Everything I Wish I Know My First Year (September Mag)

The Berkeley Beacon August 28, 2020

everything I wish I knew my Freshman year

August 28, 2020

H ar me out Magazine Staff

“What Emerson didn’t tell you on the tour,” Page 4

Three students told The Beacon Magazine what they think the biggest difference between the advertised Emerson experience and the real deal is.

Features Melanie Curry

Jakob Menendez Magazine Editor Ziqi Wang Deputy Magazine Editor Melanie Curry Deputy Magazine Editor

“This city wasn’t built for us,” Page 6

The college is surrounded by every kind of store, restaurant, and coffee shop you could ask for. The one thing missing is Black culture.

Christine Park Graphic Design Director Diti Kohli Editor-in-Chief Domenico Conte Content Managing Editor Dylan Rossiter Operations Managing Editor Tomás González Visual Managing Editor Eric Dolente Chief Copy Editor

Photo: A man walking through Nubian Station. (Jakob Menendez)

Ziqi Wang

“The orgs and offices we wish we knew about 3 years ago,” Page 10

Know what the Office of Student Success does? Or what goes down at Beat Dynamics? Here’s a deep dive into Emerson’s lesser-known orgs and offices.

Magazine Staff

“5 social-distance -friendly activities that don’t suck,” Page 14

Welcome to a college semester with no dorm parties or sports games. The Beacon Magazine compiled some alternate options for your weekend bucket list.

Ethan Spitalney

“Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very, bad day at Emerson,” Page 15

An illustrated look into a particularly lousy day on campus, only loosely based on the artist’s real-life experience

The Arts

Contributors Emily Cristobal Xinyan Fu Gabriella Leonel Ethan Spitalney The only student newspaper of Emerson College.

Editorially independent, Founded in 1947.

172 Tremont Street, Room 309 Boston, MA 02117 (617) 824-8687 Contact@BerkeleyBeacon.com

Letter from the Editor

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Dear Class of 2024, ’m listening to Souk Eye by the Gorillaz while I write this. (You should play it for your new roommate if you want them to think you have a great taste in music.) One of my best friends, Ben, showed me the song right before he left Boston to move to New York City for the fall.

As a senior, it’s easy to look back and reflect on how much has changed in the past three years. Unsurprisingly, Ben was one of the few people who remained a constant in my life. The first time we met, he was with his dad moving into our eight-person suite in Piano Row. Three nights later, we stole a Candy Land board game from a first year orientation event.

When we got back, we command-stripped it to the back of my room door as if it were a plaque commemorating the historic moment. We would go on to live together for two more years, moving the board with us from room to room until the coronavirus sent us all back home this March.

I know for certain this year is not going to allow for the quintessential college experience you all originally hoped for. But if there’s anything I do have faith in, it’s the fact that this school year will be one you’ll never forget.

I’m sure you will leave freshman year with more 3 a.m. stories than you can count, and each will be funnier than the next.

I hope you still get to ride down the big blue slide at the Esplanade with your friends, and I hope you still walk to Bova’s—the only North End bakery worth your time—for red velvet Whoopie Pies and lobster tails. I know you’ll still have plenty of serious talks while walking through the Public Garden, if not now more than ever before. Part of me is incredibly jealous of you all for having a Tatte to go to after skipping class, but another part of me is sad none of you will get the chance to taste an Explorateur croissant and fall in love with a barista.

Part of the reason I chose a freshman-focused issue as the theme of our first physical magazine was to give this incoming class some semblance of a guide—a bit of elder knowledge, if you will, on how this city and campus operate. The greatest bit of advice I have, though, is to not be too harsh on yourself. There’s going to be a lot of times where you feel like giving up, like when you sleep through an 8 A.M. presentation or get rejected by your class crush. But if you surround yourself with a strong group of friends, you’ll get through this year just fine. Be bold. Try new things. Join 15 different orgs. Shave your head. Go vegetarian. Dance with whoever your heart desires (social distance style). And most importantly, just get some freakin’ sleep, but not so much that your grades start slipping. If you end up with a C in your mandatory Speech Comm. class, you’ll know what I mean.

