February 13, 2020

The Huntington News February 13, 2020

The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community

@HuntNewsNU

BEANPOT 2020 N U TA K E S B O T H T R O P H I E S F O R F I R S T T I M E S I N C E 19 8 8

By George Barker | Sports Editor

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FEB 10 : M EN ’ S FI NAL Huskies win in double OT, complete first ever NU Beanpot three-peat It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In a tale of two NU teams and two BU teams, the No. 12 Northeastern men’s hockey team pulled off a miraculous four-goal second period to come back from a dismal first stanza and secure their seventh Beanpot title and first three-peat in program history, 5-4 in double overtime.

There are few games over the course of the season where there are more eyes on the Huskies than the Beanpot final, this year even more so, with over 17,800 fans representing the highest attendance in Beanpot history. Anyone watching couldn’t possibly have been disappointed, as the game was riveting from start to finish with constant swings. Momentum sat squarely with BU for the first period, NU for the second, BU for the third and overtime No. 1, but NU with the second overtime period and the game-winner.

“I thought it was a great hockey game. They pushed, we pushed, they pushed back. Back and forth chances,” said NU head coach Jim Madigan, who has now won six Beanpots, three as a player, three as a coach. “From my end, it was a great Beanpot game. I’ve been involved in a MEN’S HOCKEY, on Page 6

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Photo courtesy Brian Bae, Red and Black Grant Jozefek raises the storied Beanpot as his teammates look on.

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F E B 11 : W O M E N ’ S F I N A L FINAL SCORES MEN WIN

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B E A N P OT MV P : Zach Solow for his excellent net-front presence on the tourney-winner, two goals and one assist WOMEN WIN

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B E A N P OT MV P : Chloé Aurard for her three goals (two in the final) and three assists

Photo by Kelly Chan Alina Mueller launches the puck during the final. She had a goal and three assists in the tournament.

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Drought ends: NU wins record 17th Beanpot with MacInnis double OT winner Each Northeastern and Boston University women’s hockey match this year has been tight-checked, ending 2-1, 2-0 and 2-1 in NU’s favor. This game was no different, besides the fact that it was a double overtime Beanpot final, with NU heading home from Walter Brown Arena with Beanpot glory by virtue of a close win at a final score of 4-3.

“An unbelievable hockey game from start to finish.

Both teams battled, extremely exciting, up and down, fast paced and obviously the crowd was awesome. What an atmosphere,” said NU head coach Dave Flint. Tuesday night’s attendance: 1,790, a Women’s Beanpot record.

Until it was over, there was no point that either team truly took grasp of this game. Each period ended close in the shot column. Each period ended tied. For the entire match, both teams were within one shot of the Beanpot title. That shot finally came over three hours after the puck first dropped, from junior defender Lauren MacInnis on the power play.

“A ton of emotions ran through my head. We won, we won Beanpot. I saw my teammates cheering and I was WOMEN’S HOCKEY, on Page 7

Photo by Sarah Olender Senior forward and Massachusetts native John Picking ends his Beanpot career on a high note.

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Photo by Kelly Chan It took until the last moment, but senior captain Paige Capistran will graduate a Beanpot champion.

Performance clubs struggle with budget cuts, Blackman cost

By Deanna Schwartz Campus Editor For the past few years, the Northeastern University Dance Company has held two shows every semester.

This semester, however, they will only have one show.

“We’re kind of in survival mode,” said Rachel Luccarelli, a third-year physical therapy major and co-president of The Northeastern Dance Company, commonly referred to as NUDANCO.

NUDANCO is not alone. For students in performing arts groups, it has become more difficult to host shows on campus because of Student Activity Fee budget cuts and a change in the cost to book Blackman Auditorium.

The Student Activity Fee, also known as the SAF, is a $142 yearly fee that all Northeastern students pay, creating a fund of over $2 million. The SAF “provides support for student organizations, clubs and

entertainment events throughout the school year,” as written on the Student Financial Services website.

The SAF breakdown is determined by the Student Government Association Finance Board, which allocates the money to clubs based on a variety of factors.

SGA Comptroller David Hope said all student club budgets were cut across the board by about 25 percent for the 2020 fiscal year, or F20, which began July 1, 2019

and will end June 30. According to Hope, student groups requested $4.4 million in funding for F20 and the Finance Board granted a total of $2.5 million from the SAF. “New clubs join the SAF every year, but the student body does not significantly increase and therefore the SAF doesn’t increase in overall size year to year,” said Hope, a fifthyear biology major.

One club heavily impacted by the budget cuts is the Ballroom Dance

Club. Treasurer Luke San Antonio Bialecki, a third-year computer science major, said their budget was cut from $17,150 in 2018-2019 to $11,000 this year. The main thing this impacted, he said, was their weekly lessons.

Last year, the Ballroom Dance Club held two lessons taught by professional coaches every week: an intermediate and an advanced lesson. They can only afford one PERFORMING ARTS, on Page 2

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February 13, 2020

Northeastern student petitions Broadway

By Pavithra Rajesh News Correspondent

Amid controversy surrounding the current Broadway revival of West Side Story, Northeastern student Megan Rabin was fed up with the lack of impactful action. She knew she had to do something.

Rabin is the creator of a petition that aims to remove Amar Ramasar, a principal dancer of the New York City Ballet who is accused of sexual harassment, from playing the lead role of Bernardo in the revival of West Side Story on Broadway.

“It just felt like no one was doing anything,” said Rabin, a second-year behavioral neuroscience major. “I felt like the only way to take action was through a petition.”

Ramasar was dismissed from the New York City Ballet, or NYCB, in September 2018 shortly before being named in a lawsuit alongside fellow principal dancers Chase Finlay and Zachary Catazaro. Alexandra Waterbury had accused the three of sharing explicit photos and videos of female dancers, including herself, without consent.

However, in April last year, Ramasar was ordered by an arbitrator to be reinstated by the NYCB and was subsequently cast as Bernardo in

West Side Story on Broadway.

Rabin created the petition through Change.org in early December last year and it almost immediately gained traction.

“I would say it started growing right away,” Rabin said. “Within a week or so, I feel like it got to about a thousand or more.” The petition currently has 25,716 signatures and counting.

Rabin was an admirer of Waterbury from a young age and felt a strong commitment to this cause.

“I grew up doing ballet, and I danced for almost 10 years,” Rabin said. “I followed a lot of dancers who were training at the School of American Ballet on social media. I started following Alexandra, and I felt like I had this connection to her.”

Rabin contacted Waterbury while attempting to spread awareness about the petition.

“Most of our communication was just through Instagram DMs,” Rabin said. “She was very responsive.”

Along with a campaigner from Change.org, Rabin and Waterbury used the momentum of the petition to plan a protest outside the Broadway Theatre Jan. 31, where Rabin and Waterbury met for the first time.

While an earlier protest took place Jan. 24, this was the first one that

Rabin was actively involved in.

“That was so awesome,” Rabin said. “It ended up coming together like two days before, and so we all went down. It was insane.” The protest amassed 40 people and gained significant attention and press coverage.

“We handed out 400 information sheets, and the response of people on the street who were waiting in line was, ‘I had no idea this was happening,’ ‘Why is this not common knowledge?,’” Rabin said. “People were saying that they would have never bought tickets if they had known.”

There are more protests scheduled to take place shortly, including Feb. 20, the day the revival of West Side Story opens on Broadway.

With Rabin’s early dreams about performing with the NYCB, her passion for the subject is clear. “[The casting controversy] shattered the image that I think a lot of young dancers created of the New York City Ballet,” Rabin said. “I think he doesn’t deserve to perform again or to be around young women and to threaten their safety just for him to have his moment to shine.”

Rabin is not the only one who has strong opinions about the situation.

Carla Mirabal, a fifth-year theatre

major who is directing a play for New Renaissance Theatre Company, a theater club with a focus on the representation of students of color, shared her thoughts.

“I think it’s terrible that Amar Ramasar, a sexual offender, is one of the few people of color on Broadway,” said Mirabal. “I definitely don’t believe that him being a person of color justifies him getting to stay.”

Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, associate professor and interim department chair of the Department of Theatre at Northeastern, said he was initially planning on seeing the show.

“Even though I admire [Director] Ivo van Hove’s work tremendously, and was looking forward to seeing his take on this production, I don’t think that I will go see it until this person is not in the role anymore,” he said. “I wonder what [Ivo van Hove] thinks about it.”

While the management behind the revival has yet to release a statement, Rabin is hopeful for the future of this cause.

“The word is that they’re starting to squirm,” Rabin said. “Now that people are taking notice, I think it’s going to get a little more uncomfortable for them to keep him in the cast.

I really do believe eventually they’re going to take him off the cast. It’s

just a matter of them seeing all this pressure that’s being put on them to do so.”

In the midst of the #MeToo movement, this case is not the first example of sexual harassment in the industry.

“Unfortunately, as you know, this is not a new story,” Ocampo-Guzman said. “There’s been sexual abuse in the world of theatre, and in the world of dance in phenomenal dimensions throughout generations.”

Rabin is committed to ensuring that the accused understand the consequences of their actions.

“In the future, I think it comes down to setting that precedent.

Hopefully, if something like this happens again, which it probably will, if not definitely, there won’t even be this thought of the ability to continue being in the spotlight and succeeding,” Rabin said. “The consequences will be so evident that hopefully it will discourage people from taking advantage of their power.”

Rabin said a series of small actions can make change happen. “I think a lot of people sometimes just need someone to get the ball rolling. Any small action can have a big impact.”

Fees and lack of club funding make impact PERFORMING ARTS, from front coach per week now, for intermediate lessons.

The lack of advanced lessons has caused more experienced club members to seek training at other colleges, something San Antonio Bialecki said has been very detrimental to the club’s culture.

“When we don't have advanced lessons, the upper-level members of the club have nothing to gain from staying with Northeastern. So they travel to MIT, they pay the large club dues and they compete under the MIT name,” he said. “The team's very fragmented as a result of not having our advanced lessons — there's nothing to offer anybody who is more than a beginner.”

Booking Blackman Auditorium creates issues These budget cuts are not unique to performing arts clubs, but their effects are impactful because of the similarly-timed change in the cost to book Blackman Auditorium.

