April 16, 2022

The Huntington News April 15, 2022

The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community

@HuntNewsNU

WORKERS, STUDENTS PETITION AGAINST CREATION OF RESIDENCE HALLS IN SHERATON

By Grace Comer Campus Editor

Northeastern students joined together with Sheraton hotel employees to create a petition in protest of the creation of permanent dormitories in the Sheraton

Boston Hotel, a move that could result in the loss of over 100 union jobs for the hotel employees.

The Sheraton Boston Hotel is one of several hotels in the Boston area that Northeastern has leased as temporary dormitories for undergraduate students. During this time,

Photo courtesy UNITE HERE Local 26 Sheraton employees and members of Boston’s Local 26 sat in on a March 23 city council meeting where councilors unanimously passed a resolution opposing the conversion of hotel rooms into dorms.

the previous owners, Host Hotels & Resorts, sold the hotel to the joint venture between Värde Partners and Hawkins Way Capital Feb. 2.

Recently, reports indicated that the new owners are considering converting 427 of the rooms in the Sheraton Hotel into permanent housing for students. The employees who would be affected by this change did not find out about the potential change until it was introduced at a neighborhood meeting.

“It should be the new owners who should be broaching the subject with the workers when they want to [make this change], but they did not. There was no discussion about this at all,” said Chui Law, an employee of the Sheraton Boston Hotel for more than 30 years.

Law was among the employees, all members of the union Boston’s Local 26, who protested this change and brought it to the attention of both Northeastern student groups and Boston city councilors.

In response to the news, members of student organization Huskies Organizing With Labor, or HOWL, created an online petition to “Save Sheraton Jobs,” with the goal of spreading awareness among students and eventually sharing the petition with the university administration and the owners of the Sheraton to convince them to stop the conversion.

Although HOWL members said they are in favor of improving student access to housing, they recognize the damage that converting the Sheraton Hotel to dormitories would do to the employees.

“I’d like to emphasize the fact that this could cost 60 to 100 good, full-time union jobs,” said Noble Mushtak, a third-year computer science and mathematics combined major who is part of HOWL’s events team.

The possibility of converting these rooms evoked a similar response from city councilors as on March

23, employees and union representatives gathered at the Boston City Hall Chambers to advocate for their rights as union workers, asking for city councilors to support the Sheraton Hotel employees.

The resolution offered by City Councilors Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune and Tania Fernandes-Anderson indicated that the City Council would stand with the employees to prevent job loss and encourage recovery from the pandemic. The resolution was passed unanimously at the March 23 meeting.

“The driving force behind my vote was how said conversion would likely eliminate over 100 jobs, jobs largely held by people of color, women, and immigrants,” Fernandes-Anderson wrote in an email statement to The News April 7. “These workers, who were there for us during the worst days of the pandemic, have done nothing wrong, and deserve to remain PETITION, on Page 2

North End outdoor dining fees enrage restaurant owners, potential lawsuits

By Sarah Liu News Correspondent Before patrons can bring their business to the North End for outdoor dining this summer, restaurants will have to open their wallets for the City of Boston.

In a meeting with restaurant owners March 17, city officials announced that North End restaurants will have to pay a $7,500 fee to open a patio space for outdoor dining. Restaurants must pay an additional fee of $458 a month per parking space that is unusable because of outdoor dining. On top of the newly imposed fees, the start of outdoor dining in the North End will be delayed until May 1, nearly a month after the original date of April 8.

In response to the new policy, restaurant owners banded together to form the North End Restaurant Community and released a letter

March 23 detailing their grievances and alleging discrimination by the city. The primary question asked by the group is why the fees afflicting the North End do not apply to any other neighborhoods.

It’s the principle, or lack thereof, that is the cause of the North End’s outrage, said Kim Fontaine, owner of Rabia’s Dolce Fumo. Her restaurant suffered losses of 15-22% in revenue per week at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. While the business is recovering, Fontaine said, she still finds the new fees to be exorbitant and unfair to the community.

For small restaurants, the monthly cost of a parking spot could significantly eat away at profits that have already taken a hit because of the pandemic.

“I’m not worried about us.

We’ll be fine,” Fontaine said of her restaurant. “It’s the smaller restaurants that won’t be able to afford it.”

Fontaine said she plans on suing the city, as a growing number of North End restaurant owners are considering pursuing litigation against Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu. About 60 restaurant owners met with a lawyer over Zoom March 25, and others have sought legal counsel.

After much public outcry, Wu held a press conference at City Hall March 29, standing alongside state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, state Sen. and City Councilor Lydia Edwards and North End restaurant owners Nick Varano and Philip Frattaroli, clarifying and announcing rectifications to the policy to support restaurants still struggling from the slowed business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I love about this job and city government is that everything we do, we are trying to meet people where they are, and that means that equity doesn’t mean equality

all across the board,” Wu said in the press conference. “One of the particular quality of life issues in this neighborhood, in the North End, was related to the impacts of outdoor dining.”

Wu stated that restaurants will not be required to pay the $7,500 fee upfront — the program was designed with the intention that participating restaurants could pay EATERY, on Page 4

Photo by Jess Silverman Restaurants in Boston’s historic North End have erected outdoor patios for the past two summers to keep up with dining despite the pandemic.

LIFESTYLE

CITY

MULTIMEDIA

Read about the impact Sammy Rae and her band has had on queer youth.

Learn about the organization looking for a new place to shelter feral cats on the Hill.

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

Sammy Rae & The Friends fosters community

PAGE 9

House on Mission Hill gets sold, cats need to relocate

Photo by Colette Pollauf

PAGE 5

Hot Off the Press: a recap podcast

Photo by Avery Bleichfeld

CAMPUS

Page 2

April 15, 2022

Ukrainians seek support from NU during war

By Alexis Zacharakos News Correspondent On March 4, 13 students affiliated with the Ukrainian Cultural Club and Russian Speaking Club at Northeastern University signed an email to administrators across the university, asking for help and support amid the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The plea was met with no response, according to those who signed the email.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion Feb. 24, some Ukrainians on campus said they have been worried about the safety of their families, the additional expenses incurred and the loss of their home and community in Ukraine. Destruction of Ukrainian cities and towns including Kyiv, where students are from, has left houses and personal belongings in rubble. Students affected by the war cannot return home for the foreseeable future.

Sona Tatarian, a fourth-year business administration and economics combined major from Kyiv, explained how much she wanted to go home following her graduation this May, but now does not know when she will be able to return.

“I love Ukraine and the culture and I wanted to work there,” Tatarian said. “But I have no idea what my home looks like.”

After their home country became a warzone, some Ukrainian students in Boston have coped with the weight of the situation by organizing cultural festivals to raise funds for people back at home and protesting in Boston to remonstrate Russian aggression against Ukraine. Although students are active on the streets of Boston, they expect support from their schools.

“Students are facing financial struggles and need financial aid,” Tatarian said.

Thirty-three percent of the student body on Northeastern’s campus is international students, as of fall 2021.

Because of the global nature of the university, the administration has a history of assisting refugees. On Aug. 15, 2021, Afghanistan came under the rule of the Taliban for the first time since 2001, meaning that the opportunity for women to pursue higher education was taken away. Students fled their home country for the education Northeastern promised them.

Ukrainian students who have recently become refugees said they feel they have not had comparable support, and instead said they feel abandoned by a school they call their second home. Alex Melnik, a second-year business administration major and

Kyiv native, pointed out the help that students need while studying on campus during the conflict at home.

“No response to emails?” Melnik said. “People need financial assistance, mental assistance. They need help.”

The signed email sent to Northeastern administration listed steps that signatories felt the administration could, and should, take to recognize the plight of students’ situation and lighten the burden while on campus.

The first request is financial aid for Ukrainian students. Enrolled international students are not eligible for financial aid at the university. As they explained in the email, now is as great of a time as ever to grant affected students monetary support.

“Our banks have ceased operations, property has been destroyed, our money has been stolen, and our loved ones have been killed,” the email read.

“I’ve talked to the university several times, to the financial department, for a month,” Melnik said. “They keep saying that something’s being done. I think nothing will be done, but I want [the school] to be honest if they are not coming up with a solution. I would rather leave university now while there is time to fight in Ukraine and do something good.”

Northeastern held an in-person panel, with the option of joining online, March 10 to facilitate discussion about the war. The panel included a discussion about how to cope with the precarious situation that the war has placed on students and staff. Faculty of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities with expertise in global politics shared their knowledge about the war and its implications.

However, many Ukrainian students said they feel awareness events are not enough to show the university’s

Photo courtesy Terenia Hankewycz At the opening of the vigil, candles were arranged at the Krentzman Quad in the form of the tryzub, Ukraine’s coat of arms.

The email also asks for ease of academic workload and spreading awareness of their current situation on the Northeastern campus. Students say professors have been understanding, softening deadlines and getting students back on track with work, but students also want to hear from administration.

Students have contacted different services on campus seeking support.

Melnik said he has been in contact with the financial department on numerous occasions and never got a productive response.

He said that he thinks the efforts to reach out to school services are hopeless, and the silence of the administration on financial aid has made leaving the school a possibility for him.

support. This sentiment was strengthened following the vandalism of the spray painted rock in Centennial Common, which had been painted yellow and blue to support Ukrainian students, on April 5. Members of the Ukrainian Culture Club believed the marking resembled a hate symbol used to represent support of Russia and brought the vandalism to the attention of Northeastern administration and the Northeastern Police Department.

Chancellor and Senior Vice President for Learning Ken Henderson addressed the vandalism in an email to the student body April 6, where he clarified that the symbol was not a hate symbol or political statement, and was painted by an unidentified fraternity in a “misunderstanding.” Members

of the Ukrainian Culture Club were unsatisfied with this response.

“Nothing has been done to address the cause of this ‘misunderstanding’; nothing has been done to prevent a future ‘misunderstanding,’” the officers of the club wrote in an email response to Henderson that was later posted to their Instagram. “Ignorance is not an excuse, and choosing not to educate the Northeastern community about this symbol of hate is unacceptable.”

Beyond the limited educational responses and events offered by the university, Melnik said it wasn’t easy learning that other universities, such as the University of Chicago, have started to offer Ukrainian students full-tuition scholarships or other significant financial aid, especially when Northeastern has not responded to students’ pleas for any kind of aid.

