November 3, 2023

The Huntington News November 3, 2023

The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community

Photos by Sofia Sawchuk Students run across the street in their underwear.

The route spanned 1.9 miles.

@HuntNewsNU

STUDENTS SHAKE OFF CLOTHES, RAIN FOR NU’S 17TH ANNUAL UNDERWEAR RUN

By Jarriah Cockhren | News Correspondent On the night of Oct. 21, Northeastern students brought music, friends, underwear and good vibes to Speare Place for the 17th annual student-organized Underwear Run, withstanding rain, wind and dropping temperatures.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the unofficial Northeastern tradition resumed last fall, shocking organizers with its tremendous turnout.

The Underwear Run dates back to 2006, when undergraduate Story Wibby organized the event through social media and word-of-mouth after discussing the idea of the run with fellow classmates and peers, according to The News’ previous coverage of the event. Nearly two decades later, the Underwear Run is a valued Husky tradition.

Azza Borovicka-Swanson, a fourth-year experience design and engineering combined major, was one of the organizers for this year’s Underwear Run. A first-time runner in 2022, Borovicka-Swanson decided to take over the event after last-year’s organizers graduated. She admitted the planning and organizing process can be overwhelming, accounting for the location, route, DJ, weather and more, but well worth the fun. “Rain or shine, [the] fun never stops,” she said.

Equipped with a DJ to energize the crowd, the run was set to commence at 9:20 p.m. in Speare Place but ran behind schedule due to technical

difficulties. Nonetheless, over 100 students, both experienced runners and first-timers, showed up and out in their underwear, chatting with friends and swaying to music, ready to dash through the 1.9 mile course around campus.

The event started off slow at the 8:40 p.m. pre-run party but was soon overrun with students in their undergarments, some even coordinating matching ensembles with their friends or arriving in costume.

Second-year biology major Joshua Deng and his friends, who had dared him to attend the event, sported matching Donkey Kong underwear for their very first Underwear Run. “I kind of wanted to see if I could withstand the cold,” Deng said. “I just thought it would be fun.”

It appears Deng was right. Students penetrated the dull sound of rain with laughter, dancing and chattering. Third-year health science major Erica Jackson said that the run was “like a party,” and that there were “great vibes all around.”

The event was also swamped with a considerable number of upperclassmen who wanted to do the Underwear Run at least once before graduating to cross it off their bucket list.

UNDERGARMENTS, on Page 2

Northeastern students sing for climate justice

Photos by Quillian Anderson Students perfom at the Climate Justice Jam. The partnership between CUP and Sunrise allowed students to feel heard.

By Galiah Abbud | News Correspondent Northeastern’s Council of University Programs, or CUP, and Sunrise Northeastern, a campus group dedicated to environmental activism, hosted the first Climate Justice Jam in over 10 years Oct. 6 in AfterHours.

The event featured 10 performances from student musicians and speakers representing the cause of the night: pushing Northeastern to divest and cut all ties with the fossil fuel industry.

“CUP and Sunrise have a lot of overlapping members because we share the same morality and mission: to build community on campus,” said Haylen Wehr, a second-year international business major and CUP member. “We partnered because of that shared mission: building a community supporting divestment.”

Despite claiming to be a green campus, Northeastern has heavily in-

vested in fossil fuels. Northeastern experts even agree that to work towards a greener future, those in power must disaffiliate from fossil fuel companies — however, the university doesn’t seem to be listening. In 2016, Northeastern told students that it invested $65 million in fossil fuels, according to an article published by Disorientation Northeastern, a coalition of student groups who seek to inform students on social issues at Northeastern. In response to pressure from the student body and staff, it allocated $25 million to sustainability.

ENVIRONMENTALISM, on Page 8

CITY

SPORTS

LIFESTYLE

Q&A with pogosticking record breaker

International rowing competition thrills city

Series to watch when the leaves change color

Read about how James Roumeliotis sprung into the world record books.

Read about the 58th annual Head of the Charles regatta.

Read about the best TV picks to keep you in the fall mood.

PAGE 4

Photo courtesy James Roumeliotis.

PAGE 6-7

Photo by Ananya Kulkarni

PAGE 9

Graphic by Kristina DaPonte

CAMPUS

Page 2

November 3, 2023

Undie-grads strip down, brave cold weather for cross-campus race tradition UNDERGARMENT, from front “It’s my third year. I’m trying to get all the Northeastern things done before I graduate,” said Celine Plaisir, a third-year health science and psychology combined major.

As students lingered around Speare Place waiting for the run to commence, spectators like Nicole Perez, a first-year political science major, were drawn to the event by the blaring music and growing crowd.

“I didn’t really know what was going on. I just heard the music from the dining hall. It seemed interesting,” Perez said.

As students took off from Speare Place, they passed the narrow sidewalks of Marino Recreation Center, toward the art installations near

West Village H, around the newly constructed EXP building and Carter Field, in between the Curry Student Center and around the Cabot Center, finishing back at Speare Place.

As students both excitedly and breathlessly darted back to Speare Place, some were already anticipating next year’s run, like Kachi Alexander Nwagha, a fourth-year computer science and design combined major, who declared he plans to finish first in the next Underwear Run. “I am running for fun, but I’m also an athlete, so speed is part of the fun,” said Nwagha, senior forward for the Northeastern Men’s Basketball team.

While some students left immediately after passing the finish line, others stayed afterwards to further

enjoy the frivolity of the hip-hop and pop music being played, preparing for the after party hosted by the run’s organizers.

Organizer Borovicka-Swanson said she was “a bit concerned with the rain, but it was a big turnout and people were really excited,” deeming this year’s Underwear Run a success.

She hoped next year’s run will be “bigger and better.”

SCAN THE QR CODE TO WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT THE EVENT.

Photo by Sofia Sawchuk Students gather in Speare Place to celebrate the Underwear Run. Many have already made plans to attend next year’s run.

NU students with disabilities feel excluded from inaccessible campus green spaces

By Heidi Ho News Correspondent On a warm day on campus, many Northeastern students can be found in hammocks, on blankets or in Adirondack chairs on the campus’ various green spaces. However, advocates say many of these areas, such as Centennial Common and West Village Quad, do not have sufficient accommodations for mobility aids like wheelchairs.

Northeastern prides itself on inclusivity, stating on its website that it is “committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive community where individuals of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences can thrive.”

However, many students believe non-accessible green spaces on campus violate this pledge.

“I don’t think we have that many green spaces on campus to begin with, and the ones we do have are all grass for the most part,” said Emma Albert, a third-year public health major and president of the Diversability Club. Albert is a wheelchair user and said common accessibility features are often unavailable on campus. “Not having a ramp or even just [a] curb-cutout makes it very difficult for us to use [the green spaces].”

At a recent forum hosted by

Northeastern’s Department of Campus Planning & Real Estate, which gathered students’ opinions on the future of the Boston campus, many requested “more accessible outdoor spaces.” For instance, while Centennial Common does have a ramp, it is not paved.

According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine in 2021, accessibility to green spaces is positively correlated with improved mental health. These areas are a great way to escape the bustling city and stress of classes, and Northeastern touts its campus within a metropolis as a “one-of-a-kind sanctuary of lush green spaces.”

“I feel like fresh air is good — go out and explore, especially if you’ve been inside the library all day,” said first-year chemistry major Annika Glitzenstein, who uses a knee scooter.

One of the few accessible green spaces on campus, the bamboo garden, is located in International Village.

A sign at the entrance of the garden reads that it is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but many complain that the garden is always closed. Residents are unable to enter the garden without being scanned in. It is the only green space that is wheelchair-friendly because the cement floor is flat and does not feature a grassy incline.

“This is the one outdoor space with seating that I could use, but it’s not open,” Albert said.

Caroline Southard-Smith, a third-year computer science and media arts combined major, lives in a West Village residence hall and is currently using a knee scooter after a running injury left her with a stress fracture in her foot. She enjoys spending time on West Village Quad but has been unable to due to its lack of accessibility, she said.

“You can’t really get up there unless you’re willing to pick up [your mobility aid],” Southard-Smith said.

Not only do students with disabilities find it more difficult to utilize the green spaces for relaxing, they are inherently excluded from certain events. The $163 student activity fee is a mandatory charge that helps fund campus events and undergraduate student organizations.

Organizations have used those funds to bring guest artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Beach Bunny and CupcakKe to perform on Centennial Common.

Most of the time, the temporary concert stage is set up on the pavement near the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute and the audience watches from Centennial.

Those with mobility aids are not able to attend these events because the grass is shaped like a dome,

preventing them from anchoring themselves.

“There’s just no way for me to access something like that, which is definitely very frustrating,” Albert said. “It would be helpful to design some green spaces that are flat”.

The Diversability Club on campus works closely with the Disability Resource Center and routinely brings up concerns with the administration.

Recently, they have been in communication with the Center for Student Involvement after several members’ negative experiences at Fall Fest, Albert said.

It was too crowded for the club’s members to get around, and they were not given chairs, which they requested as accommodations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, prohibits institutions from discriminating against people with disabilities. While Northeastern does provide ADA accom-

modations, advocates say they may not be the most practical solution.

According to students, elevators often break down, people move ADA seating arrangements in the classroom and many classrooms feature tiered seating, like lecture halls in Shillman Hall.

Southard-Smith has a class on the second floor of Hastings Hall, but has been attending classes via Zoom because as far as she is aware, there is no elevator in the building that reaches her classroom.

“It’s just too much of a hassle to get friends to carry my scooter up to the second floor every single time I have to go to that class,” she said.

As Northeastern continues its mission to provide for all students, student organizations like Diversability stress that it is important that every student gets access to the resources they need to be successful.

“Once I started my freshman year I realized that there were so many barriers and challenges that I wasn’t anticipating,” Albert said. “It’s a larger systemic problem in higher education.”

Photo by Darin Zullo Students sit and do work on Centennial Common. Many students say they can’t enjoy green spaces such as Centennial and West Village Quad due a lack of adequate disability accomodations.

CAMPUS

November 3, 2023

Page 3

Data reveals over half of student population is in top 10% of income wealths

By Sarah Mesdjian News Correspondent Data recently published by the New York Times supports the common assumption that excessive wealth significantly increases the likelihood that an individual may attend a selective private college, and Northeastern is no exception to this pattern.

According to the Times’ research and data from Opportunity Insights, 52% of Northeastern’s student body belongs to families with parents earning in the top 10% of family incomes, and 7% of the student population is among the top 1% (numbers are approximated based on students’ parental tax income records in 2015). The thresholds to be among the top 10% and 1% are annual family incomes above $191,406 and $867,436, respectively.

Data also showed that students among the top 1% were nearly four times more likely to attend Northeastern than the average college-bound student, and over 12 times more likely to attend than students in the bottom 20% of family incomes. Annual household incomes among the bottom 20% are less than $26,685.

“It’s sad, but not surprising,” said Kaia Moehlis, a second-year environmental science major. “I think I’ve just been told my whole life stuff like this happens, so it’s not surprising.”

Rather than mitigating the issue of education access for lower-income students, the data show Northeastern has contributed to the trend. From 2008 to 2018, Northeastern’s tuition increased costs by 4.5% per year while

inflation averaged only 1.8%. These price increases mean that Northeastern has gradually become less accessible to lower-income individuals.

However, compared to several other Boston schools, including Boston College, Harvard, Tufts and Boston University, Northeastern is more accessible. Among Boston schools, Boston College has the most drastic disparity, with individuals among the top 1% having 10.1 times the likelihood of attending compared to the average rate.

“I think that the American education system is deeply flawed, especially within things like providing money for the public sector,” said Elise Freedman, a third-year international affairs and international business combined major. “It doesn’t surprise me that rich people are getting into good schools because their families can afford [the tuition prices] better.”

A follow-up article published by the Times Sept. 7 displayed a list of colleges ranked in order of their economic diversity. The index analyzed the share of students who receive Pell Grants, which are grants provided to students among the bottom 50% of income distribution.

Northeastern ranked in the bottom 13% of schools, coming in 248th out of 283 schools, indicating that Northeastern’s student body is less economically diverse than many other selective universities. Northeastern’s freshman Pell share is 13%, significantly lagging behind the national average of 21%.

“Education is one of the biggest things that helps people move from a socioeconomic rank to an improved

status,” said Mark Hooker, an economics teaching professor at Northeastern. “So that’s one of the reasons there’s a lot of effort in trying to get education more broadly accessible.”

Hooker weighed in on why many private, selective universities may limit enrollment of students coming from lower-income families.