Located in Ell Hall, Blackman Auditorium is the largest space on campus that students can book for events, seating 988.

Currently, events that are four hours or less cost a flat rate of $1,400, including an hour before and after the event for setup and breakdown.

Each additional performance hour costs $375, and rehearsals in the auditorium cost $100 per hour.

Holly Emanuelli, associate director of operations for Blackman Auditorium, said that in previous years the price was $1,440, but was “often negotiated.” The cost is now a set price that cannot be negotiated. Multiple student groups said their cost to use Blackman increased from last year.

“Campus resources become more expensive year to year — in each academic and calendar year we are asked to do more with less,” Hope said about the price increase.

According to financial records obtained by The News, NUDANCO paid a total of $3,307 for their showcase in Spring 2019, at an

Changes in Blackman Prices for NUDANCO from Spring 2019-Fall 2019 150

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Spring 2019

Fall 2019

Data from NUDANCO’s NU Event Management Invoices

Graphic by Jayden Khatib

average of $66 per rehearsal hour and $164 per performance hour. For their next showcase in Fall 2019, they paid $6,475, at an average of $100 per rehearsal hour and $240 per performance hour. Both showcases had two shows, although the Fall 2019 showcase had more rehearsal hours.

Luccarelli said NUDANCO is only able to have one show in Blackman Auditorium this semester due to scheduling issues, but that they would not have been able to afford two shows, if given the option, because of budget cuts and the price increase. ”We didn't have to be the ones to make the decision to only have one show,” Luccarelli said. “But I think that had it been our decision, it would have been a challenging one to make.”

Becca McBrayer, vice president and former treasurer of the Downbeats, a co-ed a cappella group, said the cost to book Blackman Auditorium this year was more than what they expected.

“We requested however much the quote said from last year, and then when I went to go talk to my program manager, she said, ‘Request more, the price is going up,’” McBrayer said.

The Downbeats paid $2,100 to use the auditorium for AllCapella, an annual showcase of Northeastern a cappella groups that the a cappella teams rotate hosting each year.

Groups make adjustments This year, the Downbeats requested $2,255 from the SAF fund for use of Blackman Auditorium, as well as other spaces like Curry Ballroom.

They were approved for $1,775, $325 more than what the cost was for just Blackman Auditorium.

As a result of Blackman’s cost increase, the Downbeats rearranged

their budget and cut back on other expenditures, according to McBrayer.

“We’re recording a single this semester and we’ve had to really cut down the budget for it because we had to move what we had approved for it to Blackman,” McBrayer said.

“There’s a lot more planning that has to go into everything.”

Luccarelli also described a shift in priorities. She said NUDANCO’s need to fundraise has caused other company priorities to fall to the wayside.

“Right now, our emphasis has been more on fundraising than it has been on things to help better the company, which is kind of disheartening because we are a dance company and we would love to be putting our energy and our efforts into things like different opportunities and different ways to bring company members together and get us out performing in different parts of Northeastern or the community,” Luccarelli said.

“But right now our focus has been on fundraising.”

Luccarelli said NUDANCO is unsure if they can currently afford extra elements that they are used to, such as a photographer and videographer, show shirts, gifts for lighting designers and posters. She also said the transition from two shows to one has been a difficult adjustment.

“It's a little sad — we love having a full show day. We love being able to have two different opportunities for people's families to be able to make it. It's always during finals week, so to be able to offer friends two different times in the day [is nice]. So, it's a bummer,” she said.

Some club leaders like San Antonio Bialecki are concerned for the future of their club.

“Our club is literally going downhill right now, because people are either going to other schools or

quitting because they have no one to dance with,” he said. “If we can provide the advanced lessons, more people come to stay and compete with us.”

Kayla Pinzur, president of Kinematix, said the urban dance troupe was also impacted by budget cuts.

For their spring show Bodies in Motion, Kinematix did not receive any funding this year, Pinzur said.

“We definitely were cut in a lot of areas … we used to always be funded for t-shirts for our shows, but we weren't funded this year. We were funded for videography, but this year they didn’t fund us for videography at all,” said Pinzur, a fourth-year physical therapy major. “We have to do way more fundraising this year than ever, and a lot of money has to come out of students’ pockets.”

However, Pinzur said she thinks they weren’t hit nearly as hard as other groups because their fall show, FUNK’tion, brings in a lot of money through external ticket sales.

Both Kinematix and NUDANCO said that although the financial burden has been stressful, it has not had a large impact on the overall morale of the group. Although the changes have been sad, Luccarelli said, she is grateful for how the company has rallied together.

“The company's been so great about understanding and being flexible with us … There's a lot of positivity and there's not a lot of contention or anything surrounding that,” she said. “Everyone is just rallying to do the best we can to have as many of the elements as we do in a typical semester.”

Editor’s note: The News’ city editor, Laura Rodriguez, is a member of the Downbeats.

Mike Puzzanghera contributed to this article.

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February 13, 2020

Mona Minkara not defined by blindness

Photo by Kelly Chan Minkara was diagnosed with macular degeneration and cone-rod dystrophy at age 7.

By Jordan Baron News Staff Professor Mona Minkara currently provides the Northeastern community and the scientific community with living proof that vision does not necessarily require sight.

Minkara is an affiliate faculty member at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University and is currently teaching her first semester of Biomolecular Dynamics. The factor setting her apart from many of her colleagues, however, is that she does it all without the ability to see.

At the age of 7, Minkara and her younger sister, Sara, were diagnosed with macular degeneration and conerod dystrophy.

“What that really means is that my retinas are falling apart,” she said. “I was conscious of being diagnosed.

Everybody told me I was going to be totally blind when I was 7. I didn’t really understand it. I don’t think I really believed it.”

As she transitioned to a life of visual impairment, Minkara encountered hardships in her early schooling.

“I remember pushing really hard when I was in seventh grade to read an exam that I had, and actually blacking out from forcing my eyes [and] pushing so hard,” she said.

“And I think that made everybody believe I [was] actually losing my eyesight. It made me believe it more.”

Minkara did not begin to learn Braille until a year and a half ago, and instead used audio-technology ranging from computers to a human-helper for quizzes and exams to power her through her education.

However, as she progressed through school, it became apparent that the road ahead would not be an easy one.

“I was for the longest time put in lower-level classes because I was blind. And that was kind of a disservice to me,” she said. “I remember having to fight for taking advanced classes.”

Her passion for science grew as she moved into high school, but so did the level of resistance she faced.

“The teacher on the first day of classes was like, ‘You don’t belong in this classroom, I am not going to change the way I teach for you,’” Minkara said. “I got the highest grade in the classroom by the end of the year and she actually apologized

to me. But that made me believe that I could do more, too.”

High school gave Minkara the momentum to realize that she was not solely defined by her blindness, and she could be as successful as, if not more than, her peers. She enrolled at Wellesley College as a double major in Middle Eastern studies and chemistry.

“I always talk about the story of asking for access assistance and being told that the school didn’t provide tutors, and being like ‘I don’t need a tutor, I need literally somebody to make this stuff accessible to me,’” she said. “So, fighting through that, getting what I need and then thriving.

Wellesley was an amazing time.”

While flourishing in her classes, Minkara also received a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Award for each summer that she was enrolled.

When she graduated in 2009, she was chosen as the commencement speaker.

After graduating from Wellesley and doing a year of research, Minkara applied and was accepted to a doctorate program at the University of Florida. Her research there “focused on biological systems and computational-chemistry-aided drug design,” according to her website.

“One of the reasons I picked the University of Florida was [because] the disabilities office just laid out the red carpet,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Whatever you need to succeed, we will help you.’”

After completing her postdoctoral degree, Minkara knew that she wanted to come teach and do research at a university. She is now leading 36 students in her first semester of teaching at Northeastern University.

Ben Greenvall, one of Minkara’s research access assistants provided through NU, helps out in class to keep things running smoothly.

“It’s incredibly interactive,” he said. “[Minkara] really stresses verbal response and having a presence that is not visual because people looking confused means nothing to her. From the get-go, she stressed that students need to be verbal and engaged.”

While Greenvall is there to help keep the class organized, Minkara stresses that he is there to help her and her only — he is not a teaching assistant.

“The students understand that he

is there to help me do my piece,” she said. “You have a question, you ask me.”

Many of Minkara’s students agree that her class is more engaging than others they have encountered before.

“The class environment, since she is a blind professor, it’s a very interactive environment where you kind of have to speak up,” said Rohan Shukla, a third-year bioengineering major. “She can’t see if you are raising your hand. I feel like it’s a good atmosphere where everyone is just participating.”

Leonardo Simonelli, a third-year bioengineering major, said the class environment can present a challenge to students trying to participate.

“You definitely need to go a little bit out of your comfort zone, because often if you want to get noticed it is enough to raise your hand.”

Minkara believes that her work in the classroom not only provides students with the knowledge they need to succeed in chemistry, but also with the knowledge of accessibility they need to pass along to others and inspire change.

“They’re raising their own awareness about how to be accessible and communicate and be inclusive,” she said. ”They should be aware of accessibility. And I think it is happening.

That propagates a social change.

Then they will go on, and whatever they end up doing, they will keep [accessibility] in mind, and it will normalize having a blind science professor.”

According to Minkara, audio plays a huge role in keeping her organized.

She uses voiceover technology to make use of her phone, watch and computer. Play-Doh and molecular modeling kits help her visualize her research, and she even has a Brailler device that translates words to Braille.

In addition, she has assistants, like Greenvall, provided by the university to help her with her research and in class. She communicates with them via walkie-talkie when she needs something.

Beyond teaching, Minkara loves to travel and has used her position as a blind scientist to spread her message around the world.

Her sister Sara runs a nonprofit called Empowerment Through Integration, which focuses on empowering people with disabilities and transforming society to be more accepting of those individuals. For the past two summers, Minkara has gone to Lebanon with her sister’s nonprofit to help teach a STEM curriculum that is fully accessible to the blind at a summer camp.

Minkara was also the 2019 winner of the $25,000 Holman Prize, which she is using to film a documentary series called “Planes, Trains, and Canes,” in which she travels to six cities around the world independently using only public transportation.

Despite the difficult road Minkara had to endure to get to where she is, she urges others in similar situations to remain strong.

