Friday, September 23rd, 2022

U. plans for new life sciences building

ARTS & CULTURE

Tattoo artist jankypoker works to create ‘safe space’

BY JARED ZHANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

the University has begun planning to build a new integrated life sciences building in providence’s Jewelry Dis trict as it runs out of space for research in its current facilities, according to Dean of Medicine and Biological Sci ences Mukesh Jain.

“In May, the Brown Corporation authorized the University to begin the process of selecting an architect (for the new life sciences building), and that process is now underway,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to the Herald. the University hopes to share news about the selection of an architect within the next few months, he added.

the University will launch an ex tensive programming phase to assess factors such as space needs, design, projected scale and estimated costs,

Clark wrote. The first steps will likely take four or five years, he added.

the University is currently looking for design teams that have previously developed academic research facilities and also have a commitment to sus tainable design practices, Clark wrote.

Currently, the University has three biomedical facilities, two on campus — the Biomedical Center and Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences — and one off campus — the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine at 70 Ship St., Jain wrote in an email to the Herald.

RIPTA bus driver shortage affects students, residents

“It takes so long to wait, and when we do wait … it’s so crowded,” she said.

Walking home takes an hour to an hour and a half for Egunjobi, but even this long commute is similar to how long a bus ride would take when factoring in the unusual wait times.

“the BioMed Center opened in 1969, so it’s the oldest and most dated of our facilities, and it’s complete ly maxed out. Sidney Frank and the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine opened in the mid-2000s, and both are nearing capacity,” Jain wrote. “Right now, we are essentially out of space for research, not just in BioMed.”

Not only are the existing research facilities nearing maximum capacity, some need significant investments

BY LAURA DAVID ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

When you first walk into the studio of Rena Jiang ’23, it feels like you’re there to see an old friend. t hough dotted with tattooing equipment, the space is far from clinical; an open skylight and window let in the breeze of a fall day, and the white wood walls create a cozy atmosphere. Sitting on the massage table on this particular Saturday afternoon is perry Allen ’23 — an old friend of Jiang’s — waiting to beAllentattooed.shifts nervously in the chair. “Wait,” he says as Jiang ties a tension band around his elbow. “It’s a little tight, can we maybe reposition? I don’t want my arm to fall asleep.” He has selected a finely-drawn leafy branch as his design, and the two debate its place

ment. they decide to put the stencil on Allen’s forearm. Jiang wets a sponge and completes the design’s stencil transfer. She picks up her ink and needle, and sheKnownbegins. on social media as janky poker, Jiang has become a go-to tattoo artist on “Honestly,campus.Ijust picked this design because I wanted one of Rena’s tattoos and her books fill up quick, so I impul sively signed up once they opened,” AllenJiang’sjoked.business began as an experi ment between friends. “It was just like a COVID thing,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that I had planned on turning it into a business. It just sort of happened that there was a lot of demand, and it was me and three other girls living bored in a house with nothing to do. So, we bought a couple of needles and we” started trying them out.

As more and more people in her social circle began to notice her work, she started booking through Instagram direct messages, she said. “It was defi

First-year student-athletes find community

BY SAMEER SINHA METRO EDITOR

the Rhode Island public transit Au thority is experiencing a shortage of bus drivers, affecting those who rely on the transit system to get to school, work or around town.

Issues with staffing have left many riders without their regularly sched uled buses, according to W p RI. t his issue has been particularly severe for buses used by the p rovidence p ublic School District; it is unclear exactly how many students have been affected by the issue, but around 4,500 stu dents in a given year generally request a busDemipass.Egunjobi, an 11th grader at Classical High School, said that a majority of her friends take the RI ptA to commute to school. In the wake of the delays caused by the driver shortage, Egunjobi has begun to walk to school.

On thursday morning, six school bus routes were canceled, and the previous day, five were canceled, the providence Journal reported.

Barbara polichetti, director of public affairs for RIptA, wrote in an email to the Herald that RIptA met with the division leaders of the Amalgamated transit Union, the union that rep resents Rhode Island bus drivers, “to discuss how to resolve recent bus ser vice disruption for” providence school students.Inthe meeting, the union recom mended that RIptA “call upon former bus operators who are current employ ees in different roles to help transport school” students, but RIptA has thus far not been able to recruit any former busRIoperators.ptAoffered a short-term solution to the driver shortage for students, al lowing them to take any bus, even if it

BY LINUS LAWRENCE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Late Sunday night, a flight carrying the men’s water polo team back from the West Coast landed in Boston. the team had embarked on a road trip through California beginning Friday in which they played three games in a span of just over 24 hours, arriving back on campus soon after midnight Monday morning.

“I spent three (hours) of our six-hour flight (to California) doing my computer science lab on the plane,” goalkeeper Kole Newman ’26 said. “If I wasn’t work ing on that, I was pretty much sleeping.”

