HUSKY BUCKETLIST Must-do’s before grabbing your degree
INKED IN Understanding the workplace tattoo stigma
NEW AGE FITNESS Hot apps to track your goals
SKIN GRIP The speakeasy workout that’s gaining new ground
07 PRESIDENT
Liam Synan
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shelby Sih
CREATIVE DIRECTORS
McKenna Curtis & Kelley Schneider
ASSISTANT EDITOR Meredith Fisher
MARKETING DIRECTORS
Sami Bartlett & Ashley Thon
WEBMASTERS
Katie Williams and Matthew Woolsey
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Jordan Mandell
SECTION EDITORS
Katherine Friend, Zoe Gregoric, Lautaro Grinspan, Christie Macomber & Maxim Tamarov
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WRITERS
Claribel Avila, Hannah Casey, Leila Habib, Harshita Himatsingka, Christie Macomber, Madison Mitteness, Pamela Stravitz, Maxim Tamarov, Corlyn Voorhees & Michelle Weth
DESIGNERS
Brian Ambadjes, Erin Borst, McKenna Curtis, Lautaro Grinspan, Xochitl Lozano, Kelley Schneider & Kim Timbone
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Meredith Fisher, Yashi Gudka, Leila Habib, Katie Kim, Pranav Nayak, Justine Newman & Kelley Schneider Cover Photography by Meredith Fisher
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CONTENTS FRONT
04 Behind the Scenes with NU Calls 05 Huskey Bucketlist
LIFESTYLE
12 New Age Fitness 14 Skin Grip
COVER STORY 10 Inked In
16 Hike It Out
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ENTERTAINMENT 06 Non-Boozy Boston 07 Art as Therapy 08 Plus Sized Models
FOCUS
17 Like A Good Neighbor: Northeastern’s Gun Controversy 18 University Greenwashing
4 • Front
Behind the Scenes With NU Calls
Written by and Photos by Leila Habib
On weekday evenings, students get a taste for a different culture at the YMCA. Some immerse themselves in German, others Arabic, and still others brush up on their Spanish. Northeastern University Culture and Language Learning Society (NUCALLS) offers classes in a variety of languages — including Spanish, French, German, Korean, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, English, Japanese,
Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Russian — taught by student volunteers. “We’re a club that organizes peers that are bilingual or happen to know another language to teach a language to other Northeastern students or the Boston community,” said Leah Okrainsky, NUCALLS president and a fifth year chemical engineering major.
Classes are offered in four different levels, ranging from beginner to advanced. “It’s casual, fun, and just gives people a chance to know each other and learn a language,” said Okrainsky. Key to the NUCALLS program is its cohort of multilingual volunteers. Woof Magazine spent some time getting to know a few of their many teachers.
Max Falkenberg, Senior Environmental Science Major, Portuguese 1 Teacher
Deema Binmahi, Sophomore Computer Science Major, Arabic Level 2 Teacher
Grace Mai, Sophomore International Affairs Major, Mandarin Level 3 Teacher
How did you get into it? “I’ve tutored for Japanese since my sophomore year, and I just liked teaching and helping people learn stuff, especially with languages ... and the only language I felt comfortable enough teaching right off the bat was Portuguese. It’s a good way for me to practice it as well since I don’t get to speak it much in Boston” Favorite part of teaching? “I love getting to know my students. They’re all really fun. I like getting to know people, and I like helping people learn my language. I just love sharing the enthusiasm with the students. It’s great. I really love it. “ Favorite moments? “Last year, there was this really popular song called ‘Ai Se Eu Te Pego.’ It’s just this lame pop song but all the Brazilians know it … so I was like, ‘Okay, guys, we’re going to karaoke this, and I want you guys to dance.’ Then, the week after, they all came back and memorized the song…I thought it was really funny that they embraced it.” Relationship with the students? “I don’t think of them as … students, I just think of them as a bunch of people hanging out with a common interest and that interest is Portuguese. They’ll also teach me. A lot of them speak other languages so … I learn from my students as much as they learn from me.” Advice to future teachers? “Don’t be nervous. You’re teaching people that are your own age so we’re all sympathetic to each other. We know we have a lot of other work to do, and as long as you feel comfortable in that language then just go for it.”
Why do you teach? “I took a class with NUCALLS last year, and I thought, ‘I could do that!’ My first language is Arabic, and I always do translation to science videos on Youtube with a channel called AsapSCIENCE. I love helping out, I volunteer a lot, and I thought this opportunity is the perfect one for me because it’s something I’m good at and love.” Most challenging thing about teaching? “Some of the students are impatient. Languages take time to learn; it’s not math with a couple of problem sets and you get it. Another thing was that some students weren’t committing to the class. Since it’s a free class, some people just stop showing.” Favorite moment? “Last semester, I had a student who took almost five weeks to get the letter ‘Khaa’ right. That made pretty much my year!” Advice for future teachers? “Try it out! You would learn things you weren’t aware of in your own native language!”
Favorite part of teaching? “When I taught level one, it was more interesting because everyone started from zero, from the very beginning. For me, it was really cute that everyone was trying so hard to learn something or say something that is so different from English.” Most challenging thing about teaching? “Everyone in class are at different levels, so for me it’s hard to have class sometimes because I don’t know what they know, and I have to try to balance it. You want everyone to learn as much as they can. If someone speaks better, you don’t want them to be bored, and if someone speaks less, you don’t want them to be confused.” Important skills? “English is my second language as well, and I understand that you can be shy. What I learned is that when someone encourages you to do it and supports you all the time, you’ll do better, so that’s what I did to my students.” Why should someone become a teacher? “It’s a really good experience. Just to hear ideas and different experiences that people have, that’s interesting. You learn a lot. You see what challenges people have when they learn languages that might be your difficulties when you learn languages as well.”
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
Front • 5
Photos by Kelley Schneider Every student experiences Northeastern in his or her own unique way — and that’s to be expected. But there are a few things students of all majors and backgrounds should experience before leaving campus. What are those quintessentially Husky moments? Woof conducted a (very important) poll to find out. To graduating seniors, good job and best of luck. To those soldiering on at Northeastern, consider the following your unofficial Husky Bucket List.
