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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE XXI
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CSREA panelists on former incarceration, justice Talk launches Mass Incarceration Lab project run by Prof. Gonzalez Van Cleve BY KATE DARIO SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America hosted a panel, entitled “Mass Incarceration is a Feminist Struggle: Voices of Formerly Incarcerated Women,” to discuss the intersections of feminism, mass incarceration and prison abolition Thursday. The event launched the Mass Incarceration Lab, an archive led by Associate Professor of Sociology Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve that preserves oral histories and written testimonies of Americans affected by the criminal justice system. All three panelists were formerly incarcerated women who now organize against mass incarceration and advocate for the rights of incarcerated individuals. Esteem Brumfield GS, a current master’s of public health student at the University, facilitated the discus-
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
U. students volunteer as interpreters
sion. The group focused on issues that incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women face, like accessing reproductive healthcare, educational opportunities and facing gender-based violence. “It’s important to note that 86% of women in jails are survivors of sexual violence and 77 percent are survivors of intimate partner violence,” said Aminah Elster, a campaign and policy coordinator at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. She added that prisons perpetuate this cycle of violence through insufficient medical care, child separation and harsh punishments. Daniela Medina, a 2021 master’s of social work graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and co-founder and host of the Berkeley Underground Scholars podcast, echoed Elster’s description of the lackluster healthcare provided within prisons. After she was released from Valley State Prison in California, she said, she has had to spend around $10,000 on dental work due to inadequate care during her prison term. The panelists agreed that solidarity
SEE JUSTICE PAGE 7
Native Spanish speakers bring language, cultural background to RI BY JACK WALKER AND BEN POLLARD SECTION EDITORS The state of Rhode Island has long been regarded as an immigrant hub, with immigrants making up one in eight Rhode Island residents. But, despite this diversity, cultural and linguistic barriers for immigrant residents of Providence — such as access to personnel in medical spaces that speak their native language — minimize access to equitable and culturally competent healthcare. Providence’s undocumented residents, many of whom are Hispanic, face even greater obstacles to securing health insurance, making financially accessible healthcare all the more vital. Stepping away from their homes on College Hill, many Brown students have sought to rectify some of these inequalities, volunteering and
UNIVERSITY NEWS
GSC works to provide fresh produce Produce distributed weekly to support graduate students to alleviate food insecurity
ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD
Spanish-speaking students work to connect with and give back to the Providence community by volunteeering at local clinics working with local organizations to support these communities by working as interpreters in medical spaces. For Brown students who are Spanish heritage speakers, the ability to support the city’s Spanish-speaking community and immigrant populations has proven to be an impactful
Prov. community discusses spending $166m ARP funds
BY OLIVER KNEEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Since fall 2020, the Graduate Student Council has provided free local produce to graduate students on a weekly basis in an effort to address food insecurity in Brown’s graduate student community. Initially, the effort began as a collaboration with the Brown Market Shares Program, “a student-run, campus-based food distribution program connecting the College Hill community with regional producers,” according to the BMSP website. With BMSP, the GSC utilized local food subscription service Produce in the Park to offer students sustainable and local produce each week, GSC President Kathryn Thompson GS told The Herald. When public health restrictions announced by the University in spring 2021 halted BMSP’s operations, GSC
Direct Action for Rights and Equality hosted a conversation Thursday night between Providence residents and members of the Providence COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Task Force focused on how to effectively use the city’s American Rescue Plan funds to respond to post-pandemic issues. DARE chairperson Monika Huertas moderated comments and suggestions made by members of the audience to
ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD
SEE PRODUCE PAGE 3
Arts & Culture
Sports
Commentary
Fresh music picks for fall season set back-to-school soundtrack. Page 2
Kate Sheire ’24 recognized as Ivy League Player of the Week after historic win. Page 3
Editorial Page Board: Students deserve shorter lines and better food from dining. Page 6
SEE SPANISH PAGE 2
METRO
DARE, Providence COVID Recovery Task Force discuss pandemic response
BY CALEB LAZAR SENIOR STAFF WRITER
way to make change. In recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month, The Herald spoke with members of the student body who are using their linguistic and cultural backgrounds to support the Providence communi-
task force members Oscar Mejias, Sabrina Chaudhary and Paige Clausius-Parks. The night’s conversation focused largely on improving access to affordable housing but addressed other topics including job creation and investing in youth. The discussion occurred six months after President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill that allocated
federal funds to states, territories and local governments. This act provided Providence with $166 million, some of which has already been spent in a city ordinance aimed at addressing homelessness. The objective of the meeting was to discuss how the funding could best be spent to alleviate the negative impacts of the pandemic on Providence, according to a DARE Instagram post, in which the organization also urged its followers to attend and “make (their) voice heard.” This was the last of a series of meetings that the task force organized in order to solicit feedback from Providence residents. While Mejias acknowledged that it is ultimately the City Council’s decision on how the funds will be used, he assured the audience that the task force was interested in compiling as many ideas as possible. “Every opinion counts,” he said. Leroy Belona, an audience member, voiced his concern about the homelessness resulting from economic turmoil following the pandemic. “If you don’t have a roof over your head, you’re in big trouble,” he said.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
