Friday, October 21st, 2022

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Bruno the bear: tales of U.’s live mascots

How close is U. to its goal to cut emissions 75% by 2025?

Getting to net zero

BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 25, 1905, a crowd of Brown students gathered to cheer on the Uni versity football team as they played against Dartmouth in Springfield, Mas sachusetts.

Among the crowd were members of the University Celebration Committee. Tasked with building school spirit for the game, the Celebration Committee solicited a live bear from Roger Wil liams Park named Dinks, set to make an appearance that day in the stadium.

The Brown-Dartmouth game wasn’t the University’s first attempt at bringing a live mascot to a sporting competition.

In 1902, a real estate executive named Isaac Goff offered a burro, a small donkey, to represent Brown at its annual football game against Har vard. At the time, Brown had no official mascot. During the game, the burro was frightened away by laughs from the

crowd, and the animal failed to gain a place as the University mascot.

On game day against Dartmouth in 1905, three years after the burro’s ill-fated appearance, Dinks met a sim ilar fate. When prompted to enter the stadium, the bear retreated to a corner of his cage and refused to leave. But unlike the burro, who made the jour ney to Massachusetts alone, Dinks was brought to the stadium alongside his mate, Helen.

After Dinks refused to leave the en closure, Helen rose and left her cage in Dinks’ place. Spectators noticed the incident, and upon entering the field, Helen was given a standing ovation.

Students report damaged, missing items after storage

“secure and climate controlled storage facility,” according to its website. When students return to campus, the items are delivered to their dorm or house.

Though Brown lost the game 24-6, Hel en’s triumphant reception soon led to a search for a bear to reside permanently at the University as the campus mascot.

Following Helen’s appearance at the Brown-Dartmouth game, at least a dozen additional bears — named Bruno — would represent Brown at football games and rallies. Beloved by students, the living mascots would often be housed and fed through the collective efforts of Brown undergraduates.

This winter marks the bear’s 119th year as a mainstay of Brown that has inspired songs, student names for

BY JACK TAJMAJER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The University pledged in 2019 to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and cut its emissions by 75% by 2025, simul taneously unveiling multiple projects to reach these goals.

While the University maintains that it is on track to reach its 2025 target with a new solar farm sched uled to be completed at the end of this year, reaching its annual carbon emissions targets would require the University to decrease its carbon emissions by a total of 30,593 metric tons in the next three years, accord ing to its website.

In the past three years since the plan was announced, the University has dropped its annual carbon emissions by 9,455 metric tons.

The plan includes an agreement with a wind farm owned by the Clear way Energy Group in Fisher County, Texas. The University made a long-term agreement with Clearway to purchase renewable energy credits from their turbines, which became operational in June 2020.

From Texas, the University will off set eight megawatts — roughly 30% of electricity on campus, according to the Office of Sustainability.

The University has also funded the development of a solar farm located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island which is currently under development. The farm, known as the Dry Bridge project, is lo cated on a “240-acre field on a former gravel pit.” The project aimed to begin operating in early 2022, offsetting 70% of campus electricity.

“We will meet the 2025 target with the (renewable energy credits) provid ed by the three solar projects and one wind project,” Jessica Berry, director of the Office of Sustainability, wrote in an

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Reproductive activism past and present

BY SARAH ONDERDONK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Several students received incomplete or damaged deliveries of the items they stored with Campus Storage over the summer, according to students.

Five students told The Herald that, when their belongings were delivered at the start of the academic year, they were missing boxes, received items belonging to other students and had items with water damage or mold.

Campus Storage is a privately-run, off-campus storage option for students, offering storage options with month ly pricing for students to use over the summer or during a semester abroad, according to the company’s website. When a student signs up for storage, the company ships packing kits to the students and then sends a moving team to pick up the items.

For the duration of the storage, the company places students’ items in a

Nima Kazerouni, operations man ager for Campus Storage, wrote in an email to The Herald that Campus Storage’s North Providence warehous es were hit by a series of flash floods, which caused the water damage to the items of some students.

“We apologize sincerely for any inconveniences that may have been caused,” she wrote. “Please understand we tried to do our best to put the safety of our customers’ property as priori ty concern during this Force Majeure event.”

Suzie Zhang ’24 and Zane Darden ’24 both picked Campus Storage to store their belongings over the summer be cause they started looking into their options relatively late and found that other companies were already booked.

Zhang had 11 packages stored, but only nine were delivered back to her, she said. Darden had seven stored, but only six were delivered back to him, he explained.

“I talked to the person delivering,

BY KATY PICKENS METRO EDITOR

In the 1960s, the women of Pembroke College were subject to strict rules. They adhered to curfews and conformed to dress codes under the parietal rules enforced at the time.

But in 1965, one doctor in University health services made waves by doing what was unthinkable at the time — prescribing birth control pills to un married women.

“Previous to this era, women could not get birth control on campus,” said Pembroke Center Archivist Mary Mur phy. “You had to live off campus, and you could, I think, go through campus health care if you were engaged.”

The Herald broke the news Sept. 28, 1965, reporting that Dr. Roswell Johnson said he was prescribing these pills to women over 21 based on “sim ply my own, private orientation.” He estimated the number of women using pills prescribed by health services as being “very, very, very small” — about

U. NewsArts & Culture Commentary

Students, Avon Cinema owner reflect on importance of film

Queer Soccer club started by students to foster community

5

Slusarewicz ‘23: Time for employers to stop relying on personality tests Page 11

one or two.

The Herald additionally published an editorial entitled “A Bitter Pill” praising Johnson’s actions. “Given the

realities of the world and of college students, the Health Service’s approach

First live bear mascot came to Brown in 1905, continues to be lasting symbol today

UNIVERSITY

Solar farm construction is delayed, carbon offsets in use, emissions dropped marginally

Post-Roe, look back on half century of change in women’s rights, campus activism

UNIVERSITY NEWS Campus Storage’s warehouse struck by flood, students report concerns, confusion

HERALD ARCHIVES

Women of Brown United was a student organization focused on women’s issues and reproductive rights during the 1970s.

SEE EMISSIONS

SEE

TODAY TOMORROW DESIGNED BY ANNA WANG

DESIGNER

SIRINE

DESIGN

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

but obviously he doesn’t have much authority,” Zhang said. “He had no idea where they went.”

The delivery worker advised Zhang to email Campus Storage to locate her missing boxes, she said. When Zhang emailed Sept. 2, the company responded “very quickly” and explained that they would search for her missing items.

In the email chain, reviewed by The Herald, Kazerouni asked Zhang to pro vide an itemized list of items inside her missing duffel bag, saying that the iden tification tag likely fell off. She responded with some of the items inside the bags.

But as of Oct. 18, Zhang had not received communication from Campus Storage with a status update on her missing boxes.

When Zhang opened the nine boxes delivered to her dorm, she found that one of her items, a bag full of clothes, was completely soaked with what she assumed was rainwater, she explained.

“When I was choosing storage com panies, it seemed like this company had a solid reputation,” Zhang said. “Because of my current experience, I don’t think I’m going to use it in the future.”

When Darden noticed his missing box, he spoke to one of the delivery workers who told him that that occa sionally happens and that the box may still be in the warehouse, Darden said. The worker explained to him that if the box was found, the company would deliver it to him, Darden added.

Darden also noticed that one box of items was not in its original packaging. Darden was told by those delivering his items that, if the box was damaged, the company placed items in a new box, he said.

The next day, Darden received a call from the company saying that his miss ing box had been located. The box was delivered to Darden’s room later that day, he said. “It seems very informal and not super official.”

Haley Damon ’24 said her experi ence with Campus Storage was “stress ful and frustrating.”

Her items were in new boxes with notes saying that they had been moved due to liquid exposure. “They had taken everything out of the box that I care fully packed and just thrown it into a new box,” she said. “There was mold all

over my stuff … it was just really sad.”

“The whole thing smelled like mil dew,” she added. “It was disgusting.”

“I started looking closer and ended up counting my stuff,” Damon said. “There were a few boxes that were miss ing, and they didn’t give me a list of the things that they threw out.”

Damon reached out to Campus Stor age to ask about her damaged items. In an email reviewed by The Herald, Ka zerouni explained to Damon that there had been a flood in the warehouse that affected most of the first floor, which forced the company to discard some students’ items.

“Because of the swift intervention, we are grateful to say that 90% of the contents affected by the flood were indeed saved,” Kazerouni wrote in the email. “Some items, however, were not salvageable and had to be discarded.”

Damon also said that Campus Stor age denied the possibility that her be longings had mold on them in the email, which was reviewed by The Herald.

“Your items may be slightly musty, but we personally checked every box and laundered items that were soaking wet,” Kazerouni wrote in the email to Damon.

“Please also note that we intervened soon enough before any mold actually set in. That being said, we will absolutely pay for your clothes to be professionally laundered again in which any mildew smell will surely be removed.”

