2-4-2021

GAMESTOP STOCKS, 2

WORK-STUDY, 4

PERSONAL IDENTITY, 5

GACHA GAMES, 6

Boston University students took part in GameStop and Dogecoin investments.

The work-study program has online and hybrid jobs for students.

International students discuss their identity in the U.S.

Online games pose more loss than gain.

THURSDAY, FEB. 4, 2021

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

YEAR LI. VOLUME C. ISSUE II

Boston adds affordable housing units with Boston 2030 initiative Taylor Brokesh Daily Free Press Staff The City of Boston permitted 1,023 new units of affordable housing in 2020, which is the largest addition in three years.

The new units, located in neighborhoods across Boston, are part of Mayor Marty Walsh’s Boston 2030 housing initiative, which aims to add 16,000 units of affordable housing — for a total of 70,000 units — by 2030, the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding.

“We are committed to creating a Boston that anyone, at any income level, can afford to live in,” Walsh said in a press release.

Phil Giffee, executive director of Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, said the initiative is designed to support a diverse array of Bostonians with varying income levels and family sizes.

“When one says affordable, that gives one a sense of, you’re aiming at people who don’t have enough to live in the neighborhood anymore,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean just really poor people in public housing, as much as that is needed.”

He said Walsh and the City have made efforts toward increased housing production but housing development is a slow process.

“The city is clearly aimed at the

right targets,” Giffee said. “Everybody’s aligned right now in terms of fair housing, in terms of equity, in terms of neighborhood distribution, in terms of looking at where funds come in from the private sector.”

Russell Schutt, professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said the term “affordable housing” applies to an array of housing options aimed at households with different income levels below the region’s average.

“In other words, ensuring that some units are available for people with incomes as low as 30 percent of the area median income, and less so, of course, for people who are home-

less,” Schutt said, “and then a portion for people with incomes up to 60 percent and 80 percent and so on.”

In Jamaica Plain, where 44 units were approved in Jackson Square, the median household income was $76,968 in 2015, according to the Boston Planning and Development Agency. In Mattapan, where 135 units will be built at The Loop at Mattapan Station, that number was $43,256 — Boston’s median income sits at $55,777.

Most income-restricted housing in Boston is distributed by a lottery system. Individual applications are available for specific buildings.

Thirty percent of the housing units

permitted last year were income-restricted, meaning they were designated for homeowners within a certain financial bracket, according to the press release.

Schutt added that ample affordable housing is especially critical because of the ongoing pandemic, which disproportionately impacts those without stable access to housing.

“There’s just no question that there is going to be a lot greater difficulty affording housing for a great many people,” he said, “and it’s the people who have been disadvantaged to begin with.”

Walsh’s Boston 2030 plan, which was put into place before the pan-

PHOTO COURTESY SARAH NICHOLS VIA FLICKR

A street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Tuesday that 1,023 new units of affordable housing were created last year in Jamaica Plain and other neighborhoods.

City Council proposes paid sick leave for city workers receiving COVID-19 vaccine Aaron Velasco Daily Free Press Staff

HANNAH YOSHINAGA | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would extend the paid sick leave of Boston employees so they can receive the COVID-19

The Boston City Council sent an ordinance to extend paid sick leave for city workers taking the COVID-19 vaccine to the Government Operations Committee during Wednesday’s meeting.

The paid sick benefit would cover three working days. City workers would be allowed leave at any point during the two days following a COVID-19 vaccination — which applies to the first and second dose — and compensated fully for the time away, according to the ordinance

proposed by City Councilor Michelle Wu. “All employees of the City of Boston are eligible for this COVID-19 vaccine paid sick leave, regardless of the duration of their employment,” Wu wrote in the ordinance.

Extending paid sick leave may increase the rate of vaccinations among Boston residents, according to the ordinance.

COVID-19 vaccines can cause side effects such as headaches and fever. Granting employees paid time off may increase their likelihood to get vaccinated, according to the ordinance. nsion of paid sick leave to workers during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak increased their likelihood of receiving an influenza shot, according to a 2018 study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Nationwide, more than one-third of the civilian workforce lacks access to any form of paid sick leave, and low-income workers and workers of color are particularly likely to hold jobs that do not offer employee benefits,” the ordinance states.

This measure for paid sick leave would be necessary for fostering trust in medically disenfranchised com-

munities of color by offering accommodations for any side effects of the vaccine, according to the ordinance.

Wu said at the meeting Boston must build trust within communities about the vaccine’s safety to ensure all Bostonians are safe and healthy, which means being transparent about the side effects the vaccine may induce.

“We from the city level should be modeling what we are encouraging other employers and other parts of the community to do,” Wu said. “We should make it possible to accommodate and mitigate the burden of these side effects however possible.”

Wu added that workers can use their time away to rest and recover from any side effects in the days following a vaccination.

“We can use our voice and our example to make sure that everybody is protecting our community as quickly as possible and lifting each other up in the process,” she said.

City Councilor Julia Mejia said at the meeting Boston must start implementing rules and regulations to ensure residents’ safety and include advocates in these conversations.

“I look forward to sitting in and following alongside closely as we discuss this ordinance to see what could be done to make it even stron-

ger and more effective,” Mejia said.

Councilor Ed Flynn, who added his name in support, stressed the importance of providing medical information to immigrants to encourage them to take the vaccine.

“Many of them may not be on social media, but we have to expand our outreach to our immigrant neighbors,” Flynn said, “to make sure that we reach them with a positive message about vaccinations.”

Councilor Michael Flaherty also added his name, and said prominent hospitals and medical centers in Boston are working in partnership with the city government on vaccine rollout.

“It’s up to us to make sure that we’re looking after our elders, making sure that they get the vaccine,” Flaherty said. “Obviously, as we continue to do the rollout and the age limit drops, make sure that the word gets out there in as many different languages as possible.”

Wu’s ordinance was sent out to the Committee of Government Operations for review. All but Councilor Frank Baker — who was not present at the meeting — added their names.

