic calendar once it has been finalized.

“The length of term, time in class, and days in a semester are compliance points that need to be met in order to maintain regional accreditation and federal financial aid regulations,”Whelan wrote in an email to The Beacon. “While we would have preferred to provide a spring break to the community,

there was no way to do so. Therefore, the attempt was to create alternative breaks, which could not be as long.”

Despite the college touting its purported additional day off each month, there is only one non-holiday extension reflected on the academic calendar as a “free day off” on March 12, which falls on a Friday—a day many students already do not have class. Other allotted days off, such as President’s Day and Patriot’s Day, are all federal holidays previously observed by the college.

The spring semester began a week later than normal due in order to accommodate the lack of spring break.

“While not a substitute for spring break, each month has an extended weekend for some respite,” Whelan said. “There are many considerations to keep in mind when developing an academic calendar—along with its start and end dates. The health and safety of our community was, and remains the priority.”

Vice President and Dean for Campus Life Jim Hoppe said some members of SGA were slated to meet with the Calendar Committee Thursday to discuss the legislation.

“We’re looking at a wide variety of possible solutions, some are institution-wide and some are more cohort-specific,” Hoppe said.

“What might feel like a solution to one student in one class might not work for another type of class. So probably the ideal, end result is probably going to look more individualized.”

The act states that though some

solutions were more popular than others, combining solutions is a viable route for the college to take, such as combining asynchronous class days with no assignment days.

SGA also proposed that COVID-19 testing should be mandatory during the break in order to bar students from travelling. If

43%

of students told SGA they are ‘very exhausted’ a student were to travel during the break, they would have to be quarantined for two weeks.

Michaele Whelan, provost and vice president for academic affairs, declined The Beacon’s request for comment but confirmed she received SGA’s legislation.

Executive President Lindsay Debrosse said she felt “really good” about passing the legislation.

“We were able to do this relatively quickly,” Debrosse said in an interview. “[The college] not acknowledging [the need for a break] is detrimental in the long run because if kids don’t receive

that break a lot of them are going to think about not coming back [to Emerson] or finding alternative ways of going to school [in order to give themselves a break] or not going to school in the upcoming semesters [due to lack of a break].”

Debrosse said she feels uncertain about the pending response from the college—which the act says is expected by the end of the day Thursday—saying she hopes they respect the needs of the community and prioritizes that over the legal aspects of creating a modified break.

“I’m going to be honest with you, it’s going to come to not going to class,” Debrosse said. “I feel [if] push comes to shove, kids are going to take that break regardless … if nothing is done, or nothing is able to be done, I think students will start making their own choices and taking things into their own hands.”

Echoing Debross, Tamayo said she doesn’t believe this is a situation where the college can stand idly by.

“I don’t think that this is a situation where the college can just say there’s nothing we can do, especially because the college has done some incredible things,” Tamayo said. “We ended up all going home in less than a week, so to say that the college can’t take extreme measures if it comes down to the health of the students is just simply wrong… the health of the students has to be the first priority and there isn’t just one side of students’ health.” frankie_rowley@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

4

Opinion

Emerson College, please give your students a spring break

Editorial After living through a pandemic for the past year, most of us are exhausted. The extended hours of screen time, lack of contact with friends and family, and looming fear of the virus has taken a toll on most peoples’ mental health. With the added stress of hybrid classes and pandemic fatigue, academic burnout is imminent if students and faculty are not granted a break.

In October 2020, the faculty union voted on a revised academic calendar for the spring 2021 semester that eliminated spring break, which usually falls in the first week of March. In lieu of the break, the spring semester began a week later than usual. Students were granted a “free day off” on March 12 (on a Friday, when many students do not have class), as well as the typical days off for Presidents’ Day in February and Patriots’ Day in April.

Emerson community members need a break now more than ever— one extra day off on a day when most people already do not have class is not enough. We understand this decision was made to prevent students from traveling over the break, which could cause them to bring COVID-19 back to campus. But now is the time for creative solutions, as community members have made clear that a spring break is essential to mitigating burnout.

The Student Government Association is pushing for a “week of rest” that could give community members a few extra days off. SGA garnered more than 1,700 responses on a Google Form asking for community input, of which 97.6 percent of respondents said they would support a modified spring break.

The form asked students to rank potential solutions, with options that could include a five-day break from classes, a period of no assignments, and a pass-fail option for end of the semester grades, among other solutions.

Students are “Zoomed out” and in need of a break. / Illustration Joshua Sun By far the most popular choice from respondents was the five-day break, followed by an extended weekend, and a no assignments period.

SGA passed legislation calling for a modified spring break on Monday, including a full breakdown of the Google Form responses. College officials are expected to respond to the legislation by the end of the day on March 11—although it is unclear at this time what action the college may take in response to the SGA legislation, if any at all.

Michaele Whelan, provost and vice president of academic affairs, told The Beacon in a story published last week that the college cannot modify the academic calendar after it is finalized.

“The length of term, time in class, and days in a semester are compliance points that need to be met in order to maintain regional accreditation and federal financial aid regulations,” Whelan wrote in an email to The Beacon. “While we would have preferred to provide a spring break to the community, there was no way to do so.

Therefore, the attempt was to create alternative breaks, which could not be as long.”

It’s understandable that Emerson is hesitant to allow a spring break, as it could be hard to prevent student travel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made clear, after all, that travel increases likelihood for

Incident Journal Wednesday, March 3 ECPD found painted graffiti on the East and West sides of the Rotch Field House that is part of Emerson College athletic facilities. The unknown suspects were not located.

spreading COVID-19. For this reason, we believe the college should enforce a strict no overnight travel rule during a potential week of rest, as they do when classes are in session. It may even be necessary to enforce a three times weekly testing requirement during this break, or perhaps regular check-ins with resident assistants to ensure students are residing in their dorms.

