Mount Holyoke News – April 7, 2023

Holyoke News

Gloria Anzaldúa LLC advocates for suitable living conditions

the basement of North and South Rockefeller halls and is one of four current LLCs at Mount Holyoke dedicated to students of color as well as one of three LLCs dedicated to students who hold LGBTQ+ identities.

On March 29, Executive Director of Residential Life Rachel Alldis and Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Karla Youngblood FP ’99 co-authored an email to the entire residential campus community providing updates on the College’s current pest management efforts.

BY NAOMY POOT IBARRA ’25 AND TARA MONASTESSE ’25

WRITER | NEWS EDITOR

In response to sustained pest activity within their residence spaces, members of the Gloria Anzaldúa Living-Learning Community organized and released a statement on April 1 titled “Gloria’s Community Response to ‘Recent’ Events.” It outlines the living conditions they have faced, including having their LLC community placed on the same floor as the laundry, trash, trunk and boiler rooms. It also describes the continued inaction from administration towards removing the gnats, cockroaches and ants found on the residence floor.

Throughout the past two weeks, members of the Gloria LLC have met directly with Mount Holyoke administrators, posted through the LLC’s

social media channels and distributed posters across campus depicting the living conditions they have endured.

“There are a total of eighteen available spots in Gloria. The living conditions on this floor caused three people to not only leave our community but the entire institution halfway through the year,” the Gloria LLC’s statement read.

Mount Holyoke College describes the Gloria Anzaldúa LLC as “a community that is designed to support students as they explore and express their whole selves, including their gender identities and sexualities, in a safer and affirming environment, with particular regard to centering and exalting the needs and experiences of queer and transgender people of color at a predominantly white institution.”

The LLC is currently housed in

“In recent weeks, despite continued pest management efforts taken throughout campus, students in the basements of North and South Rockefeller Hall have reported rodent and ant activity,” the email read. “Unfortunately, the issue has persisted and today we escalated our approach. We acknowledge that this is an unacceptable living situation for these students and we apologize.”

The email went on to detail how the College’s pest management vendor had planned to address the situation, including rodent traps being placed in the Rockies basement area and the sealing of access points throughout the buildings. Within the following two weeks, Alldis and Youngblood stated, all residence halls on campus would have their common areas treated with a natural rodent deterrent spray.

The public statement released on April 1 via the official Instagram account for the Gloria Anzaldúa LLC detailed the community’s previous advocacy for a liveable space as well as the damage the inhospitable con-

ditions have inflicted on them.

“Earlier in the semester, we were told that it was not possible to move Gloria for the 2023-2024 academic year,” the statement read.

“Less than 48 hours after an incident that inspired the messages and images circulated around campus regarding our living conditions, and the discussions and campus-wide outrage that ensued, Residential Life was able to provide three spaces our community could be moved to in this upcoming year. Of those three spaces, two would dramatically decrease our already small LLC after we specifically advocated for a larger, private space.” “That voices outside of our community were necessary for action to occur is unacceptable,” the statement continued. “Do not discount the advocacy this community has done for itself before the wider campus became aware of our situation.”

This statement was followed by the question: “What does this say to QTPOC students when we are in a space described to us as unlivable, unacceptable, a reflection of the struggles already faced by this marginalized community?”

As a result of the organizing efforts of the members of the Gloria Anzaldua LLC, they will be relocated to a new space for the academic year of 2023-2024. A Google form was created for students to express their interest in participating in the LLC next year as these plans are finalized. This Google form was distributed to the campus community via the March 31 edition of the Dean’s Corner email newsletter, as well as

by SGA President Maille

’24 in an email.

Romulus

In an April 3 email titled “A Public Apology to the Residents of the Gloria Anzaldua LLC,” Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum described the initial response by administrators to find alternative housing for the affected students and how they set an extermination plan in place.

“However, as I learned from the LLC residents who came to my office hours on Friday, what has been most upsetting is not Tuesday’s incident alone, but the cumulative concerns that have gone unresolved throughout the school year despite the persistent efforts of the residents of the Gloria LLC to advocate on their own behalf,” Tatum wrote.

“A failure of communication and follow-up between those who made efforts to respond and the residents who could see that the problems persisted exacerbated the situation. The result has been months of frustration. On behalf of the College, I want to publicly apologize to all of the residents who have been dealing with this situation for so long.”

On April 5, Director of Community Standards and Housing Operations Nashalie Vazquez notified residential students via email that the College’s pest management vendor would be treating the outside of all residence halls with an all-natural rodent deterrent spray, as well as the areas surrounding each halls’ trash room.

Vazquez stated that this process would begin at 9 a.m. and likely conclude by 5 p.m. on April 8.

Frances Perkins Scholars share their journeys to Mount Holyoke

BY MELANIE DURONIO ’26 FEATURES EDITOR

Content warning: This article mentions addiction, domestic abuse, depression, eating disorders and homelessness.

Students and faculty members alike gathered within Gamble Auditorium for the Frances Perkins Monologues, which returned as the closing event for Mount Holyoke’s annual Building on our Momentum conference on Tuesday, March 28. In honor of the Frances Perkins students’ class color, purple streamers and balloons were placed on either side of the podium, and many FP speakers wore purple outfits to show

off their class pride.

According to the FP Monologues ’23 program, “the annual FP Monologues [is] an evening of real-life stories shared by Frances Perkins Scholars and the non-traditional journeys that brought [them] through the gates of Mount Holyoke.” As such, FP Monologues 2023 Emcee, Jen Thornquest ’24, began the event by encouraging audience members to “respond in the non-traditional ways we love,” and throughout the evening the room filled with boisterous cheers, shouts and laughter in support of the speakers.

Nine speakers shared their stories at this year’s Monologues. Many took creative approaches to the traditional speech format by incorpo-

rating personal photos, memes and even self-written poetry to reflect their personalities. General themes included perseverance, self-discovery and finding life-long friendships at Mount Holyoke College. “I would get jealous of groups of women … that had friends they had known since college,” Nic McGrath FP ’24 said. “[Now] I finally get to have a house full of pictures with people I know from college that I will be friends with for the rest of my life.”

McGrath gave the first speech of the night, titled “When Pigs Fly,” where she described her prolonged efforts to go to college despite financial and personal obstacles. Having

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 u

Former President Donald Trump indicted

BY BRYN HEALY ’24 NEWS EDITOR

Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury on March 30, 2023, making him the first current president or former president to be indicted for a crime. He was arraigned on April 4 for 34 charges, according to CBS News. Each of the felony charges against him has a maximum sentence of four years, according to POLITICO.

The State of New York indictment charged the former president of having “orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects [from Aug. 2015 to Dec. 2017].” To achieve this, Trump is accused of violating election laws, creating false business records, fraudulent tax identification and more. Part of this included hush money payments to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels and the payment of Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.

In 2016, Trump hired Michael Cohen to pay off Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair. Trump and his organization allegedly falsely classified the money they paid and attempted to cover the situation up, according to The New York Times. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for the same payment in 2018. At the time, according to NBC, Cohen blamed Trump and his loyalty to the then-president for causing

him to “choose darkness over light.”

Assistant Professor of Politics Joanna Wuest explained the significance of this moment. “When Richard Nixon’s aides were indicted in 1974 and a grand jury considered indicting the president himself, it wasn’t long before the president resigned from office, essentially disappearing from national party leadership.”

“With Trump, it remains very possible that the indictment might benefit him politically on the 2024 campaign trail,” Wuest continued, “given the former president’s consistent claims that corrupt elites are attempting to stifle his so-called populist struggle for power.”

Former Vice President Mike

Pence released a statement, as described by the Hill. “The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. And it appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution that’s driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president.”

“Well, we’re in uncharted waters here, and there’s still a lot we don’t know,” Adam Hilton, a Mount Holyoke assistant professor of politics, explained. “Never before has a former U.S. president been indicted on criminal charges, and the details of the charges have yet to be unsealed.

But, whatever the merits of this particular case, and there are additional, likely more serious indictments pending, the indictment marks a historic turning point in American politics. Even before the Trump presidency, the U.S. constitutional regime has been beset by rule-bending and norm-breaking behavior. Now, another norm has been broken. What we don’t know yet is whether this breach of tradition will further erode the stability of our democracy or potentially help strengthen it.”

Trump pleaded not guilty to all the counts and will remain in his resort at Mar-A-Lago until the December trial. The former president, according to The Guardian, is still under three other legal investigations and a defamation trial. Being indicted has no impact on Trump’s ability to run in the 2024 presidential election as a candidate.

Mount Holyoke German and Russian departments to be placed on ‘sunset’ timeline

BY MAVIS XU ’26 AND SOPHIE SOLOWAY ’23 STAFF WRITER | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

On Thursday, March 30, students and faculty gathered in the Language and Culture Commons in Ciruti Language Center for the German and Russian & Eurasian Studies department teas. Following statements from students and alums speaking in support of the two departments, Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa Sullivan announced that the College had adopted a plan to ‘sunset’ the two language departments over the next few years.

In a statement to Mount Holyoke News, Sullivan confirmed that “at present the only announcement is that the faculty will take up a motion regarding the retirement of German and Russian majors and minors over the next four years.”

According to Karen Remmler, the chair of the German Studies department, “The German studies department as well as the Russian and Eurasian studies departments will remain in place for four years, if and when the faculty decide to terminate the major/minor, as well as close

STAFF

Photo by Tara Monastesse ’25

The Gloria Anzaldúa LLC is housed within the North and South Rockefeller halls’ basement areas.

Photo by Tara Monastesse ’25 Last week, German and Russian & Eurasian Studies departments held their teas in Ciruti Center.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 Carolyn Dietel, director of Frances Perkins program, and Jen Thornquest FP ’24 spoke at BOOM!

Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore/The Star News Network via Wikimedia Commons Former President Donald Trump was indicted.

Pratt senior Portlyn Houghton-Harjo and Dartmouth senior Tom Bosworth win the 100th annual Glascock poetry contest

BY JESSE HAUSKNECHT-BROWN ’25 MANAGING EDITOR OF LAYOUT & FEATURES EDITOR

Content warning: This article mentions anti-Black violence.

Over the last 100 years, the Mount Holyoke College English department has invited college-aged poets and professional poet judges to the College to participate in the Glascock poetry contest. This year the judges — poets Hoa Ngyuen, Eileen Myles and Evie Shockley — split the prize and awarded it to Dartmouth College senior Tom Bosworth and Pratt Institute senior Portlyn Houghton-Harjo. The contest is named after Kathryn Irene Glascock, a student of the Mount Holyoke class of 1922, who died shortly after graduating. Glascock had been a promising poet

and the editor-in-chief of the Mount Holyoke News; her parents gave a donation to the English department as a memorial to their daughter. The chair of the English department at the time, Ada Snell, used this to create the Glascock poetry contest. The following year, in 1924, Snell invited contestants from other colleges, making this year’s Glascock contest the 99th intercollegiate event.

Former judges include Robert Frost, Adrienne Rich, William Carlos Williams and Audre Lorde. Sylvia Plath, James Merrill, Anthony Hecht and Robert Lowell all competed in the contest as students.