Searching for spaces to leave an impact Melanie Morales Aquino ’23 MPH ’24, an interpreter for Clínica Esperanza and Rhode Island Free Clinic, knew she wanted to do Spanish language translation work in the Providence community before arriving on campus. Clínica Esperanza “provides linguistically-appropriate, culturally-attuned medical care to uninsured adults living in Rhode Island,” serving more than 10,000 patients since 2010, 80 percent of whom are Spanish speaking, according to the clinic’s website. Similarly, Rhode Island Free Clinic provides “comprehensive healthcare to low-income uninsured adults” across the state, supporting those “who are below 200 percent of the federal poverty level,” according to the clinic’s website. As the child of immigrants from Guatemala whose first language is Spanish, Morales Aquino’s parents often had difficulty understanding English-speaking doctors. For Morales Aquino, acting as an interpreter for her parents when they went to the hospital from an early age taught her the importance of providing Spanish-language information to patients who struggle to understand medical advice in English. Though Zephelline Villalobos ’23 grew up in a Mexican-American household, she did not know Spanish as a child. Instead, Villalobos picked up bits and pieces of the language from her family
she began to seek out opportunities to use her skills to support Spanish speakers in Providence, serving “undocumented, uninsured, primarily Hispanic individuals” at Clínica Esperanza by helping with patient intake and interpreting for doctors, she noted. With the onset of the pandemic, Villalobos began to look for other ways to support the community, too, taking on a virtual COVID-19 screening and information providing position at Contra COVID, a nationwide organization that works to ensure “Latino and immigrant individuals have the information they need to protect themselves and their families,” according to the organization’s website. Coming to Brown from her home in Puerto Rico, Adriana Báez Berríos ’22 also knew that she wanted to support local Spanish-speaking communities by applying the linguistic knowledge she had garnered over a lifetime of speaking Spanish at home to help city populations. “I searched for places where I could perhaps put my language skills to use” upon arriving at College Hill, she said. Báez Berríos ultimately found the same two clinics as Morales Aquino — Clínica Esperanza and Rhode Island Free Clinic. She noted that, upon reaching out, the organizations emphasized their need for Spanish speakers, “because there’s not a lot of Spanish interpreters” available to them. “We are always looking for interpreters,” Morgan Leonard, Director of Clinic Operations for Clínica Esperanza, said, noting that they are most in need of Spanish language volunteers during
comfortable at the clinic, she added. “The U.S. is made up of immigrants, and there’s a lot of diversity,” Báez Berríos said. “I’ve seen how, as a U.S. citizen, even though I’m Latina, I’m really privileged, and I know how important it is to offer these services because the majority of patients that come to us are uninsured because of their immigration status.” “We have to understand that we owe this to our community, so we have to use our education and privilege to provide for them,” she added. “That’s why I volunteer at these clinics.” Serving Spanish-speaking patients The presence of a Spanish speaker in the room can make a significant difference for Spanish-speaking patients, according to Morales Aquino. She has observed this phenomenon watching her mother, who “always gets super excited” when the doctor speaks Spanish, and with patients in Providence. “The way the patient’s face lights up makes my day,” Morales Aquino said. Villalobos agreed that there is a notable shift in her patients’ expressions when they get to speak with a physician or interpreter who is a native speaker of the same language as them, sharing not only language but a cultural background not all physicians can offer. “That’s also why I like to do a lot of volunteering at the clinic,” Villalobos said. “I walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, someone who speaks Spanish,’ and you can just see it in their face.” Spanish language interpretation is “a huge part of what we do,” Marvin Ronning, director of strategic partnerships for the Rhode Island Free Clinic,
Shaping the future Between Morales Aquino, Villalobos and Báez Berríos, all of whom hope to one day pursue careers as doctors, the experience of working in medical settings with Providence’s immigrant community has been eye-opening, illuminating the nature of the United States’
terminology and patient interactions. The most meaningful aspect of the work for Morales Aquino is knowing that she is helping patients feel “comfortable” and “safe” when they are interacting with medical professionals. Báez Berríos hopes to one day bring home her learned experience from Brown and volunteering in Rhode Island to better support the Hispanic community as well as disenfranchised groups such as those from the undocumented community. “Of course, I can’t really predict where I’ll be in the future, but my goal is to go back home in Puerto Rico,” she said. “We have a scarcity of physicians because we have an economic recession, so most professionals are moving to the mainland.” “I really want to work for these communities that are marginalized in the medical setting and who are not well-represented,” Báez Berríos said. Providing a safe and culturally inclusive environment is “part of the treatment” as much as providing care, she said. “The work I do definitely inspired me to become a physician who tries to understand other people that are different,” she added. Villalobos plans to one day open up a free clinic where her grandparents lived after immigrating from Mexico, she said. Until then, she hopes to continue volunteering with free clinics during medical school “Knowing Spanish is really going to help me connect with future patients and form a space (where) they feel welcomed and heard,” she added. “Volunteer experience has taught me
members while her parents sought to ensure that, first and foremost, their daughter would be able to communicate in English. It wasn’t until middle school that Villalobos began to learn Spanish and become comfortable with her heritage language. As Villalobos grew toward fluency in high school and her early college years,
the summer and winter breaks. Student interpreters provide the “link between provider and the patient” at Clínica Esperanza, where many of the providers do not speak Spanish, Leonard said. Interpretation services are “imperative” in offering “culturally competent, linguistically appropriate care” that allows Clinica Esperanza’s patients to feel
said. With over 70 percent of the clinic’s patients who speak Spanish as their first language, having Spanish language interpreters provides the clinic the ability to provide patients access to “vital medical and dental services,” he added. Villalobos noted that, from her experience interpreting for her own family inside and outside of a medical setting,
healthcare system. Morales Aquino has worked at the Rhode Island Free Clinic since her first semester at Brown and started at Clínica Esperanza last year. She plans to continue this work for the rest of her time at Brown, adding that as a pre-medical student, the experience has helped her improve her understanding of medical
that it is always important to embrace your identity, your cultural roots, no matter if you’re in a country that perhaps doesn’t celebrate the diversity it possesses,” Báez Berríos said. “In professional fields, such as medicine, language is so nuanced and oftentimes we take it for granted, so it’s really important to have representation.”
