Endowment rises

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

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021 • Volume 75, Issue 11

@berkeleybeacon // @beaconupdate

Emerson’s endowment balloons amid pandemic

Adminstrators caution returns may not generate more aid, new programs Camilo Fonseca Beacon Staff

Emerson’s investments generated a 32.7 percent return in 2021, indicating a promising future for the college despite the financial pressures of COVID-19.

As a result, the college’s endowment fund reached an all-time high of $259.6 million. Having grown from $183.3 million over the course of the fiscal year—a

record $75 million increase—Emerson proved that its financial reserves could not only weather the economic contraction, but could actually thrive.

The outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 saw stock indices decline sharply, drawing fears of a prolonged recession. As it turned out, though, the crash was not permanent—nor did it seriously affect the college’s finances, according to Vice President for Administration and Finance Paul Dworkis.

“The market really fell precipitously, as dramatically as one would expect when the economy shuts down,” he said.

“But [there was] this ‘V-shaped recovery’: the market falls really fast and

comes back really fast, forming a V.” “The economy doesn’t exactly work that way—although at the time the administration [of then-President Donald Trump] was trying to claim that it would,” he continued. “But the stock market actually did do something like that.”

The market’s rebound ensured that the college’s investments weren’t seriously affected, Dworkis said. Indeed, the growth in net assets from this fiscal year, 41.6 percent, stands in stark contrast to the mere 6.8 percent increase between FY2019 to FY2020.

Endowment, Pg. 3

Beacon Archives

Dueling protests clash on Boston Common Emerson student turnout soars in 2020 election

Vivi Smilgius, Frankie Rowley & Bailey Allen Beacon Staff The 2020 presidential election saw record-high numbers of Emerson students casting their ballots at the polls or by mail, mimicking the nationwide trend of historic voter turnout, according to a recent study by Tufts University.

Emerson was part of a trend of universities nationwide that saw an increase in voter turnout among students. The college reported that more than 76.1 percent of students cast ballots in the November elections, surpassing the national average by over 10 percent.

52 percent reported in the 2016 election cycle—which also saw historically-low levels of voter turnout nationwide.

Those elections saw widespread unrest on-campus after the results brought former President Donald Trump to the White House.

“You hope for a result like this,” Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Jason Meier said of the 2020 results.

Meier, who directed SEAL through taking over the college’s push for voter registration in 2016, said the college employed a series of tactics, such as community-wide emails, in order to get students out to the polls. . As part of the Higher Education Act—a federal law passed in 1998 that governs higher education programs—the college is required to provide students with resources on how to register to vote.

“We talked about [voter registration] at orientation, we course],” he said.

Turnout, Pg. TK

Beacon Correspondent

Emerson launches ‘cluster hire’ for intersectional studies

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Emerson launches new adversiting campaign Pg. 2 Students express mistrust with new testing model Pg. 3 You shouldn’t shame other people’s kinks Pg. 4 Taylor Swift’s whiteness has buoyed her career Pg. 5 New opera debuts at Cutler Majestic Theatre Pg. 7 33 student-athletes land on all-academic team Pg. 8

68

positive COVID-19 tests

.13 %

positivity rate

53,000+ tests completed

Vivi Smilgius Beacon Staff

A new “cluster hire” initiative at Emerson aims to recruit faculty for newly-created positions in the Visual and Media Arts and Writing, Literature and Publishing departments as well as the Marlboro Institute for InterCourtesy

Emerson Dance Company returns to in-person performing Sophia Pargas After over a year of strictly pre-recorded and live streamed events, Emerson Dance Company is

said on their show’s program. “Within the past year, we have all experienced momentum in different ways: feeling pushed forward, backward, and swung all the way around, but ‘Momentum’ for EDC this semester means moving together

Semel Theater on Saturday with “Momentum,” a show featuring 76 student dancers performing tap, hip hop, jazz, and contemporary numbers.

“This semester, our show ‘Momentum’ will be showcasing 14 pieces from our student choreographers who each created different styled pieces all surrounding the theme of momentum,” EDC

2019.”

The show features a variety of pieces and is guaranteed to have something for everyone in attendance. Each choreographed dance features its own song choice and personalized costumes to match the energy of the dance.

Dance, Pg. 6

Beacon Staff

push towards a more intersectional and interdisciplinary curriculum. ulty members to teach a selection of new classes— all of which will focus on “the intersections of critical race, ethnic studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies,” according to the job posting.

The cluster hiring process, where a group of staff are hired by a committee of faculty, is an “emerging trend” among universities nationwide, according to the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. However, the strategy is still somewhat uncommon at Emerson; Cristina Kotz Cornejo, chair of the Visual and Media for the arts school. She credited Dean of the School of the Arts Robert Sabal with its introduction.

Kotz Cornejo said that the initiative happened naturally, after Sabal realized that two other departments— Writing, Literature and Publishing and the Marlboro Insimilar positions.

Hiring, Pg. TK

News

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

2

Turnout rises by 24 percent Cont. from Pg. 1

Beacon Correspondent

Pooled testing model creates mixed reactions among students Hannah Nguyen

Beacon Correspondent A week after Emerson’s shift to a pooled testing model for all community members, students expressed mixed reactions to the new model— questioning its safety and accuracy.

The decision to switch to a pooled testing model came as a result of a desire to alleviate the cost of testing—Emerson spent $5 million on testing during the 2020-21 school year—amid lower positivity rates on campus. The switch also contributed to a lower environmental impact, according to college officials.

To some, the advantages of the method outweigh the inconveniences.

“Though pooled testing is not the most efficient, if it saves money and the environment, I think Emerson should continue with this method,” said Sofia Servizio, a first-year media arts production major.

While the college reaps benefits from the model that some support, others believe that individual tests are still the best course of action given that the pandemic is still an ever-present threat.

“I don’t believe it’s an unreasonable statement to say it’s environmentally friendly or cost-effective and I believe that’s an important thing to take into consideration when making these decisions,” said Minna Abdel-Gawad, a first-year journalism major. “However, with the pandemic still going on, individual tests are still a necessary precaution and personally it makes me uneasy that if my group were to test positive I wouldn’t know who it was who tested positive.”

Under the model, ten individual samples are collected in one test tube, where they are tested together and one collective result is produced.

One of four results—negative, invalid, unsatisfactory, or inconclusive—is generated from each sample. Its accuracy is dependent on the spread of COVID-19 in a given area and the mucus obtained per sample according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, thus allowing for a higher chance of false-negative results in a larger specimen pool.

The likelihood of false-negative results and grouped results is a point of concern for some, who expressed they feared the method could cause a “COVID scare.”

“I personally get really anxious about COVID test results,” Abdel-Gawad said. “Being in a pooled testing [model] makes me nervous because in a large group of people it could be anyone out of us. Then

having all people then retest is anxiety-inducing and an unnecessary step.”

Hannah Hughes, a first-year journalism major, expressed similar concerns.

“It just makes me nervous really, being pooled with other people could potentially cause a COVID scare for myself and for others,” Hughes said.

Others cite a lack of understanding of the method as a reason for concern.

“Most of my concern comes from lack of knowledge,” Servizio said. “I genuinely don’t know how people can be identified as positive if their cotton swab was touching a bunch of others.”

Though some are skeptical of the method’s accuracy, others are in support of the method—saying they found an increase in efficiency at the testing center.

“Pooled testing really speeds the whole process up and also limits a crowded testing area,” said Jenny Ferm, a junior journalism major. “I’ve noticed the lines being much shorter and the testing center having much fewer people in it in general, which makes me feel safer since the possibility of being [exposed] to someone going there because they have received a positive test or exposure is limited.”

Ferm also noted that while she understands the concerns surrounding the model’s accuracy, the testing center’s safety measures help mitigate her concern about the potential of false-negative, invalid, unsatisfactory, and inconclusive results.