The first event of the weekend was a conversation with the judges on the morning of Friday, March 31. Lucas de Lima, a poet and visiting lecturer in the English department, mediated a conversation with the judges and opened the discussion

for audience questions near the end of the hour. The event took place in the Stimson Room in the Williston Memorial Library which had been rearranged so that there were rows of chairs facing the front, where the judges sat.

This year’s contestants — Bosworth, Houghton-Harjo, Mount Holyoke College’s Ace Chandler FP ’26, University of Massachusetts Boston junior Elizabeth Roa Martinez, Suffolk University senior Mason Newbury and Amherst College junior Jordan Trice — were seated in the front row.

“I liked how open the dialogue was and the mindfulness of the judges,” Olive Xia ’26 said about the judge’s conversation. “Their answers were all very well thought out and very nuanced. I loved how Eileen Myles answered the questions about poetic voice and gender.”

Gaye Theresa Johnson gives inaugural lecture for the new CRPE department

term — is to share with the audience about life in struggle. This includes the lessons, wisdom and pitfalls embedded in social activism. But also, Johnson demonstrated … there is empowerment, romance, friendships, personal growth, dignity and justice to be found when struggling for a better world on and off campus,” Hernández said.

Johnson’s message and work align with the new critical race and political economy department. “CRPE offers a curriculum that explores how race, colonialism and capitalism shape the unequal distribution of wealth, resources and power at local and global scales,” Iyko Day, Elizabeth C. Small professor of English and chair of critical social thought and English said. Day, who will be the interim chair of the CRPE department, emphasized that through the curricular pathways of Africana studies, Latina/o studies and CST, “there is both a preservation and augmentation of each existing unit of study.”

The competition itself took place in Gamble Auditorium on the evening of March 31, where the contestants read their poetry. In the lobby outside of Gamble Auditorium, free copies of Joyce Horner’s poetry book “Flag and Feather” were handed out as well as five different zines about the history of the Glascock poetry contest, made by students in Assistant Professor of English Anna Maria Hong’s archive’s class. The Joyce Horner Poetry Prize is one of the sponsors of the event, along with the Kathryn Irene Glascock Memorial Fund, the Charles and Rosanna Batchelor Memorial Fund, the InterArts Council and the College’s English department. Attendees also received a pamphlet with each of the contestant’s poems printed inside.

Interim President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum gave opening remarks and provided a short history of the

Glascock poetry contest. Shortly thereafter, the contestants, each of whom was introduced by a student member of the Glascock committee, performed their poetry.

“The reading had a great vibe, a lot of people showed up. … I felt like people were really excited to be there and to hear the contestants’ work and everyone was super respectful,” Aderet Fishbane ’25 said.

Bosworth was the first to read, speaking with a direct and powerful voice while delivering seven poems that centered on themes of queerness and ecology.

“I had written those poems a long time ago. I think they’ve even changed a little since I submitted them but it felt really good and natural to read them, and the audience [was] super great,” Bosworth said in

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 u

FMT hosts a screening of ‘Where the Pavement Ends’

BY LUCY ISAACS ’25 STAFF WRITER

On March 29, the department of film, media and theater hosted a screening of the film “Where the Pavement Ends,” followed by a student-moderated discussion with filmmakers Jane Gillooly and Khary Saeed Jones. The film explores the town of Kinloch, Missouri, which borders Ferguson, where Michael Brown was fatally shot by police in 2014. Describing the documentary, Gillooly’s website writes, “The history of Ferguson, a formerly whites-only ‘sundown town,’ and the neighboring black town of Kinloch, now semi-abandoned, is not well known. Incorporating reflections of residents of Kinloch and Ferguson (including Gillooly, who grew up in Ferguson), this film explores the relationship between these two towns.

Beginning with a 1960s roadblock that divided then-white Ferguson from black Kinloch, the film depicts a micro-history of race relations in America.”

“committed to the art of the narrative, how it can be constructed, and how complex and often hidden histories can be made accessible.” Having grown up in Ferguson, Gillooly reflected on her own proximity to the community of Kinloch, describing a shared “memory of place” between herself and the people that she interviewed. Gillooly explained that the project was initially intended to be an animated piece focused specifically on protests of the 1960s to remove the roadblock between Kinloch and Furgeson. Gillooly recalled that after the murder of Michael Brown, she felt she could not make a film detailing these events in the wake of such an immediate tragedy. However, upon returning home to Missouri, Gillooly was compelled to record footage of protests and memorials that would eventually make their way into the re-conceptualized film.

BY EMMA QUIRK ’26 STAFF WRITER

As a part of Building On Our Momentum Community Day, on March 28, 2023, Gaye Theresa Johnson gave the inaugural lecture for the critical race and political economy department. Johnson is the author of multiple books and an associate professor at UCLA, teaching courses in the departments of African American studies and Chicana/o studies. She specializes in topics of cultural history, spatial politics, race, racism and political economy.

Johnson began her lecture by reading Brendan Constantine’s poem, “The Opposites Game,” in memory of the victims of the Covenant School shooting on March 27, 2023. After taking the time to recognize this violence and loss, Johnson introduced the concept of “the politics of where you are … as a means to understanding social justice, teaching and research.”

Throughout her talk, she emphasized the importance of what each individual brings to a community, or their “cultural superpower.”

Johnson believes that individuals must ask themselves “what can be my superpower? How can I learn to listen to what’s happening here, so that I can present myself and be of service in some way?” Each member of a community must consider their individual contributions and how they interact with others, as community engagement is vital to social justice work.

Johnson stated that in social justice work, “recognizing where you are and how you show up is a critical tool in seeking full cultural enfranchisement, social membership, belonging and political agency.” This emphasizes the notion of understanding one’s own positionality and what one can do to support community efforts for transformation.

David Hernández, faculty director of community engagement and associate professor of Latina/o studies, was compelled by Johnson’s lecture, particularly by how she highlighted the challenges that exist within our society and in social justice work, but also the good that can come out of them. “I think Professor Johnson’s superpower — to use her

The creation of this department has been in the works for about seven years and has been established through the collaboration of students and faculty from the English, CST, gender studies, Africana studies, economics, politics, German studies, Spanish and Latin American studies departments. CRPE’s formulation came largely out of an effort to increase resources for faculty.

“As programs, CST and Africana studies do not have any dedicated faculty lines, which made it challenging to deliver each program consistently. However, as a department with dedicated faculty lines, we will be able to build on our curriculum in ways we haven’t been able to in the past,” Day said. The first tenure track professor in the CRPE department has officially been hired, Maria Ximena Abello-Hurtado, who specializes in Africana studies.

Overall, Johnson established that she is enthusiastic about the creation and the vision of CRPE, a department that is focusing on what “we are dealing with in this moment, in this place, in this time.” She highlighted how critical it is for students to engage “with not just the intellectual lessons that [they] learn, but the lessons of critical practice that [they] take with [them] from here out into the world.” While introspection is critical, Johnson stated that it is also crucial to “always play on the side of the group. … [because] there’s so much power in the collective.”

The film has garnered critical praise, described by The Boston Globe as “A powerful, impressionistic meditation on the persistence of racial injustice.” A longer version of the documentary has been featured at a number of film festivals, including MoMA DocFortnight, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival.

The edited version of the film, which was screened at this event, has been featured as part of the PBS World Channel’s America ReFramed series.

After the film was shown, Gillooly and Jones were joined by Mount Holyoke student Taiwo Demola ’24, who moderated a conversation that spanned a wide range of topics, prompting Gillooly and Jones to detail the complex, years-long process of completing the documentary. Members of the audience were subsequently invited to join the conversation, sharing comments and questions.

Gillooly, who directed, co-wrote and co-edited the film, is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as a professor of the practice emeritus in media arts at Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Gillooly has directed a number of other documentary films, and is described by her website as

Jones, who co-edited and cowrote the film alongside Gillooly, has had a similarly expansive career and is a recipient of the Firelight Media’s 2021 Williams Fund, and a 2022-2023 fellow of the Harvard Film Study Center and the Tufts Center for Humanities. He currently serves as a professor of the practice in theatre, dance and performance studies at Tufts University. Jones reflected on his experience editing and writing film, discussing how the piece was intended to demonstrate how the past and present are very much in conversation. Jones specifically highlighted his experience selecting certain visuals and footage as means of achieving this goal. “The cinematography was beautiful and complimented the dialogue of the documentary well,” Katharine Kurdziel ’25 said.

This event, which was co-sponsored by the Weissman Center, the department of critical race political economy, department of gender studies, critical social thought and culture, health and science, is part of Mount Holyoke College’s partnership with New Day Films. The organization describes itself as a “[f] ilmmaker-distributor of educational documentaries,” and offers Mount Holyoke students yearly summer internships. “Where the Pavement Ends” is available for streaming free of charge on the American Documentary website.

Photos by Ali Meizels ’23

From left to right: Tom Bosworth and Portlyn Houghton-Harjo split the prize at the 100th Glascock contest; Eileen Myles, Hoa Nguyen and Evie Shockley all read from their latest books of poetry at the judge’s reading on the morning of Sat., April 1.

Photo courtesy of Grant Bell Gaye Theresa Johnson discussed “cultural superpowers” in the inaugural CRPE department talk.

The cinematography was beautiful and complimented the dialogue of the documentary well.

– Katharine Kurdziel

boygenius releases first full-length album, ‘the record’

BY ALI MEIZELS ’23 AND EMMA WATKINS ’23 PUBLISHER & PHOTOS EDITOR | MANAGING EDITOR OF CONTENT

boygenius — the acclaimed supergroup made up of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus — released their first full-length album, “the record,” on March 31, 2023. The album comes five years after the group’s self-titled EP, released in 2018. boygenius reunited in 2020 amid the solo success of each of the members. Bridgers told Rolling Stone that she sent Baker and Dacus an early version of a new song and expressed her desire to make music together again following the release of her album “Punisher.” The trio, all of whom are queer women, are unabashedly supportive of each other. It is clear from any interview or photo of the three that they share an incredibly close friendship, which they attribute to their shared experiences as touring musicians. The band, often pigeonholed into “Sad Girl Indie” genres, rejects those labels. In an episode of the podcast

The Pitchfork Review, boygenius questioned why the emotionality of women artists is so often consolidated to sadness. “the record” explores that vast emotionality in dynamic and exciting ways, rendering labels unnecessary.

“the record” opens with a folksy a capella ballad, “Without You Without Them.” Baker, Bridgers and Dacus harmonize, “I want to hear your story / and be a part of it,” poignantly introducing their matured friendship and group dynamic.

“Speak to me / until your history’s / no mystery to me,” the trio sings, seemingly asking each other for complete honesty and transparency. At times, “the record” seems almost too personal, acting as a vulnerable window into their relationships with one another. The stripped-back a capella vocals also add to the feeling of vulnerability. The refrain of “I want to hear your story / and be a part of it” ushers in the album with ideas of storytelling and reciprocal sharing of lives.