Go to a Red Sox game!
Take a dip in the reflecting pool. (in your underwear for style points!)
Eat a Super Heavyweight TKO sandwich from Chicken Lou’s. Pull an all-nighter in Snell. (Pro tip: Domino’s delivers directly to the library.)
Explore the Arnold Arboretum
Spend a rainy day at the MFA.
Take a selfie with Paws — extra credit if you get one with Aoun.
Have a picnic along the Charles.
Go stargazing on top of Renaissance Park Garage.
Run across the Boston Marathon finish line. Props if it’s after you’ve just run 26.2 miles!
Settle the historic debate: Mike’s or Modern’s cannoli? Ride to the end of every T line. (Wonderland isn’t as fantastical as it sounds). summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
NON-BOOZY BOSTON Written by Madison Mitteness // Photos by Katie Kim
For those who don’t want to or can’t legally drink, it may seem like weekend options are limited. However, Boston offers a number of alcohol-free activities, many of which cost the same as a night of drinking — and all of which are more exciting than a typical museum trip. SKYWALK OBSERVATORY IN THE PRUDENTIAL CENTER: 800 Boylston St #169 Boston, MA 02199 Cost of admission: $14 for university students Summer hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Winter hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Take in a sweeping view of Boston from the top floor of the Prudential Center, which offers 360-degree visibility. “I went at night so everything was lit up and so beautiful,” said electrical engineering major Pam Stravitz. “Sometimes, you could tell where something was, like the Fens, because everything else was lit up around it like an outline.” You also have the option of listening to an audio recording that describes the parts to the city as you’re viewing them from the top of the building. Tickets can be purchased at the Skywalk Observatory kiosk located in Prudential Arcade or at the Skywalk entrance on the 50th floor of the Prudential Center.
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
ROCK SPOT CLIMBING 30 Old Colony Ave South Boston, MA 02127 Cost of day pass and gear: $20 for university students Hours: 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. Rock Spot Boston has 11,000 square feet of climbing with 20-30 rope walls. There are over 150 boulder problems, which are reset every six weeks to provide variety for regular visitors. Dean Mirabito, a youth programs instructor at Rock Spot and third-year environmental science major, said, “The walls are straight out of a climber’s dream: steep overhangs, caves, slab, and a top-out section which can be descended by slide. It amazes me how many people come in every weekend who are totally new to the sport and fall in love with it, returning again and again.” If you dream of rock climbing, it can be achieved by completing a waiver and registering on Rock Spot’s website. ESCAPE THE ROOM 33 West St Boston, MA 02111 on the 3rd Floor Cost of admission: $28 plus service fee Hours: 6 to 9:30 pm Monday through Wednesday, 4:30 to 9:30 pm Thursday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday At Escape the Room, groups of ten have one hour to use their brains and creativity to find a key to get out of the locked room. This location offers two set ups: the office and the dig. Fifthyear health sciences major Jordan Mandell said, “This was just so out of the ordinary in terms of typical weekend activities, which made it that much more enjoyable. It was
really interesting seeing my friends in that kind of environment where we had to work together as a team. Aside from friends on sports teams and regular beer olympics competitors, I feel like we rarely get to see our friends working actively towards a common goal. It was cool to see what everyone’s teamwork styles and problem-solving strengths were!” If you like humorous problem-solving under pressure, you and your friends can register online and reserve the time slot ahead of time. You do not need to a full group of ten to register. IMPROV ASYLUM 216 Hanover Street, Boston, MA 02113 Cost of admission: around $10 depending on the show Hours: 12 p.m. to 1 a.m Friday and Saturday, 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday Improv Asylum showcases comedy in all forms. Members have performed 10,000 shows for over 2 million people. You can go for a show or even sign up to take classes so that you might one day perform on the stage. “The cast consists of the best improvisors Improv Asylum, and really Boston, has,” said Joe Borg, a fourth-year film major and Improv Asylum employee. “It’s a great place to spend an evening with friends, a date, or a stranger.” If you want to spend your night laughing along to some of Boston’s best comedic performances, you can purchase tickets on their website, improvasylum.com.
Arts & Entertainment • 7
ART AS THERAPY Written by Christie Macomber // Photos by Justine Newman
Coloring books, a pastime previously reserved for elementary school craft tables, may be making a comeback within adult generations. Recently, adult “stress-relief” coloring books have lined the shelves and “Most Popular” tables of major bookstores, with companies touting their therapeutic benefits. According to Boston Barnes & Noble employee Tori Queeno, the books have only seen a surge in popularity in the past year. “We started off with about three titles. Now we have hundreds, and we’re getting more everyday,” she said. This trend is consistent throughout the country — national Barnes & Noble sales data reflects that stress-relief coloring books have been at an all-time high over the past few months, according to a report by Forbes. So are these books simply an isolated trend, or is their popularity reflective of some true de-stressing effect that producing art can have? According to Massachusetts General Hospital official Megan Carleton, the answer is the latter. Carleton, an art therapist, believes there is a biological connection between producing art and mental relaxation. Carleton cited the work of psychologist Cathy Malchiodi when she explained that the repetitive motions associated with making art can be both emotionally and physically therapeutic, as it stimulates the “accumbens-striatal-cortical connection” of the brain. In other words, activities that involve the same repeated motion over a period of time, like drawing, painting, or coloring, stimulate the part of the brain that connects movement, emotion, and thinking. According to Malchiodi, activities like drawing and painting produce an effect similar to yoga - a mind and body connection referred to as “flow.” “Because flow is close to other mindful practices such as meditation and yoga, it may offer many of the same positive, attentionfocused benefits through deep engagement in an art process,” wrote Malchiodi in an essay published in Psychology Today.
