April 1, 2022

The Huntington News April 1, 2022

The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community

@HuntNewsNU

UPPERCLASSMAN HOUSING NOT GUARANTEED FOR 2023 FIRST-YEARS

By Chunyu (Andy) He News Correspondent With the recent uptick in enrollment, Northeastern has changed its housing policy to accommodate the growing size of the student body. Beginning Fall 2023, Northeastern will only guarantee first- and second-year housing for incoming classes, while accommodations will still be available to students beyond their second year. Prior to the change, Northeastern offered its students guaranteed housing for four years.

“To clarify, this is not effective immediately; the incoming firstyear class of Fall 2023 will not have guaranteed upperclassmen housing.

Nothing changes for students currently enrolled,” Northeastern spokesperson Shannon Nargi wrote in an email statement to The News March 21.

The change in guaranteed housing may be less impactful than it appears for some students because there are many options for off-campus housing.

“It is important to note that the vast majority of upper-class students already choose to live off-campus,” Nargi wrote.

Several students who spoke to The News already foresee themselves choosing to live off-campus as

upperclassmen after being required to live on-campus for their first and second years.

The co-op program creates a unique schedule for housing as many students come and go during each school year. Jessica Gudin, a first-year business administration and economics combined major, said she believes that she will be living off-campus because of her co-op.

“I do think I’ll be living off-cam-

pus, probably once it is time for my co-op cycle, as I won’t be in classes for that time and won’t need to be on campus. Also, co-op goes into the summer, and only some of Northeastern’s housing is designated as summer housing,” Gudin said.

Along with co-op, housing selection numbers also play a role in students’ decision-making. Students with a high selection number might not get their desired housing. Ezgi

Bas, a first-year computer science and mathematics combined major, said the possibility of getting a bad selection number might motivate her to move off-campus.

“It also depends on my selection numbers. With the possibility of getting a bad selection number, I might go off-campus,” Bas said.

Even for students taking classes, many choose to live off-campus after their second year at Northeastern.

Photo by Marta Hill International Village, alongside East Village, is one of the dorms that will see new beds added this summer as part of Northeastern’s broader plan to accommodate the increased student body.

“I am sure I will be living off-campus for my third and fourth year at Northeastern. My friends and I have always talked about getting an apartment together because we don’t have to worry about not getting the housing we want or being separated,” said Elizabeth Mashini, a first-year health science and business administration combined major.

Despite wanting to live off-campus, Mashini believes that Northeastern should still guarantee upperclassman housing.

Guaranteed housing provides more security to students, as renting an apartment as a college student can be difficult.

“I have never rented a place by myself or with other people, [I] foresee potential conflicts that might arise from the process. For many students who do not want to deal with that, it is important for the school to provide them a place to stay during their third and fourth year,” Mashini said.

Finding off-campus housing has many obstacles, even in a busy and populated city like Boston. The city’s housing shortages are a continual problem, and students’ lack of experience in renting apartments presents further issues.

ON-CAMPUS, on Page 3

‘The Embrace’ memorializes Boston’s civil rights history, provides immersive experience

By Katie Mogg News Staff Boston has a long standing and intricate civil rights history and Hank Willis Thomas, a New Yorkbased artist and photographer, is working alongside local architects and organizations to immortalize one part of it. They are creating a monument titled “The Embrace” to honor Martin Luther King Jr. The 22-foot-high sculpture sitting on a circular, granite plaza is slated to be placed in Boston Common Jan. 16, 2023. Based on an image of civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr., or MLK, and his wife Coretta Scott King, “The Embrace” depicts the loving connection shared

between the couple after MLK was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. The monument aims to memorialize the civil rights work of MLK and Coretta Scott King while highlighting other prominent figures of Boston’s Black history.

“I’ve seen racial inequities in my city and it’s actually unfortunate that that’s what my city is known for,” said Sam Giarratani, a Boston native and public art manager who works closely with Thomas at the Songha & Company art studio in Brooklyn, New York. “So this project was really thought about to help address those conversations … [The monument] shouldn’t be a stopping point. It should be the genesis for change.”

The process to assemble and install “The Embrace” is finally underway, and the vision of a monument emulating Boston’s civil rights movement was years in the making. In 2019, King Boston, a branch of The Boston Foundation dedicated to honoring the legacy of MLK and Coretta Scott King, selected Thomas’ proposal of “The Embrace” after sorting through hundreds of monument designs submitted to their competition. Thomas could not be reached by The News for an interview.

Jonathan Evans, principal architect at MASS Design Group, a local firm collaborating with Thomas and King Boston to bring “The Embrace” to life, said the monument honors Black history in more

ways than one. Not only will “The Embrace” immortalize the advocacy work of Corretta Scott King and MLK, but the plaza will honor 65 figures who contributed to the civil rights movement while shining light on unique aspects of African American culture.

“Looking at how we patterned the stone … the plaza feels like it’s a quilt, which evokes certain connections to African American quilt-making and folklore around the Underground Railroad,” Evans said. “There’s other layers of the story that we’re trying to tell here with the design.”

Evans explained that the monument is meant to provide an immersive experience. Visitors

can walk around and through the large, embracing arms, allowing them to feel particularly connected to the work and the values it represents. He hopes the monument’s inviting design will inspire visitors to actively fight against racism in Boston.

“How do we actually try to inspire people to take action, inspire people to care and have a little bit of empathy and a little bit of agency to do something? That was a lot of the underpinnings of the project.”

Evans said. “[We want to] leave it to the user to think through what [the monument] means to them, but I think the hope is that it does make you feel something.”

STATUE, on Page 5

LIFESTYLE

CITY

MULTIMEDIA

Read about third-year student Rachel Domb’s plant-based snack business.

Learn about the Green Line Extension that opened to the public March 21.

Check out our podcast about this week’s top stories.

Student-run snacking business Rooted Living

PAGE 9

Green Line Extension in Somerville

Photo courtesy Rachel Domb

PAGES 6-7

Hot Off the Press: a recap podcast

Photo by Avery Bleichfeld

CAMPUS

Page 2

Student advocates push for representation in faculty, new programs

By Jessica Silverman Deputy City Editor Late last month, members of the Northeastern University Asian American community leaders sent a letter to two academic deans hoping to establish a stronger foundation for the existing Asian studies program at Northeastern.

The letter, which was sent Feb. 28 to Dean Uta Poiger of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities and Dean Elizabeth Hudson of the College of Arts, Media and Design, also asked that an Asian American studies program be created at the university.

In March 2021, student leaders from the Asian American Center’s programs, known as Team 442, as well as other Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American, or APIDA, identifying students attempted to bring more attention to the need for Asian and Asian American studies on campus by publishing an open letter.

Board and is one of the named signatories of the letter. Bough graduated from Northeastern in December 2021 as an international affairs major with a minor in East Asian studies.

Although she has already graduated, Bough emphasized the importance of ensuring that these changes are implemented for future students.

“What we’re trying to do with the cluster hire is we’re trying to create provisions where the Asian American and Asian studies courses become a priority,” Bough said. “To do all the things that we as an advisory board have imagined, we need that permanent tenure-track faculty that is there to provide permanent resources for permanent needs.”

Bough also cited while Northeastern’s peer institutions have these programs in place, Northeastern refuses to fill this gap in their curriculum.

She argued that while changes have been made, the university has a long way to go.

Photo courtesy Claire Blaufox Students at the Asian American Community Conference March 6.

In the letter, they cited the lack of tangible action items from the university following the murder of six Asian women in the Atlanta area, and how there is a lack of opportunities for students to take classes about Asian American issues at Northeastern.

They outlined a number of changes they wanted to see from the university, including the chance to meet with administrators, increased resources to APIDA communities and programs at Northeastern and around Boston and increased culturally appropriate mental health resources for minority students, among other requests.

After several meetings with faculty and administration, a cluster hire was authorized for Asian American Studies in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, or CSSH, meaning that the university would actively seek out multiple tenure-track faculty members. In this most recent follow-up letter, student activists advocated for the hiring of no fewer than six new faculty members.

“When we initially came forth to engage in this dialogue with you, we stressed the need for the consistent offering of Asian and Asian American Studies classes,” the February letter read. “We also noted that in order to accomplish this, it would be imperative to hire a multitude of tenure-track faculty to ensure that there are permanent resources for permanent needs on campus. Currently, Northeastern has only a handful of tenure and tenure-track faculty who are experts in Asian American Studies.”

Lauren Bough is a member of the Asian Studies Student Advisory

“UMass Boston is one of the most renowned programs for Asian studies and Asian American studies, and it’s right by us. … BC, BU, all of these schools have programs that are being supported. And frankly, the Asian studies program at Northeastern is being neglected,” Bough said. “That has changed but it didn’t change without people pushing for it. If we don’t continue to push it, nothing is going to happen.”

Professor of history and Asian studies Philip Thai echoed these thoughts. Thai assisted students in drafting the letter and chairs the Asian American studies cluster hire. Thai explained that Asian American studies has yet to be integrated into studies at Northeastern due to its previous history as a commuter school.

“The fact that we don’t even have a program speaks volumes,” he said.

“Northeastern is quite an outlier in that sense. It has nothing. In the history of the curriculum, as far as I know, there’s only been two courses in the 10 years I’ve been here. Those courses have been taught very irregularly, by non-permanent adjunct faculty, which tells you what Northeastern thinks of these classes.”

Thai explained that the cluster hire authorization means the university only has to hire more than one faculty member. However, he said he believes that hiring two or three professors is not enough.

“The administration is willing to make a few hires, but more than one could equal two,” he said. “I think that would be a great disappointment from

my perspective. The more the merrier, but the more important it is, because it creates a necessary sizable core. … So hiring these faculty, as much as it sounds like it’s a critical mass of people, doesn’t necessarily get us to square one, we’re coming from square negative 10. We have a considerable distance to make up.”

Thai said the hiring committee put out the job application in early November, and they received over 150 applications. Now they have picked their finalists, made their recommendations to CSSH and are inviting six candidates to visit campus virtually to meet and talk with students. The meetings occurred March 21, March 29, March 30, April 5 and April 7. Thai encouraged students across the university to speak with these prospective candidates. Students can find the links to these meetings online.

“I asked students to show up and make their voices heard,” Thai said.

“These [candidates] are the future of Asian American studies at Northeastern. So meet with them, talk with them, let them know what you think, what you want and also this show of force on the part of students will send a message to the university that the students are watching this, they’re keeping close tabs on this.

This show of force, this display of continued interest is critical. I have no doubt about that.”

Thai said it was the passion and drive of students that allowed for this change to occur.

“Student activism is what made this search possible in the first place,” he said. “I can say with no exaggeration that if the students didn’t do this, this search would not have happened. The university would not have known or would not have cared enough to make this a priority.”

Poiger, the dean of CSSH, responded to the letter in an email to students the day after it was sent. Students shared this email with The News.