ty, bringing pieces of home with them as they venture past College Hill.
individuals who do not speak English fluently often feel misunderstood or underrepresented in English-speaking spaces in the United States. “I know my grandma expresses that, even though she has an interpreter sometimes, she feels that her voice isn’t getting heard because she doesn’t know if what they’re saying is true, and she doesn’t necessarily trust them entirely,” she said. Within Providence, “a lot of the time that I’ve talked to patients at (Clínica Esperanza), they’re like, ‘I feel like I don’t ever meet any other Hispanics that are younger who speak English and Spanish,’ so I think that’s something that’s a big need in the Providence community — to actually get out and serve these communities,” Villalobos said. “I feel like it’s important to not only speak a language but also understand people culturally,” Báez Berríos said. “You want to be inclusive for all patients, so I’ve felt that my identity as a Latina has helped patients feel more welcomed in these clinics, and I value that a lot.” Through her time volunteering as an interpreter in Providence clinics, Báez Berríos has “been able to explore how fractured or imperfect our healthcare system is and how important it is to have culturally competent physicians.”
ARTS AND CULTURE
Six back-to-school albums to get you through fall semester From indie-folk to shoegaze to neo-soul, these records are sure to invoke fall spirit BY LAURA DAVID SENIOR STAFF WRITER It’s that time of year again when the College Hill air starts getting cold, and we all get into a nostalgia-tinged mood. It’s ambient, it’s wistful, it’s sometimes melancholy — it’s autumn. Indeed, the annual excitement over fall music has arrived. Here, I’ve compiled a short roundup of a few of my favorite new and old albums to get you through the fall semester. “Any Shape You Take” by Indigo De Souza I stumbled into the world of Indigo De Souza recently after a recommendation from a friend. When I heard the crunchy guitar from her track “Darker Than Death,” I knew I was hooked. The North Carolina native released her sophomore album “Any Shape You Take” in late August, a project that cemented her status as a staple in the burgeoning indie-rock scene. The album is full of catchy beats, witty lines and rich, raw, Alanis Morissette-esque vocals, all with hazy guitar arrangements that border on shoegaze territory. “Pretty
Pictures,” in particular, proves both addictive and pensive, while “17” is utterly gut-wrenching. It is the perfect album for a fall walk around campus. “songs” by Adrianne Lenker I can’t even begin to count how many late nights I’ve spent listening to this album. Though it was only released last year, the record is already one of my fall staples. One of two solo projects Lenker released last year, “songs” was written in spring 2020 in the wake of a breakup. The result is one of my favorite pieces of melancholy-folk to date. “instrumentals,” Lenker’s other 2020 project, was a two-song release devoted to ambient music and arrangements, with each song being about 20 minutes long. “songs,” however, showcased Lenker’s signature folk style and masterful lyricism, filled with nature imagery and love songs. The project is intimate, beautifully written and wistfully sung. On “anything,” Lenker croons: “And I don’t wanna talk about anything / I don’t wanna talk about anything / I wanna kiss, kiss your eyes again / Wanna witness your eyes looking.” The lines perfectly encapsulate the longing to be alone with one person, and yet Lenker’s delivery almost implies that this desire will always remain out of reach. “Billie Holiday: The Complete Commodore Masters” by Billie Holiday If you go looking for this album on the internet, it will be hard to find.
just a few weeks ago. The record is both sonically and thematically diverse, with Parks weaving between indie and neo-soul effortlessly. Citing James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room” as an inspiration, Parks’ lyrics showcase her abilities not just as a musician but also as a writer. On “Green Eyes,” Parks writes about the fear of homophobia and the struggles of being an out queer woman, singing: “I wish that your parents had been kinder to you / They made you hate what you were out of habit.” NICHOLAS MICHAEL / HERALD
Vaguely titled “Billie Holiday” on Spotify (slightly unhelpful given that she also has two other self-titled records), I found this collection of Holiday’s songs on one of my blues deep-dives. Trying to find its origins, I realized the album was actually a compilation of the songs Holiday had recorded for music label Commmodorein the 40s and 50s. This record is nothing short of a classic, and Billie’s smooth vocals paired with timeless lyrics and romantic piano riffs compose the perfect study soundtrack. “Synthetic Soul” by Chiiild The debut EP from Canadian experimental soul band Chiiild, “Synthetic Soul” is a dynamic, fresh and sonically innovative project. “Back To Life” is a standout, swimming in reverbed vocals and guitars. “Count Me Out” features a
distinct groove, while “Easy On Yourself” sees the band get more lyrically reflective, with lead member Yonatan Ayal singing: “I can’t stop wondering / Where I’m going / I can’t stop.” Ultimately, though, what makes the project shine is its ability to create an addictive atmosphere using eclectic instrumentation and candid vocals. “Collapsed in Sunbeams” by Arlo Parks If there’s only one new artist you find this year, it should be Arlo Parks. Since her 2018 debut, the London-based singer-songwriter has amassed something of a cult following, finally breaking into popular and critical acclaim earlier this year with her album “Collapsed in Sunbeams,” a record that won her a Mercury Prize
“Motherwell” by Leith Ross I found Leith Ross’s music last week, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. Ross released their debut album “Motherwell” in the summer of 2020 to a small fanbase. Yet, just a few weeks ago, their following exploded due to a viral TikTok. The Ottawa singer-songwriter has taken to posting clips of song ideas to the video sharing platform, all of them beautiful and many absolutely heartbreaking. “Motherwell” is a perfect example of a storyteller at work, an artist following in the footsteps of Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief and other indie-folk giants.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