“Don’t see it as suffering. Don’t despair — people around you might — but you shouldn’t. And follow your passions.”

Page 3

NUPD CRIME LOG Compiled by Nico Malabuyo, News Staff

MONDAY, FEB. 3rd 7:18pm

A student reported being assaulted and robbed on the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex, or ISEC, footbridge by four men, one of whom had a gun.

Officers searched the area and found a toy gun that was discarded. Officers reported finding the man who had stolen the victim’s phone. A report was filed.

9:39pm

An NU student reported being robbed by an unarmed suspect at Shillman Hall. The suspect ran off, dropping the student’s stolen phone. A report was filed.

TUESDAY, FEB. 4th 11:47am

The manager of Wollaston’s Market in Marino Recreation Center reported an NU student who was shoplifting and left the area. A report was filed.

1:58pm

An NU student reported his bike was stolen from the front of ISEC sometime between Jan. 31 and Feb. 4. A report was filed.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5th 9:01am

An NU staff member reported her university iPhone was stolen from her office at Nightingale Hall. A report was filed.

9:23am

A security guard reported speaking to a former NU student inside Egan Research Center. Officers reported the former student was previously banned from all NU property. Officers reported the student will be summoned for violating his trespass. A report was filed.

THURSDAY, FEB. 6th 5:30pm

A residence director from Light Hall reported that the elevator lights had been punched out. A report was filed.

FRIDAY, FEB. 7th 8:40am

An officer reported that an NU student was assaulted on Gainsborough Street the night before. A report was filed.

5:53pm

An NU student reported their package was stolen from 1065 Tremont St. A report was filed.

9:30pm

A proctor reported an intoxicated man unaffiliated with NU in the lobby of Stetson West who refused to leave.

Officers reported banning the man from all NU property and calling an ambulance to transport him to Boston Medical Center for further assistance. A report was filed.

SATURDAY, FEB. 8th 7:54pm

A student in West Village B reported that her cell phone was possibly stolen. A report was filed.

SUNDAY, FEB. 9th 12:22am

A resident assistant from Davenport A reported that an NU student was intoxicated in their room. Officers called an ambulance to transport the student to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A report was filed.

12:39am

A proctor reported an intoxicated NU student in the East Village lobby. Officers called an ambulance to transport the student to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A report was filed.

5:24pm

An officer reported finding a man in West Village H who was previously banned from all NU property. The man was escorted off campus and will be summoned at a later date.

A report was filed.

CITY

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February 13, 2020

Minority students, teachers experience disparities across Boston Public Schools

By Jayden Khatib News Staff Boston routinely appears on top 10 lists of the most educated cities in the United States, but the city’s highschool and college graduation rates disguise serious disparities in the city’s public school system.

In the 2017-2018 school year, Boston Public Schools’ high-school graduation rate rose to 75 percent, an all-time high. However, while 93 percent of Asian students, 81 percent of white students and 77 percent of Black students graduated on time, only 68 percent of Latinx students did the same.

Many teachers surveyed by Educators for Excellence, an organization that amplifies teachers’ voices in debates around educational policy, think the suspension rate for certain minority populations is a factor behind this disparity. Latinx students make up 42 percent of students in Boston Public Schools, or BPS, but also 43 percent of students who receive disciplinary infractions.

Similarly, Black students make up 31 percent of BPS students, and 46 percent of students who receive disciplinary infractions. White students make up 14 percent of BPS students, but five percent of students who receive disciplinary infractions.

“In BPS, they have a fairly low suspension rate, but who they choose to suspend is very alarming.” said Jake Resetarits, managing director of external affairs at Educators for Excellence. “One suspension doubles the chance that they’ll be arrested, and it also makes them 16 times more likely to drop out before graduation, so that’s absolutely not something we want.”

Educators for Excellence’s response to this problem is to call for restorative justice — which they describe as strengthening school-community ties and creating a more positive school culture in order to reduce the opportunity gaps that exist for students of color and low-income students. According to their policy associate, Anthony Morse, similar approaches have succeeded in other cities, including Pittsburgh, whose school demographics are very similar to Boston’s.

There are also large gaps in the proficiency rates among different racial groups. According to the 2019 scores for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, more than 20 percent of both Black and Latinx sophomores in BPS scored as “not meeting expectations” in math, compared to 7 percent of white and 2 percent of Asian sophomores.

Lisa Gonsalces, director of Teach Next Year and member of the BPS Opportunity and Achievement Gaps, or OAG, Task Force, thinks that some of this discrepancy may

come down to the lack of STEM educators of color in BPS. “The biggest way to get kids into the sciences is when they can connect with the people who are teaching them. When kids of color see teachers who look like them, who talk like them teaching science, it gives them faith that they can do it too… It’s really important to have teachers of color so teachers can reflect who the kids are,” Gonsalves said. “There is research out there that shows that when kids of color have a teacher who is like them, it can get them really excited about STEM or math or science, and they are more likely to pursue that.”

According to Boston Teachers Union’s 2018 paper, “Broken Promises: Teacher Diversity in Boston Public Schools,” approximately 38 percent of BPS teachers are people of color, compared to 86 percent of the district’s students.

The system is still under a court order from the 1970s requiring that at least 25 percent of its teachers are Black, yet the district’s percentage of Black teachers has gone down — actually falling still below 25 percent — and the number of Asian and Latinx teachers remains disproportionate to the number of Asian and Latinx students in the system. To alleviate this discrepancy, the OAG task force recommended that BPS increase its teacher diversity and cultural proficiency.

Gonsalves explained the importance of having diverse and culturally proficient educators using an example she saw in a Boston classroom. According to her, it is fairly common for Black working-class parents to phrase their commands as mandatory phrases, while white middle-class parents often phrase commands as questions. A cultural difference like that can cause issues in the classroom. “[The white middle-class teacher] says ‘It’s time to read. Do you want to read?’ and all of the little middle-class white kids come running because they know what it means, and the Black kids don’t. One little boy was in the back playing, and he didn’t come running and the teacher says, ‘Lynn do you want to read now?’ Lynn says no because it was a question and growing up, when a parent asked him a question it was a real question,” Gonsalves said. “So Lynn ends up getting in trouble for being defiant and not following the rules when all he did was do what he does at home. If the teachers knew that, can

you imagine how that changes the classroom?”

Among the largest disparities in BPS, the difference between English Language Learners, or ELLs, and their primarily English speaking peers comes high on the list. In 2018, only 63 percent of ELLs graduated on time. The next year, 53 percent of ELLs from BPS entered college, compared to 66 percent of students overall.

“We found that families were not getting the right information to make confident choices about the best options for their children,” said Angelina Camacho, a current BPS parent and a member of the system’s ELL Task Force. “Also, there is an ongoing issue with the language around encouraging them to properly identify themselves as ELL and the value of doing so. A lot of families still feel like they would be at a disadvantage if they were allowed to be tagged as ELL.” Camacho has experienced the district’s flaws in regard to ELLs and their families first-hand while attempting to support her own son’s bilingualism and biculturalism.

“As an acculturated Latino who has a bilingual son, it’s been hard for the system to properly interpret how my son should engage in the school, which has required a lot of support,” Camacho said. “I’ve had to hire outside of BPS, which was quite a financial challenge, but one that I was thankfully able to manage — I say manage lightly — during the most critical years of his academic learning. Now that he’s a little bit older, it’s a little easier to work with him one-on-one.”

In a system where 71 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, not all families are able to access outside resources to support their children’s language learning.

However, hiring bilingual teachers is more difficult than hiring monolingual teachers. According to Gonsalves, many bilingual teachers have issues passing the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure, or the MTEL. The system often waives the MTEL for these teachers and helps them to pass it, but this still presents hoops for everyone to jump through.

Other

Demographics ofof BPS Teachers Demographics BPS Teachers

Latinx

Black

White Asian

Data taken from “Broken Promises: Teacher Diversity in Boston Public Schools” by the Boston Teachers Union.

Graphic by Jayden Khatib, Data taken from “Broken Promise: Teacher Diversity in Boston Schools by the Boston Teachers Union Demographicsof of BPS BPS Student Body Demographics Student Body Other White

Asian Latinx

Black

Data from “Boston Public Schools at a Glance 2018–2019”

Most BPS stakeholders agree that the system needs to take steps to improve its achievement gaps. Among them is Superintendent Brenda Casellius, who, in the fall of 2019, went on a community engagement

Graphic by Jayden Khatib, Data from “Boston Public School at a Glance 2018-2019” tour that culminated in a strategic vision for the next five years that includes working to close student achievement gaps.

“You can see it outlined in that Boston Globe article about valedictorians, that even people that graduate top of their class are not being given the skills to then participate in the economy or participate in college,” Morse said. “It’s an issue that students don’t think they have the skills to go out into the world and be at the level that [they] need to be.”

Photo by Dana Murtada Boston Public Schools make top 10 best lists around the nation, but not all students are accounted for. POC students are getting left behind in high school and college graduation rates.

CITY

February 13, 2020

Page 5

Anti-vaxxers protest bills on State House steps for required immunization

By Kelly Chan News Staff

A crowd of anti-vaxxers stood beneath a banner reading “Medical Freedom is the New Civil Rights Movement” on the State House steps this past Monday, clutching signs and megaphones in protest of three proposed bills that would standardize vaccinations for all children.

Bills S2359, H3999 and H4096 all aim to enforce immunization practices, but not all Bostonians are in favor of the proposed legislation.

They have specifically received backlash from the anti-vaccination community. Participants feel the proposed legislation could impose on their medical and religious freedoms — as well as rights over their own and their childrens’ bodies.

“I’m not letting anybody do anything without my consent,” said Melissa Mofford, who attended the event with her own children and her

parents Skipper and Barbara.

In addition to preventing these bills from passing, the protesters’ objectives include increasing awareness about their views. Many protesters came to distrust vaccines over time, concluding through their own research that vaccines have the potential to do more harm than good.

“We’re just trying to educate the public and the lawmakers because there is misleading information coming from the medical industry and pharmaceutical companies,” Skipper Mofford said, after doing years of research. “They’re telling us, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,’ thinking if they say it enough times that we’ll believe them. I [even] believed my doctor when I took my kids — I vaccinated them.”