“The majority of schools take into consideration the need for financial aid, so they probably admit fewer high-need students than they otherwise would,” Hooker said. “From the point of view of the profitability of the university, the more people they admit who are willing to pay the full amount, the better off it is for the university financially.”

In addition to deliberate action by the university, there are other factors that may lead to increased enrollment of students within the top percentiles of family incomes.

A research paper by professors Raj Chetty and David Deming of Harvard University and John Friedman of Brown University found that legacy admissions, recruitment of athletes and a preference for students coming from private “feeder” schools are all factors that increase the likelihood for students among the top 1% to attend elite private universities. Although Northeastern does not consider legacy status, Northeastern’s recruitment of athletes and priority admission of

students from “feeder” schools have contributed to this pattern.

“There’s a full infrastructure that upper-income people tend to avail themselves that lower-income people either don’t know about or just don’t have,” Hooker said.

Northeastern should take steps to support a more economically diverse student body, Moehlis said.

“We’re not funding enough people to get an education that will serve them properly,” Freedman said. “I think that as a society, in the United States, we need to start funding a larger population of students in schools so that everyone has the same access to education.”

Northeastern economics teaching professor Gustavo Vicentini explained that one step elite private schools can take to diversify their student populations and give those in the lower half of the wealth bracket more oppor-

A 2021 N.U.in London student, Marsh said she felt unsupported during her first semester at the university. When she attempted to contact her advisor while abroad, she got no response.

“The real reason my advisor never responded was because she had left the school, so I didn’t even know what a degree audit or NUPath was until the end of my freshman year,” Marsh said. “I could have declared a major much earlier, which would have allowed me to take more useful classes if I had actually had a present advisor.”

Marsh’s experience is not unique.

Multiple students told The News that constant advisor turnover has left them hanging without the support they needed.

“The trend that has been happening is that once I meet with them, about a few months later, I am told that I will be getting a new advisor,” said Carmen Phillips-Alvarez, a third-year criminal justice and political science combined major, adding that her first advisor has since returned from maternity leave and been reassigned to other students. “If she is back from maternity leave, can’t her original students be returned to her?”

Victoria Caspare, a

third-year business administration major, has also struggled with unexpected advisor changes.

“I had a pretty great relationship with my former advisor,” Caspare said. “I communicated with her every semester to make sure that I was on track and she knew me to the point where she could spot me on campus.”

This spring, however, everything changed.

“This past semester, she emailed me saying how I reached my halfway point of being at school and that my advisor would now be switching. I thought I had my advisor for all four years, but I guess that isn’t the case,” Caspare said.

After this initial shock, Caspare faced another struggle: getting in contact with her new advisor.

“She said I will be getting a new advisor and that they will reach out to me, and I never got an email,” Caspare said. “This was over three weeks ago, and I still haven’t had anyone reach out.”

Marsh said the lack of accessibility to advisors interfered with her co-op opportunities and schedule flexibility.

“This had a huge cascading effect when it came to my co-op,” Marsh said. “I was scheduled to be on co-op this fall, but because my advisors were constantly changing, I didn’t know I

could have registered for the co-op class earlier, which means I could have already completed a co-op.”

Marsh’s scheduled co-op for this semester fell through because of funding reasons at the company that had hired her. While this was not the fault of anyone in the Academic Advising Office, she said, the lack of support that followed limited her in registering for classes she needed.

“It was so difficult to get a hold of my advisor to register for classes that I am now just taking whatever’s left. I had sent my current advisor so many emails until I eventually had to call the director of [the College of Social Sciences and Humanities] advising,” Marsh said.

Left without the advocacy of an advisor, Marsh had to sign up for classes that were not beneficial to her academic plan. In addition, she must now navigate completing required courses and fulfilling a study abroad major requirement.

“I had wanted to do three co-ops, but now I have to fight to do one,” Marsh said. “I don’t think I should have to give up an experience to study abroad or one of my co-ops to fill in the gaps of these classes because I’ve had inadequate advising.”

When asked about what she wished to see in the future from

tunities for admission is through a “relative admission-test score” system.

“You should benchmark the scores of kids based on where they’re coming from,” Vicentini said. “A kid from a poorer neighborhood might have to work a job for 15 hours per week because they have to help out at home.

So, they might not have the chance to study as much as the kid from a higher-income neighborhood.”

This system utilizes assumptions to determine what test score a student from a lower-income neighborhood might have gotten if they were provided with the same resources and time to study as students from higher-income neighborhoods.

Admitting students based on “relative admission-test score” could help to minimize wealth barriers in higher education and diversify not only Northeastern’s campus, but all elite private universities, Vicentini said.

Graphic by Jethro R. Lee

Students struggle with support as academic advisors constantly change

By Lily Webber News Staff “We’re here every step of the way.”

This statement is plastered — and capitalized — across the Northeastern Office of Academic Advising webpage. Some students think otherwise.

A resource for all Northeastern students, the Office of Academic Advising works to create academic plans and advise students on course decisions. Each college holds independent advising offices, ensuring that every student is assigned an advisor. However, a common experience among students in every college is frequent advisor turnover.

“I have had a different academic advisor almost every semester and they have almost exclusively left without any warning,” said Madeline Marsh, a third-year international affairs major.

“Usually, I will send emails or try to make appointments, and I won’t get an answer until … one day I either call the office repeatedly or get an email from a new person introducing themselves as my new advisor.”

Graphic by Emma Liu

the Office of Academic Advising, Caspare said, “I would definitely like to see more availability [within the office], or just interest towards the students. I definitely felt like I was the one always reaching out.”

Phillips-Alvarez, who has had six different advisors in her two-and-ahalf years at Northeastern, hopes to see institutional changes from the Academic Advising Office.

“I wish they would hire more permanent staff, but I think the big issue is that they don’t have enough staff in general, so then people get overworked and they need to get more people, but then it becomes a vicious cycle of constantly needing more advisors,” Phillips-Alvarez said.

Marsh shared a similar sentiment and wished for more support from advisors. She also advocated for better resources for the advisors themselves.

“I would like to see some measures taken, whether it be a better salary — because I know Northeastern can afford it — more benefits or any sort of provisions in place that would allow Northeastern to not be a transitional job for these advisors,” Marsh said.

“And then, I feel like for those it has affected, there should be measures in place that support us first — whether it be that we get early registration to classes because we haven’t received the support.”

CITY

Page 4

November 3, 2023

World record holder James Roumeliotis bounces back from chronic pain

By Cathy Ching News Staff Almost anybody can break a world record jumping on a pogo stick, James Roumeliotis said. He knows because he’s done it five times, even in chronic pain.

On Sept. 9, the 37-year-old senior engineering manager at AcuityMD reclaimed his title for the most consecutive jumps on a pogo stick at the South Boston Vietnam Memorial.

He finished with 115,170 jumps and raised over $12,000 for the New England Center and Home for Veterans.

He had previously held this title in 2013 before losing it to Jack Sexty of Bristol, England in 2015. Before that, Roumeliotis had also broken records for most bounces in a pogo stick marathon and longest distance in pogo stick jumping.

His first attempt began in 2007.

Eventually, pogoing led to Roumeliotis’ degenerative disc disease diagnosis.

The News interviewed Roumeliotis, who spoke from his home in Tewksbury, about the challenges of obtaining a world record. Roumeliotis also spoke about raising money for charity, life since his diagnosis and how his feet started to hurt in the first hour of his almost-12-hour record because he had bought new shoes a week prior.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

The Huntington News: How did you overcome the challenge of your foot pain during your most recent world record attempt?

Roumeliotis: My family and friends were so supportive of me. Even if I didn’t make the goal, I know everyone would have still supported me and said, “You did your best.” But I did not want to let any single person down.

A nickname I’ve taken on as a work persona is “Pogo.” And my license plate says “Mr. Pogo.” I kept thinking to myself, “Here I am calling myself these things. Labeling myself.” I needed to take this back.

HN: What does raising money for this charity mean to you?

Roumeliotis: My father-in-law served in Vietnam and he has since dedicated his life toward veterans and helping people remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice of dying.

It holds a special place in my heart because of what he’s done for the New England Center and Home for Veterans. As well as being a co-founder of the South Boston Vietnam Memorial, he’s played such a crucial role in all of that in helping keep Boston in the forefront for veterans.

HN: Back in 2015, Jack Sexty took the title away from you for a little bit. How did you feel when he beat your record?

Roumeliotis: There were three of us. Jack, Casey and I. That day, I bounced a lot faster. I’m a lighter, smaller guy. And so each hour that went by, the gap between myself and them was getting wider. I stopped at just over 88,000 jumps and immediately swore out loud, because I gave Jack the finish line. World records especially are meant to be broken. And so if someone else can take it even further, that’s awesome. Even though I was done and I gave him the finish line, he still had to do his job — and he did, which was great.

HN: Why did you decide to try and get your title back almost 10 years later?

Roumeliotis: I just kept thinking back to that day and what went wrong. I really wanted to give it a little bit more justice. This last one,

everything came together and went well. I broke the record. I pushed it further. It was just super fun and engaging. I do look at this one though and think to myself, “What could have happened if I didn’t make such a rookie mistake of changing my shoes a week before? Could I have gone further if my feet didn’t start to hurt until the eighth hour versus the first hour?” So, who knows what the future holds? This one kept drawing on my mind for all of these years.

I’m glad to finally put it to rest for a little bit.

Roumeliotis: Absolutely. I think so.

I really do. This record in particular, it’s more of a mental game than a physical game. If you can maintain balance and just bounce on a pogo stick, you just need to want it and push yourself to hit that number. I definitely do think anyone with the right mindset and training can easily do it.

HN: With hard training, do you think that any able-bodied person could be able to do this?

HN: People who hold world records can sometimes fall victim to overly pursuing their goals at the expense of other aspects of their life. Do you think that you have sacrificed anything substantial in your life for this record?

Roumeliotis: That is an incredible question. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that. Well, yes and no.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. So my lumbar spine, the discs are pretty much ... mostly gone. They’re still there, but they’re down to some bare necessities, and so I feel almost like a bit of arthritis in my lower back.

Prior to the record attempt, I had a couple of cortisone shots, and it’s been amazing. I haven’t had chronic back pain that I’ve had for years, which has been remarkable. I’d say that’s probably the only unfortunate side effect.

As far as the rest of my life, I still have great ambitions for my leadership in technology companies.

I still have a lot of aspirations to be a great father for my children. I’m not going to give up my family and I’m not going to give up my career.

My wife stepped up in all acts of the word by helping the kids when I couldn’t, when I needed to train a little bit more. I’m fortunate enough where I haven’t had to make any significant sacrifices in any of my other ambitions.

supplies to ensure safer substance use.

Syringe kits, safe injection kits and smoking supplies donated from harm reduction agencies sets the organization apart from many others in the area, Maron said.

Harm reduction is a principle of mitigating drug use by accepting that substance use is a reality for unhoused individuals and choosing to minimize its effects rather than ignoring or condemning them. Providing safer means to use drugs over potentially dangerous means they might find on their own meets people “where they are at,” and is a step in addressing substance abuse in a way that maintains respect for those suffering from addiction.

“Those sorts of things really help us connect with the community,” Maron said. “It really provides people another avenue of access that they wouldn’t normally have.”

A lack of resources and housing are not the only perils that unhoused individuals face in Boston. Police sweeps of encampments jeopardize the little temporary shelter people can find, losing tents and many of their

belongings to state authorities and leaving them with nowhere to go.

A recent new Boston city government policy has banned encampments, a move slated to make it more difficult for the daily life of Boston’s unhoused population.

Mitigating the effects these sweeps have on unhoused people is part of Warm Up Boston’s mission. “We have ears in a lot of state agencies,” Maron said. “At this point in our organization, we have a pretty good sense of when something’s coming.

That helps us organize a response and try to stay on top of things to the best of our ability.”

In addition to helping people move and salvage belongings, organizers sought to challenge the sweep.

“We learned from previous sweeps kind of how to act. We wanted to agitate a little bit,” Jaclard said. Making a banner reading “sweeps are violence,” the group was able to push back against the police presence and spread word of the harm sweeps cause.

“You could hear the cops being like, ‘What do they mean by sweeps are

HN: Would you say you’re a competitive person?

Roumeliotis: I don’t think I’m as strong of a competitor as what I would classify as true competitors.

People that get visibly upset and emotionally driven to do what they need to do. At the end of the day, I’m happy for people. Especially when it comes to world records, they’re meant to be broken. I’m happy when someone achieves it because I know the work that needs to go in to do it.

HN: How would you justify that setting a world record in pogo sticking is genuinely a groundbreaking achievement?