All first-year students face a myriad of new experiences during their transi tion to Brown — attending orientation events, shopping classes, building new routines and acclimating to other ele ments of college life. For student-ath letes, these experiences come in addi tion to a rigorous athletic schedule and adapting to new team dynamics. three fall student-athletes spoke with the Herald about the unique benefits and

challenges of their first-year experience and what they have learned in their first few weeks at Brown.

On the day that the men’s water polo team returned to campus, the wom en’s soccer team also returned from a multi-day cross-country trip to Stillwa ter, Okla., where they fell to Oklahoma State University the day before. the Bears dealt with a flight cancellation en route to the game and battled extreme heat while playing away from home, the Herald previously reported.

While weekend trips typically occur only a few times per season, rigorous practice schedules are a reg

ular part of a first-year athlete’s daily life. “the days are pretty packed,” said Naya Cardoza ’26, a forward on the women’s soccer team. A student-ath lete might have “a sport-related event in the morning, go to class(es) … and then, on top of all of that, there’s things that you need to fit into the day,” such as eating, resting and com pleting coursework.

“The travel schedule has definitely impacted how I’ve been able to settle into my first year at college,” Jessie Golden ’26, a defensive specialist on

Researchers look forward to new facilities, opportunitiescollaboration

DANA RICHIE / HERALD

Life sciences research continues to grow on campus and across the country, as does the capacity of researchers to make discoveries.

METRO

Shortage reflects nationwide trend in lack of transportation staff, according to RIptA

SPORTS teammates help players adapt to multiday trips, rigorous practice schedules

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

The women’s soccer and men’s water polo teams both returned to campus after midnight Monday morning.

Self-taught Rena Jiang ’23 has become popular artist for students seeking tattoos

does not go to their school, and then transfer at Kennedy plaza in downtown providence.Egunjobi said that the delays have added stress to students’ lives. “If you’re waiting for the bus at 7:10 and it doesn’t come, … I’m automatically going to be late,” she said. “If you’re late too many times, you get detention.”

Egunjobi has begun riding to school with her parents, but she takes the RIp tA on the way home, and she arrives home much later than usual, she said.

She added that many students, particularly younger students, may be unfamiliar with the RIptA system, and they may feel overwhelmed by the long or canceled bus routes. “I can’t imagine being a freshman right now. I would ac tually be panicking,” she said. “there’s

CONSTRUCTION FROM PAGE 1

for renovation and maintenance, Clark wrote.Research in the life sciences at Brown includes “20 biology and clinical departments … and four departments at the School of public Health,” Clark wrote. the programming phase of the building process will assess the needs of each research program and determine what specific spaces would be included. Creating an integrated life-sciences

just so much pressure on top of starting highKevinschool.”Hoffman, a resident of ports

mouth, said that the constant delays caused by the driver shortages nega tively affect his daily life.

“I get that there’s a shortage of drivers,” he said. “Why can’t they be transparent about it? You have an app, a website, a social media, … but they don’t tell us when there’s a delay.”

On their website each night, RIp tA announces disruptions and other service alerts for routes that will be affected the next day. these announce ments and alerts are updated again in the Egunjobimorning.said neither she nor any of her friends were aware of the RIptA service alerts. She said students feel “blindsided” when buses do not arrive. Some students call an Uber, and others

building is instrumental in support ing Brown’s research aspirations, Clark added.Even as the University runs out of space, research in the life sciences con tinues to grow as does the potential of Brown researchers to make significant impacts on the treatment of life-threat ening diseases, according to Jain. the newly-planned facility will make it possible for University researchers to access more resources and recruit more world-class scientists and scholars, Jain

begin walking to school.

Hoffman has been stuck twice waiting for buses in the past month. “It’s frustrating,” he said. “I wanted to take the RI ptA up to p rovidence from portsmouth so my wife could have the car for the day, and I ended up being over an hour late to meet a client.”Sometimes, buses don’t arrive at all, Hoffman said. “people have had to spend money finding an Uber or Lyft, or spend extra gas money because of the shortage, and that just isn’t okay since it’s supposed to be public trans portation.”people could get stranded or miss work,” he added. “It’s not a trivial thing.”polichetti asked passengers to remain “courteous to … drivers” and fellow passengers if buses are delayed.

wrote.While the new building is not yet an active construction project, inves tigators are already looking forward to the new space’s impact on the research community at Brown.

Assistant p rofessor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochem istry Alvin Huang, who is currently working from the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine, is excited about the opportunities a new building will bring.

t he new research building will “greatly benefit the Brown research community,” Huang said. While the new hardware, equipment and facil ities will help with space issues, the building will also greatly help to facil itate collaboration among researchers, Huang added.

this building will bring together labs from different departments and disciplines who wouldn’t previously have met together in person,” Huang said.