“I will confer with Dean Hudson and others and will be glad to meet with you in the next weeks,” she wrote. “Please be aware that your letter contains some misunderstanding about how faculty appointments are made at NU, about the important role that teaching professors play at the institution, as well as the resources available in departments and programs. I look forward to clarifying these matters.”

Bough said she was dissatisfied with the response.

“We weren’t ecstatic about the response. It’s a start, we’d rather have talks than them say flat out ‘no,’” she said.

Moving forward, Bough said she hopes that tangible change can be made so that future students can reap the benefits of an established, well-supported program. Team 442 will meet with Poiger April 7.

“We’re going into these discussions with hope that we’ll get our goals out of this,” she said. “I want to do this to be able to have students take the courses that I was not able to, that I wish I could take now. That’s what keeps me motivated.”

April 1, 2022

NUPD CRIME LOG Compiled by Alexis Santoro, News Staff

THURSDAY, MARCH 17th 10:15am

Officers were flagged down about an individual kicking the ATM machine in Ruggles. Transit Police, or TPD, assumed jurisdiction.

10:30pm

A caller reported an individual was attempting to damage vehicles on Columbus Avenue. The area was checked.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18th 03:25pm

A caller reported being the victim of an electronic financial scam. Services rendered.

09:00pm

A caller reported their electric scooter stolen from the Snell Quad. A report was filed.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19th 03:05am

A caller reported being extorted for money or compromising videos would be released online. A report was filed.

11:00pm

A caller reported a chair stolen from White Hall. A report was filed.

SUNDAY, MARCH 20th 01:24pm

A caller reported individuals dropped and broke a bottle of alcohol in the Burstein Hall lobby. Services rendered.

03:20pm

Officers spoke to an individual about possibly damaging the turf on the Carter field. Services rendered.

MONDAY, MARCH 21st 11:54am

A caller reported being assaulted by an unknown individual in Ruggles. TPD assumed jurisdiction.

12:15pm

A caller reported an individual shoplifted from Wollaston’s Market in Marino Recreation Center. A report was filed.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22nd 03:14pm

A caller reported a small fire at the outdoor heaters in the Snell Quad. The fire was extinguished and there were no injuries. A report was filed.

04:43pm

Drug paraphernalia was located in International Village, or IV. A report was filed.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23rd 01:06am

A caller reported the smell of marijuana in the Westin Hotel. The area was checked.

06:05pm

A caller from off campus reported an individual refusing to pay back money that they lent. A report was filed.

FRIDAY, MARCH 25th 01:27am

A caller reported an intoxicated individual in IV. The individual was transported to the hospital.

06:22pm

A caller reported a proctor sign in violation in Melvin Hall.

The area was checked.

CAMPUS

April 1, 2022

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Residency policy change may impact off-campus living shortage

ON-CAMPUS, from front “If housing is not offered at all for upperclassmen, I certainly foresee there being a housing shortage in the neighborhoods surrounding campus, like Mission Hill, Roxbury and Symphony,” Gudin said. “If people can’t find a place to live, that would severely affect their ability to attend classes.”

Renting apartments in Boston can be costly, creating financial disparities between students.

“Not guaranteeing housing subjects students to face Boston rents and perhaps not getting the subsidized rates they were used to on campus. Undoubtedly, some people cannot afford that, and it might negatively affect their overall experience

Photo by Jessica Xing Upperclassman housing, including the apartments in West Village buildings, will no longer be guaranteed for incoming students, beginning with the Fall 2023 class.

at Northeastern and their quality of life,” Gudin said.

Each year, on top of the stressful college application, prospective students now have more to consider.

Mashini voiced her concerns for future applicants.

“Guaranteed housing relieved a lot of stress for me because I don’t have to worry about my living situation while I am in Boston,” Mashini said.

“However, if I was told as an applicant that housing might not be guaranteed after my first two years, there is more to think about and to consider when choosing the school I want to go to.”

In Gudin’s case, Northeastern’s housing situation did not influence her admission decision.

“Personally, I did not take on-campus housing policies into consideration when deciding on what school to attend, as that seemed like a distant concern. I love it at Northeastern and cannot envision myself anywhere else, but do wish I did more research on what my living situation would be like throughout college,” Gudin said.

To combat this situation, Northeastern is prioritizing expansion of

its community and finding more living areas for the students.

“To provide more on-campus housing for undergraduates, the university is currently seeking approval from the City of Boston for a new 800-bed residence hall at 840 Columbus Avenue,” Nargi wrote.

Northeastern administration has also recently gained approval from the Boston Planning and Development Agency to add a total of 900 additional beds in the East Village and International Village residence halls.

One of the reasons for housing shortages is over-enrollment. For the past years, Northeastern is trying to find space to house more students, but not all students are content with the plans.

“Northeastern expanding on [its] housing means one of two things — gentrifying Roxbury even more [and] cramping up the apartments with forced doubles and triples for freshmen this year,” Bas said. “Northeastern knows how much space they have, and they have been admitting students for decades. They should be able to guess how many people they need to admit.”

Housing issues are apparent at Northeastern, and students are not

should be allowed to ask teachers questions regarding gender identity and sexual orientation.

“Teachers should be able to answer these questions, it’s their job,” DeLaCruz said to the protesters. “There are a lot of students that have LGBTQ+ parents. On Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, if they can’t talk about their families, what are they supposed to talk about?”

Greta Magendantz, a first-year journalism and political science combined major, explained the importance of showing up to support LGBTQ+ youth and individuals across the country.

“These legislative bills that have been passed in places all over the United States are super harmful

to not only the LGBTQ+ youth whom they directly apply to, but to LGBTQ+ youth and people all across the United States,” Magendantz said.

“We thought it was really important to show our support for other LGBTQ+ students at Northeastern, allow everyone an opportunity to share their own stories and to just come out and make some noise.”

Magendantz wrote about how Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill puts the health, safety and overall well-being of LGBTQ+ youth at risk in an article for Her Campus.

“Advocacy organizations across the country are concerned that the stigmatization of sexualities and genders outside of a heteronormative standard will leave children

“If people can’t find a place to live, that would severely affect their ability to attend classes.”

— Jess Gudin Northeastern student entirely satisfied with the resolution.

“Northeastern needs to find a better way to resolve their housing situation. Gentrifying the area and buying new buildings has its limits,” Mashini said. “Future students now have to make sure that they will have a place to stay on top of all the schoolwork they will be doing. Making the housing available but not guaranteed is not a promising answer.”

Northeastern student walkout protests against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

By Alexa Grayson News Staff Northeastern students came together at Centennial Common March 11 to protest recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the “Queer Walkout.”

The walkout, which mirrored similar protests throughout the nation, was in response to Florida’s recent bill, “Parental Rights in Education,” as well as an increasing number of anti-transgender legislation in Texas and other states. The walkout organizers are also sponsoring a fundraiser for the Trevor Project, a mental health organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth.

Commonly called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the “Parental Rights in Education” bill prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity that is “not age-appropriate for students in accordance to state standards,” and applies to students in kindergarten through third grade. The bill has received a lot of criticism since it was passed by the Florida Senate Appropriate Committee Feb. 28, including a statement from President Biden in a tweet.

“I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are,” Biden wrote. “I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.”

Florida is just one of several other states that have recently issued anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

On Feb. 22, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services,

or DFPS, declaring that delivering gender-affirming medical treatments to transgender youth “constitutes child abuse” under Texas state law. The letter affirmed that doctors, nurses and teachers are required by law to report parents who are aiding their children in receiving gender-affirming care to the DFPS, claiming child abuse.

Beyond Florida and Texas, states including Georgia, Idaho and Tennessee currently have anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the works.

The walk-out at Northeastern was organized by undergraduate students Natalie DeLaCruz, Greta Magendantz and Naomi Trevino to show that the LGBTQ+ community at Northeastern and is loved and supported.

The walkout was filled with students cheering loudly, “Say gay!” and “Gay won’t go away!” as they waved rainbow flags in the air, beaming with pride.

High-energy songs blasted from speakers, including songs by Hayley Kiyoko, a singer-songwriter referred to by many fans as “lesbian Jesus.”

Natalie DeLaCruz, a first-year political science and human services combined major, said the importance of the walkout is to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community at Northeastern and beyond.

“I organized this walkout to protest the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and anti-trans legislation,” DeLaCruz said. “We want people to know that the LGBTQ+ community here is strong. We are loud. There is love and support here. We support LGBTQ+ youth across the country.”

DeLaCruz gave a speech at the protest, urging students to continue to stand up against unjust laws in Florida and all over the country.

She called out the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, arguing that students of all ages

who identify with these labels to feel confusion, sadness, and shame,” Magendantz wrote.

Trevino, a fourth-year linguistics major, stressed the importance of community organizing events like the protest. They urged students to join their Signal group, where students could get more involved in grassroots organizing efforts.

“We have a ‘Signal’ where we organize events like this and will continue to organize throughout the rest of the semester, through the summer and into the fall,” Trevino said. “Gay people are here. We’re out. We’re proud.”

Editor’s note: Greta Magendantz is a frequent contributor to The News.

Photo by Alexa Grayson Northeastern students filled Centennial Common March 11 as they gathered to protest recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

CITY

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April 1, 2022

At woman-owned Mei Mei, dumplings come with a side of community

By Allie Kuo News Correspondent Meet the Double Awesome — two eggs, Cabot cheddar cheese and local greens pesto sandwiched not between slices of bread, but a scallion pancake. This signature dish at Mei Mei captures the inventive cuisine of the local farm-focused, woman-owned dumpling business.

“The food at Mei Mei is really a kind of expression of who we are,” said Irene Li, co-founder of Mei Mei and Prepshift, a restaurant technology startup. “Layering all of the local products that we use on top of [Chinese and Chinese American food] results in something pretty unusual in the realm of Chinese or Asian food.”

Li said the food at Mei Mei combines both Chinese and non-Chinese influences. It’s not meant to be “traditional” or “authentic” to a specific cuisine but rather pays homage to her childhood and identity growing up in Boston.

“It’s the kind of food we ate growing up. We have scallion pancakes? Obviously we’re gonna make a grilled cheese sandwich out of it.

Like no, my grandma would not have made that,” Li said.

However, this personal take on Chinese American food that Li and her two older siblings developed for Mei Mei proved to be a hit. Along with Andrew and Margeret Li, Irene Li launched Mei Mei as a food truck in 2012, spending their first day on the road on Northeastern’s campus, she said. Soon after, they were awarded Boston’s Best Meals on Wheels.

“Certainly, people responded to the Chinese mashup of our food, but also to something that was farm-to-table that wasn’t a fancy steakhouse meal,” Irene Li said.

“I think that was one of the other ways we set ourselves apart and developed a pretty enthusiastic fanbase early on.”