However, this view has been widely rejected by health experts. Dr. Donald Goldmann, Harvard professor of immunology and infectious diseases, reflected on a study in En-

Photo by Kelly Chan A crowd gathers outside the State House to protest bills such as H3999.

gland that concluded the whooping cough vaccine can lead to severe neurological issues, which was also reexamined and proven to be greatly miscalculated, showing no true harm effect at all.

“There are no studies that show that vaccines do more harm than good, at least not the [vaccines] that are officially approved in the United States by the FDA,” Goldmann said.

“There are no credible scientific papers that demonstrate that, and there are a lot of fake [science] and pseudoscience out there … Bad science can really lead to public harm.”

NU professor of public health practice Neil Maniar believes the public needs to be made aware of the truths behind vaccines in order to battle flawed studies.

“For folks to really understand what vaccinations do, how they work — I think that’s one of the big things around education,” he said. “Rather than saying, ‘You’re wrong, and your view is totally ridiculous,’ say, ‘These are the facts. This is why we get vaccinated.’”

Additionally, Goldmann presents the possibility that the way the scientific information is being communicated to the public is not effective.

“In general, people in public health and scientists aren’t the world’s best at translating the data into something people can understand clearly,” he said. “We’re just not as expert as we need to be.”

However, some people join the anti-vax community due to their own negative experiences with vaccines.

“I started questioning it when my son reacted harshly to vaccines,” said Carol Langley, a former vaxxer who identifies as “pro-common sense,” as she recalled her son’s four vaccine-related injuries. “We were told it was unrelated, and it had nothing to do with it. We questioned it just because of the timing, but we continued to vaccinate them just to keep them safe.”

After filing her son’s injury, she discovered there was a connection between her son’s reactions and the vaccines he had received, causing her to lose trust in immunization practices and the science behind them.

“You have to be realistic,” she said.

Other protesters believe bills like H3999 are in violation of their freedom of religion, a constitutional right. The bill will enforce that parents get their children vaccinated in order to enroll them in public schools, summer camps and other programs. To some, especially those of faith, this is a form of discrimination, and there are those who draw comparisons to other moments in political history.

“Something like that also seems like it is going back to the days of segregation. If you are different, you cannot be here,” said Amanda Thompson, a protester from Orange, Massachusetts, and mother of three.

“In today’s day and age, everything is about inclusion, and so why start choosing religious reasons to force people out of school?”

Even if vaccines themselves are not the issue, some in the anti-vax

Photo by Kelly Chan A mother shows up to the anti-vax protest with her son by her side. community simply do not agree with how they are used and advertised.

“I actually think there is a place for vaccines in our society,” Langley said. “I just don’t think we are doing it right.”

Regardless of whether they disagree with those in opposition, some public health experts believe in acknowledging all viewpoints in order to benefit the greater good.

“I always like to be respectful to people’s take on the evidence and hear them out because they may have something to contribute,” Goldmann said, “and I want to be seen as someone who is willing to listen.”

Avery Bleichfeld contributed to this article.

One Year of Aging Strong: Boston’s Initiative to Empower the Elderly

By Julie Dobkin News Correspondent More than 11 percent of Boston’s population is made up of people over the age of 65. Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s Age Strong Commission, launched last January, could affect roughly half a million Bostonians.

According to the commission’s official web page, Age Strong provides “meaningful programs, resources, and connections” to better the lives of older citizens and make Boston a more age-inclusive city. A public awareness campaign of the same name intends to combat age-related stereotyping and encourage a more positive perspective on aging.

“Older Bostonians add so much value to our communities by lending their voices, talents and experience every day,” said Age Strong Commissioner Emily Shea. “At the Age Strong Commission, our role is to make sure older residents have access to information and programs that allow them to continue to thrive, contribute and age strong in the city of Boston.”

Irene Morey, a 103-year-old Charlestown resident and model for the Age Strong Campaign, learned about the commission through a

magazine and quickly decided that she wanted to join the mission.

“I’m going on 104 in February, so I thought I would get involved with the elderly and see how they’re doing,” she said.

In the year since the Age Strong Commission was set in motion, Morey has frequented its functions, meeting many members of Boston’s older community.

“Seeing the new-age elderly and how they’re living now, they’re really, you know, together.” Morey said. “A lot of people associate elderly people as dull, but I found them otherwise.”

The notion that the elderly are uninteresting, helpless or weak is precisely what the commission is aiming to counteract.

Boston already has a department focused on meeting the needs of its older residents — known for over 50 years as the Commission on Affairs of the Elderly — but the launch of Age Strong demonstrates the city’s intention to prioritize its senior community.

“Within the last year, we rebranded as the Age Strong Commission and launched a public awareness campaign to better reflect the people we serve,” said Cassandra Baptista, communications director for Age

Strong. “We heard from older residents that they appreciate when they are looked at as strong and experienced, so we put it in our name.”

The campaign features eight older Boston residents battling the stigma related to aging. Adjectives like “cranky,” “senile” and “helpless” are juxtaposed with photos and biographies of older Bostonians, such as Morey, who are anything but.

Smiler Haynes, another representative of the Age Strong Campaign, is not only an active member of Boston’s elderly population, but she also contributes to the greater Boston community. She still works as a model and fashion designer in the city.

“I facilitate some senior groups at my church, and I participate in the global community center and was also president of the Roxbury YMCA Seniors on the Move [program] for seven years,” Haynes said. “I wanted to help make the activities that the city offers more visible to all seniors in Boston, so they could realize the good things that can come from participating.”

The Age Strong Campaign has been active for a full year now, but it still hasn’t caught everyone’s attention. Constantine Dokos, a doctorate physicist and computer architect who

has lived in the Boston area since the 1970s, said while he wasn’t familiar with the commission, he believed that the initiative was worthwhile.

Even for older Bostonians who are not yet aware of the available programs and benefits, living in the city is still enjoyable.

“I am aging myself,” Dokos said, “and I find the environment around here welcoming to people of my age.”

Though the age-inclusive movement is spreading across the U.S. — with commissions like New York City’s Age-Friendly NYC and Portland, Oregon’s Age-Friendly Portland and Multnomah County making a serious effort to prioritize their respective aging communities — few commissions focus on programming intended to empower older community members in the way that Age Strong does.

“I believe in what Mayor Walsh is trying to do and what he is doing successfully, giving the seniors a real opportunity to continue to age strong with all these activities and different programs,” Haynes said. “Seniors move down South ‘cause it’s warm, and then they realize they don’t have all these amenities that they took for granted [in Boston]. Seniors are really lucky in Boston.”

Photo by Julian Perez Smiler Haynes is a model and fashion designer who is very active amongst the older community.

SPORTS

Page 6

February 13, 2020

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Photo by Kelly Chan This year is each current Husky’s first chance to celebrate a Beanpot title.

4

1

Photo by Kelly Chan Frankel made 30 saves in the final en route to the Bertagna Award.

Photo courtesy Brian Bae, Red and Black Tyler Madden now has his second Beanpot in as many years at NU. He kicked off NU’s scoring with a key second period goal.

2

Photo by Sarah Olender With this victory, head coach Jim Madigan now has six Beanpot championships and another can of Boston’s Best.

NU roars back 1 with a four-goal comeback period MEN’S HOCKEY, from front lot of them as a player, assistant coach, coach, I’ve seen a lot of them over the last 30 years.”

Freshman forward Aidan McDonough and sophomore blueliner Julian Kislin led the way for the Huskies with four (one goal, three assists) and three points (three assists), respectively, while senior defenseman and captain Ryan Shea chipped in two of his own. Fifth-year senior Craig Pantano played a big role for the Huskies as well, recovering from a rough first period to save 40 of the 44 shots he faced en route to the Eberly award for the goaltender with the highest save percentage in the tournament.

“First and foremost, it is our student athletes who have worked hard and earned this victory… it’s always about the players,” Madigan said.

“For our freshman who haven’t won, for Craig Pantano and Brendan van Riemsdyk who are grad-seniors, I’m thrilled for them and the whole team.”

The ultimate hero for the Huskies was sophomore defenseman Jordan Harris, who finally brought the second-longest Beanpot championship to an end with a game-winner late in the second overtime period. Harris potted the winner on the power play while junior forward Zach Solow was crowding the net, earning an honorary assist for his screen. “[Harris is] an elite player,” Madigan said. “He’s an even keeled young man, well-balanced and wants to get better each and every day.”

Solow had a goal and an official assist in the final to go along with his 2019 Beanpot MVP trophy.

“This award could’ve gone to everyone on our team, that’s what makes our team so effective. Every guy plays like an MVP every night and that’s what makes us so dangerous,” Solow said. “I have to thank my coaches, my teammates and everyone who put me in this situation.”

Outside of winning the opening faceoff, NU had nothing going in the first. BU controlled the puck from start to finish, and for over half the period, NU had just one shot on net.

While BU didn’t look to generate a ton of high danger scoring chances, they completely dominated puck possession and trapped the Huskies in their own zone.

Fifth-year senior Craig Pantano struggled out of the gate, like the rest of his skaters. On BU’s first real setup in the Husky defensive zone, sophomore forward Matthew Quercia sent a shot off Pantano’s pads. In a play that seemed to move in slow motion, Pantano could neither cover the rebound or slide to the opposite post to cover the net. Instead, fellow sophomore forward and Massachusetts native Jake Wise got there first, tipping the puck in and taking an early 1-0 lead for the Terriers just under three minutes into the contest.

Just five minutes later, with little success from the Husky skaters to show, BU struck again. NU’s star sophomore center Tyler Madden was physical with BU from the puck drop, but it proved costly for the Huskies as he picked up a boarding minor. BU’s power-play unit took advantage when Terrier freshman forward Trevor Zegras beat an out of position Pantano with a clean, unscreened wrister from the edge of the circle, beating the former Merrimack goalie glove-side to push the lead to 2-0 BU. Whatever was said in the NU locker room during the intermission had an impact. In the next period, the Huskies looked like a brand new team and shifted momentum completely. They ran over the Terriers and controlled their zone, keeping BU’s high danger chances to a minimum. When Pantano was tested, he came through, flashing the leather, making an athletic kick save and coming well out of his crease to stand on his head and blank the Terriers.

“Our guys came out and competed harder. We talked about it in the locker room about playing heavier, playing faster and getting pucks below their goal line,” Madigan said.