“I can understand how some people wouldn’t [feel safe] considering the q-tips we use for testing aren’t sealed off right away, but I still think the exposure rate is low and that the amount of hand sanitizers and other precautions really help,” Ferm said.

Some are unfazed by the change.

Callie Krosin, a freshman journalism major, said that the new model wasn’t much of a concern to her since it was the method used by her high school.

“I personally don’t mind it just because I am used to it,” she said. “I have gotten over the kind of hesitation and weird nature of the testing type.”

Despite concerns, Hughes said that although she has anxiety surrounding the model, she still feels safe due to the testing requirement remaining in place.

“I still do feel safe because I feel like the COVID test itself is still in place and is still being performed as before,” she said. “I just don’t really like the fact that my test is now lumped with others.” hannah_nguyen@emerson.edu

“We worked with residential assistants to do programs about it and you just have to hope that people are going to actually show up.”

“Knowing that they did is just beyond gratifying,” he added.

Meier argued that voter registration is an essential part of SEAL’s mission—and said his belief was vindicated by the heightened student turnout in 2020.

“When I first saw this year’s number, I was like ‘Yeah, voter registration should stick with SEAL for a while,” he said. “Engagement and voter engagement, they’re the same thing. It was absolutely the right thing to do, to take this on with SEAL and be really proactive in it. It is really empowering—and it feels nice to see with numbers, letters and data— that your work is successful.”

Emerson saw 1,783 students vote by non-in-person methods— such as mail-in and absentee ballots—the most popular manner of voting amongst students in 2020.

The Tufts study reported that 250 students participated in early-voting and 167 students voted in person and 1,250 students voting methods were unknown. In 2016, 13 students voted early, 122 voted

Beacon Archives

in person, 891 voted not in person and 1,345 voters had “unknown” voting methods.

Emerson’s 18-21 age group, which encompasses much of its undergraduate population, saw a 13 percent increase in its turnout; 2,211 students from this group cast ballots in national and/or statewide races, up from the 1,804 who voted in 2016. The second highest voting population was students aged 22-24, amassing 523 voters.

For Meier, who will depart Em-

erson on Nov. 19, the study acted as his “victory lap” at Emerson.

“As an old, jaded member of Generation X, my time to make an impact like that is over,” he said. “Gen X, we’re forgotten. It’s about you; it’s about Gen Z. It is about 18-to-22 year olds today, who are really going to change things and putting you in those positions, where you can have massive amounts of impact.” contact@berkeleybeacon.com

College to recruit 5 positions in hiring initiative Cont. from Pg. 1 A new “cluster hire” initiative at Emerson aims to recruit faculty for newly-created positions in the Visual and Media Arts and Writing, Literature and Publishing departments as well as the Marlboro Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, reflecting the college’s ongoing push towards a more intersectional and interdisciplinary curriculum.

The hiring initiative will add five, new, full-time faculty members to teach a selection of new classes— all of which will focus on “the intersections of critical race, ethnic studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies,” according to the job posting.

The cluster hiring process, where a group of staff are hired by a committee of faculty, is an “emerging trend” among universities nationwide, according to the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. However, the strategy is still somewhat uncommon at Emerson; Cristina Kotz Cornejo, chair of the Visual and Media Arts Department, said this would be the first cluster hire for the arts school. She credited Dean of the School of the Arts Rob-

ert Sabal with its introduction.

Kotz Cornejo said that the initiative happened naturally, after Sabal realized that two other departments—Writing, Literature and Publishing and the Marlboro Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies— were looking to fill similar positions. “[Sabal] felt that a cluster hire search would serve the college broadly,” Kotz Cornejo said. “It’s designed to be complementary and work across three different departments with different goals.”

Even though new faculty will become part of the college’s School of the Arts, courses added as a result will be open to all students, extending the benefits of the cluster hire and allowing students to explore more areas of interest.

The increase in faculty will help the college achieve more versatility and collaboration within its course offerings, she added.

“There’s commonality across the departments and there’s an interest of having more interdisciplinary emphasis,” Kotz Cornejo said.

“This basically opens up an opportunity for cross-collaboration.”

Sabal said cross-department

Beacon Staff

collaboration is key in continuing the development of Emerson courses related to topics like race, gender, and sexuality studies. The upcoming cluster hire will provide a “broad range of new courses” and a faculty who will both teach and mentor students, he added.

“Often this kind of cultural studies scholarship considers a variety of texts: literature, visual art, film, television, music, among others,” Sabal wrote in an email statement to The Beacon. “Students benefit from a broad range of new courses and a group of faculty who can serve as mentors to students who wish to pursue scholarship in these areas.”

Sabal predicts the cluster hire could catalyze progress at Emerson’s film school, which recently gained recognition as one of the nation’s top programs in a list created

by The Wrap.

Emerson ranked sixth nationally, up from 15th last year, and could continue to rise as a result of increased faculty and department-wide expansion, Sabal said.

“Though I don’t think there is a scientific method for these rankings,” Sabal said. “The new hires will help Emerson graduate students who will become the cultural producers of the future.”

He emphasized the importance of intersectionality in creativity, adding that the cluster hire will help students understand the world around them and produce work that accurately reflects it—a skill he deemed “more important than any ranking on any list.” Sabal also said the cluster hire will prepare Emerson students for their futures in ever-changing creative fields.

“By developing an understanding of how culture is shaped by intersecting histories, narratives, actors, and relationships, Emerson graduates will be able to produce work that creates a more just, equitable and sustainable world,” Sabal said.

Camilo Fonseca contributed to reporting. vivi_smilgius@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

3

Graduate program pushes T advertising campaign Henrique Rocha

Beacon Correspondent Boston commuters have seen an unfamiliar sight at MBTA stations over the past weeks: screens of blue, green, and white advertising Emerson’s graduate programs The ads, which illuminate the platforms of North Station, South Station, Downtown Crossing, and Government Center stations—are a new foray for the Graduate Admissions Marketing Department. It places Emerson on a similar stage as other Boston-area institutions like Suffolk, Tufts, and Boston University, all of which regularly advertise in the public transit setting.

The choice of location aims to promote the college’s graduate program, which has nearly doubled in the past six years from around 700 in 2014 to 1,400 in 2020, to its target audience. Namely, the campaign targets working professionals, commuting to and from work—the graduate program’s primary demographic, according to Senior Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications for Graduate Admissions Katie Frank.

“We chose those locations due to the relevance of marketing and advertising agencies around the city of Boston,” Frank said.

The campaign, which kicked off on Sept. 20, promotes four of the college’s sixteen masters-level areas: sports communication, strategic marketing communication, political communication, and public relations.

“They’re awareness ads more than anything,” Frank said.

“They’re an announcement to the community.”

“We market individual programs and a portfolio of programs,” said Director of Marketing Samuel Woodson.

The campaign also marks the first time that the college has run “transit ads”— a common practice among local institutions of higher education. However, they reflect the marketing department’s increased focus on digital content.

Because the college has already pursued year-long ads on various social media platforms, streaming services, and other online platforms, Woodson said that the MBTA ads were not much different.

“The world is digital, students are on digital platforms, so we meet them where they are,” Woodson said. “These are all coordinated with this transit advertising approach,” he added.

Frank agreed, saying that the actual ads themselves were not limited to MBTA stations, but were

Beacon Staff

instead part of a “multi-layered campaign.”

“We have the same language as these ads on Youtube, Spotify, and Instagram,” she said. “It’s all the same message just to bring it all into one package.”

Frank also noted that the adver-

tising window has corresponded with higher traffic on the college’s website—especially to the pages of the particular degrees that were advertised.

“For the most part, we see some pretty positive boost to our leads as a college from these different cam-

paigns that we run,” she said.