Roumeliotis: One thing that Jack and I actually talk about is even though we set the records, we’re just normal guys. We’re not super athletes.

People always say, “Oh yeah, I could totally do that.” And to me, that’s kind of the purpose, right? The purpose behind doing any of these record attempts, aside from raising money for charities, is to help people realize they’re more capable than they might think they are.

HN: How recently were you diagnosed with this disease?

Roumeliotis: I was recently diagnosed while I was training for this event. I worked with my doctor to understand why I have this chronic pain. I’m only 37. With age, things get worse, but I’m like, “This shouldn’t be that bad. Not like this.” My primary care physician recommended an orthopedic surgeon in Lowell. He recommended cortisone shots to try and see how my body reacted, which has been phenomenal. He mentioned that there’s no way to heal this. There are advancements in medicine that, who knows, maybe five, 10 years from now it’s possible to do disc replacements in a healthy way.

HN: Did anyone in your life tell you to not go through with pogo sticking?

Roumeliotis: My family was concerned because they’ve seen the pain that occurs during these record attempts. My dad especially. All well intentioned, of course. Looking out for my well-being and making sure I can live a long and healthy life. He was concerned, but he knew that I was very passionate about pursuing this.

So, he didn’t pressure it anymore and instead became an ally and supporter of what I was doing.

HN: Would you say that jumping on a pogo stick heals your inner child?

Roumeliotis: I think it absolutely does. Jack and I talked about this before.

I mean, you can’t get on a pogo stick and look badass. You’re just bouncing around and it’s a goofy device. I think by nature and organically, it allows you to actually embrace that childhood feeling.

It just naturally does that. I think it’s unlike the majority of any other toys or devices out there because you just can’t really look that cool.

Mutual aid organization Warm Up Boston helps unhoused where it counts

By Eleanor Goudie News Staff A mutual aid network in Boston is on a mission to uplift unhoused individuals where it matters. Warm Up Boston, founded in 2020, provides meals, clothes, harm reduction equipment and funds directly to unhoused people in Boston.

Twice a week, Warm Up Boston holds distributions to donate supplies, one in Downtown Crossing and one that is a mobile pop-up that changes depending on needs across Boston, said organizer Cole Price.

“My original goal was to just raise money and help out the Freedom Fighters Coalition,” said founder Vincent Jaclard, who originally sought donations for items to help people keep warm during harsh Boston winters. “We just kept getting donations and eventually it turned into an [organization].”

The organization garners most of its support and donations online. “We do occasional shows where we table and sell t-shirts … but at the end of

the day, it 100% comes through social media,” said organizer Miguel Maron.

The group found that direct monetary contributions are the most efficient means of aid. “When it comes to material donations, a lot of extra time needs to be considered … making time to be around to collect donations from folks,” Jaclard said.

This makes it easy for anyone to get involved by making donations online, and in-person volunteers are also greatly needed by the organization to collect supplies and manage distributions.

“Volunteer retention would be a pretty big [problem],” Jaclard said, but this year things have changed.

“There’s been a lot more people who have stuck with it, and I think the [organization] is growing in that way for sure.”

Within the last six months, the organization has consisted of a core group of around 14 organizers and about 45 additional volunteers.

In terms of material goods, the most helpful donation that Warm Up Boston receives is harm reduction

violence?’ So hearing encampment residents explain to the cop why sweeps are violent was beneficial,” Jaclard said.

Overall, the organization seeks to build a sustained community presence through a harm-reduction approach. The unhoused population is experiencing a constant cycle of traumatic experiences, Maron said.

“Anything that we’re doing to make their lives slightly easier, the effects of it multiply … you can really see the material change that happens in a community,” Maron said. As the organization grows, they hope to multiply that change.

Warm Up Boston is also hoping to expand their efforts across Massachusetts. “We’re seeking to collaborate with other mutual aid organizations in the future,” Price said.

“The work is never really done,” Jaclard said. Constant experimenting of how to distribute resources and establish a system that is functional in the long term is an ongoing challenge for the network. “There’s always something more to be doing.”

CITY

November 3, 2023

Page 5

Boston Athenaeum showcases rich history

By Rachel Mahoney News Correspondent

With notable guests like John Adams and artifacts such as a skinbound book from the 19th century, the Boston Athenaeum has served as a cultural and literary establishment spanning more than two centuries and several locations.

Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum has a rich history of over 200 years and was permanently moved to Beacon Street in 1849.

The library and museum has five floors filled with more than 200,000 rare books, pieces of art and other priceless writing materials from as far back as the 15th century.

Reference librarian Elizabeth O’Meara detailed some of the building’s history at 10 ½ Beacon St. “When it first opened, it was three floors. The first floor was statuary, the second floor was the library and the third floor was an art gallery because the Athenaeum was the place that exhibited art,” O’Meara said. The library has since added two more floors.

Many of the Athenaeum’s collections come from long-time donors or trustees of the building as they do not currently accept donations.

“We mostly have 18th century, but we have older books as well,” said Mary Warnement, the Athenaeum’s head of resources.

“We have only a few handwritten books from the 15th century and early printed books from the 15th century.”

Older books produced in the 18th century and earlier are kept in a separate section for viewing as requested. A few of the rare collections housed at the Athenaeum include books from George Washington’s Mount Vernon library, a memoir bound by the skin of its author James Allen and a map derived from Lewis and Clark’s discoveries and the William Tudor papers, which are financial records detailing Tudor’s investments in gold and copper.

“From George Washington’s library we have his copy of ‘Common Sense’, which was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine making an argument for why we should revolt.

To have that in Washington’s library, and he wrote his name at the top, is amazing,” Warnement said.

O’Meara described her favorite of the rare collections. “We have one of the best collections of artist’s books, which are basically books that are put together in all kinds of different ways by artists. They’re these great artifacts; they are incredibly cool.

Our collection of artist’s books are what I find really fascinating,” O’Meara said.

Between the tall, looming shelves that cover the walls, people can be found studying at wooden desks or large plush chairs. The silent atmosphere provides a focused and breathtakingly beautiful environment to study, read, research or enjoy the many offerings of the Athenaeum.

The Athenaeum is a “calm, tranquill, and a good place to work as well as learn a lot,” said visitor

Michael Altobelli. “They had very cool and very old books and I really appreciated the wide variety.”

Each floor is decorated with towering book cases filled with hundreds of books with leatherbound covers and gold lettering. Shiny marble sculptures and ginormous paintings cover the walls. Wooden desks are sporadically placed around each of the floors, offering study space with the towering views surrounding the area.

Some of the prominent users included John Quincy Adams, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Margaret Fuller. Authors such as Jack Gantos, who has written novels such as “Hole in My Life” at the Athenaeum, have even used the building to produce some of their published works.

Unlike many libraries operating in the 19th century, the Athenaeum has operated under a family-style membership that has allowed women to use the space since it first opened. “There’s a myth that Hannah Adams, who was related to the Adams family, was the first woman allowed in, but that is not true. But the first woman to own a share outright was in 1822, but women have always been allowed in. I like to think of her as our first fellow,” Warnement said.

The Museum of Fine Arts, or MFA, was created by donors of the Athenaeum in the late 1800s to house some of the thousands of art pieces that the Athenaeum possessed.

“We have always had that tension

boom in tourism during the fall months doesn’t exclusively mean light-hearted fun. Many locals’ lives are frustratingly interrupted by the influx of tourists, causing some to even leave their homes for the entire month in October.

At the core of Salem’s popularity is the infamous Salem witch trials, during which nearly 20 innocent people were executed between 1692-1693 after being accused of witchcraft.

However, many Salem residents feel that the commercialization of this

deeply tragic historical event can be problematic and, in some cases, disrespectful.

Leanne Marrama, cofounder of the Pentagram Shop, opened her store three years ago alongside her best friend Timothy Reagan. Offering spell books, divination tools, altar materials and psychic readings, the Pentagram Shop is a hub of all things witchcraft. Marrama’s goal is to educate people about what the occult and witchcraft really are and to spread knowledge to those curious about the practices.

“That’s why we don’t sell any of the tchotchkes, pointy hats or any of that stuff,” Marrama said. “We don’t because this is our religion, this is our faith, people died for this — not just the people on Gallows Hill [and] not just the Salem witches — people have died being accused of paganism and being called heretics and now it’s a sideshow.”

However, despite some negative witch representations in Salem, the city also contains a high concentration of practicing witches and pagans drawn to Salem for its history, including Marrama’s cofounder Reagan.

“What I think is the biggest takeaway is this all started with exactly the opposite of what happened,” Marrama said. “It started with bigotry, people being killed, fear, hate. Now our streets are paved in rainbows and we really embrace the name Salem, which means peace.”

Rockafellas of Salem, a restaurant located in the city’s downtown area,

here between our art and books because we have always collected both. By the late 1800s the Fine Arts Committee here decided it was time for Boston to have its own art museum. They contributed a lot of the art that they had to the MFA, and the first few exhibits were actually held here,” O’Meara said.

Each collection in the Athenaeum contains unique hidden treasures that hold small pieces of history.

“One of the earliest books we have was published in 1493. It’s an amazing printed book, it’s very medieval, and it starts with Genesis and Biblical history, but it’s called the

Nuremberg Chronicles and it’s telling the history of that particular city up until present day,” Warnement said. “The author left blank pages at the end because he assumed there would be other history. I think that is a very cool item.”

The Athenaeum’s many collections span more than five centuries of art, literature and historical documentation. Hidden around a corner in Beacon Hill sits this large building where intellectuals, observers and the like have gathered for two centuries. Within its walls are shelves filled with small tokens of history.

Photo by Sophie Quisenberry A sculpture stands in front of framed paintings and a bookshelf. The Boston Athenaeum was established over 200 years ago in 1807.

Salem’s ‘Haunted Happenings’ brings tourism and disruption to locals’ lives

By Gitana Savage News Correspondent Attracting nearly one million visitors every Halloween season, Salem, Massachusetts is notorious for its Halloween-themed offerings and witchy history. During October, Salem’s streets are flooded with tourists from all over the country hoping to relish in the “spooky” spirit of the city and take part in “Haunted Happenings,” Salem’s month-long celebration of Halloween. But the

Photo by Gitana Savage Tourists walk along the Salem streets. The influx of tourists in October has disrupted many locals’ lives.

Photo by Gitana Savage Two tourists laugh with an entertainer. Many locals have expressed disscontempt over the commercialization of the Salem witch trials.

opened its doors 20 years ago when it was founded by Terrance Marachino, Kevin Marachino and David McKillop. Kevin Marachino was drawn to Salem for its live music scene and deemed it the perfect place to open up Rockafellas. When he first opened the restaurant, he recalls the tourist boom occurring much later than it does today.

“October like it is today didn’t used to start until the fifth or 10th of October,” Kevin Marachino said.

“Haunted Happenings literally starts the 15th of September now, the lines, the no reservations for the restaurant. We do no reservations now because it’s impossible to keep track.”

Despite some criticism, the tourist boom the season brings to Salem also benefits local residents and businesses. The Halloween season provides a host of jobs to those in the community. Businesses located in the heart of Salem, such as Marachino’s, also gain a lot of traction during the month, which brings unprecedented revenue into the community. “[Tourism] brings a ton of money to the downtown and Salem altogether,” Kevin Marachino said. “It helps the city thrive and it gives everybody jobs, but I feel for the people who live in the downtown area because it does get tough to maneuver.”

Stacia Cooper, assistant director of Destination Salem, Salem’s official visitor center, shared a nuanced perspective on what tourism is like in the city as someone who has lived there for 26 years.

“It’s like a fifth season we have here,” Cooper said, “You have spring, summer, winter and fall and we have October. And with that fifth season, just like any other season, you have to prepare for it. As a local, you have to adjust your day-to-day way of navigating the city. So on the weekends you can’t just go out and do your grocery shopping, you have to adjust according to the traffic.”

Working at the visitor center, Cooper gets a front row seat to the influx of tourists during the season, and, like Marrama, Cooper has witnessed an uptick in disrespectful witch representation in the city.

“This year, we’ve noticed there’s a new shirt that everyone wears that says 1692 in big numbers and underneath it says ‘they say they missed one,’” Cooper said. “People are always saying ‘We want to see where the witches are buried,’ but they were not witches, they were innocent people. Some people don’t think they’re being disrespectful, but to some locals, it’s very disrespectful.”

Cooper has lived and worked in Salem for 26 years, and her favorite part of October is seeing the joy Salem brings tourists and getting to observe people having a genuinely good time.

“I’m kind of lucky,” Cooper said.

“Yesterday we were standing here at the info center. It was the end of the day and there were three girls dressed as the Sanderson sisters and they were laughing and enjoying themselves. That’s what it’s all about — revelry and fun.”