Tali Robbins, policy director for Wu’s office, said the ordinance would cover the roughly 18,000 city employees, who work in different occu-

demic began, is even more important now than when it was introduced, Schutt said.

“Like many very forward-looking and economically vibrant cities, Boston is facing a real paradox of increasing demand for higher income housing, at the same time as there are decreasing opportunities for people to earn a sufficient amount to afford housing within the city,” Schutt said.

“I think that creates potential for both sharpening disparities and also tremendous unfairness.”

Boston is projected to house approximately 759,000 residents by 2030 — around a 65,000 person jump — according to the plan. Over 50,000 units of market-priced housing will be permitted by the city in that time.

Schut added that rising housing costs can force long-time residents out of their neighborhoods, despite having contributed to their economy and culture.

“That kind of paradoxical situation is exactly when you need government intervention,” he said.

Government housing plans like Boston 2030, he said, are a necessary foundation for social and economic progress.

“These kinds of standards are a floor, and not a ceiling,” Schutt said.

“They’re really essential and are tremendously important, both for creating more housing opportunities but for also symbolizing a commitment of the government to supporting all its residents.”

pations all over the city.

She added that the ordinance would not change the state’s already established vaccine priority order.

“This is just about making sure that fear or anxiety or concerns about the side effects don’t serve as a barrier to getting the vaccine,” Robbins said.

Three working days total can be taken off at workers’ discretion, allowing them to take a day off for their first injection and two following their second — when people tend to feel side effects — Robbins said.

“While this only obviously applies to city employees, we hope to serve as an example for all other employers in the city of Boston to follow that lead,” Robbins said. “And make sure that we’re making all combinations possible for workers in the city to be able to access the vaccine quickly.”

With the ordinance now out of City Council’s hands, the next step to its passage is a hearing with the Committee of Government Operations headed by Councilor Lydia Edwards, Robbins said.

Edwards added her name to the ordinance at the meeting.

“It’ll follow the same process as everything else,” Robbins said, “but we hope to move it forward as quickly as we can.”

2

NEWS

Students in some on-campus residences face stricter COVID-19 protocols this semester Anne Jonas Daily Free Press Staff Since the Fall, students living in on-campus dormitories have been expected to form “households” within their residences and establish COVID-19 residential protocols on mask-wearing and social distancing based on each other’s personal preferences.

However, some students were sent a stricter set of residential COVID-19 protocols by their resident assistants for the Spring semester than in the Fall.

Phoenix Kavadas-Pietrangelo, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences living in a brownstone on Bay State Road, said he received a Slack message from his RA last week detailing stricter mask-wearing policies than the previous semester.

“Masks must be worn whenever you are in a space that is not your assigned space,” Kavadas-Pietrangelo’s RA wrote. “Unfortunately, that includes visiting other rooms within your own household and visiting the bathroom.”

The RA added if a student is found without a mask in a shared space it would be documented as a campus mask violation.

“Eating cannot take place in the common area,” they wrote, “as it requires you to remove your mask for an extended period of time.”

Kavadas-Pietrangelo said he was not on campus last semester but questions whether all of these restrictions

are necessary.

“I feel like some of it might be a bit excessive,” he said, “in that prior to the notification coming out or the change coming out, that wasn’t happening.”

Kavadas-Pietrangelo added residents of brownstones — typically small spaces — are very likely to come into contact with each other anyway.

“It’s not that it’s unreasonable, I just feel like it might be a lot,” he said. “But I also do what needs to be done.”

According to the Back2BU website, students “must exercise careful control of how shared spaces are used and maintained, and everything from bathroom use to household cleaning to shared elevator use must be scheduled and coordinated.”

BU spokesperson Colin Riley said households are –– and have been –– managed from the students’ end, with RAs helping to facilitate the process.

“The key here really is, and I want to stress it, is using common sense, good judgment, understanding what is taking place out there and the purpose for all of these public health measures,” Riley said.

The University has not made any changes to its public health policies on a campus-wide basis, he said.

“The same mask-wearing guidance and other public health measures from the Fall still apply in the Spring semester with no additional changes,” Riley wrote in an email.

College of Communication junior Mackenzie Arnolds, a resident of a

Bay State brownstone, said her RA sent out an email reminding residents of the residential COVID-19 guidelines but they didn’t meet to discuss planning a household.

Arnolds said she thought the email reminding residents of the guidelines was “redundant” because she and people within her household have been following these measures.

“I feel like I’m a little surprised that they’re even being so explicitly instituted,” Arnolds said, “because that is just what everyone’s been doing in my brownstone.”

She cited the need for these restrictions as most likely due to the lack of oversight in the brownstones.

“I’ve never even met my RA in person, so I feel like it’s probably more difficult to legislate how people act in the dorms,” she said. “So maybe they need to more explicitly express these guidelines.”

One RA, who requested to remain anonymous, said they weren’t aware of new or stricter protocols being put in place for mask-wearing. However they added they wish better communication was prioritized among RA’s to stay in-the-know on updates to COVID-19 safety.

“I think every RA should be aware of any rules, specifically with COVID guidelines,” the RA said, “that could impact their job or their communities in any standpoint.”

RAs receive updates on COVID-19 safety during their weekly Wednesday night meetings, they said, or via email.

They cited a complicating factor

JASMINE LI | D

Boston University students in some residences were asked to follow stricter mask-wearing policies in common areas and other spaces this semester.

being that each “neighborhood” –– divided areas of campus RAs live and work in –– operates separately depending on the style of residence.

“The household COVID-planning situation is different per neighborhood,” the RA said. “We were briefed on that very heavily at the start of this academic year because it’s the core of how BU stays open.”

They said the stricter mask-wearing policies sent to students by their RAs seem as though they violate the household rule — brownstones are small enough that they can be made up of a single household.

“If they’re forced to wear masks in any common space but they’re

already a part of a household, that seems contradictory to me,” the RA said, “but also is for public safety at the same time.”

Kavadas-Pietrangelo said he believes his entire brownstone is a household because there are only eleven people and one RA living there.