“It’s hard seeing that Chicago and other schools are doing something to help Ukrainian students,” Melnik said.

“That’s not seen here.”

The financial burden of the war is one of the greatest worries for many students on campus. Without any aid at this point, some of the students who spoke with The News will not have the ability to pay full tuition for more semesters at the university.

Though Tatarian will graduate in May, she worries about the Ukrainian students who still have years left of school at Northeastern to pay for.

“What are they going to do with second or first year students who have a long way to go?” Tatarian said. “Are they just going to kick them out?”

As of Thursday night, the school has made no public announcement about financial support for Ukrainian students. University representatives did not provide a comment to The News about Northeastern’s efforts prior to publication.

Some Ukrainian students who spoke with The News contacted We Care, an aid program provided by the school.

Students reported receiving different answers during interactions with We Care. Tatarian said that We Care has contacted professors about the current pressure on students and their need for extensions in the upcoming weeks.

After learning about Sasha Brykailo’s situation in an email, the school has not responded with a helpful message, Brykailo said. Brykailo, a third-year international affairs major, has not been on campus since the war started. Since the fall of 2020, she has been on medical leave, staying at her home in Kyiv.

She fled westward to the Netherlands March 7 because of incoming Russian

threats and stationing of Russian troops at the border.

On the day of the invasion, Brykailo emailed We Care from Ukraine, asking for any assistance in getting back to Boston in time for the start of the Summer I term.

Brykailo said they responded a week later asking about whether she had a ready passport and visa for her return to the United States. She said the delayed response made her feel Northeastern was not working to support her, especially as she was a refugee, alone, in a new country.

“It felt like they responded simply because they felt like they had to,” Brykailo said. “That’s how it felt to me because I already did all the work and left my country. And it wasn’t easy leaving the country because so many people were fleeing.”

Because Brykailo has not been on campus, she was unable to sign the email sent out to the administration.

When she learned of the email and that students were only met with silence, she wrote her own email to 16 administrators where she explained her situation and that she feels neglected by the university.

“The feeling of abandonment I have from Northeastern is impossible to put into words,” Brykailo wrote. “I feel betrayed.”

Though short of students’ requests, the Office of Global Services, or OGS, announced that it has postponed deadlines for outstanding bills to July, granting students more time to pay the university. Students who spoke with The News said it is better than nothing, but also said a deferral of two months will not make much of a difference if their towns and banks at home are destroyed and the war is still going on.

Tatarian said OGS has told those who have asked for financial aid that they can get a meal plan if they are struggling to pay for food. But Tatarian said it has not been clarified whether they would eventually have to pay for the plan. University representatives have not provided any further clarification to The News on the specifics of the meal plan offered to Ukrainian students.

As many students do not know what their homes in Ukraine now look like, they hope that Northeastern can continue to be a second one, which takes action to quell students’ grievances.

“My experience here has been amazing and I’ve made so many friendships and connections and I want to be proud of my university. I hope that Northeastern will support us as much as they can,” Tatarian said.

Employees, HOWL work to save union hotel jobs PETITION, from front gainfully employed. While I recognize the need to house our college students, such attempts to do so should not sacrifice the jobs of our working class.”

Although this resolution will not prevent the conversion, employees and union representatives are hopeful that it will give the owners reason to reconsider converting these rooms into dormitories.

“I felt very comforted by the fact that the City Council passed that resolution,” Law said. “It’s like we won the first step of the fight, because they have pledged their support, because they understand what this is about.”

For the employees whose jobs are at risk, this change is about more than just losing a paycheck — as union workers, they receive benefits including comprehensive healthcare and a pension fund, in addition to fair wages and regular raises.

These benefits came after more than 1,500 employees at various Marriott hotels in Boston, including the Sheraton Boston Hotel, went on strike in 2018 demanding better contracts. Many of the employees currently protesting the conversion were involved in the strike, including Law. “We went on strike for 46 days.

Every day, we needed to picket line from outside, the weather is wet

and cold, and sometimes snowy and sometimes windy, but we [wanted] to fight for a good contract,” she said.

“Forty-six days was not easy. Every day we [stayed] outside. But we won.

We won a very, very good contract.”

The unionized housekeepers, attendants and other employees at risk of losing their job hope that the same perseverance may be effective during these protests in convincing the new owners to halt the conversion.

Although Northeastern administration has not collaborated with Värde Partners or Hawkins Way Capital on their proposal, they indicated that they would be interested in obtaining the rooms as student housing.

“Should [the new owners] choose to establish dorms there and the project is approved, then Northeastern would potentially be interested in a partnership to house some of our students there,” Northeastern spokesperson Shannon Nargi wrote in an email statement to The News April 6.

Members of HOWL indicated that they are also opposed to the conversion because, in addition to the loss of jobs, it would be damaging to the student experience.

“For students getting to the Sheraton tower, it’s not ridiculously far from campus but it’s far enough to the point where the commute from Northeastern’s campus to the Sheraton is kind of long. It makes

motivation to go to classes [go] down and lowers the student experience a lot,” said Benjamin Brown, a first-year chemical engineering major who is a member of HOWL’s media team.

The employees hope that Northeastern students and administration will work with Local 26 to help prevent this conversion and save local jobs.

“I hope that everybody, the students and Northeastern will actually support us,” Law said. “It’s really our hope that the entire South Tower becomes a hotel again, and it’s fine that it’s housing students temporarily, but in order to save everybody’s jobs, the whole building, both the towers, need to be a hotel.”

SPORTS

April 15, 2022

Page 3

Baseball’s three-game series against William and Mary ends in triumph

By Lauren Thomas News Staff After the 32nd game of the season, Northeastern University baseball’s record continues to split the rail with an even 17-15-1.

In the three-game series against William & Mary College (17-12) April 1 through 3, Northeastern went 2-1, squeaking out a win in the final game against the Tribe.

The series started sluggishly for the Huskies who lost both Friday and Saturday with scores of 6-2 and 4-3 respectively.

Scoring the Huskies’ two runs in the Friday game were base-running regulars, redshirt senior outfielder Jeff Costello and freshman center fielder Mike Sirota. Though the Huskies were able to notch two runs, the Huskies’ bats left much to be desired with just three hits and one bunt in the Friday matchup.

Three Northeastern pitchers filled out the nine innings. Redshirt

sophomore pitcher Cam Schittler started the game and was relieved by redshirt junior Nick Davis in the fifth, who held the opposing offense to six runs. The ninth inning brought in the final pitching change-up with graduate student lefty Matt Devlin, who allowed two walks but no runs.

In the second game of the series April 2, NU upped its run count by one but still fell short of overcoming the Tribe’s four runs. Despite losing the game, Northeastern’s defense executed perfectly, committing no errors for the ninth time this season.

The Huskies and the Tribe were neck and neck throughout the game, with a tied score from the second inning to the ninth inning, but a home run in the top of the ninth put William & Mary in the lead. Pitching in the contest were redshirt sophomore Sebastian Keane and relief pitcher sophomore Eric Yost.

Things finally turned around for the Huskies in the third game of the series Sunday, April 3, where

they marked their first CAA conference win.

Northeastern was first to the plate in the fourth inning with Sirota scoring the leading run on a deep single from redshirt junior infielder Corey DiLoreto. In the same inning, a double from sophomore infielder Max Viera sent home DiLoreto and redshirt junior utility player Danny Crossen, who doubled earlier in the inning. The Tribe countered with two runs in the fifth inning, but was stopped short by the Husky defense.

In an impressive show of stamina, sophomore pitcher Wyatt Scotti pitched eight innings and finished with seven strikeouts, two hits and no walks allowed. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Thomas Balboni relieved Scotti in the ninth, and despite allowing two base runners, successfully held William and Mary to two runs.

In the four succeeding games April 5 through 10 against Boston

College (19-15) and Elon University (17-15), Northeastern again oscillated between wins and losses, with a 2-2 record to end the week.

The Beanpot consolation game April 12 against Harvard University

very close and competitive hip-hop division with a score of 85.85.

The Daytona NCA & NDA Collegiate National Championship competition, or the Daytona Nationals, became well known in recent years due to the Netflix docuseries “Cheer,” which featured the partner competition, the National Cheer Alliance and the college cheer team from Navarro College. As dance and cheer are gaining recognition for the athleticism it takes to compete, teams are gaining notoriety.

The only person from the team headed to Daytona who had previously seen the nationals stage is the team’s coach Nicole Vicino. She danced for Northeastern from 2011 to 2016 and professionally for the Boston Celtics Dancers from 2017 to 2019.

“I’m really happy to see that dance is finally being recognized as a sport in many places and I think it’s important to keep highlighting the stories of these

women because they work just as hard as every athlete does to compete and train at a high level,” Vicino said.

After two years of cancellations due to COVID-19, the team started its road to Daytona in August 2021 at National Dance Alliance Camp in-person for the first time. The team received a gold bid for its performance, earning the team a spot in the nationals arena.

In the team’s history, it has only ever performed hip-hop pieces at nationals. It is a historic step to now compete an extra “game day” piece which involves a performance of jazz, pom and hip-hop styles. Because teams are split up by the respective schools their NCAA Division, the Northeastern team will be going up against other D1 dance teams.

“I think that the team has really grown in the past three years since I started coaching,” Vicino said. “I’m really proud of all the progress that

they’ve made and I’m excited for them to see what happens when you work really hard and come together as a team … And also to see that they are at the same level as those teams like [Louisiana State University] and Ohio State that we all idolize and when you put in enough hard work, you can get there too.”

In 2003, the Northeastern Dance Team started with 10 girls performing at a mix of women’s and men’s basketball games. It was composed of students interested in performing and continuing their passion for dance in college. Kara Gibson, a 2007 mechanical engineering alum, founded the student club in her first year at Northeastern and led the team to be an official club sport. By the time she graduated, the team was attending its first competitions.

“I feel amazed to see it continue because when I graduated, I was never really certain that it would continue or go anywhere. I had younger teammates that took over after me and it was still student-led quite a while after I graduated,” Gibson said.

In order to take the step of becoming a club sport and receiving funding, there had to be some form of a competition. This led the team to enter in small local competitions where it could fit in the oldest categories.

“I love dance and to see so many people have that same love and carry that forward and take it up a notch. The bar has been raised over the years and I think it speaks a lot to the quality of students that are at Northeastern,” said Gibson.