PRODUCE FROM PAGE 1 decided to create its own produce program. GSC continued to offer the graduate student community fresh food items into the fall 2021 semester while temporarily separated from BMSP. “It was a partnership between the Graduate School, the President’s Office, Dining Services and GSC to provide basically the same exact thing, just through another route,” Thompson explained. Throughout the graduate student community, financial constraints exacerbated by the pandemic have made navigating life on College Hill more challenging. A 2021 Graduate Labor Organization survey found that since the start of the pandemic, 97% of Brown graduate student workers reported that they had increased expenses and 30% reported having to decide between spending money on food or healthcare or taking on debt to pay for necessities, Audrey Massmann, GLO organizing coordinator, wrote in an email to The Herald. Rithika Ramamurthy GS, president of GLO, said that food insecurity among graduate students is a symptom of a larger issue of insufficient compensation for graduate workers. “There are some real trade-offs when you don’t make a lot of money that affect grads all over Brown,” Ramamurthy said. “Unfortunately, it’s no longer tenable to think of graduate school as a place for you to live cheap and go a little hungry until you get
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS that secure work that will save you.” Associate Dean of Student Support Maria Suarez said that the stipend many graduate students receive is meant to help prevent food insecurity. “Most doctoral students and some of the masters students receive stipends, and we try to make that a livable stipend where they should be able to meet their basic needs,” Suarez said. Suarez also said that in addition to stipends and the sponsored produce program, the University supports students who reach out about emergency situations causing food insecurity through UFunds, interest-free loans and free meal credits. The University and GLO reached a tentative agreement April 29 on a pay raise for graduate student workers, The Herald previously reported. Terms of the agreement include a 2.5 percent raise to the Academic Year Base Stipend — the minimum stipend paid to graduate students during the academic year under the terms of the University’s contract with GLO — and a one-time $750 payment to graduate students to cover pandemic-related costs. With health restrictions loosened on campus relative to prior semesters, GSC is again partnering with Brown Market Shares to provide produce during the fall 2021 semester. Currently, GSC is funding subscriptions for 100 graduate students to participate in the program on a first come, first serve basis, Thompson added. One market share costs $17 per person per week. Joe Colleyshaw GS, GSC treasurer,
said that GSC voted to continue funding the program this fall by drawing from its savings, which currently total around $190,000. The projected cost to GSC of running the program this fall is $5,500. Both GSC and the Graduate School will continue to fund the program this fall, with each contributing roughly half of the funding to the program collectively, and the Office of the President supplying the rest, Colleyshaw explained. According to Colleyshaw, GSC funding for the program comes from students’ semesterly recreation fees, which are $32.50 per student. Colleyshaw said that the lack of in-person events over the past year freed up money in the GSC budget for the produce program, but returning to regular programming poses a return to previous financial constraints. “We have got to think about in-person events, which takes up a lot of the budget,” he said. With an increased number of students entering their study at the University this semester following admissions deferrals related to the COVID-19 pandemic, “we’ve had probably about another or two or three hundred people coming in this year that we’ve got to do programming for.” Thompson said that food insecurity and accessibility to produce is an issue among members of the graduate student community, and a lack of healthy food puts food insecure graduate students further at risk. “The emphasis on fresh produce is because, when it comes to a lot of
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financial hardships, especially introduced by the COVID pandemic, fresh produce is usually one of the first things to go,” Thompson said. “It’s usually more perishable and expensive, especially if you live on College Hill around some of the more expensive grocery stores.” Thompson said that GSC hopes to make the program more sustainable by finding new funding sources by, for example, increasing recreation fees by one or two dollars, a measure that GSC would have to vote on. More immediately, Thompson said that GSC hopes to expand the number of graduate students it can include in the program this semester. “We’re hoping to obtain just (a little more funding) from the administration, whether that’s the Graduate School, the provost office or the president’s office, to support the remaining students,” she said. “The remaining students will be supported. We just (need to) figure out where those funds are coming from.” Beyond the produce program, GSC is looking to implement preventative measures against food insecurity in the future, Thompson said. “We have a lot of long-term goals to address food insecurity within the graduate population, whether that’s our own pantry or our own mini accessible grocery store for graduate and undergraduate students,” Thompson said. “We’re also looking at graduate student meal plans, because right now the cur-
rent meal plans that are accessible to graduate students just aren’t affordable.” Suarez said that the University will continue to fund the produce program as needed but is also looking for different solutions. “We want our students to know that there are resources, and we need them to partner with us and let us know what their needs are,” Suarez said. “The Graduate School and the University as a whole are committed to finding a more sustainable longterm solution.”