Huang hopes that being physically connected to researchers and resources will foster new collaboration opportu nities and “Havingteamwork.thecapacity to do truly cut ting-edge research will result in poten tial drugs, devices and diagnostics that can be applied to patient care — this is what we call translational research. We’ll be able to build stronger ties to biotech and pharma companies, and also spin-off companies built on Brown discoveries,” said Jain.

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

Kevin Hoffman, a resident of Portsmouth, R.I., has been stuck waiting for buses two times in the past month.

panelists

regulatingimplicationspotentiallydiscussdireoftooquickly

BY WILL KUBZANSKY UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

In a little more than a year, the internet will face a major wave of regulation mostly targeted to protect data and fight misinformation.

With the Jan. 1, 2024 implementa tion of the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the United Kingdom working on the Online Safety Bill, social networks and search engines will be subject to new requirements. the largest internet companies will face regulations that require them to perform annual transparency reports discussing how they recommend con tent to their users and allow researchers to access data to better understand risks and implement measures to counter illegal

Still,content.regulation alone cannot tackle misinformation and privacy problems, said panelists at a thursday afternoon event in the Watson Institute for Inter national and public Affairs hosted by the School of public Health’s Informa tion Futures Lab. Regulation represents one piece of the puzzle while adding its own challenges and unintended conse quences, said Claire Wardle, the panel’s moderator, professor of practice at the School of public Health and co-director of the Information Futures Lab.

“people tell you, ‘We just need more regulation,’” Wardle said. “My biggest concern is that we regulate now with a knee-jerk reaction, and historians look back and say, ‘that was a stupid move — you broke the internet because you were so scared.’”

the United States likely will not implement its own regulations on misinformation, said panelist Suresh Venkatasubramanian, professor of computer science and data science. the European Union, he said, has “more of a willingness to do these things topdown,” but similar conversations are “very hard to start in the U.S.” because of its commitment to free speech.

there’s limited hope on this side of the Atlantic,” said panelist Rebekah tromble, director of the George Wash ington University’s Institute for Data, Democracy & politics.

So Americans will be reliant on the impacts of soon-to-be implemented Eu ropean regulations for the foreseeable future. Those impacts will prove signifi cant, said panelist Mark Scott, a visiting fellow at the Information Futures Lab and chief technology correspondent at pOLItICO, noting that platforms will likely not make different products for different countries.

“You can’t cordon off the internet,” tromble said.

New laws abroad do not mean creat ing a “ministry of truth,” transforming government into the sole arbiter of what information the public can access, Scott said.“Nobody wants free speech to die,”

Scott said. “people should have free speech, but there are limits to a degree. You can’t just go around saying things that can cause harm — or, you can, but there are Beneficialconsequences.”internet regulation

should not seek to eliminate misin formation, said panelist Anna-Sophie Harling, an online safety principal at Ofcom, the U.K.’s communications regulator. Instead, regulation should prevent the amplification of misinfor mation, she Governmentsaid.should not target “con tent and spaces dedicated to misin formation,” Harling said. But it should make sure that the “average mom of four in Arizona who’s going on Face book” does not get anti-vaccine groups recommended, she said.

Regulation of data brokers — who collect data from different apps and sources, often selling it to law en

forcement — would represent a step forward for protecting privacy, trom ble said. All regulation raises a host of ethical and logistical problems, tromble said.

While sharing data with researchers can improve risk assessments, it also creates a privacy problem, tromble added. “Data always ties back to in dividual users,” she said. “there is a fundamental tradeoff between trans parency on one hand and privacy on the Andother.”introducing new metrics for accountability can foster unintended consequences, Harling said. If Ofcom asks social networks to report how many pieces of misinformation it removes, those networks are incentivized to re move more information — both true and false. If the law calls for timely removal of illegal content, social networks might not properly identify content, she said.

Regulation also moves slowly, while internet products move fast, Harling said.

“If regulators finally get their act together, platforms have to publish metrics about the news feed,” she said. that news feed might not exist any more.” And newer apps, like tiktok, can present a challenge for regulators who are unfamiliar with them.

“ t he difference between regulat ing t ik tok and Snapchat is like the difference between regulating a bi cycle and a Hummer,” she said. “ t he point is that we can go (to developers) and ask intelligent questions, not just take for granted what they say is in place.”Agencies charged with keeping big tech in check also tend to lack the size and resources to keep up, tromble said.

And some misinformation targets small groups, Venkatasubramanian said, noting that “if you want to change something in a Congressional district, you don’t need to reach many people to do

Regardlessit.” of new laws, the entire panel agreed that both governments and the public have become more aware of privacy, misinformation and the way that platforms show content to their

users.“Gen Z’s obsession with the algo rithm on tiktok has helped really in crease basic understanding of what’s happening on platforms, and how data is being collected and processed,” trom ble said. “And it’s generating a great deal of concern.”

nitely a hard learning curve,” she said. “If you look at some of my earlier work, it was definitely a little jankier than it is now.”Jiang’s tattooing business con tinued expanding the summer before her junior year. “It was then that she started publicizing her work and ac tually tattooing people” she didn’t know, Yohan Mutta ’23, another friend of Jiang’s, explained. “Seeing it all grow has been pretty incredible because I have just seen her artwork getting better and better and (have) watched her coming into her own in terms of defining who she is ar tistically.”thenumber of tattoos Jiang takes on each semester has also expand ed. Jiang plans on doing six to eight tattoos a week this semester whereas last semester she did four to six a week.though jankypoker is now a ful ly-fledged business endeavor, Jiang’s ar

tistic vision still sits at the heart of her tattooing. She will only, for instance, tattoo either her own designs or small doodles clients bring in; she doesn’t take other artists’ work.