“I sent them back pictures of what was clearly mold,” Damon said.

In the company’s email response to Damon’s photos, reviewed by The Herald, Kazerouni wrote that “there is not one ar ticle of clothing there. These are photos of four totes bags that have very little value.”

On Sept. 20, Damon had yet to re ceive more information, so she followed up with Campus Storage over email. In an email reviewed by The Herald, Kazer ouni apologized for the delay, explained the company was “still trying to acquire staff to thoroughly search the facility” and asked Damon to fill out a claim form for the missing items.

Damon filled out and returned the claim form to Campus Storage Sept. 25. The company responded to her form Sept. 26 over email, which was reviewed by The Herald, and told her they needed original receipts for all the items she listed.

As of Oct. 20, Damon has not replied to Campus Storage’s email. “It’s almost impossible to find receipts for coats I bought years ago and was already wear ing,” she said.

“I’m also first-generation, low-in come,” Damon added. “It was a really big deal for me that all this stuff was gone.” Damon has been in contact with Student Support Services.

According to Katie Boin, dean of Student Support Services, Student Sup port Services is unable to share infor mation about their interactions with specific students and can not comment on incidents with Campus Storage.

Qile Jiang ’24 also had a negative experience with Campus Storage. “This company was very helpful in moving my boxes from my room to their truck, and the delivery was on time,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. But when his belongings were delivered he realized a box of his belongings was damaged and another had missing items, he added.

Jiang received the same email re sponse as Damon, reviewed by The Herald, from Kazerouni, after he took pictures of his damaged items and sub mitted them via email.

“They responded with a long para graph explaining the unprecedented rain on Aug. 23, attaching a link to a news report on the flooding, and how their managers tried to mitigate the effect,” he wrote. “They attached a form for me to fill in and potentially get compensation.”

Jiang ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to pursue compen sation. “I’m actually not in communi cation with them anymore,” he wrote. “I didn’t lose much and didn’t want to spend time working on the rather complicated form.”

Meanwhile, Sydney Butler ’25 is still waiting on compensation. Her experi ence with Campus Storage was “a long and confusing story,” she said.

Butler’s packages were not delivered to her during her selected time slot. When she contacted Campus Storage over the phone, she was informed that her packages could not be delivered that day, which she said forced her to rearrange her schedule so that she could receive them the next day. She also said that Campus Storage informed her that they had moved around some of her belongings because liquid had spilled

DEAR PARENT(S),

in one of her boxes.

When Butler’s packages came, she did not find any evidence of spillage, but she was missing several of her be longings and instead received boxes belonging to someone else. It took a week for her to get the rest of her things back from Campus Storage, she said.

One of the delivery workers, who she said was “very nice,” accidental ly dropped one of her belongings in a puddle of water while delivering it to her dorm. She was instructed to file a form asking for compensation, but as of Oct. 19, she has not received any information about whether she will receive compensation.

“To protect the property of others, Campus Storage secured all resources and worked around the clock to mit igate any potential threats from the flood,” Kazerouni wrote. This included repacking some boxes and resulted in some scheduling issues and incomplete deliveries, which “were later accommo dated for,” she added.

“In a few very rare instances, the water infiltration resulted in the dis posal of certain non-salvageable items, such as pillows, bedding and some pa per-based items,” Kazerouni continued.

Kazerouni added that “the flood was a natural disaster that was out of our control and resulted in a few scenarios that are out of the scope of our normal

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

business practices.”

Campus Storage declined to com ment on specific student allegations.

Attorney Peter Cerilli ’78, who pro vides legal advice to Brown undergrad uate, graduate and medical students, said he has received several calls from students who have suffered losses or damages to their property stored with Campus Storage.

According to Cerilli, “Campus Stor age or any storage facility can still be held liable for negligent failure to pro tect the property.”

But Cerilli said that if students can not resolve their own private dealings with the company, which he said can be difficult with large companies, students would need to bring their claim to a small claims court. “That’s a hassle, so you have to weigh that against what the value of the property was,” he added.

Cerilli offered some advice to any students planning on storing their items over the summer. “Photograph and document exactly what you’re stor ing, and you can use those photographs to assign a value to it,” he said. “The problem that a lot of students are hav ing is they don’t really have evidence of what was stored.”

“Usually nothing happens,” he add ed, “but when something happens, hav ing documentation just makes solving the problem so much easier.”

Yeah, I live like this.

Since you’ve dropped me off, I haven’t washed my sheets, made my bed or eaten any of the very perishable Whole Foods groceries you got me.

But don’t worry! I’ll clean up my act for the weekend you’re here. Expect me to smell like nothing but liberally applied Febreeze and Old Spice deodorant while I nurse my violent hangover from last night.

Anyways, enough about me! How are you? How have the neighbors been since I left for school? Has that new deli finally opened? And how’s the construction going on that building you donated?

Can’t wait to see you this weekend!

Love, Your Golden Child

NEIL MEHTA / HERALD

art pieces and the four towering bear statues positioned throughout campus. The tradition of bringing live bears as mascots to represent the University at sporting events lasted from Helen’s appearance in 1905 until around the early 1960s.

Though the tradition of main taining a live mascot ended around 60 years ago, their stories from Brown live on in University and city archives today.

Bearing witness to mischief

As beloved members of campus, the University’s bears made headlines in The Herald on multiple occasions as the center of episodes of mischief and controversy.

Bruno III, who served as mascot in the 1920s and 1930s, was a notorious troublemaker throughout his tenure. He was held back from attending football games on several occasions because of stomach trouble — an article in The Herald from 1928 noted that the bear had “a tendency to become disagreeable when suffering an attack of indiges tion.”

Despite the bear’s erratic stomach, Bruno III was beloved by the campus community and was known for his fondness of people. But his affection ate demeanor, according to the article, “was the cause of great concern to the Providence Police force,” leading him to be kept under constant surveillance during public appearances.

Among Bruno III’s antics was his es cape from the field during his first foot ball game. The bear, scared of crowds, ran away from his holding during the game. According to The Herald, the bear climbed a tree next to the stadium and “playfully tossed down branches while his pursuers vainly tried to bring him down.”

Bruno III sat in the tree until later that evening, when police officers were able to get the bear back down. He was sold following the incident, and a Brown student dressed in a bearskin suit en tered the field in Bruno’s place for the remainder of the game.

“Less spectacular, perhaps,” wrote the reporter describing the student mascot. “But much easier to control.”

In 1955, a different bear was rescued by Providence police. This time, they were called to investigate an attempted kidnapping of Bruno.

On Oct. 19, 1955 at approximately 1 a.m., a group of students from the University of Rhode Island snuck into

Brown’s football stadium and set off an electronic alarm above Bruno’s cage.

The alarm prompted the three URI students to make a getaway, though they were intercepted by Providence detectives Al Fines and Edward Car roll while in an automobile around ten blocks north of Pembroke campus.

According to one Providence Jour nal reporter, the three students “first feigned innocence, but later admitted to police that the ‘awful siren’ was enough to send anyone running.”

With the bear-napping averted, Bruno was able to attend the annual Brown-URI football game that same Saturday.

Brown students, in defense of their beloved mascot, were quick to suggest punishments for the URI students to the police. Officers told the Providence Journal that the student’s suggestions were “beyond the limits of our laws.”

Bringing students together

During periods of University histo ry, groups of students would look after the bear mascot. Starting between the late 1920s and the 1930s, a campus honorary society named Owl and Ring was tasked with guardianship of the mascot, being officially granted the post in 1939.

At times, members of the Owl and Ring paid for Bruno out of their own pockets, with the bear costing $100 in 1937. Recognizing the cost of housing the bear, estimated at $50 at a minimum for the season, the society launched a fundraising campaign. Members of the society canvassed fraternity houses and collected money in donation boxes, starting a “bear fund” that would con tinue for at least a decade.

When Owl and Ring was disbanded in 1941 by the Cammarian Club, the campus senior society, for failing to live up to its various duties, other groups

took up responsibility for the bear.

The Brown Key, a junior honor so ciety founded in 1930, began raising money for the bear fund around the early 1940s. Through the Brown Key, students came out in crowds at football team rallies to support the cause. The bear fund continued to raise money to cover the costs of Bruno’s room and board on campus, as well as the bear’s transport and lodging during away games through the late 1940s.

In exchange for their donations, stu dents often took advantage of Bruno’s notoriety for their own enterprises.

Advertisements in The Herald describe Bruno-themed charms and party mugs sold during the 1940s and 1950s. One writer reported in Decem ber 1947 that business representatives at The Herald even sold “authentic” autographs of Bruno to raise money for the paper.

Departing from campus, entering University history

Many of the campus mascots would retire following their tenure at the University. Occasionally, a mas cot would pass while in the school’s possession.