Emerson’s ads will continue to run until Nov. 14, Frank said. After a brief hiatus, they will resume on Dec. 27 and will run until Feb. 20 of next year. henrique_rocha@emerson.edu

Endowment grows 41.6 percent over fiscal year Cont. from Pg. 1 However, the growth in Emerson’s endowment does not immediately offset the college’s operating losses incurred as a result of the pandemic—which, in March 2021, were estimated to be around $30 million.

“It’s not, ‘Gee, the stock market went up $5 million, can we take $5 million out?’” Dworkis said.

“That’s not how it works at all.”

Instead, Emerson carefully avoids relying on its endowment funds for periodic economic swings.

The best way to protect the expanding investment portfolio, Dworkis said, was to let it continue to grow unhindered.

“Certainly, our endowment value grew substantially over this year, all to the future betterment of the college,” he said. “But the growth in the endowment doesn’t translate into some immediate withdrawal of funds. They’re there for perpetuity, to protect and help grow, and our mission is to grow.”

“We managed the window of COVID, that’s still going on, and dealt with all of the expenses not through the endowment, but through what we manage on a day-to-day basis with the college’s funds,” he continued.

As a result, the college was forced to weather the losses brought on by a year of depressed enrollment and hybrid learning—just as students were forced to weather the “The only thing that actually would have been done during COVID was an investment review,” Dworkis added. “Looking at whether or not the decline in the market created an opportunity to re-balance investments in the market.”

Indeed, the college did make ment strategy over the course of the pandemic. Last fall, Emerson announced it was partnering with LLC as its main investment advising service.

In managing its investment strategy, Emerson relies on third-party consultation, according to Associate Vice President of Finance Robert Butler—unlike some larger in-

Beacon Staff

stitutions, which can manage their investments through the auspices of dedicated entities such as the Harvard Management Company.

“We don’t have expertise inhouse to manage investments like that,” Butler said. “We have to buy those professional services as part of our role, just like we have to buy accountants and lawyers for certain things.”

The college considered about process, Butler said, before settling on Prime Buchholz.

Dworkis maintained that the cial pressures of the pandemic.

“We had been with our current investment advisor for a period of ten years or so,” he said. “It was appropriate to look out in the market.”

Regardless of the reason, Prime

Buchholz helped Emerson ride the coattails of the market’s recovery.

The college’s return over FY2021 rivaled that of other Boston-area institutions—even Harvard University, which saw a 33.6 percent investment return over FY2021.

However, Emerson’s endowment still pales in comparison to that of most other colleges and universities; for comparison, Harvard’s fund grew to a staggering $53.2 billion this year, while Tufts’ endowment reached $1.9 billion. Even Suffolk University claims a considerably more sizable endowment, at $306 million.

Butler said that, barring sustained growth, the size of the endowment limited how much funding could be earmarked for budgetary purposes “When you think of the Harvard

endowment, it’s huge,” he said.

“The Board of Trustees at Harvard can determine a distribution rate each year that [goes to students]. dents more.”

Dworkis reiterated that, even through the pandemic, the college viewed drawing from the endowment as a last resort—only spending $7.5 million. These expenditures were pre-approved by the Board of Trustees, as part of the college’s operating budget.

“We do draw from the endowment, on an annual basis, money that’s built into our budgets and our operating assumptions that are funded through these endowment assets,” Dworkis said. “The growth of those over time is what fuels growth of the college, because those assets can contribute more if

they grow.”

Only $2.0 million of the funds withdrawn were “donor-restricted,” or earmarked to a particular purpose such as infrastructure or scholarships. However, Dworkis said that all $7.5 million withdrawn funds followed the “wishes” of their donors.

“If the endowment gift is made to fund something in perpetuity, it’s got to live towards that expectation,” Dworkis said.

Butler said he was optimistic about the college’s future should the endowment continue to rise.

“What I’m learning is that, as we grow our endowment—as it grows, hopefully someday, as big as Harvard—we can do so much more for students and the community.” camilo_fonseca@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

Opinion

November 11, 2021

4

Vaccine mandates aren’t fascism; they’re a public health imperative Shannon Garrido & Lucia Thorne Beacon Staff

Life gets you down sometimes, and that’s understandable. But if you ever feel worthless or unwanted, just remember this past Sunday, a group of what are clearly very “well-rounded” individuals gathered to shout about conspiracies in a public park by an Earl of Sandwich, only emphasizing how repulsive they are and getting even fewer people to sleep with them.

If you were anywhere in the vicinity of Boston Common this past Sunday, there’s no doubt you heard the obnoxious racket that was the Super Happy Fun America public tantrum––sorry, “protest.” This was nothing more than a sad demonstration of “patriots” crying about getting a little needle put in their arm amongst other things. These protests obviously spread misinformation as groups like these are known to do, and can only be considered a pathetic and embarrassing display of stupidity.

Not to mention the boldness of protesting in one of the most vaccinated states (and counties) in the U.S., with a respectable seventy percent of Massachusetts fully vaccinated according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Add that to planting a known homophobic organization in front of one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly campuses in the country. They were bound to receive more backlash than support.

As expected, a much larger counterprotest group showed up to make enough noise that they drowned out the anti-vaxxers. Coming prepared with a band and decked-out signs, the counter protesters’ chants and props were enough to make the anti-vaxxers feel like their rights were being “violated,” convincing them of their “victimhood.”

Remember, these are the types of

people that think the U.S. is Panem, that public health initiatives are the Hunger Games, and the unvaccinated are Katniss Everdeen… you know, conservatives missing the whole point of books that criticize their beliefs, as per usual.

The protest, dubbed “Rise Against Tyrexpanding restrictions facing those who choose to remain unvaccinated across the U.S. From unpaid leave for New York of healthcare workers to the inability to receive organ transplants,––all of whom have chosen to not get the vaccine––the tolerance for the unvaccinated-by-choice is wearing thin, and understandably so.

Their ignorance and entitlement are costing hundreds of thousands of lives.

The rally, which began at noon, led to According to NBC Boston, protesters from the Super Happy Fun America walked towards the police asking them to confront the peaceful counter demonstrators. This behavior on their part is not surprising in the least, as the group has been under increased scrutiny after two of its leaders were charged in connection with the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to The Boston Globe.

So many Americans, like the attendees of this protest and the insurrection, are under the impression that mask mandates, vaccines, or social distancing measures are a form of facism. This is absolutely untrue.

The idea that wearing a mask or getting vaccinated means you are participating and enabling the transition from a democratic government to an authoritarian regime is more than inaccurate. It’s understandable that some are suspicious of the government, so when they are asked to wear a mask or get a vaccine that has been developed and approved at unprecedented speed, you might think they are

pushing an agenda and spreading lies.

However, the immense occupation of pitals throughout this pandemic is not a lie. Those directly affected by the virus aren’t lying either. The number of deaths doesn’t lie. Facts don’t lie. Especially not almost two years later.

To take these very real circumstances and actively oppose it because it is an idea backed by the government makes you sound like an insensitive idiot. If the government tells you to put on a seat belt you do, or If they tell you to renew your passport you do.Yet you cannot be bothered to wear a piece of cloth on your face in public spaces? That isn’t facism, it’s standard public health procedure.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have also been fallacies regarding the legitimacy of the vaccine, which spread seemingly just as quickly as the virus itself. These conspiracies have been peddled by many conservatives and far-right Facebook posts, and people smart enough to fall for conspiracies (because only geniuses know that 5G cellular towers caused COVID-19).

As a result, enough people have refused the vaccine to keep this pandemic alive and have been radicalized into believing that a vaccine serves any other purpose besides protecting your body against a deadly virus and slowing the severity of spread to those around you.

Masks and vaccines have been proven to save lives and yet, vaccine refusal has only added to the neverending death toll of this virus. COVID-19 has taken 757,000 lives in the United States, the most of any country, and 19,000 in Massachusetts alone at this time.

