Moses Shumow

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

Thursday October 24, 2019 • Volume 73, Issue 8

College mourns journalism professor Junior

returns GoFundMe donations

Stephanie Purifoy, Beacon Staff Florida International University senior Bianca Marcof remembered sitting in her Intro to Digital Media class showing the professor memes they had made—one photoshopped the professor’s head onto videos of Travis Scott at the 2019 Super Bowl LIII. “At first [the professor] was nervous because he thought we were making fun of him,” Marcof said in a phone interview from Miami.

“But then he thought it was great, he loved it.”

Marcof, a junior at the time, said their class became like a family—students even made a group chat where they talked everyday and created more memes of the professor. The professor left after the spring 2019 semester to begin teaching at a college in Boston in the fall.

For the last day of class, the students presented the professor with a letter signed by all of them and a Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffed animal clad in Star Wars gear for his son who has struggled with medical issues since 2017.

Moses Shumow began to cry at the gifts.

Shumow, 42, moved to Boston before Emerson’s fall 2019 semester with his wife and three children after nine years of teaching at FIU. He died on Tuesday after an outbound Commuter Rail train struck him around 8:20 a.m. in Beverly while he was riding his bike through a pedestrian cut through. Transit Police Officers are still investigating the incident. At the time of his death, he was teaching one course at the college, Editing and Web Producing.

“I really just think he had a way of getting to his students,” Marcof said. “He was a very engaging teacher—and that’s very rare to find.

But he also had a way of inserting his personal life, and because he was so nice and the type of person who would be there for you when you needed him, I believe people could resonate with him and really feel for him.”

See professor, page 2

Grace Griffin, Beacon Staff

Assosciate Professor Moses Shumow moved to Boston after teaching for nine years in Florida.

Photo courtesy of Florida International University

Junior Karigan Wright disabled her GoFundMe campaign for three local homeless men after learning all are registered as levelthree sex offenders in Massachusetts.

Karigan raised almost $3,000 for the men to secure them winter housing. However, after WFXT-TV reporter Evan White interviewed Wright regarding the fundraiser, White called Wright later in the day after completing a background check on the men and finding them on the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board.

“I was just silent for a minute, then it hit me, and I just started crying,” Wright said in an interview. “I was with my boyfriend and he overheard what happened and we both just sat there for a little bit in shock and completely devastated.”

One of the men, identified by White and independently confirmed by The Beacon as Robert Dresser, previously only provided his nickname—Smiley—to The Beacon. Dresser has been convicted of 12 counts of sexual offenses including rape and sexual misconduct dating back to 1992 and 1994.

Peter Travers and Robert Luz, the two other men the campaign aimed to help, are also registered, level-three sex offenders. Travers has been convicted of four counts of sexual misconduct and Luz with three counts of rape and assault.

Wright said she did not know the sex offender status of the men when creating the GoFundMe campaign.

See GoFundMe, page 6

Men’s basketball gears up to defend title Ethan McDowell, Beacon Staff Freshman guard Ben Allen and sophomore guard Zach Waterhouse shared the soccer field in elementary school—now they share the basketball court in college.

Waterhouse and Allen played sports together their entire childhood growing up in nearby towns in New Hampshire, including high school basketball together at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton.

“I love playing with [Allen],” Waterhouse said in an interview. “He loves to pass the ball.

He’s a great player. He’s got good size. He can shoot. He can do everything. I’m really excited to play with him because he’s like my best friend.”

Allen said the chemistry between the two players is one of the reasons he is optimistic about the team’s chances.

“I’m really excited to get the season going, because I think we have all the tools to do something special here,” he said in an interview.

The Lions are set to start the season at home on Nov. 9 against Worcester State University after coming off a historic season in which they won their first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship in program history.

Before their championship run, the Lions were voted to finish sixth out of eight teams in the NEWMAC Preseason Poll.

See basketball, page 8

Number of on-campus support animals doubles

By Carlee Bronkema • p. 3 Kyle Eber with his cat, Tetra, one of the 14 emotional support animals on campus. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Fighting feelings of unacceptance as a third culture kid. Pg. 5

The Beacon online

The Haunted Hour prepares for new season after inaugural EVVY win. Pg. 6

berkeleybeacon

Berkeley Beacon

The Berkeley Beacon

@BeaconUpdate

The Berkeley Beacon

News

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

2

Emotional support animal increase correleates with national trends

Carlee Bronkema, Beacon Staff Junior Grayson Pitt said his emotional support animal, Credence, prompts him to take care of himself and begin other tasks for the day—his gecko’s dependence on him is soothing.

“Once I take care of her, I start getting the motivation to do self-care-related things, and then move on to things that are school- and academic- related,” Pitt said in an interview.

“She’s a very encouraging force for me because I know she needs me, and that’s very comforting to me.”

There are currently 14 emotional support animals on the college’s campus this semester, doubling the number from the 2017-18 academic year, according to a college official.

This increase coincides with a study conducted by the American Psychiatric Association of 155,000 students on 196 college campuses showing an increase in mental health diagnoses from 22 percent to 36 percent between 2007 and 2017. The study also found that treatment increased from 19 percent to 34 percent, regarding therapy and medication use.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines an ESA as an animal that provides emotional support to reduce the symptoms of a person’s disability.

Director of Student Accessibility Services Diane Paxton said the college is aware of the benefits that ESAs provide, and the office is happy to let students have them if they go through the process.

“It hasn’t always been that you could get an ESA at colleges nationwide,” Paxton said in an interview. ”It is a trend that’s happening more and more, so things are opening up and now students can have animals that really do support them.”

The process requires Student Accessibility Services and the Office of Housing and Residential Education to work together to approve student requests for ESAs. Students must submit an application to Student Accessibility Services to receive permission to have an ESA on campus. After individuals fill out the Housing Accommodation Request Based on Disability form, Student

Accessibility Services consults with several offices on campus, including Emerson Counseling and Psychological Services, the Center for Health and Wellness, and the Office of Student Affairs about the student.

The college requires students to provide documentation from a licensed mental health professional which includes detailed information such as their symptoms, medication effects, and medical history.

Students then have to meet with a staff member at SAS or schedule a phone interview to discuss their disability and reasons for needing an ESA. Junior Kyle Eber lives in the Colonial residence hall with his ESA, Tetra, a four-yearold, hypoallergenic cat. He explained that his interview to apply for an ESA took place over the phone as he was not yet a student at the college. Eber had to talk to an SAS staff member in detail about his mental illness, which he said he was not expecting.

“It was a little bit triggering,” Eber said in an interview. “It is not a fun conversation, but it’s a necessary conversation so the office can differentiate, ‘Is this person trying to bring a pet in, or do they really need an ESA?’” Paxton said SAS then reviews information with ECAPS, taking into consideration what the student does for self-care and what the consequences will be if the request is denied.

Next, SAS works with the Office of Housing and Residence Education to see if the appropriate housing accommodations can be made. The deadline for returning students is Nov. 1 for the spring semester and Feb. 7 for the fall 2020 semester so housing can be assigned with the ESA in mind.

Once approved, students are expected to communicate with their roommates. OHRE will assist if there are any complications or conflicts, such as allergies or a fear of the ESA. ‘When you have an animal in your room, it sort of ‘outs’ you,” Paxton said. “They need to be aware that people will say, ‘Why is it that you get to have a guinea pig?’ And you have to find something to answer with.”

Eber said he has been known as ‘Kyle with the cat’ since people have found out about Tetra.