One of the earliest live mascots, Bruno II, was known by students for his “very large appetite,” according to one Herald article from 1928.

Bruno II was kept on a strong leash because of his appetite. But according to the news report, Bruno’s “appetite got the best of him and he proceeded to break his chain” while in his holding on campus.

After escaping, the bear wandered in search of food. During his search, the curious Bruno came across a chemical laboratory at Brown. Bruno’s body was later found in the laboratory. In the bear’s autopsy, examiners reported that Bruno “had tested almost every chemical in the laboratory.”

Another bear, Bruno V, passed away in December 1939. Bruno V was just weeks away from his planned move to Slater Park Zoo, the same re tirement destination as tree-climbing Bruno III.

According to a Dec. 5 report from The Herald, two students heard the bear’s distress and “ran to get a gun to end the animal’s suffering,” though they arrived at the scene too late. Bruno V’s death was “totally unexpected,” ac cording to then-Owl and Ring president Robert M. Smith ’40, despite the mascot facing similar illness twice before while at Brown.

News of Bruno V’s passing was met with campus-wide mourning, and a State funeral for the bear was an nounced in the Providence Journal on the same day of The Herald’s report.

Services for the bear’s funeral be gan the afternoon after his death was announced. Students gathered at 1 p.m. in the middle of campus to pay their respects to the bear. Then, the campus flag was lowered to half staff,

and Bruno was rolled on a station wagon by a funeral procession across College Hill.

Other bears had happier ends to their stories.

Bruno IX, one mascot who had retired from his service, was found at Roger Williams Park in April 1949 by Providence Journal reporter Frank Pemberton, who remarked that the bear had befriended the park superinten dent’s horses, Daisy and Happy. Bruno would live out his retirement at Roger Williams. During warmer seasons, the bear would continue to see visitors in the park, which was open to University students.

Ending a tradition

By the mid 1960s, Brown had stopped using a live bear at campus games. Two University alumni recall the last mascot, a bear cub that attend ed football games alongside a student mascot in a bear suit.

The live bear tradition discontinued “for reasons having to do with animal cruelty,” Class Historian Helene Kenvin ’62 said. “Not that anyone was cruel to the bear, but that was no way for a bear

to live … I don’t think we were as aware of PETA considerations back then.”

Despite concerns about hosting a live bear for football games, the alumni recalled students’ adoration for the bear during their time at Brown.

Mike Cingiser ’62 said that at foot ball games, onlookers would “jump up and down and cheer” for the bear during its appearances.

“Everyone loved the bear,” Kenvin recalled.

Though the tradition of keeping a live bear for football games has long since disappeared, the bear mascot con tinues to bring together current stu dents and alumni as a symbol of Brown.

Jennifer Betts, assistant director for the John Hay Library and University archivist, told The Herald that the bear has evolved from a mascot specifically for athletics to a larger symbol of the University. She pointed to the various appearances the bear makes on campus, depicted in multiple illustrations and statues of the mascot.

Today, the bear “is important to current students and alumni,” Betts said. “It’s something that they hold really dear.”

HERALD ARCHIVES

Bruno II, featured in this 1926 photo, died after escaping from his holding and making his way into a chemistry lab in 1928.

HERALD ARCHIVES

After Bruno V, depicted in this photo published in 1939, passed away, students gathered at a funeral to pay their respects to the bear.

HERALD ARCHIVES

Bruno II stands at a Brown football game in 1926. The second live bear of many to come, Bruno was popular with students at the time.

HERALD ARCHIVES

The many Brunos became an integral part of campus culture, with one even nearly being kidnapped by University of Rhode Island students.

Avon cinema brings importance of film to limelight

of its original equipment, such as its curtain motor. “Aside from the fact that I lube it now and then and add a little transmission fluid to the motor, the thing just keeps running,” said Dul garian.

BY FINN KIRKPATRICK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Amid the everyday bustle of Thayer St., Avon Cinema stands out as a relic of a bygone era. The incandescent marquee with hand-placed letters broadcasting the day’s films and their showtimes adorn the art deco building — a theatrical welcome hard to find in the current age of multiplexes. You still have to buy tickets in-person at the concession stand. Their popcorn is made in a machine that looks right out of the 1940s. A red velvet curtain, which still operates on its original motor, opens up every showing to reveal the theater’s single screen. To Avon owner Richard Dulgarian, these nostalgic elements are not a gimmick, but rather an affirmation of what makes movies and theaters so special in the first place.

“I’m going for the nostalgic feel,” said Dulgarian. “Over the years, I’ve been to other older theaters (with) single screens. And when different generations (of owners) wind up in the same building they clash.” Dulgarian noted how sometimes, an old theater could have modern additions, like track lighting on the walls, that ruin the au thenticity of the experience.

“But these little touches I think make you feel like you’ve gone back in time,” he added. “For someone … it’s like, ‘oh, this is how it must have been 80 years ago.’ And for your grandfather, … it’s like, ‘I remember this.’”

Dulgarian’s grandfather opened the Avon in 1938; the theater has remained in the family since.

The theater has also retained much

It’s not just the aesthetic of the theater that stays true to its origi nal vision, but also the types of films that the Avon shows. Framed on the wall of the theater, a newspaper clip ping dated February 14, 1938 from The Providence Journal advertises the opening of the Avon with its first showing, an obscure French film titled “The Life and Loves of Beethoven.” The Avon carries this ethos with it today — Dulgarian emphasized the unique and intellectual films the Avon continues to show.

“It’s a sort of thing that after a movie, you go to Meeting Street Cafe and over a cup of coffee, you discuss it with whoever you saw it with,” he said.

The Avon has often been the first place in Providence to show critically acclaimed and independent films on the big screen. In the past year alone, films such as, “Drive My Car,” “The Worst Person in the World,” “The French Dis patch” and “Licorice Pizza” have all been shown at the theater, which to Avon patrons like Andrew Rovinsky ’25, is “special.”

“It’s genuinely one of my favorite movie experiences, it’s a really good vibe,” Rovinsky said. “These movies you’re watching aren’t these big cor porate blockbusters, you’re watching these very authentic films, which a lot of the time you wouldn’t get to see in a mainstream theater.”

Dulgarian emphasized the com munity created by the independent theater experience. “We, as a species, need people. I don’t think we operate well isolated, so it’s another excuse for all of us to get together. Even though we don’t know each other, at least, we know that we all have the same love

of a type of film, which is, I think, unique to a single screen theater,” Dulgarian said.

Rovinsky echoed this sentiment, saying, “It’s an experience. It’s a fun thing you can do with friends. It isn’t just a thing that’s dying, I think there will always be a place for going to the movie theater.”

In addition to new releases, the Avon hosts many special event screen ings. Brown Motion Pictures rents out the Avon at the end of every semester to screen their student-produced films for an audience. Josie Bleakley ’23, one of BMP’s managing directors, cited this as one of the most important events for the club.

Bleakley emphasized the gratifi cation student filmmakers feel when they’re able to see their own films shown on a big screen. “I think one of the best things we get to do as young

filmmakers is to come together like this and appreciate all that everyone has put into it,” she said.

Bleakley and Rovinsky both spoke of the Avon as an important place for them during their first semes ters at Brown and a place to make friends with like-minded student moviegoers.

“It’s a really great business and organization that gives an opportu nity to collaborate with students, and they fill a really important niche,” said Bleakley.

The Avon plans their showings and events on a week by week basis, Dulgar ian said. The theater has a programmer who works with film distributors to find films best suited for the Avon audience, which is a mix of students on College Hill and the general population of Prov idence, he added. “I have staff working here that thinks we should concentrate

more on the student population, their tastes. It may evolve into that at some point … But it’s something I leave to my film programmer, I just think he’s got the pulse on these things better than I do,” he said.

This constant shift of new films and events is what makes Dulgarian love the Avon as much as he does. “I love it here because there’s always something new. … It’s a new film, it’s a new poster, it’s a new theme, it’s a new concept, it’s a new audience,” he said. “And if you don’t like it personally, wait a week, there’s something else that is exciting … I don’t know what’s coming, but I know it’ll be interesting and thought provoking.”

And for students such as Rovinsky, the Avon sticks out as something spe cial.

“Go to the movies, go to the Avon,” Rovinksy said. “It’s a good time.”

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Commentary: The

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Owner, students reflect on their experiences with the Avon and the necessity of movie

KHANNA MUKUL / HERALD

The Avon has often been the first place in Providence to feature the most critically acclaimed and independent films on the big screen. Recently, these have included “Drive My Car” and “Licorice Pizza.”

Students find community with new queer pickup soccer club

on community at her summer pickup games helped reduce barriers to entry and ensure everyone had fun. “Every one just came to play,” Jones said. The matches weren’t about proving any skill or lack thereof, but just “enjoying the sport.”