We agree there is a need to mitigate spread of the virus—nobody wants to see a COVID outbreak on the Emerson campus. But it’s hard to believe there is no possible way to allow a safe week of rest, especially when the college already enforces travel restrictions. Supporting the community’s mental health should be a priority, even if that means the added effort of enforcing additional travel barriers.

There may not be a completely foolproof way to ensure that every student is adhering to college rules at all times—yet that doesn’t change the fact that time off is essential for productivity and mental health. A study conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2019 found that

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when given time off, people are generally less stressed and anxious, better rested, and more creative. This time off is even more important due to the negative impact the pandemic has had on college students’ mental health.

SGA’s Google form found that 81 percent of respondents felt exhausted or very exhausted at the time of taking the survey. Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services told The Beacon in October that 65.6 percent of Emerson students who visited ECAPS in the fall attributed the pandemic to the worsening of their mental health.

The pandemic has also taken its toll on professors and faculty. A Course Hero study from November found 74 percent of college faculty had experienced significant stress from adapting to teaching during the pandemic, and more than 40 percent considered leaving their positions due to the impact COVID-19 had on their positions.

Time and time again, we’ve seen institutions like Emerson fail to take students and faculty’s mental health into account. After the findings of SGA’s form, it is clear that the com-

Editor-in-Chief Katie Redefer Managing Editors Charlie McKenna (Content) Madison E. Goldberg (Content) Maximo Aguilar Lawlor (Multimedia) Dylan Rossiter (Operations) Section Editors Dana Gerber (News) Lucia Thorne (Living Arts) Juliet Norman (Opinion) Christopher Williams (Sports) Hongyu Liu (Photo) Advisor Rachel Layne

munity needs a modified spring break to mitigate burnout. If there is truly no wiggle room within the academic calendar for a week of rest, then the college must find another solution.

Our community is tired, and we deserve to have our needs addressed by the college.

The Berkeley Beacon Editorial Board is the voice of the student newspaper that looks to serve the Emerson College community with thoughtful insight into ongoings and occurrences affecting their everyday lives.

The board’s positions are determined by its members. The board consists of the editor-inchief, managing editors, and opinion editors. The opinions expressed by the Editorial Board do not impact the paper’s coverage. You can respond to a position brought forward by The Beacon Editorial Board in the form of a Letter to The Editor by email: Letters@BerkeleyBeacon. com.

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.

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

5

Why Texas’ discarded mask mandate puts residents in danger

Illustration Lucia Thorne

Camryn Ciancia

Beacon Correspondent As proud as I am to be a Texan, attending school in Boston has forced me to reflect on the state that I love—and it’s become apparent just how flawed my home state’s local government and elected officials can be.

When COVID-19 exploded in the U.S. last March, no one in my North Dallas suburb took it seriously. When we got our “extended spring break,” other high school seniors and I went to a party to celebrate. I had my pseudo-high school graduation in late May, where I walked across the stage in front of my family and teachers—still maskless.

Despite the rising cases throughout the month of June 2020, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continued to downplay the virus, saying at the time “rising number of hospitalizations does raise concerns,” but that “there is no reason right now to be alarmed.” It wasn’t until July 2 that Gov. Abbott ordered a statewide mask mandate in counties with 20 or more active cases of COVID-19.

Texas is a strange place, geographi-

cally speaking—with major cities and entirely-remote areas within a short distance from each other. There are diverse populations and people of all walks of life throughout the state. It makes sense that Gov. Abbott constructed his mandate to only include counties that had twenty or more active COVID cases, considering there have been towns in Texas that haven’t even reached double-digit cases—even a year into the pandemic.

With the mask mandate in place, Texas began to see a decline in cases in August. By October, businesses were able to start operating at an increased capacity of 75 percent. Nevertheless, there were many Texans hesitant or resistant to wearing masks and obeying social distancing policies. There is no denying that many people in Texas are anti-maskers and do not like the restrictions that were placed upon them.

Downtown Austin fell victim to many “Shed the Mask, Don the Flag” demonstrations to try to combat the original mask mandate from the governor this past summer.

With vaccines beginning to roll out, it

seemed like we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. How many times have we all heard “Stay vigilant, keep washing your hands, and wearing your mask!

This is going to be over so soon”? Gov. Abbott’s rollback of mask mandates, as well as allowing businesses to open at full capacity, threatens to accelerate COVID spread even further.

Texas made national headlines in February with record-breaking winter storms and power outages. During the week of the treacherous storms in mid-February, there was a decrease in COVID cases across Texas, a result of a sharp decline in testing. However, medical professionals predicted that an increased infection rate could happen due to the frenzied nature of the week leading up to the storms, as well as forced immobilization of vaccine administration. The New York Times reported about 2,400 new cases on Feb. 18, then an increase to 10,300 new cases Feb. 23, as testing resumed.

This led to some seriously embarrassing decisions by the Texas government. Senator Ted Cruz made news when his family disgracefully fled to sunny Cancun instead of supporting the millions of his constituents living without power or heat. Gov. Abbott kept quiet on the crisis prompted by the storm until he went on Fox News and primarily criticized the Green New Deal while refraining from acknowledging how his administration failed to prepare Texans for the critical weather. Watching all of this unfold from my college dorm 1,500 miles away, I felt frustrated knowing my family was suffering as the state government did nothing about it.

Once Texas warmed up and people began to recover from the storm, Gov.

Abbott announced the “reopening of Texas” on March 2. As of March 10, masks can come off and businesses can resume normal operations at 100 percent capacity. A lot of people were ecstatic, but my family, friends, and I were simply disgusted and worried.