The RA said they think better communication between neighborhoods is needed and necessary to help RAs and residents be on the same page.

“I think BU’s been doing a phenomenal job with the COVID safety and guidelines,” they said. “I just wish there’s a little bit more communication between neighborhoods.”

Students reflect on investments in GameStop, Dogecoin stock trends Katarzyna Jezak Daily Free Press Staff When the internet went wild for recent stock investments in companies such as GameStop, AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry, Boston University students, of course, were involved in the mix.

They took part in buying shares of these companies to profit off of the sharp rise in their stock price.

The value of GameStop, GME, rose to more than 17 times its previous value between Jan. 12 and Jan. 27, when one share reached the price of $347.51 — the price Jan. 12 had been $19.95 per share.

This rapid increase of GME’s share price, along with AMC and other companies that had not been expected to experience such growth, was sparked by discussions in the Reddit forum wallstreetbets, which has nearly 8.5 million members.

Stock prices rose so sharply that popular stock-trading company Robinhood, along with others, placed restrictions on trading, which provoked widespread controversy across the internet.

Andre Lo, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said he invested five percent of his portfolio in GME after following along with the subreddit r/stocks in January before the trend made its way into the mainstream media.

“I actually heard about the trend, I’d say, somewhere around midJanuary,” Lo said. “So that was, I think, a week before the whole thing blew up.”

He said although it is still unclear why Robinhood blocked the trades, its public relations team has not been handling the situation well.

“I don’t see a future for Robinhood

after this,” Lo said, “because they’ve basically lost the trust of everyone.”

Lo said he invested in GME Jan. 26 and exited the position Feb. 1 with a small loss, which he doesn’t regret.

He said if he had to do it again, he would consider investing earlier.

“When you realize that information about a particular stock goes into mainstream media, the news has already happened,” Lo said. “You’re basically looking at yesterday’s news.

So if you’re using that information to invest, I would say that’s a flawed strategy.”

Lo said he expects these events to be considered historically significant in the years to come.

“In financial history, in maybe 10 or 20 years, this would be a very good case study, especially Robinhood’s case,” Lo said. “I think it’ll definitely be in textbooks.”

Reed Romanko, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said people saw an opportunity to profit from the “astronomical” rates of short-selling on stocks such as GME and AMC. “I think a lot of people were like, ‘OK, this is a symptom of a much greater problem with our financial system,’” Romanko said. “We’re going to see if we can, well, make me some money.”

Fernando Zapatero, a professor of finance at the Questrom School of Business, said regardless of its intention, Robinhood placed hedge funds over the everyday investor.

While blocking trades could be justified if it was done to protect investors, this was not the case here, he said.

“They had to stop because they didn’t have money to do what they were supposed to do,” Zapatero said.

“I don’t think they did that to protect or to favor the hedge funds or the

small investors, but you can argue that at the end, this is what they did.”

Zapatero said Robinhood ideally should have been prepared to meet its

“At best, it was disingenuous marketing. At worst, market manipulation financial obligations so users could keep using the service.

“You cannot say, ‘Well the busses stopped because they didn’t have gas.’ That’s not supposed to happen,” Zapatero said. “You’re not supposed to run out of gas in the middle of the road, right?”

Geoffrey Carliner, CAS lecturer of economics, said Robinhood’s decision to freeze these stocks has been criticized by politicians from both sides of the spectrum. en [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Ted Cruz are on the same side of some political issue you have to either laugh or cry,” Carliner said.

“You have to wonder what’s going on.”

Carliner noted the power the internet has given regular people, who can now become investors in large corporations.

“It’s not that there wasn’t stock market manipulation before, but not like this,” Carliner said. “It’s got a little ironic twist that it’s the small people doing it instead of the big hedge funds.”

Questrom senior Sunny Zhao said he has been a member of the wallstreetbets community for over two years and had been following a number of online research threads for a couple of weeks before investing in GME. “It looked like, long term, GameStop had a strategy that would bring it back to its former glory, back when disc gaming was really big,” Zhao said.

He cited this as a reason he saw potential in the stock and invested before the media frenzy started by Reddit users.

“I was looking at it, and it seemed like in the long term, games would be a good choice to invest in,” Zhao said, “I did not expect the kind of hype that ended up occurring last week.”

As a Robinhood user, Zhao said its restrictions on trading came as a shock to him.

“I was initially very, very angry,” Zhao said. “At best, it was disingenuous marketing. At worst, market manipulation.”

He said he thinks Robinhood’s blocking of the trades is ultimately justified because the corporation faced the possibility of running out of money and declaring bankruptcy.

“I think the brokerages themselves did what they had to do, I guess, to stay afloat,” Zhao said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily very fair or unfair, I think it’s just a result of their business model.”

Zhao said he has seen an increased interest in the stock market from other students recently, even those who are not business majors.

“I think more and more people, especially our age, are going to be more interested to see what the stock market does,” Zhao said, “especially since we have easy access to information that we could use for

trading.”

Anthony Dongfack, a 2020 CAS alum, invested $24 in Dogecoin — a cryptocurrency based on the “Doge” meme — Jan. 2. Dongfack made this decision after consulting a Facebook group dedicated to investing for beginners.

“Around the time that the Robinhood craziness and GameStop and AMC and all that was going crazy,” Dongfack said, “Dogecoin was also increasing at a crazy rate.”

Dongfack said his investment had risen to a value of $160 before he decided to sell with an approximately 500 percent return. He said he used Robinhood to trade, and cited its trade restrictions were enforcing class distinctions.

“It was a big eye opener for a lot of us, especially retail investors and really any average investor that’s not some wealthy one-percent person or some hedge fund member,” Dongfack said. “It made us realize that someone like me is not who they’re looking to appease or really help out.”

Dongfack said Robinhood’s decision to block trades is incompatible with its business philosophy, which aims to make investing accessible with fractional shares.