Second-year bioengineering and mechanical engineering major Mackenzie Coleman is a member of Art Collaborative, Northeastern’s on-campus art club, and draws regularly. Coleman said she experiences a mind and body connection when she draws, similar to the “flow” that Malchiodi references, “I think the physical motion of doing things with your hands can be really therapeutic,” said Coleman. “The motion of [drawing] grounds you in your own body.” First-year student Julia Marlin has used de-stress coloring books as a therapeutic outlet and cited coloring mandalas in particular as giving her a sense of relaxation. “The symmetry of it feels so good in my brain. It’s very satisfying,” said Marlin. As a psychology major and artist, Marlin said she sees the value of art therapy. “We think about treating the body only, but you have to treat the mind as well because they’re so connected.” According to Carleton, mindfulness is a major benefit of producing art. Fourth-year human services major Liza Ashley agrees. “Just being a busy college student, there is so much going on, and not a lot of it is focused on what’s actually happening around you,” said Ashley, who turns to photography as a form of art that allows her to form introspective connections. “Focusing on my surrounding helps me focus on where I am in my surroundings … Photography lets me notice the things around me more and plants me more solidly in the world,” noted Ashley. Carleton claims that there is scientific explanation for why producing art may facilitate this greater sense of selfawareness. “Many times, people don’t know how to say what they are feeling, and the art-making allows for a sensory experience that in turn may stimulate conversation,” she said. “People will often say, ‘I didn’t know it — anger, grief, worry, et cetera — looked like that.’” While some value the process of creating art for its potential to generate a sense
of connectivity, others find comfort in its ability to allow them to disconnect. Fifthyear communications major Robin Beaulieu regularly sketches. “I like it because when I’m drawing, I don’t really think about other things,” she said. “It’s nice to have something to focus on, but also not focus on at the same time.” “You can lose yourself in it. It’s a distraction from everything around you,” said third-year student Rachel Anderson. As treasurer of Art Collaborative, Anderson said, she uses the club as an outlet to fill the artistic void she felt after starting her biology major. According to Carleton, creating art can bring relaxation and mindfulness regardless of the medium or artistic skill level. Often times it is the process, not the product, that facilitates healing. “My advice is to give yourself permission to try something new and try to suspend judgment,” said Carleton. “So what if your teacher said you were bad at drawing, or you haven’t picked up a paintbrush since you were in sixth grade? Tap into your curiosity and sense of exploration, and see what happens.”
summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
8 • Arts & Entertainment
Written by Claribel Avila // Illustration by Erin Borst
Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated made history and drew much praise for featuring Ashley Graham, a plus-size model, on the cover of its 2016 Swimsuit Issue. Olivia Tedesco, a second-year communications major at Northeastern lit up when asked if she had seen the Sports Illustrated cover. “I thought it was awesome that they’re changing things up and I thought she was beautiful. It sucks that we have to call them ‘plus-size model,’ that we can’t just call them models,” she remarked. Although the language of a “plus-size model” still separates them from just a “model,” the cover is a step in the right direction for celebrating multi-faceted beauty. Brooke Foucault Welles, an assistant professor in Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media and Design, explained, “Diversifying women in the media almost always has short- and long-term positive effects on self-esteem, body image, and self-confidence, especially among girls and women who identify with demographics that are historically underrepresented. In the long term, this could also help reduce some of the clinical consequences of sustained self-esteem and body image issues, including eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and self-harm.”
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
Arts & Entertainment • 9
Not only does a more bodypositive atmosphere help increase women’s self-esteem, such change could also unlock talent that has been dismissed before. “It’s impossible to know how much intellectual, political, and creative capital has been sidelined because we were too quick to judge a brilliant woman by her outward appearance alone, but we are all worse off for allowing it to happen,” said Welles. Although some parts of the fashion industry are fighting to bring about positive change, there is still a long way to go. “We’re only just now seeing plussized models in mainstream outlets, and many other pictures are still retouched to eliminate so-called ‘imperfections’ such as cellulite, blemishes, and body hair. We still see alarmingly little diversity along racial dimensions, and there are virtually no examples of fashion spreads or advertisements featuring older women, women with disabilities, trans women, or non-binary people,” said Welles. Elise Borja, a fourth-year communications major, is co-president of the on-campus club Fashion and Retail Society, which publishes a fashion blog online. Borja agrees that the fight isn’t over, “You’re either a model or you’re a plus-size model, and plus-size models tend to be sizes eight to sixteen … There’s no girl in a four or a six, and that’s a lot of college girls. A lot of college girls have fit, athletic builds. So it is really interesting to see how there’s only two real categories of advertisements.” Perhaps one of the most overlooked ways in which the fashion and advertising industries have failed to diversify their presentation of beauty is the industry’s presentation of men. Much like women, men who do not adhere to the prescribed standards of attractiveness are also subjected to discrimination. So why has the fashion and advertising industry neglected to incorporate plus-size male models? Welles explained one of the possible reasons. “Because women are often valued only in terms of their physical attractiveness, the situation is more acute for women,” she said. “Men in a patriarchal society have other dimensions society finds valuable — men can be smart, athletic, heroic, wealthy, charismatic, et cetera. Women are still often only valued in terms of their physical attractiveness.”