SPORTS

Page 6

November 3, 2023

Head of the Charles takes Boston by storm

By Annie Cayer News Correspondent Despite rain providing less-thanideal weather conditions, undeniable energy and enthusiasm still permeated the atmosphere at the Head of the Charles Regatta Oct. 20-22. The world’s largest three-day rowing event brings spectators and participants together on the banks of the iconic Charles River annually to watch more than 11,000 athletes from around the globe row their way to the finish line.

The Charles River, typically a serene backdrop for the city of Boston, transformed into a challenging race course for the entirety of the weekend.

First held Oct. 16, 1965, the Head of the Charles Regatta has continued to grow with each passing year.

This year, over 2,000 different boats competed in the 58th annual regatta, and athletes hailed from more than 800 schools.

Along with the races, the regatta boasts a bustling Regatta Village.

Here, vendors, food trucks and exhibitors create a lively atmosphere where participants and spectators can mingle, shop for rowing gear and sample local cuisine. Dozens of tents filled with free food, drinks and author meet-andgreets dot the river bank.

Visiting spectator Mark Feldman enjoyed the change in scenery for the weekend as he made the trip from Washington, D.C., to support his son, Ethan Feldman, who rows for Boston University.

“I love it here, especially the excitement around the regatta. It’s as though everyone is coming together, and even in the rain yesterday, it was still packed out here,” Feldman said.

What sets the Head of the Charles apart from other similar races is its unique and challenging course, which winds through the scenic bends of the Charles River. The three-mile route, affectionately known as “the three-mile turn,” starts at the Boston University boathouse and finishes at the Eliot Bridge,

Photo by Ananya Kulkarni The Northeastern men’s rowing team competes at the Head of the Charles. The first varsity boat placed fourth among college teams, while the second varsity boat placed first among junior varsity boats.

which connects Allston and Cambridge. With multiple bridges, tight turns and many bends, it’s a true test of skill and strategy for rowers.

During head races, which have staggered starts, rowers compete for the fastest time — not to reach the finish line before another boat. These races are typically between three and six miles long.

Northeastern’s men’s and women’s rowing teams competed during the weekend, placing competitively in their events. In the Men’s Championship Eights, the Huskies second varsity boat placed first among junior varsity boats with a time of 14:52.639 and the first varsity boat placed fourth among collegiate boats with a time of 14:36.712.

The Northeastern women’s team had two boats compete in the women’s clubs classification. On Sunday, the Women’s Championship Fours squad placed 18th, and in the Women’s Championship Eights, the Huskies placed 24th.

Spectators lined the riverbanks and bridges, cheering on the rowers and adding to the festive atmosphere with cowbells and cheers. Whether they were there to support their child, sibling or school, or just to experience the atmosphere, they certainly found a good time as one supportive community.

“I don’t know much about the rowing world, but my sister gave us all the details, and I am still having an amazing time without knowing all the ins and outs,” said Hellen Mooney, an upstate New York native who traveled to Boston to watch her sister compete

Photo by Ananya Kulkarni Northeastern’s women’s rowers row along the Charles River. The team placed 18th in the Women’s Championship Fours and 24th in the Women’s Championship Eights. for Stanford in her first ever Head of the Charles.

The regatta is not just for collegiate rowers; it brings together athletes of all ages and backgrounds, from high school crews to Olympic champions.

Syracuse Rowing and Head of the Charles alum John Rademacher returned to Boston to watch the spectacle on the Charles. Rademacher rowed for Syracuse University from 1987-89, and placed in the top 10 in the Men’s Championship Eights when he was with the Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association in the fall of 1989.

“As a participant, it is a really unique experience,” Rademacher said. “It’s very loud. You have coxswains yelling at other coxswains, and you know you’re racing against the best. It’s a very prestigious race to do well at.”

Attendees maximized their view of the race, crowding the Eliot and Weeks Bridges to get a bird’s eye view of rowers passing below.

“What I find most exciting about watching the Head of the Charles races is crews trying to pass each other at the narrow Harvard bridge,” Rademacher said. ”It is so unbelievable to watch, and I would love to be out there on a boat again.”

Now attending as a spectator, Rademacher comes to the Head of the Charles for different reasons.

“My perspective has changed toward actually looking at each crew to see how well they are racing and to just take in all of the other aspects of the race,” Rademacher said.

Amid the race’s vibrant atmosphere, it’s not just about the competition it’s about the entire experience.

“I was told the Charles is one of the best environments for not just the rowers, but also the spectators,” Mooney said. “I have only been here for a day, but I definitely can say I feel the energy all around.”

Alumni of Northeastern Athletics return a

By Sarah Popeck News Staff For many student-athletes, their sports careers end when they walk the stage at graduation, but that’s not always the case — a select few get the incredible opportunity to play professionally and showcase their skills competitively, and another handful take the lessons they learned while on the team and apply them to the future of athletics in a coaching role.

At Northeastern, many coaches have a Husky degree in their pocket, each of them with incredible stories to tell about their collegiate experiences.

Joel Smith, Northeastern Men’s Basketball ‘13 Joel Smith, an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team, graduated from Northeastern in 2013. Growing up, the Austin, Texas native was unfamiliar with the Huskies, but head coach Bill Coen made a big impression on him and helped him make the decision to attend the far-fromhome university.

“The major influence of bringing me to Boston was [Coen] calling and telling me about the opportunities here,” Smith said. “Right away, just from having a conversation with him, me and my mom had a good feeling about the type of person he was, what he stood for and what I was going to go off to do.”

On the court for Northeastern, he played in 27 games during his first year. In his second year, he averaged 12.2 points per game, starting in 26 games, and in his junior season, he

was nationally ranked in three-point field goals per game. His last season included a Preseason All-CAA honorable mention, and he became the 31st player in Northeastern history to reach 1,000 points.

After he graduated, Smith spent two seasons (2013 and 2014) playing professional basketball in Argentina.

He also averaged 16.0 points per game for Correcaminos UAT in Mexico.

“I think all that was due to preparation of making a decision to come to Northeastern and get away from a conference, really dive in and focus on how to work and how to compete.

I learned a lot from Northeastern and took that with me professionally,” Smith said.

In 2015, Smith started his coaching journey at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Meanwhile, he worked as the video coordinator for Northeastern’s basketball program and had the Huskies in the back of his mind as his end goal.

“I had reached out to [Coen] and was really interested in getting back to Northeastern full-time and getting into the Division I world again,” Smith said. “Things just kind of aligned. He’s a huge relationship guy, so it kind of worked out and it came together.”

Stepping back onto campus was a transition for Smith as his perspective shifted from student to coach.

“I’m obviously super familiar with the campus and how things work with some of the people that are still around, but there’s a level of professionalism you have to maintain and switch over from being a student to

being an employee,” he said.

Being on the student-athlete side gave Smith a chance to shape his coaching and figure out how he wanted to come off to his team.

“I know the tireless amount of hours the coaches worked trying to prepare myself and my teammates for competitions, trying to get us prepared for how tough [each] season is year in and year out,” Smith said. “We want all our kids to feel loved and feel like we’re pouring into them as far as helping them.”

Most of all, he’s grateful for the chance to return to Northeastern’s Cabot Physical Education Center as a coach, taking all of his past experiences on the court and translating them into coaching.

“We don’t want to just be here for basketball, we want to be here for the life things. We want to be here for your accomplishments, [for] when you’re struggling,” Smith said. “I felt like I got there with all of my assistants. [Coen] hired us back and it speaks volumes to his character and what he believes, giving his former players opportunities like this.”

Tramaine Shaw, Northeastern Track and Field ‘09 Tramaine Shaw’s parents had no idea what Northeastern was when she started the college sports recruitment process almost 20 years ago.

Boston was vastly different from the small town of Piscataway, New Jersey, where she grew up.

“I knew I would be successful at home, but I wanted to challenge myself to be [more] successful,” Shaw said. “I

knew I’d be driven athletically here, but it also appeared that academics were just as important.”

Shaw’s 2005-2009 career ended with numerous program and conference records. Alongside her record-setting performances, she was named America East Rookie of the Year for indoor and outdoor seasons as a freshman. Northeastern left the America East Conference to join the Coastal Athletic Association, or CAA, in 2005, migrating over to a different competition pool. During her other seasons, she won individual CAA titles, including a CAA CoMost Outstanding Track Performer accolade in 2007 — when Northeastern won their first CAA title in any sport — and was named to the 25th Anniversary CAA women’s track and field team in 2009.

“There were teams who had no idea who we were. We actually got mistaken for Nebraska or Northwestern,” Shaw said. “But they knew who we were by the time we left.”

During her time as a track star, she managed to balance athletics with other parts of her life, spending time on both her degree and her social life. Practices were not consistent at Cabot, making it a bit chaotic for the team.

“It could get hectic, but everybody was enjoying each other’s company and focused on the goal of winning and running fast that any challenges almost seemed irrelevant,” Shaw said.

After earning her degree in psychology, she stayed near campus, never wanting to leave the familiar Boston grounds. She volunteered as

an assistant coach during her fifth year for track and field, remaining a part of the team in a new capacity.

“It was good to be able to stay connected to the program but also have the freedom to not be an athlete anymore, and it was nice to see the other side of it,” Shaw said. “As a student-athlete, you only ever get to think about what your day-to-day is like, but you really don’t think about what your coaches have to do to prep.”

She continued to coach even after joining the workforce and was eventually asked by the head coach if she wanted to fill an assistant position.

“I thought I would stay on fulltime until I got my master’s because I enjoyed it, but I never thought of coaching as a career. Before I knew it, I was still here, almost 15 years later,” Shaw said.

Stepping into the new leadership role, she sought to build herself and her team as much as she could. She spent nine seasons as an assistant coach and one season as the interim head coach (2017-18) as she worked her way up to becoming the director of track and field.

Currently, she is the head coach for both track and field squads, plus the cross country teams.

“There’s so many pieces to what it takes to run an NCAA program and to coach. I felt like I was constantly learning, constantly challenging myself and trying to reach a new height,” Shaw said. “I think that’s what allowed time to just kind of roll by without even realizing that I’m still doing this.”

Under Shaw’s guidance, the track team has been a successful squad

SPORTS

November 3, 2023

Page 7

Huskies rally to split series against Holy Cross

By Amelia Ballingall Deputy Sports Editor The Northeastern women’s hockey team (7-4-0, 3-2-0 HE) headed to the College of the Holy Cross (2-5-1, 1-2-1 HE) Saturday afternoon looking for redemption. The Huskies had led a dominant campaign the night before, with 40 shots on goal to the Crusaders’ 26, but fell to an overtime power play goal after 60 minutes of scoreless hockey. The loss was only the second time Holy Cross had beaten Northeastern in the pair’s 15-game history.

However, when the Huskies stepped onto the Crusaders’ home ice Saturday night, they weren’t about to let that happen again. Northeastern fought back against Holy Cross, putting forth an offensive onslaught the Crusaders simply couldn’t stop. With its constant possession and speed, Northeastern earned the revenge match victory, defeating Holy Cross 4-2.

At puck drop, the Crusaders tried to take an early lead, skating into the Huskies’ zone, but Northeastern pushed back, immediately turning it around.

Northeastern found a home in the offensive zone and stayed there, barely allowing Holy Cross to touch the puck.

The Huskies weren’t afraid to get in the Crusaders’ faces, and any time the home team got the puck on one of its sticks, they’d find it taken away in an instant.

After the previous night’s disappointing finale, the Huskies were eager to get on the board first. They peppered shots at Holy Cross senior goalie Madison Beck, and with just three minutes left in the opening frame, one got through.

The Crusaders’ defense cleared a shot from Northeastern junior forward Taze Thompson, but it slid straight to Huskies senior defender Lily Yovetich.

Fifth-year forward Katy Knoll put up a screen between Beck and the puck, and Yovetich fired from the right faceoff circle to sneak one past her. With her first career goal, Yovetich put the Huskies up 1-0, earning congratulations from her teammates both on the ice and the bench.

Holy Cross was quick to even the score; just a minute and a half later, the Crusaders scored on a power play.

Northeastern graduate student forward Peyton Anderson had been sent to the box for hooking, putting the Huskies down a skater.

On the penalty kill, Northeastern took a step back from the constant pressure they’d been putting on the Crusaders. They boxed off the crease, swatting at pucks when they came close, but not working to steal it as they’d done earlier in the period.

Meanwhile, Holy Cross slowly passed the puck around the perimeter of Northeastern’s zone, and with minimal pressure, they had plenty of time to set up a scoring opportunity.