“If the wealthy people are losing, they’re going to have to get the money from somewhere,” he said. “They restricted our trade, they restricted our buys, and the people that are on the lower end of socioeconomic status, as opposed to the higher end, take the fall for that.”

Dongfack noted the irony in Robinhood’s name, given these events.

“If you think about the fairy tale, if Robin Hood didn’t have rich people to rob, who would Robin Hood rob?”

Dongfack said. “And we found out.”

FEATURES 3

ARTS Activists talk origins of women’s movement in ’70s Boston after doc screening Molly Farrar Daily Free Press Staff

While the United States sees continued economic turmoil due to the pandemic, the Bright Lights Film Series at Emerson College adopted a poignant theme for its 12 films throughout the spring semester: “economic justice.”

Anna Feder, the director of Emerson’s Visual and Media Arts Department and the curator and manager of the free and public Bright Lights Film Series, said this year’s theme is exceedingly relevant. “[It] is perfect for where we are right now,” Feder said, “talking about the importance of labor unions, talking about a national $15 minimum wage, talking about meaningful financial support for folks who are struggling because of COVID right now.”

This week’s film, “9to5: The Story of a Movement,” focused on the origins of Boston’s women’s movement in the early ’70s.

The 2020 documentary — directed by Oscar-winning duo Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar — was screened Wednesday and Thursday, Feder said, but the discussion was special to Thursday’s viewing.

The screening was presented in partnership with PBS Independent Lens. The film will be available

on PBS and PBS Video App after Feb. 1.

The film highlighted the 9to5 movement in Boston — where secretaries from across the city protested against unfair wages, sexual harassment and inequalities in the workplace.

Though the protest was the start of a national movement, it is largely forgotten in history.

“It’s about a very specific sort of section of the women’s movement, a particular labor thread to the women’s movement,” Feder said. “They were a huge force and realized their power through organizing.”

Following the screening, which was available on the platform OVEE, two activists featured in the film participated in a discussion via Zoom.

Prior to the pandemic, the film series would show 22 films per semester in the Paramount Center, with a live discussion right in the theater, Feder said. While the pandemic has made those interactions difficult, Feder said the virtual model has allowed the screenings to be more accessible to the public.

The question and answer session featured Ellen Cassedy of the 9to5 Boston chapter, who has since become a writer, and Mary Jung of the Cleveland chapter, who has gotten involved in politics.

For Cassedy, the film was a step back in time.

“We made history, and it was

HANNAH YOSHINAGA | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

“9to5: The Story of a Movement,” a documentary focused on women’s activism in the 1970s, screened Wednesday and Thursday in Emerson College’s Bright Lights Film Series.

such a thrill to watch, so many great, fearless, fierce women on the screen,” she said during the discussion. “The filmmakers got it all right. I don’t have anything that I would change.

Cassedy said the film captured the heart of what it means to be an organizer and an activist.

“They brought out that organizing is a craft that requires vision,” she said, “but also incredible attention to detail and attention to each person, who is each person, what are her strengths, what can she do, how can she be a leader.”

Cassedy also talked about the importance of creating a space for a cause if it doesn’t fit the existing movements, just as the movie

discusses.

“You look at the labor movement and you think ‘it doesn’t really quite fit what I’m looking for,’” she said, “Well, we felt that way and we created a woman-led union that really showed the way for other creative efforts in the labor movement.”

Cassedy and Jung both said unions are important because they better the workplace — from improved wages to more ideal experiences overall — because they hold bosses accountable.

Jung said she hopes people who watch the documentary learn that movements like 9to5 do not happen because of individuals, but because of many coming together.

“People need to understand that there is collective power,” Jung said. “All of us working together will go a lot further than going alone.”

Jung said she hopes the film empowers people to know they too can create change.

“Don’t give up,” Jung said.

“Because if you have a goal, or if you see something that’s wrong, you can actually do something about it.”

Feder, who said she is one of the organizers of SEIU staff union for Emerson, said this film not only speaks to gender equality, but also the current calls for economic justice because of COVID-19.

“It’s seeing how far we’ve come, what these women helped us to gain,” Feder said, “but how much further we have to go.”

Bright Lights strives to ensure at least 50 percent of the films selected are directed by women. The screening series also intentionally seeks to highlight queer films, films made by people of color and films representing disability.

Grace Rietta, a sophomore in Boston University’s College of Communication, said female representation in film-making is really important to her and is something she has been noticing more.

“It feels like a really good time to be a woman in film,” Rietta said, “and I think it took about damn time.”

‘The Dig’ is captivating, beautiful exploration of past Connor Allen Daily Free Press Staff Combining the directorial skills of Simon Stone, the screenplay adaptation by Moira Buffini and the cinematography of Mike Eley, “The Dig” portrays a dynamic, true story intertwining themes of history and modern existential longing with dramatic scenes

concerning life, death, love and family.

The Netflix film, released Jan. 29, is an adaptation of John Preston’s 2007 novel of the same name and is based on a true story. Taking place in the rustic countryside of Suffolk, England on the eve of World War II, self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown, played by Ralph Fiennes, embarks on a dig to uncover what’s believed to be ancient

Anglo-Saxon ruins potentially dating as far back as the Vikings — or further.

The site lies on the vast estate owned by Edith Pretty, played by 2013’s “The Great Gatsby” star Carey Mulligan.

Pretty is a widow left with one son and a dream to dig up three large, grassy, hill-like mounds located in the fields. Though the archaeologist is unconvinced there’s anything significant to be

HANNAH YOSHINAGA | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Simon Stone’s “The Dig” depicts a team of archaeologists who conduct an excavation on the property of a widow and her son in 1939.

Simon Stone’s “The Dig” depicts a team of archaeologists who conduct an excavation on the property of a widow and her son in 1939. ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH YOSHINAGA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

found, attempted grave robberies have convinced Pretty there’s something extremely valuable hidden within.

Brown, a local archaeologist with the Ipswich Museum, leads the Sutton Hoo excavation, with Peggy Piggott, played by Lily James. He’s portrayed as a modest working man with vast knowledge of the land. His soil expertise is what leads Pretty to hire him in the first place.