Some companies do center their mission statement around social change, and seem to deviate from being economically driven. However, these companies either are not always acting in a socially conscious manner or eventually sell out to conglomerates. For example, in her book titled Business as Usual, the founder of The Body Shop, Dame Anita Roddick, wrote, “In terms of power and influence, you can forget the church, forget politics. There is no more powerful institution in society than business, which is why I believe it is now more important than ever before for business to assume a moral leadership. The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.” Several years later, Roddick would sell her company to L’Oréal, a corporation not known to adhere to socially conscious practices. Similarly, the company Dove, known for its “real beauty” campaign, is owned by the same multimillion dollar corporation that owns Axe, whose marketing strategy is riddled with macho-ism and extreme sexual allure. It is true that companies, even those who claim to be socially conscious, sometimes fail at upholding socially beneficial practices. However, is that their job? Tedesco doesn’t seem to think so. “In the end we are the consumers, so if something is successful, it’s not because of the company, it’s because of us” she said. “I don’t think they have any incentive to change what they are doing.” There is, however, a silver lining. The technological era has given consumers new, easier ways to communicate their preferences. In particular, social media has given social movements a platform through which to communicate with companies. “Consumers also have a lot of power to ‘talk back’ to brands and organizations about what they would, and would not, like to see,” Welles said. “There is increasing evidence that social media campaigns — so-called hashtag activism — really do work. #OscarsSoWhite is a recent example. By using social media, regular people were able to push back on biased media representations and hopefully change those representations in the future.” If consumers unite in solidarity and demand a more comprehensive and realistic portrayal of beauty, perhaps Tedesco will one day hear people refer to Ashley Graham as simply a model, a “plus-size” no more. summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
10 • Lifestyle
inked in Written by Michelle Weth // Photos by Meredith Fisher
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
Lifestyle • 11
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ast year, a woman in Swansea, England, was denied a job a mere 30 minutes after being offered the position over the phone. The employers were impressed with the woman’s résumé and interview over the phone, but according to The Daily Mail, they quickly repealed the offer when they learned of the woman’s intricate hand tattoo. Examples like these might be daunting, especially to students at Northeastern, where the co-op job interview cycle can repeat on an annual basis.
Chloe Sanders, a first year at Northeastern, has three stick-andpoke tattoos scattered over her body. Colloquially known as “jail tats,” they were done by her friends with ink and needle. The name stems from the process by which convicts are forced to tattoo each other, lacking the drills ubiquitous in modern tattoo shops. According to Barber, tattoos have become a lot more mainstream in the 15 years since they acquired them. Also in the last 15 years, tattoo reality shows — spawned from the popularity of “Miami Ink” — have given the artistry new life.
An outline of the state of Texas will forever brand Matthew Garvin’s derriere. The fifth-year computer science major’s only regret about his drunken decision, he said, was that he could not go into his hotel pool for a few days after the procedure. Garvin doesn’t face the same repercussions as those with tattoos on their arms, neck, or face. Presumably, he will always have pants on during interviews. Northeastern communications professor Amy Barber, on the other hand, has covered up their tattoos for every academic job they’ve applied for. Barber has a three-quarter sleeve on their right arm that goes down to their wrist. It’s part of a post-apocalyptic dinosaur theme, Barber explained, with multiple parts to it. Part of the meaning is that they’re obsessed with dinosaurs, and in part it’s a reminder of how much older and bigger the world is than most people can comprehend. “I think there’s a significant risk of potential employers making negative assumptions about me based on the fact that I have tattoos” Barber said. If employment were not an issue, they would “probably have at least one neck tattoo by now.” Tattoos weren’t always viewed in such a negative light. With a rich history going back more than 5,000 years, according to National Geographic, they were used as amulets of religious affiliation, badges of honor, and even as medicine. Although the Romans first scoffed the practice — they famously believed in the perfection of the human form — they embraced the practice after war with the Britons. Hayley Schiebel, a graduate student studying environmental science at Northeastern, has a tattoo of three little birds on her arm. A reference to the Bob Marley classic, the tattoo serves as a reminder of her late father. Her mother was initially skeptical about the tattoo, Schiebel recalls. She worried Schiebel would be discriminated against because of it. But so far, Schiebel has never had a bad experience with her tattoo’s visibility.
Barber believes that people used to judge them more harshly when their tattoos were discovered, but that “now it doesn’t seem like such a big deal, probably because so many people have them.”
“[This may] stem from the fact that my colleagues in environmental science all have tattoos and piercings,” she explained. “[Tattoos] have become more mainstream and used to be associated with a rougher, tougher crowd.”
“As people become more comfortable with different ways of expression, tattoos have become a more common method of doing so.” After World War II, the stigma of tattoos being “tough” arose due to the uprising of biker culture and the outbreak of hepatitis. Tattoos experienced a resurgence in the 1970s and 80s as an expression of the discontent of the emerging subcultures. This trend of discontent is also evident in Japan’s history. Body art was the merchant class’s response to being denied the lavish kimonos of the upper classes; when the Japanese government outlawed the practice in 1870, the Yakuza crime syndicate embraced it. Undergoing hours of pain from artists’ needles also emphasized a Yakuza member’s strength.
During her second co-op at Duke University, fourth-year behavioral neuroscience student Emily Burke conducted a challenging experiment which failed multiple times. After months of attempting the same experiment, she was successful with a single cell. Burke sports a tattoo of a brain cell, or neuron, to commemorate an “important chapter” in her life. Wrapping around her left shoulder and scapula is the image of a mouse’s visual cortex cells — the design is based on magnified photos from her experiments at Duke. “[The neuron] represents intellectual exploration and discovery, realizing the inherent beauty and wonder of the universe, and coming to terms with the limitations of the human condition,” Burke explained. She believes that as a more liberal and progressive generation takes over, harsh criticism of tattoos will wane. ”They’re being seen as a form of creative expression as well as a means of exploring identity and personal empowerment,” she said. Yet not all tattoos are as deep in meaning as the ones on Barber and Burke. Garvin still thinks the Lone Star State on his butt is funny. As for his family, according to Garvin, they all laughed while shaking their heads when they found out.
summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
12 • Lifestyle
NEW AGE FITNESS Written by Harshita Himatsingka // Photos by Justine Newman
In a world where there is no time to walk, you must run — and if you want to make the most of that, too, you must track how fast you run, how long you are running, and how many calories you are burning. Staying fit can be hard, especially for a college student, what with all the assignments, group projects, more group projects, and the occasional weekend drinking binge. This is where health apps come in, as tiny little motivators flashing on our phone screens or nagging mothers (check Pact) who will not let you miss a workout. “When it comes to fitness applications, it really depends on what the user is looking for,” said Becky Mercuro, a second year physical therapy major and ACSM-certified personal trainer. “I definitely encourage my clients to monitor their activity as much as possible, because just a small reminder or motivation to get up and move around can make a huge difference between an active and sedentary lifestyle,” she said. “I know that when I am more active tracking my progress, I’m more likely to adhere to my programming.” Listed below are a few apps that will help you stay fit, healthy, and in shape.