“A lot of people come up to me and ask me,

Junior Kyle Eber lives in the Colonial Residence Hall with his ESA, Tetra.

Jakob Menendez/ Beacon Staff ‘How can I get my dog on campus?’” Eber said. and adjusting her to the space.

Tetra also suffers from epilepsy and has “People have different accommodations and family situations and I never judge, but it is a seizures occasionally, for which Eber gives her conversation where people view me and Tetra medication daily.

“That’s really why we work as an ESA pair as someone who beat the system and got their because I also need to take daily medication,” cat on campus.”

Both Eber and Paxton said they felt Eber said. “So I can’t take my medication, I frustration with those who didn’t realize that tell myself, until my cat has it. So everyone is ESAs are not just pets that a student wants getting the medication on a cycle.” with them, but instead serve a purpose for each person who has them.

Eber said there were some logistical concerns in the beginning, such as paying for cat food carlee_bronkema@emerson.edu

Emerson, FIU students remember journalism professor Continued from page 1.

President M. Lee Pelton confirmed Shumow’s death in a phone call with The Beacon early Tuesday afternoon and announced it to the community in an email at 5 p.m. His death comes less than a month after the death of sophomore Daniel Hollis, who was killed after an altercation in Brighton on Sept. 28.

“I think folks are still in a bit of shock, and I think they’re just fatigued from dealing with this kind of loss,” Vice President and Dean of Campus Life James Hoppe said in a phone interview in regards to the two recent deaths.

“I think it’s when the importance of community becomes more essential, and it’s important to know that we have a strong community here and hopefully that can help ... carry folks through these tough times.”

Shumow and fellow journalism professor Stephen Iandoli took over as co-advisors for WEBN at the beginning of the fall 2019 semester following the removal of professor Marsha Della-Giustina. He served as a graduate assistant for Della-Giustina in 2000 and 2001.

WEBN News Director Angel Salcedo said Shumow’s effect on the student organization was immediate.

“He had a calming presence,” the junior said in an interview. “He was always positive, always happy, and even from the start he would push us hard, but it was a positive push.”

WEBN plans to suspend all its shows for the remainder of the week.

“This feeling isn’t going to go away for a very long time,” Salcedo said “I know that everyone at [WEBN] agrees with me when I say that everything we do is going to be in his name. Even though he was only with us for a month and a half, everything we do is going to be dedicated to him.”

Joel Delgado had Shumow as a professor in 2012 at FIU and said the teacher’s passion made him extraordinary.

“He just brought life to the classroom,” Delgado said in a phone interview from Nashville. “He was so energetic and had one of

Moses Shumow was loved by his students and colleagues, a former student of his said. • Photo courtesy of Florida International University those smiles that could just light up a room. He was so optimistic and passionate about teaching and it really showed. Being in a classroom with him just really made you want to learn more and made you excited about learning and storytelling.”

Janet Kolodzy, chair of the Journalism Department, said she learned of the incident Tuesday morning and informed journalism faculty as soon as possible.

“He was always one of those people who, if he was given a challenge, figured out ways to make it good and right,” Kolodzy said in an interview. “Having him here was an opportunity to have that attitude continue to enhance the great stuff that is already going on in the journalism faculty.”

FIU emailed the student body at 4:44 p.m. on Wednesday to notify them of Shumow’s death,

according to Marcof.

“We are deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic passing of our friend and colleague Dr. Moses Shumow,” Dean of the College of Communication, Architecture, and the Arts Brian Schriner wrote in an emailed statement to The Beacon. “Moses was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was kind and caring, and he made a tremendous difference in the lives of his students, colleagues, and community. Our deepest sympathies to his wife and family.”

Pelton told faculty members of Shumow’s death at Tuesday’s Faculty Assembly meeting.

“For those of you who know him, I know your hearts are broken. For those of you who didn’t, we are still deeply saddened nevertheless,” he said. “This is a devastating event to happen to someone who wanted to be here, who is an Emerson alum, whose promise

in his area is just enormous. To have that promise cut short in this particular way on a Tuesday morning is really remarkable.”

Shumow was loved by his students and colleagues, Marcof said. A quick social media search would show the endless support for him.

“I really cannot believe he’s gone. Like people can be gone in a second. It’s crazy,” she said. “He was really, really sweet. I’m not the type of person to talk to professors after class, but he really struck me as the type of person who would be there for you after class.

He was really open.”

Editor-in-Chief Chris contributed reporting.

Van

stephanie_purifoy@emerson.edu

Buskirk

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

3

News

SGA and Berkeley Beacon clash over proposed amendment Andrew Brinker, Beacon Staff Tensions erupted on Tuesday between members of the Student Government Association and The Berkeley Beacon’s Editorin-Chief Christopher Van Buskirk over a proposed amendment to SGA’s constitution that would end the newspaper’s affiliation with the group.

The amendment, initially scheduled to be discussed at last week’s joint session meeting, drew harsh criticism from SGA members who told Van Buskirk that it would violate Massachusetts’ tax code.

The aim of the proposed amendment was to establish The Beacon as an independent newspaper not subject to SGA oversight or control, Van Buskirk said during the meeting.

“We call ourselves the independent student newspaper of Emerson but we’re truly not,” he said, explaining that the current funding process leaves The Beacon vulnerable to potential future limitations enacted by SGA. Van Buskirk said the proposed amendment was to safeguard The Beacon from amendments to the SGA Treasury Handbook that could adversely affect the paper.

“Should [the Financial Advisory Board] decide to pass a policy that [The Beacon] can’t print on newsprint, that is certainly something they could do if the voting members decide to pass it,” he said. “Should FAB decide to propose a policy that we can’t advertise, that’s something that could happen.”

If the amendment were passed, The Beacon would automatically have $45,000 deposited into its institutional advancement account at the beginning of each fall semester. The newspaper would also adhere to its own treasury policy that would be regulated by its executive board, instead of following SGA’s treasury policy.

During the meeting, Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple explained that the proposed amendment would put the college in violation of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, a state tax law relating to endowments and institutional funds, but did not cite a specific section of the act that the amendment would violate.

Later, in an interview with The Beacon, Semple added that the amendment would also violate Emerson financial policy and SGA treasury policy, but again did not specify sections of the policies that would be violated.

“I do agree that [The Beacon] deserves some level of guaranteed funding through a process, but we agree on it differently,” she said. “Going forward, we don’t want [The Beacon] to feel that your funding is at risk, but we don’t want to do that in a way that’s illegal.”

While Semple did not support the newspaper’s proposed amendment, she offered a counterproposal that would guarantee The Beacon four percent of the money collected from student activity fees and allow them to receive further funding through the Annual Budget Request process.

SGA Executive President Raz Moayed told The Beacon in an interview following the meeting that she hoped to find a solution that would satisfy both organizations.

“I love students who love what they’re doing,” Moayed said. “And I want to support students who have a care for their things. I just want to make sure that we do it in the right way, in an equitable way, and in a legal way. If all of those boxes are marks, I’m ready to do it.”

Van Buskirk said the meeting provided good feedback on the amendment.

“I think it was good to hear where they’re at on the amendment, and I hope they listen to

my perspective on the issue and The Beacon’s perspective on the issue,” Van Buskirk said in an interview following the meeting.

SGA did not vote on the amendment on Tuesday, as Van Buskirk only wanted to engage in a discussion regarding the issues it presented.