SPORTS
Kate Sheire ’24 awarded Ivy League Player of the Week after win over Yale Sheire had 21 kills, three blocks in Bears’ first win over Yale in eight years BY LOKI OLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Brown women’s volleyball team overcame a fifth-set deficit to defeat Yale in their first game of Ivy League play Friday. Kate Sheire ’24 led the Bears offense, scoring 21 kills and blocking three shots to help bolster their defense, while setter Cierra Jenkins ’24 contributed a team-high 48 assists. The victory — Brown’s first against Yale in eight years — extended the Bears’ current win streak to four games. Sheire, who leads the Bears roster with 136.5 points over 11 games, added to her already-stellar rookie campaign with the performance against Yale. The Ivy League announced Monday that Sheire — whose 21 kills led all scorers in the first week of conference play – was selected as both the Ivy League Rookie of the Week and Ivy League Player of the Week Monday. Joining the Ivy League in their recognition of her accomplishments, The Brown Daily Herald has chosen Sheire as its Athlete of the Week. Herald: You were recognized as both Ivy League player of the week and rookie of the week. How does it feel to be recognized that way in a league with so many talented players? It felt so surprising, to be honest, but it felt really incredible. I was so thankful for my setter, honestly, Cierra Jenkins — when you’re a hitter on a team, you can’t do anything without
your passers and your setters. They have to do it first, so the immediate thought was gratitude for them. It felt really great to tell my parents and my friends who know how much work that we all put into this. Getting to see the outcome like that was also very special. Herald: This is your first year of play after last season was canceled due to COVID-19. How does it feel to come in as a rookie and make such a significant impact right away? I think it was only possible because of the support of those older girls who have actually experienced playing real games and gone through the whole process of the preseason and then entering a season. It was interesting because most of our starters and a majority of our players are young so it was a very new thing, but I feel like there’s a lot of support there from the older girls and we really cultivated a culture that made us comfortable and confident going into the season. Herald: Do you feel like going through that missed season together made you and your teammates closer as a team? Definitely. (In the fall) we were doing Zoom calls weekly when we were supposed to be having our freshman year ... and there was way more reaching out and contact through text messages and FaceTime calls and just little life updates. We were really trying to form a culture while being unable to be together physically so when we finally could be together, it just made it that much faster to really mesh as a team. This is one of the closest teams I’ve ever been a part of. Herald: How did you approach the challenge of physical training and
preparation during COVID? There were optional workouts that we were getting from athletic training and from our coaches encouraging us to stay active, but with volleyball clinics not really happening a lot of girls had to get creative. I personally was playing grass volleyball all throughout the fall in an adult league so that was a way that I was able to stay active and get some more experience. But it was definitely difficult. One of the things that helped was that we had a lot of check-ins — we had a volleyball Snapchat group chat that was just dedicated to little exercises and workout check-ins. Herald: How important was it to get a win in the first game of Ivy League play? Our thought going into the game had always been that it was most definitely a possibility to win and to just go in with our strongest foot forward and display all the work that we had put in during the preseason. We went into it with that headspace rather than focusing on a win itself. And I think that definitely showed in the back and forth nature of the five sets, but it was definitely very special. I found out after the game that it was the first time Brown had beaten the Yale volleyball team in eight years and was just the second win against Yale in the past 15 years. It definitely felt important to put that message out there for the rest of the league to see before we go into the rest of the season. Herald: The game against Yale went five sets, including a comeback at the end. Can you take me through that final set and how you guys pulled out the victory?
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
Sheire hit 21 kills and blocked three shots in the game last Friday. (The fifth set) is always shorter than the fourth set so it’s a much different type of energy — there’s much more urgency. I think some of our less experienced players might have gotten a little bit shaken for a second, but we were able to fall back on that team support and look at our teammates. We had one timeout where one of my teammates pulled us in and said, “We’re all here, right? We’re all ready to do this.” And we just kind of locked in and we were able to hold on there.
Herald: What individual and team goals do you have for the rest of the season? Our goal is to go to the NCAA tournament. That’s always the goal. That’s what our headspace is focused on — but we take it one day at a time, so we definitely want to take on Cornell and Columbia strong this weekend to get us closer to that. Personally, I just want to keep forging connections on this team and I want to see us grow closer together and work through some of our smaller issues — just really be focused on what we’re trying to do.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Pioneers of the Rites and Reason theater, 51 years later University, Providence community reflect on theatre’s 51 year legacy, impact BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI SENIOR STAFF WRITER At his office desk in Churchill House, Elmo Terry-Morgan ’74, associate professor of Africana Studies and Theater Arts and Performance Studies, rapidly types away at a computer which spouts music and voice clips right back at him. Every inch of his office is covered with one piece of Rites and Reason Theatre history or another. A multi-colored couch is littered with posters for the 2018 “Black Lavender Experience.” His walls are adorned with pictures of nowpassed friends and idols, including a family portrait of George Houston Bass. Boxes of unexplored theatre history sit beneath his L-shaped desk. Terry-Morgan is the artistic director at the Rites and Reason Theatre, a five decade-old space created to “express the cultural, social and ideological concerns of the African Diaspora,” according to the Department of Africana Studies website. To be part of something as historic as the Rites and Reason Theatre “is surreal,” Terry-Morgan said. The theatre’s inception In December 1969, University students held the Black Student Walkout, demanding the increased enrollment of Black students, the increased hiring of Black faculty and the creation of an Africana Studies Department. As a result, the University recruited Professor George Houston Bass, the former personal secretary of Langston Hughes and the executor of his estate, to head up the Africana Studies Department. When Bass arrived at the University in 1970, he began to cultivate a new form of theater. He worked with “New World Theater, anchored in Africanic experiences and perspectives,” Terry-Morgan said. He “was a folklorist. … He wrote in jazz styles, blues styles, gospel styles. He began validating African American culture and traditions.” In spring of 1971, following several theater workshops, Bass debuted
his play “Black Masque,” a naturalistic play depicting the cosmic dance between Black and white people. This became the first official Rites and Reason project, garnering attention
“They have interest in the work that Rites and Reason does, … so I said I’m not going to turn these students away.” As a result, the theatre expanded its work beyond just the Black expe-
from the University and allowing the theatre to become an official academic unit in the embryonic Africana Studies department.