1 PACT
Is there a way to earn money for living a healthy lifestyle, you ask? The answer is yes. Pact is a motivational app that lets its users make a ‘pact’ in which they can essentially bet on their commitment. If the user does not log their exercise, their money is forfeited and goes to other Pact members. There are three different types of Pacts: gym, veggie, and food-logging. All three are strict with their policies and verify users’ activities with “GPS, photos, and other services.” Calling in sick requires a doctor’s contact information.
2
Sleep Cycle Getting enough sleep is essential to daily
functioning, but it also has lesser-known benefits. Sleep can improve memory, it spur creativity, sharpen attention, and lower stress. Sleep Cycle is an app that makes sure users sleeps well and are wellrested. One places their phone on their nightstand or bed before going to sleep. The app then analyzes the user’s sleep patterns, and when it is time to get up, the app wakes the user in his or her lightest sleep phase.
3 Spring
Many people find that music is essential for working out. Spring “is a rhythm-fueled music service and exercise tracker.” The makers of the app have described it as “Pandora meets Fitbit.” Spring has DJs that make playlists for users with a range of beats per minute similar to their workout routine so that users can literally run, walk, or bike to the beat.
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
Lifestyle • 13
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Charity Miles Someone once said that you don’t have
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Argus This app is the perfect companion for the obsessive
to change the world to make a difference; every little thought counts. This app taps into that sentiment. When users walk, run, or bike, the app donates money to a wide variety of charities for every mile they cover. With the help of corporate sponsors like Johnson & Johnson, Chobani, and Humana, Charity Miles donates “10 cents for every mile biked, and 25 cents for every mile walked or ran.” If the user collects enough miles, they can make a significant difference for any charity organization of their choice.
fitness lover, as it allows users to track their every move. The app works in the background, noting changes in elevation and speed, for example, when users move around. It also develops charts and maps for users to see information that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Furthermore, it allows users to track their progress, all without moving so much as a finger.
6 Endomondo
This app claims to be the perfect motivator to “get up and stay active.” When users first join, they take a test to assess their fitness level. The app then makes a tailored plan for each individual based on their exercise choices. Endomondo also has a GPS tracking system that records one’s day-to-day activities, like walking, running, and cycling, and has a virtual trainer who chimes in to motivate users or report personal records. The app includes a social aspect as well; users can challenge friends and encourage them when they make progress.
7 MyFitnessPal
A huge part of health is building healthy eating habits, and MyFitnessPal helps with that. The app offers an expansive “database of brand-name foods” so that users can track their food consumption. It also allows users to input their own recipes, generating nutritional information for the dish. As users become familiar with the app, it saves their regular food habits and favorite meals, and tracking becomes as easy as pressing a button.
8 Waterlogged
When it comes to taking care of ourselves, we often forget that drinking water is an important part of our well-being. Waterlogged lets users track their water intake. Users can choose to track how much water they have been drinking through photos or through basic metrics. The app also has a premium version that lets users craft charts, maps, and data of their recent progress and set extra reminders.
14 • Lifestyle
SKIN GRIP
Written by Maxim Tamarov // Photos by Yashi Gudka There is a number 18 on the door. Above that, a small sign reads, “BPG: Boston Performance Group” — the former occupants of the rather shady windowless storage facility on Fordham Road in Allston. It is unclear what any of the other buildings on that street contain, besides a Berklee practice studio at the end of the street from which music can sometimes be heard. Inside, mirrors line the walls and dancers in sports bras and shorts hold onto glossy metal poles as they await instruction from former stripper and full-time pole fitness instructor Stacy Hamilton. She at no point pants or pauses to catch a breath. She does a crunch on the floor to show the core-strength aspect of a position called an Ayesha before transitioning into the pose on the pole. A pungent smell of rubbing alcohol permeates the dance studio, as dancers wipe down sweat from their poles between moves to reduce the risk of slipping down. Hamilton opened her studio about a decade ago to satisfy the growing interest of her YouTube followers in the pole techniques she exhibited online. Now based in Allston, Boston Pole Fitness is one of two studios in Boston that focus on pole — Gypsy Rose Exotic Fitness, also in Allston, is the other. Pole fitness has been gaining popularity in the United States as women (and more and more men) learn to appreciate the sport’s physical demand. A complete workout and performance art, one that requires immense core and upper-body strength in tandem with balance and finesse, has remained covert for the majority of the population. In the transition from strip club to studio, the focus is less sexual, but the clothes are no less revealing. “People look at the lack of clothing that we wear and don’t realize that we do that because we need the skin to grip the pole,” said Jill, a Northeastern student who has been taking
WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
pole classes on and off for three years. She showed me some photos of her performing an outside leg hang — or gemini, as it is also known. She seemed to be levitating, but explained that she was using three points of contact: the back of her knee, the back of her shoulder, and her hip. Jill is not her real name. Like many “polers,” Jill remains concerned about outsiders misinterpreting her craft. “My parents don’t know,” Jill said. “They are nice people but conservative, and they would frown upon this.” Fellow Northeastern student Caroline Huang, a third-year marketing student, was more open. “My parents thought it was weird, because I shipped the pole to their house and they’re like, ‘What is this?’” Huang said. “And then my dad called me, telling me not to be a stripper.” There are many closed groups on Facebook and Instagram where polers share new moves, ask questions, encourage each other, and get their names out there among peers while avoiding public scrutiny. According to Hamilton, such social networks have greatly contributed to the sport’s growing popularity — a positive feedback loop, under the radar. Yet pole’s evolution in recent years has gained public recognition as well. Take, for example, former Boston Pole Fitness student Kat Zhou, who often substituted at the studio when other instructors were running late or unable to make class. Both her parents and her employer are well aware of her pole dancing enthusiasm. “It’s on my résumé,” Zhou said. After matriculating from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, she moved to San Francisco to work as a software engineer for LinkedIn. “There are a lot of people that are like, ‘Why do you pole dance?’ Obviously everyone in college comes from all over the country where there’s lot of different impressions of what pole dance is. Most of them get the idea after I show them. I always have a couple of videos that I like to show people.”