Prior to the debate on the amendment, SGA unanimously voted to approve an appeal request of $10,369.57 from the Emerson Cheerleading Squad that they will use to purchase new mats, uniforms, and backpacks The organization also unanimously voted to appoint Joseph Johnson to the position of chief justice, leaving just two remaining vacancies in SGA’s executive board.

Johnson also serves as the vice president of the class of 2021, a position that allowed him to sit as a voting member on FAB. As a result of his appointment to chief justice, Johnson will no longer sit on FAB, leaving FAB with just three remaining voting members.

Editor-in-Chief Christopher Van Buskirk and News editor Stephanie Purifoy did not edit this article due to a conflict of interest. andrew_brinker@emerson.edu

Booker talks gun control, student debt at Fenway event Tomas Gonzalez, Beacon Staff Sen. Cory Booker outlined his policies on restricting guns, prioritizing health care, and tackling student debt at an event on Monday.

The presidential candidate held an event titled “Grassroots Happy Hour with Cory Booker in Boston” at Game On! a bar at Fenway Park.

About a hundred Boston residents attended the event to hear the senator speak and take selfies with him.

“Never in my life did I imagine that I, a Yankee fan, would be standing right next to Fenway Park campaigning,” the New Jersey senator said.

The latest October national poll from the Emerson Polling Society shows Booker in 8th place, with 3 percent support from surveyed voters. He falls behind former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Andrew Yang.

Booker opened the event by focusing on what it would take to win the 2020 presidential election and the cultural shift that must take place to beat President Donald Trump.

“We have big things to do—we have to mobilize this whole planet to deal with the perils of climate change,” he said. “I’m running in this election not just to beat Donald Trump— I’m running in this election to mobilize bigger energy, bigger enthusiasm, bigger activism and engagement. Heck, politically I don’t just want to beat Donald Trump, but we’ve got to get rid of Mitch McConnell too.”

Booker also shared how he is excited to put forward policy on gun violence and licensing.

Sen. Cory Booker campaigned at a Fenway bar on Monday. • Rachel Lo / Beacon Staff “The majority of the homicide victims in our country are young black men. It doesn’t make the news, doesn’t make the national consciousness,” he said.

The senator also spoke on the importance of social services in America, focusing on the quality of water in communities.

“I live in a community where people can’t trust the water coming out of their tap,” Booker said. “There are three thousand communities in America where children have more than twice the blood lead level that Flint, Michigan has.”

One of Booker’s main policy points is to

simplify how college students apply for federal aid and establishing a path to debt-free college.

“The FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] forms are ridiculous, long, complicated, and a lot of people can’t get that information in a timely manner because you have to be able to get tax records and all of that,” Booker said in a press gaggle after the event ended. “You should be able to make a sizable postcard, making it a lot easier to apply for financial aid. We’ve shown that by doing that, you actually encourage a lot more people to go to college, and that’s what I’m going to

do.”

New York native and Northeastern freshman Ryan Wallace said that Booker inspires him and that he plans to vote for him. “[Booker] is really my role model,” Wallace said in an interview with The Beacon. “I think he’s super passionate about the things he works on, like the gun bill he made. I think he is what our nation needs right now.”

tomas_gonzalez@emerson.edu

SEAL offers affiliation training workshops to independent orgs Diana Bravo, Beacon Staff Several student leaders expressed appreciation for the Student Engagement and Leadership Office’s workshops helping independent organizations navigate the path toward affiliation.

Emerson Ultimate Frisbee Captain Kate Nelson and Emily Cristobal from the Asian American Journalists Association told The Beacon that they felt that the workshops were helpful in their path to affiliation. The meetings Oct. 1, 9, and 17 took place in room 206 of 172 Tremont Street. The meetings scheduled for the 25 and 28 will occur there, as well.

Both Nelson and Cristobal both felt the meetings were helpful to them and said they were helpful to understanding affiliation.

“The difference [between affiliation and independence] began with the org fair. We were allowed to be there, which was just awesome for us because we could actually recruit [multiple] new players,” Nelson said in an interview.

In January 2019, the Student Government Association overhauled its organization

recognition process. Before, a board of five SGA members and SEAL Director Jason Meier reviewed each organization’s application for recognition. Now, Meier and Assistant Director of SEAL Donahue, along with two SGA representatives, make the decision to grant affiliation.

“I think we have created a really objectivebased process for students to come in, apply, and become affiliated, and it gives us an idea of the trends we’re seeing on campus,” Assistant SEAL Director Andy Donahue said in an interview.

Student-run independent organizations do not have any formal recognition from the college. They cannot use the college’s name or receive SGA money, among other things.

Affiliated organizations may use the college’s name and appeal for financial help from SGA along with other privileges.

While SEAL decides which organizations are considered affiliated with the college, SGA still controls whether or not organizations receive money. According to prior Beacon reporting, SGA made this decision deliberately so organizations with ideas SGA does not

endorse can still receive affiliation through the SEAL process.

Emily Cristobal from the Asian American Journalists Association attended the Oct. 9 meeting and said she was pleased with the process SEAL outlined. “[Affiliation] sounds much easier than I thought it was,” Cristobal said in an interview.

“We tried to start [AAJA] last year and the process just sounded way more complicated … but we’ll see what happens when we start going through the process.”

To apply for affiliation, an organization must send a leader to one of the workshops with Donahue and Meir before filling out an EmConnect form. Then, if the group receives affiliation status, they must attend three training sessions with SEAL. The training focuses on what the college expects from organizations, how to obtain SGA funding, and what the best leadership practices are.

In Spring 2019, SEAL implemented the process for the first time with 11 organizations that all received affiliation status.

Emerson Ultimate Frisbee received affiliation earlier this semester after going through the

process in spring 2019. Nelson said affiliation significantly broadened the team’s horizons and gave the team a sense of permanence on campus.

“Being able to not worry about money is massive for us,” Nelson said. “Being affiliated [also] gives me a feeling of longevity since [cocaptain Cameron Barth] and I run everything.

It’s kind of nerve-wracking to imagine it without us.”

Nelson said the workshops were relatively painless, but due to the physical nature of ultimate frisbee, their path to affiliation involved more private interaction with Donahue.

The college must work with the athletics departments to figure out if it can safely host the sport, Nelson said. Due to these extra hurdles, Nelson said she benefited most from private meetings with Donahue and SGA Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple.

“Our goal is to never say no,” Meier said in the meeting, “Our goal is to figure out, how do we make this work?” diana_bravo@emerson.edu

Editorial Hold universities accountable this application season In March, the Federal Bureau of Investigations exposed over a dozen celebrities who bought their children’s acceptance into the country’s most prestigious colleges. With the help of college counseling coach William “Rick” Singer, actresses and business leaders paid a well-connected group of people to manipulate their kids’ standardized testing processes or fake their athletic recruitments.

When the news broke, The Beacon’s spring semester editorial board denounced wealthy parents’ actions.

Like the millions of college students in America, we were angry at these families for weaseling their kids’ way into elite institutions, especially at the expense of other hard-working students.

There are legal albeit unethical ways of using money to get an acceptance letter, like making hefty donations to the college with the expectation of a student’s admission in return. But there is something even more immoral about sneaking into a university without the blessing of university administrations the way these families did.

Without the watchful eye of journalists and the public, money holds enormous power to make a lot of problems like this “disappear.” After all, the reason we ended up here is because parents not only purchased their kids’ admission to schools, but paid to ensure their wrongdoing would be covered up. So it’s essential, now more than ever, that we keep a close eye on this story and continue to hold people accountable.