In Daytona, the team first had two minutes to show its jazz, pom and hip-hop combined piece. The next day the team competed a hip-hop piece in a separate preliminary competition in an effort to make the finals.

While the team receives some funding from Northeastern as a club

(13-13) proved an easy win for the Huskies, ending with a score of 10-6.

Northeastern takes to the field again this Friday, April 15 at James Madison University (17-15) for a three-game series.

Photo by Harriet Rovniak Eric Yost, a sophomore right hand pitcher, pitches in a game at Friedman Diamond. Northeastern University baseball’s record continues to split the rail with an even 17-15-1.

Dance Team takes the national stage in Daytona for the first time in five years

By Julia Henning News Correspondent In the foyer atop the stairs of the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Center, 20 students and their coach sat chatting and donning hundreds of silver rhinestones on long black jumpsuits last week.

“I can’t wait to see Navarro,” says one. While it may just seem like any other club meeting for a student project, this project stretches beyond sequins and glue.

The Northeastern University Dance Team took the nationals stage April 7 and 8 in Daytona, Florida, performing pom, jazz and hip-hop styles for the first time in five years.

The team placed fifth in the nation for Division 1 Team Performance with a score of 89.58 beating out teams such as Boston University (86.92) and Loyola University (85.5).

They took home ninth place in a

Photo by Ethan Wayne The Northeastern University Dance Team takes the national stage in Daytona for the first time in five years.

sport, the team does most of its own fundraising to raise the $20,000 it takes to go to Daytona.

“I know that the work will pay off because we are putting in an extreme amount of energy into this,” said Marlena Stanton, a fourth-year chemical engineering major and co-captain of the team. “But honestly just being able to go is enough for me because this entire team has been waiting. I’ve been on the team for three years and nationals had been canceled twice.”

With the two year break due to COVID-19, the captains and coach say they feel ready and more excited than ever to get back to competing.

“I think it’s going to be a good bonding experience,” said Angelina Huang, a third-year criminal justice major and the team treasurer. “I think that nationals is going to test our limits and I think we’re going to have to rely on each other in terms of that. I think it’s gonna bring us closer.

We are in the best place that we can be going to nationals. I think we’ve done all the preparation we can.”

After nationals, most of the seven graduating dancers plan to go into full-time work in their major or field. Nevertheless, many of them, including fourth-year economics major and co-captain Katelyn Andrade, say they still want to keep dance a part of their life through coaching and inspiring the next generation of dancers.

“Even if my dance career might be over, I want to help younger kids do something that I didn’t really know was possible but turned out to be the best thing that I could’ve done after high school,” Andrade said.

The team will start their preparation for the 2022-23 season directly following their return from Daytona.

Auditions will be held April 20 in the Cabot Center gym.

CITY

Page 4

April 15, 2022

Greenway Food Truck Program brings local business back to the heart of Boston

By Amelia Ballingall News Correspondent For the past 13 years, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a public park that stretches from the North End to Chinatown, has hosted a wide array of local food trucks to support Boston’s small businesses and provide diverse dining options to residents throughout the spring and summer. This year, the Greenway has partnered with 25 food trucks with cuisines ranging from Korean to Mediterranean to Indian.

The season began April 1 at the Dewey Square and Rowes Wharf locations and will expand along the Greenway in the coming weeks.

The Greenway is a popular location for vendors and customers alike, and typically brings heavy traffic to downtown Boston each year. As Boston relaxes its COVID-19 restrictions, many people are looking forward to the 2022 food truck season.

“We’re excited to be in the Greenway this year because I think it’s going to be the year things start to come back. People going back to the office, people going back to work, not working from home, and I think a lot of the things people are going to be looking for is places to eat. We’re looking to try to make that more accessible by even cutting out having to go in somewhere to get it,” said Brian Reidy, founder and president of North American Catering, or NAC. 2022 will be NAC’s first year on the Greenway, serving both breakfast and lunch along the 1.5-mile park.

After starting the company in 2016 and spending the past six years at breweries across eastern Massachusetts, Reidy looks forward to finally centralizing himself in the city.

“We are expecting to see the kind of return to what it used to be so we’re trying to be in the area as much as possible,” Reidy said.

Photo by Amelia Ballingall Revelry has been serving Boston residents since 2016, but only recently found a spot on the Greenway after doing an event at Trillium Garden.

Facing heavy competition from larger breakfast chains, NAC has integrated larger restaurant accommodations into its truck, offering online ordering and scheduled pick-up times along with its usual window service.

NAC is not the only new food truck on the Greenway this year; the program also added two other companies to its schedule, further diversifying its portfolio.

“Of the 25 businesses, 64% identify as women, veteran or minority owned and represent over 12 unique cuisines,” the Rose Kennedy Greenway wrote in a press release.

With each new business on the Greenway comes a new perspective. The vendors’ wide range of backgrounds gives Bostonians a taste of places and cultures around the world.

“Being from New Orleans, it’s kind of like bringing the whole vibe of life in New Orleans to people.

Not just bringing the food, but bringing that New Orleans spirit and fun,” said Brian Ledet, chef and owner of Revelry, a food truck serving Creole and Cajun style food for lunch and dinner.

Revelry has been serving Boston residents since 2016, but only recently found a spot on the Greenway after doing an event at Trillium Garden, which is located in the Financial District area of the park.

The past two pandemic years have slowed foot traffic throughout downtown Boston and the food truck industry has suffered. Despite the difficulties, however, many Greenway partners have stayed strong.

“It’s been good to work with the Greenway because they’ve been a good partner in helping to promote food trucks and it’s provided us with a stable spot, which can always be a little bit of

a challenge with food trucks,” said Patrick Lynch, co-founder and CEO of Bon Me, a truck serving Asian-inspired eats to the city of Boston. “We’ve hung on for a long time these past two years with pretty slow business just with the hopes that things would come back eventually.”

Bon Me found a home in Dewey Square in October 2011 after winning a local food truck competition and has remained there ever since.

The food truck’s original focus on Vietnamese cuisine has since broadened to include a wider representation of East Asia.

The many food trucks located up and down the Greenway this season are hoping not only to bring their unique flavor to the area, but also to bring back the life and spirit that filled it just two years ago.

“We’d like that to return back to Boston, that energy. We’d really like to see that happen again and put a lot of this behind us,” Reidy said.

For many of these small businesses, the pandemic gave them a new outlook on the food truck industry. Some worked with local charities, others participated in corporate catering, and still others restructured their companies.

“It kind of gave me an opportunity just to sit back and rethink about my approach to things,” Ledet said, “I looked at it as an opportunity to kind of restructure.

I feel a lot better about the business and I’m really excited coming into this post-COVID world.”

Despite COVID-19 restrictions being lifted in Boston, the hustle and bustle of downtown is not where it used to be. However, with its diverse food selection outdoors, especially as the weather gets warmer, the Green-

“It’s been good to work with the Greenway because they’ve been a good partner in helping to promote food trucks and it’s provided us with a stable spot, which can always be a little bit of a challenge with food trucks.”

— Patrick Lynch Co-founder and CEO of Bon Me way Food Truck Program hopes to bring promise to the area.

Although only a few trucks are out right now, the full array will be available at the Greenway Food Truck Festival May 7.

“Our hope is really by the spring we’ll see people coming back downtown and the food trucks picking up a lot,” Lynch said.

Patio seating on Hanover Street gets complicated, city takes measures EATERY, from front out the fee in monthly installments.

Furthermore, restaurants will have the option to only pay $1,500 for each month that they elect to participate in outdoor dining, Wu said.

Wu also announced the implementation of a “hardship waiver” that grants qualifying restaurants a reduced fee based on three factors: whether the business has a liquor license, which could bring in higher sales; the size of the restaurant’s patio space, which dictates how many more people could be served; and whether the restaurant is in a location conducive to foot traffic, such as Hanover Street or Salem Street.

Wu responded to the backlash in a letter sent to North End restaurateurs March 25 where she doubled down on the implementation of fees and tougher restrictions in the neighborhood. Wu also wrote she was prepared to rescind outdoor dining in the neighborhood if a “critical mass of restaurant owners” found the plan to be unworkable.

When asked if rescission was still on the table at the March 29 press conference, Wu said outdoor dining was a discretionary permit from the public works department.

“It was important to clarify that this is not a program that the city has guaranteed for any part of the city,” Wu said during the press conference. “From what I see today, it seems like there is a critical mass of restaurant owners who believe that this can work.”

However, some restaurant owners are still not satisfied and some claim they were not allowed access to the press conference. A group of restaurant owners held a press conference outside of Terramia Ristorante shortly after the press conference at City Hall, where they continued to protest the North End-specific fees.

According to the city, the money collected from these new fees will be directed toward mitigating the impacts of trash and rodents, as well as increasing public safety.

However, business owners aren’t buying this justification.

Fontaine said Rabia’s Dolce Fumo contracts out a sanitation service to take care of their trash and any potential pests. If residents have a problem with litter and rodents, the city’s sanitation department is to blame, she said.

The North End housed 77 dining patios last year, 70 of which were on public property. As a result, Wu explained in a letter, residents were “at their wit’s end,” with City Hall fielding 311 constituent complaints about noise, congestion and cleanliness.

“Street parking was very challenging in the North End, and now that the patios take some of the parking space, it’s become even worse,” North End resident Alex Shvartz said. “I know people who have had to get rid of their cars because they’ve been unable to find parking. And I know people complain about noise and trash — those are the main concerns.”

Photo by Jess Silverman The North End is home to a number of historic Italian restaurants.

CITY

April 15, 2022

Page 5

Nonprofit works to shelter Mission Hill feral cats

By Avery Bleichfeld News Staff A Boston nonprofit is searching for a new yard to leave shelters for feral cats on Mission Hill after the previous home that hosted them was sold. The call is the latest in a series of actions to care for cat colonies in the neighborhood as colony populations decrease, according to the nonprofit, Boston’s Forgotten Felines, or BFF. This colony of feral cats — felines born on the street and not socialized to interact with humans — has been sheltered and fed by BFF, along with a handful of other groups of cats on the Hill.

Photo by Avery Bleichfeld A cat prowls in a Mission Hill alley in October. Nonprofit Boston’s Forgotten Felines is searcing for a new yard too keep shelters for members of its colony after the previous house was sold.