BY MAISIE NEWBURY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

When Caroline Sassan ’24 found out that the University was not offering its typical intramural soccer programming this fall, she began to look for alternate ways to still get on the field. Looking for “a pickup-type situation,” she came across an informal, queer soccer group led and participated in by queer students on College Hill.

For Sassan, who also runs for the University’s track team, the club offers a low pressure space where she can enjoy the sport with a community of her peers. “It’s been super fun and low stakes,” she explained.

Queer Soccer, which was founded at the start of this semester, meets every Friday at 5 p.m. in Gano Street Park.

More than 40 students now regularly attend the practices.

Founded by Luci Jones ’23, Queer Soccer aims to create a space where queer students can meet one another and work out in an informal setting.

Jones attributed the idea for the club to her participation in queer pickup soccer games in Brooklyn this summer, an environment she said provided “a really incredible community.”

Jones emphasized that the focus

Kaitlin Goldin ’23, who helped Jones organize the team on College Hill, also noted that Queer Soccer is not about “doing it for the competition.” Instead, “we’re doing it to have a really infor mal space to play and workout and just be with other queer people,” Goldin explained.

“I’ve personally had a real ly fraught relationship with sports throughout my life,” she said. Having played soccer when she was younger, Goldin eventually stopped because it “felt too competitive and anxiety-in ducing.”

“The people on (those) teams were not the supportive and loving people I needed to surround myself with,” Goldin said. “My hope is that people are able to work out in a fun way in community.”

While Jones expressed that it would be nice to have more frequent practices, the accessibility of meeting once a week is part of what makes the team “so great.” She hopes to “cultivate a really inclusive team atmosphere” while ensuring prac tices are not “such a formal activity.”

Jones also appreciates that the team is centered around playing soccer, not just its members’ identities.

“I think because it’s also (about) soccer, that made it easier for me to feel comfortable going,” Sassan said. Being

part of a “queer-designated group … is sort of a new thing for me.”

“There’s a lot of spaces on campus that are very queer,” Goldin said, citing theater and comedy groups as examples. “What feels special to me about this is … it’s a great opportunity to meet other queer people that you wouldn’t otherwise meet.”

The club continues to grow each week through word of mouth despite minimal advertisement from the or ganizers, Jones said. The team initially started with a group chat of about 20 people but has since grown to 87 mem bers, with 30 to 40 of them coming to

practice each week.

“The first time I organized (a practice), I was scared no one was going to show up,” Jones said. “But in a way I’m also not surprised (about the team’s growth),” she added, re calling the widespread attendance to the queer soccer group she joined over the summer.

“I’d love to see even more new faces showing up,” Jones said. “It’s nice seeing someone come one week and then show up another week and you know they’ve caught the bug.”

Goldin also would like to see more people at the practices, but noted that

EMILY SUONG / HERALD

she was happy with the group in its current structure. “I think the fun thing about it is that there are no fu ture goals,” she said. “There’s not like a mission, we’re just hanging out.”

Sassan said she would like to see the club one day evolve into an intramu ral league. But, for now, the informal setting “is also really cool,” she noted.

Jones encouraged queer community members interested in soccer to join a practice and follow the club’s Instagram page, @brown_queersoc.

“I also want people to know that if they’re not sure about their identity,” she added, “they’re still welcome.”

TODAY’S EVENTS

SAS Therapy Animal Event 12 p.m. Main Green

Harmonic Motion and Brown’sTones A Capella Concert 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. MacMillan Hall - Room 117

TOMORROW’S EVENTS

Family Weekend Yoga 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Nelson Fitness Center

Brown University Football vs. Cornell University 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Brown Stadium

Structural Violence in Health Care: In-Person and Virtual 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. 85 Waterman Street

Family Weekend Brown Jazz Band Concert 8 p.m. Grant Recital Hall

ARRR!!! A Capella Concert 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wayland Arch

Funk Nite! Students, family, alumni and faculty invited 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. Kasper Multipurpose Room

Queer Soccer provides members low pressure, informal space to find community, work out

email to The Herald.

But the North Kingstown project is not ready yet, despite being slated for completion earlier this year, ac cording to the Sustainability Office’s website. “The Dry Bridge project has seen many hurdles in its development,” Berry wrote, adding that “Brown is an offtaker and neither developer, owner or operator, so many of these hurdles have been out of Brown’s control.”

Energy Development Partners, the firm responsible for building the proj ect, did not respond to a request for comment.

Still, Berry wrote, the project is “very near completion,” with operations ex pected to begin by the end of 2022.

The University also expects to save over “$80 million through 2040” as a result of the power purchasing agree ments, Berry wrote, because state law mandates that Brown receives credits on its utility bills for the purchasing agreements.

Berry noted that “work is underway with three engineering firms to implant the decarbonization roadmap that was developed over the past few years.”

Additionally, the University an nounced in its 2021 Sustainability Strategic Plan that it would work to electrify its vehicle fleet and create charging stations across campus.

“The University has placed orders for several electric vehicles and is in the process of installing fleet EV charging stations for those vehicles,” Berry not ed. “Brown’s new vehicle purchasing policy requires that any vehicle pur chases must be electric unless there is a valid reason it cannot be.”

Currently, the University has one electric vehicle and has ordered five electric vans, though delivery times have taken longer than expected, wrote Matthew Force, fleet manager at Busi ness and Financial Services, in an email to The Herald.

And a thermal efficiency project meant to reduce emissions, replacing the central heating system’s steam with hot water, was completed in 2020, Berry wrote.

Is net zero enough?

Baylor Fox-Kemper, professor of earth, environmental and planetary studies, emphasized that the Universi ty’s timeline still outpaces what “a lot of other institutions are contemplating,” noting that many are waiting on a 2050 or 2075 end date.

He speculated that the COVID-19 pandemic may have delayed the proj ects, mainly because initially proposed numbers and timelines resulted from budgetary and policy expectations years in advance.

But the University’s plan could benefit from more intermediate emis sion-reduction targets, Fox-Kemper

said.

Instead of dropping sharply to a specific target by a certain date, or to net zero by 2040, the University should consistently work to limit its output year-by-year, Fox-Kemper said.

“Net zero doesn’t actually mean zero effects to climate change,” he said. “What matters to the climate is accu mulated emissions.”

And even when the University reaches net zero, it “won’t be guilt free … because we have a legacy of emitting,” he said. A more accurate ac count of the University’s climate impact would include those past emissions.

Net-zero pledges also often involve the use of carbon offsets, carbon-saving agreements between organizations, a controversial tactic for limiting emis sions.

“It’s not real carbon savings,” Fox-Kemper stated, because an entity that promises to lower carbon emis sions may not have emitted regardless of the promise. Additionally, he said, “transparency is very low.”

Berry stressed that the University was using offsets that are verifiable and would not have occurred without the University’s purchase.

“We expect that once the cen tral heat plant is converted to elec tric-based technology and sourced from renewables, we will no longer need offsets,” she wrote.

Students push for more Fox-Kemper stressed that much of the University’s action on climate change stems from student activism.

“It was student activism and the student petitioning of the faculty that really had a lot to do with the debate and the excitement” around the Uni versity’s 2019 climate pledge, he said.

“Students can always bring a moral clarity to these issues.”

Caitlyn Carpenter ’26, a member of the recently revived Sunrise Move ment hub on campus, said that she was “disappointed” by the University’s current progress on its pledges. The University should “embody the values” of its student body and take climate change seriously, she said.

Beyond its pledge to divest from fossil fuels in 2020, she called for the University to “reject all financial ties” to fossil-fuel industries.

Ethan Drake ’24, a co-leader of the Sunrise hub, said the group plans to work on Green New Deal education and encourage the University to provide an academic sustainability certificate along with other “fossil-free” research opportunities.

Carpenter additionally noted that Princeton committed to full fossil-fu el dissociation — not just divesting, but “reevaluating purchases or gifts, partnerships and facilitating employer recruitment activities” — a step Brown has not taken.

Fox-Kemper argued that “activism shouldn’t stop at the edge of campus,” noting that Rhode Island has far more carbon emissions than the University and that the United States is still the largest carbon emitter per capita.

Recently, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which Fox-Kemper called “the most im portant climate change legislation that’s ever been passed in the United States.” The act includes a host of tax credits and monetary incentives for renewable energy usage. The Sus tainability Office and the Office of Government & Community Relations have begun discussing potential im pacts of the law, Berry said.

The University is likely to benefit from the act, Fox-Kemper said. “It may not make us get (to net-zero) any faster, but it may make it more affordable.”

ELYSEE BARAKETT / HERALD

at the women’s college is practical and far-sighted,” the editorial read.

The editorial primarily criti cized the then-Pembroke dean for her refusal to admit whether she had sanctioned or had knowledge of the practice of distributing birth control pills, calling this action hypocritical in light of the strict parietal rules to which women were subjected and describing the birth control revela tion as “one of the darkest moments in the Pembroke Deanery tenure of Rosemary Pierrel.”