In a recent report released by the Texas Department of Public Health, it has been found that the state’s unvaccinated population is 45 times more likely to contract COVID-19 and 40 times more likely to

die from the virus than their fully vaccinated counterparts. The report also states that in data collected from Jan. 15 to Oct. 1, 85 percent of coronavirus deaths occured in unvaccinated individuals.

According to CDC data collected from Apr. 7 to Jul. 17, the unvaccinated nationwide are 11 times more likely to die from the virus.

These protesters are either unwilling to take the time to understand this fact, or are using willful ignorance, as deaths continue to increase, in order to display their clear frustration with God knows what.

We have seen this time and time again.

Groups of very lonely people who clearly have good enough jobs (or none at all) take time out of their day to protest what can only be the most exhausting argument on earth. Anti vaxxers are a menace. They are a danger to national health and they contribute to a long line of contingencies that has kept the U.S. from getting over this pandemic.

Not only do their arguments on staying unvaccinated make a lack of sense, but these people and organizations carry a variety of incredible theories and beliefs that deserve a gold medal for the mental gymnastics they have to perform to reach these laughable conclusions––if you don’t laugh, you cry.

From their wonderful off-broadway rendition of Pride to Straight Pride, and their calling to abandon paper money and ‘return to a gold standard,’ it seems that

Campbell Parish / Beacon Staff fascism is not the only thing Super Happy Fun America hasn’t brushed up on.

But no matter how hilarious their criminally poor photoshopping skills are with

about the “Rise Against Tyranny” one “patriots” to join the “uprising”…. you’re not the villagers from Frankenstein, let’s calm down), they still pose a huge threat to public health due to their ignorance and idiocracy.

A vaccine mandate during a public health crisis of proportions such as this one is not facism. Attempting to squash political opposition and prevent shifting executive power like some of these people tried to accomplish on Jan. 6, however, is.

We all want the same thing; we want this to be over. We want to go back to a life where mask-wearing isn’t necessary.

We want to be able to go out without worrying about contracting a deadly virus.

We want to return to normal as much as is possible given the world we live in today.

Asking the American people to do such a simple task for the sake of the entire population isn’t a sign of the fall of our democracy or facism taking over the country you seem to love so much. It’s our democracy at work. The only thing you have to do is get a couple of shots and call it a day. contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Stop kink shaming: all types of sex are valid Mariyam Quaisar Beacon Staff

strengthened immunity and an increase of feel-good hormones. Practices like

People have sex. That is a concept that society has come a long way in wrapping its head around, which is great. Now, society needs to wrap its head around kinks and the wide array of fetishes that people may have.

People like different things in bed, and that is no reason to judge them or make them feel inferior. We don’t need to shame people for their kinks. Just because you don’t like being peed on when you’re getting down and dirty, does not mean you can make fun of others who do.

Before I start listing off different kinks that blow peoples’ minds, let me being spontaneous in bed.

Right off the bat, for many people, sex can get real boing real fast if there’s no spice. Now, that can mean literally pouring spices down your partner’s throat while they’re naked under you, or just trying something new and exciting.

One of the most popular kinks is BDSM—bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism. After the “50 Shades of percent of adults in the U.S. said they had engaged in light-fare play using masks, blindfolds, and bondage tools.

When kinky sex is presented to us as something we can all do, more people are inclined to try it. Honestly, I’m really happy that people saw Christian Grey and then were like, “honey, grab your night mask.” Let me tell you why.

With BDSM, there is plenty of room for sexual experimentation, but there are

gans and muscles with new oxygen and hormones. All kinds of sex do so, but not to the extent that kinky sex does, according to Kerner.

Top or bottom, the bottom line is, trying new things in bed, being spontaneous, and being open to new experiences all help people outside of the bedroom too. One becomes more extroverted, more conscientious, and employs better communication with their partner as well as others.

violence. Getting spanked, slapped, thrown against a wall, whatever it may be adds a sense of hunger and carnal behavior which may very well turn you on. Of course, be safe, respectful, and ease into it.

None of this is to say that “vanilla” sex is in any way bad. Just as people who enjoy various kinks should not be judged, people who enjoy “vanilla” sex should not be either. Such sensual, soft sex comes with its own beauty and is just as valid as rough, animalistic sex.

Fetishes can range from basic “stick it in and thrust,” to “lick my toes,” to role play, to virtual sex, to whatever someone wants to try with their partner.

And whatever you love is yours to cherish and simply enjoy. As long as one is safe, there are no issues, so go out and have fun!

mind wraps around a pleasure that is unique to them and their desires.

negatives.

For those who want to turn up the heat in the bedroom, with more than hot wax, here are a few of my suggestions: Blindfolding your partner not only gives the blindfolder a newfound sense of power, but it is also exciting for the blindfoldee who is being surprised with their partner’s every move.

Who said we can only use body parts during sexcapades? Sex toys add a third party to your endeavours, and as I’ve said in prior columns, having your partner use your vibrator on you is an indescribable feeling.

© 2021 The Berkeley Beacon. All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief Charlie McKenna

Tyler Foy (Sports) Kaitlyn Fehr (Copy)

Managing Editors Lucia Thorne (Content) Hongyu Liu (Multimedia) Campbell Parrish (Operations)

Advisor Jerry Lanson

Section Editors Camilo Fonseca (News) Mariyam Quaisar (Living Arts) Shannon Garrido (Opinion)

(617) 824–8687 berkeleybeacon.com contact@berkeleybeacon.com

Illustration Lucia Thorne From my previous articles, you guys probably assume I’m a sex fanatic, but no. I just want to help you all be your best sexual selves.

Ian Kerner, a psychotherapist and sexuality counselor, said the physical contact that comes with BDSM can stimulate one’s body in far more ways than “vanilla” sex. So, now I ask you: if someone is getting pleasured and living their best sex life, then who are we to judge them for using whips or chains?

Kinky sex is also proven to reduce stress levels. A study published in the journal Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice suggests that the intensity and pain that comes with BDSM does everything but induce stress. Those who engage in BDSM tend to be in a better mood, and are more energized and focused. If someone’s mental health is positively impacted by anal beads, then you and your opinion should butt-out.

Role play is another very popular kink with endless opportunities. You and your partner can dress up as a CEO/employee duo, act like strangers, animals from the wild, and so much more. Use your imagination and step into the roles of the dynamic duo that can liven up your sex life.

Being kinky in bed allows one to get out of their comfort zone and try sexual practices that are “unconventional.”

But my question is, why are any sexual practices considered “unconventional” in bed is their prerogative.

Not only is one getting out of their comfort zone when they act on fetishes, but they’re also exuding and feeling a

The Beacon is published weekly.

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.

mariyam_quaisar@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

5

Travis Scott fans should re-evaluate their loyalties Vivi Smilgius Beacon Staff

A year ago, or even a few weeks ago, believing people shouldn’t die at concerts wouldn’t be considered remotely controversial. But after eight people died at Astroworld in Houston on Saturday, it seems to be a possibility. Why? Houston rapper Travis Scott hosted the weekend-long event in his hometown. The festival featured performances from artists including SZA, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, and Earth, Wind and Fire in addition to Scott. More day of the festival, which was cut short after crowd surges and violent mosh pits killed eight audience members and injured several others.

Since Saturday, Scott’s fans and haters alike have taken to social media to share their take on what happened.

Videos surfaced showing Scott performing with people lying faint on the ground beneath him and other festival attendees receiving CPR. At the mid-performance mark, the venue was full of fans who could be heard chanting “stop the show,” a plea Scott ignored for the next 30 minutes. Despite all that, Scott still has a number of loyal fans defending his name.

While a part of the tragedy that unfolded at Astroworld is due to Scott’s neglect of venue safety, lack of security, and a small staff of medics, the real problem is rooted in Scott’s toxic, long-term relationship with his fanbase.

How do fans become so enamored with an artist they’re willing to kill each other to get close to him?