The next three songs on “the record,” “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue,” are the three singles that the group released ahead of the album. boygenius released this set of songs on Jan. 18, along with the announcement of the forthcoming album. Each of these three songs features one of the group members on lead vocals, with the other two providing backing and harmonies.

“$20,” led by Baker, is a fast-paced, guitar-focused tune, incorporating what Baker dreams of for the band: “more sick riffs.”

“True Blue,” with Dacus on lead vocals, is driven by a steady drumbeat and straightforward vocals.

“Emily I’m Sorry,” sung by Bridgers, is a slow and mellow meditation on a relationship gone wrong. Together, the three songs showcase the unique style and vocals of the three artists while also exhibiting the magic created when they collaborate, especially seen in the hauntingly beautiful harmonies on “Emily I’m Sorry” as they sing, “Emily, I’m sorry, I just / Make it up as I go along / Yet, I can feel myself becoming / Someone only you could want.”

“Emily I’m Sorry” incorporates the first of several references on “the record” to other boygenius lyrics. At the end of the song, Bridgers sings, “I’m 27 and I don’t know who I am / but I know what I want,” seemingly in conversation with her own 2020 song “ICU,” where she sings, “I don’t know what I want / Until I fuck it up.” This self-referential lyrical flip is a nod to long-time listeners.

The trio of singles is also the foundation of a short film directed by Kristen Stewart released alongside “the record.” Simply titled “the film,” it features monster trucks, an excess of blue paint and Dacus kissing Baker and Bridgers.

“Cool About It,” the next song on the album, is something of a return to the style of the boygenius EP, wherein each member sings a verse within the song. “Cool About It” is an homage to Paul Simon, and the melody closely mimics that of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” Baker opens the song with quietly powerful vocals, which Dacus follows with an equally gentle verse. Lyrics like

“I remember it’s impossible to pass your test” build up feelings of uncertainty and insecurity in what is seemingly a relationship gone bad.

Bridgers closes the tune, subtly changing the energy of the entire song. As she sings, “once I took your

medication to know what it’s like / and now I have to act like I can’t read your mind,” the tone shifts and becomes more overtly somber. The song ends abruptly, with no outro after boygenius harmonizes, “telling you it’s nice to see how good you’re doing / even though we know it isn’t true.”

The sixth song on “the record,”

“Not Strong Enough,” was also released as a single ahead of the album. boygenius released it on March 1, along with an accompanying music video comprised of phone videos of the three friends edited by Bridgers’ brother Jackson Bridgers. “Not Strong Enough” is another song featuring a rotating lead vocalist. Bridgers begins with strong and confident vocals and Baker tags in for the second verse and chorus. Dacus starts the bridge off singing alone, and as she repeats, “always an angel / never a god,” her bandmates join in until the bridge crescendos into a powerful final chorus led by Dacus. Here Dacus incorporates her own self-reference, belting, “I don’t know why I am / the way I am / there’s something in the static / I think I’ve been having revelations.” Dacus fans will recognize the parallel to her 2021 song VBS, where she sings, “You were waiting for a revelation of your own.”

“Revolution 0” is led by Bridgers singing and humming over a delicate, mostly acoustic instrumental backing. The first half of “Revolution 0” sounds like much of Bridgers’ solo repertoire, with her signature biting-yet-resigned lyrics and clear, melancholy tone singing, “If it isn’t love / Then what the fuck is it? / I guess just let me pretend.” One of the song’s most subtly emotional lines comes when Bridgers muses, “Wish I wasn’t so tired, but I’m tired.” Just over halfway through the song, Dacus and Baker join in a chorus of wordless vocalizing as strings rise in the background. The volume of the song fades as Bridgers sings, “I used to think if I / just closed my eyes / I’d disappear,” and then surges to its full sound once more before closing on a string-filled outro.

“Leonard Cohen,” featuring Dacus as the lead vocalist, is about a drive that boygenius went on in 2021 in which Bridgers insisted on a singular focus on the song she was playing and made them miss an exit. The flippancy with which the song treats the late Canadian singer-songwriter is disarming, and comes across as confident at best and brash at worst.

The discourse surrounding the song stems from a lyric halfway through, where boygenius sings, “Leonard Cohen once said / there’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in / and I am not an old man having an existential crisis / at a Buddhist monastery / writing horny poetry / but I agree.” This lyric feels like a perhaps misguided dig at Cohen, writing off his lyricism as ‘existential crisis’ and ‘horny poetry,’ although supporters have argued that it is an example of the group’s rejection of music culture’s worship of male artists. The witty nature of “Leonard Cohen” ultimately works to turn the reference into a lighthearted joke rather than a serious critique. Beyond its controversy, the song moves quickly and features several stand-out lines that get at the nuance of the trio’s friendship. “I might like you less / now that you know me so well” and “I never thought you’d happen to me” highlight with stunning clarity the contradictions inherent in love. ”

“Satanist” opens with Baker asking, “Will you be a Satanist with me?” She pulls off a tongue-in-cheek verse referencing a mortgaged soul and off-brand ecstasy. Bridgers enters asking, “Will you be an anarchist with me? / Sleep in cars and kill the bourgeoisie.” Dacus’ verse opens with her asking, “Will you be a nihilist with me?” She playfully adds, “If nothing matters / man, that’s a relief,” expressing contentment in a moment that might otherwise read as pessimistic. Dacus adds a nod to a religious upbringing that often appears in her music, singing, “Solomon had a point when he wrote Ecclesiastes / If nothing can be known, then stupidity is holy.” Following the three verses, “Satanist” transitions with a trippy fade-out distorted sound into soft strumming, as boygenius sings together and closes the song.

“We’re in Love” is one of the longest songs on “the record” and is sung almost entirely by Dacus. “You could absolutely break my heart / that’s how I know that we’re in love,” she begins, opening what is essen-

tially a love letter to her bandmates.

Baker has admitted that she vetoed the song at first, uncomfortable with such a bold admission of the vulnerability of friendship, but changed her mind with time. Dacus thoughtfully imagines a future in which she has lost touch with her friends, going instead to karaoke alone. “Damn, that makes me sad,” she confesses, “it doesn’t have to be like that / If you rewrite your life, may I still play a part?” Dacus asks her friends if they will find her in their next life, singing, “there is something about you / that I will always recognize.” The rest of boygenius joins her in listing what they would tell one another if they had to remind them of their past life together. The effect is a moving tribute to their shared history.

The penultimate song on “the record,” “Anti-Curse,” is led by Baker, as she sings poignantly about a near-drowning incident she experienced while at a beach with Bridgers and Dacus. This song also includes a subtle nod to a song off the boygenius EP, “Salt in the Wound,” as Baker intones, “Salt in my lungs / holding my breath / making peace with my inevitable death.” Fans of Baker are familiar with the duality between her more pensive, reflective voice and her powerful belt, which she wields with impressive control in many of her solo songs. “Anti-Curse” is the only place on “the record” where Baker releases her full vocal power, and the effect is breathtaking. After two minutes of reflection on her near-death experience, she belts, “I’m swimming back,” accompanied by swelling drums.

“Letter To An Old Poet” is the closing song on the album, musing on a seemingly toxic past relationship and the process of moving on. With devastating leading vocals, Bridgers sings, “I said I think that you’re special / you told me once that I’m selfish,” and later goes on to tellingly change the line to “You’re not special, you’re evil.”

“The record” is an impressively cohesive body of work, but it particularly shines on songs featuring each member equally: “Cool About It,” “Not Strong Enough” and “Satanist” are the album’s highlights, where Baker, Bridgers and Dacus trade off on lead vocals. Perhaps the reason why the single-vocalist songs feel less fulfilling is the fact that boygenius frequently appear on each others’ solo works — Baker and Dacus are credited with backing vocals on Bridgers’ “Graceland Too,” Dacus’s “Please Stay” features Baker and Bridgers and Baker’s “Favor” is backed by Bridgers and Dacus. Since listeners get to hear the harmonies of boygenius within the members’ solo work, it feels less special in the context of “the record.” Regardless, “the record” is a remarkable fulllength debut that skillfully walks the line between cynical and hopeful and fully showcases the vocal range of each singer.

Throughout “the record,” the group plays with lyrical callbacks to their previous EP. At the bridge of “Letter to An Old Poet,” the song shifts to parallel “Me & My Dog” from the 2018 EP. One of boygenius’s most well-known lyrics comes toward the end of “Me & My Dog,” when Bridgers leads the group in singing “I wanna be emaciated / I wanna hear one song without thinking of you / I wish I was on a spaceship / just me and my dog and an impossible view.” On “Letter To An Old Poet,” the voices of boygenius — five years more mature — flip these lines into “I wanna be happy / I’m ready to walk into my room without looking for you / I’ll go up to the top of our building / and remember my dog when I see the full moon.” In an especially moving parallel, the ending lyrics of “Me & My Dog” and “Anti-Curse” also reflect each other. In 2018, boygenius sings, “I dream about it / and I wake up falling.” In 2023, they sing, “I can’t feel it yet / but I am waiting.” This change, perhaps above all, reflects the evolution of boygenius, defined by an exploration of hopefulness. Addressing the concept of hope in a 2018 interview with Rebecca Haithcoat for Vice, the interviewer stated to Dacus, “You said hope is woven throughout [your sophomore album, “Historian”], which is pretty different.” Dacus replied, “Maybe for most people but I think that’s the only thing I ever write about. Reaching for it. It’s not always with confidence. It’s like occasionally with crossed fingers. A lot of shrugging and a loosened grip.”

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 boygenius released their first album, “the record,” on March 31, five years after their debut EP.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 boygenius is the collaborative project of musicians Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 boygenius will embark on an

20 years have passed since the US-led invasion of Iraq

BY KEIRA MCLAUGHLIN ’26 STAFF WRITER

20 years ago on March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, starting the war on terror with the goal of ending President Saddam Hussein’s rule and removing the alleged weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, Al Jazeera reported. According to Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S., the United Kingdom and other allies swiftly took over the Iraqi Army, and three weeks after the invasion U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians pulled down a statue of Saddam.

After the initial war was over, a new temporary government created by the U.S., the Coalition Provisional Authority, was tasked with the “de-Baathification” of the government. This removed anyone associated with Saddam’s Baath Party from the government, which led to a high unemployment rate, Al Jazeera explained. The Provisional Authority’s second act was to disband the Iraqi military, leaving more frustrated and jobless armed men, creating an environment conducive to the mobilization of militias, which developed into terrorist organizations.

According to The New York Times, this provisional government included a split system between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to ensure that the government would be representative. However, many believe that this set the Iraqi government up

for automatic failure because of the divides between the various groups.

Sajad Jiyad, an Iraqi political analyst, explained to The New York Times that “the government now is a coalition of rivals.” Jiyad went on to say that corruption has slowly become institutionalized, allowing the political parties to freely grab the “spoils of Iraq’s wealth and power.”

Saddam Hussein was eventually captured, tried and hanged for his mistreatment of Iraqi civilians and supposed harboring of weapons of mass destruction. However, the State of Iraq was left in shambles when President George W. Bush announced “mission accomplished” on May 1, 2003, Al Jazeera stated. In 2005, U.S. intelligence found that there was no evidence of weapons

of mass destruction, leaving Iraq to handle the consequences of the war.

