Mount Holyoke News – December 9, 2022

Mount Holyoke News

Alumna alleges ‘indoctrination into woke culture’ at MHC to New York Post

ing about it. I feel like almost every year we have one of these situations where a conservative student or alum publishes some exposé where they reveal all the horrible leftist Marxist propaganda they are learn ing at Mount Holyoke and how they are being silenced for their views or whatever, and we roll our eyes, get a little attention on social media and move on.”

They went on to state that their opinion is that “most people don’t take it seriously.” They continued, “A lot of it is very clearly made up.” What concerned this student more than the claims that Rockwell made was what they found out “from read ing between the lines in that arti cle and talking to the alums that I know.”

Citing a photographical proj ect conducted by Howard Schatz in which Rockwell and other partici pants documented their lives from childhood to adulthood, the student drew the conclusion that Rockwell had painted a different picture of herself and made some per tinent observa tions about her life. Through this project, the stu dent explained, “[Rockwell] comes off as a smart and inde pendent young woman, not at all the way she comes off in the Post article.”

her mother, who hired a $300-a-day deprogrammer.

Rockwell, in her appearance on Carlson’s show, enthusiastically explained that her mother Melinda Rockwell, had, after being estranged from her daughter and facing in creasingly intense arguments, con sulted what Rockwell describes as a “cult-specialist.”

Rockwell went on to explain in the same interview that the cult-spe cialist presented her mother with very grim statistics about the chanc es of Rockwell “mak[ing] it out” of the mindset she had adopted while being on campus at Mount Holyoke. These statistics said, according to the New York Post, that it can take more than seven years to remove oneself out of what Melinda Rock well considered a “brainwashed” mindset.

BY TARA MONASTESSE ’25 & ANOUSH KA KUSWAHA ’24 NEWS EDITORS

“It is a cult, its aim is to sepa rate you from the people who love you most,” Tucker Carlson conclud ed when describing Mount Holyoke College on his Fox News segment, Tucker Carlson Tonight. The guest of the night was Annabella Rockwell ’15, who was invited to the show af ter being featured in a widely circu lated New York Post article that was published on Nov. 26.

The article described Rockwell’s experience at Mount Holyoke Col lege, where she described herself as becoming “totally indoctrinated” into a viewpoint wherein the world is dominated by a toxic patriarchal system and that women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people are op pressed victims.

Rockwell, described by the New York Post as an “heiress to a phar maceutical fortune,” grew up in an Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. She chose Mount Holyoke for “its academic rigor and prestige.” A different segment fea turing Rockwell, this time on Fox & Friends, claims that she was then “brainwashed” into “woke culture” while on campus.

In an interview with Dennis Prager, co-founder of PragerU — the company which currently employs Rockwell as a fundraiser — Rockwell stated that she studied “history and

politics at Mount Holyoke … [but] every class was history, but history with race, history with gender.”

In the interview, Rockwell went on to state that because of this type of education, she began viewing her self as part of a system in which ev eryone was oppressed and she saw herself as a victim. Rockwell cites these views as arising after electing to take a gender studies course in her junior year at Mount Holyoke, where she was first exposed to the ideas of systemic oppression and pa triarchal bias.

In her New York Post interview, Rockwell described her experience in this class: “This professor tells me about the patriarchy, I barely knew what the word meant. I didn’t know what [the professor] was talking about. I wasn’t someone that [was] into feminism. I just knew that I felt I had always been free to do what I wanted. I never experienced sexism. But I was told there’s the patriar chy and you don’t even understand it’s been working against you your whole life. You’ve been oppressed and you didn’t even know it. Now you have to fight it. And I just went down this deep rabbit hole.”

Adding onto her list of grievanc es, in an article by the Daily Mail, Rockwell claimed that campus cul ture at Mount Holyoke drove her to drink and become estranged from her mother. Rockwell alleges in the New York Post article that this type of estrangement was encouraged

by faculty at Mount Holyoke, to the point where professors allegedly offered students, like herself, their homes to stay in during the holiday periods.

Rockwell went on to state that there is a culture of ostracization on the Mount Holyoke campus, a sen timent which is viewed by Georgia Rose ’25 as proof of “how much of a straw man [Rockwell’s] argument was.”

Rose went on to state Rockwell’s allegations have “[woven] small truths about a small percent of the population.” To some extent, Rose echoes Rockwell’s statement, but largely finds them an exercise in hy perbole, stating that, “Is it true that some [MHC students engage in exclu sionary behaviors]? Yes. But it’s not everyone.” Rose further expressed that she, too, felt similar sentiments upon her arrival at Mount Holyoke, feeling as though she was “stifled” because she “wasn’t leftist or radical enough.” However, Rose emphasized that in her experience, “A lot of [stu dents at Mount Holyoke] are down to earth [and] are so willing to have difficult conversations with you.”

Other students have become interested in understanding the circumstances that led Rockwell to engage with the New York Post on this topic, such as a student who will graduate in 2023, who stated, “When I first saw the article I actu ally laughed. My friends and the al ums that I know were definitely jok

In her inter view with Carl son, Rockwell also discussed the “MoHo chop,” an unoffi cial campus tra dition in which some students choose to cut their hair.

When I first saw the article I actually laughed. My friends and the alums that I know were definitely joking about it. I feel like almost every year we have one of these situations where a conservative student or alum publishes some exposée where they reveal all the horrible leftist Marxist propaganda they are learning at Mount Holyoke and how they are being silenced for their views or whatever, and we roll our eyes, get a little attention on social media and move on.

– Anonymous

“[The] ‘Moho Chop’ is not an enforced tradition as they might like you to believe,” an anonymous student from the class of 2025 said. “In fact, my experience with it was just three individuals brought out onto the stage during an orientation event where they spontaneously got their hair cut off by their fellow classmates. This little ritual is be loved and voluntary and those indi viduals felt compelled to cut their hair short.”

“Even though we might not all agree with each other’s views and opinions, we will still respect one an other and give each other the space to share their opinions,” the student said of their experience at the Col lege. “I haven’t felt any need to con form.”

The larger and more head line-grabbing conclusion gained from Rockwell’s description of her four years at Mount Holyoke, is that she felt so indoctrinated to the point where she had to be, according to her interview with the New York Post, “deprogrammed” with the help of

After graduating, Rockwell worked on left-leaning political cam paigns, including that of Hilary Clinton, accord ing to the New York Post. Rock well moved to where her family resided in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2018 and elect ed to stop drink ing. Rockwell reflected upon this decision as a turning point in her life that led, along with what she referred to as the “more violent and de structive” parts of Black Lives Matter protests, her to become disillusioned with the Demo cratic Party and recently register as Republican, as she stated to the New York Post.

Rockwell also placed empha sis in both of her appearances on Fox News, that she would not have made it without of the persistence of her mother and the education she gained from watching videos made by her current employer, PragerU, a conservative advocacy group which aims to “promote American values” to young people through media con tent, like YouTube and so forth, ac cording to their website.

While no formal statement has been made by the College regarding Rockwell’s comments, an issue of “MHC This Week” sent to students in November included instructions on what to do if they are confronted with unwanted attention from the press.

The Nov. 30 issue stated that “[m]embers of the campus com munity who receive outreach that includes either threatening or men acing language or discusses a com munity member’s personal informa tion should contact Public Safety and Service. Please also utilize the College’s bias and Title IX reporting procedures when appropriate.”

SGA senate wraps on fall semester: Stress-coping, J-show and campus events

BY PAIGE COMEAU ’26 STAFF WRITER

On Dec. 6, the Student Govern ment Association senate began with a recitation of the land acknowledg ment and the reading of the agenda. There were no E-Board updates, but several students spoke during open floor.

During the announcements por tion of the session, different clubs and organizations publicized up coming events.

Active Minds at MHC handed out de-stress goody bags during din ner at Blanchard Hall on Dec. 7, and will be hosting a Zoom session on Wednesday, Dec. 14, to discuss dif ferent stress-related coping mecha nisms.

The 2024 Class Board asked ev eryone to keep in mind any ideas they have for spring semester events and announced plans for the Junior Show and a talent show.

Kachimushi Naginata Club ad vertised that they will be selling strings of origami cranes in the Great Room.

The Mount Holyoke African and Caribbean Student Association in vited students to a mug decorating event on Dec. 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center. This section of the meeting end ed with the MacGregor Hall sena tor asking everyone to take care of themselves and to stay happy and healthy this finals season.

Following announcements, the second half of the open floor com menced by asking for any questions, comments or concerns.

One senator voiced their con cern for the noise of lawn mowers early in the morning near dorms. With finals coming up, they under scored that the noise may disturb students studying at all hours of the day.

Although the E-Board leaders

were unsure they could do anything about it directly, they said they could look into moving where they mow early in the morning.

Another senator raised a ques tion about events for international students over December and Janu ary recess. The senator expressed, with much concern, a desire to have an event or activity to bring the stu dents together during such an isolat ing time.

The E-Board suggested the sena tor contact an international students organization. They also said that ResLife would be holding an event for the students on campus over break.

The senate meeting ended with the announcement that this would be the last meeting of the semester. The E-Board told everyone to have a great break, take a snack on their way out and noted that they would all see each other again in the spring semester.

Photo by Emma Quirk ’26 Rockwell graduated from Mount Holyoke in 2015, having received a degree in history and politics; she currently works for PragerU as a fundraiser.

Photo by Tzav Harrel ’24 Several clubs and organizations advertised their upcoming events at the Dec. 6 senate meeting.

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

Roughly 50 Mount Holyoke stu dents piled onto a bus to head to New York City on Sunday, Dec. 4, to see “Topdog/Underdog,” a play written by Suzan-Lori Parks ’85. The show is currently being revived at the John Golden Theatre after pre miering off-Broadway in 2001 at The Public Theater and then first show ing on Broadway in 2002. Parks won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play, becoming the first Black wom an ever to do so, New York Theatre

The talkback was part of an ini tiative that Tatum started this fall called “Launching Leadership,” a se ries of conversations with alums who “have been opening doors, breaking barriers and providing leadership across a wide range of fields.”