“It is clear from the recoveries, from the vaccinations, from the reduced hospitalizations and from the safe practices that Texans are using, that state mandates are no longer needed,” the governor said. His press secretary commented later, “Removing state mandates does not end personal responsibility when it comes to caring for family, friends and the community.”

Less than 7 percent of Texans are fully vaccinated. It wasn’t until a week after the governor’s shocking announcement that my 71-year-old grandparents were able to get their second dose of the vaccine. My mother is a single parent and an hourly employee who (literally) cannot afford for my sister to catch the virus at school and spread it to her. The governor made an uninformed decision to release citizens from doing the one thing that is keeping people safe.

At a time when new variants of the virus are still emerging and the CDC recommends double-layering face masks, why would the governor try to appease people who never took the virus seriously in the first place?

Big universities in Texas continued to play football, public schools are at full capacity, and music venues like Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth remained open to unmasked country music fans. “Texans keep working,” they say, but will Texas keep working when there is an inevitable spike in cases? The mindset that Texas is rid of this infectious disease

is worrying, especially when the virus is still actively destroying families and communities across the nation.

Unfortunately, Texas isn’t the only state that is lifting the mask mandate, despite only 7.6 percent of the nation’s population being vaccinated. Mississippi recently announced that they would end the mask mandate, joining Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, and Montana and a handful of other states that do not have a statewide mask ordinance. The lifted regulations in other states will certainly have an impact on states like Massachusetts, which are still trying to be cautious and mitigate further spreading of the virus.

I have the privilege to reflect on Gov. Abbott’s decisions from a state and college that is choosing to keep the community I live in safe. I don’t get to go to parties or football games, or even have people visit my room without a mask on.

This is part of the sacrifice Emersonians took when deciding to attend college in Boston during a pandemic. I wish that my beloved home state of Texas would recognize the impact they are having on the rest of the country, as we will not see a decrease in cases from the lack of the mask requirement.

It isn’t fair to high-risk individuals and frontline workers trying to remain healthy that Texans can choose to abandon their masks, have parties and large gatherings, and go back to being irresponsible despite the pandemic’s risk to the community. This decision by state officials to enforce less virus precautions is enabling the people that aren’t behaving safely and will continue to keep COVID-19 around. camryn_ciancia@emerson.edu

Dominican public school students have lost a year of education Shannon Garrido Beacon Staff

On Feb. 14, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Education, Roberto Fulcar, affirmed that there is still no set date for the return of students to the classrooms. He said that decision will depend on the spread of coronavirus across the country in the coming weeks and months.

For private school students with access to the tools of virtual learning, this is not big news. However, for the 80 percent of Dominican students who attend public schools, this delay in their education will only increase the gap of inequality they already suffer from.

What started as a three-day suspension of in-person classes last March, turned into the vast majority of Dominican students not stepping foot in a classroom for almost a year. Members of the Rethinking Education Manifesto (RED), a movement made up of 42 Dominican educators with the purpose of contributing to redesigning Dominican education, explained that classes across the country do not have the necessary tools to convert to virtual classes, so hundreds of thousands of students are left without access to education, which only deepens financial inequalities and injustices.

Education inequality is an issue that is only expected to grow if these students are not enrolled in proper schooling for long periods.

This situation has already caused so much damage to young students’ development, even if we don’t see it yet. A large portion of the country has missed a full year of in-person classes while a smaller, more privileged percentage continues to operate. Needless to say, the level of inequality could be

unprecedented after the pandemic.

In September of last year, it was reported that 91.4 percent of Dominican public school students who took online classes did so via the freeware messaging platform WhatsApp, through which they connected with their online classes for four hours or less per day, according to El Diario Libre. Of that group, 41 percent of students managed less than two hours of schooling a day.

After canceling classes in March 2020, the Ministry of Education did not organize a plan for distanced classes until November. When analyzed objectively, that plan has done little to nothing for students’ education.

The Ministry of Education model contracted more than 150 television stations and 100 national channels and cable companies to transmit educational content to students. In a nutshell, classes are held on TV. They are not interactive in the slightest, and it is ineffective in getting students to do the work. Only 26.5 percent of students used the booklets provided by the Ministry of Education (MINERD), according to El Diario Libre. Although there is no evidence to demonstrate the quality of education students are gaining through televised classes in the DR, other countries have struggled with similar programs. Take Mexico for example, which reported that television classes present challenges for families, by taking into account the many students who do not have sufficient access to television and the internet.

Thelma De La Rosa Garcia, executive vice president of the Private Schools Association, told The Beacon that she believes the methods used by MINERD in the Dominican Republic have failed students. The interview

with Garcia was conducted in Spanish and translated to English for readers’ comprehension.

Garcia went on to say that one of the most affected groups by this lack of proper education, in both the public and private sector, is elementary students.

“Preschool centers have been the most affected,” Garcia says. “Students have a level of independence when they reach high school. Legally, official education begins at age six, but we know that the years before that are important for development.”

She is not wrong either. The most affected demographic of students is those at the elementary level because it’s proven that those first years of education are critical to overall development. The greatest potholes in the DR’s education system are the major inequalities in primary and secondary education, often caused by socio-economic disparities. These inequalities result in high repetition rates at the secondary level and high drop-out rates in the post-secondary sector among underprepared students.

Around 51.5 percent of the income generated in the Dominican Republic is held by the richest 20 percent of its population, according to Marina Pasquali, a research expert covering economics. That gap would only grow if the wealthiest percent is years advanced in education, not just by time measurements, but by the quality of the education they are receiving. Private schools have a much higher quality of education because they share monetary resources that are not available to public schools. However, the majority of Dominicans can’t afford to send their kids to a private school and are left with a broken education system.

The Dominican Republic’s flag. / Courtesy

Inequality in the sector of education is a primary concern for those living in the Dominican Republic. Although over the years the government has implemented some methods for improvement, the DR is still known to have one of the most underperforming education systems in the world.