The news that University medical services prescribed birth control to unmarried women was picked up by national media, sparking public outcry.

Johnson had thoroughly consid ered the cases of the two women who sought birth control, who were both over 21, before prescribing the pill. In a 1989 interview with The Herald, he explained that the initial leak to The Herald came when a 19-year-old woman reporter asked for the pill, and Johnson told her to come back when she was 21.

Johnson explained to reporters at the time of the controversy that he would not have prescribed birth control without parental consent and “a great deal of soul searching.”

“I want to feel I’m contributing to a solid relationship and not contributing to unmitigated promiscuity,” he said.

This controversy was the beginning of a long history of discussion, activism and protest around reproductive rights on campus, one that has continued today as students react to and begin activism in response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade’s protection of abortion rights nationwide.

“The first step,” Murphy explained, “was getting access to birth control.”

History of reproductive activism at Brown

Amidst protests regarding issues such as the Open Curriculum, civil rights and the Vietnam War, the sec ond-wave feminist movement also took campus by storm beginning in the early ’70s.

Women of Brown United was the most prominent group fighting for women’s issues and reproductive rights at the time. Mimi Pichey ’72 compiled a history of the organization, which de tails several efforts specifically around abortion, birth control and sexual pol itics for women.

The 1970s were “the first time women had gotten out and taken over the streets and started to formulate demands,” Pichey said in a 2015 inter view. “This (was) the first time ‘abor tion’ … was actually spoken out loud. People did not talk about this; it was whispered.”

“We do have evidence throughout oral histories that women were ‘pass ing the hat’ or fundraising for each other on their campus floors, so the women could get illegal abortions,” Murphy said.

WBU started an abortion-rights fo cused subgroup in 1970, which would contribute to the Rhode Island Coali tion to Repeal Abortion Laws. Rhode Island’s strong Catholic culture had long contributed to strict anti-abortion legislation, including a requirement that women get death certificates for aborted fetuses.

After Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, WBU continued its activism, calling for a change in Rhode Island’s abortion laws. In the years to follow, WBU also “established a service to escort patients seeking abortions (to)

safely enter the Women’s Medical Center through groups of anti-abor tion protesters,” according to Pichey’s history.

The Sarah Doyle Center opened in 1975 and was also a resource for stu dents on campus.

“Our center’s early history is root ed in student activism and particu larly the feminist movement, which prioritized reproductive health care and advocacy alongside other issues of gender equity,” said Felicia Sali nas-Moniz MA’06 PhD’13, director of the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender.

“Its founding was largely due to the efforts of Women of Brown United, a women’s liberation group on campus who first drafted the proposal for a cen ter and through the working group on the Status of Women at Brown, which included 45 faculty, staff, alumni, grad uate and undergraduate students who met to discuss the center’s formation,” she said.

The Herald reported on WBU’s es cort service Feb. 14, 1986, when stu dent members walked with abortion patients from their cars to the clinic.

“Six anti-abortionists gathered around the sedan, screaming at the woman in side. Two Brown students approached, green sashes across their coats, and helped the woman out of her car,” The Herald reported.

While activism in favor of abortion continued throughout the 1980s and ’90s, anti-abortion work also gained some visibility on campus. In the early 2000s, Students for Life emphasized that beyond abortion, they also took stances on the death penalty and euth enasia in line with their values.

The bigger picture: the Dobbs decision

Many academics and activists agreed that the overturn of Roe was long in the making.

“I think that the dismantling of Roe is something that has been hap pening for decades with the federal adoption of the Hyde Amendment in 1977, which prohibited the use of federal funds for abortion except for when a pregnant person’s life was at stake,” said Salinas-Moniz. Abortion restrictions based on state legislations also created barriers both for people in need of services and for providers, she continued.

Sarah Williams, visiting assistant professor of anthropology and gender studies, explained that legally, Roe was not a strong protection of abortion rights to begin with.

“It was what some scholars have called a negative right — you don’t have the right to have an abortion, you have the right for the government not to intervene in that decision,” she explained.

“Looking at women’s history, this has been a project in the making of the far right and the United States for 50 years. It’s part of a larger project, to divide citizens through the control of women’s bodies,” Murphy said.

The fall of Roe and the Dobbs deci sion has led to a “pulling apart of the state’s long neo-confederate lines,” she added. “Women have always been used as tools of war, and we see that here within our own country.”

Hannah Fernandez ’23, a member of the e-board for Planned Parenthood Advocates at Brown, said that despite anticipating the overturn of Roe when the draft opinion was leaked, it still felt like a gut-punch.

“It was really just so overwhelming for me that I had to take space from

social media,” she said.

She added that reproductive health care extends well beyond abortion rights amid threats to other reproduc tive rights and national efforts to roll back other facets of healthcare.

Kyle Nunes ’24, vice president of Students for Life, described a differ ent reaction to the Dobbs decision. “We’re definitely thrilled about the decision,” he said. “I think it’s proba bly … the opposite way for most Brown students.”

“I’m hoping that we’ll look back in 50 years, maybe, and say, ‘boy, we had that wrong for a while, and that’s that was a shameful period in our history, where we were okay with ending the life of an unborn child,’” Nunes added.

Activism, reproductive justice and the future

While the Reproductive Privacy Act, which protects abortion rights in Rhode Island, was passed in 2019, people with all political viewpoints remain attuned to this issue and what the future will look like.

Fernandez explained that members of Planned Parenthood Advocates con tinue to volunteer at clinics and bring visibility to the issue in addition to supporting specific state legislation.

“There’s a bill that’s come up a couple times in the Rhode Island State House that still hasn’t been passed yet called the Equality in Abortion Cover age Act,” Fernandez said. “What that would do is that would expand state funded insurance to also cover abortion and a lot of other maternal health care.”

The Womxn Project, formed in 2016, advocated for the RPA and now advocates for the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act.

“We protected the right for people to have abortions, and those are pre dominantly folks who have private in surance,” said Jocelyn Foye, co-founder and executive director of The Womxn Project. “Now what does it look like for the people who need it across the board?”

Pro-choice advocates said they were determined to gain momentum and start looking beyond just abortion rights.

Nunes explained that he hopes Stu dents for Life will take a more holistic approach to its message and outreach. “If a woman’s going into this feeling like (abortion) is her only option, and she really can’t support a child, we should focus on that, too,” he said. “How can we help her to the point where she feels like she could?”

Nunes added that the club will at tend a pro-life conference in the coming

months and attend the March for Life. “It’s not the case that just because we don’t support abortion, we don’t sup port women or don’t care about women. We care a lot,” he said. “People will go to the clinics and just scream at peo ple, and it’s not good. But we’re not all like that.”

For Foye, the issue extends well be yond abortion itself. “It’s not just about a medical procedure. It’s about bodily safety and dignity and people being able to choose when they’re ready to have a family,” she said.

Williams explained that repro ductive justice, as opposed to other feminist or reproductive movements, has a greater focus on racial, class and other forms of social justice in addition to advocating for reproductive rights.

“Reproductive justice reminds us that reproductive rights (and) reproduc tive health (are) not possible if you’re not also working towards equality and equity in other areas as well,” she ex plained.

Fernandez also reiterated the need for a bigger picture view of abortion and birth control, especially as people everywhere, including at the University, still need access to reproductive care.

“People always try to say that public

health is not political and medicine is separate from politics,” she said. “But at this point in the way that things have devolved, everything is politics — public health is politics.”

Williams added that we can learn from other countries and cultures about how to manage reproductive healthcare.

“In Mexico, there are very deep and long-standing abortion networks,” she said. “Up to about 12 weeks of pregnan cy, you can do a medication abortion with misoprostol and mifepristone.”

These underground networks “are really about community members who educate themselves about self-man aged abortion and then become a phone number or text line or something that a pregnant person can contact,” Williams explained. “They send the pills and then are there as a friend, a guide, either sometimes in person, often over the phone or text, guiding them through the abortion.”

Fernandez emphasized that the fight continues, and that she hopes for larger change in the future.

“There are so many people who are so passionate about these issues, and who are literally raising hell,” she said. “Real structural change is our best option.”

HERALD ARCHIVES

Women of Brown United continued its activism after Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, escorting patients looking to receive abortions to the Women’s Medical Center.

HERALD ARCHIVES

Women of Brown United were often confronted by pro-life protestors outside abortion clinics while escorting patients.

daddy’s girl

a deliberation on drives with dad

by Ellyse Givens illustrated by Lulu Cavicchi

I am a gentle giant on stilts as I stumble in my heels across the wooden floors of my kitchen. He’s already in the car, as he always is. I shove a Ziploc pouch of apple wedges into my oversized and overstuffed tote bag and flounder out the garage door.

“Sorry,” I murmur as I practically fall into the passenger seat.

“It’s okay, sweetie.”