In June 2013, the Mei Mei team launched a Kickstarter campaign to open their brick and mortar location, raising $8,270 more than their goal of $28,000. Simplr’s Head of Community Trish Fontanilla was

one of the backers of the campaign.

She said she got to know the Li siblings when the food truck stopped in Seaport where she worked.

“I just thought they were super inventive. They were very friendly and awesome, and I think they made some really cool stuff out of limited resources, which was that food truck,” Fontanilla said.

Even from the beginning of their restaurant journey, Irene Li credits her siblings for their trust and belief in their much younger sister — “mei mei” is Chinese for little sister, a name Margaret Li and Irene Li “strong-armed” their brother into picking for the business.

“No sane business owner ever would have let me do what they let

how a restaurant’s financial work was really exciting to me and ended up helping us attract even more incredible staff,” Irene Li said.

This transparency extended beyond just Mei Mei’s staff — Irene Li published their financials online, and this struck a chord with customers like local freelance food writer Jacqueline Cain. Cain,

Fusion restaurant turned dumpling manufacturer pays homage to Chinese culture.

The Mei Mei restaurant opened later that year on Park Drive near Boston University’s campus, and Li said the business only continued to grow from there. In 2015, Boston Magazine crowned Mei Mei’s dumplings the Best of Boston and The Improper Bostonian named them the best food truck in 2017.

In 2018, Irene Li made the decision to buy out her siblings and take full ownership of Mei Mei. Her passion and intense belief in the company’s values helped in the negotiations.

“I was like, ‘You guys let me steal the show on this one, so I want to continue to be the one responsible for it,’” Irene Li said.

me do. I am really, really grateful to them because they gave me that incredible opportunity,” Irene Li said.

At that time, Irene Li was also transitioning Mei Mei to open book management, giving the entire staff full access into the financials of the business. She was trying to figure out how to be a better employer “because restaurant jobs are really hard and don’t pay that well.” Irene Li said Mei Mei had always attracted employees who wanted to be small business owners themselves, and she wanted to provide training and guidance that employees could take wherever they went.

“The idea that they would emerge from Mei Mei actually knowing some things about, like,

Photo by Harriet Rovniak Located on Park Drive near Boston University campus grounds, Mei Mei captures the inventive cuisine of the local farm-focused, woman-owned dumpling business.

Photo by Harriet Rovniak a Mei Mei fan who is almost never without their dumplings in her freezer, recalls watching Mei Mei’s evolution as a business and Irene Li’s role as a leader.

“Seeing Mei Mei already be thinking about ways to change the system well before the pandemic disrupted everything has been really interesting to watch and something that kept me interested in watching them,” Cain said. “It always has been Irene leading the change of what a restaurant could be and what a restaurant represents and how it coexists in its community.”

During the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Boston, Mei Mei closed its doors even before the state’s mandates, pivoting to serve as a food pantry throughout the pandemic while offering Zoom dumpling making classes and bringing dumplings to sell at local farmer’s markets. Irene Li said that they sold out over and over, and the restaurant will be expanding its production capacity with a new dumpling factory slated to open in South Boston.

The new location will have a dining room and classroom space, and Irene Li hopes to capture the original location’s “hometown” feeling, one that serves as a “crossroads of so many different communities” where everyone has a personal connection to being there.

“I feel like people that go to Mei Mei are good people,” Fontanilla said.

Fontanilla attended an in-person dumpling class Mei Mei hosted at Lamplighter Brewing Co. in Cambridge on Feb. 24 where Irene Li taught the class

both traditional and non-traditional ways to wrap dumplings.

“I think it’s very cool how hands on she is. Irene doesn’t need to be doing the dumpling classes, but she’s such an amazing storyteller and it was very cool to hear the storytelling piece,” Fontanilla said.

Irene Li points to the hard work of people in the restaurant industry as a big source of inspiration.

“Part of why I want to ensure a sustainable future for the industry is because if I retire one day and there’s nothing cool to eat, I’m gonna be really pissed,” Irene Li said.

As a recipient of this year’s James Beard Leadership Award, a prestigious recognition for the visionaries working to change the status quo of the food system, Irene Li is well on her way to doing just that. “[The award] represents a turning point for our business in a lot of ways. My work is less about being a chef or a restaurant and more about trying to be a part of the community and trying to support all different groups of people and to tie people’s resources together,” Irene Li said.

Part of why I want to ensure a sustainable future for the industry is because if I retire one day and there’s nothing cool to eat, I’m gonna be really pissed.

— Irene Li Co-founder of Mei Mei and Prepshift As the business continues to evolve, the dumplings won’t be going anywhere. Irene Li recently purchased a machine from Taiwan that seals the dumplings, which are then finished by hand, sometimes by Irene Li, but mostly by her team that’s trained to operate the machinery.

Fontanilla said she can’t pick her favorite f lavor, saying “I think it’s giving me an out if I say dumplings because there’s so many different kinds.” Meanwhile, Cain said she enjoys the pork and lemongrass dumplings.

And Irene Li’s favorite? The cheddar scallion potato dumplings.

“They’re basically like a pierogi.

Being from Brookline, lots of Polish and Jewish starch wrapped potato treats were part of my childhood,” Irene Li said. “I don’t think I could live without those.”

CITY

April 1, 2022

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Monument in Common immortalizes MLK STATUE, from front “The Embrace” is just one step King Boston is taking to increase recognition of the city’s Black history. Joel Jaquez, the organization’s associate director of partnerships, explained that Boston, a city recognized for its rich history, fails to properly acknowledge its Black past.

To combat this, Jaquez said King Boston hopes to create a museum focused on Boston’s Black history by the end of the decade.

While MLK is plastered across U.S. history textbooks, “The Embrace” helps shine a light on Coretta Scott King, who is often less recognized for her work as an activist compared to her status as MLK’s wife. Jacquez said it is important to highlight the role women have played in the civil rights movement.

“When we were in the process of selecting 65 names … we want to make sure that it’s not just 65

names of 65 men,” Jaquez said.

“Coretta was an instrumental figure in MLK’s life as she continued his legacy for many decades … A lot of the work that’s happening [in] the civil rights space, it’s everyone contributing.”

Mirroring Jaquez’s sentiment, Giarratani highlighted the importance of giving proper recognition to Coretta Scott King in her own right. Giarratani explained that King Boston asked artists to submit monument proposals centering around the ideas of “collaboration, partnership and love” between MLK and Coretta Scott King, uniquely honoring Boston’s civil rights history. “[King Boston’s prompt] set it apart from other memorials dedicated to Dr. King and his legacy because it incorporated Coretta who was instrumental in the civil rights movement as well,” Giar-

ratani said. “And she doesn’t really get a lot of recognition for that.”

Above all, those involved in the design, creation and installment of “The Embrace” want it to be more than just an instance of performative activism. They want the monument to be a true representation of Boston’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist city.

“I really don’t want this to be one of those things that Boston checks off their list like, ‘Oh, we have a monument in the middle of the city, so we must not be racist.’”

Giarratani said. “It should be galvanizing this conversation.”

While Jaquez said he hopes the monument will be something that inspires visitors to be activists in their own community, Evans said he hopes the monument tells a complex, multi-layered story of Boston’s history.

“The Embrace” is not only about MLK and Coretta Scott King; it incorporates

meaningful details of African American traditions while honoring the fortitude of dozens of activists during Boston’s civil rights movement.

“[The Embrace] is about bringing our story to the front door of the city in Boston Common,” Evans said.

“The Embrace” (c) Hank Willis Thomas, in collaboration with MASS Design Group, King Boston and the City of Boston. Rendering Courtesy of MASS Design Group.

“The Embrace” is a complex monument meant to meaningfully commemorate Boston’s Black history during the civil rights movement.

Boston Calling returns after two-year hiatus

By Julia Yohe News Staff Boston Calling, Boston’s annual Memorial Day weekend music festival, is set to return May 27 to 29 for the first time since 2019.

Boston Calling is a three-day-long music festival featuring rock, indie and alternative artists, as well as comedians and celebrity hosts, such as Natalie Portman and Michael Che. Since its debut in 2013, the festival has grown into a much larger event with over 35 food vendors, bars, a 100-foot ferris wheel, art installations, life-sized games and more. It first opened as a two-day, biannual event with half as many artists and no special guests before shifting in 2015.

The festival was put on hold in early 2020 when COVID-19 first struck Boston. This spring, however, the festival will make a comeback with headliners and rock and roll bands Foo Fighters, The Strokes and Metallica, along with 48 other artists.

“We are so thrilled to bring Boston Calling back,” wrote Boston Calling co-founder and CEO Brian Appel in a lineup press release. “[This year’s lineup] not only signifies a return to the things we love, but it also celebrates

some of the world’s most renowned acts, exciting up-and-comers and Boston’s talented music scene.”

This year, the festival is also featuring a record number of artists with ties to New England and the Boston area.

“Knowing how much Boston musicians endured during the pandemic, it was very important to us that Boston Calling 2022 shine a spotlight on local and regional artists more than ever before,” Appel wrote in the press release.

The organization’s dedication to uplifting local artists is not going unrecognized. Boston native and Northeastern alumni Cliff Notez is a hip-hop artist and filmmaker who explores Blackness and Black culture through his art. He is set to perform on the last day of the festival.

“I’m about to be on one of Boston’s biggest stages with a bunch of my friends throughout the day,” Notez wrote in the press release. “To say we dreamed of this at some point is an understatement.”

Peach Tree Rascals, another band performing on the last day of Boston Calling, is a music collective from San Jose, California. Despite releasing music as early as 2018, they found their claim to fame during the pandemic when their 2019 song

“Mariposa” went viral on TikTok. Because of the band’s pandemic-era start, they were unable to meet their fans until August 2021, when they performed at the Wonderbus festival in Columbus, Ohio.

“For a while, there were no opportunities to engage with our fans except through social media,” wrote Ruchi Parikh, a media manager for Peach Tree Rascals, in an email to The News. “It means a lot to us that we can finally get to perform for our fans. We build off their energy, and it’s an incredible feeling.”

The revival of large music festivals across the country brings with it concerns of the spread of COVID-19.

Boston Calling will be held in the Harvard University Athletics Complex in Allston, an outdoor event pavilion. According to the Boston Calling website, the health and safety protocols Harvard’s Athletic Complex has in place by the time Memorial Day weekend rolls around will apply to the festival.

Although some are concerned with how a music festival could affect COVID-19 infection rates, many view the recovery of live music as positive. Jeff Dorenfeld, a professor at Berklee College of

Music with over 30 years of experience in the music industry, runs a three-semester-long course in which students prepare for and perform in professional summer music festivals.

The loss of live music was personal for him and his students.

“For us, it was a big deal because the students worked all fall and all spring to prepare to go to a festival,” Dorenfeld said. “And they never got to go to a festival. It was a change to my whole life.”