Before the Astroworld tragedy I considered myself a Travis Scott fan.

Astroworld has held a place in my top in 2018, and my playlists contain plenty of Scott songs and features. If I’d been in Houston, I probably would’ve tried to get Astroworld tickets.

While I fully believe Scott

should’ve stopped the show, it would only have put off the inevitable. What happened at Astroworld was bound to happen at one of Scott’s concerts and very well could’ve occurred the following night.

Just look at Scott’s performance history. In 2015, he encouraged fans to jump the stage at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival, an offence for which he was later charged with reckless conduct. In 2017, Scott was sued by a fan who was paralyzed after being pushed out of a window and onto the stage at one of his shows.

While Scott never directly harmed a fan, he perpetuated a rhetoric so powerful and violent that audiences put each other in danger just for the chance of gaining his attention. It’s this same rhetoric that fostered the violence at Astroworld. And it’s this rhetoric fans need to reevaluate.

Scott is one of the most popular rappers within the rap genre, with over 44 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

He’s known for his distinct auto-tune and high-energy live performances, which only seem to keep getting crazier.

Despite this wide range of listeners, the internet pegged Scott’s primary fanbase as young adults, particularly white high schoolers and college kids from the suburbs— people who have no personal experience with lots of the content Scott’s music discusses. His years-long development of a music culture centered around rage both catalyzed his rise to fame and his audience’s descent into chaos and violence.

The narrative that makes Scott’s music popular is exactly what makes his crowds so dangerous. Scott also built his fanbase on exclusivity and competition— concepts that trickle into his fanbase and perpetuate violence among it.

His merchandise is credited with his prolonged presence on the Billboard top charts. Scott has also partnered with cereal and sneaker brands and had his own limited-edition McDon-

ald’s meal. His constant, long-term branding made him a household name, simultaneously providing his fanbase with plenty of opportunities to express its loyalty and support.

If fans are willing to spend $150 on a sweatshirt, hundreds more on sneakers, and collect everything from cereal boxes to McDonald’s meals, what else are they willing to do for their idol?

Over the course of his rise to fame, Scott built a fanbase so large and dedicated that it became legitimately dangerous.

And he’s made it evident he is not as loyal to his fans as they are to him. highlight Scott’s lack of consideration for attendees. The lack of security, weakly-enforced COVID protocol, undersupplied medics, and $300 tickets illustrate Scott’s comfort exploiting Concert safety consultant Paul Wertheimer deemed Astroworld unsafe almost immediately after seeing videos of it, according to an article from The Los Angeles Times. He noticed admission festival seating and metal barriers to keep fans away from the stage— a combination he said would likely crush audiences at overcrowded, chaotic events.

General admission festival seating meant large crowds packed into small view, which worsened once the venue was packed at a hazardous capacity before Scott even came on stage. When he did, the crowd rushed forward, trampling some members and suffocating others.

Scott also created no age limit for the festival. Two of the eight victims were children, aged 14 and 16, with one victim at 20, two at 21, two at 23 and one at 27, according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

Aside from tweeting an apology, posting a brief video on his Instagram story, and offering to cover the cost of the victims’ funerals, Scott has been

relatively quiet. He could have used this incident as an opportunity to address why Astroworld ended the way it did, but didn’t— further illustrating his his fanbase. This means a tragedy like Astroworld could very well happen again, and Scott will face little to no consequences.

Scott is irresponsible as an artist.

The real problem is he’s cultivated a multi-million-person fanbase that’s equally as irresponsible. Scott fans need to understand and reconsider the power he has on them.

The Astroworld tragedy feeds into the idea of people blindly following

Courtesy astroworldfest.com their idols without ever holding them accountable or questioning their actions. It sparks a larger conversation about rappers’ rhetoric; after all, plenty of rappers with platforms built on the rage— think Playboi Carti or Lil Uzi Vert— have hosted high-energy performances where entire audiences have made it out alive.

The tragedy at Astroworld has sparked a larger conversation about holding artists accountable, instead of canceling them. What does the future of Travis Scott look like? vivi_smilgius@emerson.edu

Is Taylor Swift revolutionary or is she just white?

Hadera McKay Beacon Correspondent

Time Magazine’s 2017 Person of the Year issue, “Silence Breakers.” The cover sparked particular controversies in its erasure of the experiences and efforts

With the upcoming re-release of Taylor Swift’s award-winning album Red on Friday, it’s about time to investigate exactly why we love this white woman and her mediocre singing voice so much.

The easiest conclusion would be that we like her catchy music; but that’s not hard to achieve when she has experienced writers and producers like Jack Antonoff and traditional country producer Nathan Chapman on her team. It could be because of her country roots, which really aren’t all that country when you realize she was born in Pennsylvania.

It could even be her songwriting, which from the very beginning of her career has been dedicated to narrative storytelling that draws listeners in. She makes us feel like we are right there with her, experiencing and struggling through the very same things.

The fact is, Taylor Swift is a white feminist who exists in a bubble where race, class, and everything else that’s different from the white, straight, privileged status quo is swept under the rug. She favors a narrative where the only thing that matters is cardigans and “champagne problems.” Fortunately, this is the reality of many of Swift’s fans: young white women.

It has become increasingly common for Swifties to praise and worship Swift as the pinnacle of contemporary feminism, and on the surface, it’s not hard to see why. From the very beginning of her career, she faced backlash for writing about her past romantic relationships in her music. Swift pushed back at these critics by continuing to write music about what she wanted, no matter the consequences.

Although this is commendable, plenty

Illustration Lucia Thorne of female artists—particularly from historically marginalized groups, i.e., Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, or any female rapper ever—have done the same. Yet, none of these talented artists have received the same level of praise that this white woman has. Taylor has been called a “femiBillboard’s Woman of the Year award in 2019, and has consistently been backed up by her fans in confrontation with direct comments of misogyny. What is the merit of these accolades when women of color have been doing the exact same things (and more) with little to no recognition, and in some cases, outright criticism?

Not to mention, each of the previously named artists were able to do so without a reliance on aesthetics. Taylor has gone from country, to pop princess, to the bad-girl during her Reputation era, and to brand the albums “folklore” and “evermore.” These transformations seem less like natural artistic evolution and more

like meticulously curated identities that come off painfully inauthentic and consumer driven.

Furthermore, it makes me question if everything Swift does is performative.

Does the malleability of Taylor’s musical identity have any implications for her ability to isolate her white feminine identity from the intersectional feminism that I understand as gender equity? Is Taylor’s activism even real?

In some ways, I am tempted to say that it is. Swift is a victim of sexual assault who continues to proudly advocate for sexual assault victims today. While I do honor Swift’s experience as a woman and survivor, Swift failed to acknowledge the privilege she holds as a white woman. Her capability to verbally manifest her anger at her assailant in her testimony, using blunt language and curse words, would have been problematically perceived as stereotypical and damaging to a Black victim’s case.

Instead of acknowledging this inherent inequity, Swift claimed a spot on

being Tarana Burke, the founder of the #metoo movement.

And who can forget the 2009 squabble on the MTV Video Music Awards stage, when Kanye West stepped up to applaud Beyoncé’s video over Swift’s.

Yes, West’s actions were disrespectful, inappropriate, and had lasting effects on Taylor’s career. However, there is something to be said about his argument that in this world white women are constantly given recognition for half the work a Black woman does, while she receives little to no recognition.

Swift has made it a point to use Black music video of her most streamed song to date, “Shake it Off,” Swift saddled herself up with gold chains and a leopard print puffer and crawled beneath a line of twerking asses with the Black one front and center. If that isn’t a blatant perpetuation of Black stereotypes in order to and cultures, I don’t know what is.