The play follows two brothers, Lincoln (Corey Hawkins) and Booth

(Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as they try to make ends meet and grapple with their parents’ abandonment. Lincoln works as an Abraham Lincoln im personator and Booth tries, without much luck, to perfect his card-deal ing con.

“A couple things struck me about the performance: For one, the playlist before the actual perfor mance made my heart so full,” Ad joa Baidoo ’24 said. “It was so Black. I’d never heard anything like it on Broadway before. I remember look ing [at] a complete stranger up on the mezzanine and jamming togeth er to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ and

just being physically unable to stop smiling.”

Baidoo hopes to be able to see the play again and is still processing the work; they commented on the themes of American capitalism and exploitation that the play explores.

“Above all, Amer ican capitalism is a tangled con tradiction, it’s a carefully cal culated gamble that requires a level of inequal ity and exploita tion to sustain itself. We’re at the point where we can see its incompatibility with human life in its current form,” Baidoo said. “In a coun try ruled by the gamble of capi talism, no one is ‘topdog.’ Neither brother wins, even when they do seem to.”

A couple things struck me about the performance: for one, the playlist before the actual performance made my heart so full. It was so Black. I’d never heard anything like it on Broadway before. I remember looking [at] a complete stranger up on the mezzanine and jamming together to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ and just being physically unable to stop smiling.

Throughout the talkback, Parks often mentioned how she listens to her spirit and her soul when she writes. She explained that, as a writ er, she hears a voice that guides her in the creative process. She de scribed hearing this voice for the first time while sitting in her dorm room in Rockefeller Hall working on an assignment for class.

Baidoo described feel ing inspired by Parks’ expla nation of her writing process as they felt it is similar to their own, especially given that Parks “has walked the same halls, the same paths that I have.”

– Adjoa Baidoo

During the talkback, Parks dis cussed the “Topdog/Underdog” characters and how she came up with the idea for the play. She spoke about Lincoln’s job as a Black man impersonating Abraham Lincoln and how she thinks about it outside of the context of the play.

“When … the character Lincoln says … ‘I’m a brother playing Lin coln, it’s a stretch for anyone’s imag ination, but everyday I put on this [costume] and I make it work. And it works because I make it work. This shit is hard but I make it work.’ What is he talking about? He’s talking about … the being of being, the ‘it’ of being alive. That everyday I put on this shit and … we put on our stuff and we walk out the door and we do what we gotta do to [do] whatever. And that’s hard, being is hard, it’s really hard, it takes a lot of work,” Parks said during the talkback.

“I’ve noticed something about Black writers. Very often, they’re so perceptive in their observations of their times, that even decades after their work is complete, it’s still rel evant. It’s the Octavia Butler effect: When you’re so tapped into the re alities of living, your work becomes universal, to the point where it even feels prophetic,” Baidoo said.

When talking about her time spent at the College, Chase de scribed feeling a sense of commu nity and sisterhood. “When I [left Mount Holyoke] I wasn’t afraid, … as a woman, of pushing and demanding what I needed for me. And in those days in particular you didn’t always get that at a co-ed institution,” Chase said.

When the play ended and the audience gave a standing ovation. “I honestly couldn’t even stand out of pure shock,” Baidoo said. “Good art makes you think, and this certainly has.”

Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hosts workshop with Nick Daily

BY NORAH TAFURI ’25 STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 29, a workshop titled “Queer and Trans Inclusion in the Classroom and the Workplace” pro vided students and faculty with an opportunity to build community on campus. The event was described on Embark as one in which “par ticipants [would] explore relevant LGBTQ+ history, contemporary LGBTQ+ dynamics within the edu cational context — including iden tity development theories, educa tional and social trends, and more — engage [with] concepts of allyship and advocacy and have the opportu nity to apply these learnings to the Mount Holyoke community past, present and future.”

The featured speaker was Nick Daily, founder and chief executive of ficer of LuvServedDaily Consulting, an organization that creates spaces of dialogue and learning for col leges, churches and other commu nity spaces. Their work is described on their site as “operat[ing] with the belief that love is at the core and that elevating the dignity and humanity of all is essential to the work that we do.”

Daily has extensive experience in the diversity, equity and inclusion field. “[For me], this is healing work. I don’t feel healed. … But when I get to help invite people into consider ing themselves and the multiplicity that they have, that is healing work to me,” Daily said in an interview. Over the course of the session, Dai ly helped participants delve deeply into the principles of community work, alongside a nuanced discus sion about gender and sexuality.

The event came shortly after the soft launch of the College’s new Pronoun Policy, which allows stu dents to select from a wider variety of pronouns displayed in their school account. This work was led by Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at the College, and implemented with the assistance of Affirming Practices for Trans and Gender-Nonconforming People Working Group.

However, beyond the implemen tation of policies intended to protect students, Sanders-McMurtry also

strives to take the College a step further by creating spaces for criti cal thinking about gender. They said that before their arrival, “People didn’t really know how to even cre ate safe spaces for us to talk about gender fluidity, [or] gender diversity, what it is to be nonbinary, or agen der or [transgender] on campus.”

The lack of spaces for discussion is something they have sought to re solve in their time at the College.

Sanders-McMurtry had intend ed to invite Daily to speak for some time. The two of them described becoming more closely acquainted while sitting on the floor in the back of the room at a DEI conference.

Though they had been mutually appreciative of each other’s work at a distance, the event was a mo ment that marked the beginning of a deeper connection. They exchanged thoughts on their work in DEI, and

bonded over shared views surround ing DEI policies.

Despite common misconcep tions, Sanders-McMurtry and Daily both agreed that DEI is much more than simply the matter of “checking … [the] boxes” to prevent immediate harm. Sanders-McMurtry attributed this perception of mistake-preven tion to be the barrier to achieving ac tual understanding and care. Rather, DEI “is meant to be reparative. It [is] meant to be restorative. It is meant to be justice-oriented, [and justice is not] a cookie-cutter concept,” Sand ers-McMurtry said.

As a gender-diverse women’s college, grappling with how to imple ment DEI is particularly important. Sanders-McMurtry notes that the College has been on the frontlines to question conceptions of gender. While these conceptions have taken on a different form now than at the

College’s founding, “The very fab ric of why [the College was] created was to fight gender-based inequity,” Sanders-McMurtry said. “What you end up doing is creating freedom spaces and freedom pathways and freedom dreams that allow you to be more expansive and add your own understanding of where you have been harmed.”

Daily underpinned this point and stressed the importance of un derstanding the overturn of systems of oppression. “The core work of a gendered power, a gendered space specifically for women, a [gender-di verse] women’s college, is to recog nize that gender inequity is being enacted on them. And … that sys tem of gender inequity is also being enacted on … nonbinary people, in ways that perpetuate harm to cis gender [and] heterosexual women as well,” Daily said. Essentially, they

supported the idea that liberation work is at the service of everyone; the advancement of one person de grades the oppressive systems that restrict the freedom of all.

The event concluded with a strong emphasis of the policies in place that are intended to protect students and faculty alike from dis crimination. As is stated by the Col lege’s website, “Title IX of the Edu cation Amendments of 1972 requires that all educational institutions that receive federal funds or financial as sistance prohibit sex discrimination in their education programs and activities.” All complaints relating to sexual misconduct and gender based discrimination can be filed by contacting the Title IX coordinator, a deputy Title IX coordinator or by filling out the online reporting form, which can also be completed anony mously.

Students travel to Broadway to view ‘Topdog/Underdog’ and talkback with Suzan-Lori Parks ’85 and Debra Martin Chase ’77

Photo by Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25 Interim President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum lead a conversation with Suzan-Lori Parks ’85 and Debra Martin Chase ’77 after “Topdog/Underdog.”

Guide reported. Interim President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum facilitated a talkback after the show with Parks and producer Debra Martin Chase ’77. Producer LaChanze and director Kenny Leon joined Tatum, Parks and Chase for the first few minutes of the conversation.

Photo by Tzav Harrel ’24

Kijua Sanders-McMurtry explained that the College was founded to fight gender-based inequality and therefore should continue to do substantial work in gender-based diversity, equity and inclusion.

Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Bones and All’ is a feast for the senses

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

An eerie atmosphere surrounds Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell) as she drifts quietly through her first few scenes, which effectively build up to a tender moment of friendship, turned terrifyingly into cannibal ism. With Maren and her friend Kim (Madeleine Hall) lying on the ground and shot through a glass table, the audience sees nail polish laid out on the tabletop, visually representing innocent girlhood. The sleepover takes a turn as Maren moves closer to Kim in a seemingly affectionate way before chomping down on her finger.

Director Luca Guadagnino has created another delicate yet power ful film, despite it being about can nibalism. Maren and Lee (Timotheé Chalamet) are two young cannibals in love and on the run across the Midwest in Lee’s royal blue pickup truck. Set in the 1980s, the film is a beautiful and striking ode to the region. The film doesn’t offer a glo

rified, nostalgia-driven version of the setting. Instead, it is a place rav aged by the opioid epidemic, where mental health support is scarce and queer people lack safety. Broken homes and broken people rest on a backdrop of peaceful farms and grassland.

The subtext beneath the can nibalism felt like a nod to the ways that society treats addiction, mental health and queerness. Having grown up in Iowa, I’ve observed and expe rienced firsthand the othering that comes with falling into one or all of those categories. Addicts, queer people and people with mental ill nesses are pushed to the margins of society, especially in rural areas, and are forced to depend solely on each other.

However, “Bones and All” isn’t demonizing anyone by likening them to cannibalistic monsters. Maren’s condition is portrayed in a sympa thetic light: She was, for reasons unclear to her or the viewer, born this way, and she has to learn how to survive.