Add the fact that kids have not gone to school for almost a year, and knowing how hard the transition to in-person schooling could be, the future looks bleak for these children.

“Keeping it like this widens the gap, contrary to what some believe,” Garcia said. “Why? Because the middle class from now on is paying tutors, they have good internet, good equipment, and if not, they will eventually catch up. But what about the other people?”

Garcia even goes on to admit that she knows her daughter will grow up to work in a “much more favorable and less competitive labor market” because she can provide an education that most Dominicans can’t.

As a Dominican who had the privilege to attend private school myself, it is almost infuriating to me that it takes moving to another country and writing for my college newspaper to give this issue any international attention. The issue is so transparent, that even I can see how much a lack of education af-

fects such a large portion of people in the Dominican Republic.

Some prominent figures in the community of Dominican educators believe that although it is difficult, there could have been a way to avoid this shortcoming in Dominican education.

Former Education Minister Jacqueline Malagon told The Beacon in a Zoom interview that “the [education] gap is not just digital, the gap separates two classes.”

Malagon, whose interview was also translated from Spanish to English, said that the Dominican school system should dedicate resources to improving its infrastructure so that schools can be reopened.

“There 500 or 800 schools without water, 800,000 without restrooms, 700 or 600 who do not have electricity, and 20,000 or 30,000 with tiny classrooms,” Malagon said.

This creates a lack of classroom space so that students would not be able to socially distance properly between desks.

With almost all businesses opened back up in the Dominican Republic, keeping kids away from good schools only keeps them in more vulnerable positions. shannon_garrido@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

6

Living Arts

First-year student launches ‘Emerson Sweets’ to fund post-graduation production studio candied almonds ranging from $3-5, and bundt cakes for $10, since college is so expensive, she said. She plans to bake more desserts based on customer feedback.

she started her first business, Jameelat Beauty–her online cruelty-free cosmetics and fragrance shop–in November of last year, and started Emerson Sweets at the beginning of March.

Since going into the film industry is notoriously expensive, Shuman said she is working toward her future business to get a head start on her plans financially.

“I wanted to start saving up now,” Shuman said. “And then in the next four years, after college, I’ll hopefully have made my dream come true.”

Courtesy Salwa Shuman

Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

First-year visual and media arts major Salwa Shuman recently launched her new baked goods business through Instagram on March 3, titled Emerson Sweets. Shuman sells various types of desserts including mousses, candied nuts, and cakes, with free delivery to the Emerson campus through her Instagram account, @emerson_sweets.

Shuman currently sells and hand delivers lotus mousse, nutella mousse, and

Courtesy Salwa Shuman Shuman, who resides off campus, said her inspiration to start Emerson Sweets comes from her goal of funding her own production studio, a studio combining complex technology with storytelling to produce media like Warner Bros. or Paramount Pictures. To fund her studio,

Courtesy Salwa Shuman

With Jameelat Beauty already in operation, Shuman thought up Emerson Sweets because of her fan favorite signature treat, Lotus Biscoff mousse, a soft and airy French dessert, made with Lotus Biscoff cookie butter.

“My friends were obsessing over it, they love it so much,” Shuman said. “And then recently, they told me ‘You should start selling them,’ so I did that.”

Shuman started baking with her mother during her childhood and began seriously baking during her junior year of high school as a stress reliever.

As a newcomer to small business, Shuman said that marketing herself has been the toughest learning curve to tackle. However, she didn’t let this discourage her from working towards her production studio. “[It was difficult] getting my name out there with my first business, especially because I put so much of my time and money, like I really invested,” Shuman said. “I knew I was gonna make mistakes. And I knew that when I wanted to create, like, I was gonna make mistakes and I did it to learn from them, and kind of grow as my business grows.”

During the pandemic, COVID-19

safety is at the top of Shuman’s priorities.

She works hard to ensure safe products and delivery.

“I sanitize everything before and after,” Shuman said. “I also wear gloves the whole time. I would always want to receive products like that. So I would definitely only give away my products like that.”

Shuman said she is willing to expand operations if demand comes from other schools, but as of right now, she wants to bring joy exclusively to the Emerson campus through her baking.

“I really hope that the Emerson community really enjoys the products that I’m offering,” Shuman said. “[I hope] they tell their friends about it, and they’re super satisfied with it and hopefully come back for more.”

Students can place orders by direct messaging the Emerson Sweets Instagram account, @emerson_sweets, which has gained 115 followers in the last week and prompted four orders, where she posts photos of the treats and deals. Orders for Jameelat Beauty can be placed through the website. lucia_thorne@emerson.edu

‘MINARI’ highlights the difficulties immigrant families in America face Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff

Director Lee Isaac Chung’s eye-opening film “MINARI’’ left me teary-eyed. The film illustrates the struggles of a Korean American family as they are on the search to accomplish their own “American dream.”

“MINARI” was produced by A24 and Plan B Entertainment, and released for streaming on Feb. 26 on YouTube, Amazon Video and other platforms.

The film, set in the 1980s, follows a family of two immigrant parents from Korea who moved to the United States and had two children, a daughter and a son. To achieve his dream of owning a 50-acre farm, the father moves his family from bustling California to a secluded field with a trailer home in Arkansas.

The move causes tension between the husband and wife, while the family as a whole adjusts to their new lifestyle.

“MINARI” beautifully captures the perils and pitfalls of an immigrant family trying to achieve the American dream. The husband works tirelessly every day to build upon his farm and his wife worries about their financial situation, especially considering their son’s congenital heart condition. The mother is constantly checking his vitals and scolding him to not run— something the young boy wants to do all the time. With the immigrant family’s financial troubles, constant medical care is hard to acquire; sometimes it comes down to having running water or saving the bits of money they make. While the husband and wife quarrel, the sister takes care of her brother and distracts him from the reality of their situation.