This fall marks the first time high school seniors around the world will apply to American colleges like Emerson after the scandal. As photographs of these celebrities continue to circulate the internet, eager students will hand over their resumes, transcripts, and college essays to universities. But the admissions process will be plagued by stigma.

Only this Tuesday, the Attorney of Massachusetts released additional charges against some of the involved parents.

The new charges alleged that 11 of the 15 parents conspired to commit federal program bribery by bribing university employees. And media outlets have been following Golden Globe–winning actress Felicity Huffman after she reported to a California federal prison to serve her 14-day-long sentence last week.

When the scandal was fresh, students and parents outwardly voiced their anger, and the celebrities charged received a barrage of coverage. Colleges like the University of Southern California and Yale University issued apologetic statements, punished offending faculty, and distanced their admission processes from the accused.

Today, months later, it’s easy to get sucked into commenting on Huffman’s prison outfit and then moving on. That’s the sort of funny news that appeals to people. But we cannot forget the gravity of this nationwide scandal—and that includes keeping our own administration

accountable.

Here at Emerson, we live in a haven of higher education. None of the 35 Bostonarea colleges were explicitly involved in the spring scandal. Regardless, unfair admissions processes are a recurring point of controversy across the country, especially at elite schools.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology— two of the most highly regarded universities in the world—are mere miles away. Only last October, AsianAmerican students at Harvard sued the university by claiming they favored black and Hispanic applicants at the expense of other minority groups. Though the judge rejected the students’ claims, the case still drew attention to flawed admission processes nationwide.

It falls to students to keep the system in check and to keep administrations in check. We urge Emerson to recognize the importance of a fair and equitable admissions process. College is the foundational building block of students’ career trajectories and, oftentimes, their futures. So the process to be admitted here should be based solely on merit.

There is no evidence that our admission system is unfair. We are simply encouraging our administration to remain vigilant of their own admittance practices in the wake of this national scandal. In a time of admissions uncertainty, our admissions office should serve as a role model—a beacon of progress—when other universities are falling short of their promises.

When looking over students’ applications, review students’ work—their writing, their reels, and their auditions.

Pore over their carefully crafted resumes.

Read and reread the essays where they detail their biggest hardships and most ambitious goals. But do not undermine their efforts for a payout.

We owe students who were cheated by unfair admission processes our continued concern. A countless number of applicants were denied the education and experience they deserved because of this nationwide scandal and others like it that received less coverage. There is a justice system in place to force the wealthy to serve their sentences and pay for their illegal uses of privilege. But the justice system is reactive. We, as students, professors, administrators, and advocates of higher education, have to be proactive about the issue this application season and in all the seasons to come.

Editorials are written solely by Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk, Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield, Opinion Editor Diti Kohli, and Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang without consultation from other staff members, and does not influence any stories. Op-Eds reflect the views of only their authors, not The Berkeley Beacon.

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by the Editorial Board illustration by Ally Rzesa

The Beacon sends our support to fellow journalists at WEBN in their time of grieving.

Letter: Sylvia Spears responds to “Title IX hiring process failed to involve students enough” Sylvia Spears Spears is the vice president for equity and social justice at Emerson College’s Social Justice Center.

While the editorial makes a valid point about the scheduling of candidate presentations, student engagement in the search process was not limited to these workshops.

If I had been contacted about the nature of student involvement in the search, I would have shared that at the end of the spring semester, students were invited to meet with the search consultant to discuss what they would like to see in a Deputy Title IX coordinator/ investigator. This diverse group of students included first years, seniors, and graduate students. Additionally, a similar group of

students was invited to a small group interview with candidates during the on-campus visits. Both groups consisted of students who had previously expressed interest in the college’s work on Title IX and included members of the Student Government Association, fraternities and sororities, and individual students who were unaffiliated with particular organizations.

The editorial board’s intention to highlight the need for student engagement around Title IX is appreciated. Regretfully, the information presented in the Oct. 17 editorial was incomplete.

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 shorter than 250 words.

The Berkeley Beacon

Editor-in-Chief Chris Van Buskirk

News Editor Stephanie Purifoy

Deputy Arts Editor Cassandre Coyer

Sports Editor Aaron J. Miller

Chief Copyeditor Kyle Labe

© 2019 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.

Copy Managing Editor Abigail Hadfield

Deputy Enterprise Editor Belen Dumont Deputy Express Editor Tomas Gonzalez

Deputy Sports Feature Editor Domenic Conte

Photography Editor Jakob Menedez

Visual Managing Editor Kyle Bray

Assistant Lifestyle Editor Taina Millsap

Business Managing Editor Dylan Rossiter

Assistant Express Editor Jacob Seitz

Assistant Arts Editor Melanie Curry

Deputy Sports Game Editor Andrew Lin

Website berkeleybeacon.com

Advisor Douglas Struck

Living Arts Editor Grace Griffin

Phone (617) 824–8687

Email Office Address contact@berkeleybeacon.com 172 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116

4

Deputy Lifestyle Editor Katie Redefer

Opinion Editor Diti Kohli Deputy Opinion Editor Ziqi Wang Assistant Opinion Editor Frances Hui

Assistant Sports Feature Editor Lara Hill Assistant Sports Game Editor Ethan McDowell

Deputy Photo Editor Rachel Lo Assistant Photo Editor Lizzie Heintz Graphic Design Director Ally Rzesa

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

Opinion

5

The challenges of living life between cultures Katiana Hoefle Hoefle is a sophmore journalism major and is on The Beacon staff.

I realized how different I was from everyone else when I first came to college.

When teachers would ask students to go around the room saying where they were from, I would always brace myself for the response.

“I’m from Thailand,” I’d say. The classroom around me would raise their eyebrows in disbelief and shock. What was this white girl saying? I assumed they’d always thought the worst, that I was lying or over-exaggerating to seem cool and interesting. I felt I needed to prove myself in order to make them believe me.

I learned to say, “I lived there for the majority of my life,” instead of “I lived there for ten years” to try to show them what an impact living in another culture had on me.

I wanted to show them that I was not American, but that I was not Thai either. I was a third culture kid.

The term “third culture kid” was coined by sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1960s after she moved her children to India for work. She said third culture kids were “children who grow up or spend a significant portion of their developmental years living in a culture outside of the parents’ country of origin and typically their country of birth.” Due to the boom of globalization and the increase of interrelation between countries, the number of third culture kids increases every year. But many people still don’t know that they exist.

Living between cultures definitely had its challenges. I never felt like I truly fit in or that anyone could really understand my experiences and beliefs. I expected to go through life always feeling like an outsider. It became easy to get stuck in the negatives, but then I learned how vital it is for third culture kids like me to embrace the parts of our experiences that make our lives special.

Moving from Minneapolis, Minn. to Chiang Rai, Thailand, I was always the foreigner or “farang.” Locals would whisper and point to

“I wanted to show them that I was not Ameican, but that I was not Thai either. I was a third culture kid. ” • Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff their friends when they saw me walking down felt even more foreign than I did in Thailand. the street. Parents would I did not understand the run up to me and shove value of the dollar or their children in my arms, how to read temperature asking if they could take in Fahrenheit. I felt photos with the white embarrassed when I girl. Walking through “I never felt like I truly fit didn’t know what street markets, strangers would sign abbreviations grab my curly blonde in or that anyone could meant or anything about hair, in awe of the style American football. And they had only seen in because of this, I was really understand my movies. Even though I afraid people would grew up there and spoke experiences and beliefs.” think I was dumb for the language, it didn’t not knowing the things matter. I was treated everyone else grew up like a foreigner in that with. country, and I always Due to growing up in would be. a foreign country, I did Returning to America was even more difficult. not have the same instincts as someone who While I looked the same as everybody else, I grew up in America. Therefore, it was easy

for strangers to take advantage of me. I did not know whether I was being ripped off by ordering too expensive of a meal. I did not know if it was inappropriate for a man I didn’t know to place his hand on my back when walking by me. To combat this, I constantly asked my new American friends if these situations were normal. While they always responded kindly and with patience, I tried to refrain from asking too many questions because I was afraid of being annoying.