One yard in the neighborhood had long housed two shelters for the felines — insulated wooden boxes roofs to keep off the snow. When the house was recently sold, BFF volunteers moved the shelters to a nearby yard in a panic, said Joni Nelson, president of BFF. When that landlord saw the shelters, he destroyed them.

Nelson said her organization is looking for a new place to leave shelters, especially for after the summer when the weather gets colder.

“What we’re looking for is somebody who will allow their backyard to have the shelter for the winter — I’m not worried about the summer, but for the winter these cats need a shelter, and I was hoping someone in the neighborhood would allow us to put two shelters in their backyard,” Nelson said.

The colony served by the shelter comprises five felines, but according to Nelson, it used to include 30 to 50 cats.

Mary Ann Nelson, a long-time Mission Hill resident who is unrelated to Joni Nelson, said she often saw cats outside wandering the Hill.

Now, there’s just one cat that she sees prowling around her part of the neighborhood. Unlike the ones she used to see, Mary Ann Nelson knows this one has a home.

She said back when the Hill’s cat population was larger, she knew people who would feed the cats, work that has now largely fallen to BFF. “I did have a friend who used to go out and buy bags of cat food for the cats and he had maybe five or six cat bowls on his porch where he fed the cats,” said Mary Ann Nelson, who has lived in Mission Hill since 1985.

“He was one of a group of people that behaved like that with food for cats on their porch and water too.”

The decrease in cat populations, such as the one whose shelters were destroyed, is largely due to action from nonprofit organizations like BFF and others to trap the cats, spay and neuter them, and then return them to streets, Joni Nelson said.

When larger cat populations roamed the Hill, there would be notices put up, warning that a group

was coming to trap and neuter animals. If owners didn’t want their pets sterilized, they should keep them inside during that time, Mary Ann Nelson said.

Rob Halpin, chief communications officer at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center, or MSPCA-Angell, said that citywide, feral cat populations have been shrinking in the past decade or two.

“We see very few feral cats coming into our center for people who are concerned about their welfare,” Halpin said. “We get very few calls now of residents who are describing feral cat populations growing in their neighborhoods because [of] work [done by nonprofit organizations].”

That shift, Halpin said, has occurred along with a change in the model in which humane organizations deal with cat populations.

Because the feral animals tend to do poorly when adopted, Halpin said most organizations have taken up policies of trapping the cats, sterilizing them and returning them to their communities to avoid placing them in a home only to have the animal given up.

Halpin said decreasing cat populations would benefit both the cats themselves, which aren’t evolved to live outside, as well as other wildlife in the area.

“We live in a part of the country where there’s [temperature] extremes that can be hard for cats.

Also, feral, domesticated cats wreak havoc on wildlife, whether it’s small mammals, or birds, so the going away of feral cat populations would be a win-win,” Halpin said. “Certainly, that has been the hoped-for outcome of all of these organizations who’ve done all the yeoman’s work of spay-neuter over the years.”

A 2018 paper published in “Zoonoses and Public Health” said feral cats, which don’t receive regular medical treatment, can potentially pose a health risk to animals and humans by carrying and spreading pathogens. However, Halpin said he hasn’t heard of the cats often being

Photo by Avery Bleichfeld A sign hangs on a garage door in Mission Hill warning volunteers to not leave cat food. Previously one colony of feral cats was fed there. vectors for disease. Instead, he said most humane organizations have other priorities when it comes to decreasing the number of feral cats.

“Feral cat populations were, for many reasons — mostly humane reasons for the cats themselves and the animals who are vulnerable to predation from feral cats — an area of focus for reduction from humane groups,” Halpin said. “If this trend seems to be reversing or even pausing, then you can count on humane organizations to double up their efforts again, because for the health and safety of every animal involved, it’s just not healthy to have large feral cat populations anywhere, Mission Hill included.”

Joni Nelson said she also worries that the actions of college students and other tenants on the Hill could cause increases in the cat populations. Joni Nelson said she gets frustrated when college students living in an apartment get a cat, but when they graduate and leave, put it out on the street.

“What I would like to see is the colleges [letting] the students know that you can’t go and get a kitten and then dump it at the end of the school year, because that’s contributing to the overpopulation and I have a serious issue with that,” she said.

She said she has tried to work with local universities in the past to make students aware of the issues, but her efforts have found little traction.

“To be honest with you, my main goal is to stop the overpopulation

up there, is to raise awareness to the college students — and the tenants, not just the college students, don’t think I’m dumping on them — but I need help,” Joni Nelson said.

Halpin said the MSPCA-Angell doesn’t hear much about college students abandoning their cats on the street when they leave the city. In terms of students surrendering cats to the MSPCA, he said his organization tends to get less than a dozen of those surrenders per year.

For Joni Nelson, the ideal situation is that students don’t get a cat in the first place. But, if students do adopt one and need to surrender it at the end of the year, she said they should take the cat to surrender services at organizations like the MSPCA-Angell or the Animal Rescue League.

Joni Nelson also said she and BFF can help students or other tenants find homes for cats they need to get rid of, but wants them to understand the weight of their choice.

“I want them to understand it’s the wrong thing … to take a cat knowing when you’re going to give it up in six months,” she said. “That’s mean, that’s cruel. … Don’t get a cat unless somebody is actually going to take it home to Nebraska with them or wherever they go.”

For her, the most important thing is that the cats are treated humanely.

“I care more about the cats than people because it’s not their fault, it’s because [of] the irresponsible people,” she said.

‘$1 portrait guy’ brings community to Boston

By Cathy Ching News Staff Nick Shea, dubbed the “$1 portrait guy” by supporters on TikTok, has been attracting locals and tourists from all over the world to Boston Common to get a $1 portrait of themselves.

Shea, who is 25, started his $1 portrait business in 2017 at Washington Square Park in New York City.

It was an on-and-off hobby until he decided to pursue it more consistently in June 2021. Since then, Shea has been highlighted in many videos on TikTok of supporters going out of their way to wait in line in Boston Common, sometimes for hours, and spend $1 for a custom portrait.

“The TikTok videos are like 10 seconds long,” Shea said. “So the fact that what I’m doing translates in that short amount of time — I think they just see something in me.”

After running the business for five years, Shea said his favorite part is meeting people from different countries and having his drawings

distributed all over the world, such as Hong Kong, Paraguay and Colombia.

Shea recalled many customers telling him that they visited Boston just for him. This was the case for Nikki Beros, a physical therapy graduate student at the University of New England in Portland, Maine.

Beros took a weekend trip with her friends to explore Boston and get her portrait drawn — she waited in line for almost an hour.

“I like that he’s taking his time with [his drawings] and he’s not pumping them out super quickly to get everybody through the line and make money off of it,” Beros said.

“That’s why it feels genuine to me that he wants to give everybody a little piece of art to make them feel special and that is worth waiting in line for.”

Aside from tourists, people who are from the Greater Boston area come to Boston Common for Shea’s drawings. As an East Boston native, Shea is grateful that his drawings are attracting people to the park he

spent most of his free time during his childhood and adulthood.

“There are people who live in Boston that don’t explore the city too much,” Shea said. “It’s really cool to be like, ‘Wow, this is getting people out of their houses to explore the city.’”

Iliana Vidal, an employee at a non-profit organization called La Colaborativa, took a day trip to Boston Common from Chelsea to get her portrait drawn by Shea.

“He brings a sense of community to people who have been here a while and people who are just visiting,” Vidal said. “It’s a great opportunity just to know the area and get used to the surroundings but also meet people from the area.”

Vidal had seen Shea on her Instagram and TikTok, but knew she wanted to meet him when she read about his “engaging” character in an article.

“He’s a very chill, mellow person,” Vidal said. “He makes you comfortable when you’re sitting there.”

Although Shea will sit on a bench

with his index cards and markers for hours at a time, he does not feel the need to raise his price of $1.

“It’s gotten me this far. I think if I change up [the price] now, people will be like, ‘Damn, it got to him,’” Shea said.

His $1 portrait idea originally came from what he would want to see if he was walking through a park, so he intends for his business to be something simple that doesn’t “interrupt” anyone’s day.

“I just want to be accessible. Young people don’t have too much money,” Shea said. “I want people to walk away and be like, ‘Wow, that was the best dollar I’ve ever spent.’”

Other than the young people who come to Boston for his drawings, Shea has also caught the attention of a New England restaurant chain: Sal’s Pizza. When Shea arrives at the Boston Common ready to draw, he sets up a pizza box from Sal’s Pizza with “$1 drawing of you” written on it. Because of this, the Sal’s Pizza restaurants in Boston

have reached out to Shea, telling him that he was the reason they are getting good tips and reviews.

“I don’t know if I can take credit for that, but that was really gratifying to hear,” Shea said.

Nevertheless, Shea’s supporters from social media and beyond credit Shea with the sense of community he has brought to Boston, as well as his ability to make his simple drawings unique to each person.

“It seems like no matter what you look like, you would see that picture of yourself and feel like he captured some of your good qualities,” Beros said. “I really think it’s something that I’ll keep forever. I think it will boost my self-confidence and make me feel good when I’m feeling down.

I think that’s worth having.”

Shea has been drawing since he was two and said he is grateful for the opportunities he has had, all because of a spontaneous idea he put to the test five years ago.

“I never thought it would really mean something to people,” Shea said.

CAMPUS

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April 15, 2022

SGA OFFICERS EXPRESS REGRET FOLLOWING TUMULTUOUS FOLLOW CONTESTED ELECTION

By Grace Comer and Sonel Cutler | News Staff

Photo by Quillan Anderson Angelica Jorio (left) speaks at a March 10 SGA presidential debate. Jorio and Sebastian Chávez (center) will will take up the offices of President and Executive Vice President, respectively, on July 1.

In speeches to the Student Government Association, or SGA, at an April 4 full body senate meeting, leadership addressed the tumultuous election cycle for the Spring 2022 election.

The election, which was contested for the first time in four years, saw election violation hearings, miscommunications, resignations and a secret ballot vote that was later overturned by the SGA executive board.

vote on March 28.

“Everything in the law is an exception. It’s never black and white.