Dorenfeld and his students are anxious to get back to the stage.

“We need to get back to normal, but we need to get back to normal in a cautious way,” Dorenfeld said.

Barry Luxton, a long-time Boston resident and Guitar Center employee, has been in the music business for almost 50 years.

“I started way back with a high school theater group in 1979, mostly as a stagehand and sound guy,” Luxton said. “I did that for a whole lot of years with different bands, a lot of local Boston bands back in the ‘80s. And now I’m at a point in life where I got my dream job: I work in a toy store.”

As someone who has built a life around music, Luxton sees live music’s revival as a good thing.

Photo courtesy Ty Johnson Boston Calling is set to return this spring for the first time since 2019, featuring a record number of artists with ties to New England and the Boston area.

“I think [the festival is] fantastic as long as the infection rate [for COVID-19] stays down and they can do it in a somewhat-controlled way,” Luxon said.

Oliver Tree, another artist performing at Boston Calling, held a concert at Boston’s House of Blues March 11.

Concertgoers were packed into the sold-out show, a concerning sight to some in pandemic times. But Oliver Tree fan Kiara Benac was not worried.

“I know everybody moves at their own pace,” Benac said. “But I think it hit a point where we’re seeing the numbers, and also recognizing that we don’t know what the future holds, and so if we’re able to experience these memories and especially do something that is meaningful to us like seeing these live shows, it’s to a point now where we have to experience that as safely as we possibly can.”

Before the pandemic, concerts were a big part of Benac’s life. Now, she could not be happier that live music is coming back. “[I] went to concerts a lot,” Benac said. “And then with COVID, that’s something we didn’t have. So to have it back is almost more meaningful and more special now because it’s the songs that helped me kind of get through COVID.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that people are “less likely to be exposed to COVID-19 during outdoor activities, even without the use of masks.” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced an end to Boston’s mask mandates in all public spaces except in indoor public establishments, including gyms, bars, restaurants, museums and entertainment venues, effective March 5.

Dorenfeld said that he anticipates a high energy turnout for Boston Calling this year.

“Everything was such a loss and it’s great to see it come back,” Dorenfeld said. “There’s so many shows happening and so many are selling tickets and selling out. There’s lots of pent up demand for it. They want to participate in music.”

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Somerville welcomes first phase of Green Line Extension with cautious optimism

By Jennifer Suryadjaja City Editor

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with local residents facing housing insecurity due to the rent hikes that come with improved public transportation.

“We want to highlight the fact that we need elected officials at every level of government to take swift and decisive action to make sure that we have some sort of plan in place to mitigate any further displacement and ensure that the most vulnerable residents in Somerville are able to remain,” Beauregard said. “It’s far past time for us to put those policies in place.”

The MBTA and MassDOT have stayed under the proposed $2.3 billion budget for building the GLX. Within the amount, the cities of Cambridge and Somerville fronted $25 million and $50 million re-

spectively towards completing the GLX, along with funds from the federal government.

As part of the scope, a community path along the corridor of the GLX is underway. Pesaturo said pedestrians, dog walkers and bicyclists can share the space, making neighborhoods more walkable.

“A lot of people were worried in 2015, when we were looking to save money on the [GLX] project that it might have to go,” Pesaturo said. “But we were able to find a successful bidder and said, ‘no, we can find a way to build the path, too, along with the Green Line Extension.’ It goes back to the management of the project being able to do that.”

Both Lechmere and Union Square stations have elevators to

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The Union Square Branch of the Green Line Extension, or GLX, opened to the public March 21, with local leaders officiating ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the newly-opened Union Square station and the relocated Lechmere station.

The GLX is a collaboration between the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or MassDOT. Once fully completed, the new GLX stations will extend the MBTA’s Green Line service from its current terminus in Cambridge to Medford with a total of six new stations and two branches: Union Square and Medford.

MBTA’s Director of Communications Joe Pesaturo said many officials and stakeholders contributed to the making of the GLX with its ups and downs.

“It’s too bad that a lot of people who were here for the beginning of this project, going back decades, are not here now to see this come to fruition. But for the people who are here, and we know for the people of Somerville and Cambridge, this is a very exciting day,” Pesaturo said.

The first train left Union Square station March 21 at 4:50 a.m., officially completing the first phase of construction. Near noon, a new Green Line trolley cut

the ceremonial ribbon as it entered Lechmere station from Union Square, transporting local officials into the event. Among those in attendance were Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Mayor of Somerville Katjana Ballantyne, Mayor of Cambridge Sumbul Siddiqui, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak and GLX Program Manager John Dalton.

In her speech, Pressley said transit justice is intersectional to other issues and it should be mandatory for residents.

“Transit justice is an issue of consequence for our families — accessing medical care, getting to work on time, picking your kids up from school. Reliable transit isn’t a nice to have, it is a must-have,” Pressley said.

Prior to the GLX opening ceremony, the Community Action Agency of Somerville, or CAAS, held a community press conference titled “Don’t let the Green Line become a gentrification line.”

75 advocates stood in solidarity with Somerville residents who are resisting displacement and gentrification. The press conference was co-sponsored by Union United, City Life/Vida Urbana, Somerville Stands Together and Union Square Neighborhood Council.

CAAS community organizer Isabelle Beauregard primarily works with low-income or immigrant residents who rely on public transportation. They said the event was organized in solidarity

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Photos by Avery Bleichfeld Speakers at the ceremonial ribbon cutting included members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (above) and state leadership like Gov. Charlie Baker (below) who celebrated the opening of the Union Square branch of the Green Line Extension.

A Green Line train carrying officals to the ceremony breaks through the ribbon (left) ahead of the event’s speaking program.

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UNION SQUARE BRANCH Opened March 21

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meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards. On top of that, Pesaturo explained that the 24 newly-purchased Green Line cars will have modern amenities with digital screens and will state clear announcements for passengers.

With increasing ridership in mind, Pesaturo said capacity is an area the MBTA is also focusing on.

“They’re all being built with extra long train platforms as we get ready for the next generation of Green Line cars,” Pesaturo said. “In just a couple of months, the T will be going out to bid for these new cars, which we call supercars because they’re going to be almost twice the length of the existing Green Line cars. So we’re going to be able to increase capacity significantly up and down the Green Line.”

Pesaturo said the GLX will give Somerville residents more transportation mobility and decrease walking distance to T stations.

“It’s been a difficult time for people. If they have jobs in Boston proper, or even just to come to recreational events, they would have to make a transfer,” Pesaturo said. “Now, they will get that one-seat ride from Union [Square station] to wherever they want to go along the Green Line, which is the most expensive light rail system in the country.”

Public transportation enthusiast Harrison Leong lives near Sullivan Square station on the Orange Line and commutes to Watertown, Jamaica Plain and downtown Boston for work. Leong plans to use the new GLX stations to cut down travel time.

As a follower of the GLX project, Leong hopes the MBTA can take the time to reflect on lessons in its early opening days, especially through the new fare validation system. Currently, riders should validate their tickets at the vending machine before boarding or at the front of T trains where fareboxes are located instead of passing through a turnstile. According to a tweet from the MBTA, the step is temporary as the organization works to implement all-door fare taps on trolleys.

“I’m hoping they can use this time to test that out, see how they can figure out … all the reporting systems and then maybe extend that to the other end of the Green Line.

Essentially, you could get on the Green Line vehicle from any door basically, not [where the] operator is,” Leong said.

The MBTA is set to open the Medford branch this summer, including five new stations beyond Lechmere: East Somerville, Gilman Square, Magoun Square, Ball Square and Medford/Tufts. Currently, E line trains will serve the D line Union Square branch until the E line Medford/Tufts branch opens. It has been 35 years since the MBTA opened a new branch — it finished renewing the nine Orange Line stations in May 1987.

The Bay State first committed to building the GLX in 1991 as part of environmental mitigation due to carbon emissions from the Central Artery/Tunnel Project.

Dubbed the Big Dig, the project decongested and rerouted the deteriorating central artery of I-93

by constructing new developments in the city, such as an underground highway, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Ted Williams Tunnel, as well as the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge and Tobin Bridge.

The Big Dig resulted in increased traffic and pollution. With the GLX, officials hope air quality will improve and traffic levels will fall — there is a projected reduction in regional daily vehicle miles traveled by 25,728 miles, according to MassDOT. The GLX is part of an agreement with Boston-based environmental advocacy organization Conservation Law Foundation. However, it may cause a domino effect for surrounding residents: increases in rent. In a 2014 report by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, rent is projected to increase by 25% to 67% for accommodations along the GLX corridor.

Samantha Wolfe, a community organizer at CAAS, said while the agency is happy to see the GLX launch, she is wary about the consequences residents will face.

“We are thrilled that the Green Line Extension is finally [open]. We applaud the generations of residents and activists who made this possible. At the same time, speculative investment and the lack of protection for residents has already been displacing poor, working-class and even moderate-income residents for the past several years,” Wolfe said.

According to a 2020 report

by MassDOT, 26% of the 75,300 residents who live within one-half mile of all GLX stations do not own

or have access to an automobile. Beauregard said the skyrocketing rent hikes resulted in a “large exodus of residents’’ and created an inequitable neighborhood.

“The concern is that because there isn’t surrounding legislation or policies to prevent what’s been going on … the people in Somerville who need access to public transportation are being pushed out farther away from the increasing public transportation that they need,” Beauregard said.

Leong has observed the housing struggle in Boston and beyond and remains persistent. But he said if push comes to shove, residents will find a good alternative.

“I wish the answer was simply to make more money. Of course, it’s never as simple as that. In reality, the answer is probably going to be that some people will get moved.

You can at least hope that it’s not an unreasonable distance,” Leong said.

Wolfe said inclusion is important in ensuring vulnerable populations of Somerville and Medford are given a seat at the decision-making table.

“Transit justice is housing justice is racial justice is environmental justice. To me, what that means is that when you have the people who are most impacted by a policy or a development have a say in that and able to take part in the decision making, all of these different factors will be considered,” Wolfe said. “But when … their voices are not even included in the process, you’re going to have development with displacement, instead of development without displacement.”

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Column: ‘The Dropout’ takes on scammers

By Juliana George News Staff “Inventing Anna.” “The Tinder Swindler.” “The Puppet Master.” In just the first three months of 2022, three Netflix original productions have revolved around major scams.

In each, a master con artist drains their victims of large sums of money through pure charisma and wit.

Hulu’s “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried, is the latest scam show captivating audiences. The series recounts the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes as a Stanford University dropout to an inspiring success story to a national disgrace.

Holmes founded Theranos, a health technology company, in 2003 with the goal of inventing an at-home device that could test a single drop of blood for disease, technology that is currently impossible. In 2014, Forbes named Holmes the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire.