“I do take customs sometimes if I feel like it’s something that matches my style and I feel like I can do well,” Jiang said. “But the best part is that I get to be selective. … A lot of artists don’t like … that they have to take requests for designs they’re not super passionate about because it’s what they do for a living.”tattoos themselves are not mere ly aesthetic. Jiang noted that tattoos can “be a very significant part of your identity.” While she considers tattoos to be more “like charms and embellish ment,” she knows that some people “might only get something inked if it had a lot of semantic or sentimental value to it.”

Still, Jiang acknowledged the expe rience of getting a tattoo can be deeply personal. Each tattoo takes roughly 40 minutes, and clients will often open

up to Jiang regardless of the contents of the tattoo itself.

“I hear interesting stories all the time,” she said. “It’s a pretty chill en vironment, and you’re meeting some one that you don’t really know, which I feel like gives them more freedom to say things you might not want to say to people who know everyone else in your“It’slife.”like a safe space,” she added.

tattooing, Jiang has noticed, takes on a significance beyond the individu al. “I’d say like 90% to 95% of people who book me are either queer or wom en,” she said. “I think a lot of people see tattoos as a reclamation of their bodies.”Asthe year goes on, Jiang plans to ramp up her books and expand where she can. t he ultimate goal would be for her to rent a studio post-grad uation.Asfor the future of tattooing on campus, Jiang said she hopes “someone picks it up after I’m gone, but I guess we’ll just have to see.”

Regulation will not solve misinformation online, but it could help, SPH panel says

WILL KUBZANSKY / HERALD

New digital regulation in the European Union aims to expand data privacy and target misinformation.

POKER

COURTESY OF RENA JIANG

Tattoos themselves are not merely aesthetic, Rena Jiang ’23 said. She noted that tattoos can “be a very significant part of your identity.”

In light of Dobbs decision, Pembroke panelists call for post-Roe activism

Scholars criticize legal reasoning behind decision, impact on healthcare access

BY NEIL MEHTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

three legal scholars and reproductive justice leaders discussed the negative implications of the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision — which overturned the constitutional right to abortion this June — during a panel ti tled “Reproductive Justice after Roe v. Wade” hosted by the pembroke Center for teaching and Research on Women thursday afternoon.

the roundtable discussion, moderat ed by Assistant professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences Madina Agénor ’05, covered reproductive health, healthcare access and activism following the Dobbs decision. panelists included Marcela Howell, founder and president of In Our Own Voice, UC Davis professor of Law Lisa Ikemoto and Nancy Northup ’81 p’16, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Howell began the panel by citing the historically disproportionate impact abortion restrictions have had on Black women, pointing to the Hyde Amend ment, which restricts the use of federal funds on abortion services.

According to Howell, historic discus sions about reproductive justice, often

led by white women, focused entirely on “accessing abortion (and) always having the right to abortion.”

But the Hyde amendment ruled that Medicaid beneficiaries, largely Black women, would not be able to use their insurance to pay for abortion care, Howell said.

Howell reflected on the importance of basing political activism in visual imagery, pointing to the civil rights movement as an example.

“When we think about the civil rights movement, there are certain pictures that come (to mind), like pettus Bridge, John Lewis, … (and) Martin Luther King,” she said. “When we think about the re productive justice movement, we don’t have a Northupvisual.”noted that the term “re productive rights” is more than “a eu phemism for abortion rights.” Rather, the term includes a range of reproduc tive health issues such as protection against forced sterilization as well as access to pregnancy healthcare, con traception and assisted reproduction care, she Northupsaid.called on students to engage in political activism, reminding students that the “state capital is in walking dis tance” of campus.

A lawyer by training, Northup re counted a legal history of abortion access in the United States, beginning with the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion, followed by planned parent

hood v. FollowingCasey.Roe, states issued a num ber of legal restrictions on abortion, Nor thup said. these included limitations on which professionals can perform abortions, restrictions on accessing abortion pills and regulations on how doctors could discuss abortion with their patients.Northup criticized the Dobbs deci sion for its legal reasoning, saying that it is “really important for people to keep in their heads that the decision is wrong.”