This class is joining this amazing community at such an unprecedented time, but don’t let that shake your ability to leave a lasting impression on people both inside and outside these halls. As Emerson students, you all have it within you.

Jakob Menendez Magazine Editor Good luck, be safe, and be happy.

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H ar me out Emerson’s premier destination for sharing opinions

What Emerson didn’t tell you on the tour

Systemic racism, inequality, and socioeconomic disparities create an environment at Emerson that is far different from what the college advertises.

Illustration by Christine Park

By Magazine Staff

T

he reality Emerson sold you on your tour as you walked into the Majestic Theater isn’t as polished as the ivory pillars that support that building—as you’ll soon find out. For years, the college has touted itself as being one of the most inclusive colleges in the nation. And while it may be true that they’ve made strides in terms of gender inclusion, Emerson has been severely lacking when 4

it comes to fostering diversity in terms of race, culture, disability, and socioeconomic status.

Students at Emerson hailed from 47 different countries in the 2019-2020 school year. But when you break down the numbers a bit more, it quickly becomes apparent that the college isn’t quite the melting pot it makes itself out to be. With white students making up 59 percent of the student body, Emerson’s makeup more closely

resembles the crowd at a Whole Foods, rather than the blend of the cultures the college advertises.

To get a better understanding of the realities you all will inevitably encounter during your time here, we interviewed three students who shared with us their perspective of what Emerson is truly like.

All interviews were edited for clarity and length.

Emily Cristobal

Xinyan Fu

Gabriella Leonel

“I’m a first generation student, the first person to attend college in my family. So I think there’s a lot of pressures and unknown [elements] when it comes to that territory just because it’s not like I can ask my parents, ‘I’m in college now. What did you do when you were in this situation?’ Because they didn’t attend a four-year university.

One of the biggest concerns is that Emerson and other higher education institutions work to get these underrepresented groups into colleges. But once they’re [there], they don’t do much to help those students navigate life in college. I know there’s a first-gen learning organization on campus, but I’m not 100 percent certain. So I think Emerson should do a better job at that. I think the progress is slowly coming, but my freshman year, it was not existent.”

“Stop asking international students to represent the entire globe. I remember this, in my freshman year, first semester, and my professor was looking at me and my friend who were the only two Chinese students in that class, and he was like ‘So what do people in China think?’ Like what? I can’t really represent the people from China. I am Chinese, but not everybody in China thinks the same way as I do, we don’t have hive minds, we don’t just connect, you know? ...

When people say, oh what are you gonna do for next semester, and I say I’m going to go online, and then they’re like, ‘I respect your choice’, and I was like, that’s not my choice. I don’t have a choice. I can’t come to the States and that’s period. It’s not my decision to make, and I think a lot of people just don’t understand that.”

“I never really found something that made me feel comfortable at Emerson—at least not when I needed it. Now I have lots of regrets about not doing more work with Raiz for example, or not going to Flawless meetings because I never really wanted to talk about race in my career. I was in that mindset of, ‘My race couldn’t define me.’ But that’s a part of trying to assimilate and conform to the white culture at Emerson. And it did come to define my experience at Emerson.

I just didn’t know that racism has been such a big issue at Emerson for so long. I spent so long being intimidated by the people here solely because I didn’t have the same privileges they did growing up.

Despite what backgrounds we come from, we all have a right to be here regardless of that, and we’ve earned our spots in those classrooms.”

Senior

Junior

Senior

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Features

This city wasn’t built for us

By Melanie Curry

S

urrounding Emerson’s campus are a few noticeable establishments—a Dunkin Donuts, CVS, and a plethora of Chinatown restaurants where college students can experience authentic Asian cuisine.

A few streets down, passing Tremont onto Newbury, you’ve entered upper-class central where high-end stores like Burberry, Patagonia, and Cartier practically radiate dollar signs. Looking for more affordable options? Head down to Downtown Crossing where inexpensive retail spots (Primark, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, etc.) are waiting to outfit your wardrobe with the latest trends.

Around our downtown campus, there seems to be anything and everything a college student could need. Clothes? Head to Macy’s. Hair products? Your local drugstore carries it all.