But in this case, I think it was,” said Giovanni Falco, a first-year political science and criminal justice combined major and co-campaign manager for the opposing New Horizons slate. “I think that there’s a clear definition for majority and plurality. ... In terms of elections,

After the Jorio-Chávez slate, consisting of presidential candidate Angelica Jorio and executive vice president Sebastian Chávez, won 42.33% of the student body vote with a record turnout where 25.95% of the student body submitted a non-abstention vote, student government leaders called an emergency election March 28, citing a provision in the Direct Election Manual, or DEM. This stated that in a direct election, the winning slate must receive a “simple majority” of the vote — a 50% threshold that SGA Parliamentarian and fifth-year health sciences major Nicole Miranda argued the Jorio-Chávez slate did not achieve.

Disagreement over the meaning of “majority” among key SGA leaders sparked a series of arguments over the legitimate winner, with different members bringing their own interpretation of the DEM to the executive board.

According to a memo published to the SGA website March 31 alongside the election results, the elections chair cited the precedent set by the 2018 contested student body election, where the winning slate received about 45% of the student body votes, as evidence that the winner could be determined by a plurality of votes.

Miranda later presented her interpretation of “majority” as meaning “absolute majority,” or greater than 50% of the votes, to the executive board, which the board accepted.

This resulted in the election decision falling to the senate in a secret ballot

[plurality] is a number of votes cast for a candidate in a contest of more than two candidates that is greater than a number of cast for any other candidate, but not more than half the total votes cast. And that’s what [the executive board] interpreted ‘majority’ to mean in our governing documents, which is false.”

However, the Jorio-Chávez slate, who would later be announced as the winners of the election, disagreed with the interpretation offered by the parliamentarian.

“There’s multiple ways to interpret the word majority,” said Jorio,

a second-year political science and economics combined major and president-elect. “As far as we know, for the past five years until the previous contested elections, nobody ever raised the point of what majority means.”

The senate voted 49-34 in favor of naming the members of the New Horizons slate as the new president and executive vice president, or EVP. What they failed to account for, outgoing SGA President Casey Buttke later said during her address to the senate April 4, was that the elections committee had agreed both campaigns would follow the “plurality” rule, meaning the winning slate simply had to receive a higher percentage of the vote than their competitor.

“Most of my slate was unaware of that,” Falco said. “I’m not sure when that was discussed or brought about but as far as we’re concerned, that never happened.”

It was on these grounds that the Elections Committee released a memo March 31 overruling the senate’s decision and stating that holding the emergency election was a mistake. In the memo, the Elections Committee disregarded the secret ballot election results and declared the Jorio-Chávez slate to be the winners, stating that they were reversing the decision to hold a senate election that “should have never happened in the first place.”

Falco took issue with the overruling of the senate, stating that even if a mistake was made, the error was made without ill intent and so the vote of the senate should remain valid.

“What the executive board did by overturn[ing] the senate vote broke multiple rules within our governing documents and within Robert’s Rules of Order,” Falco said. “Even if there was an error in procedure made, even if they did interpret ‘simple majority’ wrong, … because it was a good faith violation, you cannot in any situation overturn the vote of a

senate or the assembly.”

However, Yousuf Khan, a fourthyear computer engineering and computer science combined major and the head of strategy for the Jorio-Chávez campaign, pointed out the inconsistencies between the last contested election with this one.

“Last contested election … they won with less than 50% of the vote and they were just confirmed and elected as president [and] vice president,” Khan said. “There was no senate vote, none of this process happened. … Throughout this whole process, we have just seen inconsistencies, how the rules apply to one slate versus how the rules apply to another slate.”

After the senate elected the New Horizon’s slate by 56.3% overturning the popular vote on March 28, members of the Jorio-Chávez team delivered impassioned speeches on the floor of the senate during the Open Discussion, expressing disappointment with the actions of the senate and beliefs that the voice of the student body had been ignored.

Elections Chair Sam Chaturvedi, a third-year computer science and computer engineering major, resigned on the spot, stating that the overturning of nearly 9,000 student body votes meant that the New Horizons slate would not have the authority to lead.

“In an organization that has no moral high ground, no authority to lead, who is going to work with you? How are you going to lead?”

Chaturvedi said during the March 28 meeting’s open discussion. “There is no fun in winning an election when you didn’t win it.”

Jorio said her team was disappointed with the senators for voting against the student body.

“I think they fundamentally forgot and failed the student body with that decision,” Jorio said. They were given the clear voice of the student body

CAMPUS

April 15, 2022 with 8,890 people voting, and they decided to do that. And I think that was the most shocking and horrifying and disappointing part of the whole process.”

The April 4 full body senate meeting showed the after effects of the tension among not just members of the campaigns, but all members of the senate with conflicting ideas on how the election should have been handled.

Accusations of bias aimed at mediators of the election were made by members of both slates. They centered mainly around multiple DEM violation complaints filed against both campaigns and their subsequent hearings, appeals and rulings.

The Jorio-Chávez slate filed a complaint against New Horizons March 9, alleging that EVP candidate Abigail Sodergren, a second-year data science and business administration combined major, had used her privileges as current chief of staff of SGA to improperly approve tabling for New Horizons. It was later determined to be a miscommunication — Elections Chair Chaturvedi had given Sodergren permission, but forgotten that he had done so.

Despite this, Khan said the Jorio-Chávez slate still felt that Parliamentarian Miranda was biased in favor of New Horizons, a result of her overturning the strikes issued to the slate.

The second DEM complaint, filed by New Horizons against Jorio-Chávez in the closing weeks of the election, alleged two violations and asked for three strikes for each — a number that would disqualify the slate from running — based on an improper placement of campaign

materials. They referred to posts on social media of users complaining that Jorio-Chávez campaign posters had been placed in residence halls, on doors and covering other posters.

The elections committee dismissed the grievance as unprovable. New Horizons appealed to the Operational Appeals Board, or OAB, overseen by Parliamentarian Miranda, a non-voting member, which issued two strikes against Jorio-Chávez, just shy of the three strike disqualification threshold. “[Chauturvedi] said we [were] wasting his time with this grievance hearing and he would not give them any demerit points,” said Falco, of the New Horizons campaign. “We felt this was the wrong decision. … It was a clear bias towards Jorio-Chávez. So we went to OAB and OAB did not agree with us about three demerit points, but they did believe they deserve two demerit points.”

Miranda said Chaturvedi’s resignation demonstrated a bias towards Jorio-Chávez.

“I think that [the elections chair’s] resignation showed where his bias was leaning the entire election,” Miranda said.

Jorio, on the other hand, expressed support for Chaturvedi and defended his resignation as an indicator that the senate was in the wrong.

“I respect Sam a lot for doing that.

He’s been like the impartial judge throughout, and for him to really take the stand, for me, at least, it means that something really was wrong,” Jorio said.

In her address to the senate, Miranda expressed her frustration at how her actions were perceived by the student

body and members of the senate.

“I’m just going to be honest,” Miranda said, addressing the senate April 4. “I think that the decision was reversed because it was unpopular.

The fact that I was doing my job and I was called out for it, meanwhile, we had an elections chair who didn’t do his job for two years and it caught up to him and then that his mistake was the reason that all of this started and that was not mentioned once by anyone on leadership killed me. …

I think that when it was finally time for me to do my job for once, … my role was ignored and overlooked.

And it makes me feel like I was appointed to sit up here at the table and act like a clown.”

In his response to the senate, Chaturvedi said the Elections Committee had been spread exceptionally thin throughout the elections process.

In previous years, he said, the Elections Committee was a group of 12.

This year, there were three members.

Members of both the current executive board and the two campaigns said they are looking towards reforming the DEM to prevent similar issues from arising in the future.

“We’re going to have continued extensive discussions about what in our governing docs led us to this point, and particularly how we can amend them to ensure that a situation this painful never arises again,” Buttke said in her address to the senate at the April 4 full body meeting. “But I want us all to remember that at the end of the day, we’re all students, and we’re all doing as best we can with what we’re given.”

Page 7

Campaign members from both slates agreed with Buttke’s assessment at the April 4 meeting, hoping to avoid this turmoil in future elections.

“Your governing document should help you make you stronger and they have made this organization so much weaker,” Jorio said.

Falco concurred, and said the problems would not disappear anytime soon without change.

“The governing documents need to be updated. I think the DEM needs to be modernized, and I think we can learn a lot from this election,” Falco said.

Buttke reaffirmed her belief that everyone involved in the SGA decision to hold an emergency election and subsequently overturn the

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Photo by Quillan Anderson At the March 10 debate, presidential candidate Rhea Tipnis (right) and executive vice presidential candidate Abigail Sodergren present their platform as the New Horizons slate. results had been acting in the best interest of the student body.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is not a single person in this room that has been acting in bad faith through the electoral process,” said Buttke, a fourth-year criminal justice and political science major, in her executive address at Monday’s SGA meeting.

“We are by far the strongest when we’re all standing and doing what’s right, whether we all agree on what that is or not.”

LIFESTYLE

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April 15, 2022

Twins talk health on ‘Girls with Goals’ podcast

By Gray Timberlake News Correspondent “What’s up everyone? Welcome back to ‘Girls with Goals’ with your hosts, AnnCatherine and Caroline.”

That’s how health and fitness micro-influencers and twin sisters, AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneen, introduce themselves on their weekly podcast, “Girls with Goals.”

The Conneen sisters, who are both second-year international business majors, built separate platforms on Instagram after graduating high school.

AnnCatherine Conneen is a certified fitness instructor and created Daily Journal Prompt Planner, and Caroline Conneen is a certified personal trainer and has a workout program called “Change with Caroline.”

“We have our separate brands, but a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff is together,” the sisters said, bouncing off of each other. “We think pretty similarly, and we have long, deep conversations about everything.”

These conversations between AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneen are largely about positive energy, goal-setting and chasing their ambitions. But Caroline Coneen said social media platforms like Instagram are less conducive to longform discourse, so they decided to make their own podcast to further discuss their thoughts and aspirations.

“We thought if we collaborated and went to a platform where it felt more authentic to have longer conversations, it would probably resonate with people really well, which inspired our idea to do the podcast together,” Caroline Conneen said.

AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneen made their first episodes,

0. “Trailer” and 01. “Let us introduce ourselves… and the new era,” Aug. 18 and Aug. 29, 2021, and promoted them on their personal fitness and lifestyle Instagram accounts, which have 15.2k and 50.7k followers respectively.