Over the past 50 years, the Roe deci sion helped establish “the legitimacy of same-sex relationships, same-sex mar riage,” she said. “All of this is within the realm of family and personal liberty. … Justice thomas makes it clear in his concurring opinion (in Dobbs) … that the Supreme Court should get rid of all

of that.”thedecision is “out of step with a global trend to liberalize abortion laws,” Northup said. “In the last 30 years, 60 countries have liberalized their abortion laws, and abortion has been situated and understood as a gender equality issue, not just a liberty issue. We want to discuss what we’re (going to) do aboutIkemotothat.”concluded the roundtable by discussing the effects of political rhet oric on upholding anti-abortion senti ment. She first referenced a statement from a far-right Christian conservative speaker on the question of abortions to protect the life of a mother.

She paraphrased his response: “Well, a mother’s role is to self-sacrifice, right?”

Ikemoto said that notions of moth erly sacrifice, as well as narratives sur

rounding “family values” and the “un born child” create a perception that the law has to “step in and protect (mothers) fromIkemotothemselves.”thenexplained that, while abortion access is often viewed as a red-versus-blue-state issue, residents of progressive states also face abortion restrictions. For example, California con tains multiple “abortion deserts” with “one-hospital towns,” some of which are religiously affiliated and do not offer abortion services, she said.

Concluding the panel, Ikemoto called on audience members to engage with a variety of social justice issues, underscoring that reproductive rights are inextricable from a variety of other rights.Issues such as voting rights and reproductive rights intersect, so “you have to think about how all of this fits together,” she said. “All of these roles you take to address these (issues) as an advocate in any form will help.”

Leela Gandhi and Wendy Lee, direc tor and associate director of the pem broke Center, respectively, told the Her ald that the event reflects the Center’s aim to offer more community events.

“trying to have more public-facing programming is very grounded in the mission statement of pembroke,” Lee said.“We’re trying to combine very specu lative critique with public-facing pro gramming” and “thinking about theory in the present,” Gandhi added.

the volleyball team, wrote in a mes sage to The Herald. “We missed our first three days of classes because of a tour nament we had in texas, which was a great learning experience for our team.

… It was definitely difficult, however, to learn about our classes after missing the first couple of days.”

“On our next travel days, I learned about sending letters to professors and was able to catch up on work on the bus,” she added. “It’s a grind but ultimately worth it in order to be a part of the Brown athletic and academic community.”

During orientation, intense prac tice hours and season openers made athletes’ schedules especially packed.

“We had practices for five hours daily

during the orientation time, and then we had the Bruno Classic (tournament) as well during the tail end of orientation,” Newman said, noting he was only able to go to one or two orientation events. “I think that definitely limited my ability to meet people outside of my team, so I think I’m playing a little bit of catchup there to try and meet some people.”

But Cardoza emphasized that spend ing so many hours with teammates in the weeks leading up to the start of the semester can provide first-years with a close-knit community of peers long before most students arrive on campus.

“I arrived at campus on the 14th or 15th of August,” Cardoza said. the early arrival “really does help (us) get adjust ed. Even just having an extra week … makes a big difference.”

“Having people that are already like a family to you really helps in terms of tak ing classes for school, (as well as) support outside of school and sports,” she added.

Newman described a similar experi ence, noting that members of the water polo team had already spent time to gether even before the preseason began, giving him a “group of almost guaranteed friends,” he said. “I know that’s one thing a lot of people worry about is the social aspect (of) meeting new people, and I pretty much had that taken care of.”

He also noted that more experienced teammates often play a pivotal role in providing academic support and ad vice for first-year athletes. For example, teammates advised him to take a lighter course load in his first semester — guid ance he plans to pass on to incoming

teammates in the future.

Upperclassmen can also help firstyears like Newman feel more comfort able socially. “the upperclassmen will always invite you to stuff if something’s happening and (are) willing to hang out,” he explained.

the team and coaches have always been there when we need to talk about stress, being homesick or just when we’re having a bad day, which has been ap preciated throughout this entire time,” Golden wrote. “the coaches and play ers have become a built-in family for me, and the returners on the team have been great role models in how to be a successful student-athlete at Brown.”

In addition to the sense of com munity formed among teammates, athletes had the opportunity to bond

with athletes in other sports through events organized by the University. “We had a student-athlete barbecue,” said Cardoza, referencing an event that took place on Ittleson Quadrangle Sept. 12.

Newman attended the barbecue as well. “It was a good experience. (I) got the chance to talk with a lot of other athletes, both first-year and above,” he wrote in a message to the Herald. “It was a good chance to meet some new people.”

“there’s just a connection with all the other athletes,” Cardoza said of the bond between Brunonians across different sports. “Other sports teams come to our soccer games, and we go to their games as well to support them.”

“It’s honestly like a big community (of) athletes relating to other athletes,” she added, “and I appreciate that.” PAGE 1

TODAY’S

Joshua preiss - Just Work For All 12 to 1 p.m. Joukowsky Forum

Moonspool: Film and poetry 6Meetp.m. 70 Brown St. F

Design a Kpop Album Cover 7 p.m.