“Our go-to guys stepped up for us, Madden, McDonough and that line.

It was a good second period for us.”

For the skaters, it was an incredible turnaround that showed almost instantly. The four-goal period was kicked off by a fantastic play by Madden, Kislin and McDonough just under three minutes into the second.

Madden won the faceoff to Kislin, who snuck a puck through traffic to McDonough, who sent it along to Madden in the slot, where the star centerman could set up shop and cash in with a beautiful wrister to beat

Terrier freshman netminder Ashton Abel.

Kislin and McDonough kickstarted another goal just three minutes later. Captain Ryan Shea ripped around the back of the net after receiving a pass from Kislin and hit McDonough in the slot, where the freshman got his second point of the contest with a sharp wrister through traffic and into the net.

For the fourth game in a row, Solow got one on the man advantage, this time on a five-on-three to take the lead in the Beanpot, 3-2. Again, Shea and McDonough were involved, each picking up assists on a beautiful passing play that gave another Husky a golden opportunity from the slot, where Solow beat Abel stickside, sending chills through the crowd as the DogHouse erupted in cheers.

“Our student section that we have here gave us a little boost. You don’t really think about the situation when you’re out there, you’re kind of in the zone,” Harris said. “There is nothing like the Beanpot honestly. Whenever you get a chance to play on a stage like this, it’s unique. Like Ryan said, it’s why I came to Northeastern.”

Mercifully, Abel’s night ended on the next Husky tally. A second NU power-play goal came from senior winger Grant Jozefek to stretch the Husky lead to 4-2. “Sieve” chants rained down from the top level as the NU section shook the Garden celebrating the Huskies’ fourth goal in under 10 minutes. As the second period ended 4-2 NU, the mood and the momentum couldn’t have shifted any more in Northeastern’s direction.

Despite the wave of NU offense, BU wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel. Under two minutes into the third, they got one back. Junior D-man David Farrance ripped a shot from the point and was given an unofficial assist by a Husky stick, which deflected his shot down and through Pantano’s five-hole, bringing BU within just one shot of tying it up.

Abel’s replacement, graduate student Sam Tucker, shined for the Terriers, picking up 18 saves on 19 shots as he blanked the Huskies the rest of the way through regulation. His highlight of the game came during a period of two NU power plays in succession, both of which the Terriers killed.

In each two-minute stretch, Tucker

stepped up and bailed out his penalty killers, most notably on an incredible three-save sequence that left the goalie with his pads sprawled post to post and then laid out with just his chest left to stop a Madden chance, keeping the score 4-3 as BU tried to crawl back in.

The game remained tight-checked throughout the third, but off the back of some great Pantano saves, great puck-possession and stick-work by the Husky skaters, NU looked poised to hang on to their 4-3 lead while BU roared back to their first period offensive play.

Instead, the Huskies were foiled by the BU empty net. An amazing keep at the blue line kept the six-on-five chance alive as NU struggled to clear the puck and Pantano made save after save for NU. Zegras just had one shot too many for the Husky netminder, as Pantano’s diving attempt with 1.2 seconds on the clock failed and BU’s freshman phenom sent the final to overtime.

“They scored pretty late there; we were a little defeated. The message was just stick together, stay simple, we’ve been in this situation before,” Solow said. “We had a couple overtime games last year at the Garden, so just use our experience, stay simple and make the right plays.”

Overtime was reminiscent of the first period as the Terriers took over momentum and peppered Pantano with shots. He kept the Husky pulse beating as NU couldn’t find a way out of their zone. Without Pantano’s glove, the game would’ve ended 5-4 BU on numerous occasions.

Once the Huskies got a little time in their locker room though, the championship energy poured out.

“I took a look around the room …. no one was worried.

2

Everyone knew we were going to win, not knew, but hoped, believed,” Shea said. “The winning culture that we built here, that the guys before us have built, it’s amazing. Coach said it in between periods twice, this is why I came to Northeastern – I wanted to win a Beanpot.”

As the second overtime period began, the Huskies came out of the 17 minute intermission with energy.

BU managed to get set up in the Husky zone a handful of times, but Pantano continued his redemption tour and kept his skaters in the game.

They returned the favor with some great offensive zone time and plenty of blocked shots. Finally, they truly paid him back with a winner.

“We got 14 guys on our roster from Massachusetts, so the Beanpot is a big thing. We’re a Mass. team now and that’s great for our kids,” Madigan said. “They come in wanting to be part of this Beanpot and win it because they’ve grown up around it.”

Shea forced a turnover in the Husky zone, took it zone-to-zone and drew a tripping penalty. With 6:42 left in the second overtime, NU jumped on the power play. From the blue line, sophomore defender Jordan Harris turned himself into an

SPORTS

February 13, 2020

NU avenges last year’s defeat to BU on Terrier’s home ice WOMEN’S HOCKEY, from front still kind of in shock. It was honestly just amazing,” MacInnis said. “It’s a dream come true. We talk about it all the time – Beanpot is the battle of Boston. That’s what all the Boston teams are battling for, it’s just an honor to be able to play in this tournament.”

Normally, MacInnis wouldn’t even be on the power play, but after junior defender Skylar Fontaine was ejected midway through the second, NU head coach Dave Flint trusted the veteran blueliner with the all-important role.

“When Skylar got ejected, we moved Lauren in on that power play. She hasn’t been on our power play all year,” Flint said. “I made a comment to her out on the ice… it’s all that time on scout power play that helped her in that situation.”

Also on the ice for the game winner was Beanpot MVP Chloé Aurard. Her two goals were instrumental for the Husky win and she also earned two assists, including one on the game-winner. Her linemate freshman forward Jess Schryver impressed as

3

NU legend.

Harris ripped a shot from the point, Solow was net-front and the five ounce chunk of rubber finally found the twine one more time, bringing NU a hard fought 5-4 double overtime win.

“It is the four corners of the institution. It’s our student body who were there cheering us on… it’s our alumni, it’s our administration, it’s our athletics department,” Madigan said.

“This is another window of excellence into the university. We’ve got so many great things happening and today is one. It’s another window of excellence on Huntington Avenue.”

4

well, scoring the go ahead goal for NU in the third and picking up two assists with the primary on MacInnis’ Beanpot winner.

The game got off to a rough start for NU. When freshman forward Katy Knoll drew an early tripping call in the fourth minute, the Huskies looked likely to jump on the board first. Junior center Kristina Schueler of the Terriers had other plans.

Midway through NU’s power play, she picked a pass, raced uncontested toward junior netminder Aerin Frankel, who came charging out of her own net on an aggressive play. Unfortunately for NU, Schuler deked past Frankel and picked up an unassisted goal with a back-hander, setting the score to 1-0 BU. The Huskies refused to end the period down though, and after much back and forth play with few serious scoring chances for either team, they tied it up. A great effort in the neutral zone by the Huskies prevented a Terrier puck dump and gave sophomore winger Chloé Aurard a chance to rocket down the left wing and rip a hard shot through junior Corinne Schroeder’s five-hole.

The completely even period would end tied up in the goal column, 1-1.

Neither team took momentum and neither team stole control of the game early, as NU often does by the end of the first. The shot column was nearly even: 10 shots for BU, nine for Northeastern.

Just under seven minutes into the second, Aurard struck again. Aurard waited in the slot as her linemate Schryver fought for the puck in the corner. Schryver got it out of the scrum and found Aurard’s stick, who then hesitated just a moment before beating Schroeder stick side for her third goal of the tournament. Just like their first goal, it came quick and unexpectedly for NU. Moments later, NU was on the kill.

They nearly cashed in a short-handed goal as sophomore center Alina Mueller had a golden one-on-one with Schroeder, but the Terrier netminder impressively had the nation’s fourth best scorer’s number. Chaos erupted as Schroeder covered the puck

Page 7 while Huskies and Terriers converged on the net.

Among the scrum, junior Husky blueliner Skylar Fontaine was assessed with a major and misconduct for contacting the head after striking a BU skater high with her stick after the whistle, leaving the D-core down a skater for the rest of the contest. The team rallied though, particularly MacInnis.

“At first, I was really nervous. I’ve never played that many minutes in a game before and I was pretty tired,” she said. “But that is when our mental toughness kicks in and you have to step up, not just me but everyone.”

Frankel, the rock of NU’s defense, agreed.

“I think we showed a lot of character tonight. We didn’t give up,” Frankel said. “We saw a lot of players play some huge roles, like Lauren especially, that we hadn’t seen in the past and I think that speaks volumes about our team.”

The major proved costly. In the remaining three minutes of the power play, BU cashed in with a long shot from the point. Through traffic, Frankel was unable to find senior blueliner Abby Cook’s shot and it snuck in, tying the game back up at two goals apiece.

“I thought we went into panic mode a little bit in the five minute major and I think we were a little caught off guard.” Flint said. “Then we had a media timeout and I just regrouped them and told them to relax and to refocus.

“I thought after that they did a really great job. When you lose your best defenseman for more than half the game, that’s a tough thing to deal with and they dealt with it like champs.”

Just as the first did, the second period ended all tied up, this time at two goals.

Again, the shot column was nearly even.

BU managed 11 shots on net, just edging NU’s eight. Heading into the third, it was still anyone’s game.

Through most of the final stanza of regulation, the Terriers held Northeastern’s high-flying offense in check while the Husky defense did their work, as usual. With just five minutes and 19 seconds to go, it looked like the Huskies found the game-winning shot on the power play as they moved in front, 3-2.

A long shift in the Terrier zone allowed the Huskies to get all the gunners up, and they peppered Schroeder with shots. She held strong, but once the puck was loose in her crease, NU seized the opportunity. Schryver was involved in scoring again, but this time, she was the finisher, not the playmaker.

The freshman collected a pad-rebound and sent it in, prompting every Husky on the bench to roar in celebration.

However,

the celebration would be short lived.

With less than 30 seconds left and an empty net, BU found their way right back into the game. Pressure on Frankel mounted, and a partially saved shot sat comfortably outside the goal line, just long enough for every NU player to take a breath, but not long enough for any to clear it out. BU senior forward and captain Sammy Davis forced her stick in and clipped the puck into the unguarded net, sending the final to overtime.

“I always tell myself it’s never too late for a team to get a goal back, and that’s a perfect example,” Frankel said.