“We’ve both been thinking a lot about what we want to represent. It’s not just health and fitness,” AnnCatherine Conneen said in Episode 0. “Trailer.”

Caroline Coneen added that “it’s not just happiness and positivity” either.

Their Instagram feeds are bright and full of positive messaging, but the twins pride themselves on their honesty with their social media followers and podcast listeners who see into the ups and downs of AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneens’ real lives.

“It’s inspiring you to live your best life in every single way, so we’re going to bring you into ours and show you how it’s done,” AnnCatherine Conneen said about the podcast.

The podcast explores the twins’ healthy living, fitness and positive lifestyle journeys and inspires listeners to do the same. The episodes are lighthearted and intimate, often including personal details of the twins’ goals and growth.

“For our title, we wanted something that told what our podcast was, but we didn’t want to be tied down to one specific thing, like fitness,” Caroline Conneen said.

AnnCatherine Conneen said the title is also intended to highlight the “type of person who is going to be perceptive to [their] podcast.”

This type of person, the twins said, is someone who is willing to change, open to goal-setting and motivation. According to their podcast analytics, the average age

range of listeners is 18- to 26-yearold women.

“Our listener is someone who wants to be the boss of their own life,” Caroline Conneen said. “It doesn’t matter where somebody is at in their journey, someone who’s like, ‘Oh s***, I want to change.’”

The sisters begin each episode by sharing updates and highs and lows of their week. They then take a deep dive into the theme of the week’s episode and offer personal insight and advice.

Past episodes have covered growth and change, relationships and hookup culture, starting a fitness journey, goal setting and manifesting.

The episodes end with an advice segment called “Double Take,” where the twins answer questions sent in by listeners. Listeners can send in questions through Instagram direct messages, or the Girls w/ Goals Discord — an online group chat with more than 1,000 members. AnnCatherine Conneen called the Discord a “very tangible community” that the sisters have.

“There are some people who are consistently in there just sharing about their days and hyping each other up,” Caroline Conneen said.

The discord has three text channels, #goals-gang, #food-freedom-andgrowth and #questions-and-advice-submissions. Isabella Olohan, who is 16 years old, is an active follower of the Conneens’ social pages and podcasts and a member of the “Girls with Goals” Discord.

“Seeing other people’s comments goes to show that so many other people look up to them in the same way that I do,” Olohan said. “They could have been through similar journeys, or they could have been through completely different journeys, but either

way, we all found them for similar reasons, and it’s just inspiring to see, whether I know them or not.”

Listeners often share the impact that the podcast has had on their lives in the Discord, AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneen said, but the encouraging feedback doesn’t stop there.

The podcast is met with positive ratings on all streaming platforms, with 4.9 stars and 179 reviews on Apple Podcasts and 4.8 stars and 695 ratings on Spotify. Apple Podcast Review headlines include, “HUGE source of positivity,” “Becoming THAT girl,” “Inspiring, motivating, and relatable” and “THIS is what we all NEEDED!” In five months, “Girls with Goals” has released 22 episodes, hosted four guests, was ranked 120 on the overall Spotify Podcast Charts and has been consistently ranked in the Spotify Health & Fitness Podcast Charts.

The community of “Girls with Goals” listeners is ever-growing, and the twins are continuing to set goals and grow their podcast brand, AnnCatherine Conneen explained. This is in motion, as the twins worked with the Spotify Editorial Team to create a video podcast.

“I’m looking forward to launching our video podcast and being some of the first to find our voice in this new form of content,” Caroline Conneen said. “Our vision is to bridge the intimacy of a sit down chat with the entertainment of vlog style footage. It feels like such an authentic way to bring our creativity and positive message to life, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

The Spotify video podcast was released March 14. New episodes of “Girls with Goals” come out every Monday, and can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.

Photo courtesy AnnCatherine and Caroline Conneen

Column: ‘Turning Red’ stirs criticism

By Sharon Chen News Correspondent Disney and Pixar’s latest film “Turning Red” follows 13-year-old Meilin Lee and her newfound tendency to transform into a giant, red panda when faced with intense emotions. The film explores Chinese heritage, generational trauma and coming of age, but its portrayal of young teenage girl experiences has some critics up in arms.

Somehow, a quirky story about the chaos of youth has now become Pixar’s “most controversial film.” Upset by the film’s mention of menstruation, romantic crushes and autonomy, critics — particularly parents — claim that “Turning Red” depicts teenagers unrealistically and is inappropriate for child audiences.

It is no secret that Lee is unapologetically crazy about boys: she routinely gawks at boys in the school hallway, doodles in her notebook about her crushes and has an obsession with the boy band 4*Town. And as a result, reviewers shamed Lee for being “too cringey” and “annoying.”

But at the age of 13, who wasn’t?

In support of “Turning Red,” the hashtag #at13 trended on Twitter as users shared personal stories about the fictional characters they fell in love with and the embarrassing things they were drawing, reading and writing at 13 years old. After all, it is only typical of teenagers to behave in their youthful ways — Lee isn’t alone and shouldn’t be shamed for acting her age.

Contrary to what critics say, Lee’s interest in 4*Town is very realistic. Many

teenage girls had romantic crushes and were passionate fangirls of male celebrities such as One Direction, Justin Bieber and Edward Cullen of the “Twilight” series. This, of course, meant lots of fantasizing and swooning, just like Lee. Reviewers deemed Lee’s harmless pining as an improper portrayal of sexuality. But adolescent sexuality is normal and “Turning Red” explores it without actually sexualizing children.

Usually, fictional adolescents are either oversexualized or express no sexuality at all. For instance, Betty Cooper, a 16- or 17 year-old character from “Riverdale” played by 25-year-old actress Lili Reinhart was shown strip teasing and pole dancing in front of a crowd of adults.

On the other hand, the concept of sexuality is entirely nonexistent in most Disney movies with teenage characters.

Without including any mentions of sex or anything inherently sexual, “Turning Red” accurately depicts the often relatable, awkward and weird feelings that come with teen sexuality and coming of age.

While many films in the media industry tend to mock the interests of teen girls, “Turning Red” fully embraces Lee’s interests. Hollywood has a history of devaluing the interests of teen girls, like the color pink or shopping, by reducing them to a negative narrative of passivity and vacuity.

Characters with these stereotypically “girly” interests are depicted as unintelligent and shallow, serving solely as secondary characters meant to be compared with the main protagonist.

Take, for example, Sharpay Evans and Gabriella Montez from “High School Musical.” Portrayed as dumb and vain, the film mocked Evans for loving dazzling pink and designer-branded things, as well as for her confidence.

In comparison, the film portrayed Montez as the intelligent, respectable and strong heroine.

When the media repeatedly demonizes certain hobbies in a condescending light, young audiences who are still developing their own personality and interests may begin to reject what they’re drawn to in fear of becoming the characters they see portrayed in the media.

Yet in the case of “Turning Red,” Lee’s shameless pink-wearing, mermen-drawing and 4*Town-singing tendencies are a loving and playful part of her charm. Lee is free to love what she wants without the film mocking her for it, sending a message to young, female audiences that they too should feel no shame for their interests.

When Lee first transformed into a red panda, she frantically hid in the bathroom. Assuming that Lee was experiencing her first period, Lee’s mother presented her with a box of menstrual pads.

Some reviews condemned the film for its inclusion of “adult topics like puberty and menstruation.”

But puberty is a universal stage of life that every child goes through. Girls most commonly experience puberty around ages 10 to 14 and most get their first period around 12 years old. Despite this, teen-exclusive experiences are

considered mature topics that are only appropriate for adult audiences.

Society upholds an unhealthy stigma against menstrual cycles. Although it is a significant part of life for half the world’s population, periods have remained a taboo subject and are hardly mentioned in movies and TV shows.

And when they are actually mentioned, mainstream media has looked upon the natural process with shame and disgust.

“Turning Red” approaches this stigma with a refreshing breath of normalcy as Lee’s mother firmly assured Lee that periods were common, there was no need to be scared or embarrassed and everything would be okay. Lee’s mother also introduced period essentials such as ibuprofen, vitamins and a hot water bottle to Lee, thus normalizing a common experience for many young people.

Critics also bashed the film for glorifying disobedience and encouraging kids to rebel against their parents, but throughout “Turning Red,” Lee deeply honored her parents and ancestors. She did not want to rebel but ultimately had to choose the freedom to be herself — a valuable lesson for young audiences.

Condemning Lee for her disobedience largely ignores the fact that Lee was rejecting the idea of sealing her authentic self away completely. Lee was both developing and accepting her sense of self while critics seemed to forget a handful of disobedient characters like Nemo from “Finding Nemo” and most Disney princesses like Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

While most of the film’s controver-

sies lie in its themes of growing up, some also criticized “Turning Red” for being unrelatable.

Sean O’Connell, CinemaBlend’s managing director, said in a since-deleted review that “Turning Red” was not made for universal audiences because the film is rooted “very specifically in the Asian community,” making its target audience “very narrow.”

Until recently, Disney has always featured predominantly white characters while people of color remained severely underrepresented. While Asian viewers identified with Lee for cultural reasons, others related to Lee’s teenage cringe-worthiness and family dynamics. Although O’Connell apologized for his review after intense backlash, it is clear he centered white perspectives as the universally relatable narrative.

“Turning Red” and its criticisms teach filmmakers and audiences a very important lesson: The experiences of young teen girls should be normalized both on-screen and in-person. It is time to put an end to the media’s inaccurate and harmful depictions of teenage girls and open conversation to unreasonably stigmatized topics. As young girls navigate through new thoughts, feelings, interests and bodily changes, it is important for these stories to be told without shame.

In all of its complex, weird, hormonal and heart-wrenching glory, “Turning Red” embraces what it’s like to be a teenage girl simply as it is: normal.

LIFESTYLE

April 15, 2022

Page 9

Sammy Rae & The Friends creates community for queer youth

By Colette Pollauf News Correspondent It starts with a classic story: a young musician drops out of college, makes a living waiting tables in New York City, sings at open mic shows and dreams of performing for thousands.

But Sammy Rae is not just anyone: she and her band, Sammy Rae & The Friends, have succeeded spectacularly where so many others have failed. They reach fans through their lyrics that explore deeper sentiments about life and love.