The same can be said for her “Wildest Dreams” music video, where Swift romanticizes colonialism and perpetuates the erasure of African culture in favor of the single story. One in which the culture and peoples of Africa are an uncivilized monolith that need the romantic guidance of aryan saviors. But don’t worry because at the end of the video it’s noted that all of the proceeds from the video are going to wild animal conservation efforts through the African Parks Foundations of Swift’s promotion of neo-colonization.

Sure, Taylor Swift is a feminist, but she is a feminist without any explicit tie to the connection of feminism and race,

class, sexual identity, or disability. We applaud her for her appropriation, for her erasure of diverse identities, and for her single white experience of gender inequality. Without any true attempt to understand, address, or advocate for an intersectional view of the marginalization of women, can we really call that feminism?

I understand why her music is popular. Like most of you, I too screamed the lyrics to “Mean” at my non-existent cheating, lying boyfriend. I sobbed to “Teardrops on My Guitar,” and wailed the lyrics to “You Belong With Me” with my friends at sleepovers. I cranked my hand-me-down iPod touch at the pulsing bass beat of “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

I know the pop classic feel of “Style,” the feeling of intense unending madness in “Out of the Woods,” and the lovely painted dreamscape of “Wildest Dreams.”

Just like you, I know and love it all.

This is not a call to reject nostalgia, or to disregard an artist you love for the sake of my opinion. It is a call to infuse the things you love with nuance, to work to honestly critique these things and understand why you love them. In my own case, I’m a lower income, 19-year-old, cis, straight, Black woman, and I loved Taylor Swift because she talked about things in her music that were comfortably unattainable for me.

Her music was an opportunity for me to escape into an alternate privileged reality where my biggest worry could be getting noticed by the guy I liked and dancing under the starlight. You may love Taylor because she talked about an sion for you. At any rate, it’s important to question honestly: why do you love Taylor Swift? hadera_mckay@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

6

Living Arts New ‘Accessible Cinema’ course promotes inclusive filmmaking Sophia Pargas

porate closed captioning and audio descriptions into their films, but also with the understanding that not everyone experiences film the same way.

“One thing I appreciate about this accessible cinema course is that Professor Amalya has provided students an opportunity to increase their awareness of how those who have hearing disabili-

Beacon Staff

A new visual and media arts course seeks to teach students how to incorporate closed captioning and audio descriptions into their films, thereby making them more accessible for disabled viewers.

“Accessible Cinema,” was launched by Professor Malic Amalya as part of the Presidential Fund for Creative Innovation, a scholarship offered to faculty members to fund new and inventive programs.

“Desires to create anti-oppressive learning environments are valued here at Emerson.”

Tuesda Roberts

The course will focus on the ability of filmmaking to become more representative of different audiences who all experience film differently.

“Captions are the written text of the soundscape including dialogue, sound effects, and music,” Amalya said. “They make movies and videos more accessible for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as a variety of other people who may have an easier time processing written language over audio. Audio description is a voiceover that describes the visual and the actions which are positioned in between the dialogue. This makes cinema accessible for people who are blind or have low vision.”

Courtesy The course will be split into two halves, each providing students with a different understanding of how filmmaking can become more inclusive in both existing films and future ones.

“In the first section of the course, we are going to take films which have already been created by established filmmakers and students are going to make a captions track and an audio description track,” Amalya said. “In the second half of the course, students will make a new film which incorporates captions and audio descriptions as part of the finished piece.”

Amalya is planning to immerse his students into the world of filmmaking by providing them with real-world examples of why and how accessible cinema should be achieved.

“It’s going to be a really fun class because we’re going to be working with professional filmmakers and have some really great filmmakers that are artists with disabilities,” he said. “There’s going to be really amazing reading about disability justice and about crip theory. It’s really going to be a space of creativity and a great way for folks to have this foundation for their careers.”

First live dance show since 2019 to debut this weekend

Tuesda Roberts, who serves as director of faculty development and diversity, worked alongside Vice Provost for Internationalization & Equity Anthony Pinder to choose the recipients of the scholarship.

“It’s very important that we have programs such as this so that faculty understand that their desires to create anti-oppressive learning environments are valued here at Emerson,” Roberts said in an interview. “It’s also important because it provides opportunities for the college to be continually responsive to the realities of the industries. The world is constantly evolving, and the courses offered should reflect that.”

After Amalya proposed his idea for the accessible cinema course, Roberts worked closely with him to see the idea become a reality.

“We’ve been really excited since reading his application, and even more excited to see how his plans have grown,” she said.

After working on a film set with an actor with a physical disability, Amalya recognized the need for accessible cinema and began to incorporate it within his own projects. During that process, he discovered the importance of the next

generation of filmmakers having this same knowledge.

“We’re at this moment in film and media where captions and audio descriptions are becoming mandatory,” Amalya said. “These technologies are becoming more accessible for us and they’re also being required of us. As an able-bodied filmmaker, I wasn’t thinking about captions or audio descriptions for many years. I’ve been thinking more about my privilege and the ways that it made it so that I didn’t think about those features until much later.”

While the course is open to any visual media arts major or students who have taken an intro to visual media arts course, Amalya is hoping it will attract students who also have a passion for social justice.

“It’s going to be a really exciting class and I’m looking for students who are passionate about accessibility and disability justice to join,” Amalya said. “I’m hoping that even students who don’t have disabilities are excited about learning about accessible cinema and making their films accessible to as large of an audience as possible.”

Amalya has worked to ensure that his students will leave not only with the skills necessary to incor-

“I’ve found myself recently rewatching all of our old [in person] show videos,” she said. “That feeling of show day is such a special one and it’s the one day when our entire company is together and moving together, so I’m really excited for this weekend.”

Whether the cast members are new to the company or have been around since pre-pandemic operations, this show is a momentous one nonetheless. “[The show] means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to others as well,” Bjella said. “For those of us that are juniors and seniors, we’ve done in person shows for EDC, but there’s also those that are

way, of going back to the normality of things we used to do pre-COVID

Courtesy

Cont. from Pg. 1 fun, get you going pieces, but also some other ones that have a more emotional, impactful storyline,” sophomore Payton Shepardson, a public relations major and EDC’s marketing director, said. “It’ll be really high energy.”

Since the start of the pandem-

ic, the company has been forced to move their events to YouTube, where they have hosted livestreams and uploaded pre-recorded content to replace the in-person shows.

Company President Lauren Bjella, a senior journalism major, said she has become nostalgic for the experience of hosting an in person show.

lot of nerves, but ultimately, a lot of excitement getting to dance on stage again.”

For many in the organization, like Shepardson, the theme of “Momentum” not only relates to the dance occurring onstage, but also the feelings behind the scenes. since COVID, everyone’s been really excited,” Shepardson said.

“It’s propelling us forward into this show. It’s momentum in a good

“There are definitely a lot of nerves, but ultimately, a lot of excitement” Lauren Bjella and into our new normal. It’s this exciting moving forward feeling.”

“Momentum” is unique as it not only marks the return of dancers to the stage, but also the return of au-

“It’s really going to be a space of creativity and a great way for folks to have this foundation for their careers.”

Malic Amalya ties experience film,” Roberts said.

“It’s not just a matter of throwing in some random captions and saying, ‘there, we have proven our accessibility.’ This project is an example of how course learning can teach our future filmmakers how to make sure a broad range of people have access to the experience not as an add-on, but as who they are.”

sophia_pargas@emerson.edu diences in theatres. Shepardson encourages faculty, staff, and students to come and see the show with their own eyes.

“All that Emerson Dance Company is about is a community,” she said. “Even though it’s a dance performance, we want you to enjoy yourselves and there’s really stories behind every piece. You can really be moved by everything in the show.”

Members of the company, such as junior public relations major and social media director Zarina Levitsky, are eager for audiences to experience the passion and dedication poured into “Momentum.”

After an extended period of time dent that the appreciation for dance will be felt more than ever before, from both sides of the stage.