As with much of Guadagnino’s

work, the mise-en-scène — every thing in

of the

as the set and props — cinematog raphy,

and

back Mountain” feel. The sound mixing and score were both roman tic and suspenseful. Pieces of the soundtrack contained a melancholy guitar sound that was also reminis cent of the beautiful “Brokeback Mountain” soundtrack.

The acting was phenomenal; Mark Rylance, as Sully, and Chloë Sevigny, as Janelle, both showed off their range as actors in haunting roles.

Though she was only in one scene, Sevigny’s performance stays with the viewer long after the film has ended. Michael Stuhlbarg shows up as Jake, a creepy cannibal that Maren and Lee meet during their travels. Stuhlbarg plays opposite Chalamet in a disturbing manner that deeply contrasts the loving fa ther of Chalamet’s character Elio, who he plays in “Call Me By Your Name.”

“Bones and All” has the marks of the teen vampire romance genre, but instead of drinking blood, the kids are eating flesh. The moral con flict of “I don’t want to kill people, but I have to,” still felt, well, fresh.

Local altnerative rock band The Baxbys releases EP ‘Side By Side’

BY ELLA JACOB ’24 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR & COPY EDITOR

Based in Amherst, Massachu setts, The Baxbys is an alterna tive rock band consisting of four Connecticut born 20-somethings — James Miller, lead guitar; Chris Sciucco, drums and the occasion al tambourine; Spencer Rosenfeld, bass and Alex Nordlund, lead vo cals and guitar. After the Nov. 18 release of their second EP, “Side By Side,” Mount Holyoke News sat down with the band to answer the ques tion: Who are The Baxbys?

Someone brings an idea or a good portion of an idea, and then we kind of just work on reworking together and then try to round it out together.

was like, I have a friend named Alex. … [Then he] showed me [his] music, and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty good.’ And then we met Alex, and I remem ber that Spencer was on the phone with his brother, and Alex was play ing the drums really loud, and I was like, ‘What is this guy doing? I don’t even know him. I don’t even know his last name.’ … Then [Chris] sent some other music [Alex] made, it was [a demo of] ‘Stay Trippy Weir do’ … And I was like, ‘This is awe some.’”

– Chris Sciucco

“COVID birth,” as put by Miller, is perhaps the most appropri ate epithet to describe The Baxbys’ origin. Before the creation of what we now know as The Baxbys, Miller and Sciucco met as freshmen at the University of Massachusetts Am herst. “I knew Alex in high school,” Sciucco began. “Our dads were actu ally in a band together at one point, so they had us get together in high school, and we would just jam.” Mill er and Rosenfeld also knew each other in high school. “We each kind of took a guy that we knew from high school and formed the band,” Sciucco explained.

The band formed during the COVID-19 pandemic. “A lot of peo ple were back [in person], and we weren’t. So we were home in Con necticut, and we were all getting to gether then,” Sciucco began. When asked about the meshing of all four members to create the band, Miller emphasized, “I think it was all up to Alex because Spencer, Chris and I were just having fun. And then Chris

Reminiscent of early 2000s indie rock, The Baxbys are, in an interpretation that some may find contentious, a combination of Modest Mouse’s harmonic melo dies and The Strokes’ hazy sanguine strings. Most songs center around the connection one has with a girl, echoing the youthful orchestra tion style typical of indie rock. The band composes tracks that likely lyrically appeal to a younger audi ence experiencing the enthrallment and disorder that love precipitates while simultaneously constructing a groovy-rock sound.

The evolution from the band’s first EP, “Meet the Baxbys,” to their newest one, “Side By Side” — both released in 2022 — involved more uniformity and creative input from all four members. “I’d say [this EP shows] a lot more of us as a band,” Sciucco explained. “The first [EP] was very strong in songs Alex wrote before we got together as a band. …

This [EP]: It’s an Alex, it’s a Spencer, it’s some James. But I feel like we all had a little bit more to do with these songs. It’s definitely more of us.” Rosenfeld echoed this expla nation, stating, “The first one was

very [reminiscent] of when we met. …Those were the very early songs. The second one was right after that.”

In terms of the comfort and time it took to record each EP, Sciucco emphasized, “The first one was very, ‘Get together, let’s record it as quick [and] as fast as possible,’ and it’s ef ficient. Whereas [in creating] this one, … we outfitted our house as a studio and did it all much more to gether. It was more lenient, and we got to play around with a lot.”

Discussing the creative process behind each song they made, Rosen feld commented, “It’s quite random,” a sentiment each member echoed.

“Someone brings an idea or a good

portion of an idea, and then we kind of just work on reworking together and then try to round it out togeth er,” Sciucco explained. “Songs come out of every hole, every direction,” Miller concluded.

Moving from smaller venues to bigger ones, such as The Drake in downtown Amherst, where the band had their Dec. 3 concert, Rosenfeld noted the show was “So relaxing,” a feeling Miller echoed. “It’s much more comfortable, and it’s much better,” Miller stated. “We started to see more of the danger and stuff [of performing at house parties] … It was just a lot better and more com fortable to play like a real venue. It’s

fun. We still do house parties from time to time, ones that we set up and structure,” Sciucco explained.

Regarding future plans, Miller explained that the band is “Playing it by year. Like Y-E-A-R, not by ear. … Chris, Alex and I are going to live in Amherst one more year after we graduate. We’re going to write, be creative and play some shows in Bos ton, hopefully New York. Definite ly The Drake again. And we’ll see what happens from there.” Sciucco agreed, “We definitely feel it’s worth it to at least pursue another year and

SHRI and JSU host ‘Shalom Bollywood’ film viewing in Eliot House

BY OAKLEY MARTON ’25 CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Content warning: This article dis cusses antisemitism and colonial violence.

On Dec. 1, a cold Thursday night after Students of Hinduism Reach ing Inwards’ weekly evening Puja, a group of students from SHRI and the Jewish Student Union gathered in Eliot House with warm tea, hot co coa and a selection of Indian snacks to watch a documentary promising to tell “the untold story of Indian Cinema,” called “Shalom Bollywood: The untold story of Indian Cinema.”

The 2013 documentary focused on the stories of Indian Jewish ac tors who were big names in early Bollywood, with the film’s voiceover claiming with a snappy but lacking metaphor that these actors were “the perfect kosher ingredient to spice up the development of Indian cinema.” Some attendees from the event remarked that this quotation was flippant. “Bollywood is, contrary to popular belief, not Indian film. It is from a very specific region of India, and it really has nothing to do with South Indian film,” Arin Lalsare ’25, an SHRI board member, added later during the post-watch discussion.

Axis Familant ’25, a JSU member,

also spoke on the quote, adding, “If only one of the ingredients is kosher, the rest of it isn’t.”

The documentary described how it was highly taboo for Hindu and Islamic women to be onscreen in the early days of Bollywood cin ema. Indian Jewish women took these roles and became part of mov ies that changed Bollywood history, such as the first kiss on screen, the first color picture and advancing the

trope of the vamp or femme fatale character. However, this narrative does not tell the full story, preferring a flashy picture often riddled with stereotypes of the progressive, sexu ally liberated Indian Jewish women who “saved” Bollywood, that glosses over many issues. Most egregiously, “There wasn’t any discussion really of the colonial effects,” pointed out Lalsare during the discussion.

The early Bollywood chronicled

here was one where India was still under British colonial rule, some thing only mentioned by the docu mentary when it celebrated Florence Ezekiel, whose stage name was Na dira, an Indian Jewish woman star ring in the first globally renowned, postcolonial Bollywood film. Lalsare identified that instead of the absence of Hindu and Islamic women in early film being the product of just a vague societal taboo, it is a specific result of the rise of the sexual demonization of Indian women under colonialism, with harsh laws dictating dress, per formance and sexuality. “[The] sex ual demonization of Indian women was largely colonial, for example, es pecially in dress,” Lalsare said. “Sa ris never used to have blouses. It was literally just nine yards of fabric, and you wrap it around your chest and everything, kind of like a sarong. And then, when we were colonized, the British men decided, essential ly, that [it] was too sexual. And so they said, ‘You have to put blouses on to be more like our women.’ You know, it was a method of oppression. And a lot of that played into, later on, the pop culture of India. Many performers or many performances that used to be taken on by women were banned because that’s one of the first things that colonizers do — they oppress the women. And it was

just really interesting to me to see that there was really no discussion of that, and [the documentary] was kind of like, well, this is just how it is.”

Emma Mair ’23, a co-chair of the JSU, also had concerns about this simplification of history and how it promoted a savior narrative. “I’m imagining in my head, like this hor ror of white Jewish communities … [that] think they’re really progres sive being like, ‘Let’s watch ‘Shalom Bollywood’ and learn about how Jewish Indian women saved Indian film!’ I’m imagining them watching this movie being like, ‘Look at all we did for Indian cinema,’ without this critical lens, [and] it’s kind of painful to think about the work that has to happen for so many white, so-called progressive Jews in the U.S. to exam ine their privilege.”

While “Shalom Bollywood” fell short for the group, they were deep ly interested in and wanted to learn more about the film’s original goal, which was to shine a light on the of ten erased stories of Indian Jewish communities. The film specifically focused on the experiences of Bagh dadi Jewish and Bene Israel commu nities, which Nina Baran ’25, the JSU senator, pointed out are typically

Photo by Ella Jacob ’24 James Miller, Chris Sciucco, Spencer Rosenfeld and Alex Nordlund make up The Baxbys, an alternative rock band based in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Photo by Oakley Marton ’25 Above, students view “Shalom Bollywood,” a film that features Indian Jewish actors in Bollywood.

front

camera, such

lighting

costumes were carefully stylized in an artistic yet subtle way. Costume designer Guilia Piersanti, who has worked with Gua dagnino for many of his films — in cluding “Suspiria,” “Call Me By Your

Name” and TV series “We Are Who We Are” — created outstanding out fits for the characters. The clothes were thrifty, campy and fashionable in a timeless yet distinctly 80s way. The cinematography had amaz ing wide open, “Nomadland”-esque shots of nature scenes with a lov ers-in-the-natural-world “Broke

Graphic by Gabby Gagnon ’24

Zowie Banteah Cultural Center hosts documentary screening

BY SOPHIE FRANK ’26 STAFF WRITER

The documentary “Ohero:konUnder the Husk: A Native American Rite of Passage,” which was shown on Nov. 28 by the Office of Commu nity and Belonging and the Zowie Banteah Cultural Center, follows two young Mohawk girls, Kaienk winehtha and Kasennakohe, as they complete their traditional passage rites ceremony and become Mohawk women. The pair live “in the Mo hawk Community of Akwesasne,” which is located on what came to be known the U.S. and Canada bor der. The ceremony takes place over the course of four years and, as the film distributor Vision Maker Media said, “Challenges [the girls] spir itually, mentally, emotionally and physically. It shapes the women they become.”