rience, producing works dealing with Jewish soldiers in Czarist Russia, the mutli-generational history of Hawaii and footbinding in China. Terry-Morgan said one of his proudest accomplishments was “AFRI 0990: Black Lavender: Black Gay/Lesbian Plays/Dramatic Constructions in the American Theatre,” a course and theatre program that explored Black LGBTQ content and was one of the first of its kind in the nation. “My course was on a hit list. … [People] will scour course catalogs at the universities, looking for what they consider to be inappropriate content, and they make a list and my class got on it,” Terry-Morgan said. “I took it as a badge of honor.” The theatre’s effect reached beyond just Brown as it developed a profound connection with the Providence community. Alonzo Jones, technical director and manager of the theatre, cited a personal and familial connection to Rites and Reasons. “I grew up here in Providence. ... I worked at Providence Black Repertory Company. Before that, I worked at the Trinity Repertory Company. I worked at all the local theaters. So, you’d be able to borrow from theatres all over. It was almost a resource in second nature.” For Terry-Morgan, the play “Heart to Heart: Aint Your Life Worth Savin?” is one of the greatest examples for the theatre’s effect on the Providence community. The play came from a collaboration between Terry-Morgan and the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Heart Association to address the leading cause of death among Black women — heart attacks and strokes. The play was performed in the community on a moving stage and assemblable set. The show traveled hand in hand with medically-licensed professionals who would give audience members check-ups before and after the show and help connect them with any necessary resources. Six months later, a “follow-up” conducted by the University’s linguistics department showed that “many people had made lifestyle changes” after seeing
Historical hurdles Despite the theatre’s influence and ground-breaking, experimental methods, it has faced many challenges, gaining recognition throughout its history. “Being at Brown has been sometimes, many times, a great blessing, but sometimes a great challenge,” Terry-Morgan said. Throughout the theatre’s history, it’s had to look for funding beyond the University, through the likes of the National Endowment for the Art and the Black Heritage Society. This was especially prevalent in the 1990s, when a national assault on the arts left many “non-mainstream” theatres — including “Black theatres, Latinos, Asian, queer and women’s groups” — budgetless, Terry-Mogan said. Until 2001, the theatre was unable to hire any permanent staff like technical directors or production managers. “We used to bring in our friends who did this work, and they’d work for peanuts. We didn’t even have money to house them, so they stayed with us.” Terry-Morgan said. “These people worked here because they believed in what we were doing.” The theatre also faced infrastructure problems, including non-fire-resistant curtains, bad wiring and poor electrical circuits. The University’s attitude “wasn’t benign neglect; it was benign attention,” Terry-Morgan said. It was like “we’ll give you just enough to stay alive, but we’re not going to give you a budget.” Finding solace in the community Despite these difficulties, the theatre persevered and found strength in support from Brown students. In the 1990s, when Terry-Morgan began working as the theatre’s artistic director, the University’s student population was becoming increasingly diverse. “There were more people from every part of the world,” Terry-Morgan said.
CA L E N DA R
COURTESY OF RITES AND REASON
In 2019, the ceiling of Churchill House caved in, after which the University allotted a proper budget to the theater for the first time. the show, Terry-Morgan said. “Some said, … ‘I’m gonna quit smoking,’ … ‘I’m more conscious of the food I buy, I read labels’. ... These things show that the arts could actually impact people’s lives.” In honor of the theatre’s fiftieth anniversary, which passed in 2020, a series of programming titled “Fifty Years and Beyond” is in development. Led by Lisa Biggs, the John Atwater and Diana Nelson Assistant professor of the arts and Africana Studies, the program’s first performance will be a retrospective of a previous play, “Providence Garden Blues,” in conjunction with the Brown-Trinity MFA Program. The performance focuses on the thriving middle-class Black community around the University campus that was displaced following World War II because of urban renewal. Biggs reflected that many of the topics discussed in this performance are still very relevant today. “This show is a chance to think back on this moment years ago when students and faculty and local community leaders were navigating these issues, and for us to continue to think about them and imagine ways also to tell the story about this need in ways that are artistic,” Biggs said. A new spotlight Many of the conversations happening today, including the recent revival of the Black Lives Matter movement in the public consciousness, have had an effect on the theatre, garnering more attention from the University.
“All of a sudden, the atmosphere on campus shifted,” Terry-Morgan said. “Brown was in the middle of the diversity, inclusion and equity initiative and then the creation of the Brown Arts Initiative. That was major for us — we were able to get attention from other people on campus who work in the arts.” In December 2019, after the ceiling caved in at Churchill House, where the Rites and Reason Theatre is located, the University finally allotted a proper budget to the theatre, according to Terry-Morgan. Renovations for the whole building will soon be underway. For Kathy Moyer, production manager at the department of Africana Studies and Rites and Reason Theatre, the most important goal is getting the department recognized as an arts department. “We’re always trying to be heard, … whether it’s to be recognized as an arts department on the campus, or to be seen as a viable theater that needs the resources that the other theaters and arts departments are getting.” Today, the theatre is amidst a major archival project, going through five decades worth of documentation to create a massive online resource at the John Hay Library. “My main goal is really to get the archives functioning so that there is a system that’s in place,” Terry-Morgan said. “When I am retired and long gone, when I’m in heaven, I want to watch all of this still be going on. … That’s the legacy that I want to leave behind.”
COVID -19 AT BROWN LAST 7 DAYS*
SEPTEMBER S
5
M
6
Tu
7
Completed Tests
People Tested
W
Th
F
S
15,068
11,362
1
2
3
4
Confirmed Positives
Positivity Rates
12
0.1 %
8
9
10
11 SINCE AUGUST 24, 2020*
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
2
Completed Tests
People Tested
524,220
17,927
Total Cases
Prevalence
784
4.4 %
*AS OF SEP 30.