By virtue of a late third period penalty on BU and a near instant OT penalty on NU, the skaters had plenty of ice to work with as four-on-four action ensured. The extra ice and extra time didn’t lift either offense, sending the game into double overtime. At the conclusion of the first overtime period, the teams couldn’t have been closer. Three goals each, 30 shots for Northeastern and 29 for the Terriers.

Throughout the second overtime, both goalies stepped up. Frankel and Schroeder each had major highlights, with Frankel’s coming on a game-saving penalty kill midway through the period and Schroeder’s coming during a long shift in her zone propelled by excellent keeps at the blue line by MacInnis and senior captain defender Paige Capistran. Frankel finished with 30 saves while Schroeder had 36.

At long last, the one shot finally came. NU jumped on the power play with just over four minutes left in the second OT. The Huskies pinned BU and got to work. Moments later, they were champions of the city.

MacInnis, the NU hero, caught Schroeder off guard as a rebound skittered out into the slot. Without hesitation, MacInnis seized the opportunity, carving the Northeastern University name onto the trophy and sending the Huskies home with their first Beanpot title since the 2012-13 season.

“It was on the power play. The puck popped out and it was a scrum in front of the net. I saw it, I shot it to the net.

I didn’t even look at the net, I just figured something was going to happen,” MacInnis said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to the net with that big of an opening… especially never on a power play in overtime.”

Aurard, who earned an assist just feet away from MacInnis’ game-winning tally, saw the whole play, including MacInnis’ quick trigger which brought Northeastern the Beanpot.

“She didn’t even bring her head up, she just shot the puck. My first thought was, if you miss that net,” Aurard said, trailing off for a moment. “But then, she just put it in the net and it was happiness.”

For the first time since 1988, both Beanpot trophies will spend the year at Huntington Avenue.

“For us to bring the Beanpot back to Northeastern and do it the same year the men did, it is really a special moment for us but also the university,” Flint said. “It is a tremendous feeling and it is a testament to the program and the school. Hopefully there’s many more in the future.”

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February 13, 2020

At long last, a Beanpot victory for the seniors

By Kelly Chan News Staff Northeastern’s name has finally been engraved on the Women’s Beanpot trophy for the first time since their last tournament victory in 2013. Only four players on the team — seniors Andrea Renner, Codie Cross, Paige Capistran and Matti Hartman — had ever played in a Beanpot championship prior to this year, and the women poured their hearts out onto the rink.

For the whole championship game, Boston University and NU were neck-and-neck, running into double overtime. With about four minutes left in the extra period, junior defender Lauren MacInnis was able to find an opening just long enough to put the puck into the back of the net.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said freshman blueliner Megan Carter.

“The fact that it went into overtime … It was just exactly how it was supposed to play out. You couldn’t have written it any better.”

All the players immediately rushed onto the ice, scattered their equipment across the rink and dove into a dogpile. The traveling DogHouse fans erupted in cheer. They were the largest crowd NU has had in attendance all year.

Throughout their season, the team’s mentality has been to tackle the small goals, day by day, to keep themselves focused. For the Beanpot tournament, like the rest of their season so far, it proved successful.

“In the past couple of years, we’ve obviously come short in the Beanpot, and I think that’s fueling a lot of our motivation this year,” said senior assistant captain Matti Hartman,

before the first game. “But we’ve just been taking it one game at a time, not trying to look too far ahead.”

One of the biggest team mantras for the women is not to get “too high or too low” during a game or their season as a whole. Their ability to control their emotions and stay headstrong has enabled them to be resilient and establish themselves as some of the toughest contenders in the nation. Currently, the team is ranked third in the country with a 25-3-1 record.

“I think [the idea of] playing for each other kept us in check,” Carter said. “Just even a little tap on the back or something from a teammate, whether it was a good or bad shift, just to keep us going and move onto the next shift was a big thing.”

Even before the first Beanpot game, the women — even the freshmen — went into it treating it like every other game.

“As much as it is exciting, it is another hockey game, no matter the stage,” Carter said. “I like to just think of it as the same 200-foot surface and the same team.”

The team also attributes their success thus far to the special bond they have created this season. The players constantly support one another, and their team-oriented mindsets truly keep them strong.

“Everybody trusts each other, and we all lean on each other and hold each other accountable,” Hartman said. “I think that’s something that we really wanted to ingrain in everybody from the start of the year, and I think that really translates onto the ice.”

For the final game, their encouragement for one another was more than evident, with every player on the side yelling with excitement

Photo by Kelly Chan Freshman defender Megan Carter played a big role in NU’s first Beanpot win since 2013, playing heavy minutes and serving as a strong defensive presence. and high energy.

“I think that the bench energy had so much to do with our energy on the ice,” said freshman forward Katy Knoll. “I think we kept it high for the majority of the game, and I think it really helped us come out in the end.”

Above all, this victory was dedicated to the seniors. Since their fresh-

man year, they have been waiting for this moment of redemption. With their Beanpot careers ending on one final shot late in the double overtime period, it took until their absolute last opportunity to take home the trophy.

“There is no better way to end your Beanpot experience,” said captain Capistran. “Getting it your senior year is what you dream about.”

Photo by Sarah Parker When Northeastern lined up for the semifinal, they hadn’t won the tournament since 2013 and hadn’t been in the championship round since 2017. Now, they are victorious.

SPORTS

February 13, 2020

Page 9

A first and last Beanpot

By Valeria Vazquez Deputy Sports Editor

The two Huskies have dreamt about this moment since they were young. Both from Massachusetts, the Beanpot was a tournament any young hockey player could only dream of winning. And they did it.

Senior forward John Picking is no rookie to a Beanpot win, he won his first in his sophomore year and another in his junior year, despite not playing in the final.

Meanwhile, freshman forward Aidan McDonough earned his first Beanpot Monday night in a close final game against Boston University.

McDonough had a stellar performance picking up four points that night: one goal and three assists.

“I was trying not to think too much,” said McDonough. “On the bench and in the locker room I might have been a little bit nervous, but once I got on the ice I tried to block everything out and just play my game and move my feet as much as possible.”

Growing up in an athletic, hockey-loving family in Milton, Massachusetts, McDonough learned to skate at the age of 2 and started to play at the age of 5. With the university’s prestigious academic opportunities, and him growing up three streets away from head coach Jim Madigan, it was only fitting that McDonough would head to Northeastern.

Picking’s father was quick and eager to get a stick in his son’s hand and the senior forward started young at 4 years old. After a successful and exciting NU career, in his final semester, he was ready to win one last time and to leave his mark on the 11 freshmen NU picked up this season.

“When you’re a freshman, you get to watch the upperclassmen really focus on the little details and the process it takes for them to play at such a high level,” Picking said. “Now I feel like I’m on the other side of it, and just talking with the freshmen and every day setting the example for the freshmen.”

According to McDonough, Picking is already setting a strong example.

“He’s probably one of the best leaders and one of the most hard working guys ever. Really dialed in and detailed with everything he does in terms of eating, sleeping, recovery,” McDonough said. “But he’s also funny, he has a good dry humor.

My roommates and I love spending time with him because you always get a good laugh. Really smart guy too. I always like to pick his brain about nutrition and stuff like that because he knows everything.”

For Picking, the feeling is mutual: “He’s a really funny kid, he keeps the energy and the mood light,” Picking said. “But when it’s time to work, he likes to put his work in.

Definitely a big jokester, he’s your typical Massachusetts kid.”

He’s a typical Massachusetts kid who couldn’t contain his excitement about playing in his first Beanpot tournament. “[I’m] really excited, I would say over-the-moon excited,” the freshman said before the tournament bagan. “Also a little bit nervous. As it gets closer I’ll get a little more nervous. But I’m really excited, and I don’t think we’re going to need any extra motivation to gear up for the game. I think we’ll all be moving our feet right from the puck drop.”

Well, well, well, how the turntables In double overtime and in the second longest championship game in Beanpot history, the Huskies returned the Beanpot trophy to Huntington Avenue.

“It was probably the best game I’ve been apart of,” Picking said. “A really memorable game. Beanpots are always really close, but with them scoring at 1.2 seconds and then us coming back in overtime, it was a back and forth game. It was really exciting and fun and I had a blast.”

The Huskies took off in the second period after a lame first period and scored four of their five goals in those 20 minutes.

“We definitely refocused and regrouped,” McDonough said. “Our upperclassmen, our coaches and our

ADVERTISEMENT

Photo Courtesy Brian Bae, Red and Black Milton, Massachusetts native Aidan McDonough celebrates a dream come true. captains really calmed us down and said ‘We still have a lot of game to go, we still have 40 minutes left and a lot of hockey.’ We went back to our game plan and did what we knew we had to do.”

After Madigan’s speech and traditional jump off the team’s jersey case, the best way to celebrate their three-peat was together as a team.

With a Beanpot win under their belts, the team was back to practice, focused on their next game against UMass Lowell and with their eyes on another Hockey East Championship.

“This win is really important, it launches us into the end of the second half of the season and we have a lot of important games coming up,” Picking said. “Now we know how hard we have to play and what it takes to win.”

McDonough’s next three years of his NU career are full of promise, and Picking has no doubt that he’ll step to the plate.

“He’s got a lot of skill and he’s got a good mindset, so I think that stuff comes natural to him,” Picking said.

As for advice: “Keep getting better everyday, watch the older guys, see what they do day in day out.”

Drafted in the seventh round by the Vancouver Canucks in 2019, McDonough plans to finish school and play for the Canucks.

For two hockey players from Massachusetts, on the first two Mondays of February, a childhood dream was reached and a three-peat was achieved.

“It was everything I’d ever dreamed of,” McDonough said.

OPINION

Page 10

The Huntington News editorial board Editor-in-Chief

Christopher Butler

editor@huntnewsnu.com

Op-ed: Do not let coronavirus misinformation lead you to xenophobia

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February 13, 2020

Photo by Dylan Shen

By Katie McCreedy News Correspondent On Saturday, the Boston Public Health Commission confirmed that a University of Massachusetts Boston student tested positive for the novel coronavirus. This is now the eighth case in the U.S. The student sought medical care upon returning to Boston from Wuhan, China last week and is currently under the care of public health nurses. Unfortunately, as the coronavirus presents in Boston, so have virus myths and increasing xenophobia toward people of Asian descent.