From the back of the zone, sophomore defender Casey Borgiel saucered the puck over to sophomore forward Alexis Perry in the left faceoff circle.

Through traffic, Perry fired toward the far post, and Northeastern fifth-year goaltender Gwyneth Philips found herself just out of position as she tried to make the save.

With the score knotted at 1-1, the two teams kicked it up a notch, each fu-

eled with the adrenaline and optimism of scoring a goal.

However, the Crusaders’ energy made them sloppy and aggressive, and they ended up with six penalties over the remaining two periods, including two game misconducts.

The first whistle came at 2:11 when junior defender Emilie Fortunato took a two-minute minor for body checking.

Although the Crusaders were down a player, they didn’t miss a beat, clearing the puck and pushing the Huskies back to defend.

By the end of the advantage, though, Northeastern had found its way into the crease, putting Beck on edge, and while Holy Cross reconfigured itself from the skater-deficit, the Huskies found an opening.

Knoll’s shot went wide of the net, but Anderson was quick to catch it behind Beck’s cage. She snuck around Holy Cross senior defender Grace Johnson, slipping in a wrap-around goal to put Northeastern back on top.

Just three minutes later, Holy Cross evened the playing field once again.

Northeastern tried to clear the puck, but it bounced off the boards to the awaiting sophomore forward Lane Lewis. Lewis took a soft lob, but with the sea of skaters in front of Philips, the netminder had no chance as the puck sailed over her right shoulder.

For the rest of the period, the Huskies tried to return to that dominant zone time, racking up shots against Beck, but the Crusaders fought back with their own quality chances.

With under seven minutes left in the second frame, Holy Cross junior

forward Mackenzie King rocketed a shot into the crossbar. The puck hit the bottom of the bar, bouncing to the ice and away from the net. The referees initially called it a goal, but after review, they deemed the puck had not crossed the line, and the game stood at a tie.

Frustrations began to creep up, and the two teams grew reckless. In the final five minutes of the second period, the referees called three penalties, with less than a minute separating each one.

First, the Huskies gained the advantage, then Holy Cross, and finally, the Crusaders took their first game misconduct of the afternoon.

With only 36 seconds left on the clock, sophomore forward Alexia Moreau wrapped her stick around Knoll, holding it on both ends as she forced her into the boards, and the Northeastern assistant captain went down in a heap. Although Knoll was able to get up on her own, the play was ruled dangerous enough to send Moreau off the ice for the rest of the game.

When the third period kicked off, the Huskies had a long advantage to look forward to. However, a timing issue on Northeastern’s bench gave them a penalty for too many players on the ice, sending the game to 4-on-4 play.

The final frame was marked by defensive energy and little opportunity; each team remained in the single digits for shots, flipping the puck back and forth from zone to zone. The Crusaders only earned three shots, two of them during a power play off an interference call against Northeast-

ern captain and star graduate student defender Megan Carter.

With five minutes left in the game, Northeastern gained the lead. Anderson held the puck as she skated along the boards, side-by-side with Borgiel. Near the goal line, Anderson finally made it past Borgiel, slipping a low shot in short-side to put Northeastern up 3-2 with her second tally of the game.

With the final minutes ticking down, the Huskies felt the wrath of the Crusaders once more. Senior forward Millie Sirum shoved Yovetich face-first into the boards, receiving the second game misconduct of the team and giving Northeastern a power play to finish off the day.

The Huskies’ advantage started in the Crusaders’ favor, and Holy Cross pulled Beck just 30 seconds into the penalty kill to try to even the score 5-on-5.

However, Northeastern quickly found neutral ice, and Anderson fired past the Crusaders’ defense for an empty-net goal. That final score secured Anderson’s first career hat trick, her trio of goals adding to her previous four to make her Northeastern’s top scorer so far this season.

Despite the victorious outcome, the game read much like the night before.

Both nights, the Huskies were faster and had more offensive momentum, but Holy Cross’s sloppiness Saturday gave Northeastern the scoring edge.

This weekend, the Huskies look ahead to another Hockey East series, this time against the other Huskies at the University of Connecticut. The first battle kicks off Friday night at 6 p.m. in Matthews Arena.

s coaches to inspire the next generation that only continues to improve — last season, she led the Huskies to their eighth-straight CAA men’s outdoor title. She also received the CAA Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year Award for the fifth year in a row. In 2017-18, Shaw produced men’s and women’s teams that won the CAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and she was named CAA Coach of the Year on both the men’s and women’s sides. It also landed her a spot in the Northeastern Hall of Fame in 2015, honoring her accomplishments as a student and a coach.

Throughout her journey, Shaw has witnessed the changes the university has been made to advance the track program and the school overall, such as enhancing the general landscape and raising the bar for academic excellence. Most beneficial to the team has been increased funding for athletics, giving the next generation of athletes more opportunities.

“What we’re able to provide our student-athletes with is so much more than what I had access to, and it’s one of the reasons why I continue to coach,” Shaw said. “We really do learn as much from them as they learned from us.”

Shaw said it’s a special feeling to understand both sides, and coaching isn’t something many student-athletes get to pursue in their future endeavors.

“I know exactly how you’re feeling, I know exactly what you’re going through. I was there. Let me tell you what I’ve learned, let me tell you how

to grow and how perception can change,” Shaw said.

She often gets asked when her tenure at Northeastern will end, given her uninterrupted decade-and-a-half stint at the university.

“The answer is, as long as I feel like I’m continuing to be invested in our programs and that I can continue to grow here. When I get to a point where I feel like I hit a wall or there are goals that I set and want to achieve that I absolutely can’t, that is when I will reconsider,” Shaw said.

Jason Guerriero, Northeastern Men’s Hockey ‘05 Jason Guerriero’s journey with Northeastern started in 2001 on the men’s hockey team. As captain of the team his senior year, he was the first-ever Northeastern player to lead Hockey East in scoring. Decked in First Team All-American honors, he posted 49 career goals, 147 career points and still ranks 13th among all-time Husky scoring leaders.

“I was very fortunate to play with some really good hockey players and enjoyed my time. A lot of it I credit to the guys that I played with and the coaches that I was surrounded with during my time,” Guerriero said. “It was arguably the best four years of my life.”

Although the squad was not as dominant while Guerriero was on the ice as it is now — the team did not win any Beanpot trophies or conference titles — he was still able to come back and help lead them to success.

“During my time, we were just an okay hockey team. We were average,

middle of the pack, and the joke is after I left, it became a lot better,” Guerriero said.

Guerriero said his time at Northeastern was special to him for many reasons — it prepared him for a career, but it’s also where he met his wife, another Northeastern graduate. Additionally, he witnessed the rise of Northeastern’s student section, the DogHouse, which now packs the stands at Matthews Arena.

After graduating, Guerriero played professionally for six years.

This included time with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals and overseas across Europe.

“I was a bit of a suitcase traveling around, but it was quite the experience,” Guerriero said. “During that time, I always wanted to coach, so I kind of was networking. Some injuries stopped me from playing and then I got into coaching immediately after that.”

His injuries took him off the ice and set him on the path of his blossoming coaching career. Jamie Rice, now a head coach at Babson College, was a mentor to Guerriero while he coached at Holy Cross, Yale and Brown. Then, when the opportunity arose to return to his Husky roots, he didn’t think twice.

“During that time, as a player in getting into coaching, I always wanted to get back here to Northeastern,” Guerriero said. “Here we are, I’m back at my alma mater.

When I first started this journey 13 years ago, this is where I wanted to be.”

Nonetheless, he’s had just as impressive of a career as a coach. Guerriero was inducted into Northeastern’s Hall of Fame in August 2022, celebrating the legacy he began as a student and continues to lead with his coaching. He was also named to the USA Hockey staff for the Youth Olympics in 2024. As a coach, things he appreciated as a player are different now that he’s witnessing those things in his adulthood.

“In the years to come, and even when they’re older, maybe when they have families, they’ll look back and appreciate it even more. I think a lot of us do that as we get older; you look back and you appreciate the moments that you went through in your life,” Guerriero said.

And, of course, he finally won that Beanpot trophy — four times — in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023.

“I’m just like a little kid in a candy store, being back in

my alma mater and working hard to continue the success that this program has had and make these guys better every day,” Guerriero said. “I’m just thrilled to be here but I know I have a job to do and I’m excited for it.”

Photos courtesy Jim Pierce Jason Guerriero (left), Joel Smith (right) and Tramaine Shaw (bottom).

All three Northeastern Athletics alumni returned as coaches for men’s hockey, men’s basketball, and track and field, respectively.

LIFESTYLE

Page 8

November 3, 2023

Northeastern students sing for climate justice, divestment from fossil fuels ENVIRONMENTALISM, from front However, students in Disorientation Northeastern were still unsatisfied, considering the money spent on sustainability wasn’t what they deemed a considerable amount — as it was “not even half ” of the fossil fuel endowment. Today, students share the same frustration, begging the university to divest.

“You can leave a legacy of justice by pledging to withhold any donations to Northeastern until they fully, transparently divest from the fossil fuel industry,” CUP and Sunrise wrote in a Google Form.

Other schools in the area, such as Boston University and Harvard University, divested from fossil

Photo by Quillan Anderson Corinna Parish sings into the mic while playing the guitar. She performed songs expressing her concern for the state of the world.

fuels in 2021, leaving Northeastern students wondering what is taking so long. Students have continued to ask: If Northeastern prides itself on innovation and progressiveness, why aren’t they making appropriate steps toward becoming a “sustainable and just” university?

That question is what inspired the event. Around 30 students gathered to listen to student musicians play their music, many of whom were inspired to make songs related to climate change.

One student, Corinna Parrish, a fourth-year psychology and music combined major, performed two songs to express her concerns about the declining state of the world. In her free time, she is president of the Songwriting Club and participates in events like Climate Justice Jam to use music as a vehicle for self-expression.

Parrish and other participants believe music is a way to unite people and express frustrations in ways nothing else can.

“The night allowed these two unrepresented things at Northeastern — climate activism and the music community — to come together,”

Parrish said. “I think really heavy topics are really hard to talk about a lot of the time, especially when they feel far away and unmanageable, so I feel like singing it as a way to figure out how you feel and a way people can take solace in it.”

Parrish performed a song titled “As the World Caves In,” expressing how it felt to see excessive flooding in her hometown this summer and how she dealt with the realization that long-term shifts in climate were becoming “very real.”

Students in Sunrise and CUP were incredibly grateful for their collaboration, as it provided a space and a larger audience for students to come together and sign the petition.

An intimate semi-circular seating arrangement, red lighting and a high-quality sound system made the message loud and clear. The petition was projected onto the screen, making it easy and comfortable for students to interact and access it.

The event met Sunrise’s expectations, allowing students to get involved separately from their usual meetings.

“The university has repeatedly shut this campaign down, and

because so many aspects of this issue are so frustrating, we really try to emphasize within the movement that we have fun and take care of each other,” said Jonathan Bacdayan, a fourth-year environmental studies major and Sunrise member. “And what better way to do that than live music and open mics that are always well received?”

The open mic allowed speakers from both CUP and Sunrise to feel

heard. The speakers emphasized the importance of events like the Climate Justice Jam, regardless of size or turnout, because, in the face of climate change, all people have is each other.

“We are students like everyone else, and anyone can be part of the movement,” Bacdayan said. “Even by showing up to events like this and scanning a QR code, you are making your voice heard.”

and take away favorable impressions fans have of the content.

In most cases, remakes that elicit a positive response from audiences are ones that can capitalize off the nostalgia and love fans felt for certain characters while maintaining a sense of originality, newness or purpose. In other words, projects that come back and change nothing about their original formula can seem cheap and almost pointless. However, reboots that lose track of what made the original project work can also be received poorly.

A recent example of a well-done reboot came in the unlikeliest of scenarios: bringing back “Pretty Little Liars,” a show that ended only six years ago and whose audience was hesitant to see a remake so soon.

Against all odds, “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” was well received by both television analysts and fans alike, currently holding a Rotten Tomatoes score of 89% from critics and an audience score of 70%. The story, following its predecessor, centers around a group of teenage girls receiving threatening texts from an unknown source that signs everything as “A.” The mystery is similar yet entirely new, featuring fresh characters and stories that hold no sizable connection to the original set of “liars.”

“Original Sin” takes everything that made the original show work — the soapiness combined with a dash of suspense — and adds unique elements that make it feel like a standalone entity. It dials up the fear factor of “Pretty Little Liars” and presents a full-on horror version of the show. Raising the stakes within its ABC-teen-drama premise, it pushes the reboot towards the goriness of the “Scream” franchise and creates a highly entertaining viewing experience.