He turns the volume knob gently as he begins reversing down the driveway. Sports broadcaster Dan Patrick’s voice draws my body a bit more from its early morning placidity. It’s time for work.

After the conclusion of my freshman year of college, I came home for the summer. I had secured an internship with a company whose headquarters happened to be a 5 minute walk from my dad’s commercial real estate office, where he’s worked for the past 9 years. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, I draped myself in business casual attire, feeling like a child in a costume, and completed the 45 minute commute to downtown San Diego with my dad. I know—it was kind of the cutest thing in the world.

My dad was always the ultimate girl dad. He knows all the moves to the High School Musical number “We’re All in This Together.” During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he tied a bandana around the bottom half of his face and proceeded to call himself ‘John B’ (the star of Outer Banks). He can recognize a Shawn Mendes anthem from a single opening guitar chord. When I looked beside me as my family watched the conclusion of The Fault in Our Stars, he was crying nearly as much as I was.

Despite my dad’s endorsement of 21st century femininity, my younger self always wondered if he, deep down, wanted a son. What dad wouldn’t? I feared my dad was a man without a counterpart; he had no one with whom to appreciate the manly delicacies of life, from football to food to foolishness.

This thought plagued my young mind, inspiring me to seek achievement in a sort of “masculine” manner to cultivate true commonality between my dad and me. If I didn’t have a hobby whose intricacies could be analyzed and technicalized, what would we talk about? I didn’t want to unbox my emotions with him, not seeing heart-to-hearts as the kind of handson, interest-based activity that fathers and ...

“My name is like my hair: hereditary, curly, and meticulously looked after. A name that’s nine letters long is hard to fit into, but it motivates me to keep trying.”

—Magdalena Del Valle, “A Name with Room to Grow: Part Two” 10.22.2021

“I no longer felt my mother’s trust in me or her shadow over me. Without my mother’s shadow, was I still as beautiful as I thought I was?”

—Ingrid Ren, “For the First Time” 10.23.2020

Full

NARRATIVE to hold in my hands on trying and failing to define myself

by Liza Kolbasov

When I was in the fifth grade, I was given an assignment to write a poem about “who I am.” A big task, really, for a fifth grader with naive brown eyes and puffy cheeks and very little concept of what it meant to be something or someone. In a font meant to imitate handwriting, centered on a page, I carefully typed out:

“I am from Russia and worry a lot

I wonder if magic exists

I hear rain pitter-patter on roofs

I see puffy clouds in the sky

I want to be the best at everything

I am from Russia and worry a lot

I pretend I am somebody else

I feel my mother’s hands on my cheek

I touch soft fur

I worry about a lot of things

I cry when I get bad grades

I am from Russia and worry a lot ...

cute aggression beauty is pain

by Ellie Jurmann

As I walk into my living room, my dog Sammie lifts her head at the sound of my approaching footsteps. My eyes meet her sleepy round ones, full of—as I believe—the secrets to world peace and of the universe. As I gaze into her sweet chocolate eyes, I notice the slight wag of her perfectly curly pug tail. I am overwhelmed by a sudden intense urge to scream at my fur baby girl.

I realize that sounds totally uncalled for, but this is where I introduce the concept of “cute aggression.” I have become very familiar with this idea ever since adopting Sammie. Cute aggression is the feeling you get when something or someone is so cute that you just want to squeeze them or, as some say, “eat them up.” Now, I obviously have no intention of hurting the adorable creature I love so much; even the idea of accidentally stepping on Sammie’s paw knots my stomach and makes my chest feel heavy. In fact, the experience of having such cuteness in my life is so beautiful and so heartwarming that it literally causes me physical pain.

I honestly have no idea if feeling pain is an inherent part of experiencing cute aggression, or if it is just a bonus comorbidity that I have been blessed with. I am not even being dramatic when I say that looking at my dog causes me to feel like my heart is exploding. It feels like someone has clasped my heart between their two hands and is squeezing so tight that it completely bursts open (my apologies for ...

the winchester a first-time shooter's review of clinking by Robin hwang

last year. But Jason is our chief expert. Starting from age eight, his summer stays at the ranch were interspersed with his uncle gently guiding Jason’s lanky frame into the lithe stance of a seasoned marksman.

Kyle ends his playful, sarcastic comment with a measure of reassuring laughter. Today is the highlight of my friend group’s trip in southern Montana. My friends Jason, Sean, Kyle, and I had whizzed through hiking trails on the stark mountains nearby, and we were running out of things to do. On the fourth day, lounging in the living room of Jason’s family ranch, my friends stumble upon a revelation: I had never seen a real gun before.

Having spent half of my life in gun-restrictive Korea and the other half in suburban California, I’d always thought of guns as flashing sidekicks to action movie heroes rather than the quiet mass of steel they were in reality. Kyle and Sean are better acquainted with guns, having gone to a shooting range together

My boyish desire to be part of the group leads to the conclusion that I must shoot a gun by the end of the trip. As Jason leaves to ask his uncle about borrowing the guns, the room trembles with ecstatic conversation. Recalling his previous time at the range, Sean demonstrates his stance with the confidence of an Olympic athlete. Kyle teaches me about conscription in his home country of Switzerland, through which most people our age learn how to shoot.

Listening to the hum of conversation, I hold on to a quaint sense of appreciation for this moment. I know my friends here, like many Brown students, look at Second Amendment rights and gunwaving machismo with skepticism at best. But the combination of humor, curiosity, and fantasy gives me the sense that we’re indulging in a small dose of simple teenage boyhood, before the realities of a final year in college confront us on our flight back to Providence ...

“I was sick in a sick-in-the-head sense, not in the literal sense.”

“Your car is Dorian Gray and you are the portrait.”

Grades

meadowmount, music, and magic

finding feeling in fauré

by Sarah kim Illustrated by Connie Liu

In kindergarten, our class read the story of the Gingerbread Girl, who comes alive after she is baked and runs away to escape being eaten. We had parents come into class and help us build gingerbread people, and then set them in the oven to bake during recess, only to find them missing when we returned.

Five-year-old me had to reckon with this: surely the gingerbread people didn’t come alive and run away… right? Why would we have gone through all that work of having parents come in and help us bake if we weren’t even going to enjoy eating them? Was the entire school helping us search for the gingerbread people out of their commitment to the bit or was this a serious, real event?

My only logical conclusion? Magic. And until I realized—perhaps later than I should’ve—that the teachers and parents were just having fun, that story was my anecdote of magic, real and tangible as

anything else.

Many of us believe the world is too extraordinary to be completely devoid of a sort of magic. Maybe it fits it into our articulations of religion, metaphysics, the universe. Whatever it is, many of us find that personal anecdotes and stories—of lost wedding rings recovered from the bottom of the ocean, or finding yourself next to the random person you had an incredible connection with whose number you lost—validate this enough.

I believe music is one of those extraordinary things, which I realize is no radical original thought. It’s likely the same motivator behind playing classical music for your unborn baby or playing at a nursing home: music has this ability to touch suffering hearts, to inspire, to open people up emotionally to buried meanings in their lives, to elicit peace amidst a season of chaos. I think this “ability” is where the ...

LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE

scrapbooking the original casual instagram

by Marlena Brown

Since around summer 2020, “casual Instagram” and other “casual” forms of social media have taken over celebrity profiles—not to mention those of the general public. Despite conflicting opinions on the trend, casual Instagram has many abandoning highly edited posts in favor of blurry mirror pictures and overly zoomed-in photos of their dog. Casual Instagram speaks to an instinct to just record our lives, even the nitty-gritty, day-to-day elements of it, to look back on later.

While the photos themselves are unedited, there’s a kind of curation that can evolve out of a casual Instagram account. For example, one might post a series of heart-shaped objects or quotes about sisterhood, so that a theme emerges even from a “casual” account. Digital collections have even made their way to other platforms, including the recent trend of TikTok photo collages. Scrapbooking, then, is the non-digital equivalent. Which is why scrapbooking, of all things, is your new alternative to casual social media.

The scrapbook, however, is unique from other forms. When I graduated high school, my grandmother gifted me the scrapbook she’d been putting together since I was born. It was unlike most gifts I’ve ever received; I could run my finger over the photographs and stickers spanning 18 years. There’s something to be said for the tactile nature of a scrapbook. For the same reason that those who grew up in the digital age turn to vinyls and camcorders, the analog format of scrapbooking demands ...

“Robin-Robin-Robin—after this, you’re gonna be a man!”

The Bruno Brief: Brown bares it all

brush with nudity scandal came in 1954, and that is when Brown students first started being able to buy Playboys on campus.

Jacob Smollen

That was Jack Wrenn, a former Herald columnist who wrote about the history of nudity on campus last year.

nior library assistant at the Rockefeller Library, who explained that he wished the run was a bit edgier.

David Wilson

I would expect that’s where it would take place.