For many third culture kids, these feelings can cause depression and anxiety. Clinical and Health Psychiatrist Dr. Fabian Saarloos said in an interview for Gulf News that this occurs because “growing up in a different environment from the original culture/nation leads children to miss out on certain experiences, and thus sets them apart from their counterparts, which in the case of ‘going back home’ can be difficult as they cannot smoothly integrate with and assimilate from the leading culture.”

I wrestled with these concepts of defining myself while growing up. In a conversation with my sibling, Cela, they explained how they experienced these feelings as well when coming to terms with their identity. They said being asked to categorize identity can cause loneliness.

I am still working through how difficult it is to never really be a part of any culture. But now I am trying to change my perspective. I am grateful I get to choose the lessons I want to learn from both cultures. I try to be respectful of people’s backgrounds and cultures like how I was taught in Thailand. And I can feel empowered and independent like I was taught in America.

katiana_hoefle@emerson.edu

Overcoming the familial obligation I felt as an only child Jocelyn Yang Yang is a freshman journalism major and a Beacon correspondent.

I grew up as an only child and grandchild— but soon, this won’t be true anymore.

My family recently told me about the first cousin I will have come December. When they told me over the phone, I was in a complete daze and said nothing besides “wow.” While I’m excited to see an addition to our family, I realized I don’t know how to engage with a future family member in my generation because I’ve never had one before.

At Emerson, I’ve heard many hilarious and sweet stories from my friends about growing up with siblings or cousins: getting the same teachers in schools, having each other’s back, and fighting over chocolate Easter bunnies.

Now it’s my turn.

I grew up in the generation affected by China’s controversial one-child policy. As a result, Chinese kids my age were the center of families’ attention at all times. My needs were easily met since I never had to compete with any siblings or cousins. And to fill up any loneliness I experienced growing up, my neighbor’s child and I often raced against each other or tested who could learn a certain skill first.

As I grew up, I realized that being an only child taught me more than just being selfsufficient. More so, it forced me to carry the weight of all my family’s expectations and obligations. I still remember when my grandpa reminded me I was “the future hope and the backbone of my generation in the family.”

But other only children should realize it’s best to use this sense of familial obligation as an opportunity to get to know more about their families and themselves. In reality, preserving your family name is all about balancing these feelings of pressure and motivation. Otherwise, the pressure to perform as an only child can quickly become burdensome, stressful, and sometimes unhealthy.

When China officially ended its “one-child

“I still remember when my grandpa reminded me I was ‘the future hope and the backbone of my generation in my family.’”

Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff policy” program in 2016, the change did not erase the struggles of the children who grew up under the law’s restrictions. More often than not, people expected these children who grew up alone to be “perfect enough to justify the fact that there is only one of you,” as BBC News correspondent Juliana Liu said about her personal experience of growing up as an only child.

When I grew older, there seemed to be nothing more important to my family than to have me stay home, get a stable job, and support them as much as possible as time passed. But my only-child identity also granted me a natural-born sense of eagerness to explore the world. It taught me the world’s power structure and helped me understand the laws of nature.

Eventually, it was tough to tell my family I wanted to come to study in the United States alone and pursue journalism as my future career.

Though I love them, I knew I had to go. They had their dreams for me, but I also had my own.

Now that I’m here in Boston, there are heavier burdens on my shoulders as an only child far from home. I have to strike a balance between my personal choices and family responsibilities and sometimes feel guilty for not being able to help out with our family affairs—especially when it comes to life and death situations.

I can never forget the panic I felt last Christmas when my dad hugged me tightly at the airport to welcome me back home and then switched to an anxious tone, saying, “let’s hurry up to go see grandma in the emergency room” without any advanced notice. I felt upset that they hid the news of my grandma’s surgery from me while I was away, but then realized that there was little I could do for them while being away even if I knew.

But as the new birth in my family approaches,

I think I can finally release this pressure I’ve always felt being the only grandchild. Yet I also know I will soon face a new challenge: setting a good example as the eldest in the generation.

Without previous experience, I’m excited to find out how to navigate being an older pseudosibling.

One thing that has not changed for sure is how grateful and fortunate I am to have my family’s financial and spiritual support. They helped me step forward and explore the world from a young age. From now on, I hope to take family responsibility as motivation to remind me of what home means. And I urge other only children to do the same. Wherever I go out and chase my dreams, I know home is never too far away. jiaxuan_yang@emerson.edu

Living Arts

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

6

The Haunted Hour rises from the dead for season two while having cast abroad makes communication among staff complicated, it adds an exciting and fast-paced element to their creating process because of the unconventional work environment.

The podcast’s listening demographic on Spotify and Apple Podcasts is even more international than the crew. According to the Anchor.fm podcast analytics Bonifant shared with The Beacon, the show has listeners in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Eicher attributes the show’s global presence and diverse cast to the Outstanding Podcast Award at last year’s EVVYs. “There are so many people working on the show,” Eicher said. “So it’s really nice to know that our work is paying off by reaching listeners in all different places too.”

In order for a submission to be nominated for the Outstanding Podcast Award, the EVVY Awards requires that the podcast be original and exclude personal references, according to the EVVY38 Submission Packet. Sophomore Diego Villarroel, assistant director of “The Haunted Hour,” said the quality and professionalism of the podcast were powerful assets during EVVY Awards nominations.

“Their story is quite well written and unique,” Villarroel said during a video interview.

“Everyone is so close to each other that they act like a family.”

Although unexpected, Bonfiant said her team felt honored to win the first Outstanding Podcast Award. The team hopes to translate Junior Elinor Bonifant (pictured) submitted her podcast, The Haunted Hour, to the 38th Annual EVVY Awards, causing it to win the first ever award the energy into the upcoming season of “The in the Outstanding Podcast category. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff Haunted Hour.”

“It’s really cool [winning an EVVY],” Eicher Kaitlyn Mettetal, Beacon Correspondent Bonifant, the creator of the horror-comedy said. “It feels like such an Emerson project.” said. “We’re going to try and use this to our podcast, spent her past two summers in North Junior Zoe Eicher, producer of “The Haunted advantage and be more organized this year.”

During the first season of the show, most Trapped in Boston Logan Airport during Carolina writing the script. Bonifant said that Hour,” said making an accessible and inclusive a flight delay, junior Elinor Bonifant hastily “The Haunted Hour,” based in the fictional town project was important to the two when preparing episodes were recorded, produced, and edited connected to the slower-than-molasses of Lantern, North Carolina, is an audio-fiction the show. Twenty-nine crew members work on a tight deadline of several weeks—a process public wi-fi. Bonifant submitted the first season narrative that follows the spooky and satirical on the podcast—ranging from audio engineers that typically needs months of preparation. p a r a n o r m a l to graphic artists—and all play an equally Now, Eicher said, they plan to pre-record of her original experiences of important role in the production process, Eicher episodes in advance of the season two premiere podcast, The Haunted Hour, to a group of high said. in January 2020. the 38th EVVY school friends.