Fans of “Pretty Little Liars” are able to sit and enjoy A’s return for the same reasons die-hard fans of “Scream” keep coming back for sequels — there is a new element to the story every time and a new batch of characters for Ghostface to terrorize, keeping the story fresh and interesting.

Without alienating its pre-existing fanbase, “Original Sin” keeps the essence of “Pretty Little Liars” alive while giving the audience something new to digest. It presents originality despite the fact that it borrows or relies on old material.

The same cannot be said of “And Just Like That…,” Max’s “Sex and The City” reboot. In contrast to “Original Sin,” the show was received poorly, holding a 56% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a strikingly low 33% audience score.

The late 90s hit “Sex and The City” follows four friends living in New York at the peak of the city’s allure, navigating the ins and outs of their 30s. An emblematic presence in pop culture, the show boasts a six-season television run and two blockbuster movies in its resume. Its characters became synonymous with glamour, fashion and female agency at a time when media did not feature many stories about women.

In the decision to revive the franchise with the same cast, the writers overlooked the consequences of reopening the story. The show’s long television run gave its characters plenty of time to make mistakes, grow and ultimately wrap up their stories in a satisfying way.

Attempting to unwrap those endings in a manner that would provide the characters with renewed purpose proved to be a task the writers could not handle, leaving the reboot adrift and without a clear voice.

“And Just Like That…” sees three of the four original main characters now navigating friendship, work

and love in their 50s. A set-up that had everything to show beloved characters facing new challenges — marriage, kids and aging, to name a few — failed to deliver on the entertainment front and instead tarnished the reputation of a franchise with a well-crafted ending.

In just the first episode of the new series, an iconic character is humiliated with an abrupt death via Peloton bike, breaking up the central couple of the original show that seemed to finally find happiness after seasons-long complications.

The episode is also laden with “we’re old now” comedy. Given the chance to challenge ageist stereotypes and demonstrate how women can remain glamorous and true to themselves well into their 50s, the writers instead opted for cliché humor and stripped their characters of the qualities that initially endeared them to the audience.

With the progression of the reboot, the audience sees other fan-favorite couples break up and characters act questionably in plot decisions that make little sense within the context of the franchise. In the first season, we see Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) — forever the show’s smartest and most grounded character — spew microaggressions at a Black graduate school professor and act completely unlike herself, full of insecurity and doubt for reasons that are never truly fleshed out for the audience.

The show also adds new characters, including many people of color and queer-identifying individuals, which initially felt like a step towards more representation and inclusivity in a show that historically lacked any. However, those side characters fail to get enough development in the show to make their addition not feel like a

cheap, tokenized attempt to check a diversity box. It seems as though these characters were added only so the reboot could tackle certain contemporary social issues — and none of it is executed well.

In the reboot’s attempt to “stay woke” and relate to a Gen Z audience, it also takes its characters through a rollercoaster of female

Photo by Quillan Anderson Flag Day rocks out at the Climate Justice Jam. The event featured ten student performers.

Column: Reboots - what works, what doesn’t

By Luize Loyo News Correspondent If one follows or engages with pop culture in any capacity, they have definitely noticed the exorbitant amount of reboots released recently.

It’s the biggest trend in Hollywood — and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. A plethora of remakes have already been announced for the next few years, including a “Mean Girls” movie musical, a new “Percy Jackson” television series and a rumored reboot of hit series “The Office.”

But why have reboots become a staple of modern media consumption? Why do we keep making them?

In short, Hollywood studios want a “sure thing.” In a 2021 Cosmopolitan article, Matthew Jones, a film studies professor at De Montfort University in England, explains this best.

“The most secure option for studios is always going to be something we call a ‘pre-sold property,’ which means a film that has a built-in audience that one can all but guarantee will go and see the film,” Jones told Cosmopolitan.

In a world where people are going to the movie theater less often and instead opting to stream new releases from home, studios are betting on what is likely to secure an audience and boost ticket sales. Reboots provide them financial safety because they can almost guarantee a high amount of interest — after all, people engaged with the content before and might be tempted to revisit it or might be curious about “what happens next” in the story.

At their best, reboots allow viewers to sulk in nostalgia and relive some of their favorite times with certain characters and stories.

At their worst, they ruin legacies of quality television and film projects

Photo Courtesy Craig Blankenhorn/Max In “And Just like That...”, Kristin Davis (left) and Sarah Jessica Parker (right) reprise their roles from “Sex and the City”. The revival hasn’t been nearly as successful as its source material. aging hurdles and places them in humiliating, sad storylines, losing the sparkle that made “Sex and The City” so great. The original, light-hearted formula of female glamour, joy and nuance is twisted into a confusing and inconsistent new phase for these characters that seems excessively punitive of them.

Instead of building upon its former greatness, the new elements and directions of the show erode the essence of what once worked.

Reboots can be valuable if they convey purpose. If viewers are now bound to a remake-dominated world, they can only hope that writers and producers take the time to understand certain stories and deliver thoughtful remakes that work.

LIFESTYLE

November 3, 2023

Page 9

Review: Maisie Peters ends epic ‘The Good Witch Tour’ at Roadrunner

By Emily Chung News Staff British pop star and singer-songwriter Maisie Peters closed out the North American leg of “The Good Witch Tour” in Boston Oct. 11 with a sold out show at Roadrunner. Following the release of her sophomore album, “The Good Witch,” Peters planned and executed her most ambitious tour yet, all while opening stadium shows for Ed Sheeran’s “Mathematics Tour” around the globe.

“The Good Witch” is an album of growth and healing following her debut album, “You Signed Up For This,” a ballad-heavy album focusing mostly on heartbreak. Through catchy melodies and lyrics jampacked with wit, Peters has declared this fall a “healing girl autumn” for herself and for her fans, asserting her success as a pop artist over any man who has ever made her feel less-than.

Grace Enger, a New Jersey-based singer-songwriter, opened the show with an acoustic set featuring original songs from her new EP, “Well Here We Are.” Singing solo with just a spotlight and her guitar, Enger’s plaintive and clear voice captivated the crowd as they filled the venue. A short 15 minutes after her set, Peters took the stage with a punk-rock rendition of her album’s opening and title track, “The Good Witch.”

Peters and her band left everything on Roadrunner’s stage for closing night, performing a total of 22 songs with few breaks. Peters was a lively and animated performer, making use of the entire stage and encouraging fans in the sold-out venue to scream their hearts out during every song.

The singer-songwriter maintains a strong connection with her fanbase, actively interacting with them on Discord, Instagram and TikTok, and this show was no exception. Peters took a pause to ask audience members for relationship horror stories and biggest red flags as a lead-in to her brutally honest, facetious single “Run,” in which she pokes fun at her past relationships as a sort of cautionary tale for listeners, singing, “If a man says that he wants you in his life forever — run.”

Her performance of her single “Not Another Rockstar” had the crowd frenzied, with their tiny witch hats slipping off their heads from all of the dancing. Peters’ lyrics dripped with sarcasm as she told the stories of her “tortured artist” exes who never took her seriously — “Who’s the rockstar now?” she jokingly adlibbed in the song.

In “There It Goes,” Peters let her lyrics speak for themselves, with no flashy choreography or heavy drums to back her up. The song romanticizes the aftermath of a breakup, waking up one day and starting to enjoy

life’s simple moments again: “The comedown of closure / The girls and I do yoga / I wake up and it’s October / The loss is yours.” For many concert-goers, screaming along to this song was a great catharsis.

Peters took a moment in the middle of her set to reflect and celebrate the success of the North American leg of the tour. She recounted her time living in her parents’ house, performing her songs for them and busking in her free time.

“I would play at open mics, and at pubs, and at my school and at other schools’ proms, and I just did it because I really loved doing it,” Peters said. “I don’t know if I had any big, wild ‘Hannah Montana’ dreams, but I just think it’s so crazy that somehow, it’s been like eight years since then.

And that sounds like a long time, but it also hasn’t felt like a long time.

I still feel 17 and, like, I’m nervous for my parents to hear my song that I swear in. But now, there’s literally 3,000 people in Boston, and I just think it’s so cool.”

Peters then transitioned into a mashup of several songs spanning across albums and different times in her life, weaving in One Direction’s “Night Changes,” which seemed to especially hit home for the singer on the last night of her tour.

The love shared between the singer and her bandmates was evident, especially during their performance

of “The Band and I,” recounting the band’s past performances and memories in a nostalgic song reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s “Long Live:” “If we’re living the dream, I hope we never wake up.” Peters even conducted the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to her keyboard player, Tina Hizon, instructing everyone to belt as loudly and as off-key as possible.

For the encore, Peters came out on stage with Grace Enger to sing a duet of the album’s closer, “History of Man,” one of her most poignant and lyrically powerful songs: “He stole our youth and promised heaven / The men start wars, yet Troy hates Helen / Women’s hearts are lethal weapons / Did you hold mine and feel threatened?” The two sang in harmony, facing each other. Enger left the stage for Peters and her band to perform their final song, “Lost the Breakup,” a fun and vindictive anthem that perfectly encapsulated the overall theme of “The Good Witch”: “One day, you’re gonna wake up, and oh shit, you lost the breakup.”

Following the tour, Peters will head back to the United Kingdom for a breather before starting the tour’s U.K. and European leg Oct. 17, but hinted that “The Good Witch Tour” might be heading back to the United States for a second time, promising a couple in the audience that she would officiate their wedding when she returns to Boston again.

Column: 6 of the best fall-themed TV shows to prepare for autumn season

By Abby Barton News Correspondent As the weather gets colder and the leaves turn gold, it’s clear that fall is here. The time for pumpkin-flavored baked goods and cozy knit cardigans is now, and with Thanksgiving right around the corner, many are looking for content to put them in that autumn mood. To aid in the changing of the seasons, this is a list of the best TV series to binge in order to set the fall mood.

“Gilmore Girls” Stars Hollow, the small town where “Gilmore Girls” is set, seems to be stuck in an eternal autumn.

As Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) — the “girls” in question — stroll the sleepy streets with coffees in hand, colorful leaves fall no matter the time of year. The show has a very comforting fall vibe and is sure to invite curling up by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

“Gilmore Girls” follows the close mother-daughter relationship of Lorelai and Rory as they navigate life in their small town. Filled with fast quips and heartwarming moments, the show has seven seasons and is available to stream on Netflix, so there’s plenty of content to ring in the season. Whether it’s a rewatch or a brand new binge, it’s absolutely worth viewing this autumn.

“Over the Garden Wall” This animated classic is a slightly spookier take on fall but still brings the wholesomeness. Brothers Wirt

(Elijah Wood) and Greg (Collin Dean) get lost in a strange supernatural forest called the Unknown and are forced to go on an adventure to find their way home. On the way, they cross paths with many creepy characters such as witches, skeletons, woodsmen and scary beasts. The brothers stumble through stunningly animated pumpkin patches and cemeteries as they journey through the woods. The show is set around Halloween and definitely delivers on the spooky fall vibes.

From the beautiful autumnal backgrounds to the short and creepy plots of each chapter, this show is as fall-themed as it gets — even the sweeping string music and decorative title cards are an undeniable ode to the season. “Over the Garden Wall” is one season and only has ten 12-minute episodes, so it’s perfect for a quick binge. It’s available to stream on Hulu and an absolute must-watch for those wanting to get in the fall mood.

“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” is on the creepier end of fall-themed content. The show is a new take on the ‘90s classic “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” which delves into the darker side of the beloved character, Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka). This coming-of-age story takes a turn towards the occult, featuring devil worship and witches. Sabrina has to fight both inner and outer demons as she tries to reconcile her half-witch, half-mortal life.

Greendale, the town where Sabrina lives, is full of apple orchards,

cemeteries and fall foliage. The costumes and dark color scheme of the show makes it seem as though autumn is never-ending. It is available for streaming on Netflix and has four seasons of “chilling” content.

The first episode takes place on Halloween and the show features a black cat named Salem. What could be more autumnal?

“Only Murders in the Building” This murder-mystery comedy series is a great way to start off the season. It’s hilarious, mysterious and irresistibly binge-worthy. “Only Murders in the Building” follows an unlikely trio of neighbors as they attempt to solve a murder committed in their apartment building while simultaneously recording a true crime podcast. Inspired by the podcast “Serial,” the murder-mystery plot and endearing characters are bound to set the mood for fall.

The show is set in New York and fall fashion is prevalent in the show, most notably in the character Mabel’s (Selena Gomez) large fluffy coats.

The color palette is very reminiscent of fall and is guaranteed to transport viewers into the chilly New York scene. There are three seasons currently available for streaming on Hulu and the show was just renewed for a fourth, so there’s plenty of content for future falls.