On the 20-year anniversary, Amnesty International repeated its calls for justice for the “gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by the United States-led Coalition.” From 2003 to 2011, Amnesty International found that U.S. forces participated in the killing and hurting of civilians, secret detention, disappearances and many forms of torture.

In an article commemorating the 20-year anniversary, Elizabeth Rghebi, Middle East and North Africa advocacy director at Amnesty International U.S.A. stated, “to this day Iraqis are suffering from the devastating impact of war crimes

and other atrocities perpetrated by the United States-led coalition in its invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.”

According to a BBC News article, Saddam Hussein was “well worth overthrowing” due to his treatment of thousands of Iraqis and the use of chemical weapons on “rebellious” Kurds. The article also went on to highlight the violence and blatant neglect of international law by the U.S. and the U.K. throughout the war, leading to many issues still prevalent in Iraq today.

CBS News reported on the daily occurrences Iraqi civilians lived through following the rise of al Qaeda, a terrorist organization that came out of the militias formed by unemployed men. “We’ve been through a lot,” Ahmed al-Jaboury said, who was 13 years old when Iraq was invaded by the U.S. “[I] saw things no one should see. … lived days no one should live,” he continued.

Lisa Miari, the founder of the Springs of Hope Foundation, explained that one minority group targeted by ISIS is the Yazidis. “The situation of the Yazidis in Iraq is of great concern. It is an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe with still close to 400,000 people internally displaced, scattered throughout the provinces of northern Iraq,” she said to ReliefWeb, a humanitarian information service provided by the United Nations. The Springs of Hope Foundation works with war refugees

and specifically Yazidis in northern Iraq.

According to Jesse Marks, Refugees International senior advocate for the Middle East, the U.N. is working to address these injustices. For example, on Dec. 27, 2022, the Iraqi Prime Minister and the U.N. made a joint statement announcing the return of Yazidi land to its former owners after 47 years of discriminatory land ownership policies. However, Marks went on to explain that “people seeking to return to areas previously captured by the Islamic State — particularly the Yazidis and other minorities — have been deterred by lack of shelter and infrastructure, lack of safety, impediments from local authorities (including armed militias) and resistance from local communities.”

Although the future of Iraq is unknown, Sarah Sanbar, an Iraq researcher for the Human Rights Watch, stated that the U.S. and the U.K. must investigate the harm their militaries caused civilians during the war. She went on to advocate for the protection of democracy in Iraq, saying that “the Iraqi government … must protect free expression and assembly so Iraqis can voice grievances and debate the future of their country.” She continued, “authorities should prioritize justice sector reforms, overhaul abusive legislation and judicial practices and hold perpetrators of rights abuse accountable.”

Macron’s pension reform survives amid vote of no-confidence victory

the pension reform bill dies, but the president can remain in power. If the motion fails, the bill is adopted. According to an article from France 24, the first vote, which was brought by a coalition of centrist and leftist Assembly members, gained 278 votes, nine short of the majority needed. A second vote was brought on by the far-right National Rally, formerly the National Front, and only gained 94 votes.

BY ELIZABETH MURRAY ’26 STAFF WRITER

On March 20, 2023, France’s lower legislative body, Assemblée Nationale, which is similar to the United States’ House of Representatives, held two votes over a motion of no confidence against President Emmanuel Macron’s government according to France 24. The New York Times reported that this vote came after the president decided to invoke Article 49.3 of the French con-

stitution to pass his government’s pension reforms. Invoking Article 49.3 means that the government can push a bill through the Assemblée Nationale without a vote.

Lawmakers have a right to call for a motion of no confidence in the government, and if 10 percent of them support it, the motion of no confidence moves to a floor-wide vote. If the majority of the parliament votes no confidence in the government then the president’s cabinet and prime minister are removed and

The proposed pension reforms would raise France’s age of retirement from 62 to 64 by 2030, and require the number of years of work to be 43 instead of 42 to receive a full pension. Macron has asserted these reforms are necessary to avoid the pension system running a deficit in the near future, according to Forbes. Cleiss reported that France’s pension system is regarded as one of the most generous in the world. Those eligible to receive full benefits may receive up to half of their salary during the “25 best-earning years,” the years when their salary was highest. Those who choose to work beyond the age of retirement are in return entitled to an increase in their pension rate, meaning they receive an even higher percentage of their former salary. The Associated Press reported that once the reform

is instituted, anyone born in 1961, and due to retire in 2023 will be obligated to work an extra three months. Those born in 1968 will have to work until the age of 64 in order to reach the required 43 years of work and become eligible to receive full benefits. People who began working later to complete their studies and/or who took time off to raise children will have to work until the age of 67 in order to receive full retirement benefits. The only exceptions to these new regulations are people who began working between the ages of 1419 and those with health issues.

The government has maintained that the need for reform is a result of France’s aging population and declining birth rate. “This is a problem that is common across all the various advanced capitalist countries,” Christopher Mitchell, assistant professor of international relations and politics at Mount Holyoke College said. He continued, saying, “this is a problem that’s hitting France earlier because of its earlier start age, and its greater generosity. But it’s a problem that every one of these advanced capitalist states is going to have to wrestle within the coming couple of decades. Essentially, the only way the pension system becomes sustainable without some

sort of modification is if you reverse demographic trends. But that’s easier said than done. But otherwise it’s going to require some measure of either cutting benefits or raising taxes, or a mix of both.”

In France, the fallout from the bill has led to blowback from parliament and mass protests. During the first vote on the motion of no confidence, 19 members of the rightwing party Les Républicains broke away from the party and voted in favor of the motion, according to Le Monde. Many left-wing lawmakers have strongly opposed the bill, with some even calling on the prime minister to resign in light of Macron pushing the bill through without a vote. Mass protests have been taking place in France since early 2023, some resulting in clashes between the protesters and police. According to Mitchell, the bill is more than likely to become law. When asked about how likely the bill is to succeed, he stated that “no one has raised areas of questions about whether it is constitutional or not. Just about whether it’s a good idea or not. … it’s going to go through. And at this point, the real question is [what] this does to the future of [the] Macron presidency. And what it is to the future of party politics and France.”

Series of planned reforms to Israeli judicial system inspire mass protests

BY SHIRA SADEH ’25 GLOBAL EDITOR

On March 27, 2023, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will be delaying the proposed judicial reforms that were announced earlier this year. According to an Al Jazeera news article, this announcement followed a mass strike of workers across the country, as well as protests from tens of thousands of Israelis opposed to the reforms. Malls and kindergartens were closed, seaport workers refused to work and flights were suspended at Ben Gurion International Airport. Al Jazeera also explained that the delay announced last Monday means that the proposed changes will not be voted on by parliament until late April at the earliest.

According to a Foreign Policy article, the controversy began on Jan. 4, 2023, when Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the first phase of the planned judicial reform only days after Netanyahu’s administration was sworn into office. The new measures would prevent the High Court from blocking legislation by creating a nearly impossible standard for doing so and give the ruling coalition the ability to appoint judges. Additionally, should the standards be met for voiding legislation, the Knesset — Israel’s legislature — will be given the power to override the Court’s decision with a 61-vote majority.

These changes were only the first in a series of planned reforms. Other proposed changes include

transforming legal advisors into political appointees and giving these positions less sway over politicians’ actions, Foreign Policy explained.

Netanyahu’s coalition, the most conservative, right-wing coalition in Israel’s history, believes that the Court has been granted too much authority in recent years, allowing it to act against the ultra-Orthodox and nationalist policies supported by the right-wing government, an NPR article explained. According to The New York Times, the prime minister is also currently facing three corruption charges for which he was indicted in 2019. NPR explained that it is possible that the High Court could eventually hear these cases.

Despite Netanyahu’s announcement that he will delay the reforms, protesters continued to gather in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. An analysis by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz explained that this is because many Israelis have lost confidence in the prime minister. According to Haaretz, this is largely due to Netanyahu’s decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for opposing the overhaul, along with his decision to reward a national guard — considered to be a publicly-funded private militia — to Itamar Ben-Gvir, the farright minister of national security.

Aseel Rmah ’25, an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, explained in a recent interview with Mount Holyoke News that, although she believes that the protests are largely in response to the judicial overhaul, there are also other issues under-

lying the civil unrest. “Israel has been going through a political crisis since 2018, and has the highest inflation … since 2008,” she explained.

The political crisis Rmah referred to describes the frequent elections in Israel that have been held since 2019. According to Reuters, this began when the Netanyahu-led government dissolved in late 2018, leading to two more elections in April and September of 2019, both of which failed to produce a coalition government. Reuters explained that in the March 2020 election, Netanyahu and Benjamin Gantz formed an alliance to create a government, which once again quickly collapsed.

Centrist Yair Lapid won the next election in March 2021 and was able to form a government

that put an end to Netanyahu’s 12-year consecutive rule. Lapid’s government collapsed less than a year later, however, leading to another election in November 2022, when Netanyahu returned to power.

When asked if she thinks that these protests will cause long-term change, Rmah stated that she does not think that they will. “We have never seen a long-term change after any protest that happened in Israel. People seem to forget and adapt after a while until the same thing happens again. We have never seen any major change in Israel’s policies,” she said.

According to a Foreign Policy analysis, this event has caused a powerful, grassroots populist movement to emerge. Although it is unclear whether the demonstrators will

be able to sustain their momentum, they have already proven capable of exerting influence over politicians.

Leftists and other critics of the Israeli government have noted that the pro-democracy protests have not explicitly included a demand for equal rights for Palestinians. This has been a strategic move by the demonstrators, who currently prefer to maintain relations with their more conservative participants. Foreign Affairs noted that this may not continue to be the case, however. Some demonstrators’ signs read “democracy for all,” and there remains strong opposition to the national guard given to BenGvir — two indicators that there remains a possibility of including Palestinians’ demands in the future.

Photo courtesy of Bryan Jones via Flickr Calls for justice continue 20 years after invasion of Iraq by United States and United Kingdom.

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Menjouley via Flickr French protesters take to the streets to speak out against President Macron’s pension reform bill.

Photo courtesy of Beny Shlevich via Wikimedia Commons Israeli citizens have been protesting for months following the announcement of a judicial reform that would place limits on the courts’ current power.

Leah Penniman speaks about new book at the Odyssey Bookshop

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

On March 22, the Odyssey was packed with people sitting and chatting in rows of chairs where one would usually find racks of MHC apparel. The group was brought together by an event featuring Leah Penniman, a “Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY,” according to their bio on the Soul Fire Farm website.

Penniman co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010, with the mission to “end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land” according to their website. Penniman is also a celebrated author, with previous publications including “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” and “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.”

Penniman’s latest publication, “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” first hit the shelves in February, according to HarperCollins.