“That will allow us to build up for the “There’s so many moving parts to creating a awards while “I’ve always single episode,” Eicher second season and also waiting for her loved audio-fiction said in an interview. make sure it’s super “This is truly the only place we flight—she did not format,” Bonifant “But it’s definitely finalized,” Eicher said. expect to become said in an interview. worth making a place Until “The Haunted “Their story is the first winner of could create what we did on the “I thought it would for everyone.”

Hour” airs next year, the new Outstanding be a great way Bonifant said the Bonifant hosts an budget we did. It feels like such to bring people basic process of airing well-written and unique.” independent podcast Podcast category in April. together that an episode of “The on WECB every After two years of aren’t necessarily Haunted Hour” feels Wednesday evening. an Emerson project.”

-Diego Villarrol imagining, drafting, interested in radio.” tedious. She begins by “Ghost Story Roadtrip” and refining B o n i f a n t drafting a script for the features new guests -Elinor Bonifant scripts, Bonifant and developed an episode. From there, every week and explores her team of creatives interest in radio each scene is recorded the horror stories of the are translating the broadcast during three times by the actors and then sent by guests’ hometowns. momentum from her freshman year Bonifant to senior Chad Costa, the show’s audio “I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina so the show’s recent while working for designer, in Los Angeles for editing. most of the lore I know of is from the South,” victory into a second WECB. In an effort “Chad is absolutely insane,” Bonifant said. Bonifant said. “I think it will be really cool to season that will air on WECB, the college’s to bring new listeners to the station, she found “He just locks himself in his room and will edit see the ghost stories that other kids at Emerson student-run radio station. The new season of the opportunity to manifest her passion project the whole episode in one go.” grew up with.”

“The Haunted Hour” will feature eight full- into an award-winning podcast.

“The Haunted Hour” cast and crew are length episodes, each about 15 to 20 minutes “This is truly the only place where we could scattered across the globe, like Costa and long. create what we did on the budget we did,” she multiple actors in the Netherlands. Eicher said kaitlyn_mettetal@emerson.edu

Junior cancels GoFundMe for homeless man publicized as sex offender Continued from page 1 “I think I was more shocked than anyone else to find out what he had done,” Wright said. “I obviously didn’t know anything about it and have since cut off all ties from him.”

Wright said she has already refunded all the money from the fundraiser and those who donated can expect their contribution to be returned in the near future.

White learned Dresser’s full name while interviewing him regarding the fundraiser.

Wright said he never disclosed his full name to her.

“I never asked for his last name,” Wright said. “I didn’t want to invade his privacy. It certainly never crossed my mind that he was hiding something so terrible.”

Dresser told Wright details of his life before homelessness, but nothing regarding his status as a sex offender or how he became homeless.

He declined to speak to a Beacon reporter at the time of the original story.

“He mentioned a ton about his life,” Wright said. “I think that’s part of the reason why this hit. He talked a lot about his past and things he wasn’t proud of and how he hurt his family members and how he hurt people … He said he had served jail time, but he said it in a way that sounded like he was serving jail time for drug abuse or getting into fights with people, just stuff like that.”

Despite the outcome of this fundraiser, Wright encourages others who wish to help people not to stray from that goal.

“I want to say that I hope this doesn’t discourage people from helping people in the future,” Wright said. “I have definitely learned to be more cautious and be aware of who I am helping, but I hope that people don’t get completely discouraged and decide to never help anyone again because you don’t know who they could be.” grace_griffin@emerson.edu

The three men junior Karigan Wright aimed to help through her GoFundMe campaign frequented the sidewalk in front of the Two Boylston Place alleyway. • Jakob Menendez / Beacon Staff

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

Living Arts

7

Emerson team takes home a slamming win in poetry competition Eloisa de Farias, Beacon Correspondent A group of Emerson students won a national poetry slam tournament after setting out on a seven-month path of redemption following their loss at a collegiate poetry slam tournament in April.

The four students took home first place and a $1,200 cash prize from the 2019 VOX Pop Slam Poetry Tournament in October at Stark Brewing Company in New Hampshire. The students are four of five Emerson students who competed in the 2019 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational.

This year’s team included senior Kayla LaRosa, junior Lauren Licona, junior Jerry Cardona, and senior Dessaline Etienne. Each member represented the college in the 2019 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational, a national slam poetry competition in which the team did not place.

Teams compete in bouts, which are four rounds of poems, each three minutes long, without props, costumes, or musical accompaniment. The VOX competition comprised only two bouts, and each bout had three teams rated on a scale of one to 10 by the judges. The winning teams of the two bouts advanced to a head-to-head competition where the winner is determined by audience reaction instead of numbered judging.

“It’s very common that the audience members who are judging are people who just showed up to the bar to hear some poetry and they are asked to judge,” LaRosa said in a phone call.

“They might not have an opinion about poetry or maybe they do—it’s just unbiased people.”

Slam poetry was originally invented in the 1980s by poet Marc Kelly Smith in Chicago with the intention of making poetry more accessible. Unlike written poetry, it brings in an element of performance in the deliverance of the piece.

“Essentially, you are just putting numbers to

Dessaline Etienne (far left), Jerry Cardona (center left), Kayla LaRosa (center right), and Lauren Licola (far right) competed as a team to bring home victory. • Courtesy of Kayla LaRosa art, which is pretty counterintuitive in itself, but because slam is a lot of emotional work, it’s not only a way to showcase your writing or how good of a writer you are, but also how good of a performer you are, how good you can convey messages and what things mean to you,” LaRosa said.

“It’s not only a way to showcase your writing or how good of a writer you are, but also how good of a performer you are, how good you can convey messages, and what things mean to you.”

-Kayla LaRosa

“And that’s why slam is so personal.”

Sitting in LaRosa’s apartment before the VOX Pop tournament, the team revisited and practiced the poems they had performed for the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational.

“It felt amazing [to win] because when we went to CUPSI we had done really well in our first couple of

rounds and then we were in a really tough bout and we got knocked out unfortunately,” LaRosa said. “We just had this feeling of our team collectively wanting to show more of our work and wanting to prove that we’re a really solid team, that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Members of the team expressed themselves creatively through their poetry at the VOX Pop tournament and shared personal stories that led them to victory, LaRosa said.

“I think it’s important because the voices that are being celebrated in slam are not necessarily celebrated in other venues, especially in literary venues,” Cardona said in a phone call . “It’s standard almost to encourage people of color and minorities and queer people to talk about their experiences and make themselves heard, which I dont think is super common in a lot of other mediums.”

Cardona performed a poem titled “El Paso,” the last poem before the team’s victory, which she wrote about her hometown and embracing her culture.

“It’s a little bit frightening because it feels intimate and you’re in a room full of strangers, but at the same time you see people identifying with the things you are saying and reacting to what you are saying,” Cardona said. “It makes the room feel a lot safer, and it allowed me to realize that your experiences aren’t necessarily solitary.”

VOX Pop was LaRosa’s second-to-last slam performance before graduating. She said winning the competition validated all the hard work the team had put into crafting these performances.