In 2015, the company’s credibility was called into question by Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou, who noted many cases of faulty test results and laboratory malpractice at Theranos. Carreyrou’s continued reporting on mistakes at Theranos coincided with the company’s rapid deterioration, and the company permanently shut down in September 2018. By that time, Holmes had been indicted with multiple charges of wire fraud for misrepresenting Theranos’ accomplishments to investors, and she was found guilty in January 2022.

Our obsession with scammers isn’t new. Heist movies have been a cultural staple since the release of

John Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle” in 1950. Ever since, blockbuster movies centering on con artists like Jordan Belfort of “The Wold of Wall Street,” who committed stock manipulation in New York City during the late 1980s, and Frank Abagnale Jr. of “Catch Me If You Can,” who used his skills as a forger to become a fraudulent doctor, lawyer and pilot, have fascinated viewers.

Audiences love to root for heroes that challenge the establishment, especially when they have witty catchphrases and ridiculously intricate master plans.

Holmes was less adulated for her fraud because unlike other high-profile con artists, her company put people’s health at risk, not just their bank accounts. Despite knowing that Theranos’ blood testing machine, the Edison, was not yet fully functional, Holmes allowed the devices to be placed in 45 Walgreens wellness centers around the country and tested on patients.

Jia Tolentino, a feminist essayist and writer for The New Yorker, explored the idea of the contemporary fascination with scamming in her 2019 essay “The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams.” She described scamming as an endeavor fundamental to the American ethos.

“The con is in the DNA of this country, which was founded on the idea that it is good, important, and even noble to see an opportunity to profit and take whatever you can,” Tolentino wrote.

But Seyfried’s frazzled, naïvely idealistic portrayal of Holmes in “The Dropout” isn’t that of a cold-blooded scammer, at least not at first. In the

first few episodes of the show, Holmes is a hopeful, if slightly odd, visionary who wanted to invent a device that could help people by revolutionizing blood testing.

The surprising amount of sympathy afforded to Holmes’ character dwindles as the show progresses, but it doesn’t feel as though it winks out entirely until after the suicide of Ian Gibbons, Theranos’ former head chemist, whose death was likely triggered by the stress he endured while working at Theranos.

The generous depiction of Holmes illustrates the strange idolatry of scammers in the modern era. Although Holmes’ actions are morally egregious, viewers can’t help but try to pathologize her actions with narratives that explain her ethical missteps.

Holmes exemplifies the increasingly prevalent “girlboss” archetype.

“Girlboss” is a term coined by Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal, a clothing retail brand that filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and has since been sold to Boohoo.com. The word has an ambiguous definition, but “girlboss” is often used to ironically praise women of the corporate world, especially those with questionable ethics.

Despite its semi-sarcastic application, there’s a reason the word “girlboss” gained traction in the first place.

The fourth episode of “The Dropout” entitled “Old White Men” is a dramatized retelling of the events that led to Theranos’ partnership with Walgreens. The fictionalized version of real-life Walgreens executives are laughably gullible throughout the episode, and in the end they choose to invest in Theranos due to a fear of

in the sport, I only had a few role models,” she said. “I could look up to Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan.”

Although they competed almost two decades ago, Yamaguchi and Kwan faced an athletic world with a rigid, incomplete grasp of Asian American identity similar to that, which Gu encountered when she chose to represent China this year.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Yamaguchi revealed that competition officials at the 1988 world junior championships mistook her for a Japanese athlete.

“I’m like, ‘Can someone tell them I’m American?’” Yamaguchi said.

A decade later at the 1998 Olympics, MSNBC published a headline that read, “American Beats Out Kwan,” referring to Kwan’s second-place finish to Tara Lipinski, even though both athletes were born in the U.S. and competing for the U.S. team. Then at the 2002 Olympics, The Seattle Times ran a secondary headline that read, “American outshines Kwan,” in reference to Sarah Hughes’ gold medal win over Kwan.

“It’s all kind of this ‘alien Asia,’ the separation from white American skaters, just even within your own team, let alone go across borders or nationally,” Lee said.

This kind of language that denotes a difference between Asian athletes and their “American” peers points to a deeper force of foreignization at work.

“Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan,

they’ve all been cast as Asian athletes and not necessarily as American athletes,” Jeung said. “It’s only when they win that they’re fully accepted or fully embraced as Americans.”

When Chinese immigration to the U.S. increased dramatically during the California Gold Rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad, the concept of Asian Americans’ perpetual foreigner status began as a means to depict Asians as inherent outsiders to U.S. society.

Illustration by Jessica Xing being left out of Silicon Valley’s sparkling new world of start-ups and CEOs in their 20s.

“The Dropout” makes it abundantly clear that part of the reason Holmes was able to gain the attention she needed for Theranos to succeed is that the industry was in desperate need of a change.

Perhaps that’s the reason that scams are so alluring; for a moment, before the scammer is revealed to be pathologically selfish and unsympathetic, they almost look like they’re going to play the role of Robin Hood.

Holmes got famous for her claim that her invention would increase health care accessibility. With financial support from excessively wealthy investors like Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison, in theory she would literally be taking from the rich and giving back to the poor. But, of course, it didn’t turn out that way. In the end, Holmes prioritized branding over safety and as a result, Theranos

collapsed due to its scandal.

“Silicon Valley has always seen itself as an outlier, a place where altruistic nerds tolerate capitalism in order to make the world a better place,” Erin Griffith wrote for Fortune.com in 2016. “Suddenly the Valley looks as crooked and greedy as the rest of the world.”

The appeal of Silicon Valley startups like Theranos is also their undoing: ideas have to be backed up by capability, and faster is not always better.

At the core of scamming is the desire for self-glorification, not community empowerment. This is why “girlbosses” like Holmes are not the answer. Change is never accomplished from the inside.

“The absurd length of time that it took for Holmes to be exposed illuminates a grim, definitive truth of our era: scammers are always safest at the top,” Tolentino wrote in her essay.

and falsely positioned Asians at the center of a global crisis.

In September 2021, Stop AAPI Hate reported that one in five Asian Americans experienced a hate incident in the past year. That translates to approximately 4.8 million people.

“Every new incident clings onto me and weighs me down more,” said Jodi Vuong, a fourth-year music industry major at Northeastern University. “I’m scared to walk around my city alone.

I’m scared that my grandparents or my parents will be next.”

The pandemic set the stage for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The weight of normalized anti-Asian racism and the eyes of emboldened racist critics descended upon Asian American athletes and viewers alike who came to the competition already rubbed raw by the pandemic.

Vuong distanced herself from her social media and news feeds, where a barrage of provocative headlines weighed on her mental wellbeing. The toll of anti-Asian sentiments, from careless comments online to racist commentary broadcast nationally, gave way to a uniquely binary form of conditional acceptance into the U.S. “When you see Eileen Gu attacked for being a traitor, then that really pushes you towards assimilation, towards acculturation, because you don’t want to be deemed a traitor,” Jeung said. “You have to betray your ‘Asianness’ if you want to be loyal to America. I know kids who don’t eat

Asian foods, who don’t like the way they look or their language because they’re trying to fit in as much as they can to America.”

For athletes like Lee, the act of competing internationally itself posed difficult internal questions about belonging.

“We’re grappling with those two different ideas, in that I am an American, in that I was born here. I only speak English. I went to school here.

I represented this country. I stood under the flag and put my hand on my heart as the national anthem played,” Lee said.

The prestige and fanfare around the Olympics were still not enough to shield athletes from the sting of the United States’ stunted capacity to validate Asians as Americans. Online debates about Gu’s nationality — and her perceived betrayal of it — picked at a wound in the Asian American community leftover from the United States’ Gold Rush era racism.

Decades after the fragmented coverage that followed Yamaguchi and Kwan, the same rhetorical machine of social media comments, newspaper headlines and broadcast hot-takes still honors a manufactured, racist barrier to acceptance in the U.S. “Asian Americans in the Olympics have historically had to confront, ‘Are we Asian? Or are we American?’”

Jeung said. “And I think moving forward, I want us to see it be ‘both, and,’ both Asian and American.”

For Asian athletes, American acceptance faltered during Beijing Winter Olympics

By Karissa Korman Deputy Lifestyle Editor At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Chinese American athletes like San Francisco native Eileen Gu were either winners or traitors.

A chorus of adverse U.S. voices deemed Gu, an 18-year-old freestyle skier, a traitor when she placed first in the women’s big air event, winning the gold medal for China instead of the United States. Chief among them was a right-wing podcaster who told Fox News that it was “ungrateful” for Gu to “turn her back” on her country.

“It’s either-or. You can’t be both Asian and American,” said Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and the co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that gathers data on racially-motivated attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “You’re an American winner like Nathan Chen, or you’re a traitor like Eileen Gu.” But Gu and Chen, figure skaters who won gold for the U.S. in Beijing, are not the first Asian American athletes to find themselves at the center of a national debate about the relationship between Asian and American identity. Kaitlyn Eri Lee, a figure skater who began competing internationally for Team USA in 2013, noticed a short leash for Asian American athletes in global competition.

“Being an Asian American woman

Illustration by Jessica Xing Asian Americans came to face a specific form of racism in the U.S. called Orientalism, where the East, or the Orient, is the polar opposite of the Occident West. Where the East is seen as traditional, the West is seen as progressive; the East is backward, but the West is modern.

In 2020, U.S. political rhetoric about the origins of COVID-19 racialized the virus and positioned Asian Americans as its scapegoats, citing racist antagonisms about Chinese politics, eating habits and ways of life.

Pandemic-inspired hate speech stoked the flames of Yellow Peril sentiments

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Student-run business offers sustainable snacking options

By Amelia Ballingall News Correspondent As the necessity and value of sustainability grows in the United States, consumer demand has pushed companies to produce environmentally-friendly options.

In just the past five years, internet searches for sustainable goods have increased by 71% and more than 20% of the world’s largest companies have made net zero commitments, meaning they have pledged to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.

To encourage healthy eating and help the snack industry become more sustainable, thirdyear psychology major Rachel Domb founded Rooted Living, a plant-based snack company that launched its products on campus in Wollaston’s Market October 2021.

The company currently sells two different flavors of granola: maple almond and peanut butter crunch.

The snack contains no refined oils or sugars and comes in compostable packaging.

Domb originally came up with the idea for the business as a high school athlete facing personal health challenges. The then-runner decided to turn to a plantbased diet to alleviate the physical stress of her pain points and regain control over her life.

“Going plant-based really allowed me to eat these foods that made me feel strong and empowered,” Domb said.

As an athlete and a busy high school student, snacks were a big part of Domb’s life. However, she was surprised by the lack of sustainable options on the market.

“There was no option that was a snack that was really both good

for me and the planet,” Domb said. “It was out of that frustration that I founded Rooted Living.”

Although Domb did not come to Northeastern with a formal background in business, she said that she has always had an entrepreneurial mindset. Because of this, she decided to join the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship, or WISE. The club, where she is now co-director, provided her with a community that helped her expand a simple interest into something greater.