The book explores Black peoples’ relationships with the environment and science through a series of interviews and essays. To write the novel, Penniman spoke to 40 Black environmentalists, including Alice Walker, Ross Gay and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, according to HarperCollins. This was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to inspiring

Black voices, but that the prolific involvement of People of Color in science would not be detected through traditional channels, Penniman said. When observing who holds leadership roles in science, and where grant funding goes, “you would think that somehow Black and brown folks just aren’t interested,” they said.

One of Penniman’s interviewees for the novel is Mount Holyoke

David B. Truman Professor of Environmental Studies Lauret Savoy. Savoy accompanied Penniman at the event, where the two discussed their respective experiences with racism and the environment, experiences which they found often occurred simultaneously in their early memories. These questions formulated the central narrative of “Black Earth Wisdom,” alongside an urging for readers to listen and learn from the nature that surrounds them. “This book is about remembering the languages of the earth,” Penniman said.

What languages does the Earth speak? This was the first question Penniman asked Savoy, with reference to a similar question posed to the professor in “Black Earth Wisdom.” Savoy began to answer before pausing to pick up a copy of the book off of the table in front of her and commented that her answer there was likely more concise.

The Earth speaks in “many voices,” Savoy read. “Uplift,” “erosion,” “water,” and “ice” are all ways in which the Earth speaks, she continued, adding that humans’ relation-

ship with the Earth began “with direct experience.” Despite the vast array in which nature communicates with humans, “so many people today know little of this Earth, and they act as if this ignorance is an act of right and privilege,” Savoy said. Throughout her life, Savoy learned to “read and listen [to the Earth] in the languages of science and art,” she said.

Republican pushback stalls ESG initiatives

BY SARAH GRINNELL ’26 STAFF WRITER

State-level members of the Republican Party have recently accelerated their pushback against Environmental Social Governance considerations in public and retirement pensions, ubiquitously dubbing them “woke” investments, NBC reported. According to NBC, President Joe Biden’s first veto on March 23, which the House failed to override, blocked a bipartisan bill that would have nullified Labor Department rules permitting retirement plans to consider ESG factors.

According to Forbes, ESG first entered mainstream political parlance around 2020. The term broadly refers to the method of conducting a company and its budget in a way that considers “extraneous” issues such as climate change or social impact, according to SmartAsset.

In other words, Forbes defines ESG as “a company’s commitment to do more than make a profit, such as actively striving to contribute positively to the environment or social causes and to conduct themselves responsibly,” such as by encouraging sustainability or diversity in their business.

For example, SmartAsset explains that a fiscal plan “may explicitly choose not to invest in fossil fuels and dirty industries, or it may proactively invest in renewable energy companies” in an effort for the business to align its values with its financial actions.

However, according to NBC, recent bills and regulations in states like Texas, the “center of the U.S. oil and gas industry,” stand in direct opposition to these goals. For example, Republican Texas state senator Bryan Hughes recently proposed prohibiting pension funds from considering “social, political or ideological factors” in their investments.

Despite ESG’s potential to advance equity and social consciousness in big business, many Republicans are decrying it as an “activist liberal agenda” that needs to be expunged, NBC reported.

According to USA Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has vocally declared a crusade on “corporate wokeness.” DeSantis stated in an appearance at Florida SouthWestern State College that initiatives like ESG investments “try to impose politics on what should just be economic decisions.”

Per USA Today, Desantis, like many other Republicans, is pushing to “block all state investment decisions based on ESG standards.” NBC reported that states like Indiana have passed bills requiring entities such as the Indiana Public Retirement System and the Indiana State Police Pension Trust to “divest from any ESG funds and cease business with offending companies.”

Apart from the perceived threat of an encroaching liberal agenda, ESG is also seen by the GOP as a

major threat to the oil, gas and coal industries. USA Today noted that many Red state fossil fuel sympathizers who want to resist the shift to renewable energy will naturally oppose ESG investing.

Others, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, author of “Woke, Inc: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” claim that ESG investing is not “motivated by value maximization” and prioritizes social goals at the expense of the economy.

However, despite these objections, ESG has a number of proven financial and social benefits. For example, impact-related or ESG investments “post competitive results” and make a company more attractive to younger workers who are increasingly uninterested in working for corrupt corporations. Evidence also suggests that ESG can help lower operating costs, as Perillon cites a McKinsey study that found those benefits can be “as much as 60 percent.”

According to Perillon, since ESG focuses largely on reducing energy consumption and eliminating raw material usage, companies can then save money on utilities and waste fewer resources.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, argues in an NBC article that “[Red states that have pushed back on the investment of public entities in ESG funds] talk about limited government, the free market” in their justification of curbing ESG considerations, yet these very regulations actually interfere directly with business practices.

In fact, according to USA Today, around 63 percent of voters surveyed said the government should

Penniman’s connection with the environment arose in their childhood when nature served as a welcome refuge from racial discrimination and bullying. Penniman described that both they and their twin sister felt a “deep kinship” with the Earth as children.

“I am so proud of the clarity of youth,” Penniman said, explaining

that young people are often the ones who refuse to compromise with “racial capitalism.” Penniman went on to explain that when people lose this clarity and see themselves as separate from nature, it “authorizes terrible acts of oppression.” They explained that in the face of impending climate change, society needs to undergo a transformation, rather than attempting to fit into the existing capitalist system.

Savoy shared that she had a similar relationship with nature during her childhood in Southern California. “The sun colored my skin as it colored the earth,” she said of her identity and understanding of race as a child. Savoy explained that as she grew older, she was quick to realize that land did not hate, “people did.” As with Penniman, racism was a driving factor in Savoy’s close relationship with the environment, she said. Savoy further explores the American landscape through history and her own memories in her novel “Trace.”

The event ended with a surprise appearance by Naima Penniman, Leah Penniman’s sister, who also serves as the Director of Education at Soul Fire Farm. Naima Penniman asked audience members to turn to their neighbor and share something they had learned by listening to nature. She then closed the event with a spoken word performance about the lessons she had learned from the Earth.

All about menopause

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

Parenthood.

not set limits on ESG investments exactly for this reason, because “the consensus among voters surveyed was that companies should be able to exercise discretion to invest in ESG initiatives that benefit society without government interference.”

Likewise, Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia University Center on Sustainable Investment, notes that the time and money involved in regulating or prohibiting ESG initiatives will only hurt the economy because “limiting the pool of investment options available to pension funds can increase the costs and lower the returns for retirees,” creating “constraints on financial institutions and options” that will particularly impact the retirement funds of teachers, librarians, firefighters and other public service employees.

Furthermore, data shows that ESG investments are what the majority of consumers want. One study, a summary of which was published in Forbes, found that 88 percent of consumers “will be more loyal to a company that supports social or environmental issues,” leading to better stock performance and long-term customer and employee support.

ESG investing is not a perfect system. According to NBC, some investment firms, such as BlackRock, engage in ESG investing despite simultaneously supporting the fossil fuel industry. But ESG investing is shown to not only boost equity and sustainability in business practices but also long-term profit, as Forbes detailed.

Considering its recent prominence in the political realm, ESG is likely to remain on the political radar for quite some time despite continued Republican pushback.

Menopause is a transition that begins one year after a person’s last period and usually lasts seven years, according to the National Institute of Aging. This transition marks the end of a person’s menstrual cycles and their ability to become pregnant. In the United States, the average age at which people begin menopause is 51, but this can vary depending on the person, the Mayo Clinic reported. The duration of the menopausal transition also varies from person to person, according to the NIA.

Perimenopause occurs leading up to the start of menopause, usually beginning when a person is in their 40s, according to Planned Parenthood. Smokers often start perimenopause two years before non-smokers.

During perimenopause, people may experience changes in their period, such as skipped periods or changes in what a typical period looks like for that person. Pregnancy is still possible during perimenopause, according to Planned

The symptoms of menopause include hot flashes, difficulty sleeping, mood changes and vaginal dryness, the NIA explains. The NIA describes hot flashes as “a sudden feeling of heat in the upper part or all of your body” accompanied by sweating and a flushed appearance. Hot flashes usually last between 30 seconds and 10 minutes and occur at varying intervals depending on the person, the NIA said.

Vaginal dryness and decreased sensitivity can cause discomfort during sex as well as a range of emotional effects, according to Planned Parenthood. These effects may be remedied with the use of lube, increased sexual activity and hormone medications. While pregnancy is no longer possible after the start of menopause, people can still contract sexually transmitted diseases, the NIA reported.

Postmenopause is the stage that follows menopause, according to the NIA. People experiencing postmenopause are at an increased risk of heart disease and osteoporosis, making it important to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

College cuts programs, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

each department. Any student presently interested in majoring or minoring, as well as taking courses in the department in German or English will be able to do so until June 2027.”

Phoebe Grabowski ’26, a Russian minor at Mount Holyoke, shared her perspective of the events. “I was surrounded by friends, and we came together to support [the department] we love. Almost my entire Russian class was there because our professors asked us to come. [So to] talk so much about how much we love this program, and then be told that ‘oh, by the way, it’s shutting down,’ it was heartbreaking,” she said.

Sullivan shared that she, alongside Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Success Amber Douglas, “... assured [students] that we would keep resources in

place on campus at current levels for existing majors and minors until any sunset date should the motion be supported.”

However, Grabowski expressed concerns about this promise. “They told us they would continue to support us over the next four years sunsetting the program, but I don’t believe for a second that they’re going to put money into a sinking ship,” she explained.

Katherine McNally, a visiting professor in the German department, said, “I am the only faculty member in the German Studies Department for the coming academic year. … As the Provost stated during the tea on Thursday, funding for a tenure track position to replace Professor Remmler was not allocated to German Studies.” However, McNally reassured, “It is my aim to provide

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 Leah Penniman’s novel “Black Earth Wisdom” includes interviews with Black environmentalists.

Photo courtesy of

via Wikimedia

The lighting at Mount Holyoke is due for an update

BY HOPE FRANCES SIMPSON ’24 STAFF WRITER

Sitting in my dorm room in 1837 Hall, I’m always struck by the lovely view of Lower Lake, especially at night when it is brightly illuminated by the lights of Blanchard Hall — lights that seem to remain on 24/7.

Mount Holyoke College feels like a community within itself. There’s little one would need outside of the campus grounds, and it’s a pastoral picture of campus living — during the day that is.

At night, the campus is lit up like a star by street lights and uninhabited buildings whose lights appear to remain on all night long. Even if the lights are kept on in Blanchard Hall all day and night, other buildings don’t get the same treatment. For instance, some buildings have motion sensors that leave these buildings in the dark during the night. For those night owls who find themselves in Clapp Laboratory or Kendade Hall after hours, this might be a plus, but I find myself wondering just how much energy this extra lighting uses and how much of my tuition is footing the bill.

While I appreciate being able to go into any building without having to worry about stubbing my toe in the dark, the environment is certainly paying the price for Mount Holyoke’s excessive use of electricity.

According to Thomas Robert,

Mount Holyoke’s Electrical Supervisor, “There are areas on campus that we require to have minimum lighting levels. In these cases, we try to install motion sensors with dimming sensors that dim down to a lower level to conserve energy.”