Throughout the entire film, the acting is phenomenal. To me, the range of emotions the characters feel during such a difficult time in their lives is near

perfect.

As a daughter of two immigrant parents, I’ve witnessed firsthand the constant hard work and dedication it takes to build a life in the United States.

The sacrifices that all members of the family must make just to live a decent life can make or break a family dynamic. It’s one thing to provide for yourself and another to provide for a family, especially with the pressure and necessity for stability within a home. “MINARI” is an incredible portrayal of how an immigrant family, and any struggling family, builds a home out of a house.

The story of “MINARI” felt very realistic to me, which makes it all the more intriguing. The emotions of the characters help the audience understand the true weight of personal sacrifices, hard work, and financial uncertainty.

My favorite characters were the grandma, played by the winner of the 1971 Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Leading Actress, South Korean actress Young Yuh-jung, and the son David, played by 7-year-old Alan S. Kim. Upon the arrival of his grandmother, Soonja, from Korea, David was quite upset and thought of her as “not a real grandma.”

It was David’s first time meeting his grandmother, who brought along Korean customs and ideals— something unfamiliar to David. His grandma sits in boxers, screaming at wrestlers on the TV, and doesn’t know how to cook, which is not how David envisioned a grandmother.

Over the course of the film, the dynamic of their relationship completely changes, going from David giving Soonja a glass of urine to drink instead of Mountain Dew, to him spending quality time with her as she builds up his confidence. One of the most striking moments of the film is when David is afraid to run due to his heart condi-

Still from the film “MINARI.” / Courtesy

tion, and Soonja uses that moment to open his mind up to vulnerability and risk.

Watching their relationship made me think about my own grandparents in India. I see my grandparents once a year, and I am absolutely guilty of putting them under the same light that David saw his grandma. Growing up in the United States, I witnessed the relationships between my friends and their grandparents who live close by. I noticed how they don’t have huge cultural differences and a language barrier, like I do with my grandparents.

Due to those observations, I stepped back from building a true relationship with my grandparents, almost blaming them for not being like my friends’ grandparents. The growth between David and his grandma made me think deeply about this, and even want to call my grandma to have a loving, long overdue conversation with her.

“MINARI” evoked emotions within me due to my direct connection to immigrant families, but that’s not to say that non-immigrant families, nonAsian American families, or anyone else should not watch the film.

Sophomore Cayleigh Pine, a student intern with A24 University, was in charge of marketing “MINARI” and

bringing the film to the Emerson campus. Pine runs the A24 Emerson Facebook page.

“With this film, the impact is going to be immense because I feel like we don’t have a lot of Asian representation in Hollywood in general and so now having this on such a major platform will be very impactful and very important,” Pine said.

According to the 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report, All Film Roles in Hollywood for actors from Asian countries or Asian Americans made up a mere 4.8 percent in 2019.

As Pine is working to bring the film to campus, she thinks it’ll have a positive impact on the Emerson community, especially with its beautiful message of family.

“I mean I feel like you know representation always has an impact, regardless of the audience that’s watching it, especially accurate representation, which I feel like has not been the case for many years,” Pine said. “Even if Emerson has a predominantly white community, I’m hoping that they can still find something about this film to latch on to. The message of family is something universal and transcends different backgrounds and so, even if people can’t relate to immigrants coming to the

US or moving or any that kind of stuff they can only relate to a family that’s just trying to do what’s best for their children.”

“MINARI” won a Golden Globe this year for “Best Foreign Film” and deserved every bit of recognition the film received. Despite being directed by an Asian American and produced by an American production company, the film was placed in the foreign film category because more than 50 percent of the spoken dialogue is in Korean, not English. However, “MINARI” cannot get more American. It is set in the United States, sharing the story of a Korean American immigrant family. English is often (and incorrectly) considered the only language of the United States, despite the fact that the US has no official language, which is a mindset that needs to be changed.

While “MINARI” definitely exemplified the importance of family, it went even further to show the strength of love and commitment for your loved ones and how far support can really go. I highly recommend watching the heart-wrenching film to begin understanding the difficulties many immigrant families in America face. mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

7

Who’s going to win the 2021 Grammys?

Here’s our predictions.

Grammy Awards. / Courtesy

Gary Sowder & Josh Sokol Beacon Correspondents

2020 was a wild year for music.

Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga released albums loaded with club bangers just as clubs became a thing of the past.

Fiona Apple made her third comeback, reigning in legions of new fans and topping year-end lists. Megan Thee Stallion, Beyoncé, and H.E.R. used music to soundtrack global protests against police brutality.

All of us listened to this music in isolation, in our childhood bedrooms, our off-campus apartments, and on long socially-distanced walks.

It makes sense, then, that the self-proclaimed biggest night in music, will happen just as abnormally. Postponed and held in a hybrid model.

Without further ado, these are our predictions for the 2021 Grammy winners. They don’t represent the opinions of The Beacon or Emerson College, although they should because we are arbiters of taste.

Album of the Year Chilombo – Jhené Aiko Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) – Black Pumas Everyday Life – Coldplay Djesse Vol. 3 – Jacob Collier Women in Music Pt. III – Haim Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa Hollywood’s Bleeding – Post Malone Folklore – Taylor Swift Who will win: Folklore Who should win: Folklore Folklore was a change of pace for Swift, musically and promotionally.

An artist typically known for massive roll-out cycles, months of teasing, huge bombastic singles, and gaudy music videos, Swift abandoned all of these trappings for Folklore. She announced the album less than 24 hours before its release, dropping the record, single, and music video all at

once.

It was a move that mirrored Folklore’s sonic change, which shunted the pop bombast of her previous three albums for somber, lyrically-driven, chamber pop. It was the first mainstream quarantine album and its relaxed pace and introspective themes captured a specific mood for the saddest summer in history.