“Slam is fun and art is fun, but we are a competitive team and we put a lot of work into our pieces, and when you show your art it means a lot to you personally and you want the audience to receive it well, so winning was just amazing,” LaRosa said. eloisa_defarias@emerson.edu

Person of Color Column: I ain’t sari for wearing my culture with pride Diti Kohli is a junior journalism major, The Beacon’s opinion editor, and this week’s POC columnist.

me feel like I’m living a double life—one where I adopt a different persona when I’m in a pair of plazzo pants and covering my head with a chuni. But as an Indian-American born and raised in the States, slipping on clothes that link to my culture also feels right. Plus, dress is the only part of my ethnic identity that is malleable under my discretion—I can literally get in and out of it in minutes.

I’m often an all-black outfit kind of gal.

For years, however, I sharply separated My wardrobe mostly comprises turtlenecks, the Indian parts of my wardrobe and the collared shirts, and high-waisted jeans in a “American” parts. When the festivities were sophisticated albeit boring range of neutral over, I would slink out of my cultural wares, colors. It’s sprinkled with plaid blazers and a admire them for a moment, and put them back few statement pieces—funky jackets and a pair in the closet cubby reserved for them. of colorful pants.

Choosing to wear “American” clothes over Still, I’m a sucker for a sari. my Indian garments was an act of assimilation.

Saris are traditional Because of the Indian garments made human tendency up of a cropped blouse to make quick “I chose not to put up with the and a long drape judgements, clothes that wraps around a determine the way wary looks from strangers I woman’s waist and people perceive rests on her shoulder. each other. First- and Like most Indian would inevitably receive if I wore second-generation clothing, the beading immigrants often and embroidery on saris alter their attire to Indian clothes outside of are intricate and ornate, attain the approval unlike anything I wear of the majority. Of worship, festivals, or on a day-to-day basis. course, this isn’t a There are very new concept. few times a year I During World celebrations.” actually dress like a War II, following brown person, but I Adolf Hitler’s endlessly look forward consolidation of to those infrequent nights. For holidays and power in 1933, Britain took in nearly 10,000 special occasions, I’ll reach into the dark unaccompanied children from European Jewish top shelf of my closet at home, dig up saris, families. When these children arrived in these lenghas, and Punjabi suits my mom securely new communities, they donned their best stored in their original plastic wrapping, and cultural wear to meet their foster families for dress myself in non-Western wear. the first time. But these children were often As I slowly came to terms with the beauty denounced for their wardrobe choices by the and inevitability of my Indian-American very groups they hoped to impress. identity, I started adding Indian pieces to my This same wardrobe code-switching has wardrobe. While my daily outfits are usually surfaced in my own life. When my mom and void of patterns, easily mixed and matched, I would return from the gurdwara, the Sikh the Indian clothes I hoard are each innately house of worship, on Sunday afternoons, we individual. Every pair of patiala salwars or would immediately change into our assimilated jhoomar earrings I wear speaks to the unique attire—jeans, T-shirts, and sweaters—before spirit of the community in which I was raised. carrying on with the rest of our day. In high Dressing in these clothes always feels lavish school, I never even considered styling a kurta and special. Sometimes, wearing them makes with skinny jeans or dhoti pants with a v-neck.

Honestly, it was out of the question. point of fetishization in the western world.

As recently as 2017, Vice writer Anna Even Beyonce appropriated Indian attire in Topaloff wrote about a handful of Afghani Coldplay’s “Hymn For The Weekend” video, to refugees looking to expand their wardrobes the dismay of Priya-Alika Elias, a columnist for with donated clothes from humanitarian centers Teen Vogue. in France. Many of them had a clear idea of Indians also traditionally apply henna, a the clothes they wanted, even going so far as plant-based dye, to their hands and feet in to ask for specific brands—one even requested detailed, swirly patterns at weddings and “sneakers that were ‘not too ugly, more like ceremonies. However, this practice has recently JAY-Z’s.’” For them, the clothes they put on in been adopted in the Western world as a carnival their new country affected others’ perspective activity, akin to face-painting and temporary on them. tattoos. And last year, a handful of high “The fit and style of a piece of clothing might schoolers were accused of cultural appropriation help them feel equal to the people they pass by and criticized online for wearing Asian-inspired on the street, or compliment their personality,” dresses to school dances. The proliferation of Topaloff wrote. “Or, perhaps, it just looks good different cultures, specifically pieces of Indian on them.” culture, in the Western world is widespread and I knew no one would ever outwardly insult shows no signs of stopping soon. me if I wore a fully It’s impossible for me decked Indian suit to the to hide the fact that I am grocery store or the gas as can “Dress is the only part of my brown—brown station. And I also knew be, in fact. My ethnicity that if this did happen, is etched in the crevices ethnic identity that is malI would stand up for of my skin, my caramel my right to wear what brown complexion, my I want, when I want, big eyes, and my long leable under my regardless of how others textured hair. Covering felt. But I chose not to these features with discretion—I can literally get up put up with the wary American clothes and looks from strangers I Western trends cannot in and out of it in minutes.” erase these marks of would inevitably receive if I wore Indian clothes racial and cultural outside of worship, separation. And I don’t festivals, or celebrations. want them to.

In a piece for Buzzfeed News, Teresa However, I do not care to dress in Indian Mathew, an Indian-American writer, shared a clothes everyday—I just want to remind myself similar concern that wearing cultural clothes that I am free to pair these polarized fashion would make her stand out as an immigrant, an choices together if I choose. “other” in the community.

For people of color, the question of whether “I was always worried that wearing Indian or not to wear cultural clothing is not and clothing or jewelry—even pieces of it, paired should not be concrete. Bi-cultural individuals with Levi’s or Converse sneakers—would make are not obligated to only wear western clothes, me look fresh off the boat,” Mathew wrote. but we also aren’t obligated to regularly switch Now, I’m slowly accepting the idea that I between our outfit options to assert our dual can and should meld these two aspects of my identity. All we can do is give ourselves the wardrobe. I realize there’s no reason for me to freedom of choice and realize that our cultural live in fear of not being accepted. It’s widely clothing is meaningful—it’s worthy of love, accepted that Indian clothes are beautiful, laden respect, and closet space. with color and character that makes them almost universally attractive.

Some would even argue outward aspects of Indian culture have been praised to the diti_kohli@emerson.edu

Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

October 24, 2019

8

Suvak receives prestigious certification Women’s soccer head coach David Suvak received a National A-Senior License from US Soccer Oct. 21, becoming the only Division III coach to be awarded the certification in 2019, Emerson Athletics announced.

Find the complete story by Ethan McDowell at BerkeleyBeacon.com

Charles River Regatta tackles waste issues Lara Hill, Beacon Staff Head Of The Charles Regatta race coordinators implemented a new sustainability initiative to reduce the event’s environmental footprint. The Regatta brings in over 11,000 athletes and more than 400,000 spectators to Boston and Cambridge.

“It’s about time,” Courtney Forrester, the sustainability chair for the Regatta, said in an interview. “We should have been doing this a long time ago. The Regatta has always provided trash and recycling services, but they were never monitored or maintained. We had a lot of trash coming out of the Regatta and other multiday events in the area.”

The HOCR is the largest two-day Regatta in the world, bringing in crew teams and rowers from 26 countries to compete on the Charles River in Cambridge.

Last year, the Regatta collected 16 tons of waste, which largely consisted of food and packaging. To combat this issue, HOCR placed composting stations throughout the course. The Regatta positioned 120 volunteers at the larger stations to monitor the waste going into each bin to make sure athletes and spectators used the composting bins correctly.

“We’re trying to educate people on what’s compostable,” volunteer and Courtney Forrester’s mother, Pat Forrester, said in an interview. “The whole goal is to reduce the amount of waste the Regatta produced, even by a little bit.”