For this community, the cere mony represents more than just personal growth. According to an article written by Running Strong for American Indian Youth, an Indig enous-led group devoted to strength ening Indigenous communities, the ceremony “also resists the devastat ing impacts of colonization, reverses effects of the residential school sys tems and reclaims ancestral knowl edge.”

Much of the ceremony marks a commitment to learning and pass ing down language and working within the community; the personal journey through the ceremony also brings an individual closer to their community.

The ceremony is a four-year pro cess. Young people spend months learning skills such as fire building and having conversations with el ders around “intergenerational trau ma, traditional health and wellness practices and how to foster healthy loving relationships,” according to a blog post from Project562, a project

dedicated to photographing Indige nous communities with the purpose of preserving history.

After practicing their skills and learning within their communities, the adolescents partake in spiritual fasts where they spend time alone in the woods with no food or water. The first year they spend one night, but by the end of the ceremony they are able to spend four days and four nights alone. This time helps them “learn their own strength,” as de scribed by Project562.

While the fasts are solo excur sions, the tradition of Ohero:kon is deeply community-based, as the ad olescents are given the skills to suc ceed by working with other members of their community. “Ohero:kon also brings [the youth participants] close together. Because they’re in ceremo ny together. It gets them more con

nected with each other and with the community,” filmmaker Katsitsionni Fox said in the Project562 blog.

The Zowie Banteah Cultural Center, which co-hosted the event, “promotes visibility and em powerment for Native American and Indigenous communities by providing space for dialogue, in teraction and community,” ac cording to the College website.

Bringing Indigenous teachings and Indigenous stories that are full of love … and gratitude and … interconnectedness is something that I hope makes people’s lives better and brighter and worth living.

in modern times. The screening and following discussion was hosted by Katie Dick 21, a graduate assis tant for residential community and belonging and an Indigenous Mount Holyoke alum.

centers and affinity-based LLCs. She said, “Bringing Indigenous teach ings and Indigenous stories that are full of love … and gratitude and … in terconnectedness is something that I hope makes people’s lives better and brighter and worth living. And so I hope in these trying times that the work that I do on campus can make this college more livable for Indigenous students.”

Event attendees discussed the isolation and lack of community in American culture, especially during the pandemic, and Indigenous meth ods of community building and resis tance.

They also noticed the way the film created space for itself in a tradi tionally academic genre, which often prioritizes research and objective filmmaking rather than allowing the emotions and personal experiences of the youth participants to drive the story. The film gave permission to learn from experience, and inte grates different parts of one’s lived experiences. It also shows the im portance of learning through stories.

Speaking directly to readers of the Mount Holyoke News, Dick said, “To all the people who read this article, if anybody from anywhere with any experience has a connec tion to Indigeneity or wants one, I want this space to be for them. If they don’t think that it is that right now, I want to build that with them.”

The event was open to the College as well as the wider com munity, and many stayed for a dis cussion of the film and Indigeneity

– Katie Dick

She believes that “demon strating con crete, permanent support for Indig enous students plays a huge role in making sure people are able to … live their life.” Dick is new to the job, and said in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News that she will be work ing closely with the cultural affinity

Much of Dick’s work, as well as her experience as a student, has led her to raise questions about how to cele brate and make space for Indigene ity at Mount Holyoke.

The Zowie Banteah Cultural Center is located between Ham Hall and MacGregor Halls, and hosts weekly open hours, which can be found on Embark. Events like this screening are part of the Center’s commitment to creating a safe and powerful space for Indigenous com munity members.

Some Japanese universities look to reform controversial beauty pageants

BY SOPHIE GLASCO ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article men tions eating disorders.

On the website for The Universi ty of Tokyo Miss & Mr. Contest 2022, the portraits of 10 contestants stare back at viewers. The five women have porcelain skin, petite frames, round doe eyes and long, dark hair. The five men have clear skin, chis eled jawlines and thick and volumi nous hair. Beauty contests such as The University of Tokyo’s Miss & Mr. Contest have been a staple of univer sities across Japan, run and spon sored by student groups within the schools as gateways for contestants to receive jobs in broadcast media, modeling or acting, based on their appearance that leans into conven tional East Asian beauty standards. However, such competitions have recently been criticized for their fixations on these beauty standards alone, removing the participant’s character and personal achieve ments.

For the female participants, who draw the most attention within the pageants according to The New York Times, these beauty standards are idealized and narrow, amplifying women with extremely thin bodies, pale skin and large, round eyes — leaning into the “kawaii” aesthetic associated with Japanese media, such as anime. Beyond just visu al standards, the participants are

pushed into rigid and stereotypical gender roles, from women compet ing in large, white wedding dresses with men in suits, to female contes tants baking cupcakes while male contestants lift weights for a grand finale.

The University of Tokyo’s web site acknowledges the recent con troversy caused by Japanese beauty pageants, writing, “Also, recently, Miss and Mr. contests have been crit icized from the viewpoint of look ism and gender equality. However, I think that candidates can convey their various charms to many people by transmitting their inner thoughts and activities without being con strained by their appearance or gen der.”

Aligning with The University of Tokyo’s statement, universities are attempting to salvage these pag eants by shifting the focus to person al characteristics. Sophia University in Tokyo is noted as one of the first universities to make this shift, re branding their Miss and Mr. contests in 2020 to the new “Sophian’s Con test.” With the criteria for the winner shifted to three pillars of self-promo tion, speech and social contribution, Sophia University’s 2020 finalists, consisting of four women and two men, advocated social causes such as marine pollution and food waste, aligning with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which, accord ing to the U.N. Sustainable Devel opment Goals website, “Address the global challenges we face, including

poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.” Along with sustainabil ity, contestants are now situated to make commentary on other social is sues, such as a 2021 finalist’s decision to not show her face at all, critiquing the beauty standards of these pag eants. This year’s winner, Mihane Fujiwara, noted in her interview on the contest’s website that she was interested in the contest’s philoso phy change, which now creates an environment for social change. She emphasized her volunteer work in rural Cambodia for her social cause.

However, critics still think that the pageant’s roots in beauty will forever be prevalent, even with the rebranding of contests such as that of Sophia University. In an article from The Japan News, Misaki Ito, a senior at Ochanomizu University, a women’s university in Tokyo, criti cized the pageants. “People may ul timately vote based on appearance. Judging their social activities is just a way to hide that truth,” Ito said.

Speaking on if the benefits of marketing the contestants into mod eling and broadcasting are worth the controversies of the pageants, Tanisha Liang ’26 said, “I think that by contracting these contestants into a modeling agency and broad casting service furthers this idea that you have to look a certain way to make it in that realm, which is not healthy for their audience or the contestants. Not only does it have societal implications, but the stig

SHRI, JSU screen ‘Shalom Bollywood’, cont’d

overlooked, and Familant ac knowledged that there are many more Indian Jewish ethnic groups not in the film.

Overall, despite the disappoint ment, the group’s post-watch dis cussion added important criticism, exchange of opinions, cultural and religious knowledge and jokes. As the conversation moved on from the movie, the JSU discussed Hanukkah events coming up, broke down the holiday’s hyper-commercialization and laughed about bad Hanukkah Hallmark Channel movies and prod ucts like “The Mensch on a Bench,” a product marketed as a Hanuk kah-themed version of “Elf on the Shelf.” SHRI members talked about their Diwali celebration, which took place at the end of October, where students and community members,

including Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall and Interim President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, came to gether to enjoy delicious food and celebrate. The group also looked forward to celebrating Holi, the festi val of colors, in the spring. SHRI and JSU board members looked forward to collaborating again, with attend ees brainstorming another movie night with gulab jamun, a sweet In dian dessert. Mair recalled that last year after antisemitic graffiti was drawn in a dorm bathroom, the JSU held a Shabbat outside the Abbey Interfaith Sanctuary. “[The former co-chairs of SHRI] Lasya and Anan ya, brought us gulab jamun after the service and were like, ‘We want to give this to you as an offering of sol idarity,’” Mair said. “I literally cried right into Lasya’s arms. I was like, ‘This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done in the history of ever.’ And

then we ate them, and we were like, ‘wow’” — here, Mair’s face mimed a look of amazement — “and had them that Hanukkah too.” “Can that be a tradition from now on?” AJ Johnson ’23, a member of SHRI, asked — Mair agreed.

In some ways, this event was a quiet example of the work students and staff from many different back grounds have done over the years to build an Interfaith community on campus. From the Interfaith LLC to events like the upcoming Festival of Light and Dark — an event that hopes to give students the space to honor and share holidays across dif ferent faith, spiritual and cultural traditions — it’s easy to see not only how hard different students and re ligious advisors work together to create welcoming religious organi zations, but the strength that these communities hold when they are working together.

ma of having to maintain that image 24/7 [can] lead to eating disorders and mental health issues within the models and contestants.” Sky Yam agiwa ’26, who grew up in Japan, fur thered this stance, and said, “[F]rom my experience living in Japan, toxic diet culture is praised and rewarded with compliments regularly. Conver sations about the negative mental and physical health effects, along with other forms of harassment in the modeling industry are rarely spoken of, especially among young er women.” The future of these pag

eants will likely have to navigate be tween the lingering beauty focused history and modernizations, such as Sophia University’s, seeking to high light personal character and social goals.“Contests like these only stay alive if the audience likes what they see,” Liang said. The sentiment re mains the same with Yamagiwa, who added, “I feel that as long as it stays a ‘beauty’ pageant, where the main purpose is to please an audience, unless there is a shift in the purpose of the pageants, the issue will not be resolved.”