Food? Take a five-minute walk, and there’s Panera or Boloco.

What else could you ask for?

The answer: Black culture.

According to Emerson’s website, Black students only make up four percent of the Emerson student body. That’s an estimated 184 students out of the 4,582 enrolled in the 2019-2020 school year. These students are forced to comb through the depths of Boston to find Black hair stylists, beauty supply stores, and soul food or African American cuisine.

“There [are] no places that I can go as a student that [are] local to get food that is run by

African Americans,” Demiah Crawford, a junior and Massachusetts native, said. “There [are] not a lot of hair stylists that are in Boston that cater to my hair and cater to my hair texture.”

To make Black students feel welcome, Emerson introduced the students of color pre-orientation in 2018, a free program that allows these students to build a community with each other before the start of the fall semester. This orientation lets new students meet returning students of color, engage with faculty of color, and learn about resources on campus, like the Office of Student Success and Career Development Center.

But what this pre-orientation fails to do, junior Zeiana Andrade said, is give Black students the true resources they need to survive in Boston and at Emerson. This responsibility lies solely on cultural organizations such as Flawless, POWER, and Emerson’s Black Organization with Natural Interest, or EBONI for short.

“I like how EBONI at the very beginning of the year gives out those flyers for salons and barbershops that do Black hair,” Andrade said. “I think there needs to be more organizations and groups [for] Black students in Boston.”

With very few staples of Black culture within walking distance on campus, Black students often feel alone. And while there are a few organizations such as EBONI and Flawless Brown, it can still be overwhelming and isolating to live in

a predominantly white city.

Adding to this feeling of loneliness, there is the “white narrative” that is advertised both across the city and on campus through tourism, said Crawford, meaning that Boston only has spaces for white people, making it harder for Black Bostonians to feel accepted.

“Our city doesn’t really promote having those types of businesses,” she said. “It’s definitely hard being in a city that is majority white, that is unfortunately known for being racist, and doesn’t have a lot of opportunities for Black people.”

While Boston might not be the best space for finding Black culture, there are other neighborhoods within Boston that offer solutions. Andrade and Crawford suggest venturing out of Emerson’s bubble and into Roxbury and Dorchester, two communities populated predominantly by people of color.

Dorchester is roughly twenty minutes away from campus via public transportation and is much more inclusive with 36 percent of the citizens there being Black and 14 percent Hispanic, compared to Boston’s Black percentage of 25 percent, according to according to Boston city data from 20002011 and 2018 World Population Review. Roxbury, in comparison, is located fifteen minutes from Emerson and is 62 percent Black and 19 percent Hispanic, according to Areavibes, a website dedicated to finding the livability score of each city in the United States.

The racial disparities between these neighborhoods and

Photo: Zeiana Andrade sitting on the steps of her parents’ Dorchester apartment. (Jakob Menendez)

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downtown are not the only apparent difference. Where highend clothing and jewelry stores line the streets of downtown Boston, Black-owned stores and hair salons crowd corners of Roxbury and Dorchester.

A short train or bus ride transports Black college students to the epicenter of Black culture in the city, where they can find just about everything they need.

Crawford, who is from Dorchester, said the perfect place to get Black hair products is Hair Stop, a beauty supply store on Washington St. Andrade suggested going to Isabel’s Unisex Salon for blowouts and washes. For barbershops, sophomore and VMA major 8

Reginal Osirus said there are many Dominican barber shops in Roslindale, Massachusetts.

For food, Crawford said one of her go-to restaurants is Jamaican Mi Hungry, a small Blackowned business located off Jackson Square station that serves traditional Jamaician dishes like jerk chicken and oxtails. One of her other favorites is RedBone, a soul-food restaurant located in Somerville, Massachusetts whose menu includes southern favorites like crispy fried chicken, savory collard greens, and warm cornbread.

For Black vegans looking for a place to eat, Andrade recommends supporting her parent’s newly-started business, Cabo

Vegan. This Cabo Verdean catering business crafts a range of vegan dishes and desserts from lobster-less lobster rolls to sweet and sugary vegan strawberry shortcake.

