Mount Holyoke News – February 24, 2023

Mount Holyoke News

Author Sami Schalk speaks at ‘Black Disability Politics’ event

BY BRYN HEALY ’24 & MELANIE DURONIO ’26 NEWS EDITOR | FEATURES EDITOR

Content warning: This article mentions ableism and racism.

A small cohort of students walked into Gamble Auditorium on Feb. 16, 2023, to hear a lecture by author and University of Wisconsin-Madison Gender Studies Professor Dr. Sami Schalk on Black Disability Politics. Schalk was invited by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to speak about the interconnection between the 1977 Section 504 Sit-In and the Black Panther Party as part of their Black Scholar Thursday series. Schalk discussed her book “Black Disability Politics,” which explores how disability rights as a political issue are tied to race and racism, and the role they have played in Black activism since the 1970s.The event was also livestreamed on Vimeo, although it was not captioned.

The talks started with Weisman Fellow Talya Denis ’24 giving a land acknowledgment. Before Schalk began her lecture, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Kijua Sanders-McMurtry read aloud a poem by Alice Walker entitled “The Gospel According to Shug,” and discussed the founding of Black History month and how this history is real education which tells people to live abundantly.

Steph Gomez ’23, one of four DEI fellows present, introduced Schalk, her book and her work overall.

Schalk began her presentation with the cover of the May 7, 1977, edition of the Black Panther Party’s newspaper, The Black Panther. It read, “handicapped win demands — end HEW occupation.” Schalk explained that cover stories, like this one, are kept for the most important issues at that moment, showing that

the Party believed this sit-in to be a critically important issue directly connected to their work.

Schalk defined disability politics as “engagement with disability as a social and political concern rather than [an] individual or medical concern. Black Disability Politics are anti-ableist arguments and actions performed by Black cultural workers which address disability within the context of anti-Black racism.”

A key moment in the disability rights movement was the 504 SitIn, a protest where members of the disabled community objected to the federal government’s delayed regulation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 was the first federal regulation stating that programs receiving federal funding couldn’t discriminate against disabled people. This includes schools, federal buildings and more.

Nixon passed Section 504 but never defined key terms in the law, so it couldn’t be enforced, according to Schalk. Disability Justice advocates worked for the next couple of years to determine how the law

should be interpreted. When President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated, the movement hoped this was a good sign that the section would be enforced.

But, according to the Disability Rights and Education Fund, the Carter administration and Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano ignored this and organized a committee to “study” disabled individuals and continually weakened the proposed regulations.

The HEW and Califano ignored the Office of Civil Rights’ recommendations about the law. The newly formed American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities established sit-ins across the country in response, with the longest-lasting one in San Francisco at HEW’s regional headquarters. The sit-in was a success, bringing critical attention to the intentional inaction of the government, and resulted in the signing and enforcement of Section 504 as is.

The San Francisco HEW Sit-In lasted 26 days according to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.

In her book, Schalk argues that

the sit-in’s success was due in part to the support from political organizations such as the Black Panther Party, a revolutionary civil rights group founded in 1966. Their original goal focused on self-defense and police patrol and expanded into national and international chapters at its height. They had a 10-point platform describing the goals of the party; this grew to be wider in scope and more intersectional over the years, shifting its focus from Black communities to Black and other oppressed communities.

The period of the 1970s saw change for the Party as many of the male leaders went into hiding and many women took over. Schalk described how scholars often ignore this period of the BPP due to its female leadership, claiming its community and charity work was not revolutionary. This is when the BPP started their free breakfast program, Safe Walk program for elders and help for disabled Vietnam Veterans, among others. Schalk highlighted how, in reality, this era was a continuation of the BPP’s ethos. Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the BPP, believed, “[the] community survival program is the basis of all of [BPP’s] work because we can’t expect people to organize and to politically educate themselves if they don’t have food if they don’t have housing.” The BPP began engaging in Black Disability Politics in the 1970s.

“The Panther supported the demonstration because disability rights and anti-ableism fit within their existing revolutionary ideology, even as disability was rarely an explicit part of the party’s liberation agenda,” Schalk said.

The BPP provided 504 Sit-In protesters, two of which were also Panthers, with hot daily meals, ran press endorsements and national articles in The Black Panther, held

on-site speeches beginning from day one, provided security and joined the emergency coalition of allied advocacy organizations.