The Baxbys releases EP, cont’d

Well, I think that’s my favorite Beat les album. Alex, you say the same, right?

try to make venues like The Drake and our online presence a lit tle more consistent with everything. And then we’ll see what happens af ter next year [and] just kind of reas sess and decide what we’re going to do going forward.”

As The Baxbys continue explor ing their distinctive style, with over 1,300 monthly listeners on Spotify and more venues to play in the fu ture, they have become an artist for everyone to keep an eye on, not just Amherst locals.

What each band member has been lis tening to recently:

James: “Revolver (Super De luxe)” by The Beatles, released on Oct. 28, 2022

“They just came out with the remaster, and it sounds incredible.

Alex: “Revolver (Super Deluxe)” by The Beatles, released on Oct. 28, 2022

“Revolver has always been my favorite. … Very, very good.”

Chris: The band On Being an Angel and album “Being Funny In A Foreign Language” by The 1975, re leased on Oct. 14, 2022

“Okay, I have two answers. My one to not be embarrassed is a band called ‘On Being An Angel.’ I found them in the bio[graphy] of Narrow Head, which is another band I really like. And then my actual one, which is embarrassing, is ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language.’ Okay, not that embarrassing, but like, good album. Yeah, [a] little cliche album.”

Spencer: “Room On Fire” by The Strokes, released on Oct. 28, 2003

“It’s an addiction, it’s a problem.”

Photo by Jenny Yu ’24 The Zowie Banteah Cultural Center hosted a screening of “Ohero:kon - Under the Husk: A Native American Rite of Passage,” a documentary film.

Photo courtesy of Derrick Brutel via Flickr Sophia University’s beauty pageant now has three parts: self-promotion, speech and social causes.

World population surpasses eight billion people

BY LILY BENN

STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 15, 2022, as projected by The United Nations, Earth’s popu lation reached eight billion, approx imately 11 years after the global population reached seven billion. According to The New York Times, the global population growth rate is expected to slow in the next few decades. Countries like the U.S. and China are expected to have lower growth rates, while poorer countries are expected to grow faster, with In dia predicted to become the world’s most populous nation in 2023.

A CNN article reported that de mographers have analyzed that the population growth rate globally has slowed down in recent years to less than one percent per year, which means that the population is not expected to reach nine billion until 2037. Accounting for this new cal culation, the UN now predicts that by 2100, the population will have reached 10.4 billion, peaking in the 2080s.

According to an article published by The New York Times, around 70 percent of population growth oc curred in lower and lower-middle-in come countries, including sub-Saha ran Africa. This rise concentrated in low-income countries is primarily due to higher fertility rates than in high-income countries such as the United States and China. This is due to a lack of infrastructure for sexu al and reproductive health care in many poorer countries, The New York Times reported.

In the UN statement announc ing that the population has reached eight billion, UN Secretary General António Guterres explained that this “is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while consider

ing humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet,” according to CNN. The UN reported that this growth is due to human advancements in pub lic health, nutrition, medicine and personal hygiene.

Alongside those advancements, however, experts have determined that overconsumption is an issue that is contributing to environmen tal problems such as deforestation and climate change, The New York Times said. For example, CNN re ports through an analysis done by the Stockholm Environment Insti tute and nonprofit Oxfam Interna tional that the richest one percent of the global population, about 63 mil lion people, account for emissions that were double that of the poorer half of the population from 1990 to 2015.

According to The Washington Post, on average, countries with rapid population growth and lower average incomes tend to be the most affected by climate change and thus are more vulnerable to natural di sasters such as the heavy rains and flooding in Pakistan and dangerous heat waves in India this past sum mer.

Another perceived concern gen erated by this development comes from an ideology originating from demographer and economist Thom as Malthus in the 18th century, The Washington Post reported in an arti cle about the recent eight billion fig ure. The Washington Post explained that Malthus’ ideology claims that population growth will outpace food production, and eventually lead to famine, drought and war. The UN and many scientists have been quoted by news outlets such as The New York Times and CNN reporting that overconsumption is the leading cause of these environmental issues.

According to The New York Times, this Malthusian rhetoric has led to what some call ecofascism and ethics issues among members of the public. This came alongside an arti cle on Les Knight, the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction move ment, who believes that the most effective solution to climate change and other environmental issues is to simply stop having children alto gether.

The article reports that Knight’s beliefs are rooted in deep ecology, which is known for its arguments that humans are not the dominant species on Earth and that other spe

cies are of equal importance. Knight and his movement maintain the ob jective of slowing population growth, the article explained. Proponents of Knight believe that overpopulation is the most pressing issue, and, to heal the Earth, there needs to be a smaller population of humans, espe cially as the population reaches this new peak.

Another movement titled “The Overpopulation Project” wrote in a December 2021 piece that they are concerned with how the 26th Confer ence of the Parties in 2021 failed to address the environmental problem they see as the most pressing: over

population.

This organization favors im plementing policy changes to lim it population growth and cites the “Warning of a Climate Emergency” — signed by over 11,000 scientists in 2019 — as proof that population growth is a pressing issue. This is a popular narrative in ecofascism, according to The New York Times, which explained that the ideology of ten blames lower-income countries with increasing population rates for the climate issue, even when coun tries such as the United States have relatively smaller populations and contribute more to global warming.

Mauna Loa volcano in Hawai‘i erupts for the first time in 38 years

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

On Nov. 27, 2022, residents of the Hawaiian Islands were alerted of an impending volcano eruption. Ap proximately an hour later, lava be gan to flow from Mauna Loa for the first time in 38 years, The New York Times reported. “Mauna Loa,” which is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain,” is one of the world’s most active volca noes, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The volcano stretches over half of the Island of Hawai‘i and mea sures around 10.6 miles tall, the re port said. According to the report, Mauna Loa’s first “well-documented historical eruption” was in 1843, and it has since erupted 33 times, most recently in 1984.

Photos of the eruption published by The New York Times depict lava with striking yellow and orange hues that illuminate surrounding rock as it flows down the sides of the volcano, its molten arms turning and branching as they navigate the topography of the mountain. The la va’s glow reflects off giant plumes of gas that rise from Mauna Loa’s core,

coloring it with deep reds and orang es. According to CNN, Mauna Loa has drawn crowds of “awestruck vis itors,” with some visiting in the late hours of the night for a more private viewing of the eruption.

Regular updates from the U.S. Geological Survey keep followers of the eruption aware of Mauna Loa’s activity. The latest update, posted on Dec. 7, stated that the eruption pos

es no risk to property at this time. It further reported that lava is now 1.8 miles from the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, a major road that lies north of the volcano. The lava is flowing at a rate of slower than 20 feet per hour, according to the update. The update explained that both the direction and flow rate are likely to change in the coming days and weeks.

Volcanic eruptions take on many

shapes and sizes, according to an ar ticle from the National Park Service. Some consist of violent explosions that spew ash into the atmosphere, while others appear more like a gen tle overflow of lava. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, several earthquakes were detected beneath the Mauna Loa summit in the time leading up to the eruption. This “heightened unrest” beneath the volcano occurred due to the inflow of magma into the volcano’s summit reservoir system.

Possible outcomes of a Mauna Loa eruption include fast-moving lava flows, earthquakes, volcanic gas emissions and ashfall, all of which pose a potential risk to public health and safety, the U.S. Geological Sur vey explained.

The New York Times reported that Mauna Loa’s eruption has giv en researchers an advantageous but fleeting opportunity to gain a better understanding of the volcano’s inner workings.

The article explained that lit tle is known about the processes occurring inside Mauna Loa, with scientists awaiting its next eruption to collect more data on the volca

no. Wendy Stovall, a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, de scribed Mauna Loa as “one of the most well-instrumented volcanoes in the United States” to The New York Times, with seismometers, spectrometers and other state-ofthe-art instruments ensuring that the Mauna Loa could not so much as sneeze without being noticed by sci entists. According to the article, it is unknown how long the eruption will last, causing scientists to scramble to collect as much data as possible before the lava stops flowing.

Mauna Loa is not Hawai‘i’s only erupting volcano. Mere miles away, Kīlauea volcano continues an erup tion that has been ongoing since Sept. 29, 2021, according to an article from the National Park Service.

The article reports that Kīlauea’s activity remains confined to its cra ter. The article does, however, warn readers of volcanic gas and glass fragments produced by the eruption, as well as the instability of the cra ter walls. The article reported that no significant changes have been observed at the summit or in either rift zone as a result of the Mauna Loa eruption.

United Nations agrees on loss and damage fund to settle climate damages

BY SARAH GRINELL ’26 STAFF WRITER

The 2022 United Nations Cli mate Change Conference in Egypt, Conference of the Parties 27, was met with mixed reactions, as many experts termed the annual climate conference a “failure,” according to The Conversation. However, despite what BNN Bloomberg cites as weak commitments regarding the reduc tion of carbon emissions and fossil fuel phase-outs, the summit found its greatest success in a last-minute proposal of a loss and damage fund. According to Reuters, if implement ed, the fund would help ensure a more equitable stabilization of the global climate. According to Climate Home News, a plan for the fund has been drafted by the Alliance of Small Island States.

The fund would require that the countries most responsible for cli mate change pay billions of dollars in damages to smaller, lower-in come countries which hold minimal responsibility for increasing global temperatures yet experience the greatest consequences, The Scots man explained. As a result, the cre ation of the loss and damage fund is expected to greatly alleviate the burdens placed on these vulnerable

countries.