Andrade said supporting Black businesses, like her family’s restaurant or her go-to hair salon, “builds a sense of community.” But she also said she realizes the difficulty of students traveling and supporting Black business in Dorchester, Roxbury, and her hometown Brockton, another predominantly minority city, because of the negative perception these communities have.

“There’s a stigma that [follows] these places because

Photo: A client at Isabel’s Unisex Salon in Dorchester getting her hair braided. (Jakob Menendez)

“Where highend clothing and jewelry stores line the streets of downtown Boston, Black-owned stores and hair salons crowd corners of Roxbury and Dorchester.”

they’re highly populated with people of color,” Andrade said.

“And the issue is also that these places are more policed because they have more people of color… which is a reason that it seems like there’s so much crime there.”

And the college doesn’t help negate the negative perception, Crawford said. In previous conversations with students, Crawford said she has witnessed some saying how they’re worried to visit Roxbury or Dorchester because of their image of Black people and people of color.

One suggestion to not only eradicate the negative judgements of Roxbury and Dorchester, but also cater to

Black students is to put together a workshop or list of Black restaurants, hair salons, beauty supply stores, and barbershops for the Emerson community, Osirus said.

“I feel like the school as a whole could do more programs that are a part of the communities in Boston that could connect [people of color],” he said.

While finding connections to Black culture might be difficult at Emerson and in Boston, Andrade said she thinks the student of color pre-orientation is a great way to help Black students feel safe and welcomed on campus. In fact, Andrade met many of her friends when she attended the program in fall 2019.

“That was a great way for me to feel a warm welcome, especially coming from a predominantly diverse town,” Andrade said. “I think that the student of color orientation helped a lot and that’s something we should continue to do.”

Still, a single orientation isn’t enough. Crawford recommended students explore the city themselves and find the heart of Boston beyond Emerson’s little radius.

“I think we should include projects where we venture off to different [neighborhoods],” Crawford suggests. “And we should get to know about our city because our city isn’t just about Boston.”

Melanie Curry is a senior studying journalism and minoring in publishing.

She is a Deputy Magazine Editor. melanie_curry@emerson.edu

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Features

The orgs and offices we wish we knew about 3 years ago

By Ziqi Wang

W

hen I first arrived at Emerson, I was an international student who had never visited Boston and a journalism major who had never written a story. I remember all the things I did to fit in and catch up: going to org fairs, hosting movie nights with neighbors, and spending hours talking to my professors. As a senior, I’m grateful I found a group of friends I vibe with and faculty and staff that I know I can always count on when I need help.

Still as a senior, I’ve only interacted with a few offices on campus.

The reality is that it’ll be impossible to engage with all the individual campus departments and more than 170 organizations during your time at Emerson. So The Beacon Magazine staff hand-picked two offices and three organizations that may not get as much attention as the more established and widely advertised ones. While this is far from an exhaustive list and there are more things to do at Emerson than there are napkins in the Dining Center, we hope this list offers you some guidance as you wade through this uncertain semester.

recommended communication studies when the first option didn’t work out. There, Fone fell in love with the broad array of topics the major provided, like marketing, digital storytelling, and political communication. After that, it was a smooth process. Many of her journalism classes then counted toward her new major, and she’s still on track to graduate in spring 2021.

The Office of Student Success helped senior visual and media arts major Ciarán McDonough in a whole different way. He had to commute almost two hours twice a day for two years from Providence, Rhode Island. And due to The Office of Student personal reasons, he often wasn’t Success provides support and getting enough food. After his first programs designed to help stuyear writing professor noticed him dents address the obstacles associ- struggling to pay full attention ated with college life—academic, in class, he recommended Mcfinancial, personal, interpersonal, Donough drop by the office. or physical—or simply seek greater “I walked in and I asked if I connection at Emerson. There are could eat some of the food and they five staff members in the office, said, yeah, just write your ID on and they prefer appointments over the side of the food pantry so they walk-ins. know who was using it. For EmOlivia Fone, now a senior ma- erson, it’s a remarkably straightforjoring in communications studies, ward process,” McDonough said. almost transferred out of Emerson The office also helped him get her junior year when she realized additional meal swipes for free, and journalism wasn’t her cup of tea. a few friendly staff members even But as she mentally started to comforted him during a personal prepare to drop out, she stumbled tragedy his junior year. across Student Success and eventually decided to stay as a result.