Jacob Smollen

is inherently sexual.

Jacob Smollen

BY THE BRUNO BRIEF TEAM

In the first episode of the Bruno Brief’s series on sexual politics, we dig into the history of nudity on Brown’s campus and what it looks like today. We speak with Jacob Smollen, senior staff writer and Bruno Brief producer, about his reporting on the topic that dives into Playboy Magazine’s visits to campus, the Sex Power God parties and the Naked Donut Run.

The following is a transcript of The Bruno Brief Podcast, available on Spo tify or Apple Podcasts or listen via the RSS feed. Send tips and feedback for the next episode to herald@browndailyher ald.com. The Bruno Brief is produced in partnership with WBRU.

Bill O’Reilly

Back of the book segment tonight, partying at Brown University, the highly regarded Ivy League school in Rhode Island.

Jesse Watters

The first thing I saw was just pure debauchery. People kind of just got out of control. I went down to the bath room, was in a stall. I heard people hav ing sex in the stall next to me. There were guys kissing guys, girls making out with girls.

Elysee Barakett

In 2005, Brown University made headlines for a school-sanctioned party that was a little bit too risque and gay for the more traditionally minded. Going by the name of Sex Power God, hundreds of curious students flocked to Sayles Hall to take part in a night of what some described as “hedonism.”

What they got in response was a wave of conservative backlash coming from voices as prominent as the anchors in the newsroom of Fox News.

Beyond Sex Power God, Brown is known for the Naked Donut Run — a tradition where a naked crowd jaunts through libraries and distributes donuts to studying students.

This episode, we will explore nudity and its history at Brown University.

Are we more naked than other colleges? What is the point of going au naturale, and why do some people love it? Has nudism on campus taken a hit with the pandemic, and does the University have any intent to outlaw it?

I am Elysee Barakett, and this is the premiere of season four of the Bruno Brief.

Jacob, you recently wrote an article for The Herald about Brown students’ affinity for bearing it all. What did you find out about the history of nakedness on campus?

Jacob Smollen

Basically, things start back in the 50s…

Jack Wrenn

Brown’s first really well documented

It was then that a student, Gerald Levine ’58, started selling mail sub scriptions for the magazine after (first) being shut down by the dean at the time. Just three years later, there was a Playboy Christmas party in Jameson House.

Playboy would return later in the ’70s and ’80s, “scanning the Ivy League for a cross section of women,” according to a 1979 ad in The Herald, which also sparked controversy.

But in the intervening years, streaking took Brown by storm. Streakers dashed through the Ratty and Wriston Quad, and even inad vertently caused the destruction of a Herald editor’s car.

Jack Wrenn

In 1983, a police cruiser chasing down a streaker crashed, I believe, into the Herald headquarters on Fones Alley. The Herald, of course, broke the news.

Elysee Barakett

Today, the most well-known and mainstream nude activity is the Naked Donut Run.

Olivia Duba

A big part of it is calling Dunkin’ Donuts and convincing them that this is not a prank call. This is a real order of over 1,000 donut holes and I will be coming in to pay for them.

Jacob Smollen

That was Olivia Duba ’22, and she organized the NDR for the 2021-22 school year. Another former organizer who opted to stay anonymous to avoid professional repercussions described the naked donut experience and its benefits.

Anonymous Student

For me, it’s just become a rite of passage and, like, a time of self explo ration and self discovery where it could be in a really safe space of a lot of cool people that are really comfortable and passionate about being naked. And we just have a really fun time. And we get to be silly and goofy, and maybe at the same time teach somebody, you know, this is what a body might look like. And maybe you didn’t know that before — that’s okay, now you do.

Addison Kerwin

Honestly, I feel like I kind of blacked out during it.

Elysee Barakett

This is Addison Kerwin ’24, who has participated in the Naked Donut Run.

Addison Kerwin

I think it’s so Brown. I want to watch the Naked Donut Run this year, and I want lots of people to be in it. I just encourage people to do it and try it. I think one of the best ways to live life is to not take yourself too seriously. I feel like that’s a great way to do that.

Jacob Smollen

I also talked to David Wilson, a se

We’re progressive and we’re okay with nudity. But I wish it would be more of a rebellious thing, where we’re not supposed to do this and we better run quick because they’re gonna get ar rested.

Kirsten Wolfe

I cannot say that the other schools I’ve been at have had as much naked ness. But in fairness, we haven’t had as much since I got here.

Elysee Barakett

That’s Kirsten Wolfe, associate dean and associate director of stu dent conduct and community stan dards. Wolfe’s been at Brown for nine years. She explained that, at present, there is no campus-wide policy on nudity.

Kirsten Wolfe

One of the recommendations that we made was that the University come up with a campus-wide nudity policy rather than it being prohibited behavior in the code of conduct. Because there was some concern at the time, particu larly around folks who have experienced sexual assault being confronted with naked bodies anywhere on campus, that kind of thing, and talking about, should we have limits so that people know what to expect and where to expect it so they can avoid those kinds of things.

Jacob Smollen

But most of the backlash against Brown’s au natural culture comes from beyond College Hill.

Elysee Barakett

What did you find in your reporting about students receiving pushback for their naked activities?

Jacob Smollen

It really starts and ends with Jesse Watters, Bill O’Reilly and Fox News. In 2005, the O’Reilly Factor exposed Sex Power God, with Watters sneaking in and filming the party without the consent of the participants, many of whom were dressed in their underwear. And many of these students would later tell the Herald they felt violated by the airing of the footage.

Today, most students don’t know Sex Power God. I mean, why would they? But for those that have heard, the truth is slightly distorted. Here’s Sulay Restrepo ’25 describing what they’d heard.

Jacob Smollen

What did you hear about it?

Sulay Restrepo

Basically that it was like an orgy, honestly, like that it was just like a sex party. Right? And then everyone would just go and like dance and just have fun and be naked and some people would have sex.

Jacob Smollen

Madison Lease explained that she approved of the venue for the now-no torious party.

Madison Lease

Sayles is the most sexy building, so

Yet, even for nudity-focused events that were explicitly about body positivi ty, like Nudity in the Upspace, there was still criticism from Fox News.

Elysee Barakett

What’s Nudity in the Upspace?

Jacob Smollen

Basically, starting in 2012, a group of Brown students led by Becca Wolinsky ’14 hosted nude events on campus in order to discuss body positivity, self acceptance and the intersection of nakedness with other identities. Jack Wrenn can explain a little more.

Jack Wrenn

Nudity in the Upspace was this event at Brown that would take over the upspace in T.F. Green Hall for an entire weekend, devoted to all sorts of celebrations of nudity. There was nude body painting, a nude dance class, nude a lot of things, lectures on nudity, group talks about nudity. It was sort of the hub on campus in the 2010s for anything naked.

Jacob Smollen

In 2013, Jesse Watters decided to show up again, though Brown students weren’t happy about it.

Jesse Watters

Do you guys think this is just a ruse to see your classmates nude?

Anonymous Student 1

No, there are other ways to just see your classmates nude.

Jesse Watters

Do your parents know you partici pated in nude body painting at school?

Anonymous Student 2 They do now.

Jesse Watters Say hi to dad.

Anonymous Student 2 Hey, daddy.

Jesse Watters

Now, nude body painting — is that finger painting or is it a roller?

Anonymous Student 3

I’m not really sure, but I assume it could be any of these things.

Jesse Watters

Were you a painter or were you a paintee?

Anonymous Student 4

I was both the artist and the canvas.

Jesse Watters

Did it tickle?

Anonymous Student 4

I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

Elysee Barakett

So, what is the reasoning behind all the nudity?

Jack Wrenn

We’re all born naked. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s definitely, definitely a very problematic notion that nudity

Wrenn also co-founded BUNS, the Brown University Naked Society. He and other students emphasized that they want to destigmatize nudity. There’s also a strong element of body positivity and self-acceptance that drives students to strip down.

Addison Kerwin

A lot of different things about my body I thought were weird or different. But then when you’re with a group of people, you’re like, well, everybody’s bodies are weird and that’s totally nor mal. I sound so cringy mom trying to make her daughter feel good about her appearance, but I think it’s true.

Jacob Smollen

In general, taking it all off fuels a feeling of freedom.

Jarrett Fernandes

I definitely feel like there’s a feeling of freedom. I mentioned this to a friend once, but I was like, you know, some times clothes feel very constricting, and they force certain roles onto you. But when you’re naked, you just feel like a person.

Elysee Barakett

That was Jarrett Fernandes ’24, another member of BUNS. He also explained that nudist culture often coincides with the values that Brown students hold.

Jarrett Fernandes

I feel like a lot of elements of just nudist culture in general kind of just overlap with a lot of the Brown culture, too. Things like inclusiveness are ob viously things that are both important on campus, and it’s also a big part of nudism, too. So I don’t know if it’s nec essarily that BUNS is uniquely Brown so much as it is these two things kind of just crossover quite a bit.