“Stranger Things” The first two seasons of “Stranger Things” take place right around Halloween and the horror elements of the show undoubtedly scream fall.

Set in the ‘80s, fall nostalgia runs rampant in this science-fiction thriller about a group of kids who witness supernatural events and government cover-ups as they search for their lost friend, unravel mysteries and protect their town.

The show is full of jumpscares and dark mystery elements that are perfect for the Halloween season.

The setting also gives off spooky fall vibes, with the characters often running through the woods at night, crushing fallen leaves underfoot.

“Stranger Things” has four seasons available to stream on Netflix with the fifth and final season set to be released in late 2025 or 2026.

“I Am Not Okay With This” This show follows a girl named Sydney (Sophia Lillis) as she struggles with her newfound supernatural powers, family life and sexuality. It brings the high school angst and, with it, the fall aesthetic. High school show staples, such as football games and basement parties, are mixed with horror and suspense elements to create a perfect teenage fall time capsule.

Very reminiscent of Stephen King’s “Carrie,” the opening sequence shows Sydney walking down an empty street at night in a white dress, covered in blood, leaving the rest of the show to explain how she got there. Unfortunately, much to fans’ chagrin, Netflix canceled the show after one season, but “I Am Not Okay With This” is available to stream on Netflix.

Calendar compiled by Kristina DaPonte & Laura Emde Graphics by Emma Liu

Friday, Nov. 3 SoWa First Friday Meet local artists, view multiple galleries and shop small at this open market event.

5 p.m. - 9 p.m., 450 Harrison Ave., Free.

Nov. 3 - 6 Fleurs de Villes: VOYAGE Admire floral installations and mannequins created by Boston’s talented florists.

11 a.m. - 9 p.m. (Nov, 3, 4 & 6), 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Nov. 5), 800 Boylston St., Free.

Thursday, Nov. 9 Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl Join the Boston Public Library for a moderated conversation on the nostalgia of American Girl Dolls.

6 p.m. - 8 p.m., 700 Boylston St., Free.

Nov. 10 - Dec. 31 The Holiday Market at Snowport Get your holiday shopping done at vendors highlighting over 120 locally owned businesses.

Monday-Thursday: 3:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m., Friday-Saturday: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Sunday: 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., 100 Seaport Blvd., Free.

Saturday, Nov. 11 Fall Bird Walk at Belle Isle Marsh Observe resident birds on a guided tour at the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation.

7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., 1399 Bennington St., East Boston; Free.

OPINION

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

Eli Curwin

Managing Editor

Annah Chaya Olivia Becraft

Op-ed: Where Northeastern’s SafeZone app falls short

Editor-at-Large

Marta Hill Campus

Sonel Cutler Emily Spatz Val O’Neill City

Kathryn Manning Alexis Algazy Sports

Julia Yohe Amelia Ballingall Lifestyle

Jake Guldin Kristina DaPonte Laura Emde Opinion

Rachel Umansky-Castro Noelia Arteaga Projects

Alexa Coultoff Ali Caudle Photo

Jessica Xing Darin Zullo Elizabeth Scholl Design

Angelica Jorio Emma Liu Multimedia

Annika Sunkara Jethro R. Lee Web Manager

Kevin Polackal Social Media

Kevin Gallagher Izzy Harris Copy Chief

Juliana George

BUSINESS

Business Manager

Ananya Chaudhari Development and Outreach Coordinator

Rachel Lee

Advertising Manager

Cameran Ko

Photo by Jessica Xing Students come to Northeastern with the hope of developing themselves to be prepared to enter the workforce. Day in and day out, each student works on becoming their best by advancing their knowledge, research skills and professional experience. However, students cannot pursue these goals if they feel unsafe, since human beings prioritize their survival needs first. To address such needs, Northeastern students have access to services like the SafeZone app.

The app was created to facilitate emergency contact between students and the Northeastern University Police Department, or NUPD. It employs a geofence, which is a predetermined virtual perimeter around

Benjamin Churney, Christina McCabe, Emily Chung, Erin Fine, Esha Minhass, Ethan Wayne, Joseph Brant, Juliette Piovoso, Kate Deskey, Lauren Salemo, Lily Webber, Rachana Madhav, Sarah Popeck, Sofia Garrett, Zoe MacDiarmid

COPY EDITORS Erin Fine, Ethan Wayne, Julia Tushla, Kira Eske, Lauren Salemo, Emily Chung, Lin Luo, Lucy Shepherd, Matt Yan, Sydney Schulz, Heidi Ho, Zoe MacDiarmid

DESIGN STAFF

PHOTO STAFF Aiden Stein, Izzy Harris, Margot Murphy, Mars Poper, Patrick O’Neal, Quillan Anderson, Sofia Sawchuk, Yaakov Aldrich

SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM Anjali Gupta, Erin Fine, Lin Luo, Reneé Abbott, Valentina Swan

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bill Mitchell, Carlene Hempel, Dan Zedek, Gal Tziperman Lotan, Laurel Leff, Lincoln McKie, Mark Gooley, Meredith O’Brien, 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.

The Huntington News 360 Huntington Ave. 102 Lake Hall Boston, MA 02115 huntnewsnu.com

@HuntNewsNU

campus. This geofence is designed to ensure that when a student triggers the app’s emergency button within the campus boundaries, it immediately alerts the NUPD station. This alert is sent to NUPD cell phones, in accordance with the principles outlined in NUPD Situational Awareness Training 101. However, it’s important to note that the app’s functionality extends beyond campus limits. When a student is outside the geofence, the app can still be used to connect with emergency services like 911.

Despite the app being created to enhance safety solutions on and around campus, it doesn’t seem to be doing its intended job. James Chang-Davidson, a fifth-year computer science major, said that “it was created as a solution to a problem that already had one.” He feels that if an emergency situation arises, it’s easier to just call NUPD through their direct line or call 911.

Most students are not aware of the existence of such an app available to them, even though the NUPD does inform students at orientation. A lot of transfer students do not necessarily have an official orientation where they would get such vital information.

Mei Downey, a first-year biochemistry student, also raises the point that there are “too many apps

to download” as a new student, thus making “phone numbers more useful.” So, how does the university and NUPD improve such well-intended safety innovation?

Starting an awareness campaign to address students’ lack of knowledge about the app’s existence is a positive first step. Information can be shared through a variety of channels, including newsletters, social media and in-person sessions led by the NUPD. It is important to remind students that this app was designed for their safety, which can reduce stress, particularly when walking alone at night. They can use the app to checkin and share their location.

The interface should perhaps have a notification tab on the homepage to alert students daily of NUPD activity and recent crime history. Another tab could also be created with safety tips for which areas to avoid or steps to take if an active threat arises.

The app could also implement two-way communication between users and campus police through a chat system, enabling users to ask for information on procedures or get advice on personal situations.

Obtaining reliable guidance without having to disturb their calendar will put students at the center of their own safety.

To go even further, the app could

also include an anonymous reporting feature. Many students tend to be hesitant to report incidents directly, yet would probably do so willingly through easy-access features, which would contribute to campus safety.

The app, as mentioned above, features a wellbeing assistance tab where students can access Find@ Northeastern service, so why not display this fact on the website page of Northeastern University Health and Counseling Services?

As mentioned before by Downey and Chang-Davidson, the issue of having too many apps needs to be fixed. One way to do so is to merge apps together that serve the same goals, such as RedEye and the SafeZone app. Both exist to improve students’ safety, so instead of making students feel like they must choose between each or the other, perhaps combining them into one app is the solution.

Currently, the university and NUPD are failing to get students to use an app that could potentially save lives during an emergency. It is time for this issue to be addressed, not soon, but right now.

Derek Telep is a master’s student in criminology and criminal justice. He can be reached at telep.d@northeastern.edu.

Op-ed: Why U.S. News’ rankings are losing influence

NEWS STAFF

Ali Caudle, Ananya Kulkarni, Jessica Xing, Marta Hill, Zoe MacDiarmid

November 3, 2023

Photo by Elizabeth Scholl Every year, the college admissions cycle happens like clockwork. Students make one of the most important decisions of their lives so far: where to go for college. To guide them during a notoriously difficult time, many students turn to college rankings.

One of the most popular lists of rankings for undergraduate institutions, medical schools, law schools and hospitals has been published by the U.S. News & World Report at the end of every summer for the past 39 years, but the value of these yearly rankings is now called into question more than ever before.

This year’s report, published Sept.

17, incited responses from many schools resenting their ranking. The calculation criteria recently changed, causing many schools that were consistently highly ranked to drop down, while many public state schools moved up.

For its latest evaluation, U.S. News removed five ranking factors from the formula: “Alumni giving, class

size, high school class standing, the proportion of instructional faculty with terminal degrees (achieving the highest degree possible in their field) and the proportion of graduates who borrowed federal loans.” Moreover, it changed the weight of nearly every category it used.

This year, U.S. News used 19 categories to evaluate schools, whereas a year ago it had 17 categories.

Categories added this cycle assess a school’s contribution to research, as well as graduation rates of first-generation students.

Colleges are always jockeying for the top few slots, which has caused controversy as some try to game the system. In February 2022, Columbia University math professor Michael Thaddeus published an investigation into his university for reporting “misleading” data to U.S. News. In 1988, Columbia was ranked 18th. For 2021-22, it ranked second, tied with Harvard University and MIT. In the 2024 report, it sank to 12th place, tying with Cornell University and the University of Chicago.

Columbia is not the only school that has been called out for fudging numbers. There have been numerous other incidents where colleges provided inaccurate numbers to bolster their position in the rankings.

Incidents like this call to question the very reliability of the numbers in an era where so much emphasis is placed on ranks. The pressure for schools to maintain a high rank has caused several medical and law schools to opt out from the ranks, as well as a few undergraduate institu-

tions. Several admired institutions, including Oberlin College and Vanderbilt University, published statements after the report came out, defending their school and threatening to withdraw from the 40th cycle.

Rankings make a college look desirable when it’s high, so it is somewhat threatening to schools that have a history of being perceived as prestigious when they are closer to getting grouped in with state schools, which are traditionally thought of as providing a lower-quality education than expensive private schools.

Colleges with higher rankings often advertise their prestige in marketing to prospective students.

A considerable amount of value and status is assigned to these ranks. But even U.S. news says on their website: “Don’t rely solely on rankings as the basis for choosing a college.” And as colleges threaten to withdraw, U.S News’ rankings are being criticized and therefore losing some of the influence they once had.

We have managed to make this sole report an authority for which colleges are the “best.” Phrases like “top 10” and “top 20” schools are common.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students compete against one another for spots at such schools. This is why acceptance rates have taken a nosedive across the board: There are more applicants, but the same amount of students are being accepted.

It’s a continuous cycle. Historically, selective schools are ranked highly.

They wear their rank asa badge of honor and promote it to market

their school to prospective students.

Then, more students apply to their schools, which decreases their acceptance rate, making them look more elite, more unattainable and more prestigious. Last year, Northeastern notably concluded the application cycle with a 5.6%.

These category changes created a positive change. Put simply, the new criteria are more equitable since they don’t rely on existing connections and wealth.

Moreover, they create a space for first-generation students, coming during a time of growing populations of first generation college attendees.

At this point, it’s evident that these ranks, in many ways, are meaningless. Last year, Northeastern was 49th; now, we’re 53rd and tied with Case Western Reserve University, Florida State University, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) and William & Mary. Did we change that drastically in a year?

I don’t see the logic in assigning value to a system that is inconsistent from year to year. If more categories are added or dropped, maybe Northeastern could reclaim a spot in the top 50. Or perhaps we could get pushed further down.

At this point, it’s inconsequential, as a number will never accurately define the quality of a school. At the end of the day, the burden of success is on the student.

Zoe MacDiarmid is a first-year health sciences major. She can be reached at macdiarmid.z@northeastern.edu

OPINION

November 3, 2023

Page 11

Op-ed: Northeastern’s response to Hamas attack fails to acknowledge Palestinian suffering

Photo by Jessica Xing On Oct. 10, Northeastern released a statement about the Hamas attack on Israel in the form of an email sent from the Office of the President, which was then posted on the president’s website and then to Instagram as a black background post with four slides. The statement was in response to the Oct. 7th Hamas attack on Israel that led to the deaths of many Israeli citizens from gunshots and burns.