Folklore brought Swift back to her halcyon days of critical acclaim, reinforced her position as one of the 21st century’s greatest lyricists, and shifted the cultural conversation, finally, away from Swift’s relationships and towards her immense talent as a singer, songwriter, producer, and superstar.

Breaking streaming records across all platforms, having 10 of its 16 songs enter the Top 40 the day of its release, and being the highest selling album of 2020 won’t hurt its chances at Grammy success either.

Record of the Year “Black Parade” – Beyoncé “Colors” – Black Pumas “Rockstar” DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch “Say So” – Doja Cat “Everything I Wanted” – Billie Eilish “Don’t Start Now” – Dua Lipa “Circles” – Post Malone “Savage” – Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé Who will win: “Say So” Who should win: “Savage” Record of the Year tends to be a category that favors commercial success, and while Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé’s powerhouse remix of “Savage” dominated the charts and made the rounds on TikTok, Doja Cat’s “Say So” was the ever-present Gen-Z anthem.

With funky throwback guitars, an airy chorus, and an infectious spit-fire rap, “Say So” has a real shot at impressing older Grammy voters.

Doja spent the better half of 2020

parading the song around award shows, doing a musical theater version at the BBMAs and a heavy metal version for the EMAs, and released two remixes with Nicki Minaj, making sure that this sickly sweet track never left our playlists.

“Say So” was produced primarily

by Dr. Luke. Numerous musicians, including fellow nominee Fiona Apple, have spoken out against Luke’s nomination following accusations of emotional abuse and sexual assault from Kesha. Unfortunately, this hadn’t changed “Say So’s” chart dominance or it’s status as a front-runner.

While the film industry was upended and began the long process of restructuring following the #MeToo movement, the music industry is in dire need of a reckoning.

Beyoncé’s effortless flow and airy harmonies mixed with Megan Thee Stallion’s raunchy, bold Houston style sound-tracked Stallion’s hot girl summer part two. It’s a better song, it’s a better pick, and it wasn’t produced by an alleged rapist.

Song of the Year “Black Parade” – Beyoncé “The Box” – Roddy Ricch “Cardigan” – Taylor Swift “Circles” – Post Malone “Don’t Start Now” – Dua Lipa “Everything I Wanted”– Billie Eilish “I Can’t Breathe”– H.E.R “If the World Was Ending”– Julia Michaels Who will win: “Don’t Start Now” Who should win: “Black Parade” or “I Can’t Breathe” Dua Lipa had a few solid weeks with “Don’t Start Now,” until it’s throwback disco sound was relegated to living room dance parties and at-home workouts. The violin samples, rubbery bass, and kiss-off lyrics made it the essential song for the pre-game or the game.

With her sophomore record Future Nostalgia, Lipa sought to create

an album that felt timeless, nostalgic, but deeply of the moment, and “Don’t Start Now” captures that effortlessly, by merging modern dance-pop with elements of funk, French house, and Italian disco. It’s pure joy, pure confidence, all smushed into three minutes.

As danceable as “Don’t Start Now” is, Beyoncé’s trap influenced “Black Parade” condemned racism, called to action protesters against police brutality, and simultaneously celebrating Blackness. While recent Grammy favorite H.E.R scored anger with her trademark guitar-led R&B, the end half, which is less rap and more spoken word piece, condemning white allies and the police, is a true gutpunch. Either one would make for a great victory, however, the Grammys has a long history of nominating Black women in its general field and never giving them the win.

Best New Artist Ingrid Andress Phoebe Bridgers Noah Cyrus Chika D Smoke Doja Cat Kaytranada Megan Thee Stallion Who will win: Doja Cat Who should win: Megan Thee Stallion Doja Cat absolutely dominated the hellscape that was 2020. Her rise to pop stardom is one from the history books. Two years ago, she was soundtracking Seth Rogen films and eating french fries in front of a green screen. Now she’s a go-to rap feature and Ariana Grande’s latest duet partner. She’s churned out two albums back-to-back, become an award show mainstay, and has so many TikTok dances to her name it’s getting hard to keep track.

In a year where we all felt disconnected, Doja never failed to remain in the conversation.

However, Megan Thee Stallion has better songs, better flow, and radiates star power every time she steps, no arrives, on the stage. Her raps seamlessly weave brassy confidence with poignant personal and political activism.

We’d say Phoebe Bridgers is a contender, but a Best New Artist nod on your second album?

Best Pop Vocal Album: Fine Line - Harry Styles Folklore - Taylor Swift Changes - Justin Bieber Chromatica - Lady Gaga Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa Who will win: Lady Gaga Who should win: Taylor Swift While a much awaited Lady Gaga album, Chromatica, was an all-around dystopian pop hit with incredible features— namely K-pop powerhouse BLACKPINK — the album does not hit the winner’s requirements. It is largely predictable, disjointed, and for the standard that Gaga has set for herself, disappointing. It was ill-promoted with gimmicky, yet fun, marketing attempts (Oreos, jock straps, etc.) That being said, Lady Gaga is a shoe-in for a Grammy win.

Miss Gaga swept the MTV Music Awards. She’s a force to be reckoned with this award season, and I think she will come up on top.

That being said, each one of us can remember the dramatic and cathartic moment Taylor Swift’s Folklore dropped. It is an album filled to the brim with poetic lyricism and emotional vulnerability that brought us back to life after what seemed like an emotionally stunted bunch of months. Swift’s eighth studio album changed the game for her personally, as well as for the artistic landscape of pop music. Folklore brought the innovation that Chromatica lacks. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Emerson Flows combats period poverty

Cont. from pg.1

Kong shared some of the many roadblocks that come with obtaining affordable menstrual products, including the tampon tax. The average menstruator will go through over 5,000 to 15,000 products in their lifetime. The tampon tax is a sales tax that is only applied to period products, as the government deems them nonessential goods.