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Zhou was herself introduced to the concept of pole dance through YouTube videos, and given her extensive background in dance (ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, etc.) was able to teach herself some basic pole moves on the structures at a local playground. With a LivingSocial discount sent along from her friend, Zhou began to take classes at Boston Pole Fitness. She thrived. “This girl legitimately does handsprings into Ayeshas,” Jill said of Zhou. “She sits in the corner and does leg lifts for an hour straight while wearing ankle weights.” But according to Zhou, this was not always the case. In the beginner classes, everyone is in the same boat. “When I first went I couldn’t even hold myself up on the pole,” she said. “The next day I was so sore that I couldn’t lift my pants up.” Zhou lauded the camaraderie that Boston Pole fosters. For her, it was a “social experience” from which she gained many friends — not to mention a boatload of confidence, physical strength, and fitness. “I had an eating disorder in high school,” Zhou admitted. “I would try to work out a lot, but no matter what I did, I was never happy with the way my body looked.” According to Zhou, the pole workout was so intense that she could eat whatever she wanted and still be happy with the way her body looked. Pole helped her through her depression, she explained. She sounded almost like Dr. Oz or a Bowflex infomercial — but genuine. While she has stopped going to classes after moving out to California, Zhou still has a pole that she exercises on regularly. As when she was in Boston, Zhou continues to teach moves to her friends pro bono. Hamilton decided to pursue a career in stripping for amusement, before realizing that pole fitness was a more lucrative endeavor. She was not the first to come to this conclusion. “There were just girls who realized there was money in the workout,” Hamilton said. “It got you in shape, it was super fun, it was sort of an alternative exercise and there were women who pioneered that, started to capitalize on it, and really turned the practice into an industry.” Pole fitness evolved out of the art associated with seedy establishments where lecherous men come to throw dollar bills at women in deciduous clothing. But pole’s origins as a
sexualized dance are not unique. Tango, the flashy, flamenco- and accordion-driven South American dance, was a product of the brothels of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The can-can was made famous by Parisian prostitutes in cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge. This has led to much bickering between polers for years — a polar poler schism, if you will. Some in the industry wish to distance themselves from the erotic origins of pole dancing, which they see as dragging the sport down. Other polers, including those who continue to perform as strippers, defend the craft’s history. “I think it’s important for people to recognize that just because someone does pole fitness [it] doesn’t make them a stripper,” Zhou said. “But there are also pole dancers who are very proud of being strippers, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” While Hamilton was reluctant to let me sit in on the beginner class — students were selfconscious enough starting out without my alien presence — she had no qualms about me watching a slightly more advanced group of students practice. They agreed. If there was any tension or discomfort in the studio, it was quickly replaced by a ravenous concentration on the task at hand. The students dove, or rather flowed with precision, into the Ayesha, a position requiring legs spread over the head with the torso perpendicular to the pole and the arms nearly parallel to it. They got down, wiped their poles, and tried again as the instructor walked around adjusting their bodies, explaining nuances of the technique, and shouting encouragements. Hamilton had forgotten her shorts in her gym bag and was teaching the class in yoga pants. For about half of the class, including a rigorous warm-up session, these were sufficient. But as the difficulty of the class curriculum proceeded, it became evident that she needed more grip than the pants provided. “I’m going to try to do this move with my pants on — we’ll see if I succeed,” Hamilton said. She did not. She turned to me and said, “Can you leave the room so I can go into my thong for a second?”
summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
16 • Lifestyle
HIKE IT OUT
Written by Corlyn Voorhees // Photos by Ryan Mallaby
The impending warm weather provides a chance to ditch that boring treadmill routine at Marino, break free of your daily Snell dates, and venture outside of the city for some fresh air. Lace up your hiking boots, hop in your car (or find a friend with a vehicle), and take a day trip to one of these spots for some outdoor exercise and incredible views. Blue Hills Reservation, located in Milton, is about a 30-minute drive from Northeastern and offers views of the entire metropolitan area from the top of Great Blue Hill, the highest elevation on the reservation. Stretching from Quincy to Dedham, there is plenty to explore on the reservation, including 125 miles of trails, 16 historic structures listed on the National Register that tell the story of the people of the region, a weather observatory and science center, and a museum. A trail map is available on friendsofthebluehills.org. Take a trip across the harbor to hike at Spectacle Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands. It has the tallest hill of any of the islands, allowing for good views of the city and the harbor. Don’t worry about feeling too secluded from civilization — there are public restrooms and a beach (with a lifeguard). If you want to make a day out of it, visit the other islands (ferries are available between them) to take advantage of a variety of trails and views for no extra charge. Check out Peddocks Island, with over 10 miles of trails, and Worlds End, with trails ranging from one mile to five miles. Round-trip ferry tickets are $17 for adults and $12 for students. Check ferry schedules and launch points on bostonharborislands.org. About 25 minutes from Northeastern is Lynn Woods Reservation, located in Lynn, MA. With over 30 miles of scenic trails for hiking, this reservation offers good overlooks, as well as three reservoirs, a rose garden, and more. If you’re feeling adventurous, check out Dungeon Rock, an underground tunnel with “a history of pirate lore and treasure seekers,” and 48-foot-high stone tower you can scout out (and tour if you make an appointment.) For trails maps, visit flw.org/aboutlw.html. WOOF MAGAZINE • summer 2016
Another option is Breakheart Reservation, about 25 minutes from Northeastern and located in Saugus, MA. There are a number of trails that snake through the reservation and seven rocky hills – all over 200 feet high (with the highest altitude of 286 feet) – which allows for a moderate hike and views of the city, southern New Hampshire, and central Massachusetts. If you get hot, there is a swimming area at Pearce Lake to take a dip. Visit saugus.org/fobr for trail maps. While visiting Noanet Woodlands requires a longer drive — about 30-40 minutes from Northeastern — the view is worth it. Located in Dover, MA, there are 17 miles of trails that are moderately difficult to strenuous. A hike to the top of Noanet Peak provides gorgeous views of the Boston skyline. Watch out for wildlife and check out the wildflowers (and get an Instagram-worthy shot.) Trails maps are available at thetrustees.org/ places-to-visit/greater-boston/noanet-woodlands.html. Another option for a variety of trails is Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham, MA. Only about 20 minutes from Northeastern, the reservation has over 100 miles of trails for you to choose from. Free guided walks and hikes that focus on the history of the reservation are offered free to the public, year-round. If you’re looking for something else to do, Spot Pond, one of several ponds in the reservation, offers kayak, canoe, and rowboat rentals, as well as sailing lessons. Check out friendsofthefells.org for a trail map.