Stephen Robert 62’ Campus Center

Lung Cancer Symposium 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 222 Richmond St., Providence, R.I.

Brown Men’s Soccer vs. Siena 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Stevenson-Pincince Field

Exhibition: Not Never More All-Day Nightingale-Brown House

Brown Football vs. Harvard 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Richard Gouse Field

Brown Women’s tennis vs. ItHF All day Newport, R.I.

NEIL MEHTA / HERALD

The roundtable discussion covered reproductive health, healthcare access and activism following the Dobbs decision.

New students describe their shopping period experiences

First-years, transfer student stresses,shoppingdiscussperiodsuccesses

BY GRACE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER

When pietro pignatti Morano Campori ’26 arrived on campus this fall, he had only decided on two courses to take during his first semester. He knew for certain that he wanted to take courses in economics and math but felt unsure of what his other two classes would be.

His Courses@Brown cart consisted of eight classes across several different subjects, each of which he planned on attending during the first week.

Although shopping eight cours es at once meant managing double the courses he eventually planned to take, pignatti Morano Campori said his Meiklejohn advisor emphasized the importance of shopping as many classes as possible — advice he found useful. “I went to classes that I thought I would really enjoy,” he said. pignatti Morano Campori noted that he appreciated the opportunity to try out his classes and drop the courses he pre-registered for

but was no longer interested in. Sally Hirschwerk ’25, who recently transferred from Barnard College, also valued the flexibility shopping period gave her. “I actually came from a school where they kind of did shopping period, so it wasn’t a totally new experience for me,” she Hirschwerksaid. struggled during this shopping period with deciding what to study. “As a transfer I didn’t have fresh man year to try everything,” she added. to explore the variety of classes of fered on campus, Hirschwerk decided to shop seven classes, many of which were in departments that Barnard lacked. Hirschwerk received advice at the start of the semester to “start with niche classes and then, if you like those, take (required) introduction courses” in thoseWhilesubjects.sheenjoyed having the option to try out courses in many different departments, she also found that keep ing up with the workload for all of her classes was very time consuming. “I got into a class in the last few days, so I was shopping until the end,” she noted. “I definitely think I was in the library more than you want to be in the first week of college, but it also felt like everyone else was doing that too.”

Madison Harvey ’26 decided not to

shop any courses beyond those that she was registered for. “I found shopping to be more overwhelming” than helpful, Harvey said. “I hadn’t really figured out exactly how to use Courses@Brown yet,” so “I didn’t end up shopping … any classes and just went with the classes I registered for.”

t hough she ended up finding classes after shopping period that she would have liked to try, she felt lucky that she enjoyed all the classes she was initially registered for. If this hadn’t been the case, “it was nice to know that I could switch classes if I needed to,” she said.

Ruth Ukubay ’26 had a similar expe rience to Harvey and initially decided only to shop the courses she registered for. But Ukubay disliked one of the courses she had planned on taking and decided to shop for additional classes a week into shopping period.

“It definitely felt overwhelming,” Ukubay said. “On orientation, they told us to shop for everything, but when I was going to new classes, they already had assignments and projects. I didn’t feel like I could manage to catch up. It wasUkubaydiscouraging.”noted that starting the course late made her feel behind.

“I actually didn’t join one class be

cause they had so many assignments al ready and I felt like I couldn’t catch up,” she said. Ukubay said that professors should consider making coursework during shopping period less rigorous so that those who join classes late are not dissuaded from joining.

Still, some students told the Herald

ATTN: KEEP OUT! Regina George

that shopping period was ultimately helpful in their class selection process.

pignatti Morano Campori appreci ated being able to attend an wide array of classes at the start of the semester. “I think it gave me a lot of flexibility,” he said. “I didn’t find it that overwhelm ing,” he added.

ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD

RYAN RHEW / HERALD

Slusarewicz It is time we reassess the pervasive college drinking culture

I entered Brown already well aware that I’m genetically disposed to alcohol use dis order. While I was growing up, I witnessed the consequences of my own family’s sub stance use disorders on their emotional and physical well-being. Many of their negative relationships with drinking began in college for social reasons, where the habit eventual ly spiraled out of control. As a result, I swore

really don’t want to drink tonight, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” and “I don’t even remember what happened last night.”