Condoms, Viagra, and lip balm are not taxed, but period products are.

Pine said the campaign is helping to educate community mem-

bers about some less talked about aspects of menstruation, such as the tampon tax.

“One of our biggest things with this campaign is the education aspect, so we are going to be putting up flyers, physically and on social media, to help educate about period poverty, especially in the U.S.,” Pine said.

Emerson Flows partnered with several fraternities and sororities for the donation drive. For this project, they are specifically partnering with Sigma Pi Theta for their “Herstory’’ month, as a collaborative ef-

fort between the two organizations to spread awareness about period poverty.

Clarah Grossman is president and Herstory chair for Sigma Pi Theta. Herstory is a month-long fundraising event that occurs every March, which Sigma Pi Theta uses to celebrate women as well as non-binary and fem-identifying individuals.

“We use [Herstory] as a place to empower and celebrate,” Grossman said.

One of the best and easiest ways to support Emerson Flows is by

joining Emerson Flows or participating in their drive this week. They are also looking for students to fill their E-board positions. The organization meets on Tuesdays and their social media is @emerson.flows on Instagram.

The Little Building is hosting a “floor wars” donation competition to encourage first year students to donate, aiming to create friendly competition between floors of who can donate the most products before Friday. The winning floor will receive a socially-distanced ice cream party, according to an email from

Resident Director Britt Locklin.

All of the menstrual product donations that Emerson Flows receives will be donated to Community Fridges located in South Boston.

There are donation bins in the lobbies of Little Building, 172 Tremont, 2 Boyston place, and Piano Row. All of these lobbies are accessible to all Emerson students.

Editor-in-Chief Katie Redefer, did not edit this story because she is on the e-board of Emerson Flows and a member of Sigma Pi Theta. campbell_parish@emerson.edu

Sports

Junior captain Calvin Jacey. / Courtesy Calvin Jacey

Tyler Foy

Beacon Staff Players on Emerson’s baseball team said they are frustrated by the distance they have to travel to practice and play—a hurdle they say is just one of many they face.

Due to the lack of available fields in the city, the baseball team plays games at St. John’s Prep in Danvers, which is 20 miles away from campus, and practices at Maplewood Park in Malden which is seven miles out, each one requiring a bus ride from campus.

Baseball and tennis are the only Emerson sports teams required to travel for home games, as all other teams play at either Rotch Field or the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym. Junior captain Calvin Jacey said the long distance to practices and games presents a number of problems for players—including a lack of access to facilities for players to master their craft.

“We would just like a space for us to get our work in without having to go through so many hoops just to practice and try to get better,” Jacey said in a phone interview.

Head Baseball Coach Nicholas Vennochi said new recruits are told there are a lot of positives and drawbacks of attending an urban institution like Emerson.

“We talk to every single recruit and we make it really clear what

they’re getting themselves into,” Vennochi said in a phone interview.

“They make a trade-off for the middle of the city. There’s so many great opportunities in the city from a job, internship opportunity standpoint, and being downtown.”

Junior outfielder and pitcher Quinton Copeland, along with many other players on the baseball team, have been forced to use off-campus indoor facilities.

The team has spent money out of pocket to practice by renting out batting cages at Extra Innings in Watertown.

“We’ve probably given them two to three grand this semester, out of our own pockets, just to be able to get some work inside,” Copeland said.

Athletic Director Patricia Nicol said the Athletic Department provides funds to schedule practices at indoor facilities in their budget.

Since the players were organizing the trips to Watertown on their own separate from the school, however, they are responsible for the cost of that training, Nicol said.

“If student-athletes want to just go on their own outside of practice, that’s up to them,” Nicol said in a phone interview. “But as far as actual team practices go, we do that.

It’s budgeted for that, and we use off-campus indoor facilities for that reason.”

On March 7, the Athletic Department put up batting cages at Rotch

The Berkeley Beacon

March 11, 2021

8

Baseball team grapples with transportation, location issues ahead of the future Field to aid the baseball and softball teams in their practices. The plan to install batting cages began last season, but was postponed by the pandemic.

“It was a joint effort between myself, the [Head] Softball Coach Phil [McElroy], and Nicol who had to sign off on that last year,” Vennochi said. “We were able to do it for both of our programs, which is always great.”

While the distance makes it difficult to practice, it also results in the baseball team receiving less media coverage and fan support in comparison to other sports on campus.

“The only thing we represent is Emerson, and we play far enough away that we’re not actually representing anything to anyone because nobody’s watching,” Copeland said.

“We don’t get any student support, and it’s really not even the students’ fault just because you’d have to take an Uber, and I can’t imagine it’s cheaper than $25 to get out there.”

Beyond limiting in-person viewership, the physical distance also impacts the team’s ability to earn coverage from Emerson Channel Sports. Jenna Kase, director of sports marketing for ECS, said transportation is the main factor.

“It’s hard to get up to Danvers and cover baseball,” Kase said in a phone interview. “Simply for the reason that in the Bobbi [Brown and Steven Plofker Gym] we have a control room built into the second Skybox level, and when we go to Rotch, it’s close enough that we can walk all of our equipment down to the field. But when it comes to baseball, it’s tough because they’re all the way in Danvers, and we don’t have a car to bring our equipment there.”

Jacey said the players have felt the repercussions of the lack of coverage, as it has left families without an avenue to watch the games.

“It’s tough because we have so many kids from all over the country, and their parents can’t come and watch us play,” Jacey said.

Copeland, a native of Houston, Texas, adapted to the lack of coverage by setting up his own tripod and live-streaming games via Instagram Live.