Like a Good Neighbor NO RTHEA STERN 'S GUN C ON T ROV ER S Y Written by Hannah Casey Amid the controversy and city-wide headlines surrounding the proposed adjunct walkout in January, Northeastern once again drew attention and criticism, both from Boston neighbors and national media outlets. A December 2015 Boston Globe report revealed that the Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) would expand its artillery to include semi-automatic rifles, triggering protests from students and an investigative city council hearing. Cassie Hebert, a fifth-year music industry major, wrote an article for the January edition of Teen Vogue titled “Why My University’s Campus Police Make Me Feel Less Safe.” Other national coverage included a piece in USA Today and segments on “Good Morning America” and “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” The heart of the issue, according to many involved, is not necessarily the new artillery but a lack of dialogue between university administration and just about everyone else. The Boston Police Department (BPD), headquartered next to International Village, stated it was unaware that NUPD made the decision to arm its force with the rifles. In November, NUPD met with Police Commissioner William B. Evans, who voiced disapproval for the plan at the time. According to City Councillor Josh Zakim, BPD later learned the school was acting on its plan by reading an article about the decision on Boston.com. “That’s a pretty unacceptable way to go about things,” Zakim said. City councillors Zakim and Tito Jackson, representatives of the University’s closest neighbors in Roxbury, Mission Hill, Fenway, Symphony, and Dorchester, called Northeastern to a hearing on the topic of the NUPD’s new artillery at City Hall on February 29th. “The fact that our own police commissioner had to find out secondhand — that Northeastern did not engage the community — is indicative of what we’re talking about: being a bad citizen, not really feeling any sense of responsibility for the community that they live in,” Zakim told Woof. Students have echoed the city councillors’ outrage with the University not only for its failure to engage with the Boston community around this topic, but also for its lack of
consultation with students or even a direct announcement about the change to the University at large. A major organizer of students has been NU Students Against Institutional Discrimination (SAID). SAID worked with councillors Jackson and Zakim to bring a group of student protestors to the city council hearing, where they held a “die-in,” a type of protest where demonstrators lie silent on the ground to represent those killed by police violence. “We felt it was our duty on campus to address this issue since having rifles on campus made some students of color feel unsafe,” Chelsea Canedy, second-year political science and biology double major, said of SAID and its campaign, Don’t Shoot NU. Don’t Shoot NU draws its name from the Black Lives Matter movement and its iconic chant, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” A major concern of opponents to the NUPD’s additional weaponry is the increasingly visible racial bias of police forces nationwide. Black Americans are disproportionately targeted by police and treated with aggression unseen by other groups, and Boston is no exception.
“The heart of the issue ... is not necessarily the new artillery but a lack of dialogue between university administration and just about everyone else.” While statistics on policing are often difficult to access — the BPD has not published an annual report to their website since 2010 — an array of local organizations make it known that police engagement with communities of color is tenuous and often violent. In June 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts published a briefing on the militarization of local police forces, asserting that ”unjustifiable force and SWAT raids against people in their homes most often target people of color and the poor.” Further arming the NUPD, who currently carry handguns on duty, may endanger the largely Black neighborhoods surrounding Northeastern, said Canedy.
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“When looking at this policy, it is important to note that police brutality exists in the United States and racial biases are a reflection of the current state of our society,” said Canedy, “and may be seen within any police force.” “My greatest concern is that these weapons will end up misused in some type of way and the communities of Roxbury, Dorchester, etc. will become victims, while they are also not considered as key stakeholders within the Northeastern community,” she said. Northeastern and NUPD have released several statements in response to the criticisms. A January 27th article on Northeastern’s website titled “Northeastern corrects the record on city councillors’ claims” fired bacK at the councillors, insisting that “NUPD officials made the Boston Police aware of the plan in mid-October, long before the issue became public. In fact, in the first conversa tion with BPD’s tactical unit commander, the weapons were discussed and shown with no objections expressed.” When asked about this press release, Councillor Zakim took a strong stance: “I don’t have a crystal ball, but if you wanted me to say who I believe and who I trust, I would say I trust Commissioner Evans and his team over the public relations and lobbying forces at Northeastern.” A later press release on February 29th criticized the backlash further, saying the city councillors’ claims are “both flawed and false,” and that Northeastern is being singled out despite other Boston schools with the same tactical capabilities. Canedy took issue with this major element of the school’s defense — that other schools in Boston have the same weapons, including Tufts, MIT, and UMass Boston, and that Northeastern is somehow being targeted. The other schools, she said, implemented the weapon policies before the Black Lives Matter movement brought police brutality into the public consciousness. “Societies grow, change, and progress. It is important to recognize that policies and standards reflect those continual changes. With that said, the Boston Police Department has addressed each of the schools with these weapons in a call to disarm them from these semi-automatic assault rifles. This justification of not attending the hearing seems more like an excuse rather than an actual concern from the administration.” NUPD did not respond to a Woof request for comment. On March 21st, University administration and NUPD held a campus safety town hall meeting that was once again criticized for its failure to consider student voices by not taking hard questions. In terms of looking forward, Councillor Zakim told Woof, “The council has subpoena power, which we have used before in the past. I think from the simple standpoint of arming a private force in the city of Boston, we need to get some answers on that and I expect we will.” summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
18 • Focus
UNIVERSITY GREENWASHING Written by Pamela Stravitz // Photos by Meredith Fisher
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Focus • 19 Living in Boston comes with the expectation of cold winters and bad snow storms. But this winter was a rare exception. The unseasonably warm weather and absence of snow came as a welcome and unexpected surprise after the brutal 2015 winter. “Plenty of folks have said, ‘well shit, if this is climate change, I don’t mind it,’” said Divest NU co-president Austin Williams, a fourth-year environmental studies and political science major. While it’s easy to embrace in the present, when the biggest concerns are walking to class or co-op, in the long term, these weather patterns are indicative of a much larger issue. According to The Boston Globe, the winter of 2015–2016 will go down as “one of the five warmest on record in Boston.” The mainstream conversations around record-breaking heat is starting to challenge those in power — such as businesses and universities — to be held accountable for their role in the problem and attempt to appear more environmentally friendly. Northeastern has incorporated a number of policies over recent years, such as campus-wide composting and energy-use reduction. These efforts raise questions about what can be done by an institution to be impactful, versus what is merely greenwashing, or attempting to appear environmentally conscious on the surface level. With a higher emphasis on branding and a stronger push for socially conscious institutions, With more money being spent on branding in higher education, it makes sense that an environmental concern be embraced. And at Northeastern, it is. “The benefits Northeastern receives from appearing both environmentally conscious and ecologically friendly are huge,” said student activist Grace Woodward, a first-year history major, citing the appeal of a green image to prospective students.