As a first-year, I was on a substance-free floor, which in theory should’ve allowed me to avoid Brown’s drinking culture. However, many rooms on my floor still hosted drink ing events frequently. t his exacerbated my feeling that no place on campus is safe from

family history, I still found myself in turmoil over whether I should give it a try. Fortunate ly, I maintained my resolve, but this isn’t the case for everybody. t here’s no changing the past, but I can’t help but wonder how both my parents and my childhood would have changed had someone intervened to help them when they were my age.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer a concrete solu tion to drinking culture. Banning substance use altogether has been shown time and time again to be an ineffective strategy. penalizing students who drink in non-drinking spaces may be a worthwhile endeavor to protect students who want to avoid drinking culture, but in some ways it’s only a Band-Aid solution. perhaps the only way to address college drinking culture is to encourage conscientiousness amongst our selves by recognizing when drinking shifts from being a recreational activity to a compulsive one. Changing an ingrained culture of normal ized drinking on college campuses is a chal lenging task, but it is necessary to make college an experience that allows everyone to feel safe and included, despite their unique histories and needs.

off drinking altogether, but I still went to a couple parties as a first-year in hopes of meeting new people. However, I found that abstaining made me feel isolated, so even tually, I stopped going to parties. But I still heard the concerning confessions my peers would make after a night out — things like “I

drinking culture.

At Brown, I often feel as though avoid ing alcohol requires an unfair amount of emotional energy. As a first-year, I was wor ried that avoiding parties would mean that I would miss out on social connections. Despite promising myself I’d never drink due to my

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.

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Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion. a nostalgic senior, I’ve often found myself reminiscing about my first year, and in particu lar, the inextricable link between my first-year experience and partying. Drinking is at the core of the American college experience. For firstyears eager to immerse themselves in college life, partying and drinking are often seen as obligatory practices. College students are more likely to engage in heavy drinking than their peers who are not in college. these behaviors, though normalized within university settings, can also be signs of alcohol use disorder. thus, the prominence of drinking within students’ social lives can be dangerous and particularly jeopardizes those who are susceptible to addic tion.For many college students, drinking is a meaningful part of their social identity. How ever, excessive alcohol use within groups can create distorted ideas about the impact and normalcy of drinking. First-years may be at a particularly high risk of falling victim to college drinking culture. they often gain entry into the campus social scene through college rituals such as pregaming and keg parties. Most firstyears lack proper support networks in the first few months of college, and loneliness is cor related with a decreased ability to reduce alco hol use. Furthermore, those who have a rough transition from high school to college life may experience feelings of hopelessness, which is related to risky drinking behaviors.

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“The prominence of drinking within students’ social lives can be dangerous and particularly jeopardizes those who are susceptible to addiction.”

hairlessnessunlearning

by Ingrid Ren illustrated by Ella @nanahcubeBuchanan

Eighth grade was the year I tried to remove my upper lip hairs in three different ways.

First, I leaned into the mirror until my exhales fogged over my reflection. I wielded cuticle scissors to cut short, one by one, the longest and thickest hairs at the upper edges of my mouth.

Second, after I grew dissatisfied with the tediousness of trimming, I slipped a spool of sturdy sewing thread from my mom’s closet. I cut a length of beige, fuzzy thread and tied it into a loop which I spread into a rectangle with my thumbs and index fingers. I twisted it one, two, three times until I saw

myself holding the shape of a large bow tie in the mirror. When I separated my right thumb and index, the twists in the thread darted left. I brought the twisted thread to the right edge of my upper lip until it touched my skin. I inhaled, bracing myself for pain. My right thumb and index finger snapped apart, and the twists flew left, pulling a few hairs out by the root but cutting most off at the base. Those ones would only grow back thicker, or so I thought.

Third, I stopped by a Walgreens on my way back from school—one of the few times I was alone—and, heart pounding, bought a box of lime green wax strips. When I got home, I hid them in an old shoebox in my closet for several days. The night I finally summoned the courage to use the wax, I carefully followed the steps I learned from YouTube: Press a strip between your hands and rub them together to start to melt the wax. Cut the strip in two, one for each side of your upper lip. Carefully peel open a half strip. Place it on the right side of your upper lip. Apply pressure with a finger in the same direction as hair growth.

Inhale. Pinch the excess paper by the corner. Remember to keep the hand close to the skin.

Exhale. Rip ...

NARRATIVE

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR 旦一

to fragile boys everywhere

By Daniel hu

Your name is DANIEL HU. This is not a Chinese name. Your parents named you in Mandarin first: 旦 . This name has since been supplanted by DANIEL such that 旦一 is now your middle name instead.

旦一 is made up of very simple characters because your parents figured you might grow up to be too illiterate in Mandarin to recognize even your own name in writing. They chose a similar-sounding English name that would allow you to blend in with your peers. In your early childhood, you appreciated this second name for the invisibility it lends you. Teachers have no problem pronouncing your name. There is no need to tell the baristas at Starbucks how to spellButit.behind this cloak of DANIEL is still 旦一 quietly lurking in the liminal space between first and last name. Sometimes he takes a peek at the outside world from behind DANIEL ...

ARTS & CULTURE

alternative models of loving

the value of undefined intimacies in sally rooney

By Aalia Jagwani

As the perfect embodiment of the English major who would happily spend hours dissecting a Sally Rooney novel in the corner of a room in the middle of a dinner party, it has never occurred to me to question her cult following, of which I could very well be theReadingleader.as a writer, Rooney’s books felt worldaltering in their simplicity. My first attempts at producing short stories only began after I devoured her first two novels, and I am still convinced I would be incapable of producing fiction ...