Given the politics of the time period, the dig site is seen as an area of national interest as Britain was preparing to protect the country’s ancient ruins from German air raids.

The story shifts toward a more intimate focus, concerned with family and belonging, when Pretty’s young son Robert, played by Archie Barnes, grows increasingly fond of Brown. The two are portrayed almost as father and son, bringing the narrative closer to one of community rather than national glory.

“The Dig” captures a unique perspective of existentialism, with the story taking place during Britain’s mobilization before wartime. It keeps audiences reflecting on the significance of human legacy, wondering what will be left of us after we are gone.

As the characters on screen are forced to come to terms with their own mortality in an age of destruction and uncertainty, we get a better understanding of

the significance of these ancient runes that are still standing — a testament of humanity’s longevity.

Aside from matters of historical and ancestral significance, “The Dig” is a nod to the struggles that affect ordinary people of today, with overtones of love, lust and heartbreak.

What keeps viewers satisfied throughout the film is the unchanging and breathtaking scenery of the Suffolk countryside.

Eley yields cinematographic mastery by capturing the lush wheat fields of eastern England, combined with enticing pan shots of the site to emphasize how massive this project is, yet also how seemingly small of a role it plays in the full history of the nation.

Stone keeps audiences holding their breaths by turning a story of national history into a heartfelt drama that so accurately touches on struggles that afflict people of all backgrounds.

It’s worth mentioning the film has received some criticism for sexist portrayal of characters, for ageism — despite the whimsical setting — and for fictionalizing some of the truth.

Be that as it may, it was worth the watch.

At surface level, “The Dig” seems like a story of historical drama, but it takes audiences into deep-cutting, emotionally luring instances of love, loss, triumph and human connection.

4 FEATURES

BUSINESS Work-study persists despite pandemic Yiran Yu Daily Free Press Staff Boston University’s work-study program has continued throughout the pandemic, but not without adjustments.

Students can work remotely or on a hybrid model that allows them to come in person based on department needs and their personal comfort, said April Hoyt, the manager of student employment at BU. “I would say the pandemic has had a few different effects on student employment,” Hoyt said. “There were definitely some students that had to find new positions.”

Hoyt said some students were able to switch to remote work, while others were able to start working in new jobs necessitated by the pandemic.

Hoyt said some students’ need for a job has increased due to the pandemic because of COVID-related economic constraints.

“Some students, their need for employment has really intensified,” Hoyt said. “Sometimes they’re communicating that this is because they no longer have financial support from maybe a parent or guardian who lost their job because of the pandemic.”

For students who are working in person, Hoyt said SEO has been following University COVID-19 protocols and guidelines.

“Anything that the University establishes as best practice for keeping people safe,” she said, “whether they’re working or learning, is what we would recommend for student employees and supervisors of student employees to follow as well.”

Hoyt said even if a student is learning fully remotely in the United States, they can still use their workstudy award to find a job that works with their class schedule.

Mira Elzanaty, a junior in the College of Communication, said she is

currently working on a research project and would do work-study if she was offered it again next year.

“I need to get paid, and my experience hasn’t been so bad that I don’t want to do it anymore,” she said.

Allyson Imbacuan, a sophomore

in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been an English as a Second Language tutor with the Intergenerational Literacy Program since September.

Imbacuan said she appreciated the increased flexibility of her remote work-study job.

HANNAH YOSHINAGA | DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University’s Student Employment Office. SEO offered remote jobs and created new positions this year, but some students still feel work-study job availability has decreased.

“My entire work study experience has been completely through Zoom,” she said, “which I actually … liked.”

Imbacuan said the flexibility of the online experience was nice, though she wasn’t able to get to know the learners as well as she’d like to.

She said the pandemic may have impacted the number of students who decided to do work study.

“I feel like after so many months of being at home … we kind of had this feeling of helplessness,” Imbacuan said. “We all wanted to just get our hands doing something or just feel like we’re contributing to society in some way again.”

Imbacuan said she enjoys offering English education to new immigrants because her mother — who immigrated from Colombia — was in a similar program that she benefited from.

“I just marvel at the fact that I’m able to do this now,” she said. “I never thought I would get to the point where I would literally be doing the work that people helped my mom with.”

However, she said she hopes to have more in-person interaction in the future.

“I’m really hoping that one day, I can actually be in the classroom and be teaching them in person and get to know them a lot better,” Imbacuan said.

Hoyt added that SEO is a resource for students — the office can be contacted by phone or email, and job updates are posted on the Student Link.

“If people are looking for work, we are here to help,” she said. “We’re still making every effort we can to help connect students with employment.”

SCIENCE

BU student EMTs reflect on pandemic, voice hopes for the future

Boston University students who volunteer as emergency medical technicians recounted the realities of the pandemic they have observed from the frontline.

Madeline Humphrey Daily Free Press Staff The coronavirus outbreak began just over a year ago.

First responders and health care workers have worked tirelessly since, facing intense stress and safety risks as a result.

Now, Boston University students are involved in the continued efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

BU students who volunteer as Massachusetts emergency medical technicians — EMTs — reflected on the pandemic’s impact on their work and what they hope improves.

Mikey Anchan, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, works

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as an EMT for the Sherborn Fire Department and the Brewster Ambulance Service. His work includes responding to 911 emergency calls and all EMT responsibilities and duties.

This spring, he also joined the Medical Reserve Corps, a national volunteer group of health care responders who he said helps with “disaster” situations.

Anchan said there was a large shortage of personal protective equipment at hospitals when the pandemic began.

“The nature of the pandemic has changed in the sense that at the beginning of the pandemic, we had a massive PPE shortage,” Anchan said, “to where I actually purchased my own mask as a reusable P100 respirator just for my own personal safety.”

Now, every time Anchan leaves the station, he is fully covered —

decked in gloves, an N95 mask or a respirator, eye protection and a gown. If a call could be a COVID-19 concern, he wears a Tyvek suit or a gown for added protection.