Black Disability Politics take on an intersectional lens, considering the relationship between multiple systems of oppression with race as the central focus. Schalk explained that there are four common qualities to Black Disability Politics: intersectional but race-centric, not necessarily based on disability pride/identity, contextualized and historicized, and holistic and broad. Unlike the mainstream disability rights movement, Black Disability Politics are not based on ideas of identity or pride. Many of its members do not even identify as “disabled.”

From a historical perspective, Black Disability Politics are often enacted by events and circumstances that have in turn shaped experiences with disability in Black communities. This includes secondary health effects such as disease, environmental racism, racial violence and state neglect. The work also addresses the connection between the body and mind, including health, illness, disease and physiological or emotional well-being. Through this holistic approach, Black Disability Politics work to obtain social and political change at both the micro and macro levels.

“By identifying these qualities I aim to provide a framework for interpreting articulations and enactments of Black Disability Politics, one which accounts for the distinct ways that Black people have experienced, engaged with and countered the disability system,” Schalk said.

The next event of the Black Scholar Thursdays series is “Black Feminist Scholarship in the Digital Age” with speaker Lutze Segu. It will take place on Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. in Blanchard 318.

Ohio residents push to hold railway company responsible for derailment

BY NINA SYDORYK ’25 STAFF WRITER

On Feb. 3, about three dozen train cars derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, which is home to approximately 4,800 residents. Norfolk Southern Railway held a “controlled release” which released the toxic chemicals into the air.

Of the 38 cars that derailed, most had been carrying materials such as cement, steel and frozen vegetables, according to an incident report published by the Environmental Protection Agency. 20 of these cars, however, are confirmed to have been transporting hazardous material; 11 of these derailed, including some carrying a substance known as vinyl chloride.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Vinyl chloride can irritate the eyes, mucous membranes and respiratory tract. Escaping compressed gas or liquid can cause frostbite or irritation of the skin and eyes. Chronic exposure can cause perma-

nent liver injury and liver cancer, neurologic or behavioral symptoms and changes to the skin and bones of the hand.”

A brief timeline of events has been reported by Reuters. On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern Railroad-operated train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, resulting in a massive fire and smoke cloud over the area. Initially, a temporary evacuation was ordered, with no reports of injury or death.

By Feb. 8, residents were allowed to return to their homes, as instructed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

On Feb. 13, the EPA’s Great Lakes regional office released a statement certifying that it had conducted air quality tests in 291 homes within the evacuation zone. Two of the materials that had caused the most concern, vinyl chloride and hydrogen chloride, were not found. Another additional 181 homes were still being inspected.

Several sources are reporting a mechanical failure as the cause of

the accident. However, the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to officially issue a declaration regarding this claim. The latest NTSB reports state the investigation is still ongoing.

Despite many varying claims circulating in regard to the severity of the incident, the residents of East Palestine remain concerned for their safety. Many report their pets’ ailing health and have stated that they themselves are experiencing symptoms such as headaches. Residents were reportedly told that their drinking water was safe, but despite this, local cities have stopped using water from the Ohio river out of caution due to chemicals from the derailment entering the river’s waters, reports WLWT5.

According to Time, Northfolk Southern is now facing several lawsuits due to the widely reported yet unconfirmed preventability of the accident and the company’s alleged negligence. So far, eight lawsuits have been filed, seeking up to five

million dollars in compensatory fees.

Residents are also turning their criticism towards the federal government, with both Republican and Democratic politicians criticizing the current Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, ABC News reports. For example, “Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Min-

nesota called directly on Buttigieg to ‘address the tragedy’ and ensure it ‘never happens again.’” Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also berated Buttigieg for not yet having visited East Palestine before his visit on Feb. 23.

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Interim President Tatum gives state of the College presentation at senate

BY PAIGE COMEAU ’26 STAFF WRITER

Before announcing its special guest on Feb. 21, senate began with the usual land acknowledgment.

Skipping over E-Board updates, the senate quickly launched into a presentation given by Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum. This presentation, announced earlier that week in the Dean’s Corner, gave information on the state of the College. More specifically, Tatum discussed the College’s recent focus on strategic planning.

it matters how much the students pay. In totality, Mount Holyoke students pay less for tuition than Amherst students and the Seven Sister Schools. Tatum stated that this meant that the College had less money than its neighbors. Mount Holyoke is meeting its goal of enrollment and acceptances. Tatum noted that Mount Holyoke admits more students than Amherst College and the Seven Sister Schools.

– Beverly Daniel Tatum

Tatum’s presentation began by describing the College’s current funding situation. 62 percent of Mount Holyoke’s revenue comes from student fees and tuition. Tatum underscored that, because of this,

Furthermore, the acceptance rate is dropping with the number of applications on the rise. Tatum explained that this is a good thing because it allows the College to be more selective with the type of student it would like to enroll.