“They helped me understand that entrepreneurship is simply taking something that you’re passionate about and growing it with the support and help of others,” Domb said.

Within WISE, Domb took a WeBuild class. This semester-long program helped Domb to develop problem-solving and design thinking skills with a diverse group of young female entrepreneurs and grow her business concept into something tangible. The program was followed by Domb’s back-to-back co-ops in Northeastern University’s Sherman Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship Education in fall 2021 and spring 2022. The year-long experience has given Domb the opportunity to work full-time on her venture and form a motivated, passionate team of four.

She finds the team aspect of her business rewarding, utilizing her delegation and leadership skills to make Rooted Living a diverse yet tight-knit community.

“Just seeing the amazing perspectives that [the team is] bringing and the work that they’re doing for Rooted Living is definitely the best part [of running the business],” Domb said, attributing

Photo courtesy Rachel Domb Rachel Domb is a third-year psychology major. She created Rooted Living to make plant-based diets more accessible.

much of the business’s success to the overall group effort.

However, one member of the team, Andrew Cataldo, a fifth-year business administration major and director of operations for Rooted Living, accredits the successes to Domb herself.

Photo courtesy Rachel Domb Rachel Domb founded Rooted Living as a way to provide customers with healthy snack options.

“Rachel has been killing it for two years with this,” Cataldo said.

“She definitely has a clear direction for everything that we’re doing and a reason for why we’re doing it.”

Cataldo discovered the company in fall 2021 when Domb became a client for Generate Product Development, the student-led product development studio for entrepreneurial engineering, another student organization where Cataldo is director of operations.

Cataldo, along with Rooted Living’s designer Anna Rychlik and director of marketing Ho Yan Ho, was motivated to join the company’s sustainability initiative after seeing Domb’s strong work ethic and passion.

“I really, really like the mission of the company. I really like this brand that they’ve built up, but it more had to do with Rachel herself, just like seeing all the big things she was doing in the entrepreneurship community, seeing how quickly Rooted [Living] was growing,” Cataldo said.

Domb’s dedication to her business is not only recognized by her peers but by everyone who works with her. Ted Johnson, director of the Sherman Center, works with Domb daily and spoke to her skills as an entrepreneur.

“Rachel is someone who has done really wonderful, extraordinary work with Rooted Living, but she’s also an entrepreneur who is willing to really take a very logical look at the world around her,” Johnson said.

Johnson began working with Domb in July 2021 when she began her “eco-preneurship” co-op in the Sherman Center as a part of Northeastern’s plant shift initiative, an entrepreneurship movement encouraging the development of plant-based businesses.

The Sherman Center has seen more than 25 co-ops, but to Johnson, Domb stands out.

“The other co-ops that are currently on with her this cycle are benefitting from her experience,” Johnson said. “She’s willing to share that information, she’s willing to teach, she’s willing to mentor in her own way. Our co-op program this cycle is better across the board just by having her be a part of it.”

After spending the past year solely focused on her venture, Domb has gained a well-rounded understanding of entrepreneurship. With more entrepreneurial experience than most students, she has a clear view of where her business can go next.

Rooted Living currently sells its granola in full-sized bags, but the company is developing on-the-go snack bags to keep up with Domb’s vision of eliminating single-use plastic. Single-use plastic pollutes oceans, harms wildlife and emits greenhouse gasses and toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, but it is used in much of the packaging seen on grocery store shelves.

“I’m very interested in the impact that humans have on the environment but also that the environment has on humans and how that affects us cognitively,” Domb said.

Domb conducted user research and interviews in order to understand the way that her product was being used in the real world.

As her company works to fill the sustainability gap in the snack market, Domb wants to ensure that her product is fully meeting customer demands while simultaneously avoiding contributing to plastic pollution.

Rooted Living is unique in its snacking sustainability, but what truly makes the company stand out is all the passion behind the scenes.

“The weight of success comes from internally within the team,” Domb said.

During the hiring process in December 2021, Domb chose the people that were the most excited about helping Rooted Living grow.

She already had a support system in her family, but the motivated team that she has built is working hard to continue the company’s upward trajectory. With products in Wollaston’s Market and online after only receiving funding at the beginning of Domb’s co-op in July 2021, Rooted Living is rapidly growing, and does not seem to be slowing down any time soon.

“More people are hearing about her product and more people are loving her product and I’m really excited about it,” Johnson said.

As Rooted Living breaks into the snack industry, it gives consumers an option that is environmentally friendly on both the inside and outside. Domb’s company shows that, even at a young age, one can combine their passions and values to positively impact the world around them.

“I think that what I love so much about business is the actual process of doing and building and creating something very applicable to my needs and wants and dreams and seeing that unfold,” Domb said.

Calendar compiled by Karissa Korman Graphics by Jessica Xing

March 17 - May 28 Frida Kahlo Yoga Take a yoga class in the middle of the “Immersive Frida Kahlo” exhibit at the Lighthouse ArtSpace at the Castle.

8 a.m., 130 Columbus Ave., $54.99

Friday, April 1 Breakfast Pop-up Try breakfast items from a variety of Boston chefs hosted by the Café at Rochambeau.

6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., 900 Boylston St., price varies

April 2 - May 28 Rights Along the Shore Visit the multimedia exhibition that illustrates the movement to desegregate swimming sites.

Boston Center for the Arts Mills Gallery, 551 Tremont St., free

April 7 and 9 Men’s Frozen Four Watch the NCAA men’s hockey semifinals and final at TD Garden.

5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. April 7 and 8 p.m. April 9, 100 Legends Way, tickets start at $93

April 7 - April 17 Wicked Queer Film Festival Catch a variety of films that uplift queer stories and voices.

Online and in-person screenings, according to the schedule, at locations throughout Boston, price varies

OPINION

Page 10 The Huntington News EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief

Marta Hill

Managing Editor

Op-ed: Global conflict with Russia is one thing we can’t afford

Avery Bleichfeld Clara McCourt Editor-at-Large

Kelly Chan Campus

Grace Comer Sonel Cutler Jess Silverman City

Jennifer Suryadjaja Kathryn Manning Breaking News

Gwen Egan Sports

Annah Chaya Alex Sumas Lifestyle

Katie Mogg Alyssa Fell Karissa Korman Opinion

Alyssa Endres Ethan Wayne Projects

Cathy Ching Photo

Harriet Rovniak Quillan Anderson Design

Kayla Shiao Jessica Xing Multimedia

Hannah Rosman Anne Zhu Web Manager

Annetta Stogniew Social Media

Antonia Sousa Angie Slater Copy Chief

Alexis Santoro

BUSINESS

Business Manager

Eva Arad

Development and Outreach Coordinator

Matt Yan

Advertising Manager

Ashley Mandel

NEWS STAFF Alexa Grayson, Ananya Kulkarni, Brenna Thornton, Christie Ya-Chi Lee, Crescent Huang, Eli Curwin, Erin Fine, Julia Yohe, Juliana George, Julie Sung, Kate Armanini, Lauren Thomas, Leah Cussen, Lily Elwood, Nicholas Tesoriero, Renee Abbott, Rachel Umansky-Castro, Sanjana Sanghani, Srishti Gummaraju, Thomas de Carbonnieres

COPY EDITORS Anne Sedar, Carrie Gilmore, Dayna Archer, Jenna Chin, Kira Eske, Lauren Thomas, Liza Sheehy, Nataly Kaldawy, Rachel Lee, Rachel Mann

DESIGN STAFF Aubrey Burgess, Jasmine Wong, Liza Sheehy, Sofie Kato, Chunyu (Andy) He, Matthew Chu, Elaina Murdock

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bill Mitchell, Carlene Hempel, Dan Zedek, Gal Tziperman Lotan, Laurel Leff, Lincoln McKie, Mark Gooley, Meredith O’Brien, Rachel Zarrell, Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Opinions expressed in The Huntington News through letters to the editor, cartoons and columns are not necessarily those of The News staff or the Board of Directors. Northeastern University students conduct all operations involved in the production of this publication.

For inquiries about the Board of Directors, email outreach@huntnewsnu.com. For general inquiries, email managing@huntnewsnu.com.

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@HuntNewsNU

April 1, 2022

Photo by Ethan Wayne Over the past three months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun one of the largest attacks on a European country in decades.

What was initially called a “special military operation” has escalated into a full-scale invasion. Over the last few months, Putin’s consistent disingenuity in regards to denying the invasion of Ukraine has proved that this war is not about “denazifying Ukraine,” but rather about fulfilling a legacy. As the president of a leading nation, Putin’s motives should be aligned with the interests of his people. The Russian people do not want war. Putin is acting on his own autocratic motivations and interests by sacrificing the lives of thousands of people for the sake of establishing himself as an imperialist. For lack of better words, taking over Ukraine is a means to boost his ego after feeling apprehensive over Ukraine’s westernization.

This is Putin’s war, not Russia’s.

Ukraine’s desire for sovereignty terrifies Putin since he wants it to become a part of Russia. Since the invasion, however, Ukrainian nationalism has never been higher, making it more difficult for the country to secede to Russia. Putin’s emotional ties to Ukraine and fear of NATO expansion have led to an unnecessary and irrational war that threatens peace everywhere.

The invasion of Ukraine has made Russia even more of a worldwide threat, as Putin attempts to reestablish influence in Europe and eventually the rest of the world.

This prompts the question: how should the rest of the world respond to help Ukraine? One thing must remain absolute: We cannot afford a war.

In early February 2022, satellite images showed yet another act of Russian aggression, with the deployment of troops to the Ukrainian border. Over a span of a few months, Russian military resources were stationed in the north, south and east of Ukraine.

Russia repeatedly claimed that they had no intent to invade Ukraine, but the deployment of troops and military equipment demonstrated otherwise: a clear act of Russian deceit and aggression.

The United States and many other countries, including historically neutral Switzerland, have imposed strict economic sanctions on Russia as one means of deterrence, causing a detrimental hit to their economy to slow down Putin. This strategy

is a much safer approach rather than using military power in order to avoid as many casualties as possible. However, despite aggressive economic sanctions, Putin continues to execute military action on Ukraine, even though the Russian people are suffering greatly from this. On Feb. 24, it was estimated that Russian citizens had taken about 111 billion rubles out of the Russian central bank. The bank has doubled interest, and Russian citizens are having one of the worst economic crises since the ‘90s.

Sanctions have not had strong effects in the past. For instance, in 2014, Western sanctions were placed on Russia as Moscow was accused by Ukrainian and Russian officials of seizing the Crimean Peninsula. Despite this, Putin still annexed Crimea. This is also comparable to sanctions placed on Iran. In response to Iran’s nuclear program, the United States placed a plethora of economic sanctions to stop any more money from supporting their program and to prompt Iran into entering a diplomatic deal. However, Iran still managed to make their way around these sanctions by creating their own domestic products as an alternative to selling products from other countries. In addition, in comparison to Russia, Iran has a much weaker government. Russia is powerful enough to find larger loopholes around economic sanctions.