post-
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
OCT 1 — VOL 28 — ISSUE 2
FEATURE
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See Full Issue: ISSUU.COM/POSTMAGAZINEBDH
NARRATIVE
adult swim pool goggles
By sylvia atwood I like to stay as still as possible when I’m in the pool, slouching, my body submerged up to my eyes. I stay like this for as long as I can, holding my breath, letting the pressure build in my chest until I release it all at once. The bubbles come barreling out of my nose with a thunder only my submerged ears can hear. Each pop at the surface flings droplets into my eyes. My outstretched legs lock against the gritty floor, keeping my spine sandwiched into the far corner of the pool. Without moving my shoulders, I tilt my head back all the way to take another breath
keeping austin weird? the fight to maintain the character of texas’s capital by Allegra Friedman illustrated by John Gendron It’s 11 p.m. on a Tuesday, and I’m with my friend Grace at the closing party for an exhibit at a hostel turned bar/art museum/tattoo studio/thrift store under the highway near downtown Austin. The scene is painfully trendy: loud house music, people wearing sunglasses indoors, and an open bar with four types of exotically flavored tequila to wash it all down. The exhibit, branded as an “immersive art experience,” feels like a glorified Instagram photoshoot. When I catch a glimpse beyond the other guests’ phone cameras and into each room, I see people posing on a throne of fake flowers, a teal piano that doesn’t work, and a neon pink sign that says, “I NEED SPACE.” I like the “black hole room,”
a pitch-black closet with stars projected onto the ceiling. It’s empty in here—too dark for pictures. I leave the closet and strike up a conversation with the glitterati waiting to take photos in front of an indoor tree. They’ve all moved to Austin from L.A. and can’t believe how much nicer everyone is here. But they’re not: one girl asks me how I “got on the list,” and another one slaps me with her fan when she thinks I’m cutting her in line at the bar. I show her the drink already in my hand, smile passive aggressively, and decide I’m ready to leave. This wasn’t the scene I expected in Austin. My aunt and uncle, who lived here until the mid 2000s, used to gush over how the city somehow combined Texan pride with laidback, live-and-let-live liberalism. Most importantly, they’d insist that Austin held onto its small-town, artistic roots even as it transformed into a national tech hub. Austin’s history supports its image as a counterculture hot spot. Local author and historian Joe Nick Patoski explains in an interview with Texas Highways Magazine that Austin became a music capital when Willie Nelson and other musicians fled Nashville’s “corporate” country music scene in the ...
“What's PSL? Piss, shit, lemonade?”
before leveling my face again with the water’s crisp surface. The blue blanket hugs my cheeks, tickling me as it reflects the movements of the men and women around me. Closest to me is a group of preteens, boys and girls playing monkey in the middle. Each girl stands hunched over, hair hanging in two heavy sheets on either side of their faces. The girls sway more than they swim, shifting their weight slowly back and forth between dense feet. They maneuver their ...
ARTS & CULTURE
beautiful world or how Rooney taught me how to love By lily willis In a McDonald’s somewhere between California and Rhode Island, I was waiting for an M&M McFlurry. I had one week and one car to get myself to Brown for the fall. I received a jarring text: “SALLY ROONEY HAS A NEW BOOK OUT?!?!?!” I almost forgot all about my McFlurry. I was annoyed at the insinuation that my friend knew something about Sally Rooney that I didn’t. Here was my holier-than-thou abstinence from social media, once again biting me in the ass. A quick Google search “confirmed” what I had not known: the new Sally Rooney book was coming out a week from that day. It had a cover and everything. Cerulean
“This plant is making itself naked.” (concerned)
blue, with the title “Beautiful World, Where are You” blocked out in white letters ...
LIFESTYLE
Top Ten Lists that Didn’t Make the Cut
1. Ways to Gather in Groups of More 6. Acquaintances You Can Wave At But Not Say Hi Than Five (thank you Russell Carey) 2. Childhood Games to Play for 45 Billion Won 3. Reasons I’m FALLing for You 4. Ways to Work “It’s Getting Cold” into Dead Conversations 5. Justifications for Drinking a PSL
post–
Want to be involved? Email: olivia_howe@brown.edu!
7. Songs with Autumnal Vibes 8. States 9. Positive Integers Under Eleven 10. Ways to Procrastinate Making a Decision on Backpage
we're back by Alexandra Herrera
Can you believe it? No—really—stop and think about it for a moment: We’re all (for the most part) back on campus! For many of us, there’s an overwhelming sense of appreciation for some hint of returning normalcy after a year and a half since that fateful email from CPax. Now that everyone has had a chance to settle in, here are a few simple bucket-list items for you to make the most of your hot Brownstudent autumn! ...