“COP,” which stands for Con ference of the Parties, is the United Nations’ yearly global climate sum mit. Now in its 27th year, discussions around climate compensation have finally seen a major step forward with the passing of a loss and dam age pact, the United Nations Envi ronment Programme said.

According to Reuters, the fund’s proposal comes as a result of in creasingly prevalent and devastat ing climate disasters, which, just limited to the past year, include the deadly Pakistan floods, as well as ex treme droughts in China, Africa and the Western United States. These global-warming-induced disasters have put significant financial strains on the affected nations, as Fox News cites that flooding in Pakistan has caused an estimated $30 billion in economic losses.

An opinion article in The Scots man points out that this proposal is groundbreaking given the historical resistance that rich countries, name ly the United States and the United Kingdom, have shown in regard to passing climate compensation agreements and, by proxy, admitting their liability in the climate crisis. As Fox News reported, just last year at COP26 in Glasgow, the United States

and the EU “blocked a proposal to establish a loss and damage financ ing body.”

However, both nations finally gave in to political pressures at this year’s conference. According to Re uters, “developing and emerging economies” are now united in the demand for a loss and damage fund.

BNN Bloomberg points out the revo lutionary nature of this pact as it is a historic “acknowledgment that rich er nations are responsible to the de veloping world for the harm caused by rising temperatures.”

Despite the initiative’s ambitious goals, many of the technical details remain to be established, according to BNN Bloomberg. Reuters points out that there is still a lack of co hesion around a definition for “loss and damage.” The method of fund ing allocation is also uncertain. As Reuters described, some diplomats have proposed a “mosaic” model of financial resources from existing international funds, which would collect money from several differ ent sources, as opposed to a central pool. According to The Scotsman, a

“transitional committee” will be cre ated to oversee the fund, bringing more concrete recommendations for its adoption and operation at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

The very fact that these funds will no longer come through private channels — which have historically been very ineffective — but instead through international finance has better positioned the U.N. to tack le “the real financing battle” of the climate crisis, as argued by Tom Athanasiou in Common Dreams.

While BNN Bloomberg cites that the conclusion of the overall summit left many with deflated hopes for several larger and more “thorny” climate-re lated issues — as The Scotsman mentions, there was a lack of clarity on the fight to keep temperatures be low 1.5 degrees compared to pre-in dustrial levels, as well as vague com mitments to lowering emissions and renewable energy — the promise of a loss and damage fund has at least provided a glimmer of hope for fu ture climate reparations.

As Athanasiou writes, “Because of COP27, national fair shares are now on the agenda, if only as the background to an inevitable debate about pragmatic ways forward” re garding larger realms of climate policy.

Graphic by Sunny Wei ’23 The richest one percent of the rapidly growing global population — about 63 million people — produce twice the emissions of poorer countries.

Graphic by Natasha Nagarajan ’26

Photo courtesy of UNclimatechange via Flickr A loss and damage fund would direct funding toward countries most affected by climate change.

Dining Commons table signs garner mixed reactions from students

BY HOPE FRANCIS SIMPSON ’24 STAFF WRITER

I have gone entire days where I have eaten alone in the Dining Com mons for every meal. It can be mo notonous to not have anyone to con verse with. Yet, I never go up to the many tables filled by my peers and ask to sit with them.

In November 2022, the The Di vision of Student Life implemented a new dining feature attempting to change all that: signs you can put on your table inviting strangers to come and sit.

These signs read, “You are wel come to sit with us! We are happy to meet you!” They are stored near the cashiers’ station at the front of the Dining Commons, and all students are welcome to grab one.

I am skeptical as to whether these signs work or if they are just something the College has imple mented as a patronizing reaction to Mount Holyoke culture, which some students have described as isolating. People tend to form tight-knit groups that are hard to get into unless you have an in-group connection.

Flannery Plum ’24 said, “Al though people may try, it’s a small campus, and people tend to stick with their groups. I wish it was more socially acceptable to sit down with others in the first place and that oth ers were more welcoming.”

The flags seem to assume that students cannot meet new people without an intermediary to help them. However, they do little to actu ally break this isolation.

I asked the only person I know who uses them for her thoughts on the matter. Extolling the signs’ virtues, Plum said she didn’t want socially isolated students to feel as

though they can’t have a social life on campus, so the signs can help people branch out.

“I love the [flags],” Plum said. “I think a lot of people express feeling lonely on this campus, especially after the beginning of the semes ter, so it’s a smart way to make new friends.” However, even though she uses the “You’re Welcome to Sit with Me” signs, no one has taken her up on the offer.

On the other end of the spectrum is Constantinos Gonye ’24, who said, “I have sort of mixed emotions about them. I get the point of them, but I

feel like it’s not going to fix the prob lem of the lunch rush. It’s like there’s two options: No one’s allowed to sit with me, or everyone can sit here and become best friends.”

The lunch rush that Gonye talk ed about starts around 12:45 p.m. when many students are just getting out of class. The Dining Commons becomes crowded, and sometimes large tables are taken up by just one person, so the flags may aim to solve this spatial issue. Based on my firsthand experiences, I can say that the lunch rush is pretty much the same despite the initiative. The

Dining Commons is still crowded with groups and single individuals alike. If you go to the Dining Com mons during the lunch rush, you will be hard-pressed to find a table, es pecially if you’re looking for booths, which often appear to be in high de mand.

Next, I talked to Ana Branas ’24, a student cashier, to see how often they noticed people actually using the signs throughout their shifts.

Branas said, “I feel like no one uses them. They’re cute, sort of.” She also pointed out that more small tables would be a better solution if

Mount Holyoke was looking to solve the lunch rush problem. If anything, the signs provide an opportunity for community bonding. Yet, students do not seem to be using them. How ever, student isolation cannot be solved this way if people are not us ing the signs. Additionally, the signs open up questions about social life on campus.

“Sometimes people go out of [their] way to be friendly in ways they don’t actually mean,” Gonye said. He also pointed out that people on campus have a tendency to be su perficially friendly rather than gen uinely trying to make connections with their classmates.

“I feel like you meet people here, and they’re incredibly friendly in a small-talk way, but they don’t actu ally want to be your friend,” Gonye added.

Similarly, Plum thought that people tend to be superficially friendly, contributing to isolation among students. To Plum, this is a problem that the signs can solve, but Gonye had a differing perspective. He stated, “I think that part of col lege is branching out and developing habits and skills for the rest of your life. You should be working on learn ing to start social interactions and meet new people.”

Based on personal observations, Gonye’s claims strike a chord. A big part of adulthood is navigating so cializing without the crutch of things like clubs or classes to initiate bond ing between peers.

The signs are underutilized be cause even though students com plain of loneliness, the social culture here is closed off. As adults, it comes off as patronizing to have such signs, even if they are ultimately well-in tended.

Alumna controversy alludes to larger issue of conservative media

BY JAHNAVI PRADEEP ’23 OPINION EDITOR

Content warning: This article men tions white supremacy.

Mount Holyoke College has re cently been abuzz with conversa tions regarding the College’s recent popularity in conservative media. Sprawling across social media meme pages to classroom discussions and casual conversations exchanged be tween peers, the name Annabella Rockwell has become a constant in many of our vocabularies over the past two weeks and since we re turned from November break.

The root of this new conver sation is a Nov. 26, 2022, feature published by the New York Post titled, “Mount Holyoke grad depro grammed from women-only woke culture.” The article centers on a profile of Annabella Rockwell ’15, an alumna who used the platform to speak on the dangerous and cult-like culture she felt during her time as an undergraduate student at Mount Holyoke College. The article was quickly picked up by other tabloids and media companies, including Dai ly Mail and multiple Fox News out lets. For example, on Nov. 30, 2022, Rockwell appeared for a segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

The multiple coverages on Rock well’s experiences at the College and what Tucker Carlson, for example, describes as a cult whose students “won’t love their parents anymore” reflects conservative media’s ob session with slander. Their focus, markedly inaccurate, on Rockwell’s discussion of the Mount Holyoke College campus culture is insensi tive to the students who are still on campus, invading their privacy while simultaneously caricaturing the in tent and space of a gender-diverse women’s college.

In an article for The New York Times, Michael M. Grynbaum dis cusses the influx of fake news put out by right-wing media. While focusing on lawsuits faced by me dia houses such as Fox News and Newsmax, Grynbaum discusses how right-wing media often gets away with spreading disinformation and “delights in ignoring the liberals who have long complained about its content.” In an opinion article for National Broadcasting Company, Dan Froomkin discusses Fox News in particular for being guilty of re porting such disinformation. Froom klin stated, “The biggest takeaway for me is the realization that Fox viewers aren’t just manipulated and misinformed — they are literally be ing made ignorant by their consump tion habits. Watching Fox, they hear a lot of ‘news-like’ things, but they

don’t learn about what’s really hap pening.”

Rockwell becomes one such entry point for right-wing media to manipulate information regard ing liberal arts and gender-diverse women’s college campuses. In the original New York Post article, Rock well discussed her perceived indoc trination at the College with writer Dana Kennedy. Rockwell, a pharma ceutical heiress and hired this year as a fundraiser at conservative ad vocacy group PragerU, studied at what Kennedy terms “posh Mount Holyoke,” from 2011-2015. While she entered the College open-minded, “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” she said to Kennedy that “she wound up ‘totally indoctrinated’ into view ing the world as a toxic patriarchy and herself as an oppressed victim — and eventually had to be depro grammed.” In summary, her mother felt the need to intervene and hire a $300-a-day expert to work closely with Rockwell and help her undo her Mount Holyoke education.

In discussing her need for depro gramming, Rockwell focused par ticularly on how the College forced her to acknowledge the existence of a patriarchal structure and to stand by and fight for other victims, namely, as quoted in the New York Post, “women, people of color and LGBTQ[+] folks.”