Robert also said, “We do have some buildings such as the Library, CDC, Health center, Sciences, Mary Woolley, Creighton, Skinner and Clapp that hallways/common areas are controlled by light switches that are turned off daily by staff” meaning

these buildings have the lights shut off when unoccupied. Additionally, stairwells have the lights dimmed down to 10 percent when not in use as another energy-saving measure.

I have noticed that this is the case in dorm buildings, like 1837 Hall, where there is a mix of motion sensor lights and lights that stay on at all hours. This provides an environment that can be safely navigated by students no matter how light or dark it is outside. Although leaving so many lights on in

different dorms across campus is not necessarily what’s best for the environment, I have to agree that this is what’s best for student safety in residential spaces. Academic buildings, however, don’t necessarily need the precaution of lights that are left on 24/7 because they are not constantly in use the way that dormitories are.

“Most offices and classrooms are covered by some sort of control system to turn lights on and off,”

Robert said. Mount Holyoke would be wise to consider using sensored or non-automatic lighting switched off during the night and other periods of inactivity in these buildings.

However, getting sensor lighting in academic buildings is a challenge due to their cost. According to an article by Sustainable Buildings Initiative, “[motion] sensors only provide optimal results if they are calibrated, wired, and placed correctly.” This means that they are not always the best fit for every space, and installation costs will be more expensive than regular lighting that doesn’t require the same level of calibration.

“There is a fine balance as far as cost, efficiency and payback goes,”

Robert said. While generally efficient, sensor lights are more expensive and not an optimal choice for all the buildings on campus.

I would then propose using non-sensored lights in academic buildings that are used less at night and simply turning these lights off

as a way to curb energy use.

Furthermore, even within dorms, lighting efficiency is not as simple as installing motion detectors in every building so that the lights are off when there is no human activity. For instance, this doesn’t account for the critters that could be lurking around at night, which could trigger the motion sensors and turn the lights on. Furthermore, some spaces at Mount Holyoke, such as basement dwellings with rodent problems, might not be the best fit for this kind of lighting. Meaning it would be best to have non-automated lighting in these areas.

While I am no lighting expert, I would advocate for the wider use of motion sensor lighting. While it is more costly, the benefits in the long run, which include less energy use overall, would benefit the College and our wallets greatly.

“I do believe it would benefit the College efficiency-wise to do motion sensors,” Robert said. He agreed that this lighting benefits the school, despite some of its pitfalls. Overall, the efficiency of this type of lighting does outweigh its downsides. While the College’s lighting practices certainly aren’t perfect, Robert explained that they are always considering new energy projects for the school and trying their best to conserve energy. Who knows, in a few years the view from 1837 Hall may become a moot point at night.

Mount Holyoke hosts 100th annual Glascock contest, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

an interview with Mount Holyoke News.

Chandler, who had memorized their poems, was the next to perform, delivering several shorter, energetic poems — which were all centered on the page — from their manuscript of poems “Too Wet To Take.” In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Chandler stated that they believed “their performance went well” and said the judges and other contestants were “great.”

Next, Houghton-Harjo, who is a Mvskoke and Seminole writer from Oklahoma, read four longer poems related to her Native American identity. She put her poem “Hvtvm Cheheraces / The Poem is a Seance at my Nan’s Kitchen Table” in conversation with “Perhaps the World Ends Here” a poem by Joy Harjo — no relation — who she read with during the former Poet Laureate’s closing event at the Library of Congress.

“I tried to view it as just like any other reading,” Houghton-Harjo said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “I like to read and so I’ve tried to keep that in mind. … this morning I forgot that there was gonna be a winner. … it was really out of my mind, which I think [was] good for my jitters.”

Martinez read a series of poems that reflected her struggles with depression; before performing, she explained that there were three separate sections focusing on sadness, emptiness and joy. In her contestant biography, she stated that she’s “hoping [her] writing can reach out to those who are also struggling with depression and anxiety from an early age.”

Newbury, whose work, according to his contestant biography,

“provides unique insight into his experiences with moving across the country and all the change that comes along with it,” read two longer, narrative poems titled “Coat of Fur” and “I know the universe is testing me (so don’t try to tell me that it’s not).”

Trice was the final contestant to read and performed a number of poems, some of which explored intertextual references to “The Odyssey.” In a previous interview with the Mount Holyoke News, he explained how his “Penelope poems” originated from his fascination with the figure of Penelope when he did a research fellowship looking at “reimaginings of the stories of the women of the Odyssey in contemporary literature.”

Discussing the contestants’ reading in an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Myles said that they were “moved” and “even got weepy.”

They also stated that the fact that the room was so full was “a testament to how much people care about poetry around here.”

Nguyen and Myles, who had, as judges, been given access to the contestants’ poems about a week before the contest, both enjoyed seeing how the student poets read their poems aloud.

“I think everybody is so different when they read,” Myles said. “I had a take on the work but people delivered it in such interesting ways. … some people were seamless [and] the poems just ran right on top of each other, people had memorized their poems. So it was enthralling, it was really cool.”

Nguyen echoed this sentiment stating that “it was especially a pleasure because I had already read the poems [and] to both meet the person who wrote the poems but also

to see how they animate their text, how they conveyed it, it was really impressive, the presence everyone had.”

The following morning, April 1, the contestants and judges reconvened in the Stimson room for the judges’ reading and announcement of the winner. Student members of the Glascock committee introduced the judges before their reading.

“I learned from [Nguyen’s] poems the power in admitting how little we know,” Kelsey Warren FP ’25 said while introducing Nguyen.

Nguyen read a selection of poems, multiple of which referenced her mother’s Vietnamese stunt motorcycle troop, from her latest book of poetry, “A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure.”

Myles then read from their latest book of poetry, “a ‘Working Life,’” and performed their poems with a sharp, fast, rhythmic cadence.

Shockley read last and performed a number of poems from “Suddenly We,” her most recent book of poetry. In one stand-out poem, she tied together Greek mythology – specifically the Furies –and a message of justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police in her home during the spring of 2020.

Before announcing the winners, the judges read statements that spoke to each contestant’s strengths. They then announced that they would split the prize between Bosworth and Houghton-Harjo. “I feel like being a co-winner is the coolest way to do it,” Bosworth said. “And [I] love Portlyn’s work, I think ‘BIGFOOT 69’D MY WIFE’ is like one of the best titles I’ve ever heard. So yeah, so I’m super duper honored to share it.”

Houghton-Harjo stated that she

felt that the judges had a hard decision to make and that she was glad to share the prize with Bosworth, stating that “he’s so talented.”

“We have some real heavy hitters in the space so it feels really good to be surrounded by that and by people who appreciate poetry and especially boundary-pushing poetry,” Houghton-Harjo said.

Shockley appreciated the students who came to the events and said that they don’t take the energy that students bring to these kinds of events for granted.

“I don’t know exactly what I expected, but the quality of the student poems, the level of community support for beginning-ish writers — I mean they all seem to be pretty far into using their gifts — it was astonishing and I feel honored to have been able to play a part,” Shockley said.

Frances Perkins Scholars share stories of resilience, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

to juggle between responsibilities as a mother, business owner and the sole provider of her family, she would often tell people, “I’ll go to school when pigs fly.” However, she never forgot the trips she took with her grandmother to Mount Holyoke and Smith College as a child, and when she discovered the Frances Perkins program she “never looked back.”

“I remember telling Carolyn [Deitel, Director of the Frances Perkins Program during] my first interview, ‘I belong here. It’s okay if you have to reject me the first couple times I apply because I will keep fighting until you let me in,’” McGrath said. She ended her speech by reminding the audience “that pigs really do fly, and not to forget that I am still rising.”

Speakers Sheyla Perez FP ’24 also shares a connection to Mount Holyoke with their families. Perez first heard of the Frances Perkins pro-

gram from her sister, Keishla Perez FP ’24, and together the two applied and were accepted. Sheyla Perez shared a photo taken on the day they received their letters, which shows the two of them jumping in front of the Mount Holyoke College sign, arms outstretched. “We were just so happy to be able to come here,” Sheyla Perez said.

In her speech, “Trauma Dumptruck,” Ceren Çıtak FP ’23 sharedspeech her experiences with addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness and mental illness as a teenager and young adult. Although these topics are serious, Çıtak felt it was important to share the full details of her journey. She emphasized joy and hope throughout her talk, incorporating her sense of humor through hand-crafted memes. Once accepted into the Frances Scholar program, it took some time for Çıtak to find her place; but once she met her first friend, Emily Rosaci FP ’23, she began to consider Mount Holyoke as her home. “All you need is

one friend. If you were ever just nice to somebody, you have no idea, you could literally be saving their life,” Çıtak said. “And that really segued my way into making a community … All these beautiful people [the FP Scholars] helped me and carried me when I could not carry myself.”

Other FP students shared their stories through creative writing. Ace Chandler FP ’26, the 2023 Mount Holyoke nominee for the Glascock poetry contest, read aloud a series of poems from their manuscript “Too Wet To Take.” They described it as being “sort of a story, but [it’s] also

… a long poem.” Leah Drabek FP ’23 read aloud a letter to her younger self, describing her past experiences with addiction, depression and an eating disorder, which all eventually contributed to a life-threatening trip to the hospital. She encouraged her younger self that, despite all of this, she will find people within the FP program who she now considers family and that “will lift you up and teach you how to live a life greater than you’ve ever imagined.”

“Don’t be afraid to show and share the darkest parts of yourself,” Drabek said. “The moment you accept yourself in your entirety, the dark and the light, is the moment you’ll find freedom.”

Overall, the FP scholars expressed gratitude for the academic and societal opportunity the program has given them, as well as the community of like-minded people they’ve found during their time at Mount Holyoke. “With the FPs they’re a community, and they’re for life,” Lynn Moynahan FP ’23 said.

Graphic by Jieru Ye ’23

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 Mariam Faisal FP ’23 shared their stories with a mix of humor and candor at BOOM! 2023.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 Tom Bosworth and Portlyn Houghton-Harjo hug after being announced as the contest’s winners.

Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Kathryn Irene Glascock was a poet and writer during her time at Mount Holyoke College.

Transgender athlete Schuyler Bailar speaks at BOOM! panel about his experiences transitioning and swimming

BY GENEVIEVE ZAHNER ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article discusses transphobia and mentions depression, self harm and eating disorders.

Mount Holyoke’s annual Building On Our Momentum conference was held on Tuesday, March 28, bringing speakers from all over to speak about their life experiences and social justice work. Celebrated transgender inclusion advocate Schuyler Bailar spoke to students in a panel about his experience being the first transgender athlete to compete on a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team that matched his gender identity. Bailar was a swimmer for the Men’s Swimming and Diving team at Harvard University.

Bailar started off by talking about his early life, how he started swimming and his early experiences with his gender expression. “I’ve always been swimming, and I learned to swim around the same time I learned how to walk,” Bailar explained. “Swimming [was] my whole life, [and I] got good at swimming around age nine or 10.” Bailar talked about his experience with feeling like an outcast, and how he never quite felt like he associated himself with his assigned gender. “I was assigned female at birth. I mean, when

I was a kid, everybody said, ‘this is a girl,’ and that’s never quite fit,” he said. “So I said, okay, I guess I’m a girl, but I didn’t act like the other girls. I didn’t really play with the other girls.”