“I think that connection, even though people have seen a band once, we’re never the same the second time, the third time, the fourth time.

And I think that evolution really is what feels great to be back on.”

— Jon Singngam Funky Dawgz Brass Band drummer “From a musician, as a person who appreciates live music, she’s probably one of those once-in-a-generation talents that we’ll be talking about for future years to come,” said Jon Singngam,

drummer for the Funky Dawgz Brass Band, who opened for Sammy Rae & The Friends at their sold-out Royale Boston show March 26. This is a common sentiment among those who have seen Rae perform. She seems to have it all: an incredible voice, the ability to write influential music, a presence that sparkles on stage and the self-assurance to know when to let the other members of her band shine.

After all, Sammy Rae & The Friends is a collection of seven talented musicians, each with their own background in a different music style.

“So, what we have is seven people from so many different studies of music. Some of us come from jazz, some of us come from world and rock ‘n’ roll. And there’s a lot of different influences in the room,” Rae said.

That diversity is shown in their music, which resists categorization.

Each song comes across as a cohesive celebration of many different styles.

“What we end up with is this sort of genre-defying amalgamation of a million different sorts of music, and it seems to work,” Rae said. “I think the audience appreciates seeing so many different sorts of people up on stage, and hopefully still sees themselves represented in at least one of us.”

Representation is one of the most important parts of Sammy Rae & The Friends, for both the band and fans alike. Rae identifies as queer, and much of her music explores themes related to the LGBTQ+ community.

It also provides representation often lacking in mainstream music.

“I wish when I was a young queer person that I had a space where … I could go and see myself represented on stage. I really do wish that I had that, and my hope is that I can do that for not just young queer folk, but for everybody, for any young person who is looking for a chance to feel seen,” Rae said.

Tufts University freshman Max Bennett, a fan who attended the recent Royale Boston concert, was asked what drew him to the band. He barely had to think to come up with an answer.

“I mean, it’s very gay!” he said, laughing. “I love that.”

Wheaton College freshman Eliana Goodman, another concert attendee,

specifically mentioned the band’s song “Jackie Onassis.” Rae described this song as a story of love and female empowerment from her time attending a Catholic girls high school.

really is what feels great to be back on,” Singngam said.

Goodman, one of the concert attendees, talked about the happiness Sammy Rae & The Friends’ upbeat

Calendar compiled by Alyssa Fell & Karissa Korman Graphics by Kayla Shiao

Saturday, April 16 FSHN DSTRCT Open Market Browse through items from vintage clothing to vinyl records, jam out with a DJ and more.

Noon to 5 p.m., The Grand Masonic Lodge of Boston, 51 Boylston St., free

Photo by Colette Pollauf The band’s music is an eclectic mix of styles and genres, which keeps energy high in live performances.

“I just like that it’s a love song, but it’s also just so simple and it’s kind of about everyday moments.

I think queer people need to be able to see ourselves in that more,” Goodman said.

While the band’s songs speak to fans no matter where they hear their tunes, many who spoke with The News agreed that there is something special about live performance, an experience people have missed during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. “[Live performance is] on another level,” said Nicki Hayden, another attendee. “The dopamine is real. Live music saves lives.”

The Funky Dawgz Brass Band opened for Sammy Rae & The Friends at two other shows, as well as the March 26 performance. This was the Funky Dawgz Brass Band’s return to live music after the pandemic. Tenor saxophone player Tommy Weeks used the word “electric” to describe the return, and drummer Singngam stressed the importance of live music over recorded versions.

“I think that connection, even though people have seen a band once, we’re never the same the second time, the third time, the fourth time. And I think that evolution

Photo by Colette Pollauf Sammy Rae & The Friends played at Royale in Boston March 26. The band is known for its collaborative musical style and songwriting that speaks to the LGBTQ+ community.

music brings her, especially now that she can hear it with others in person.

“So get together, enjoy music and feel nice,” she said.

“And be friends!” her friend Bennett said, jumping into Goodman’s sentence.

This sense of community is one of the most easily recognizable parts of Sammy Rae & The Friends’ fan base. Weeks and Singngam were amazed by the overall generosity of that community.

“I can’t believe how many people even stopped to talk to us after [the show] and gave us the time of day, but they made us feel really good.

I mean, the compliments,” Weeks said. “They’re giving kindness. There was no tension … sensed ever in any of those shows.”

That atmosphere doesn’t come from nowhere. The band leads by example, creating that same sense of community among their own members.

“There’s this family atmosphere … which I think is rare, and that’s kind of our lifeblood,” Rae said. “We’re constantly working to be better communicators and better collaborators, and what we have there is great and we offer different things.”

Singngam agreed and said this family atmosphere comes through in the way each band member gets a chance to be in the spotlight when they perform.

“When everybody buys into what the passion of the art is, then it just takes it to another level. And that’s something that few and far between musicians really can achieve together because you have to have no ego,” he said. “They know how to share the stage and put away an ego that can hold people back, sometimes, from succeeding in anything in life and in music especially. It’s very difficult.”

The band members don’t stop at sharing the stage among themselves, but they give the spotlight to the audience as well. As Sammy Rae reminds the fans during the concert, they are the “friends” in the name “Sammy Rae & The Friends.” Each performance, people gather to forget their differences and unite as one community.

“You can tell that everything in there is just so tight and [the band members] just love each other,” Singngam said. “And that love just flows out through the speakers.”

Saturday, April 16 Radical Futures: Community Gardening with Haley House Join herbalist Taina Vargas to learn about community gardens, climate change and food justice.

11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Haley House’s Thornton St. Urban farm, 95R Thornton St., free

Monday, April 18 The Boston Marathon Cheer on fellow Bostonians as they participate in the race from Hopkinton to Boylston Street.

7:30 a.m. to 3:35 p.m., Hopkinton to Boylston Street, free

Saturday, April 23 Boston Comics in Color Check out the Boston Comics in Color festival to celebrate comics artists of color.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1350 Tremont St., free

Saturday, April 23 Record Store Day Celebrate Record Store Day at Newbury Comics and shop exclusive vinyl releases.

11 a.m. to 7 p.m., 348 Newbury St., free

OPINION

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

Marta Hill

Managing Editor

Op-ed: Social media cannot replace professional news outlets

Avery Bleichfeld Clara McCourt Editor-at-Large

Kelly Chan Campus

Grace Comer Sonel Cutler Jess Silverman City

Jennifer Suryadjaja Kathryn Manning Breaking News

Gwen Egan Sports

Annah Chaya Alex Sumas Lifestyle

Katie Mogg Alyssa Fell Karissa Korman Opinion

Alyssa Endres Ethan Wayne Projects

Cathy Ching Photo

Harriet Rovniak Quillan Anderson Design

Kayla Shiao Jessica Xing Multimedia

Hannah Rosman Anne Zhu Web Manager

Annetta Stogniew Social Media

Antonia Sousa Angie Slater Copy Chief

Alexis Santoro

BUSINESS

Business Manager

Eva Arad

Development and Outreach Coordinator

Matt Yan

Advertising Manager

Ashley Mandel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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@HuntNewsNU

April 15, 2022

Photo by Ethan Wayne We cannot go online without a reminder of the current war in Ukraine. Not only on news outlets is the event thoroughly covered, but on social media platforms as well. The credibility of information spread on social media platforms, however, does not match that of professional news organizations, which have methods of fact-checking information on the internet.

Anyone who can get their hands on technology can send information to a broad audience, a position historically reserved by professional journalists working for major news organizations. Affordable and portable access to social media has allowed stories to be spread in just seconds. Journalism has become a crowdsourced undertaking.

Crowdsourced news is when a group of people actively report on one subject. The practice has its pros and cons. It has made the press more democratic and inclusive; but it has also created enormous waves of misinformation. Social media, for example, hampered the world’s ability to halt a devastating pandemic and now has muddied the waters of the first European war since the Balkan conflict of the 1990s.

Reportings on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict have exemplified the benefits and drawbacks of crowdsourced journalism. Witnesses in Ukraine have helped to spread news on the war by documenting what is happening in their communities. Citizens continue to post images, videos and explanations of military advancements on social media. Without verification of authenticity, however, the alleged first-hand content shared online is dubious.

Social media poses several avenues for the spread of dishonest information about the war. This has not only obscured the truth from social media users, but it has also caused dismissal of the professional work that journalists are doing on the ground. People use social media to get news, but the apps do not match the reliability and veracity of professional news organizations.

Social media cannot be used as an alternative for such outlets.

Media professionals are heavily reliant on citizens’ reporting. At the same time, they need to substantiate the information and meet the time pressuring demands of editors and the public. Journalists have a system in place to authenticate content.

Media organizations like the New York Times take steps to check for the location of content shared and potential visual manipulation. As this process occurs, social media is

a gateway for the spread of misinformation as people can freely post what they wish with no oversight.

Supporters of both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces have posted false videos that cast their side in a favorable light. A viral video on TikTok showed a Russian aircraft dodging air missiles. Another trending video showed a Ukrainian aircraft shooting down a Russian jet.

Both of these videos were produced using visuals from the video game Arma 3. While they were eventually removed from social media, this is only one example of many false videos that are still circulating.

The war in Ukraine has been dubbed by many media organizations the “first TikTok war” due to the heavy content flow concerning the conflict. Many users, especially young users, are seeing war on TikTok for the first time and believing what they see. To no fault of their own, they are being fed this information through unreliable sources and therefore have no clear understanding of the war.

In Russia, the Kremlin has weaponized social media by hiring internet trolls to push out disinformation about the war. Russians consuming and trusting the information blame the war on the United States and other Western allies for threatening aggression.

Fake news has flooded China’s largest social media platform, Weibo, as well. People in China are following the war on Weibo since

the state blocked citizens from using other major social media apps, such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter in 2008. Posts on the website antagonize Ukraine, reflecting the Russian narrative of the war. False claims made on Weibo reported a Ukrainian genocide against Russian citizens in the east and alleged Ukrainian terrorist attacks in Russia and Bonbas. Also posted was that Ukraine’s aggression and relations with the West had caused the war.

That being said, professional war correspondents in Ukraine are working vessels of valid information, combatting fabrication in the media.