To dismantle the misinformation driving this xenophobia, it’s important to understand the biological factors behind the outbreak.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause a range of symptoms from common cold-like respiratory symptoms to more severe presentations, as with the 2002 SARS outbreak. The current outbreak is labeled as the 2019-nCOV and it presents with mild respiratory symptoms like cough and fever, although this varies by patient and is still being studied.

The transmission pattern of the 2019-nCOV is currently unknown.

But, based on previous coronavirus outbreaks, it is likely spread through person-to-person contact, especially through airborne respiratory droplets produced from coughs and sneezes. It is also important to note that not all viruses, including coronaviruses, have the same symptoms.

Based on the transmission pat-

terns of previous coronaviruses, it is unlikely that the virus will spread from surfaces to people. There is currently no evidence that packages shipped from China, especially over many days and through many environments, are able to carry a contractible virus.

While it is currently unlikely that most U.S. citizens will come into contact with 2019-nCOV, there are a few important things that you can do about this outbreak. First, it’s important to practice good hygiene to prevent the spread of any virus, including more common and deadly viruses like the flu. Avoid close contact with people who are sick, stay home when you are sick to avoid infecting others, wash your hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds and do not touch your face with unwashed hands.

Second, there is no need for the healthy, general public to wear face masks. The CDC does not currently recommend wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. This is because the virus does not presently pose a public threat enough to warrant this measure and because the transmission pattern is still being studied.

Importantly, the public’s fear and misunderstanding concerning this outbreak is creating unacceptable prejudice toward people of Asian descent. The main way of contracting 2019-nCOV is contact with someone

people of Asian descent are not at a higher likelihood of contracting this virus by these measures, and one of the most important things the public can do during this outbreak is to stop the spread of unfounded xenophobic fear. There is no reason to be concerned about contracting 2019-nCOV around classmates or roommates simply because they are from China.

But xenophobia persists on the institutional level. Last week the University of California Berkeley Health Services Center issued a pamphlet to students about the outbreak and listed xenophobia as a “common” reaction. Although they have since taken it down, messages like this push harmful public health narratives.

Another major player to blame in this spreading of myths and misinformation is the media. The Daily Mail, for example, ran a story this week using “KILLER VIRUS” in exaggerated, capital letters in their social media posts about the outbreak. This unnecessarily stokes fear and heightens mass confusion for their U.S. readership.

CBS Boston also issued a tweet with a clickbait headline of “Why Coronavirus Is So Dangerous.” The vague title’s exaggerative language perpetuates fear of the virus in the Boston community, which is foundless given that the Boston Public Health Commission and Mayor Martin J. Walsh assured that Boston is prepared to safely handle the virus.

diagnosed with 2019-nCOV, including recent travel to Wuhan, China where contact with diagnosed persons occurred. It should go without saying then that

In Northeastern’s community alone, the NU Meme Collective on Facebook issued a post on Saturday blocking all memes related to the coronavirus because of their xenophobic and racist sentiments.

It is truly a problem that enough xenophobic memes were submitted about the outbreak that a rare announcement blocking them had to be released.

It is one thing to make light of stressful situations through humor, but it is entirely different and inappropriate to make jokes at the expense of the hundreds dying in this outbreak in China and to further perpetuate racist stereotypes at the expense of people of Asian descent.

Xenophobia ultimately stems from fear and misunderstanding. While it may seem enticing, it is ineffective to quell this fear by arguing with angry internet commenters posting racist sentiments about this outbreak, thus amplifying their voice. What is more valuable is sharing accurate resources and information about this outbreak with our online communities and in conversation to prevent xenophobia in the first place. Specifically, sharing the CDC’s coronavirus page which has ample resources and answers to frequently misunderstood questions.

The coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China.

Op-Ed: TMZ exploits celebrities in coverage Celebrities understand their public role and the extent to which the media can comment on their personal lives. They grow accustomed to the bright flashes of paparazzi cameras, the barrages of fans outside their apartments and their names in headlines whenever they do something as insignificant as change their hairstyle.

From the loyal E! channel viewers to the millions of People magazine subscribers, there’s a sizable market for celebrity news. Though entertainment news outlets must meet this demand, they cannot neglect the celebrity and their family’s entitlement to a certain level of privacy and human decency.

There’s a fine line between reporting on a public manner and exploiting an intimate matter; TMZ crossed this line in their almost immediate coverage of the helicopter crash that

killed Kobe Bryant and eight others.

There is an unspoken rule that exists within the world of journalism: When dealing with a matter as sensitive as death, journalists understand that authorities should notify next of kin before the story is published. However, TMZ disregarded this standard. Los Angeles Police Department Police Chief Alex Villanueva asserted that the coroner had not officially identified all bodies by the time the story broke, meaning the news’s release outpaced proper notification of the affected families.

In a press conference, Villanueva shamed TMZ for hasty reporting.

“It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one was perished and you learn about it from TMZ … That is just wholly inappropriate,” Villanueva said.

Officer Tim Marakami echoed

the sentiment, saying, “I understand getting the scoop, but please allow us time to make personal notifications to their loved ones. It’s very cold to hear of the loss via media. Breaks my heart.”

This highlights a bigger issue at hand: entertainment media valuing marketability over basic respect for their reporting subjects.

Unfortunately, this is not the first case of celebrity exploitation

by TMZ. Following the news of the crash, Ellen Pompeo took to Twitter to denounce TMZ owner Harvey Levin, citing how the organization published exploitative photos of abuse victims in the past. Her Twitter tirade only reinforced the fact that entertainment media will turn a blind eye to morals if a viral story is on the line.

The controversy has sparked a nationwide discussion about civility in the media. A Kobe Bryant fan who

sympathized with the fellow victims’ families started a change.org petition calling upon WarnerMedia and Fox Television Stations to cancel TMZ after such a violation. The petition has collected over 600,000 signatures thus far.

Celebrities are in the public eye, but they are humans too. By chasing down this story and publishing the news at 11:24 a.m., less than two hours after the 9:45 a.m. crash, TMZ showed contempt for families involved. TMZ may be a business that benefits from clicks and the widespread dissemination of their story, but in a case as touchy as the Jan. 26 crash, respect should always come first.

Elena Plumb is a first-year journalism major.

OPINION

February 13, 2020

Page 11

Op-Ed: Many unpaid co-ops available on NUCareers cause internal conflicts I’ve known from a young age that I wanted to pursue writing as a career. Since I was about 8 years old, it’s one of the things I can remember being good at and excited about.

However, I feel like it’s a running joke among journalists and authors that unless someone is highly skilled or successful, they don’t typically make as much money as those who chose to pursue high-paying engineering or medical careers.

Like many students here, a large part of the reason I came to Northeastern was its co-op program.

While I was growing up, others complained about the difficulties of getting a job post-graduation without prior work experience, and thinking four or five years ahead seemed like a nightmare. For me, going on co-op means being able to improve my chances when the time comes for the intimidating job search.

I’m now on the verge of my first co-op, and it has been extremely exciting and fast-paced. My friends back home are searching for summer internships and shooting me potential positions over text that might be of interest, but I’m happy to peruse six-month options instead like most of my peers. While I scroll through marketing and editorial jobs on NUCareers on what feels like a nearly daily basis, I’m overwhelmed by all the opportunities, coming across big name companies, pondering the possibility of working at companies like Netflix or NBC Universal, for example.

Most opportunities are wellrounded. The company is based in a good location, the responsibilities sound manageable and the deadline is far enough away that I have enough time to procrastinate on my applications. I’ll get my hopes up and hover my mouse over the “priority” button to save the job for future reference. Then I’ll scroll to the bottom where the wage category sits and feel my mood shift as it sits as a zero.

Zero can mean one of two things on NUCareers: The company forgot to fill out the wage portion and it is a paid position, or it’s unpaid. Some jobs also provide compensation in

Photo by Maya Homan NUCareers, Northeastern’s portal to find and appy to co-ops, lists a variety of information, including the wage, if the position is paid. stipend form, which is better than nothing, but some students have found after doing the math that some of these stipends equate to working for around $6 an hour. That is less than minimum wage.

Money isn’t everything, but for a lot of students it is a factor in their co-op search. When I look to my engineering or business counterparts, I feel slightly frustrated since business majors have to take paid co-ops. Ideally, all majors would be required to accept paid co-ops, but I understand why this is not a possibility. It often feels like students in the College of Arts, Media and Design and College of Social Science and Humanities are getting the short

end of the stick. It is an internship after all, and I understand the idea of being grateful for the experience, but I think many students look forward to making their first big paycheck if given the chance.

Co-op may even allow some students to gain a little more independence from their parents.

I know personally that I feel better spending money when I know I’ve worked for it, and I think many other people would agree. If co-op is supposed to imitate the “real world,” students should be paid like it. They’re working full-time jobs and in many instances living in expensive cities to do so. NUCareers should be reformatted to help those

students who are looking for paid opportunities, utilizing it as a filter option since it doesn’t appear as an option already.

I realize that the opportunity a job presents is my first priority in terms of co-op selection. If I were to land the most rewarding experience of a lifetime working for my dream company, I would take it, pay or no pay. I also recognize my privilege in even considering an unpaid position in the first place since not everyone is able to do this.

However, I view Northeastern as a return investment. Maybe it’s idealistic to think that I will make more money than I’ve already spent for my education, but it doesn’t hurt

to aim high. Everything I do here will hopefully contribute to building up a future that will aid me in repaying my parents for their help in sending me to school. Part of that return investment would be making money on co-op while not having to pay tuition for a semester. That way, I feel like the costs would balance out, or at least remain stagnant for a while to help me avoid a tower of student debt. To those who are able to take unpaid co-ops, I respect them. To me, it doesn’t make sense.

Riana Buchman is a second-year journalism major.

Column: Immigrant wealth test will harm US economy

By Poon Singhatiraj Columnist On Jan. 27, while the nation was distracted by the debacle of President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment trial, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to impose stricter, more draconian restrictions on immigrants looking to become permanent residents.

The “public charge” immigration provision — first enacted in 1882 — allows U.S. officials to bar immigrants from entering the country if they were predicted to be overly reliant on federal financial assistance. In a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines, the court concurred with the government’s decision to widen the scope of who constituted a public charge.