Bailar mentioned that he had always presented in a more masculine way, and felt who he was aligned more with the boys in his school. “I presented myself in a very sort of stereotypically boyish or masculine sense. I had short hair, wore mostly boys’ clothing. I played boys’ baseball, boys’ lacrosse, soccer. I played

football with the boys at recess.” Bailar then talked about how his masculine presentation caused him problems, and that he was bullied and harassed in bathrooms as a result. “I was bullied constantly for looking different, for acting different, for never quite being girl enough,” he said. Bailar explained that he felt in between genders, ignored by the girls in his school for not being, as he put it, “girl enough,” and ostracized by the boys for not being “a real boy.” Bathrooms, he said, were his primary source of stress.

“I used the girls’ bathroom as I was told that I had to, but I was constantly harassed, thrown out and yelled at in the women’s or girls’ bathroom,” he continued. “People would always yell at me in the bathrooms and even yell at my mom where they would be like, ‘You can’t have your son in here, get out!’ And she’d defend me and it would become this whole fight.” Bailar explained that this was an especially difficult time for him, as he was “defending a gender [he] did not feel.” Bailar said that he would try to not go to the bathroom during the day to avoid this problem, and would even use the faculty bathroom that was off-limits to students. According to Bailar, getting in trouble for using the faculty bathroom was better than being harassed by the girls in his school. When Bailar reached high school, he decided he had had enough of the harassment, and started trying harder to fit in. “I grew my hair out, I stopped cutting it short and wearing more what I thought were girlier clothes,” he said.

In high school, Bailar’s athletic career took off. He was getting recruited to swim for Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth. His current swim team was the national champion three years in a row and he was swimming his fastest times. Still, he struggled to find the thing that made him feel so different from his peers.

“I had actually come out as gay. I knew I liked girls. I thought, okay, well, everybody says I’m a girl and I know I like girls. So that would make me gay, so maybe that’s the thing that’s different about me. Maybe that’s why I feel like I don’t fit in,” he said. But Bailar said this was not the solution to his problems. “For most of high school, and especially in these photos that I’ve shown you, I was miserable. I felt so sad, so lost, so disconnected from myself all the time,” he said.

Bailar’s mental health began to decline, and after he broke his back in a bike accident and was unable to swim, his mental health deteriorated even more. He struggled with depression, self-harm and an eating disorder. Bailar said that at this time he felt lost, and reached out to his parents for help.

“I was lucky to have parents that met me where I was at and that they supported me going to therapy, not only ideologically because there are many families that don’t, but also financially,” Bailar said. He stated that although he was in therapy, he did not feel much better. This led him to take a gap year before attending Harvard for swimming to go to a residential treatment program in Florida. The residential treatment center allowed him to take a step back, and this was what ultimately

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 u

Lacrosse sees ‘learning and success’ in the future after 20-1 loss to Springfield

BY EMILY TARINELLI ’25 SPORTS EDITOR

Mount Holyoke Lacrosse suffered a 20-1 loss versus Springfield College on Saturday, April 1, at Springfield. Despite the defeat, team members kept their heads in the game and concentrated on the positive takeaways from the weekend.

“Although the score was not what we wanted, I’m still so proud of my teammates for facing a challenging opponent and staying tough during moments of adversity,” Hannah Bisson ’24 said. “We played a full 60 minutes of hard lacrosse, and we kept a positive attitude the entire game. We had great sportsmanship, and we had each other’s backs.” Springfield snagged 11 points in the first quarter of the game. After

that, however, their goals dramatically decreased. Springfield scored four times in the second quarter and once in the third, which was also when Mount Holyoke’s Emi Bisson ’26 captured the Lyons’ only goal.

The Springfield Pride prevailed once and for all in the last quarter, securing an additional four points. Mount Holyoke’s goalkeeper Emma Tower ’25 made eight saves throughout the game.

“Defense was able to shut Springfield down, and we were able to force Springfield to run out their shot clock,” Hannah Bisson said.

Maddie Millyan ’25 said that the game was a learning experience that the team could capitalize on for future successes.

“Though the outcome of our game today at Springfield College

isn’t what we had hoped for, it was a great stepping stone that brought us forward in our strength and bond as a team,” she said. “We could try new positions, focus on what we had been learning and improving on, and be each other’s biggest cheerleaders as we accomplished this. I definitely think we have more learning and success in the near future.”

Head Coach Anne O’Byrne also spoke about her outlook on the rest of the season to come.

“Not entirely surprising, Springfield is poised to land near the top of our conference this year and that fact can be intimidating even before the first draw. That said, despite being a young team in a year full of transition, we played hard, learned new lessons, made new mistakes and grew in defeat,” O’Byrne said.

“Our team is talented, and they’re hungry for success, so every loss and every setback is making them better and solidifying the foundation

that we intend to build upon.”

Next up, the Lyons will play Babson College at home on Saturday, April 8, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

Weissman Center hosts Tahmima Anam Poetry to read: works by the 2023 Glascock contest judges

BY SOPHIE FRANK ’26 STAFF WRITER

On one of the warmest days in March, Mount Holyoke students and professors from many of the Five Colleges gathered in Hooker Auditorium for a conversation with Tahmima Anam, an award-winning author, New York Times columnist and Mount Holyoke alum from the class of 1997.

Anam described her visit as “incredibly moving and meaningful,” noting that the date of the event marked her return to Mount Holyoke exactly 30 years after her arrival in 1993.

The event was organized by the Weissman Center for Leadership in collaboration with Critical Social Thought, the Office of The President and the Five Colleges. Cindie Huerta ’25, a Weissman fellow, told Mount Holyoke News that events like this “allow for people to see the potential beyond Mount Holyoke.”

Anam began the talk by describing her journey to becoming an author.

She included stories of her Bangladeshi upbringing and her journey to Mount Holyoke. When she first arrived at the school, she was greeted at the airport by an international student welcoming committee. She described being drawn into the community immediately.

“You have this moment of intense connection when you’re here while you’re being pushed to be extraordinary,” she explained during the Launching Leadership conversation.

“This community is a really special place, and … going through [your] journey with this community is a real gift,” Anam said to Mount Holyoke News. “I hope [it] will be something that guides you through and gives you the strength to tackle

whatever it is out in the world that you need to tackle.”

Anam, who majored in anthropology, said that up until meeting Mount Holyoke professors who had high standards but believed in her, she had never taken herself seriously. Anam had a secret wish to become a novelist and though she didn’t pursue her dream until after graduation, she says college and graduate school were great training for her writing. During the Launching Leadership talk she explained the connection between studying anthropology and her writing: “Anthropology is the study of otherness. Writing requires a deep understanding of otherness. The experience of otherness is fundamental to my being.”

During her Ph.D. research in anthropology at Harvard, Anam focused on the experiences of women during the war of independence in Bangladesh. She expected to hear stories about the war, but instead, the women talked about falling in love and their families, because it was a time when many social norms were cast aside. She learned from this that she was not interested in the “grandness of war,” but in the small, transformative moments between people.

Her anthropological research inspired the Bengal Trilogy. The books chronicle three generations of women in the same family throughout the history of Bangladesh, from the war of independence to the present day. The books were written from her heart for her family and for the country whose “rich, intellectual history” was revealed to her by a Mount Holyoke professor. “It was really the novel I had to write first,” she told Mount Holyoke Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum. Her latest book, “The Startup

Wife,” is a big departure from her previous work in the Bengal Trilogy, though it is also based on life experiences — in this case, her job at a tech startup founded by her husband. While observing office culture and racism and sexism in tech, she began to speculate about how she would be treated if she was the founder of the company. The book wound up being a satirical social commentary about a married couple that works together on a sensational new app. Though the wife is the one who created it, the husband receives the praise and becomes an almost messiah-like figure.

The book also delves into her complex relationship with technology under capitalism, but she fondly recalls seeing young people in Bangladesh who believe they can change the world thanks to the interconnectedness technology allows. Ultimately, she believes “[technology] cannot be stopped, it can only be understood.”

In response to a student asking how to tell stories the world often ignores, Anam replied, “Your story is your power. Nobody else has that story.” Anam believes in the power of stories, of young people and of the Mount Holyoke community.

BY EMMA PLATT ’26 STAFF WRITER

The Glascock Poetry Contest took place last week during the first weekend of National Poetry Month and featured work by students from across New England. The competition was judged by poets Eileen Myles, Evie Shockley and Hoa Nguyen. These established poets read selections of their work on the Saturday of the competition, but could only showcase a small portion of their work. For those wishing to explore more of their poetry, here are three more works by these authors.

“Prophesy” by Eileen Myles

In this poem, Myles uses both humor and evocative and odd imagery to transport the reader into a strange world that Myles writes from. Down to their writing utensil being “the devil’s cock” which is like “a fat burnt crayon.” Myles uses the Devil as a clear reference to the personification of pure evil. The poem is in free verse and lacks punctuation except for one period in the middle.

Myles is from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a graduate of UMass Boston. They have published twenty volumes of both poetry and prose fiction as well as art journalism and libretto work. They have received four Lambda Book Awards, the Shelley Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and several other accolades.

“her tin skin” by Evie Shockley

In this poem, Shockley writes about insecurity and wishing to be like another person on the surface. She wants the subject’s “tin skin,” which is repeated over and over in the poem. She describes the subject’s “militant barbie breast” and “mountainous” curves as things

that she desires. Shockley writes about her own brownness as well: “i / want my brownness / to cover all but the silver / edges of my tin skin.”

A graduate of Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and Duke University, Shockley is from Nashville, Tennessee. She has had fellowships with Cave Canem, the Millay Colony for the Arts, the American Council of Learned Societies and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. She has also been honored with the Holmes National Poetry Prize.

“Unused Baby” by Hoa Nguyen

In this poem, Nguyen writes with imagery from nature, folklore and religion to create a confusing but fascinating piece. She uses images of everything from blood to frogs to form strong images in the reader’s mind, drawing them in. This is similar to her general style of poetry, which poet Ocean Vuong once described as, “a poetics insistent on fragmentation and rupture as a mode of thinking and being in the world — one where, paradoxically, the very notion of fragmentation is, in itself, a whole. Her poems remind us that meaning, as we understand it, does not have to adhere to standard conventions of syntax.”

Nguyen was born in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and grew up in the United States before settling in Canada where she now lives. She has written several books throughout her career and has been nominated for the Griffin Prize, Kingsley Tufts Award, National Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award. She has taught creative writing at the graduate and undergraduate levels as well as at community colleges.

Photo courtesy of Andy Walter Transgender athlete and activist Schuyler Bailar spoke at one of Mount Holyoke’s BOOM! panels.

Photo courtesy of Weissman Center for Leadership Tahmima Anam ’97 spoke at Mount Holyoke.

Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Athletics Emi Bisson ’26 scored the Lyons’ only goal in a game versus Springfield College on April 1, 2023.

f HOROSCOPES f

BY CARRIE LEWIS ’23 & MADDEN LACOSTE ’23 HOROSCOPE WRITERS

March 21 – April 19

This week, you should explore new music. There is a lot you can gain from a fresh voice in your ear. Have you listened to a podcast recently? Maybe you should!

Do: Lend| Don’t: Hold a grudge

April 20 – May 20

I’m not sure what you’re thinking right now. You don’t wear your emotions on your sleeve, do you? Open yourself to those who want to know you. You will only gain from this exchange.

Do: Precious | Don’t: Paper towels

May 21 – June 20

Last week, you were their favorite. This week, they wanted something more. Remember to always put yourself first, no matter what others want. That will never be selfish.

Do: Stick | Don’t: Return library books

June 21 – July 22

Sometimes the jokes write themselves. Does art imitate life or vice versa? Stop making decisions based on aesthetics. Stay true.

Do: Sweetest batch | Don’t: Super special strawberry

July 23 – Aug. 22

Bend and stretch, but not into a box. Actually, don’t try to fit into anything. Try to escape anything that strains you this week.

Do: Legs | Don’t: Chart

Aug. 23 – Sept. 22

Sometimes cats don’t like to be pet, but they’re actually lying. However, they are quite convincing. Intrigue more humans but don’t get too wrapped up in impressing them.

Do: Cart | Don’t: Remember

Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

Things can’t always go your way, but they can if you try. What steps can you take to get what you want? Maybe relying on others isn’t the best way. Polka dots will make your wish come true this week.

Do: Thrifty | Don’t: Shout

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21

What are you afraid of? If you know the answer, don’t second guess. Sometimes your gut is your strongest tool. I know Thursday will be a lot, but push through.

Do: ? | Don’t: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

You love to commiserate with others like you. That’s a useful defense mechanism, but it doesn’t address the problem. Are you scared of something new? Slowly adjust to uncomfortable situations, and soon, they will soothe you.

Do: Gingers (non-derogatory) | Don’t: Pain

Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

In a world of squares, you’re a circle. You naturally stand out, but you only have one angle. Try looking at things from a new perspective. Be strong this week.

Do: Staples | Don’t: Strawberry Shortcake

Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

The way you see the world is unlike most. You have a specific perspective that others value. Do you value being the odd one out? Or do you feel that you’re drenched in specialty? No matter what, you always sparkle.

Do: BTS | Don’t: Blush

Feb. 19 – March 20

Are you ready to start over? It’s not easy, you know. Don’t let so many things affect you. Try to pay attention to all things blue this week.

Do: Wet | Don’t: Spoiled food

Mount Holyoke News

Mount Holyoke News is an independent student newspaper written by and for Mount Holyoke College students since 1917.

Executive Board

Transgender D1 swimmer Schuyler Bailar speaks at Mount Holyoke, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

led him to realize he was transgender. This realization brought Bailar a lot of relief and provided a reason as to why he felt so different his whole life. However, the relief was very short-lived, because he had been recruited for the Harvard women’s swim team, and had been in contact with the coach the whole time he was at the treatment center. He told his coach that he was transgender, and with this confession came fear for Bailar that he was going to lose the sport that was such an important part of his life. His coach was accepting and said that Bailar would still be able to swim for the women’s team even though he no longer identified as a woman. After Bailar completed his five months at the treatment center, he was able to finally start presenting more masculine and figuring out how to move forward with his transition.

After speaking more with his coach, he was offered a position on the Harvard men’s swim team. This was something that scared Bailar. “I burst into tears. I actually wasn’t happy or excited or relieved as one would expect. I was terrified,” he said. At first, he rejected this proposition, because he was afraid of losing all the success he might have had on the women’s team after work-

ing his whole life to be a successful women’s swimmer. He decided to stay on the women’s team for the time being, and during his gap year after he left the treatment center, he decided to get top surgery. His coach encouraged him to at least meet the Harvard men’s team, and to his surprise, they were very accepting and excited to include Bailar. It was then that the women’s coach told Bailar: “Schuyler, you know what you want.” This statement led him to make the decision to join the men’s team.

At his first meet with the men’s team, Bailar talked about the nerves he experienced. “I felt like I had a lot to prove and I was very afraid that maybe I couldn’t prove it,” he said.

Bailar said that it was at that first meet that he realized that while everything was the same, his experience had changed. “I was competing as just me, just myself. There wasn’t all this baggage of what I thought I was supposed to be, who I thought I had to be, Who everybody else told me I was, I was just me.”

Bailar spoke about anti-trans bills that threaten to prevent transgender people from participating in sports and getting healthcare. He discussed the importance of fighting for transgender rights, saying, “We should be allowed to be who we are and do what we love.”

College cuts German and Russian programs, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

the pedagogical support and resources to all students taking courses in the department.”

partment offers cross-curricular, interdisciplinary courses on topics such as history, politics and literature which teach students essential critical thinking skills and indeed are the cornerstones of a liberal arts education.”

Editor-in-Chief Sophie Soloway ’23

Managing Editor of Content Emma Watkins ’23

Managing Editor of Layout Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25

Copy Chief Lydia Eno ’26

Publisher Ali Meizels ’23

Managing Editor of Web Artemis Chen ’25 & Michelle Brumley ’24

Business Manager Katie Goss ’23

Human Resources Hannah Raykher ’23

Editorial Board News

Tara Monastesse ’25 & Bryn Healy ’24

Arts & Entertainment

Eliška Jacob ’24 & Lucy Oster ’23

Opinion Jahnavi Pradeep ’23

Books Olivia Wilson ’24

Global Shira Sadeh ’25 & Jendayi Leben-Martin ’24

Sports Emily Tarinelli ’25

Features Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25 & Melanie Duronio ’26

Science & Environmental Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23

Photos Rosemary Geib ’23 & Ali Meizels ’23

Graphics Gabriella Gagnon ’24 & Sunny Wei ’23

Layout Editors Summer Sit ’25, Orion Cheung ’25, Sophie Dalton ’25, Rachel Adler ’26 & Melanie Duronio ’26

Publication Guidelines

Copy Editors Jude Barrera ’24, Eliška Jacob ’24, Max Endieveri ’25, Gemma Golovner ’25, Meghan MacBeath ’25, Kamlyn Yosick ’25, Liv Churchill ’26, Kate Koenig ’26, Abigail McKeon ’26, Hema Motiani ’26, Emma Quirk ’26 & Caroline Huber ’26

Web Editors Maira Khan ’25, Aditi Menon ’25, Chloe Wang ’25, Lily Hoffman Strickler ’23, Thao Le ’25, Sophie Simon ’25 & Ramisa Tahsin Rahman ’25

Mount Holyoke News does not endorse any of the opinions or views expressed within the pages of the paper, excluding staff editorials.

All content copyright of Mount Holyoke News. All rights reserved. Mount Holyoke News does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age.

Advertising in MHN

Interest in advertising in MHN can be directed to mhnews@mtholyoke.edu for pricing and deadlines.

MHN reserves the right to refuse submissions on the basis of, but not limited to, advertisements considered to be libelous, obscene, defamatory or discriminatory.

Subscriptions

Mount Holyoke News is a weekly publication that prints weekly throughout the academic year. To join our mailing list, please contact the Publisher at mhnews@mtholyoke.edu.

Letters Policy

Letters to the Editor appear exactly as they are sent to MHN, except for corrections to spelling, grammar and AP style. Letters cannot exceed 500 words. All letters must include the writer’s name and telephone number for verification purposes. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Names may be held upon request with the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. MHN reserves the right to decide which materials will be printed. Email submissions to mhnews@mtholyoke.edu by Sundays at 5 p.m. for publication the following week.

EMAIL US: mhnews@mtholyoke.edu

According to Grabowski, access to classes in the Russian department has been limited throughout her time at Mount Holyoke. “It is very difficult to find courses to major in Russian to begin with. I wanted to double major in Russian [and biochemistry], but the fact of the matter is that a lot of the courses aren’t taught on campus or at all. And so that’s something I really wanted to do that I couldn’t do before all this news came out. And so I shifted my goal towards minoring in Russian studies, which is going to be difficult because to do that I need a 300-level Russian studies course, which just isn’t taught here very frequently.”

As Grabowski shared, cuts to language departments, among others, detract from the liberal arts mission at Mount Holyoke. “[T]his is supposed to be a liberal arts institution and we are supposed to be coming out of this [as] well-rounded individuals. And I don’t understand how Mount Holyoke can call itself a global institution and cut its languages, especially Russian during the political climate we’re in.”

Emma Pope McCright ’23, a History major and Russian minor, expressed her concern about the College shutting down two of its language departments. “ It’s a trend that’s been going on in a bunch of universities because humanities and languages aren’t seen as profitable, which, in my opinion, is not a good way to run a college, it’s to focus only on profit. We’re here to learn and have our horizons expanded and grow intellectually and as people. I think the education of students shouldn’t be based just on what is the most profitable job that you can get after you graduate.”

McNally echoed this sentiment, sharing that the losses of the department will impact a wide breadth of students at Mount Holyoke. “As major global languages and cultures, German and Russian departments not only teach students language skills that provide invaluable skills in myriad fields, [like] International Relations, Diplomacy and Political Science, to name a few. In addition, many STEM students at Mount Holyoke have obtained internships in labs in Germany,” McNally continued. “These internships provide invaluable fieldwork opportunities and connections, which set students on a path towards a successful career in STEM. In addition to these benefits, the German Studies De-

Sophie Schempp ’23, a German studies and Biology double major, also shared this notion. “With course focuses ranging from museums and repatriation, to global Holocaust remembrance, to Afro-German culture, this department takes an approach unlike any other German Studies program I’ve encountered. The MHC German Studies department is full of students who chose to come here specifically to take the courses being taken away. There may be a small number of students, but [German Studies] students are engaged and passionate.”

Grabowski also highlighted the value of the language departments and their interdisciplinary potential, speaking specifically to the offerings in the Russian department. “Russian courses don’t count for any major except for Russian major which is ridiculous. Russian literature should count for English major because it’s interdisciplinary. Russian history should count for history or politics or international relations. I can make a serious, convincing argument that Russian literature should be taught as Psychology. ‘Crime and Punishment’ is such a deep and intensive dive into the society of troubled men.”

Elizabeth Gerbi ’25, a Russian minor, shared their feelings about the news: “I was disappointed, hurt and upset, but I’m not gonna say super surprised. When the provost walks into the department tea, you know the news is not going to be good. ”

Gerbi also wondered if there is anything [the students] can do to change the situation, “[M]y first reaction was … is there anything we can do about this?”

When asked how the College’s decision is going to affect their plan of study, Gerbi added, “[that] makes it difficult,” and “limiting.”

“Like the scope of the courses that I can select. And then limiting opportunities that I have to study language outside of the classroom by kind of shrinking the membership of the clubs or shrinking the resources around us. And I know that they say we’ll keep the level of resources the same, but to be honest, the resources are already fairly minimal.”

According to Sullivan, “Dean Douglas and I would be closely involved with students and faculty in such an eventuality, providing academic resources and other support.”