“Watching people do the thing they love on stage brings so much joy because you can really see everything come together,” Levitsky said. “It’s going to be a lot of enup the whole theater. People will leave with a good feeling.”

sophia_pargas@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

7

Opera ‘Iphigenia’ set to debut at the Cutler Majestic Theatre Karissa Schaefer Beacon Staff

“Iphigenia,” an opera inspired by the Greek myth of the same name, will be making its world premiere at the Cutler Majestic Theater on Nov. 12 and 13, transforming the traditional tale to fit a contemporary setting.

The opera blends jazz and classical music, featuring Grammy Award-winning composer, bassist, and vocalist esperanza spalding as well as Grammy-winning jazz legend Wayne Shorter.

An Emerson course on theater and social justice taught by Dana Edell, an assistant theater professor and Ancient Greece scholar, partnered with ArtsEmerson for the production. Edell said she has been teaching the original play for 15 years at various universities and felt like it was a “beautiful coincidence” that the reimagining was able to come together this fall. “[Iphigenia has] always been a core to my thinking about theater and social justice and activism,” Edell said. “It’s been a great opportunity for my students to get to really engage with esperanza and her team, and also think about using the play as a launch point to have deeper discussions about social justice, which is what my students are doing.”

Euripides’ Greek myth of Iphigenia, the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, is a tale of sacrifice. As Agamemnon led his Greek troops to Troy during the Trojan War, he offended the goddess Artemis by accidentally killing a deer in a sacred grove. In retaliation, Artemis messes with the wind, preventing the Greek troops from sailing. To

reach Troy, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice Iphigenia, which he first refuses, but ultimately does to appease Artemis.

Euripides, a playwright, was very much against the seemingly never ending Peloponnesian War, which is represented in the opera’s themes.

“The play is about the moments before and during his decision of whether to sacrifice his daughter in order to live,” Edell said.

“There was a deep connection between politics and theater in ancient Greece, and I think that the throughline of politics and theater has extended from ancient Greece through today.”

The libretto—text of an opera—put on by spalding challenges the history of operas in a poetic, radicalized way. Iphigenia is amplified on stage, as a chorus of five people portray her identity.

Rather than directly adapting the Greek myth, the opera is instead an “intervention into myth-making itself, and an intervention into music and opera as we know it,” according to the production’s website.

“Iphigenia” demands a future of change in the world of myths and operas. No longer should there be distraught, hysterical women in scenes with perfect pitch. No longer should there be women at their most vulnerable for the advancement of another, both in stories and on stage. Edell describes Iphigenia’s tale as a powerful story about sacrificing the vulnerable for the greater good, and a metaphor for how society views and uses womens’ bodies.

“The theater space is a space to dig into difficult conversations and to represent huge themes about what it means to be human and make the choices we make,”

Courtesy Pennello she said. “This play has the potential to ignite some of those discussions about who we are. What are we going to do to get what we want? What are we going to sacrifice along the way?”

This project––which took spalding and Shorter, her mentor-turned-collaborator, eight years to develop––is spalding’s first libretto. As spalding adds a new experience to her collection of work, she expands beyond her skills and is asking other operas to do so through “Iphigenia.” spalding and Shorter are bringing a new perspective on the life of Iphigenia.

While Shorter—who composed the show’s music—doesn’t perform the music, his esteemed quartet fills the rhythm section of the 28-piece ensemble. They’re accompanied by nine vocalists and 10 chorus singers. The show also showcases set design by

famed architect Frank Gehry and is directed by Obie Award-winner Lileana Blain-Cruz. spalding spoke to Edell’s class last month, offering production ideas and insight into the deconstruction and use of “Iphigenia’s” text. As a long-time fan of spalding’s music, Edell is eager to see the final project.

“I can’t wait to hear the music that she’s created, to see how she has made the story of Iphigenia relevant today, and what it means to put it on stage right now in 2021,” Edell said.

Edell will be moderating a discussion that will take place on Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m., featuring spalding, Boston artist U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, musicologist Carolyn Abbate, and founder of Boston While Black Sheena Collier. The 90-minute conversation will be livestreamed and held in person at the Paramount Center.

“We’re going to be talking about the ways [Collier’s] organization fosters community among Black people here in Boston,” Edell said. “esperanza’s going to be talking about her process for the show, what it means to her, and how it was created. Abbate is a renowned music scholar, so she’ll help us contextualize the performance through the lens of opera. esperanza and Wayne have really broken up the idea of what opera can be through the way they’ve developed the music and using jazz as a core structure of opera.”

“I’m really excited about how the whole show comes together and I’m looking forward to a really rich discussion about the impact of the show on communities and how the themes are relevant today,” Edell continued. karissa_schaefer@emerson.edu

Tell your boyfriend if he says he’s got beef, to take it up with 3OH!3 Kaitlyn Fehr Beacon Staff

By all accounts, seeing 3OH!3 in the year 2021 was supposed to be a meme.

I wanted desperately to go to a concert after going two years without seeing one, and decided that the iconic band from my middle school years would be how, I walked out of Paradise Rock on Nov. 6 having unironically experienced one of the best concerts of my entire life.

If the name 3OH!3 sounds familiar but you can’t quite place it, it’s probably because you’ve heard their iconic line, “Tell your boyfriend if he says he’s got beef/That I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him,” from their hit song “DONTTRUSTME.” I’ve been screaming these lyrics at the top of my lungs every time it has played since I was eight years old—and I don’t intend on stopping.

I’ve seen the band live once before at Warped Tour 2018, but that short set came nowhere close to this past Saturday’s performance.

This concert was both mind-blowing and soul-numbing right off the bat with the opener, which is surprising considering how much I usually hate opening acts. “The Gunz Show” seemed destined to follow the theme of dislike of openers based on the name alone. Imagine my surprise when a seemingly the Gunz Show, took the stage, and started blasting iconic emo hits like “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).”

I learned throughout his set that Gunz is a DJ both on the radio and at live shows, and he did a damn good job at DJing an opening set. Not an easy job considering how much people usually dislike openers and impatiently wait for them to end.

Standing in a crowd of fellow former emo kids turned depressed college students scream-singing our favorite emo songs was truly a magical moment. Everyone knew every single word, and I felt like my middle school self had found a place where she could be accepted. I would have paid for a whole concert of just the Gunz Show to live in that moment forever.

Despite the crowd full of former and repressed emos, One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” was also a hit during his set.

I genuinely didn’t know if live music was ever going to come back, let alone general admission shows. I found myself grinning like an idiot standing in that crowd at the sheer fact of being pressed against a hundred other people as we all sang along. All that mattered was that live music was back and we were all there together in the present moment.

Even though I was at the concert alone, it never felt like it. The sense of unity in that dark room was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced at a concert before. Maybe that had something to do with the Redbull Vodka coursing through my veins, but I’d like to think it was the atmosphere in the general crowd. stage, I was already having the time of my life.

The band opened with “STARSTRUKK” sans the backing track—it was just them and the audience chanting the opening lines. The energy from the crowd was palpable, and it felt like being in a club.

3OH!3 cycled through new and old songs, but the old songs were the clear winners of the night with everyone screaming as loud as they could. Clearly, we were all there for the nostalgia of our youth.

I overheard one conversation about how someone didn’t realize this band

Beacon Staff

is so popular with the “Gen Z TikTokers.” Even though the crowd was full of college kids losing their minds, it was also full of older millennials who were there reliving their youth. Everyone there genuinely just wanted to have a good time, and it seemed that everyone Admittedly, I don’t know many of

the band’s new songs. Besides the iconic boyfriend-beef line, I was primarily there just for the few other songs I knew like “STARSTRUKK” and “IMNOTYOURBOYFRIENDBABY.” I expected to awkwardly stand around waiting for those songs, questioning why I came to this concert. Instead, I danced through every song, jumped

around with the crowd, and screamed so loud that I dislodged my tonsil stones.