October 1, 2021 5
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
EDITORIAL
Hungry for change With students once again flooding into the Ratty, clamoring for sandwiches at the Blue Room and foraging for a late-night snack at Jo’s, Brown dining is back — but for many, it is not back to where it needs to be. Shorter hours, fewer dining options, longer lines and steadily increasing prices have made it difficult for students to access meals during their busy days. No one at Brown expects gourmet fare. But we deserve to eat regardless of our diets, schedules or incomes — and better-tasting food wouldn’t hurt. Brown claims that it cares about food security, but the wait times plagueing dining halls suggest otherwise. Lines at campus eateries during the midday rush can eat up over half an hour of many students’ lunch breaks. Some opt to skip meals altogether, rather than wait in line between classes, while others who can afford it choose to order food on Thayer Street, an option that is not realistic to everyone. Why should convenient and high-quality meals only be available to those with extra disposable income? Jessie Curran, director of wellness and nutrition, has suggested that the long lines will settle down as the semester progresses. But almost one month into the semester, we are still regularly greeted by a line of students stretching out the V-Dub doors. And upperclassmen have noted how the current lines are unlike any they’ve seen in years prior. Brown has made some efforts to make mealtimes more efficient, such as introducing a grab-and-go option at certain dining halls. But this solution feels like a flimsy bandage for bigger problems. One of these problems is the inconvenient operating hours of our dining halls. The Ratty, the main dining hall on campus and the most centrally located, closes at 7:30 p.m. each night, which sometimes clashes with busy college schedules. If students need to grab a late-night dinner, one of the only options is Jo’s, which features fewer healthy options. And on the weekends, students are largely limited to the Ratty and Andrews for daytime dining. At best, dining hall hours are inconvenient. At worst, they cause students to skip meals entirely. Brown has also found other creative ways to restrict the dining experience for students. For example, the Blue Room, formerly a go-to spot for students looking to grab a quick breakfast or a hearty sandwich, is no longer accepting meal plan points as a payment method. Instead, students must use cash, credit cards or Bear Bucks, effectively turning the Blue Room into a pricey cafe rather than a convenient dining hall available to all students. The new policy only exacerbates existing inequities by making its offerings accessible only to students with extra money to spend, and exacerbates crowding in other dining halls. Brown Dining’s issues with accessibility run deeper than operating hours and payment options. The food itself is subpar. Students have a wide range of dietary needs and preferences, and although Brown Dining Services attempts to accommodate them, current dining options fall short for many. Some have noted limited vegan and vegetarian options repeated at near unbearable frequency. The Ivy Room, once a reliable provider of tasty vegetarian options (such as the popular “naan-wich”) has modified its menu to the dismayof many students. And online menus are often inaccurate or incomplete, leaving students guessing at what might be available if they trek to a dining hall across campus. We aren’t asking for luxury, and we aren’t critiquing the hard-working staff at our dining halls — we are asking for decent food, decent variety and decent accessibility. As both first-years and sophomores are required to be on a meal plan, choosing to eat at a Brown dining hall is not a choice for many. Meal plans are also expensive — and the prices only continue to rise. If Brown has a monopoly on our meals, they are obligated to provide convenient, healthy meals to students each day. Brown Dining has never been and never will be perfect, but we know that it can be better. The University must make a commitment to a better dining experience — whether by creating more dining options, expanding hours or improving the variety of food available to students. Some seasoning wouldn’t hurt either. —Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. This editorial was written by its editor Johnny Ren ’23, and members Clara Gutman Argemí ’22, Catherine Healy ’22, Olivia Burdette ’22, Devan Paul ’24 and Kate Waisel ’24.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Editorial Leadership Editor-in-Chief Kayla Guo Managing Editors Henry Dawson Li Goldstein Senior Editors Kate Ok Kamran King Emily Teng Emilija Sagaityte Editorial Page Editor Johnny Ren
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2021
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
KATE DARIO / HERALD
Associate Professor of Sociology Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve will lead the Mass Incarceration Lab, which aims to preserve oral histories and written testimonies.
JUSTICE FROM PAGE 1 between incarcerated women within prisons is essential to their survival. Medina spoke about the help and care she both received and provided. “I mean, what could we do but support each other?” Medina said. Cherie Cruz ’09 MA’10, the co-founder of Formerly Incarcerated Union of RI, explained how incarcerated women “jump into action” and pass down knowledge to care for each other. “When I was incarcerated, when I was pregnant, I was fortunate to have my mother there, who already knew this system,” she said. She explained the responsibility that formerly incarcerated women carry in supporting women who are still imprisoned. “It’s reliant on us to stick together and not to forget those women who are left behind and give them the support
they need in the community, to never be abused by that system again.” The panel also explored how the carceral system continues to shape the lives of formerly incarcerated even after their release. Elster discussed how she gave birth to her son while in jail and how her parents raised him until her release. “I’m still trying to establish a relationship with my son. I’m trying to get to know him as he’s trying to get to know me, because the whole entire 15 years that I was incarcerated, he was kept from me,” she said. Cruz, who comes from a family with three generations who have experienced incarceration, spoke about the generational trauma perpetuated by the criminal justice system. “It doesn’t end with just the person who’s behind (bars), but their children and their communities,” she said.
The women also shared how they are working to end these mechanisms of injustice and support individuals impacted by the criminal justice system. Elster spoke about her legislative advocacy, Medina highlighted her commitment to expanding higher education opportunities and Cruz noted her work on initiatives like keeping families together and broadening voting rights for the formerly incarcerated. With the Mass Incarceration Lab archive in mind, Brumfield asked the panelists to think about how they wanted viewers in 150 years to understand prison abolition. “Abolition is shifting resources and power to community interventions,” Elster said. “This is where building community comes in,” she added. Abolition “is about creating, it’s not just about dismantling.”
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Wednesday, September 8, 2021
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
8
DARE FROM PAGE 1 He proposed that the state money could go to a program in which contractors and electricians from the local community, as well as people who were formerly incarcerated, would be hired to create suitable housing. Belona believed this solution would not only address the combined issues of homelessness and unemployment, but also provide career opportunities for those who were formerly incarcerated. Another audience member, Brenda Parks-Taylor, underscored the importance of securing affordable housing for families. “We’re losing our youth,” she said, adding that economic deprivation discourages them from seeing the value in their lives. Parks-Taylor said the community should “tell them there’s a better life” by investing in “decent, affordable” housing that can support families and, in turn, prevent future children from engaging in violence and crime. Ricardo Ledo, another audience member, agreed, saying that low-in-
come housing gives “a person like me, that only gets $800 a month, a chance to live.” Ledo also advocated for giving money to the recreation department so that children can engage in fulfilling activities. He added that a failure to do so could elevate the crime rate. Selene Means, an audience member, suggested that the money should be invested in restorative rather than punitive practices that address local issues, adding that “you have to strengthen all the different networks that already exist” in order to tackle problems affecting the community. He offered solutions like recovery housing and addiction treatment services as opposed to “abstinence-based” services. Parks-Taylor closed the evening with a call to seriously consider and tackle the issues discussed. “COVID proved it doesn’t play and we’re just beginning,” she said. “Let’s deal with the problems.”
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OLIVER KNEEN / HERALD
Chairperson of DARE Monika Huertas moderated the conversation that surrounded issues including affordable housing, mitigation of unemployment and investment in youth.