not disclosed how much money it has invested in fossil fuels. Divest NU estimates $30 million conservatively, but as much as $60 million could be invested based on the investment patterns of US universities of comparable size, which typically invest 3 percent of their total portfolio. According to a 2013 Oxford study from their Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, fossil fuel investments are not only environmentally unsafe but also pose a range of risks “where environmentally unsustainable assets suffer from unanticipated or premature write-offs [and] downward revaluations or are converted to liabilities.” In the spring of 2014, students were able to vote on whether or not Northeastern should divest from fossil fuels. While a commanding 75 percent voted in favor of divestment, no public action has been taken by the university. For its part, Divest NU, has not let up its momentum with recent demonstrations on campus such as “We Won’t Pipe Down.” The event’s Facebook page described it as “marching through campus while carrying an inflatable pipeline — a symbolic representation of our university’s ties to the fossil fuel industry and of our administration’s relationship to ExxonMobil.” The group is referring to the former Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil, Edward Galante, serving on the school’s Board of Trustees. The problem is not exclusive to divestment. Students campaigning for the Real Food Challenge, or RFC, have encountered what first-year environmental science major Julianna Horiuchi called a “disconnect between sustainability image and practice.” RFC is a program that encourages universities around the US to be more green through campus campaigns, such as its current project to shift $1 billion of university food budgets to locally-grown “real food.”
“Green. Green. Green. Northeastern is black, red, and green.” Some ranking systems have taken notice. In 2014, Northeastern placed first on the University of Indonesia’s GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities., In recognition of this award, Northeastern resident Joseph Aoun tweeted out: “Green. Green. Green. Northeastern is black, red, and green.” But the qualifications for boasting the label of “green” depend completely on who you’re asking. Dr. Daniel Faber, Director of the Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative, wrote in a recent presentation, “By misleading consumers, the ecological benefits of their purchases are wasted. Greenwashing leads to cynicism and consumers stop making an effort.” The university has done good things as its leaders work with studentrun groups like the Husky Environmental Action Team, or H.E.A.T., and Divest NU: building LEED-standard dorms, offices, and labs and providing ways for students to increase sustainability with recycling and composting. However, when it comes to divesting from fossil fuels, a major concern for many students, President Aoun has faltered. “They have not divested as of now,” said H.E.A.T. President Yvette Niwa, a second-year environmental studies and international affairs major. “I think it’s a matter of money, honestly,” she said. “It’s pretty inconvenient sometimes to change. It’s hard to divest from your biggest supporters.” Especially, she mentioned, when, “we have a VP of Exxon on our Board of Trustees.” Niwa believes the four things university green rankings should consider are divestment from fossil fuels, proper recycling and composting, proper waste elimination, and education about and programs for sustainability. Williams brought up the example of Rebecca’s, where composting is technically an option but the trash is often overflowing. Deepening education, he stated, is essential, especially when “the programmatic pillars for research — health, security, and sustainability — are all obviously impacted by climate change,” said Williams. However, GreenMetric ranks universities based on how well each of the following categories are made environmentally friendly: settings and infrastructure (where Northeastern, located on two lines of public transportation, scores an easy win), energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education. A student at Northeastern who wished to remain unnamed claimed the university’s efforts are “all publicity, no policy.” The university has
Horiuchi cited a separation between Northeastern’s Green Plan, which she believes has outlined “a lot of really great steps toward increased sustainability,” and students, who have “very little information about the ecological impact they have by eating at Northeastern.” When student actions are somewhat acknowledged by the administration but not seen through to fruition, they lose their potential impact. In 2013, President Aoun signed to make Northeastern a Real Food Challenge school. But behind closed doors, edits were made to the challenge, rendering it unsatisfactory to RFC campaigners. “After a discussion with an administrator, it was once again made clear that regardless of the Real Food Campus commitment not being a legally binding document, Northeastern is unwilling to remove the language inserted,” said 4th year International Affairs & Environmental Studies major and RFC representative Gemma Aquilina. Woodward, a representative for the RFC, said, “As a group, Real Food Challenge would love it if Northeastern stayed true to the green image they are working towards and worked with the various environmental groups on campus to make this happen with students in a collaborative way.” As for Divest NU, the group published a letter on April 7 detailing what they would need from the administration to reach their goals. The executive board stated in its letter that divestment approval is now under the discretion of the senior leadership team, which is comprised of eight individuals, including President Aoun. From there, Divest NU envisions a one-year timeline for the decision to reach the Board of Trustees, where a formal vote will be made- tentatively March, 2017. The group closed its letter requesting a response from the administration “with the understanding that without their leadership our campaign will be compelled to take the decision-making process into its own hands.” With or without the administration, students will continue mobilizing towards a sustainability of their own definition.
summer 2016 • WOOF MAGAZINE
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