What is important, however, is that Russia is still certainly taking a hit, as they are suffering from a number of negative consequences. Civil unrest, potentially being removed from the World Trade Organization, or WTO, suspen-

sion of multinational corporations in Russia and the deterioration of Russia’s largest banks are strong dissuading factors. The bottom line is that sanctions are significantly more effective and avoid casualties to a much higher degree than the alternative option: war. It is imperative that the United States and other nations who have enacted sanctions on Russia continue punishing Russia to the point where they will back out, while also maintaining a balance of not pushing too far where Russia is prompted to expand military attack upon other nations.

Another proposed option to resolve conflict in the region has been to admit Ukraine to NATO on an emergency basis. Even though Ukraine is entirely in support of joining NATO, and in fact requesting to do so, NATO does not want Ukraine to join. Although it seems unethical to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, as Ukraine is in need of Western support more than ever, it is an enormously consequential option. The admission of Ukraine to NATO would cause mass global casualties and put the entire world in a state of sheer havoc. If Ukraine were to join NATO, it would be Russia vs the entire West. Therefore, it is important to look at this dilemma from a consequentialist perspective.

The United States and NATO acknowledge that it remains essential to support Ukraine even without their membership in NATO. The US has provided Ukraine security aid worth more than 1.2 billion dollars since January 2021. In order to stop Putin without causing an extended war, the West must keep moving in this direction, using financial support and sanctions on

Russia to support Ukraine, without using NATO as a means of protection. While financially supplying Ukraine, NATO should also continue to pursue diplomatic conversations to maintain transparency and avoid provoking Russia.

“Over the last few months, Putin’s consistent disingenuity in regards to denying the invasion of Ukraine has proved that this war is not about ‘denazifying Ukraine,’ but rather about fulfilling a legacy.”

— Melissa Rejuan Northeastern Student How Can We Help Ukraine?

It is essential for American citizens to continue educating ourselves about Ukraine and advocate for action by our own governments. In addition, we must proceed to support Russian independent news organizations that expose information about the Russian government’s true intentions.

With Ukrainian resilience, global support and especially protest from Russian citizens, Ukraine will stand a chance against Putin’s oligarchy. It is essential that the Russian public be persistent against Putin, despite his threats of arrest and propaganda.

The United States and other countries should continue to supply Ukraine with the necessary supplies and artillery to defeat Russia, and continue to enact sanctions to slow Putin down. What we must avoid is war, and furthering an unfounded humanitarian crisis.

Illustration by Jessica Xing

Melissa Rejuan is a first-year data science and journalism combined major. She can be reached at rejuan.m@northeastern.edu.

OPINION

April 1, 2022

Page 11

Op-Ed: Classical music has value despite its ‘old-fashioned’ reputation in pop culture

Photo by Quillian Anderson You’ve probably heard the flashy, up-beat music of BTS, Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande blasting from the radio. Popular music today heavily relies on technology to capture the sentiment a composer intends to convey. All components of a song — from its lyrics to its beats and even its pitches — contribute to the aura of a piece, and some current songs may not have the emotional impact they currently yield if it weren’t for the flexibility of modern music technology. A piece by Tchaikovsky, a classical music composer, however, is unlikely to find a place in Spotify’s curated playlist of today’s top hits. Although classical music cannot typically be found in the Billboard Top 100, it has physical, emotional and mental benefits that prove how its independence from today’s music technology does not detract from its worth.

Colin Eatock, a Canadian composer who’s held music-related jobs from music critiquing to being an arts administrator, had his students provide their own reasons for why they dislike classical music. They state: classical music is cognitively dull since it doesn’t possess visceral

or emotional appeal, the pieces are too lengthy, classical works are too complicated without a distinguishable melody, symphony orchestras cannot match the grand sonic appeal of rock groups in a stadium, too much classical music is instrumental and for those that contain singers (i.e. operas), their vocal style resembles shrieking and the words they convey are difficult to hear.

Classical music may be easily dismissed or overshadowed as our ears have attuned to the dazzling features that technology allows modern artists to incorporate into tracks. Nevertheless, I think we should be more optimistic about letting classical music find a place in our Gen-Z lives.

Otherwise, we would be shielding ourselves from the possible physical, cognitive and emotional benefits that today’s most technologically-refined tunes fail to encompass.

There are many physical benefits to classical music that one should consider. According to a University of Oxford study, genres such as rap, pop and techno elevated the participants’ blood pressure while classical music did the opposite. A study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing determined that sleep quality can be improved if individuals listen to classical music for 45 minutes before going to bed. The Lancet has a study suggesting that individuals who want to relieve their pain can try listening to classical music to reduce their pain medication intake. In our busy college lives, simply finding classical music to play in the background can be a convenient approach for a student wanting to experience these physical benefits but have limited time and resources to do so.

In terms of cognitive benefits, a study published in Consciousness and Cognition showed how music

by Mozart enhanced brain wave activity responsible for memory. French researchers published findings in Learning and Individual Differences in which students who did not listen to classical music along with a lecture performed worse on a test compared to those that did. Another study published in The Arts in Psychotherapy from Mexico proves that classical music can address symptoms of depression. A study in Frontiers Psychology found that music can elevate one’s mood by increasing dopamine secretion. I believe that the physical and cognitive assets of classical music provide a stronger reason for people to be open to listen to the ‘outdated’ genre. Even though the prospect of listening to music composed decades ago may seem daunting, the benefits of classical music are still very advantageous in today’s hectic times.

To those who complain that classical music lacks “emotional or visceral appeal,” UK-based pianist, piano teacher, music reviewer and blogger on music and pianism Frances Wilson highlights some sentimentally packed pieces. She describes Schubert’s Winterreise as a “personal tragedy portrayed in hauntingly beautiful music.”

Personally, Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings in E Major mentally transports me to a field glazed in flowers blossoming as the glorious sun rises in a cool and soothing dawn.

Don’t be ashamed if you exhibit any symptoms that reflect the Stendhal Syndrome, which Wilson attributes to our emotional bond with

music. This emotional reaction is characterized by quick heartbeats, dizziness, sweating, disorientation, fainting, tears and confusion in response to emotionally profound masterpieces. If you experience it, your body is just conveying its own way of drawing from your humanness to connect with art.

Although some classical pieces are intimidatingly long, the benefits that they can provide for listeners are overwhelming. Our music tastes are subjective, and I am not asking everyone to become a classical music enthusiast. Rather, I think that as Northeastern students we can acknowledge the perks of integrating classical music into our lives for our overall emotional, cognitive and physical health. Other than searching for classical music on Spotify, you can observe the awe of a composer’s sentiments embedding in your soul

by watching a concert on campus by the Northeastern Symphony Orchestra. Alternatively, you can walk less than a mile from campus to the Symphony Hall to watch the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or the BSO. With a $30 college card, you could attend any BSO concert for free as well. If you are interested in more about music’s cognitive benefits, I highly encourage you to explore the research done by Northeastern’s Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics Laboratory, led by department of music associate professor Psyche Loui. Although many classical composers may have passed away, their music lives on through the benefits they provide to their listeners.

Jethro Ronald Lee is a first-year data science and psychology combined major with a minor in music. He can be reached at lee.jet@northeastern.edu.

Illustration by Kayla Shiao

Op-ed: The rise of streaming services’ impact on the film industry

Photo by Harriet Rovniak The past decade or so has seen the rise of companies such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. With the introduction of these streaming services, viewers were suddenly given the option to watch a full season of a show or a new film the day that it was released, all from the comfort of their own homes. From 2014 to 2021, the number of people who discontinued their cable service, or never had it to begin with, rose from 15.4 million to around 50 million due to the accessibility that streaming provides and how easy it is to watch what you want.

The effects of these streaming services have been apparent, especially during the pandemic with people having to stay home. In the wake of streaming services, the entertainment industry has had to revise the thought process of releasing movies in theaters, so what does that mean for the future of film? While streaming services have changed the way we watch films, I do not think that they will force movie theaters to become a thing of the past. Instead, perhaps, it may even give a new appreciation to the experience of watching a film in theaters.

Streaming has proven to be the ideal alternative in a world where the pandemic is still very much a concern, with global subscriptions to streaming platforms passing one billion for the first time in 2020. In that year, Amazon Studios and Netflix brought in a combined 47 Oscar nominations from films released on their platforms.

There are benefits to streaming aside from the safety of being isolated.

Having the option to binge-watch any particular movie or show of your choice tends to reel many people in.

The first season of “Bridgerton,” which premiered in December of 2020, boasted 625 million hours of viewing on Netflix within the first month of its release. The mass-intake of media has only heightened demands for movies to be more extravagant, show-stopping and exhilarating.

However, subscription rates for streaming services also rise frequently. One example of this is Netflix, which increased its monthly rates in January. The biggest downside to streaming is the constant increase of money handed over to these companies. While streaming can provide benefits, I think theaters can combat the rise of streaming by providing an alternative to paying a monthly expense, perhaps one of the biggest factors that keep people going.

Along with the added bonus that the streaming experience is not the same as being in a theater and watching a film with others — something that was cast aside once the pandemic hit.

While we are watching the rise of streaming, it can feel as if movie theaters are being pushed

into the background, but that is not necessarily true. Going to the movie theater to see a new film is not a pastime that is fading into oblivion anytime soon. Theaters are often accessible with more cinemas opening new locations, and are enjoyable to those who want to experience a movie on opening day. Streaming also does not necessarily provide the same exhilarating experience as theaters do. There is an aspect of humanity when fans crowd in and get to react all together to a new installment of the Marvel or Star Wars franchises. This human connection is a vital aspect of movie theaters that streaming services lack.

Recently, the closest thing to a pre-pandemic movie theater experience I had was when “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was released. It was amazing to see everyone join together and get to experience something we all had missed. Getting to witness the movie’s amazing moments with others was an experience that I would not have been able to have if I watched it alone in my own room.

Even with the pandemic, fans of movie theaters have helped revive

drive-in theaters, a safe way to have a similar theater experience. While streaming lets me binge-watch new seasons of different shows, there is something different about movie theaters that will continue bringing people in even with the rise of more streaming services.

Going out to the movies with friends, especially now that pandemic restrictions have loosened, is a great way to get out, have fun and experience a new film, something that can’t necessarily be provided by binge-watching Netflix alone. For those in college, movie theaters often offer student discounts as long as you show proof of a student ID, which is another reason going in person may be the better choice. Ultimately, it is up to each person to choose if they prefer going to see movies in theaters or through streaming services, but cinemas offer an experience that streaming cannot provide, and it shows that they aren’t going anywhere for the time being.