The duo was clearly having fun themselves, joking around about their dreams featuring Ashley Simpson and how neither of them know how to dance. At one point, they paused the show to wish multiple people in the audience a happy birthday.

This type of audience interaction is why I’m a small venue general admission kind of girl at heart. In a giant venue like TD Garden, musicians can’t really interact with the crowd. But at Paradise Rock, I felt so connected with every person in that room.

Usually at concerts, I feel some level of self-consciousness and never know what to do with my arms for some reason. 3OH!3 and their audience genuinely having fun completely knocked that self-consciousness right out of me.

I was dancing around and throwing my arms in that air like I was the drunk girl in “DONTTRUSTME” who washed the X’s off her hands in the bathroom.

Of course, all of us there were TRUSTME.” The experience of hearing a crowd of unhinged people sing along to this song is unparalleled.

After almost two full years without live music, people were giving into their wild side during this song. I’ve never seen the crowd scream along to lyrics that loudly in my life.

The post-concert depression hit almost immediately as I stepped outside into the cold air with my dry throat and ringing ears.

As I Ubered away into the night, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to see them live again. I may not have beef with a boyfriend, but I do have beef with 3OH!3 fans for not telling me how good they actually are live.

kaitlyn_fehr@emerson.edu

Sports

The Berkeley Beacon

November 11, 2021

8

Sophomore named NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year Jason Tulchin Beacon Correspondent Sophomore libero Caroline Davis was named the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the 2021 season.

At the collegiate level, Davis is no newcomer to NEWMAC honors––being awarded Defensive Athlete of the week of Sept. 13, and later for the week of Oct 24.

Davis said the team’s positive atmosphere helped enhance her play throughout the season.

“We want the whole team to do well,” Davis said in an interview with The Beacon. “We’re all supportive of each other and we all have very high energy and that helps.”

Being named NEWMAC’s defensive athlete of the year for women’s volleyball meant a lot to Davis. The award carried special weight as her first year in collegiate volleyball was stripped away by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was very surprised when I found out,” Davis said. “I was actually in class when I found out and I was super shocked. I immediately texted my mom and my family members and they were all super supportive and congratulated me.”

Women’s volleyball head coach Ben Read saw Davis stand out early in the season and get even better as it progressed. She’d shown strong skills as a libero in the preseason and only continued to impress afterwards––racking up a number of two-point passes.

“I didn’t anticipate her doing quite as well as she has this year, but I knew she had the potential to go ahead and do that,” Read said. “She showed pretty early in the preseason that she was a front-

success to her teammates, whose support and skill carried the Lions to victory.

“Without them and without their support, I would not have made it this far and I thank them tremendously,” she said.

Davis was also one of 33 student-athletes named to the NEWMAC Academic All-Conference team after having an above 3.5

Courtesy Emerson College runner for libero ... her passing wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be, nor her serving, but her defense was unbelievable ... her last week of the season was her best passing. For conference play, Caroline Davis was our best passer.”

For Davis, the accomplishment was a sign that her hard work had paid off, and motivated her to get better––not only for herself, but also her team next season.

Davis said her family and the

rest of her support system helped her achieve such high heights.

“They have been a huge support system through my whole volleyball career and now moving into the collegiate level they have been even more supportive,” Davis said.

Davis thanked assistant coaches Jake Girard and Molly Likes for giving her advice in timeouts and keeping her mentally in the game.

Davis also attributed much of her

“This will encourage me to work harder and get better, not only for me but for my coach and team as well.”

Caroline Davis GPA this semester. Athletic Director Patricia Nicol said Davis’ achievements reflect the quality of the program.

“To have the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year, that’s a remarkable feat,” Nicol said. “When we continue to make progress that we’re making, I think that it raises the confidence in everyone that we really can be a leader in one of the most competitive conferences in the country, both academically and athletically.”

The Lions would post a conference record of 6-4 which gave them the fourth seed in the NEWMAC Playoffs. This is where their season came to a halt, but the impact of Davis’ play did not go unnoticed.

The star libero has come a long way since playing at Doctor Phillips High School in Orlando. After her play in high school and the Orlando-Tampa Volleyball Academy club team, she got the attention of Read. Before this contact in one of Davis’ offseasons, she was unaware of Emerson College’s existence.

“I hadn’t even heard of Emerson until Ben reached out to me,” Davis said. “I looked at [Emerson’s] majors, and I found a major that I really thought I would enjoy, so I decided on coming here and playing for the Lions.”

Davis is a communications sciences and disorders major and training to become a speech-language pathologist. On the court, she looks forward to her junior season and plans to improve her game.

“This will encourage me to work harder and get better, not only for me but for my coach and team as well,” she said.

Tyler Foy contributed to reporting.

jason_tulchin@emerson.edu

33 fall student-athletes named to academic all-conference team Tyler Foy

Beacon Staff

After a rigorous Fall 2021 campaign, 33 Emerson student-athletes were named to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference team for their dedication to coursework during the season.

The criteria to be nominated for the academic all-conference team is a 3.5 or higher GPA during the season. On top of their 33 selections, Athletic Director Patricia Nicol said the season also demonstrated their athletic prowess.

“Athletics and academics do not have to be mutually exclusive,” Nicol said in a phone interview.

“You can be successful academically and you can be successful athletically and I think we really proved that this fall. We had the most successful fall season overall than we’ve ever had.”

The Lions increased their selections by eight over the Fall 2020 season, when the conference named student-athletes to the team despite no games being played. Nicol said provements that are continuing to be implemented into Emerson lock-

er rooms.

“Success breeds success,” Nicol said. “As we become more successful academically, more people want to be a part of that. We can attract recruits who are really good students and on the athletic side.”

Emerson has built a culture that fosters well-rounded student-athletes who can contribute on group presentations or set pieces, Nicol said. Men’s soccer head coach Daniel Toulson said the college tries to recruit players with those values in mind.

“At the end of the day, we want guys who want to be good at everything they do,” Toulson said. “The classroom is no different. Typically when we’re recruiting players, a lot of the guys are from high academic backgrounds, because they have that drive to be good.”

Sophomore middle-blocker Isabella Cubba, who was one of nine selections from the women’s volleyball team, said time management and communication were the keys to her success.

“Honestly, it means the world,” Cubba said. “I made sure from day one to kind of just be in touch with professors to stay on top of it. Always look for feedback and really worked to the best of my ability throughout that time. That really set

me up as well for this year off to a great start.” gain the ability to seamlessly balance class and academics after fall sports were canceled amid the pandemic in 2020.

“The hard thing was getting back into the swing of things,” Cubba said in an interview. “The long days, getting up early, and then you have the long evenings when maybe you’re away if you drive two hours for a game and then you don’t get back until almost midnight.”

The schedule for student-athletes has heavy impacts on their abilities to stay up to date but Cubba said she is thankful that professors at Emerson are understandable. Teams also attempt to curate a motivational space for other athletes.

“We have a pretty cohesive group who support each other,” Toulson said. “A lot of the guys are helping each other out in terms of motivating them in classes and being resources for each other.”

Cubba said the ability to collaborate with teammates on projects is a major upside.

“Everyone is there for one another,” Cubba said. “It’s very much a family and the team itself is another really beautiful thing. There are a couple of VMA majors on the team

Beacon Correspondent as well. Collaboration can occur and that is something that I love and I value that’s really nice to have.”

Coaches are also checking on their players and Toulson said he ensures their players are staying on task and comfortable with their academic situation.

“Whenever we’re meeting with our guys, we’re always asking them how their classes are going and making sure they are excelling and have the resources they need,” Toulson said

Academics are on the top of the list for the athletics department, something Nicol said that she is very ecstatic about.

“The one thing I’m very proud of is that [academics] has been the priority of what we do here,” Nicol said. “It’s why our student-athletes are in college, to prepare for life, and our coaches, our administrators, our proponents, they support that.” tyler_foy@emerson.edu