Anchan said he has also seen an “emotional toll” on patients, who now travel alone in ambulances unless they need a health care proxy or are a child.

“The nature of pre-hospital care and the nature of hospital care has completely transformed,” Anchan said. “Now, patients travel alone.”

Faris Rustom, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is an EMT for Armstrong Ambulance Service, Inc. Like Anchan, he said there have been some extra precautions put into measure for the EMTs regarding personal equipment.

“It’s a lot more focused on the PPE … and on staying healthy and just being very careful with all sorts of patient contact,” Rustom said.

Every unknown is treated as the worst-case scenario, he said.

“Before the pandemic, we wouldn’t take the same full precautions that we take now on unknown cases,” he said, “whereas now if we arrive on scene responding to an emergency where there’s no indication that the patient is COVID-positive, we’re still going to take the time to fully gown-up and put on N95s.”

Rustom said he has not noticed many student volunteers in hospitals at the moment, as it appears that medical buildings

are restricting who they allow into their facilities.

“Certainly now, I definitely don’t notice anyone who’s not hospital staff,” he said. “They have very strict rules about who’s allowed on the floors and the emergency department.”

This difference in patient care was also observed by Stanley Wojtas, a CAS senior on the premed track.

Wojtas, who has worked at BU Emergency Medical Services for nearly two years as an EMT and more recently as a field training officer, wrote in an email his interactions with the patients have been “drastically different.”

He wrote that as an EMT, he has been providing care to both regular patients and “dozens” of people who have either tested positive for COVID-19 or might have it. To Wojtas, however, this has meant adopting an additional skill: learning how to comfort strangers with a face mask on.

“As someone who values establishing meaningful and effective connections and communication with patients,” Wojtas wrote, “I have learned to comfort patients and loved ones with only my eyes and words, my smile hidden behind a mask.”

In terms of the vaccine rollout, which began in December for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, these EMT volunteers said they are looking forward to helping their community get vaccinated.

“I am excited to say that I plan on vaccinating people with the COVID-19 vaccines within

the next several weeks,” Wojtas wrote, “and am eager to further my role as a frontline healthcare worker and to support our overcoming of this pandemic.”

Anchan said he too is already trained to vaccinate people when the time comes, and the state’s Department of Public Health has allowed emergency medical service providers, EMT basics, advanced EMTs and medics to assist in the rollout.

“We’re already allowed to give certain medications with vials and needles called ‘Check and Inject,’” Anchan said, “so we actually don’t need any additional training for vaccine administration.”

Anchan said his experience as an EMT was eye-opening and has shown him the inequities that lie in the U.S. health care system.

“For generations, we’ve deprived people of quality health care and food, and now we’re kind of paying for it,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s the same communities that have to pay for it.”

Anchan said the country should step back and realize the system is not only unhealthy, but also unequal. Nevertheless, he said he hopes medicine and our care for one another will improve after the pandemic.

“This is a tragedy beyond the inconveniences that we may experience in everyday life,” Anchan said. “This is a colossal tragedy of the American health care system and of the American people.”

FEATURES 5

COMMUNITY BU International students discuss personal identity in the US Rachel Do Daily Free Press Staff

A multicultural background allows many students to view the world through a range of different lenses. But, while the United States prides itself on its cultural “melting pot,” some international students at Boston University said they can still feel as if they don’t belong.

Ellie Hu, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Communication, is an international student from China.

Hu said she has studied English since kindergarten and went to an international high school. “[At] the international school,” Hu said, “we put English as our priority.”

However, she said she often feels lost and unfamiliar with some aspects of American culture — aspects that seem to mark her as an outsider.

“Sometimes in the class, because of some cultural differences, I can’t really get what the professor is saying,” Hu said. “Maybe he or she is saying some joke but you can’t get it because you’re not born in America, and you’re not used to that kind of culture so you can have a kind of embarrassed feeling.”

Hu chose to go by “Ellie,” a mainstream

American name, in her classes and in daily life at BU. Her birth name is Xiaoyun, but she wanted to avoid the difficulty Americans may experience in properly pronouncing or spelling her name.

“They are both names,” she said, “but they can’t understand, ‘what does Xiaoyun mean?’”

Hu said she felt her Chinese name makes other people feel distanced from her. Adopting an American name made relationships easier, she said.

“If I’m still using my Chinese name in the U.S., I think some people can’t even spell my name accurately, and they will feel a difference between you and me, and I don’t want people to have that feeling,” she said. “I want to use an English name so they can spell it, they can read it and they know ‘Okay, you are Ellie.’”

However, despite her efforts to integrate into the American community at BU, Hu said “it’s not even a question” of whether stereotypes exist.

“Stereotypes are always there,” Hu said.

“Even though people don’t say it, they will show it.”

Shaurya Sinha, a recent alumnus of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said his personal identity integrates several different cultures.

“In all meanings of the word, I am a third-culture kid,” he said, “which basically

means someone who has been raised in a lot of different cultures, who doesn’t necessarily relate to a specific one.”

Sinha, who was born in India, has moved around many times in his life, and said he has adopted different strategies to make each transition easier.

“My personal identity is scattered over many different cultures I feel,” Sinha said. “I’ve developed coping mechanisms to integrate really well, one of those mechanisms being my name.”

Sinha said he introduces himself differently depending on his environment and the people who are around him the most — and who will actually remember it.

“If it’s going to be people whose cultures have normally extravagant names, I’ll give them my full name because I have a feeling that they’ll remember it because they have experience with it,” he said, “But in general, I felt a lot of Western cultures don’t, and I’ve had to shorten it down to one or two syllables.”

Sinha said he does encounter race-related prejudice in his daily life, but people will often make assumptions based on his ethnic identity, which contorts their perception of who he really is.

“I get a lot of the positive stereotypes as well like, ‘oh, this guy’s smart, oh this guy knows computers,’ but it’s not all of who I am,” he

said. “It’s something I’ve had to fight against.”