LIFESTYLE

Queens

by marlena brown

On the grayest days this fall, when all you want to do is curl up and read a book…maybe that’s exactly what you should do.

When the clock strikes midnight on September 1, the northern United States is transformed. The water wheels of previously shuttered cider mills spring to life, pumping apple cider out of every orifice of settler’s cabins. Once-empty patches of farmland fill with ripe orange pumpkins, jolly faces practically carved into them already ...

“You don’t exist in naked?”

“You know me: standing alone, tall and proud like a sigma wolf.”

Feed the Cheeks, Zinneken’s coming soon to Thayer area

BY RHEA RASQUINHA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

New locations of Feed the Cheeks, a cookie shop, and Zinneken’s, which serves Belgian waffles, plan to open just off thayer Street this semester. Both located on Angell Street, Feed the Cheeks will be next to DenDen Korean Fried Chicken, and Zinneken’s will be in the neighboring lot.

Feed the Cheeks is run by a hus band and wife team: Mahran Izoli and Shahida Roslan, also known as Mr. Cheeks and Mrs. Cheeks respec tively. they started the business out of their apartment during the pandemic but never thought it would grow to its current magnitude, Izoli wrote in an email to the Herald. “While it’s been a long crazy journey — and definitely has not been easy — we are very happy at where we are today, staying humble and mindful of where we started,” he wrote.Feed the Cheeks currently has a location in Wayland Square. the new location at 190 Angell St. will open

some time in October, Izoli wrote. t he opening was pushed back from the team’s target date because they were still waiting on a number of items before the storefront could be fully operational.thenew location will offer not only cookies, but soft serve ice cream and premium coffee and espresso drinks,” Izoli added. “We also took our time with the aesthetic and interior design of this store (and) can’t wait for everyone to see it.”

The menu includes gooey flavors such as funfetti and classic chocolate chip, as well as additional seasonal options.Another married duo is opening the Zinneken’s venue at 194 Angell St. — Rachel Nguyen, franchise owner, and Rex tran, manager.. “We are proud to be the third location of Zinneken’s Belgian Waffles,” Tran in an email to thetHerald.heoriginal store is in Harvard Square, and a second location later opened in Glastonbury, Conn. Zin neken’s speciality is the Belgian pearl sugar waffle — aka the “liège waffle” — with caramelized sugar, tran wrote.

“It is rich, sweet and an indulgent waffle.”Another specialty is the Brussel waf fle, “loved by many with its light and crispy texture made from a dedicated

batter,” Tran added. The waffles can be served with a variety of fresh fruit toppings and sauces, and Zinneken’s will also offer coffee, in addition to teas imported from paris.

tran and Nguyen have faced hiccups in the construction and opening process — including a shortage of workers — but “are striving to open the store this se mester,” he wrote. “We are very excited to be a new member of the providence community.”FeedtheCheeks gained success in Wayland with foot traffic in the neigh borhood and noticed many students coming from Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. “We wanted to bring our product even closer and

be dead center in the heart of College Hill,” Izoli wrote. “there weren’t many (real estate) options on thayer, but we are very pleased with the location on Angell.”Students are excited for the upcom ing “Iopenings.lovethayer a lot so far… to get a break from the dining hall food because there’s a lot of variety,” said Nicholas Espinosa Sanchez ’26.

“I feel like they would both be great additions to the selection (on thay er),” Espinosa Sanchez said of the two restaurants. though he hadn’t heard of the new venues before, he is “pretty excited… (and) would definitely go try them” once the stores open.

Feed the Cheeks would give stu dents another option for baked goods, Espinosa Sanchez added. As for Zin neken’s, “the waffle station isn’t al ways open,” in the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall, and Zinneken’s could be another breakfast and dessert option, he said.Safah tariq ’23 also heard about the upcoming storefronts, and knows some other upperclassmen living near the new storefronts. “It’s nice to have another dessert place since there seems to be an extensive collection of boba restaurants but nothing else really” besides Ben & Jerry’s, she added.

“Especially being a senior, I have shifted my focus slightly to enjoying my last year in providence and exploring it as much as I can,” tariq said. “If there’s a new place close by to explore, I want to take advantage of that.”

“We are super excited to serve the Brown and RISD community, as well as the local grade schools in the area,” Izolitwrote.heenvironment (on t hayer) is vibrant and always evolving,” sim ilar to the area around Zinneken’s original location near Harvard, tran wrote. “We want to bring a new vibe to the community and hope that we will grow to become a ‘must try’ or a bucket list whenever someone visits p rovidence.”

METRO

Owners discuss hopes for opening, students share excitement for new offerings

JESSICA LI / HERALD

Feed the Cheeks has another location in Wayland Square, and Zinneken’s has locations in Harvard Square and Glastonbury, Conn.