Reporting on the warfront has provided people with first-hand intelligence on the war. The New York Times, CNN, CBS News, Associated Press and Reuters to name a few, all have live updates where reports are streamed from their correspondents in Ukraine. Despite the risks of covering a messy conflict with a constantly shifting frontline, journalists have kept their audiences in the loop in an ever more demanding 24/7 news cycle. This abundance of news allows people who follow it to never fall behind on what is going on.

Social media has given the people a voice, but with the result of falsehoods filling our networks.

With misinformation online, a snowball effect of a blurred reality develops and creates constant conspiracy within the social media community. If we are to enjoy the privilege of modern technology

Illustration by Jessica Xing

“Affordable and portable access to social media has allowed stories to be spread in just seconds.

Journalism has become a crowdsourced undertaking.”

— Alexis Zachakaros Northeastern student and the press, we must compartmentalize news disseminated from professional journalists and news curated by social media users and remember the unmatched value of the former.

According to the American Psychological Association, as of 2019, teens spend an average of seven to eight hours a day online, many of which are spent consuming information, but not everyone considers double-checking a fact. College students are always on a pressing deadline and will click on the first link available to retrieve the desired information. It’s also used as a form of escapism, where we mindlessly scroll through apps and lack the motivation to question what we consume. This carelessness skews our understanding of reality.

Social media can provide a wealth of information. Platforms mobilized a powerful avenue for the sharing of social issues and spread of activist movements. It has allowed us to dig deeper into the human condition and understand inequalities that have not directly impacted us. It has also granted us a voice to advocate for those movements and ourselves. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, people used their Instagram accounts to spread awareness and share their thoughts on the event and the following Black Lives Matter protests. That being said, posts about major political events like this one are riddled with misinformation on the internet. A post was shared, claiming that Black Lives Matter activists had attacked elderly white people. After the post was fact-checked, it was revealed that the photograph was of South Africans from years prior.

With this in mind, it’s important to serve as your own fact-checker. After seeing an announcement on social media, double check the information with a well-known news organization before sharing a post and your opinion.

For students at Northeastern to be well-informed, such steps must be taken. We are not taught to take this measure when we do research, but it is something we can do to ensure we are an enlightened community.

Alexis Zacharakos is a first-year journalism major. She can be reached at zacharakos.a@northeastern.edu.

OPINION

April 15, 2022

Page 11

Op-ed: State must stop technology exports, avoid complete ban on Russian products

Photo by Harriet Rovniak President Joe Biden recently tweeted, “Our European, American, British colleagues will not stop and will not calm down until they have exhausted all their possibilities for the so-called punishment of Russia.”

The United States has continued the imposition of sanctions on Russia as its war crimes in Ukraine have become more gruesome. Russia’s trade status was recently revoked by the U.S. Congress, and Massachusetts State Rep. Patrick J. Kearney introduced a bill to ban Russian products imports from the entire state. This was the inevitable outcome of Russia’s actions, and NATO has made it clear there would be a price Russia would have to pay since Russian President Vladimir

Putin announced a long-dreaded “special military action” in Ukraine.

Since the possibility of a war could be lethal, the United States is trying to prevent entering into the war with Russia, while working against Russia in other ways. According to a Associated Press-NORC poll, 72% said the United States should play a minor role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. While Ukraine has been fighting actively against Russian army, Western countries led by the United States chose to apply sanctions on the country.

Strategically, sanctions are the safest way to put the United States out of escalating war tension. The national trade ban, carried out by the embargo bill passed by Congress unanimously on April 7, only includes higher tariffs on Russian products.

Previous bans from the United States mainly targeted investment, Russian government officials, and enterprises exported to Russia. This has cracked Russia’s economy. According to the Institute of International Finance, the current crisis will wipe out 15 years of economic development for Russia.

Despite the benefits of these sanctions, what Kearney has been proposing does not fulfill the original purpose of the national sanctions. Kearney introduced a bill that would ban every Russian-made product in the

state of Massachusetts, giving himself credit for introducing the bill that was getting “excellent feedback.” Vodka naturally became the target, and it’s soon moved away from the shelf by multiple grocery stores, for example, BazaAr Supermarkets.

Merchants have the right to make their own choice of what to do with their products. When it comes to individual merchant’s choice, BazaAr Supermarkets stopped stocking products imported from Russia, it’s reasonable for them to do so in a show of support to Ukrainian people as the owners’ ethnicity is Ukrainian.

Banning vodka is more symbolic, as alcohol consumption is a minor part of one’s daily life. When it comes to Kearney imposing a flat-out ban on Russian products and businesses owned by Russian immigrants who have been living here for many years, he deviated from the purpose of sanctions, which should be supporting democracy. Those Russian property owners are not necessarily war supporters, but now the compulsory bill is compromising their property rights.

Selling Russian goods that are already in stock does not mean one is supporting Russia’s economy, as they are already properties of American merchants. Cutting trading routes between the United States and Russia

will result in Russia’s economic decline on a large scale. Over-politicized proposals will achieve the goal of politicians like Kearney, coming with undermined domestic economic benefits and civil rights protection.

“Merchants have the right to make their own choice of what to do with their products.”

— Tim Zhao Northeastern student Massachusetts is one of the most active Ukraine-supporting states. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended a decade-long technological collaboration with the Russian Skolkovo Foundation on.

The partnership between MIT and the Russian research institute has benefited both sides economically,

and it was not interrupted even by the expulsion of Skolkovo leader Victor Vekselberg. The FBI couldn’t break the ties of interest between them even in the agency’s political investigation in 2019.Cutting the tie of interest isn’t easy but is necessary under this special circumstance.

Before the war, FBI investigation couldn’t prove this technology cooperation was helping Russia develop their technology inappropriately, not convincing enough to stop the mutual benefits brought by technology cooperation, at least. Unfortunately, when the Russian government crossed the line and kept their autocracy, technology sharing had to be stopped to prevent the Russian government from taking advantage of them. A radical ban on Russian products should not be encouraged for this is not supporting democracy anywhere. Today, cutting-edge technology becomes the key for Russia to start destructive warfare in Ukraine. Technology partnership termination is necessary even though it makes scientists’ efforts in vain as the price we have to pay for the democracy and security of Ukrainians.

Tim Zhao is a first-year journalism and political science combined major.

He can be reached at zhao.shengh@ northeastern.edu.

Op-ed: Antisemitism has been ingrained into the Russia-Ukraine war

Photo courtesy Isabel Baron Eastern Europe has dealt with antisemitism in different capacities for centuries on end, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent statement regarding his mission to, among other things, “denazify” Ukraine takes it to an extreme that hasn’t been seen for decades. The implications of Putin’s rhetoric are more dangeous than in years past; the loaded antisemitic statements that have been following the Russia-Ukraine war since the beginning of the conflict should be a topic of concern for not only Ukranian and Russian Jews, but Jews everywhere.

While Putin himself is actually one of the least openly antisemitic Russian leaders in recent history (a low bar to cross), Russia as a country has a lengthy history of antisemitic practices. However, Putin’s most recent statement has caused speculation about what exactly Russia’s long-term goal is in regards to Jews on the Eastern

Bloc. The term “denazification” alludes to Germany and the process that ensued after the second world war; Putin’s statement is not only politically incorrect, but also fuels anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Russian citizens.

In West Germany, post World War II, other countries worked to “denazify” the country by removing high-ranking Nazi officials from power. Putin urges Russia to push towards a similar goal, but he equates the Nazis to the Ukranian leaders pushing for democracy, like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Putin’s fear of Ukraine’s increasingly democratic government, as well as their possible joining of NATO, drives his choice of words; while his verbiage may be historically incorrect, that may be what makes it the perfect piece of propaganda.

Russia has deep connections to World War II and the historical denazification of Germany.

There were roughly 24 million military and civilian deaths in the Soviet Union alone from helping the Allies defeat Nazi Germany, a substantial loss for Russian forces.

Putin’s framing of Ukraine as in desperate need of “denazification” draws the comparison that anything coming from the West is Nazism at its core. Combine the censorship of Russian media with Putin’s fear of Western democratic ideals and Ukraine becomes the perfect subject for hateful rhetoric that attempts to unite Russian citizens under the ideals of antisemitism.

Zelenskyy is also Jewish, begging the question of how the Jewish leader of a democratically run country could possibly be supporting Nazism when his ideals go

“Combine the censorship of Russian media with Putin’s fear of Western democratic ideals and Ukraine becomes the perfect subject for hateful rhetoric that attempts to unite Russian citizens under the ideals of antisemitism.”

— Isabel Baron Northeastern student

against the very basis of Nazism.

It’s a typical antisemitic ploy to flip the narrative by claiming that Jews are the actual Nazis while other demographics, such as white nationalists, are the true victims.

By targeting the Jewish head of Ukraine’s government, Putin is essentially attempting to persuade Russian citizens that Judaism and democracy are the actual forms of “Nazism” they need to stay wary of. Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, even went as far as to claim Zelenskyy acted as a Jewish “Sonderkommando,” a term for an incarcerated Jew who was forced to discard the bodies from gas chambers during the Holocaust. Putin intentionally chose a topic that many Russians have deep-seated feelings about and spun it to villainize Ukraine, Jews and democracy, while simultaneously painting Russia as the victim. Unfortunately, many Russians believe him.

Putin’s tactic of leveraging antisemitism to amass Russian approval for his war efforts is despicable, but generally unsurprising considering the base he’s catering to. White Christian nationalists have largely supported the Kremlin since he came to power nearly a decade ago, and villainizing the Jewish population as the true “Nazis” only feeds into the antisemitic narrative that has been carried on for years by this crowd.

Putin represents the prototypical authoritarian “strongman” that

laments many of the same changes to Western society as those on the far right do. It’s one of the primary reasons that many hardcore Republicans support his invasion of Ukraine, fearful of what true democracy is capable of.

Illustration by Kayla Shiao In times such as these, it’s important to listen to those both affected by and educated on the issue. There have been many protests against Russian invasion and fundraisers for Ukrainian citizens here at Northeastern, as well as a multitude of different ways to support Ukrainian citizens and spread awareness. For the sake of the Jewish community of Ukraine as well as Jews across the world, we must view Putin’s speech as the antisemitic dogwhistle that it is.

Isabel Baron is a first-year journalism major. She can be reached at baron.i@northeastern.edu.

Page 12

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April 15, 2022

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