The statement condemns “the terror and bloodshed inflicted by Hamas’ attacks on Israel,” which, in itself, is a just message against violence. However, while Northeastern claims that it mourns “for all the innocent lives that have been lost,” the statement offers no acknowledg-

ment of the decades of apartheid that the Palestinian people have faced or the damage of Israeli aggression on Palestinians. Standing with a country that has been attacked is necessary; however, disseminating a statement without full introspection fails to educate students about the Israel-Palestine conflict effectively.

Israel launched military assaults on Palestine in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021. The damage that Israel has done to Palestinian people has also resulted in the severe displacement of citizens, with the demolition of 953 Palestinian structures in 2022 alone, according to the United Nations. In the 2014 attack, Israel killed over 2,000 Palestinians, including 500 children.

It is clear that Israel is equipped to exert complete control over Gaza and the West Bank. The United States additionally actively flows military supplies to Israel and has increased aid to Israel following the Hamas attack. Hamas is not a representation of all of the innocent Palestinians who are now caught in the crossfire of conflict and are now further harmed

by Israel, as Israel continues to rain bombs upon Gaza in an illegal form of collective punishment.

In my opinion, the response by Northeastern is particularly tonedeaf, as the previous Instagram post

from the university was one celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. To some who view the larger Israel-Palestine conflict as an issue of colonization on the part of Israel, this celebratory post comes off as performative.

The comment section of Northeastern’s statement was uniquely divisive as well, with some students showing support for Israel by commenting flags and hearts, while others were deeply concerned, feeling that the statement was lackluster. One Instagram user said, “No amount of Cooper birthday photo ops is going to cover up the pathetic bootlicking toward a racist apartheid state, btw.” Another Instagram user recalls the inconsistency in Northeastern’s alleged non-response to previous attacks on Gaza, saying, “If you’re going to condemn this, you should also condemn the attacks on Sheikh Jarrah in 2021. This is so inconsistent.”

If the university intended to not take a side on the issue of Israel and Palestine, that objective, in my opinion, has been missed. One user commented that “Northeastern is on the right side of an issue,” following the common theme of the Israel flag emoji, which the comments are flooded with. Though that might have been different from the intention of

the statement, this is certainly how it was received by the student body.

The problem with the Northeastern statement is that it was made without acknowledging the struggles that Palestinians have faced during the conflict with Israel. The statement would have felt more morally consistent if the university had voiced its support for Gaza during the recent retaliatory attacks by Israel

in a follow-up statement.

Ultimately, Northeastern is not just a university; it’s a brand selling education to its consumers. This lack of nuance is problematic in a culture that increasingly values decolonial structures.

Niya Plynton is a second-year journalism major. He can be reached at nplynton22@northeastern.edu.

Photo by Jessica Xing A statement released by Northeastern about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Some students believed the statement failed to address the struggles that Palestinians have faced during the conflict with Israel.

Op-ed: Why your Jewish friends are so afraid

The Jewish people are a small tribe; everyone knows everyone.

When the attacks started on Oct. 7, I did the only thing I could: I texted my loved ones in Israel to see if they were still alive, and I went to be with my Jewish community. We gathered at Northeastern’s Hillel. I hadn’t met everyone there before that night, but we all felt like family. We sat in a circle and shared the names of people we were praying for: a little brother hiding in a bomb shelter, an uncle and a cousin missing, best friends called to the front lines. While I later found out the loved ones I prayed for survived the attacks, I have friends whose families will never be the same.

After the Holocaust, all that was left of the Jewish family tree was a twig. In my grandmother’s house, there is an old photo of my great-grandfather standing proudly with dozens of his relatives. They all wore the typical garb of religious European Jewry: long black coats, beards and big black hats. Excluding my great-grandfather, every single

Holocaust survivors and hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern Jews fleeing countries that promised to kill them flooded into Israel.

In 1991, the government of Israel airlifted 14,300 Ethiopian Jews facing persecution to Israel over the span of 36 hours. Even today, thousands of Jews continue to move from France to Israel in response to high levels of violence targeting French Jews.

Now, the hope of the Jewish people is under attack. The last time this many Jews were slaughtered in one day was during the Holocaust.

I expected outrage as terrorists with genocidal intent on par with the Nazis killed my people. Yet online, I saw thousands of strangers and a handful of my own peers justifying Hamas’ actions, rebranding terrorists as freedom fighters. I was shocked. I knew antisemitism existed, but it had always seemed distant in both time and place. I didn’t expect it to come from my peers. I finally understood the warnings of my grandparents.

I have seen people post the phrase “From the River to the Sea,” which calls for a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that includes the entire state of Israel. Where are 7 million Jews — nearly half of the world’s Jewish population — supposed to go?

The same people who were expelled from dozens of countries throughout history. Not to mention the other 2.5 million non-Jewish people living in Israel. It is possible to advocate for a Palestinian state without calling for the complete destruction of Israel. A call for the destruction of Israel is a call for genocide.

Israel faces constant direct attacks on its civilians and threats to its

existence. If it didn’t defend itself, it would cease to exist. I am horrified by the images I’ve seen of the Palestinian people and their suffering since the war began. I also understand the obligation Israel has to defend its citizens from terror. Until Hamas is eradicated, there can be no peace. It is painful to see the way Hamas hides itself behind Palestinian civilians, using their bodies as human shields and their lives as propaganda tools. Hamas uproots water pipes to build rockets. Hamas steals money intended for humanitarian aid for the purpose of waging war. Hamas doesn’t want peace for Palestinians; it wants the destruction and death of all Jews.

Since the initial attack, my family, community and I have felt intense grief and terror. I have felt my body turn cold as I watched the climbing death tolls of Israelis and Palestinians alike. I have tried to focus in class

while my thoughts drifted to my baby cousin in Israel who, thank God, is safe, unlike dozens of others.

During this tragedy, I have found a deep reservoir of strength in my community. It was here on the Northeastern campus, as hundreds of people gathered to mourn and pray for our Israeli brethren, that I finally understood the unity and collective strength of the Jewish people. For 4,000 years, the Jews have been a tiny people, scattered around the world and frequently threatened by extermination. Yet, we have outlived the monstrous regimes that tried to destroy us: the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition and Nazi Germany. I am proud to be part of such a resilient people. I am proud to be a Jew. Gabrielle Bailey is a third-year bioengineering and biochemistry major. She can be reached at bailey. ga@northeastern.edu

Illustration by Gabrielle Bailey

Photo courtesy Gabrielle Bailey

person in that photo was slaughtered in the Holocaust. Approximately six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, accounting for 60% of the Jewish population. My family — my people — were brutally murdered because they didn’t have a safe place to go when antisemitism turned violent.

With my family in my heart and this recent attack in my mind, I intend to show you what Israel means to the survival of the Jewish people.

I will describe the existential grief and fear I have felt as the world’s only Jewish state has come under attack.

Throughout history, Jews have been the targets of violence and persecution, and when antisemitism reared its ugly head, Jews often found themselves with nowhere to go. Even during the Holocaust, few countries would accept Jewish refugees. The United States turned away a boat of 900 Jews seeking asylum from Germany. In response to global antisemitism, Zionism, a movement for a Jewish state, began to gain traction in the late 19th century — well before the Holocaust.

Zionism advocates for the right of self-determination and nationhood of the Jewish people. Being a Zionist does not mean you support every choice of the Israeli government.

Being a Zionist does not inhibit your grief for Palestinian civilians. Being a Zionist only means you support the existence of a Jewish state.

Even before its inception, Israel has been a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution. Jews fleeing Russia, Germany and other European countries sought asylum in the land that would later become Israel. After the declaration of Israel as a Jewish state,

LIFESTYLE

Page 12

November 3, 2023

Column: All wrapped up! The 4 best burrito spots on and around campus

By Rachana Madhav | News Staff A warm burrito is often just what the doctor ordered. With a variety of meaty options to choose from, such as flavorful pulled pork or mouthwatering steak, the quintessential burrito is a staple for hungry college students. At Northeastern, a burrito is more than just a dinner option — it toes the line between culinary greatness and necessary college convenience at 2 a.m. A perfect burrito is one with a soft shell, sleek cuts of savory meat, shredded

Photo by Jessica Xing

cheese that perfectly melts and a smooth finish of avocado that nestles right between the thick clump of chosen ingredients.

A burrito is the definition of comfort food. However, finding that perfect meal worthy of repeat dining is difficult. To ease the process of deciding where the next drunken gallivant to a taqueria should be, here is a list of the best burrito places on and around Northeastern’s campus.

Photo by Darin Zullo File photo by Scotty Schenck

Qdoba Mexican Eats — Ambience: 4/10, Burrito Taste: 5/10, Accessibility: 7/10 This taqueria is located right below White Hall at Northeastern, just a few feet away from Marino Recreation Center and Wollaston’s Market. Due to its proximity to campus, numerous Huskies (as well as visiting parents) frequent the restaurant. It is a perfect spot to hit after a grueling workout in Marino, especially when the extra walk to El Jefe’s Taqueria is too much.

Qdoba has the potential to establish itself as a front-runner in fast food, however, they do not quite hit the mark.

Perhaps it is the lack of homeliness or popularity, but this is not a restaurant that most college students think of when craving a burrito. Nevertheless, the burrito itself is tasteful, and the free guacamole is an added bonus. Qdoba’s burritos are soft yet dry, have a less-than-preferred amount of sauce and a crunchy and chewy finish from the meat.

While Qdoba is currently closed due to White Hall construction, it is expected to eventually reopen.

Mamacita Mexican Comida — Ambience: 9/10, Burrito Taste: 6/10, Accessibility: 6/10 For most, stepping into Mamacita is always a pleasant surprise. Located right on Huntington Avenue just opposite of Krentzman Quadrangle, Mamacita’s interior is a burst of color, lively music and gothic, provocative decorations. Adorned with sultry pick-up lines on the windows and mirrors, it is a prime spot for a date or a late evening with bubbly fellow diners.

When it comes to the burrito itself, Mamacita lacks in quality taste. The tortilla is too soft, with an overload of

cheese seeping into the once-solid shell.

The servers provide you with an option to throw a coating of cheese on the tortilla before adding any other toppings, which unfortunately can overpower any of the other intricate flavors. On its own, the meat, pico de gallo and fajita peppers are delicious. The tortilla, however, falls on the runny side and does not stay firmly solid as time goes on, a dealbreaker for particularly slow eaters and those hoping to enjoy the burrito’s leftovers.

Photo by Darin Zullo

El Jefe’s Taqueria — Ambience: 7/10, Burrito Photo by Darin Zullo

Chilacates Mexican Street Food — Ambience: 3/10, Burrito Taste: 9/10, Accessibility: 5/10 Chilacates is an underrated favorite of many upperclassmen. Located on Tremont Street in Mission Hill, the restaurant is scarcely heard of by first-years at Northeastern. Because it is so far away from campus, not many first or second-years make the trip up there. However, for those who do make the walk up Tremont Street, Chilacates is a very fond choice.

Sometimes referred to as the “El Jefe’s of the Hill,” Chilacates is a strong contender for the top burrito spot on and around campus. The restaurant is less of

a sit-down place — more people frequent it for takeout instead. They are famous for their birria tacos and burrito bowls, while the original burritos taste just as good.

Their burritos are packed with flavor and come with an authentic Mexican taste that is rare in Boston. Their ingredients taste fresh and well-seasoned, with thought and care put into every dish.

Although it comes at an added cost, the guacamole that accompanies a Chilacates burrito is undoubtedly some of the best, and is definitely worth a try.

Taste: 8/10, Accessibility: 10/10 El Jefe’s is the burrito spot. It is the king of campus food and college students stumble their way into the sacred restaurant at odd hours of the day and night. The taqueria has been visited by sober and covertly inebriated college students alike, providing them with food, company and authentic Mexican vibes.

There’s always catchy Latin music playing on the overhead speakers, only barely heard over the laughter and chatter of college kids.

The restaurant is not designed for a long stay, with just a small amount of narrow tables and a line that goes out the door on busy days.

The wait to get the burrito is well worth it, though.

The food tastes authentic and is rich in all kinds of flavors. They offer many smoky meat

options, equipped with fresh vegetables and a cheesy filling that’s all wrapped tightly in a warm tortilla fresh out of the oven. El Jefe’s has options galore, ranging from mild sauces to spicy, and three varieties of soft, tender beans. The Mexican rice is cooked perfectly, with bits of spice coating every grain, making it a favorite for many orders.

The taqueria is also a convenient spot to get to. Located on Huntington Avenue near the Symphony MBTA stop, it is transit-accessible and is a quick walk from campus. It is also open till 3 a.m., which makes it a hot spot for the hungry partygoers returning from Friday night ragers.

Ultimately, El Jefe’s is a reliable friend to turn to, and is a very beloved spot for the students of Northeastern.