Christopher Grant, the associate director of enrollment at the office, asked her to try other majors before considering other schools.

“Considering that I was a junior and I thought that it was way too late for me [to change majors], [Grant] gave an alternative, another chance to change,” Fone said.

He first suggested communication sciences & disorders and then

Offices

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Orgs

All illustrations by Christine Park

The Healing and Advocacy Collective is one of the few confidential offices under college policies, meaning that they cannot provide information to anyone, including other departments, without consent. They offer advocacy-based counseling for people impacted by power-based interpersonal violence, educate students on bystander intervention, and host events like trauma-informed yoga and visits with Truman, the therapy dog. It’s also a place to go if you just need someone to listen.

The HAC differs from the Title IX office, which deals with issues of violence and sexual misconduct on campuses under the jurisdiction of the federal Title IX laws. That office is not a confidential source and only deals with incidents that are filed and reported to them.

Senior Lia Kim endured sexual violence in high school and began going to the HAC her first year at Emerson to get help processing her trauma.

“I had a lot of those doubts and fears that I was taking up too much time or talking about things that weren’t important or as traumatic as others. They shut that down so quickly and effectively, and taught 12

me a lot more than my therapist over a year prior in high school did,” Kim said. “They’re very legally informed about how the process works and I think that’s really good because if I were to pursue any actions, I’d want to know what I was getting myself into.”

Nupur Amin, a communication studies senior, first interacted with the office as a Resident Assistant.

She had to learn about identifying power-based interpersonal violence from the office as part of the training for her job. However, after being harassed by an employee of the college during her junior year, Amin ended up returning to the office to seek help.

HAC helped her to appeal to the Center for Social Justice, Housing and Residential Education, and the Title IX office, as well as file the proper paperwork.

“My biggest takeaway is that Healing and Advocacy is actually meant to help you find a way to address what’s important to your well being. So it doesn’t have to be a Title IX thing, but it’s what’s important to your well being,” Amin said.

Beat Dynamics is the only Emerson organization that provides a space for students interested in creating music videos.

Together, the group collaborates with musicians, learns how to pitch concepts, coordinates production, and masters on-set skills.

Eventually, a team of 15 to 20 students put their learned skills to use by providing opportunities for local-independent artists to have their work visualized, publicized, and promoted.

Created in 2014, the organization is now led by its president, Miles Benepi. Its operations are generally divided into two parts: workshops and music video production. Workshops are usually conducted by board members or guest speakers, like professors and industry professionals.

Students can only participate in music video production if they are part of the organization. And every semester, members start with a library of songs from local artists.

David Sabot, the secretary of Beat Dynamics, said everyone gets to pitch to the group the music they chose and the idea that they have.

Afterward, the whole group evaluates the pitches together.

“Historically, all the members would participate in the video. But now we wanted to make it even more open to people, so it’s open to the entire school to come and audition and become part of the process,” Sabot said.

Last year, despite the location, casting, and filming difficulties they faced due to COVID-19, the group produced a three-minute music video using Boston local artist CD

Rose’s Bad Habit.

“With Beat Dynamics, especially for incoming freshmen, we really work to try to make the best possible onset experience,” Benepi said.

“Because it’s a smaller set and it’s a smaller shoot, we’re able to take a chance on people.”

With limited meeting capacity on campus next semester, the group look forward to working with their members in a different way. Mila Rolston said one idea is to invite people to virtually talk to members about the business and industry side of creating music videos. They’re also excited to connect with guest speakers remotely via Zoom and introduce animation and visual effects workshops.

XeCult, previously named SheCult, had a recent change to their mission. The group was created in 2016, and instead of publishing a literary magazine every year and focusing more on writing, they are now trying to foster and support both an on- and off-campus community of LGBTQ+ artists and writers through events, fundraisers, publications of zines, non-commercial small magazines, and small concerts.

“We changed the magazine into just a short Zine that we produce each year, and we focused more on arts and advocacy, sort of being a space for queer artists to meet and do work together that supported the greater queer community in Boston,” XeCult President Elizabeth Benjamin said.