Courtney Forrester said people often incorrectly recycle or compost items.

“If the bins are left with no one monitoring them, they get contaminated,” Courtney Forrester said. “People want to compost or recycle something, we call it ‘wish-cycling.’

People think it should be recycled so they put it in the recycling bin and wish that it will be recycled. Ultimately, it has nothing to do with wishing—you have to do it right.”

Pat Forrester said that after monitoring the bins and educating people on how to compost, she noticed a significant difference in the speed at which they fill up.

The HOCR also implemented a policy that prohibits single-use plastic products at the

The Head Of The Charles rowing event took place Saturday and Sunday and featured sustainability efforts. • Lizzie Heintz / Beacon Staff Regatta.

“A lot of the waste is food and packaging because people are buying things from vendors and then disposing of the materials,” Courtney Forrester said. “With the initiative, no vendors are allowed to sell any plastic bags as well as single-use plastic bottles—it has to be a can or another container.”

Many of the athletes heard about the sustainability initiative before the event, including Shannon Colford from Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, who placed 22nd in the Women’s Club Eights event.

“I think it’s really important,” Colford said in an interview. “Since rowing is an outdoor sport and we have to take care of our environment, I

think the movement is very fitting.”

Royal Dutch Rowing Federation, a club from Amstelveen, Netherlands, placed eighth in the Men’s Championships Eights event. Michiel Oyen, who competed in the Regatta twice, said the club spent six weeks preparing for the race.

“We’re all rowers from smaller events, like singles and pairs,” Oyen said in an interview.

“Now we’re in the eights, we spent a lot of time learning to adjust to each other.”

After traveling across the Atlantic, Obbe Tibben said the club just wants a win.

“It’s certainly one of the races you want to win once in your life,” Tibben said in an interview. “It was a long journey to get here, so now we just want to win and come back

with a medal. We don’t want to go home with nothing.”

Angela Moquin and Cassandra Cunningham from Chinook Performance Racing traveled from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to place first and defend their title in the Women’s Masters Eights. Moquin and Cunningham started competing in the HOCR in 1990, but Cunningham said the course does not grow easier after so many years of racing.

“Wind, other racers, and getting older all make the course difficult, even though we’ve been doing this Regatta for so long,” Cunningham said in an interview.

As competitors in the Women’s Masters event, which is designated for women over 40 years old, Moquin said finding time to train with full-time jobs can be difficult.

“We try to train six days a week for around 60 to 90 minutes,” Moquin said in an interview.

“Since we’re older, most of us have jobs and families we have to take care of, so that can get in the way of training sometimes, but we aim for six practices a week.”

Benjamin Ross, who grew up rowing on the Charles River, placed 47th in the Men’s Club Fours with Bowdoin College. He said he still finds the course extremely challenging.

“The first time I raced we hit a lot of other boats and a bridge,” Ross said in an interview.

“We found ourselves in a cluster through all of the sharp turns, so we ended up hitting a few of them.”

Ross said his team spent the entire season preparing for this Regatta.

“It’s the pinnacle of our fall season,” Ross said. “We train mornings five to six days a week and do a team lift twice a week.”

While this race is important to Ross and his team, coming back to the Charles River and being a part of the culture of the Regatta meant a lot to him.

“Obviously we want to go fast and do well, but it’s just a great culture and a great experience,” Ross said. “The Regatta really culminates what rowing means to me. I haven’t stopped smiling since I got here.” lara_hill@emerson.edu @larahill_

Lions ready to contend for NEWMAC title Continued from Page 1 The Lions defeated Worcester Polytechnic Institute 93-75 in the NEWMAC championship game behind then-junior guard Jack O’Connor’s 33-points. Head coach Bill Curley said the chip on their shoulder turned into a target on their backs now that they are the defending champions.

“It’s a little bit different now that we aren’t sneaking up on anybody,” Curley said in an interview. “The rest of the league has a sour taste in their mouth that we were able to get the better of them. Now we have to find a way to recapture that and run faster now that we are ahead.”

Despite their success last year, Waterhouse said the team is still extremely motivated.

“There are obviously a lot of good teams in our conference, so we know how hard it is,” Waterhouse said. “You almost have to think about that underdog mentality to get these wins.”

Curley believes the players are ready to face the added pressure and praised the work the team put in over the offseason.

“Our guys have done a tremendous job carrying that momentum over,” Curley said.

“They’ve been in the weight room, they’ve been running, they’ve been playing, and they’ve been getting extra shots. That’s hopefully going to pay dividends when we start playing.”

The Lions will have to fill the role left by star point guard Geoff Gray. Gray plays professionally for Hapoel Eilat in Israel after averaging 20.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his senior season for the Lions. In addition to Gray, the Lions lost the contributions

of 7’1” center Mac Sashin who appeared in eight games last year.

When discussing how the team plans to make up for this loss of production, Curley said multiple members of the team are stepping up.

“Geoff had a tremendous career and had a tremendous year last year, so it’s going to be very difficult to try and say we’ve got one guy to do that,” Curley said. “We’re just asking our guys to be themselves. We’re just asking Jack O’Connor to be Jack O’Connor, Waterhouse to be Waterhouse, Jarred [Houston] to be Jarred. I think you see a little bit more maturity from the guys that were here last year as freshmen.”

Only losing two seniors to graduation means a majority of the Lions’ production from the 2018-19 season is returning.

O’Connor averaged 19.8 points last year and pulled down six rebounds per game. He ranked third in the NEWMAC in points per game and free throw percentage.

As a freshman last year, Waterhouse won the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year award. He started 20 of the Lions’ 28 games last season, scored 16.6 points per game, and made 42.5 percent of his three-point shots. Waterhouse’s three-point percentage tied Coast Guard Academy’s Packy Witkowski for second place in the conference.

Waterhouse said he put in a lot of work during the offseason to take the next step of his career.

“I focused on trying to get stronger,” Waterhouse said. “I just got a lot of shots up and tried to make my own plays more now, because I’ll probably get a little more attention on the offensive side from opposing defenses.”

In addition to their high-scoring backcourt, the Lions will also have sophomore Jarred

Senior Ben Holding (No. 32) totaled 349 points in his three seasons playing for the Lions.

Beacon Archives Houston at the center. The 6’10” Norwood native started 27 games last year and placed in the conference’s top five in both field goal percentage and rebounds per game. He collected double-digit rebounds in eight games, including a career-high 18 against Coast Guard on Jan. 2.

The Lions brought in five freshmen, four of which are already standing out on the practice court, Waterhouse said. James Gascoigne, the fifth member of the freshman class, is out for the year after undergoing hip surgery.

“They look really good,” Waterhouse said.

“All four of them look like they can have immediate impacts for us and can help us, and they’re all like 6’5” plus, which is really nice.”

Allen said he loves the team so far and is excited to take any role he is given.

“Whatever the coaches ask me to do, I’ll

do it,” Allen said. “I’ve never really had a set position, so wherever they need me to fill in, that’s where I’ll go.”

Curley said the team will have the collective goal of improving on defense.

“We gave up 80 points per game last year, and we scored 80 points per game,” Curley said.

“Something’s got to give, so we have to do a little bit better job on the defensive end.”

Waterhouse said he enjoys Curley’s coaching style.

“He’s like my favorite coach I’ve ever had in my whole life in basketball,” Waterhouse said. “He has experienced the highest level of basketball that you can experience, and having ethan_mcdowell@emerson.edu @EthanMMcDowell