This then made her anxious, nervous and depressed. The danger starts herein, where Rockwell and the media platforms that amplify her voice ignore the gravity of the issues of marginalization and oppression that they callously discuss. Rockwell comes from a place of class and race privilege, and as she mentioned, is someone who has not experienced sexism. Her choice to regard her self as a victim of an indoctrination camp in which she was forced to consider expe riences outside of her privileged position reduces the dialogue on oppression and marginalization to a dangerous trope of how gender-diverse wom en’s colleges make miserable prod ucts out of students.

Rockwell discussed with Carlson on Tucker Carlson Tonight how firstyear students at Mount Holyoke participate in ritualistic head shav ing to assert themselves as rebels. Not only is the description of this voluntary student-loved tradition in correct, as it also involves students merely cutting some of their hair, but it also manages to paint Mount Holyoke students to be blindly im pressionable and lacking in any indi vidual voice or autonomy.

Watching Fox, they hear a lot of ‘news-like’ things, but they don’t learn about what’s really happening.

– Dan Froomklin

Furthermore, in line with what Froomklin stated about conservative media distorting content, the New York Post article and its succeeding coverages chronicle disinformation sold as reliable news through its per sonal account of a former student.

Rockwell is guilty of manipulating readers to consume information through an inaccurate lens, and her story is reduced to clickbait tabloid. To point out one such blatant error,

Rockwell’s sensationalized sto rytelling diminishes Mount Holyoke College to an educational institution that forces students to conform to a single harmful ideology that frowns upon diversity of thought. However, the College stands on the opposite end of the spectrum in intending to provide students with an education al experience aimed at being inclu sive. Mount Holy oke describes the importance of community as part of the liber al arts education on their website, which states, “most important ly, we recognize all identities as multidimensional, intersectional — and we explore that fact in class, in community, in our cultural centers and in our res idence halls.” Herein, it becomes essential to consider how “women, people of color and LGBTQ[+] folks” have been and continue to be mar ginalized and oppressed. This is the very same reason our education con siders the importance of studying subjects such as gender studies, con trary to what Rockwell would like to believe.

Rockwell is not alone. The New

York Post supplements her per spective with that of Laura Loomer, a Mount Holyoke student from the same class year as Rockwell who withdrew from the College. Loomer echoed Rockwell’s sentiment on be ing victimized for her conservative beliefs. She spoke to Kennedy on how colleges like Mount Holyoke and the other Seven Sisters are “centers for indoctrination.” She continued, “If you send your kid there you’re sign ing them up to hate the patriarchy and white people and the founding stock of our country. It’s a bastard ization of higher education for the sake of weaponizing naive young women for the sake of advancing a toxic agenda.” Loomer, like Rock well, peddles incorrect and reductive insights on the College culture. For instance, she assumes the student body to be “naive young women,” reflecting her limited awareness on the debates she pretends to be well versed on. Furthermore, her inter changeable usage of toxic agenda and education on patriarchy rein forces the dangers of white suprem acy in the United States. This only drives the importance of campuses like Mount Holyoke College that are intended to be gender-diverse col leges built on ideas of diversity and inclusion that seem to be the antith esis of what news networks like Fox News stand for.

Conservative media houses are making the most of Mount Holy oke’s caricature. For example, Fox News alone has had two interviews with Rockwell, with one segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight and the oth er on Fox and Friends. Both covered the same cut-and-pasted content. Furthermore, Daniel Wallace wrote an article for Fox News Digital on Nov. 27, 2022, titled “Mother of NYC

heiress paid ‘deprogrammer’ big bucks after daughter ‘brainwashed’ by college’s woke agenda.” This obsession is dangerous to the pri vacy of students on campus. Mount Holyoke College has currently been approached by different me dia houses, including the New York Post, Fox News Digital, and Daily Mail. While the College did not im mediately reply, this proximity to campus intrudes on students’ safe ty. Mount Holyoke College has nod ded toward this possible invasive ness of the media. On Nov. 30, 2022, the College sent out an advisory on dealing with unwanted press outreach as part of their weekly update email. They guided stu dents to contact Public Safety and Service in the event of “outreach that includes either threatening or menacing language or discusses a community member’s personal in formation.”

Mount Holyoke is a college cam pus that must be safe for students. The current article coverage and accompanying obsessions threaten this space, particularly the safety of those marginalized communities identified by Rockwell. This only increases the need for educational experiences such as that provided by Mount Holyoke College. Racial and gender marginalization are still stark realities today that can not be flippantly discarded in con servative attempts to malign liberal ideologies. Hate and bias are only reinforced through right-wing me dia popularizing voices like Rock well’s. Media has to have a purpose to educate and accurately inform, not twist and manipulate stories to drive forth political agendas and dangerous ideologies that reinforce white supremacy.

Photo by Jahnavi Pradeep ’23 The Mount Holyoke Dining Commons has introduced a new initiative to encourage students to share tables and sit together during meal times.

Photo by Carmen Mickelson ’24 According to Pradeep, conservative media platforms’ interviews with Annabella Rockwell ’15 sensationalize Mount Holyoke College campus culture.

Audiences for women’s sports skyrocket as coverage expands

BY LAUREN LEESE ’23 STAFF WRITER

While men’s sports have tradi tionally dominated news coverage and brand sponsorships, this may not be the case in the future. Recent data show that women’s sports are significantly rising in popularity among TV audiences, and the gains are likely just beginning.

A Forbes article published on Nov. 28 reported that new statistics from Samba TV showed vast growth in women’s sports viewership in the past year. Much of the increase was driven by Gen Z viewers, 39 percent of whom reported watching more women’s sports than they did a year ago, as compared to 25 percent of sports fans overall, according to the National Research Group.

Per Samba TV, the 2022 Wom en’s March Madness saw a yearover-year viewership increase of 81 percent, while the men’s tour nament only enjoyed an 18 percent year-over-year increase. Game 1 of the 2022 Women’s National Bas ketball Association finals saw a 171 percent increase in viewership, to taling more than double the ratings of every other finals game that aired on cable TV. By comparison, view ership for the men’s Game 1 only increased by 25 percent. The men’s Major League Soccer final only rose in viewership by 15 percent, while the National Women’s Soccer League championship match pulled in 453 percent more viewers than the previous year, Samba TV reported.

However, Samba TV’s report may not hold the full story.

Gigi Picard ’22, a former varsity athlete and Sports editor for Mount Holyoke News who is currently studying for

her masters in sports administration at Northwestern University, indicat ed that focusing only on increases in viewership for championship games is not representative of how far wom en’s sports has come in recent years.

“It’s great that ratings went up during the [WNBA] finals,” Picard said. “But not talking about the reg ular season is disappointing. It does not tell you the growth that matters when discussing the rise of women’s sports.” Speaking specifically about the enormous increase in views for the NWSL championship match, Picard said that a focus on that one game “underestimated the growth of the National Women’s Soccer League and women’s soccer overall.”

She continued, “Solely examining the NWSL championship is not a re flection of the league.”

Forbes contributor Toni Fitzger ald speculated about the reasons for the heightened interest in women’s sports. 50 years after the passing of Title IX in 1972, increasing numbers of women have begun participating in sports. Before Title IX, 15 percent of college athletes were women. In 2022, that number is 44 percent, ac cording to Rutgers. More women participating in sports, Fitzgerald wrote, led to more women becom ing interested in watching sports. In the specific case of the NWSL game, Fitzgerald guessed that a scandal within the league involving several recent reports of abuse and harass ment by NWSL coaches toward their players, as NPR reported, may have created more publicity for the league and thus raised viewership.

According to Picard, increased publicity for women’s sports often comes from the athletes’ activism. “Players are using platforms on and

off the field to bring awareness to is sues within women’s sports,” Picard said. This in turn creates dedicated fan bases for these players. “When Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan step onto the field, the crowd goes absolutely nuts,” Picard added.

Picard also referenced the in creased support for National Colle giate Athletics Association women’s basketball that came after player Se dona Prince posted a viral video to the internet in March of 2021 show ing the difference between the men’s well-equipped weightlifting facilities and the single rack of hand weights provided for the women’s teams. “Prince’s video and everything that followed had an influence on viewer ship,” Picard said.

While increases in viewership may have been kickstarted by play ers speaking out against mistreat ment and inequality in their sports, Picard indicated that brand deals show promising signs that growth in women’s sports will continue. “De spite the NWSL controversies, Nike extended their deal with the NWSL until 2030 because they have faith in the league,” Picard said. Just last month, several new opportunities for women’s sports coverage became available to fans. The ad-supported streaming service Women’s Sports Network, which focuses only on women athletes, launched on Nov. 2 across a variety of carriers. The New York Timesowned sports outlet The Athletic

announced a new partnership with Google on Nov. 22 that aims to dou ble women’s sports coverage from 900 articles to 1,800 articles over the next few years. This latter effort will involve hiring new journalists to cover women’s sports, utilizing Goo gle-supported ads to drive viewers to the new coverage and increasing newsletter and podcast offerings that discuss women athletes and teams.

While Picard expressed appre ciation for The Athletic’s efforts at making women’s sports more visi ble, she felt they still have a way to go. “The Athletic aiming for 1,800 [articles covering women’s sports]

Swimming and Diving finishes fifth in Don Richards Invitational

great to see some people set person al and season best times already.”

Lauren Brook ’24 spoke about the process of getting ready for the meet, saying, “I think a major part of preparing for meets is using them as opportunities to uplift team mates and cultivate a positive and family-like team culture.”

Expanding on the team’s culture, Brook also talked about specific team traditions. “Each week, every team member pulls another name out of a bucket and makes a motiva tional [‘psych-up’] poster for that in dividual,” she said. “At the end of the meet, we circle up and each person states one thing that they are proud of themselves for accomplishing and something they are proud of that their ‘psych up’ accomplished.”