Last semester, the group hosted two shows on campus featuring local bands and used door charges to benefit local LGBTQ+ organizations, like Rosie’s Place, the first women’s shelter in the U.S. and first trans-inclusionary shelter in

Boston. They also led a field trip in September 2019 to Dorchester Art Project to watch a show called “Tender/Feral: Color Palettes and Duality,” featuring local queer artists of color.

“Our position as an organization on campus is working to create a safe queer space in Emerson,” Treasurer Madison Shaw said. “Extending that to other people gives a route in the real world that feels a lot more fulfilling and worthwhile.”

Since the organization is still in the early stages of transitioning, they hope to welcome new students who have innovative ideas this semester.

“We are the beginning of this new journey at XeCult, and we’re kind of in a transition period,” Benjamin said. “We really have a lot of room to take the input of our members and run with it.”

Access: Student Disability Union is still an organization in its infancy. Formed only last year by the SGA Accessibility Commissioner Harper McKenzie, and then senior Zach Swasta, Access aims to build up and unite Emerson’s disability community in order to collectively advocate for accessibility, visibility, and acceptance, as well as to cultivate a network of support and inclusion for themselves and their allies.

“It really came out of this apparent issue that there was no space on campus for students with disabilities, or accessibility needs,” said McKenzie, now president of the group.

Last semester, they held in-person and online meetings every few weeks for students with disabilities to come together to play games, mingle, and share their experiences and concerns. They also worked on

larger projects, like rallying for an accessibility button to be installed at the Walker Building front entrance. For next semester, they are going to focus more on accessibility issues related to COVID-19 and remote learning.

McKenzie pointed out that even though the school plans to provide students with weekly testing, the off-site facility where the tests will be administered is not accessible for students who are immunocompromised or have mobility issues.

For remote students, the online learning environment might not meet full digital accessibility standards.

“There [are] just so many things to uncover and work on, and make sure that attention is being brought to all the things that are going on,” McKenzie said. “I’m working with the school and with the Student Accessibility Services to talk about all these kinds of issues.”

As a new organization on campus, Access created a much needed space for students with disabilities to come together and socialize.

“It’s just been a great experience.

I feel like everyone, and our org, is just so compassionate and strong willed in a good way. People just inspire me in this group and it makes me want to do more. As someone with a disability, I feel like I should be advocating more and creating change,” Tiana Oliveras, a member of the group, said. “We welcome allies as well.”

Ziqi Wang is a junior studying journalism. She is a Deputy Magazine Editor. ziqi_wang@emerson.edu

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The Arts

5 social-distance-friendly activites that don’t suck!

Go on a self-gui ded mural tour

See some art at the ICA

In July, artists ProBlak and Rob Stull created a map of prominent public art in Boston, with the help of the Museum of Fine Arts. The guide features 24 murals scattered through the city. It’s available at bit.ly/33X2845.

Browse at Br att le

Get out of the city

Oh the wonders of the commuter rail! The high-speed line can take you to key spots miles from the city, like Salem (THAT Salem), Rockport, Plymouth, Walden Pond, or Manchester-by-the-Sea (yes, the one in the movie). Traveling on a Saturday or Sunday? Weekend passes are only $10.

The famed outdoor section of the downtown bookshop is a staple on social media, so it’s become a bit of a cliche. Still, the carts of cheap books (some as low as $1) make it worthwhile.

Disclaimer: Take care of yourself and others by wearing masks, social distancing, and frequently washing your hands while doing these activities. And carrying around your own mini-bottles of hand sanitizer never hurt anyone.

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Located right on the water, the ICAhouses one floor of modern sculptures and paintings and picturesque views of East Boston, Charlestown, and the airport. Plus, admission is free for all Emerson students.

Head to the Beach Some beaches in the city are still danger zones, packed with people.

M Street Beach, for example. But a couple quiet spots, like Constitution or Revere Beach in East Boston, could be the sandy retreat you’re looking for. If you want a full-on beach day, consider taking the commuter rail out to Nahant and dive into blue waters there.

The Arts

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