Under the Trump administration’s

new definition, a public charge is an immigrant who uses any government benefits — financial or not — for more than 12 months within a 36-month period. These benefits encapsulate housing, medical and food programs such as Supplemental Security Income, most forms of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as “food stamps.”

These restrictions amount to a wealth test on immigrants that should have never been proposed by the Trump administration, much less approved by the Supreme Court.

The rationale behind the new definition is questionable. The Trump administration enacted the change ostensibly to prevent immigrants and would-be permanent residents from staying in the United States

and abusing federal aid programs.

However, it is well-documented that immigrants are less likely to receive public benefits than those who are native-born. In 2016, immigrants used $5,535 worth of welfare benefits per capita, while Americans born in the United States used $6,976.

President Trump has said publicly in the past he wants lawful immigration into the U.S., defending previous policies meant to decrease illegal immigration. This wealth test runs antithetical to those claims. The new definition of a public charge only punishes legal immigrants — it has nothing to do with illegal immigration or undocumented migrants — by making it harder to achieve permanent residency. Also, it disproportionately harms low-income immigrants who might qualify for

federal aid but hesitate to accept it.

The new rule has caused droves of legal immigrants to drop out of government programs because they are afraid the government would reject future green card applications if they take federal aid. Agencies in over 18 states have reported drops of up to 20 percent in enrollment, which they say is largely due to fears about the new public charge definition.

These fears are not unfounded.

Of the roughly 544,000 people who apply for green cards annually, over 382,000 are predicted to be subject to the stricter definition of a public charge. In the past, less than 1 percent of green card applications were denied on public-charge grounds.

The new provision has major economic implications. If immigrants predicted to be affected by

the public charge rule were barred from living in the United States, it is estimated that this would cost the U.S. economy $81.9 billion a year. Industries that rely heavily on lower-skilled immigrants, such as hospitality and construction, would face a labor shortage. The United States would lose a significant part of the innovation and entrepreneurism that drive its economy; first-generation immigrants founded almost 30 percent of U.S. companies in 2016.

Trump claims that he welcomes lawful immigration, yet his policies are wholly inconsistent with this assertion. It is clear that the Trump administration harbors sentiments that are entirely anti-immigration, and these attitudes threaten to harm hard-working immigrants and the economy they help run.

LIFESTYLE

Page 12

February 13, 2020

Professor Bobette Buster ‘Making Waves’ and making a splash in the film industry

Photo courtesy Skinner Myers Bobette Buster is a Northeastern professor who made the documentary film “Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound.”

By Nico Malabuyo News Staff From the classroom to the camera, Professor Bobette Buster has earned respect and admiration through her distinguished work in film. Buster grew up loving movies and the stories they told. This love sparked an ambition to pursue a career in film.

Buster attended the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and graduated in 1989. She was also only one of the 3 women in her year to be accepted into the university’s Peter Stark Producing Program, a full-time graduate program that prepares students for careers as film producers and executives. Since then, Buster has worked in Hollywood, establishing herself as a talented storyteller and consultant. He has

worked with some of the biggest names in film over the years, such as Quentin Tarentino and Tony Scott.

Buster’s expertise extends to movie studios, particularly animation.

She came to Northeastern in the fall of 2017 at the request of Elizabeth Hudson, Dean of the College of Arts, Media and Design, who was looking to hire someone that had worked intensively in the film industry. Buster now works part-time, teaching the Practice of Digital Storytelling. In this course, she emphasizes the importance of crafting a viable story in today’s marketplace through the use of comedy and satire.

“Short films are the movies of the future,” Buster said. The course is designed around this belief and emphasizes the importance of short films and the film-making process.

Buster divides her time between Boston and Los Angeles, as she still lives and works in California for most of the year. To balance her busy schedule, Buster commutes to Northeastern 4 to 6 times a semester, staying for as long as 10 days or just for the weekend.

Along with teaching, Buster has continued working as both a screenwriter and producer in Hollywood. Most notably, she recently wrote and produced a new documentary “Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound.” The film examines the influence of sound in movies through the voices of visionary directors in the industry, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch and Barbra Streisand. It also features sound design pioneers such as Walter Murch, who worked on “The Godfather II,” and Ben Burtt, who

Calendar compiled by Sarah Olender | Graphics by Jayden Khatib

worked on “Star Wars”. Together, these filmmakers discuss the role of sound technology in immersing the audience in cinema.

Buster’s inspiration for the documentary was a sound design course taught by her USC film professor Jay Roach. During that course, she watched David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” and was captivated by the movie’s use of sound. Ever since then, she’s always highlighted the importance of sound design, going so far as to create a course on the subject.

“It’s an extremely competitive industry, and the market for documentaries is getting smaller,” Buster said. “It’s hard enough to make the film, and even more challenging to gather initial attention to the project.”

Buster’s documentary has garnered widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. In addition to an impressive 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, Buster’s documentary was praised across the film festival circuit worldwide, including a presentation at Cannes, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.

While she felt a mix of stress and excitement during the process, “at the end of the day, you just have to go into it being pleased that you got there,” she said.

Buster said she hopes to bring greater attention to an unappreciated aspect of everyday life through the documentary.

“The big thing is that we take sound for granted in our lives in general,” Buster said. “Actually, it is the very first sense we develop. So, I hope people’s ears will be opened and hear the world in a whole new way.”

Friday, Feb. 14: MFA Film, “The Princess Bride” Go to the MFA to watch a special screening of the film “The Princess Bride” this Friday.

6 pm; $13; Museum of Fine Arts

Saturday, Feb. 15: Building a GIANT Snowman Take a day of your long President’s Day weekend to go over to the Boston Common and build a giant snowman with other colleges in the area. Weather permitting.

1pm; Free; Boston Common

Saturday, Feb. 15: Picklefest Returns Love festivals? Love pickles? If you answered yes to either or both of those questions then you should go to the much anticipated Picklefest this Saturday in Cambridge!

4:30-9:30 pm; Free; Lamplighter Brewing Co.

Saturday, Feb. 15: Acoustic Behrakis Show Come down to the Behrakis Health Sciences Center this Saturday to unwind and enjoy some quality music with friends and family!

Featuring The Bates College Deansmen, it’ll for sure be a show you don’t want to miss.

7:30 pm; Free; Behrakis Health Sciences Center Lobby

Sunday, Feb. 16: Superfood Society Free Demo: Healthy Valentine’s Day Treats Join chef Jennifer Hanway in a free class where you learn how to make some healthy Valentine’s Day treats.

While the lovely holiday has passed, the gift of giving your loved ones delicious treats never needs to end.

10-11 am; Free; The Boston Public Market

Review: ‘Reimagining Home’ Photography Exhibit at the MFA

By Kelly Chan Deputy Lifestyle Editor

Man versus nature has been a common battle throughout history.

However, when brought together, each element can bring out beauty from the other.

As of Jan. 11, the Museum of Fine Arts has opened a new exhibit that features the photography of two Iranian artists, Bahman Jalali and Gohar Dashti. Throughout their lives, they individually witnessed a multitude of political and social changes. Together, the photographers combine history and nature to tell their own stories in their exhibit titled “Reimagining Home.”

Jalali established his name as a photographer during the ‘70s and ‘80s, dedicating himself to the art after joining the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Over the years, he has captured images of war conflicts, such as the Iranian Revolution, and he also taught at the Tehran University of Art in Iran. As Jalali’s student in the early 2000s, Dashti ultimately pushes his creativity to the next level by challenging him to incorporate elements from the world around them.

In this gallery, Dashti’s focus on architectural surroundings complements Jalali’s documentary portraits, despite their differences in style.

Jalali’s black-and-white images are grim, filled with visual and emotional intensity. He uses overlapping techniques and dried flowers to add texture and depth to the story.

Dashti’s images, instead, transform man-made buildings, integrating ivy or grass that infests every nook and cranny.

Jalali’s featured photographs involve layering multiple images, which create a look that is almost surreal. He stacks historical images of soldiers on top of one another, nearly displaying a true flashback in a still image. In his “Image of Imagination” series, Jalali even incorporates provocative images of women from the Qajar dynasty, which are overlaid with bright red petals for a colorful and modern twist.

The latter half of the hallway is lined with Dashti’s larger landscape images. One of her pieces features a slightly stained, yet elegantly designed white doorway, which feels unreachable due to a tall grass field that obstructs a full view of the room.

Another presents a staircase that is blanketed with dull green vines that seem to flow down the stairs.

The balance of reality and nature brings out life in each environment and subject. Dashti and Jalali both add a pop of color, imagination and life into abandoned rooms and dark, serious portraits. Their similar heritage and experiences in Iran are represented in the juxtaposition of the natural world and the world we have created today.

Together, the images also reflect society’s changes. The visual dichotomy enhances how much the world has evolved. Here, history and modernity collide, posing questions about where society is today.

They capture the ideas of life and memory, using imagination to transform reality. Jalali and Dashti ultimately craft photographic interpretations of yin and yang, with man and nature equally interwoven into a single image.

Maybe the two elements are still in a battle, with nature trying to stand its ground as people try to change it.

Or maybe, Jalali and Dashti show us that both can prevail.

Sunday, Feb. 16: Pacifica String Quartet Featuring Johannes Moser The Isabella Gardner Museum is welcoming the Pacifica String Quartet for their weekend concert series. Come see the renowned group play in Calderwood Hall, located inside of the museum.

1:30-3 pm; $15; Calderwood Hall

Monday, Feb. 17: Frank Hatch Free Day Bring your whole family to the Isabella Gardner Museum and the ARTery on Monday for a day filled with arts and crafts at the museum.

Events vary throughout the day.

11 am-4pm; Free; Isabella Gardner Museum

Tuesday, Feb. 18: Pasta Making Workshop Join Chef Avery on Tuesday night for a free pasta making workshop.

Tickets must be reserved before hand but are free.

6-8 pm; Free; The Boston Public Market

L G B T Q +

Wednesday, Feb. 19: Queer Secrets of the MFA Take a special tour of the MFA, learning all of the secret LGBTQ innuendos that are hiding throughout the museum.

6:15-8:00 pm; $17-$30; Museum of Fine Arts