In the diving well, Mad dy Sewell ’24 took first place out of eight competitors in 1-meter diving, scoring 409.15 points. Following that win, Sewell also won 3-meter diving, scoring 415.45 points. Sewell was named the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Diver of the Week on Dec. 5 for her win ning performance on both boards.

and ninth in the 200-yard breast stroke with a time of 2:41.92.

Hannah Heierhoff ’25 earned ninth place in both the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:04.72 and the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:26.90. Seran Goudsouzian ’24 placed 14th in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:48.30. Bushway placed 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:42.69 and 12th in the 200-yard but terfly with a time of 2:36.41.

Meanwhile, Adji Diouf ’24 took 12th place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.28 seconds and 15th in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.40 seconds. Captain Anais Magner ’23 placed 12th in the 100-yard back stroke with a time of 1:05.04. Addi tionally, Megan Schneider ’25 took 13th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:16.59. Schneider also took 16th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.43 seconds.

Allen said he is looking forward to building from this meet. “We have a strong team, and we’re looking for ward to increased competition in the second half of the season,” he said.

BY GENEVIEVE ZAHNER ’26 STAFF WRITER

Mount

teams, including RIT who took first, Skidmore College who took second, St. Lawrence University who took third, Clarkson University who took fourth, Hobart and William Smith Colleges who took sixth and Bard College who took seventh. Mount Holyoke completed the meet with a score of 344 total points.

“I think that the meet went well,”

Evelyn Bushway ’24 said. “It was a tough meet to compete in, especially after having a week off for [Novem ber] break, but I loved that everyone stepped up to push through in their events.”

Head Swimming and Diving Coach Dave Allen was also happy with the results of the meet. “It is a tough time in the season and it was

In the competition swimming pool, Carolina Loayza ’26 led the Ly ons with the highest individual fin ish of the meet, taking second place out of 22 swimmers in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.26. Eliza Williams ’24 took sixth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 19:12.87, eighth in the 400-yard indi vidual medley with a time of 5:03.14

Swimming and Diving’s next competition will take place on Jan. 11, 2023, with Vassar College and Trinity College in a tri-meet at Trin ity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Sophie Allen ’26 said that the next competition “will be a great time to train for the rest of our meets [and] eventually [NEWMAC].” She added, “Overall, I feel great about the rest of the season.”

Ice Hockey competes against Paul Smith’s and Springfield Colleges

BY EMILY TARINELLI ’25 SPORTS EDITOR

Mount Holyoke Club Ice Hockey competed in two games on the week end of Dec. 3 and 4 at Fitzpatrick Ice Skating Rink in Holyoke, Massachu setts. On Saturday, Ice Hockey fell to Paul Smith’s College, while Sunday’s game saw another loss to Springfield College. The scores were uncon firmed; according to team member Camden Breckenridge ’24, “We play for the fun of it, and do not pay much attention to the score so long as we are having a good time.”

“I am so proud of everyone on the team,” Head Coach Tom Cardo si said of the team’s performance. “They are all improving every time they hit the ice. What really is the best part of this team, is that they all have fun and support one another. Win or lose they are all celebrating and cheering on each other through out the game.”

Team members shared several highlights from the double-booked

weekend. In the game versus Paul Smith, the team’s two goalies were standouts. Helen Roane ’23 stated that Virginia Middleton ’26 “had an incredible game,” playing in two periods for the first time ever. Addi tionally, Hannah Landau ’26 played in the net for the first time and made several saves. Roane said the game had “lots of great work by the team overall, especially in the defensive zone.”

In the game versus Springfield, Roane stated that the team had just 12 players total. With two lines of de fense and two lines of offense, each player spent a lot of time on the ice.

“Even with having the game yesterday and with fewer play ers, everyone was able to rally and gave it their all for the entire game. It was so much fun to play in this game,” Roane said. She spotlighted two teammates, Breckenridge and Julie Lindfeldt from the University of Massuchetts Amherst, for their defensive performance. “They were making it very hard for Springfield

to get shots on net,” she said.

Roane gave shoutouts to other teammates as well. “Shawn Craig ’23 also had a particularly great game last night. They took the puck up the ice several times and were making great passes with anyone on the ice at the time,” she said. “Kaia McTigue [’26] and Rose Stait [’25] also had an exciting game. Both played offense [and] there were several moments when we had the puck in [Spring field’s] zone.”

Breckenridge emphasized the team’s performance as a whole, es pecially their “incredible passing and communication.”

“We were playing with our small est lineup all year, which meant that every player had to do their abso lute best. Everyone did an amazing job communicating and passing to each other, getting the puck moving so that our offense could take it up the ice,” Breckenridge said. “It was a blast to watch.”

Artemis Chen ’25 echoed Breck enridge’s sentiments. “Defense, for

ward and wings cooperated so well, and each line was so good. There was also a lot of smooth passing,” Chen said.

Holyoke Swimming and Diving competed the weekend of Dec. 3 and 4 at the Don Richards Invitational, hosted at Rochester Institute of Technology. The meet ended with Mount Holyoke taking fifth place out of seven competing

Photo courtesy of Lorie Shaull via Flickr According to Gigi Picard ’22, one reason for the recent increased viewership of women’s sports is the activism of athletes like Megan Rapinoe, above.

Photo courtesy of Erin Schrama ’23

Maddy Sewell ’24 was named as a NEWMAC Diver of the Week after winning 1-meter diving and 3-meter diving at the Don Richards Invitational.

Next up, Club Ice Hockey will compete against Smith College on

Sunday, Dec. 11, at Lossone Rink in Easthampton, Massachusetts, begin ning at 12 p.m.

Editor’s note: Artemis Chen ’25 is a member of Mount Holyoke News.

Photo courtesy of Shea Kenny Mount Holyoke Ice Hockey played Paul Smith’s College and Springfield College on Dec. 3 and 4.

f HOROSCOPES f

Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

Write in your journal. Clean your sheets. Pet your cat. Complete a to-do list to earn some rest. It doesn’t just come easy.

Do: Roll | Don’t: Spiral

Dec. 22 – Jan. 19 I know that you know what I know. Is it difficult knowing everything? Find someone you can rely on completely, even for answers. If they’re meant for you, you’ll know.

Do: Diva | Don’t: Destroy

Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Someone is saving their love for you. This is the time to be romantic and take your chance. Don’t let the nerves stop you. It will be everything you imagined.

Do: Shift | Don’t: Command

Feb. 19 – March 20

It’s dark most of the day. However, you gleam, and everyone knows it. Hone your light. Look out for a new friend this week.

Do: Breeze| Don’t: Freeze

March 21 – April 19

Pictures make memories last forever. Be a camera for your friends and loved ones. Becoming an archive will draw people to wards you.

Do: LED| Don’t: Cereal

April 20 – May 20

You’re a blooming fruit. You taste so sweet, and you have abundant potential. Don’t let your seed fly in the wind.

Do: Tomato | Don’t: Avocado

May 21 – June 20

This is your final push! Don’t let it go. Cre ate a new personal record and rewards will follow you into the new year.

Do: Socks | Don’t: Bridge

June 21 – July 22

How do you make ice? Do you have a mold? Let your prior knowledge fly away, and try something that scares you.

Do: Dew | Don’t: Switch

July 23 – Aug. 22

There’s a draft coming from the window. It’s definitely your fault. Slam it down to let your rage out. The satisfaction will defi nitely please you.

Do: Carrot | Don’t: Sneakers

Aug. 23 – Sept. 22 You keep listening to the same song, but the meaning is constantly changing. Which message is the loudest? Don’t let your pref erence get in the way.

Do: Hairballs | Don’t: Run

Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

Today, you’re a lion. Tomorrow, you’re a polar bear. Your teeth are sharp either way. Bite into the obstacles you face.

Do: Shop | Don’t: Crack

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21

Add a page break. Highlight your thesis. Let this week show you what you need to focus on. It will all be clear so soon. Do: Fluff | Don’t: Wear purple

Mount Holyoke News

Viewership of women’s sports rises in popularity, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

sounds like a good start,” Picard said. “But if they want to make a dif ference, 1,800 sounds low to me. I see the need to partner with women-led media companies. Some of them are run by current or former profession al athletes across women’s leagues.”

Picard also highlighted podcasts as an area for improvement in the sports world when it comes to in cluding women. “There is a problem when it comes to sports podcasting,” she said. “I keep seeing episodes that

have solely or predominantly male guests. There is not enough atten tion on women in the sports indus try, particularly in the front office.” The Athletic’s focus on new women’s sports podcasts may go some way to ward helping this discrepancy.

There is still a long way to go for equality in sports coverage. Accord ing to Forbes, only women’s Olympic gymnastics and women’s ice skating are currently on par with their men’s sport counterparts for ratings. How ever, the current trend is promising for the future of women’s sports.

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’23, Thao Le ’25, Sophie Simon ’25 & Ramisa Tahsin Rahman ’25

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Event Highlights

Friday, Dec. 9

Small Business Friday

Join the Student Government Association to pick up some new items and support vendors from the Mount Holyoke community. Community Center - Great Room 10 a.m.

Friday, Dec. 9

Nice Shoes Final Jam: Jockappella

Join Nice Shoes A Cappella for their final jam in support of Migrant Justice with special guests The Smith College Vibes. Community Center - Great Room 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 10

Collegium

Directed by Michael Barrett, the Five College Early Music pro gram’s Collegium ensemble rehearses and performs music from the vast and varied repertory of European-style polyphony of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. There will be two performances on Saturday, the first a showcase of early chamber music featuring Voces Feminae, Medieval Ensemble, Early Music Dance Band and more. The second is Nueva España: A concert of early music from Spain and the Americas featuring the Five College Collegium, Hampshire County Collegium chorus and a community early winds ensemble. Abbey Memorial Chapel 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 10

Disability Fellows Movie Night

The Disability Fellows hope to have an ongoing series of films, TV shows, stand-up specials and more framed around disability and including disabled artists. They welcome everyone to the kickstart ing of the series with the film “Peanut Butter Falcon” (2019). Blanchard 227 6 p.m.