Sinha said he sometimes dresses differently and tells people he’s from Singapore, instead of India, as a way to combat some of these beliefs.

Andy Chang, a senior in CAS and the Questrom School of Business, said he was born in America, but has moved to different countries several times throughout his childhood. He said adjusting to other customs and lifestyles at times made him feel “isolated culturally.”

“Especially when I moved back to the U.S. for high school, I grew as a person, more consciousness and perspective,” Chang said, “and I realized that there is an isolation type of feeling when I came back.”

For Chang, he said he doesn’t feel as though he fits into American culture, but he doesn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing.

“I feel like trying to integrate within the cultures, not trying to fit yourself in, it’s more about learning about the culture,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I fit in in American culture, but I learn about it, I experienced it… [but] I don’t feel like I need to fit in.”

Sinha said as far as eradicating stereotypes, he encourages people to educate themselves and commit to being better.

“Westerners, in specific, need to take a proactive effort to educate themselves through experience,” he said. “I think reading about this kind of stuff is not enough.”

EDITORIAL Staying ‘objective’ can set harmfully strict standards for journalists, but we must remain steadfast in integrity As journalists, we are on the frontline of news and information. Every newsroom abides by an ethical code, and every journalist by their own professional integrity. These are the core values of journalism: to tell the truth, remain objective and avoid conflicts of interest.

Following these codes means we must remain neutral even beyond the newsroom — in our public, private and online lives. News staff are allowed to have personal opinions, but not to post them, and certainly not to wear them across our chest.

Some journalists even abstain from voting to avoid potential controversy and criticism over their publication’s political diversity. But, these standards we are held to are oftentimes too extreme.

Having journalists stay politically neutral doesn’t necessarily lead to unbiased reporting.

There is no way to be perfectly neutral, because neutrality implies having no opinion at all.

Everyone has implicit biases that influence the way they write, the people they interview, the wording they choose, the context they provide and the structure they present.

Bias seeps into everything we do, conscious or unconscious. It might be better, then, to own our opinions and emotions and commit to transparency.

It’s our responsibility to cover news impartially, but our training and experience allows us to do so regardless of our nonprofessional lives. As long as reporters pledge themselves to objectivity, informing readership about unintentional biases that may color their stories provides a necessary context.

Of course, it doesn’t mean journalists should flaunt their political beliefs by hate-tweeting at politicians or outwardly advocating for a political candidate. Rather than pretending we are infallible pillars of neutrality, we could simply take further responsibility for our work.

It’s the same type of transparency editorials lend to readers.

An important distinction is that editorials and opinion columns are thoroughly researched and fact-checked. But it still feels like a double standard — opinionists are allowed to report news while sharing their opinion openly and fully on a public platform.

If we trust columnists to be objective journalists, why can’t regular reporters afford a little wiggle room?

Furthermore, there are some issues journalists should be able to speak up on. Just as it’s our right as citizens to protest and vote, we should also be able to stand up for basic human rights issues that personally affect us and those

we care about.

But too many topics that are not inherently political have become politicized in today’s society. The Black Lives Matter movement and its protests over the summer should have existed outside the realm of politics. People, especially journalists of color, should have been able to express their outrage and support.

In reality, though, even a stray like on Twitter, a donation to a charity or a signature on a petition could have a journalist fired from their job mid-pandemic.

Unfortunately, advocating for issues such as racial justice may provoke further antagonism toward and distrust of journalists.

In the United States, public distrust of the news media has always run rampant, and 60 percent of survey respondents in a 2020 Gallup poll indicated distrust in mass media. And former President Donald Trump engendering public skepticism of the news certainly did not help matters.

So where can we draw the line in determining what reporters can do in public?

As social media reliance grows, human rights issues become political and differences in values separate generations of journalists, the definition of “preserving integrity” is getting progressively murkier.

However, while prominent outlets such as The New York Times or The Washington Post continue to uphold strict nonpartisan policies for its staff, there won’t be a widespread movement to abolish or even lessen the severity of these rules. As long as our society remains highly polarized and politicized, it is unlikely any public editorialization of social issues — beyond writing an editorial such as this — will be acceptable.

It’s a journalist’s duty to be unbiased. We represent our publications and their credibility, and we need to take that commitment seriously.

For those who are caught between allyship and journalism, you should remember you have the unique power and opportunity to educate the public in a fair way. We can cover stories about issues we care about, feature underrepresented voices and, most importantly, show people the truth.

After all, that’s what journalism is about.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIA NIZHNY

EDITORIAL BOARD Colbi Edmonds, Editor-in-Chief Nick Kolev, Campus Editor Charles Moore, Sports Editor Hannah Yoshinaga, Photo Editor

Cameron Morsberger, Managing Editor Daniel Kool, City Editor Alexia Nizhny, Layout & Graphics Editor Emma Sanchez, Blog Editor

Abbigale Shi, Opinion Editor Jackson Machesky, Podcast Editor Lily Kepner, Features Editor GRAPHIC BYEditor ALEXIA NIZHNY Andrew Hardwood, Multimedia

OPINION 6

COLUMNS Minority Report:

In defense of Joe Manchin

Lincoln Currie Columnist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., is one of the last bipartisan figures in an increasingly polarized Congress.

Breaking with Democrats is part of Manchin’s brand. So much so he boasts on his website, “Since 2011, no Democrat currently serving in the Senate has split with the party more often.”

An ad from Manchin’s 2010 U.S. Senate race is likely to give radicals in the Democratic Party a heart attack. In it, he touts a National Rifle Association endorsement, recalls when he sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and fires a gun at a copy of a cap-and-trade bill.

Manchin also voted to confirm former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, supported the Keystone XL pipeline and is a vocal opponent of Medicare for All. So, what should Democrats make of Manchin? Is he basically a Republican?

A record of bipartisanship does not make Manchin a turncoat. If Democrats are to be a

party with a broad coalition large enough to effect significant change, it must welcome figures such as Manchin.