“I came a long way to play, [and]

my dad’s a former Minor League Baseball player and lifetime baseball coach,” Copeland said. “Getting to watch me play is a big deal, especially since we’re in college, and even though I hope to be able to play at the next level, I’m well aware that it’s very much an uphill battle. Especially now that we’ve got the pandemic stripping seasons, every game is super important not only for me but for my family, and we’ve had no live streams at games unless I did it myself with my own phone.”

Viewership is important for all collegiate athletes and ECS is one of the only avenues for players’ families, according to Copeland. There is a mutual understanding of the emotional aspect of this situation from Kase.

“I feel for them, I can’t imagine even for their parents,” Kase said.

“You watch your son grow up and play baseball for 18 years, and then he gets to college and you can’t watch him play at the collegiate level, so I get that’s tough. But again, it’s just a matter of the travel and how far away Danvers is from campus. I could say that if they were in Boston we would most likely be there.”

First-year third baseman Sebastian Germosen said the coverage adds to the baseball experience, as it’s a major part of the game.

“That’s kind of a struggle of having a field so far,” Germosen said in a phone interview. “I would love for [ECS] to come and cover games because that’s another part of the baseball game that is exciting.”

Kase said ECS’s status as an independent student organization makes it difficult for them to accrue enough monetary resources to invest in transportation.

“It would be easier if … we were at least part of the Athletic Communications Department, maybe that will be possible,” Kase said.

The thought of some sort of transportation for ECS to get to Danvers isn’t completely out of the question, and could become reality in the future.

“That was never really approached to me,” Nicol said. “But that’s something that we could certainly entertain if they had the abil-

ity to, or if they had available students. That’s something we could entertain as far as providing transportation.”

Aside from the new batting cages, the program received other new resources from the Athletic Department including the implementation of bus transportation, which replaced the vans the team used to take from campus to the field.

“Now they’re in a full bus to go to practices and games,” Nicol said. “The budget has been significantly addressed, equipment, we’ve purchased some capital items for them.”

The dream for the baseball team would be to eventually get a field that is located in the city.

“Every single year, we always are shooting to have that golden goose of fields in the city,” Vennochi said. “It’s always something on my mind like I talk to my coaches about it daily, and it’s something that the admin knows, and they’re trying their best.”

Although Danvers is quite a distance away from campus, it’s a location they consistently play games at. Four to five years ago, the team bounced from one field to the next, but now they have a multi-year deal with the venue.

“The challenge has been the venue, but we’ve definitely addressed that,” Nicol said. “No, we don’t have an on-campus baseball field, we probably never will. What we’ve done is we’ve gone out and we’ve signed multi-year agreements with other venues so that it’s consistent.”

The program has seen positive changes, but Jacey and others believe there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. He said that when he entered the program, he wanted to better it for those that come after him.

“I really want to leave this program on a good note where the incoming kids just have a more positive experience with the baseball team here,” Jacey said. “It’s just so hard for us to do stuff, and I really just want the incoming kids in the next five-to-10 years to just have a super positive experience with everything.”

tyler_foy@emerson.edu

Senior Spotlight: Softball team celebrates Lindsey Lowe’s career ahead of final season José Ríos Beacon Staff Over her three-year career at Emerson, senior Lindsey Lowe established herself as the best hitter on the softball team.

In her time as a Lion, Lowe amassed a .337 batting average and 52 runs batted in—both team highs. She joined the softball team as a first-year student in 2017, earning a role as a starter from day one. Now, in her final season, Lowe gets the opportunity to lead the team one last time.

“Lindsay Lowe is one of the best hitters I’ve ever faced,” junior pitcher Karragan Knowles said in a phone interview. “As a pitcher

myself, I think that she’s a very strong hitter. She’s had struggles in the past like every player does, but I feel she always comes back stronger.”

Another strength in Lowe’s game is her adaptability, according to head softball coach Phil McElroy. Lowe primarily plays second base, but McElroy recalled a moment when she adjusted her game to help the team.

“She had to fill in [and] play shortstop her [first] year and kind of led us to the playoffs,” McElroy said in a phone interview.

That playoff experience is still vivid in Lowe’s memory, as she couples it with her first games in Florida, where the team plays the first few games of the season each

year, as the highlights of her Lion’s tenure.

“When we went to Florida my [first] year, we won seven out of the eight games which all our seniors and returning players said never happened,” Lowe said in a phone interview. “It’s just a lot of cool firsts that I got to be a part of [with this] team.”

Another high point, Lowe said, has been the sense of bonding and companionship she experienced and helped propagate for her team.

“I still talk to people who were seniors,” she said “I’m still in contact with them. It’s probably the best part for me, they’re just always so supportive, more supportive than on other teams I played on in the past. It was really nice

to have.”

Lowe’s teammates also complimented her leadership skills. Junior outfielder and infielder Mary Kuczkowski said Lowe is always willing to lend a hand during and after games.

“She has an incredible can-do attitude,” Kuczkowski said in a Zoom interview. “She’s willing to play wherever, she’s cheering on her team. She’s there if you ever want to play catch real quick or if you want to go hit off in the cages. [She’s] just a very supportive player.”

Junior outfielder Mallory Shofi also complimented Lowe’s presence and calmness on the field, noting it benefitted the team.

“She won’t show any negativ-

ity when we’re on the field, and I think that’s a very important thing, to keep your cool and to stay calm,” Shoffi said in a phone interview. “Her energy rubs off on people in our team.”

Lowe cemented her name in the team’s history as a threetime All-Conference player who is looking to earn her fourth selection this season, according to McElroy.

“It’s certainly going to be really difficult to replace her,” McElroy said. “She is definitely one of the best hitters in our conference, so, basically, you are looking at trying to replace an All-Conference player for all four years.” jose_rios@emerson.edu