Elysee Barakett

While some have deep reasons behind their participation in events like the Naked Donut Run, for others, it’s a bit more straightforward. Lease summed it up succinctly.

Madison Lease

I think nudity is fun. We should do more of it.

Elysee Barakett

That’s it for this episode of The Bru no Brief. Join us next week as we explore birth control, abortion and activism at Brown.

This episode was produced by Katy Pickens, Jacob Smollen, Finn Kirkpat rick and me, Elysee Barakett. If you like what you hear, subscribe to The Bruno Brief wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review. Thanks so much for listening.

Slusarewicz ’23: Employers can’t rely on personality tests

While applying for post-graduation jobs this semester, I’ve stumbled across a baffling aspect of the application process for some companies: a personality test. When the company I applied to requested I fill out a short character assess ment, I assumed the test would consist of rel evant questions, like “Do you prefer working in loud or quiet spaces?” or “Are you happier working from home or in person?” Questions like these provide tangible insights into the working habits of applicants. Unfortunately, my faith was misplaced — they were, in fact, at tempting to gauge my personality, a feat that is as ambitious as it is unsound. Most personality tests have long been considered pseudoscience by psychologists, and their inclusion in hiring processes forces applicants into uncomfort ably-invasive positions. By utilizing personality tests in assessing applicants, companies disre gard individual complexity and discourage di versity.

Personality tests have increased in popular ity as a recruitment tool in recent years, pos sibly by as much as 20% annually as of 2011. However, the scientific validity of these tests is dubious, at least for the purposes of hiring. Personality tests that sort individuals into cat egories, most notably the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, are particularly ridiculed by the sci entific community. Even personality tests that rate test takers on individual character traits aren’t necessarily a valid indicator of applicant viability. First of all, personality tests don’t account for a test taker’s outside circumstance, like stressful situations. Though the Big Five personality test is respected among some ac ademics, pushing the tests as effective indica

tors of later job success is a misrepresentation of research. While some research correlates Big Five scores with certain outcomes, correla tion does not equal causation. Individuals can change their personality traits through consci entious goal setting.

Personality tests are sometimes used in ap plications to determine an applicant’s cultural fit. However, research has raised questions as to

personality assessment I took asked whether I become anxious in certain situations. The pres ence of these kinds of questions caused me to wonder whether the company might use my anxiety symptoms to take me out of the run ning. Thus, I became torn between my desire to be truthful and my fear that answering honestly would leave me vulnerable to discrimination.

Including questions about anxiety both violated

for the workplace? My answer to this question could easily be both true or false. When both answers could easily be true, applicants are left agonizing over which answer the compa ny wants, leading some individuals to answer personality tests based on which answers are socially desirable as opposed to which they res onate with the most.

The reality is, no multiple-choice person ality test can provide as much insight as a structured interview. Companies say that they want to hire unique individuals, yet they dis regard individuals’ complexity in favor of ef ficiency.

whether personality-test results are a good pre dictor of cultural fit. Assumptions about which personality traits best serve specific roles could also limit the diversity of certain fields. Fur thermore, personality tests can inadvertently promote disability discrimination by measur ing traits such as introversion/extroversion, positivity, intensity and neuroticism. In some cases, using certain personality tests for hiring processes may even violate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

As someone with generalized anxiety dis order, I felt extremely uncomfortable when the

my rights as a disabled person and disregarded the fact that I’ve learned to persist through my anxiety.

Personality tests remove context that is needed to truly understand human behavior. No multiple-choice question can account for contingencies and factors that impact the an swer. For example, I was asked to mark whether “I become aggressive when I believe people are wrong,” a statement that does not specify what wrong means. Is the person who I believe to be wrong saying that Oxford commas are unnec essary or are they saying women aren’t cut out

This isn’t to say that personality tests should play no role in job selection. Howev er, their usefulness applies more to applicants than to hirers, as they may serve as jumping-off points for self-reflection. If companies provided a personality test to applicants without actual ly reviewing the results, they could encourage reflection as opposed to performativity in their applicants and potentially weed out those who realize that they wouldn’t like the job. Unfortu nately, using personality tests to direct certain applicants to specific jobs while disregarding others places an unfair burden on some indi viduals during an already-grueling application process.

Megan Slusarewicz ’23 can be reached at megan_slusarewicz@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

CDC reccomends COVID bivalent booster shot for children 5 through 11

METRO Variant-specific booster is now available with Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna vaccines

BY EMMA MADGIC SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On Oct. 12 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its recommendation for the updated bi valent COVID-19 vaccine booster to include children ages five through 11, according to a CDC press release.

The updated vaccines include Omi cron BA.4 and BA.5 spike proteins, which target Omicron variants that are immune-evading and more transmis sible, according to the announcement.

The recommendation follows an authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, allowing the Pfizer-Bi oNTech vaccine for children ages five through 11 and the Moderna vaccine for children and adolescents ages six through 17, according to the release.

Following the CDC announcement, the Rhode Island Department of Health updated its guidelines to include bivalent booster shots for anyone five years and up.

The shots are available at phar macies and through primary care providers, according to Philip Chan, consultant medical director for RIDOH, associate professor of medicine and

associate professor of behavioral and social sciences. “There’s ample supply and good access, and people just need to sign up and do it,” Chan said.

In Rhode Island and nationwide, the share of children who have received both the primary vaccination series and addi tional booster shots is much lower than older age groups. In Rhode Island, 58.8% of children five through 17 have com pleted the primary vaccination series compared to a range of 68% (ages 19 through 24) to 95% (ages 60 through 79).

For booster shots, the difference is even more stark: Only 17% of children ages five through 17 have received at least one booster shot. Other age group booster uptakes range from 31% (ages 25 through 29) to 91% (ages 70 through 79).

The reasons for the differences in COVID-19 vaccine uptake among chil dren and adults vary, said Amy Nunn, professor of behavioral and social sci ences and professor of medicine.

“Even among people who got vacci nated, a lot of them were vaccine-hes itant for their children,” Nunn said.

Additionally, each COVID-19 vac cine was approved for children and ad olescents later than for adults, meaning people may have been experiencing greater levels of COVID fatigue by the time they had the option to vaccinate their children, Nunn said.

“I think a lot of people had already had COVID and so they just got busy and got over COVID and just didn’t do

it,” Nunn said.

Chan also noted that when it comes to vaccinating children and adolescents, parents may be “concerned less about COVID and more about some of the long term or other side effects of vaccines” due to a perception that the virus is less severe among children.

Although the COVID-19 virus has been less severe for children and ado lescents than for other age groups, “it is not benign,” Chan said. “Kids can get really sick with it, there have certainly been a handful of kids who have been hospitalized and more than a handful across the U.S. who have died from it. And there’s also some longer term complications, like multi-inflammatory syndrome in children and long COVID.”

Chan stressed the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. “This vaccine has now been given to hundreds of millions of people across the world and here in the U.S. And there’s a really great safety profile with it,” he said. “There’s a small risk in younger adolescents for myocarditis, but that’s very rare, and otherwise the vaccines are really safe and effective.”

There isn’t as much data yet on the bivalent booster shot, Chan said. “For the exact bivalent booster, there is still limited data for everyone because the decision was made, which I support, that we wanted to get this vaccine au thorized and in use now, because the variants are here and they’re affecting people.”

Nunn and Chan agree that the best methods of managing COVID-19 and getting people vaccinated have shift ed. “Now that we know that COVID is going to (continue to) be with us, we have to integrate it into our healthcare systems,” Nunn said. “People are tired of COVID-specific messaging.”

This corresponds with the avail ability of funding, Chan said. “We are losing and have lost some of the COVID funding that’s coming into our state. What this means here in Rhode Island and other states is we haven’t been able

to sponsor as many vaccine clinics.”

“This is a natural evolution of pan demics,” Chan added, in reference to the diminishing number of state-sponsored clinics. “A lot of what we’re seeing now in terms of vaccines is being pushed back into the clinical community, which should be able to do this anyway.”

“The more we can normalize it and integrate it into primary care the better,” Nunn said, “because what we had for the first two years was really an emergency response and was un sustainable.”

“By utilizing personality tests in assessing applicants, companies disregard individual complexity and discourage diversity.”

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

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Welcome Brown University Families!

Family Weekend Events:

Josten’s Class Rings - Fri, 10/21 through Sun, 10/23 from 12-5 PM

Photos with Bruno - Friday, 10/21 from 2-6 PM

Missing Button Trunk Show - Saturday, 10/22 from 12-4 PM

Herff Jones Class Rings - Saturday, 10/22 from 12-4 PM

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Friday, October 21 from 9 am to 8 pm Saturday, October 22 from 9 am to 8 pm Sunday, October 23 from 9 am to 4 pm

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