Welcoming Manchin into the party does not mean every Democrat must agree with his position on the environment or the Second Amendment. Welcoming Manchin means understanding that we live in a representative democracy, and as a result, Manchin won’t vote the same as a senator from California.

Trump carried over two-thirds of the vote in West Virginia in the 2020 presidential election. Is it fair to expect a West Virginia senator to support Medicare for All if his constituents don’t?

The easiest tactic in politics is to play armchair quarterback from a safe seat. Something tells me a moderate is the best Democrats can do in West Virginia — Democrats should be grateful Manchin is so good at winning elections there.

But, when a senator often votes with the opposing party, it can overshadow all the times they stood with their own.

Obamacare likely would have been repealed in 2017 had a Republican been in Manchin’s seat. Manchin voted against the 2017 Republican tax bill, voted against former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ cabinet confirmations and voted to convict Donald Trump in the 2020 impeachment trial.

Despite what he has done for his party, many Democrats don’t appreciate or support Manchin. His eagerness to work with Republicans is a point of contention and concern. After all, why is he working with the other team?

With a 50-50 split in the Senate, bipartisanship is going to have to be the way going forward. The filibuster looks like it is here to stay

for now, and Democrats must adjust accordingly.

Being open to bipartisanship does not mean Democrats must cave to every Republican’s demand. It simply means recognizing the glass is half full. Expecting strict party discipline is not realistic for moderate Democratic senators who live in states that lean Republican.

Compromise — not rigid ideological politics — is how these senators win elections.

Sadly, compromise and bipartisanship have become dirty words in American politics. Some would rather see someone on their side “own” the opposition on Twitter or a cable news show than work with a legislator from the opposing party to pass a law, which is a congressperson’s primary job.

If Democrats want to enact meaningful change, they must build coalitions and remain in power by winning elections in various places, not just the comfortably blue coasts. This point becomes abundantly clear in the Senate, where each state gets two representatives, regardless of pop-

ulation.

Rarely does a party control a sizable-enough majority to ignore the other side completely while also passing significant legislation. A 5050 split — or a 51-50 majority including Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote — is certainly not enough to bulldoze Republicans.

Therefore, winning in West Virginia means supporting a man who likes coal and the NRA. That is the cost of holding the majority necessary to pass legislation and avoid Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s obstructionism.

Instead of railing against Joe Manchin’s evil compromises, the left should thank him for delivering a coalition that can imperfectly govern.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIA NIZHNY

Gaming the System:

Gacha games represent another loss during the pandemic

Nick Speranza Columnist

GRAPHIC BY ALEXIA NIZHNY

In the past decade, a new genre of mobile games has exploded in Japan and the world at large: the “gacha” game. Named for real-life gachapon — coin-operated machines that dispense random capsule toys — gacha games are free to play and make money by allowing the player to roll for random in-game valuables.

Users typically get some free spins on the roulette, but the monetization model is simple: If players want the best prizes, they will have to pay real money for more tries.

This may not sound very profitable on paper, but that model underestimates the spending power of a dedicated subgroup of the gacha playerbase. Most players spend some money on spins, but retain a level of control.

It is a dedicated few who are so addicted they keep the whole enterprise afloat. Look no further than one man who spent an estimated $70,000 on gacha juggernaut “Fate/Grand Order,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Make no mistake: This is exactly as cruel as it sounds.

One form of gacha was even outlawed by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency

in 2012 for being too misleading about probability.

The odds of winning the best characters are slim, and most gacha games use characters from beloved video games or anime series to ensure fans will gamble for them. The aforementioned Fate franchise even includes a character named Gudako — a gambling addict who parodies its own user base.

By using examples such as Gudako and the fan-favorite phrase “gacha hell,” we can dismiss the argument that the buyer is to blame. The players know exactly what is going on and that it’s not healthy, but they keep going anyway.

Developers drain them of every last cent — or yen, as is often the case — and it’s often impossible to escape.

However, Fate is more than five years old at this point, which is practically an eternity in video game years. What does the future of gacha look like? For that, perhaps we should look to “Genshin Impact,” which released Sept. 28 of last year for mobile, PC and PS4 platforms to overwhelming success.

The platforms are an important distinction — most gacha games on the market are mobile-only, with repetitive 2D combat and barely animated cutscenes. Genshin — to its credit — is a vast, open-world action game, but it still uses the dangerous gacha monetization model.

In fact, one Genshin player reportedly spent $2,000 dollars in search of one character and immediately regretted it, according to an article in Polygon.

This new game sets a uniquely terrifying precedent. Gacha predecessors such as Fate are nakedly honest about the bottom line — with simple gameplay,

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIA NIZHNY

there’s no pretense. They seem to taunt, “This is a shameless cash grab, so what?”

But Genshin offers lovingly crafted visuals and engaging gameplay. It also creates new characters rather than licensing them from an existing franchise. There’s something more sinister about making a fleshed-out console role-playing game and profaning it with gacha bloodsucking regardless.

Not that you can blame them. Genshin cost game developer miHoYo $100 million to produce, according to the South China Morning Post. Getting a moneyed portion of the playerbase addicted to gambling is a highly effective way to recoup such a loss — and the game did just that within two weeks of its release.

But these financial tactics also demonstrate how nothing is sacred. I don’t even play Genshin, and it still stings to see people online — some of them my friends — spend so much money gambling on pixels.

In that sense, the game acts as a constant little reminder of suffering. Whenever I see someone post about the cool new anime character they won in Genshin, I know they probably blew way too much of their disposable income — and they’re one of the lucky ones.

“Genshin Impact” is the perfect game for a global pandemic for all the wrong reasons. It doesn’t speak to or remedy our devastating isolation — instead, it mirrors the background of grief brought by COVID-19.

At Boston University, 125 students currently live in isolation, sick and alone. Almost everyone has lost a loved one to the virus or knows someone who has. The death toll of nearly 450,000 people in the United States is incomprehensible.

Our real world is too much to bear, so we escape into the fantasy world of Teyvat — in which the “Genshin Impact” game takes place — where the underlying pain comes from loss of money, not lives.