Ava Alaeddini is a second-year English major. She can be reached at alaeddini.a@northeastern.edu

SPORTS

Page 12

April 1, 2022

Rookie Semptimphelter dominates at Beanpot

By Lauren Thomas News Staff After Northeastern men’s ice hockey (25-13-1) starting goalie sophomore Devon Levi left in January to play in the 2022 Olympics, freshman goaltender TJ Semptimphelter took advantage of his opportunity to defend the net.

At his Northeastern hockey debut Jan. 22, Semptimphelter took to the ice after Levi and sophomore goalie Evan Fear failed to hold off University of Massachusetts Amherst’s (22-13-2) offense in the first two periods. Semptimphelter made 11 saves to shut out the Minutemen in the third period, but the damage was already done and the Huskies fell 6-0.

“I knew that I did everything to set myself up for success for that opportunity. That’s why I put all the work in behind closed doors,” Semptimphelter said. “Obviously, [head coach Jerry Keefe] had a lot of faith in me, so it was good to know that I had support behind me, and all the guys were super excited for me, so it was very exciting.”

In his first start of the season against University of Massachusetts Lowell (21-11-3) Jan. 28, Semptimphelter racked up 30 saves, but failed to stop the River Hawks from defeating NU 2-1.

To mentally and physically prepare for his first start, Semptimphelter said he followed his usual pregame routines.

“I talked to [assistant coach Mike] Condon a lot this year about meditation and deep breathing, and that just kind of helps calm me down and lets your body know that, even though there’s so much chaos going on, everything’s fine,” Semptimphelter said. “I like to just listen to my own music, juggle my tennis balls and just get mentally prepared and tell myself ‘it’s just another game, and you’re playing the game of hockey that you love.’”

Semptimphelter said his parents played a large role in getting him to this point in his hockey career.

“They’re obviously super supportive and all the sacrifices that they’ve made to allow me to be here today — it’s unbelievable,” Semptimphelter said. “When I told [my parents] that I was going to be getting my first start they were extremely excited for me. I tell them about all of the days staying late at the rink and working out late, so they know I put the work in, and I set myself up for the best opportunity to have success, and they were excited to watch.”

As the team entered the 2022 Beanpot in February, the players faced the added pressure of trying to win the tournament for the fourth consecutive year. Semptimphelter covered the net in both games of the tournament and made an impressive show, allowing just one goal from each team faced.

“There’s so much energy in that environment that everyone’s playing very aggressively, Photo by on top of Kayla Shiao

pucks and skating as hard as they can,” Semptimphelter said. “I think the fans are really what makes the Beanpot — just having all the support from the students and the other people in Boston that show out and support.”

Despite being just his third career start in collegiate hockey, the rookie goalie dominated in the Beanpot semifinals Feb. 7, where the Huskies beat the Boston College Eagles (1518-5) with a score of 3-1. The win was due largely to Semptimphelter’s 41 saves — the most by any Northeastern goalie in the past 10 Beanpots.

“I knew with [Levi] leaving it was a big opportunity for the team and for me, and my goal is just to be the best version of myself and give my team a chance to win every time I’m in there,” Semptimphelter said.

After his performance in the Beanpot semifinals, Semptimphelter received plenty of attention from the media, fans and former Northeastern players.

“I did get a nice post from Cayden Primeau after the first win. He shouted out me and Jordan Harris, and said ‘Good luck for the fourpeat,’” Semptimphelter said. “It was really awesome to have that support from alumni and guys that have gone through it before.”

In the Beanpot Championship game Feb. 14, Northeastern fell to Boston University (19-13-3) with a final score of 1-0. Semptimphelter shut out BU until the final three minutes, ending the game with 28 saves.

“Hockey East is such a competitive conference that every game you go out there you know you can win or lose — you can’t take anyone lightly,” Semptimphelter said. “It definitely was exciting and very intense, playing in the Beanpot.”

With a save percentage of .972 in the tournament, Semptimphelter was the 12th Northeastern goalie to earn the Eberly Award for the highest save percentage in the Beanpot. The award is named after Glen and Dan Eberly; the latter was a Northeastern goalie from 1969 to 1972.

“For me, it was more about just showing that I can play at this level and proving to my teammates and the coaching staff that I have what it takes,” Semptimphelter said. “[The coaches] were awesome, and they had all the belief in the world in me and, as a player, as a freshman, to have that kind of support behind you going into the net is unbelievable.”

Semptimphelter said senior defenseman Julian Kislin in particular made sure he knew Kislin had faith in him.

“For a guy like that to pull me aside — it was unbelievable, and it just goes to show you the kind of leadership that we have on this team that just helps us be so successful,” Semptimphelter said.

Throughout his rookie season, Semptimphelter accumulated 438 minutes, 211 saves and ended with a .934 save percentage.

“It was awesome to be able to play in the Beanpot as a freshman, and it’s obviously a dream come true,” Semptimphelter said. “That’s why you go to Northeastern and that’s why a lot of guys love all the Boston schools, and it was awesome to be a part of that. I look forward to participating in the future and hopefully winning it, so that’s the goal.”

The Huskies ended the season with a winning record of 25-13-1.

Semptimphelter said he attributes much of the team’s success to the strong leadership dynamic.

“Whether you play or not, I think everybody in the locker room has an integral role,” Semptimphelter said. “We’re a really tight-knit group and I think the leadership, and all the guys taking ownership of what they can and doing the little things, I think that’s what’s making our guys have so much success this year.”

Historic men’s hockey season ends in heartbreak

By Eli Curwin News Staff Northeastern men’s ice hockey (2513-1) fell 2-1 in an overtime loss to No. 1 seed Western Michigan University, or WMU, (26-12-1) March 25 in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship.

While the loss closed the door on a potential NCAA trophy, the Huskies made history this season, clinching the program’s first regular season Hockey East title and stockpiling several individual awards. For head coach Jerry Keefe, the team’s determination and passion shown in each game was the season’s crowning achievement.

“It was a step forward. These guys won 25 games and they won a Hockey East regular season championship, and they’ll always be champions because they won that trophy,” Keefe said. “I knew how badly they wanted to win and we’re a better program moving forward because of this season.”

Western Michigan’s road to the NCAA championship tournament was clear: The team was well within the bubble and were ranked in the top five nationally as the regular season ended. For Northeastern, after a loss to University of Connecticut (20-16) in the Hockey East semifinals, the team’s bid to the championship tournament was out of their control.

After an absurd night of overtime games March 19, Northeastern players celebrated as they secured the last at-large bid to the national tournament. Celebration turned into preparation as Northeastern would have to face one of the best offensive and most physically demanding teams in the nation.

With WMU possessing the leading scorer in the nation, senior forward Ethen Frank; one of the best passers in the nation, senior forward Drew Worrad; and averaging the fourth most goals per game of any team, Northeastern faced an offensive juggernaut and an uphill battle.

From the first period the battle looked like a losing one. The Huskies’ defense struggled mightily in the first frame, over-committing to the puck and getting beat down the ice. Throughout the first 10 minutes, Northeastern was bailed out by whiffed shots and broken sticks. Luckily, when the Broncos did beat the Huskies’ defense, sophomore goaltender Devon Levi was there to keep WMU out of the net.

However, while Levi was able to keep the Broncos out initially, a sloppy Northeastern pass near center ice led to a two-on-one fast break snipe from senior forward Cole Gallant 14 minutes into the first period.

Following the goal, a cross checking penalty on freshman forward Ryan St. Louis seemed to make matters worse for the Huskies, but Northeastern’s topnotch penalty kill kept the puck out of the zone, killing the advantage.

The period ended with Northeastern only taking five shots on goal, all behind the faceoff circles, and the Huskies down one.

The second period was a different story. Northeastern’s defense swarmed the puck, keeping the Broncos from any good looks at the net.

Timely defense from senior defenseman and captain Jordan Harris and junior defenseman Jayden Struble led the way for the Huskies.

The defensive start to the period resulted in several quick rushes, and

one lone man rush by sophomore right wing Gunnarwolfe Fontaine led to a Bronco hooking penalty five minutes into the second period.

While the Huskies played poorly throughout the advantage, Fontaine’s aggressiveness set Northeastern’s tone for the rest of the game.

The Broncos killed the penalty, but Northeastern’s offense had found new life. Graduate student defenseman Tommy Miller and freshman forward Jack Hughes nearly got the puck past Bronco junior goalie Brandon Bussi, but Bussi warded off the rolling Northeastern offense.

Although the Huskies were unable to score, the team’s grit on defense and poise on offense shifted the momentum to Northeastern’s side.

With presumably the final 20 minutes of the season starting to tick down, Northeastern began the third period flooring the gas. The Huskies hurled shot after shot at Bussi in the first two minutes, but none slipped through.

After a lengthy Northeastern possession, Western Michigan got their chance in the zone, whipping shots at the goal. Levi saved everything. Both goaltenders were nearly impenetrable. Intensity filled the air in Worcester’s DCU Center, as Huskies threw Broncos into the boards and open ice checks left fallen skaters scattered across the rink.

With six minutes left in the game, Levi made a diving save to keep the Huskies within one.

A minute after Levi’s save, Northeastern freshman forward Justin Hryckowian poked the puck free near the blue line. Sophomore forward Sam Colangelo corralled the

puck and sent it to junior forward Aidan McDonough. The team’s leading scorer deked a Bronco out of his skates, skated in front of the net, and forced the puck in.

In the final four minutes, neither team would score, although both had opportunities. Levi and Bussi kept the game tied, sending the game into overtime.

out, but it was stolen by Bronco sophomore forward Luke Grainger.

Grainger skated behind the net for a better angle, as Levi scrambled to get in front. Grainger took the shot and Levi dove in front of the net blocking the puck with his glove. Grainger recovered and shot it again into Levi’s back.

The teams made their way back to the benches, and the referees went to

Photo by Kayla Shiao Freshman forward Justin Hryckowian faces off against WMU senior forward Drew Worrad.

Having won several overtime games during the regular season and with momentum in its favor, Northeastern was in an excellent position to complete the upset. The Huskies began the extra period of hockey with the same urgency seen in the final two periods, winning the faceoff and taking a few shots at Bussi.

After a Northeastern possession, the Broncos dumped the puck into NU’s zone, prompting Levi to leave the net to recover it. As he skated behind the net, two Broncos crept up on both sides of him, trapping him behind it. Levi tried to pass the puck

review the play. As the players and crowd waited for a call, the DCU Center jumbotron showed the overhead angle.

The Bronco bench jubilated as the screens showed the puck barely crossing the red line, and the referees confirmed the goal.

The Huskies looked on in disbelief.

Senior defender Julian Kislin and Harris hugged each other as their time on Northeastern hockey came to an end. Several players commended Northeastern’s mobile DogHouse, waving their sticks to the dedicated Northeastern fans.