11 percent of the money that Mount Holyoke receives is from donors, with most of the donated mon-

ey going to scholarships. According to Tatum, 2022 was one of Mount Holyoke’s best fundraising years, making as much as $50,621,125. Around 41 million dollars of this

money went to student financial aid.

26 percent of Mount Holyoke’s funds come from the endowment. This year the endowment is just over one billion dollars, but not all

of that money is available for immediate use. An endowment is like an investment account, with the money being invested in stock portfolios and bank accounts. The College is only allowed to use the money that is earned from those investments. The general rule is that only a spending rate of 4.95 percent can be used. If more is used, the school could begin to eat into the endowment funds.

Tatum ended her discussion on the college’s finances by saying that though Mount Holyoke is doing well financially, it is not doing as well as our neighbors.

The President announced that she is considering changing the college’s mission statement. Later this spring, Tatum said, the students, staff and faculty will be allowed to submit suggestions. Submissions must be less than 25 words long.

Tatum then discussed the College’s strategic planning. She ex-

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Photo by Bryn Healy ’24 Students gathered in Gamble Auditorium for a lecture with author and professor Dr. Sami Schalk.

Photo by Ella Shelton ’26 President Tatum discussed the College’s strategic planning updates at Tuesday’s senate meeting.

Photo courtesy of National Transportation Safety Board via Wikimedia Commons 20 of the 141 train cars in the derailment were found to have been carrying hazardous materials.

Think BIG: Build our community; Improve our infrastructure; Grow our distinctive programs.

Mark Auslander discusses family history, antisemitism and racism

/ If you see my older boy, / Cain, the son of man, / tell him that I” — Auslander explained that it can provide different messages for readers.

“The text I’d like to suggest can be read in part as a powerful testimony of what it means to be Jewish in a post-Holocaust world. … Even in places of relative sanctuary, the possibilities of mass violence never seen entirely removed or off the table. …

But at the same time, the poem … emphasizes the universality of the story of brothers,” Auslander said.

spective family narratives to a writing project that [they] hope to be a book.”

While there is a lot of tragedy in the history of the Jewish people, there is good that can be pulled out of it in the ability to empathize with and support others who are fighting for their own liberation, especially those who have experienced a similar nature of historical oppression.

alogue on campus. They then asked Auslander to discuss a bit more about the “importance of these ongoing efforts to bring groups together.”

He replied that interpersonal work is vital, but it is only the start.

Photo courtesy of Mark Auslander Dan Pagis’ poem entitled “Written in pencil in the sealed freight car,” which he wrote when he was 11 years old, is displayed in English, Hebrew and Polish at the Belzec Victims Memorial. has been “engaged in deep dialogues and interrogation of our own everyday work to disrupt and resist antisemitism,” for several years.

Auslander explained that neither Pagis nor his grandparents “[ever] discussed with anyone what transpired on board those terrible unheated trains … the poem is the only trace we have whatsoever.”

BY EMMA QUIRK ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article discusses the Holocaust.

Dr. Mark Auslander gave a lecture entitled “Here in this Train Car: Holocaust Family Memory, Art-Making and Struggles for Justice” on Feb. 15, 2023. During the event — held virtually — he discussed his family’s history and the connectivity between marginalized communities. He also explored the impact and importance of the arts when it comes to culture and tragedy. Auslander is a sociocultural and historical anthropologist, award-winning author of “The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family” and visiting lecturer in anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. This event is one of MHC’s antisemitism teach-ins that were launched in January of 2021. In her introduction to Dr. Auslander’s event, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Kijua Sanders-McMurtry said that the College community

Auslander’s talk, held during Black History Month, touched on the similarities and linkages between antisemitism and anti-Black racism. Auslander also discussed the way white supremacist ideology harms both of these communities as well as the intersections between them.

The lecture began with Auslander speaking about his own family, particularly their experiences in the Holocaust. “Here in this Train Car” is a reference to “a terrifying moment in my family’s history,” where thousands of Romanian Jewish people, including his relatives, were forced onto cattle cars during a mass deportation to Transnistria concentration camps in the 1940s, Auslander explained. His father’s first cousin, Dan Pagis, was 11 years old at the time. Pagis wrote a now famous poem about the car, called “Written in Pencil in the Sealed Freightcar.” The poem goes as follows: “Here in this carload / I, Eve / with my son Abel.

Glascock contestant Jordan

Trice discusses his writing career and inspirations

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

Jordan Trice, a junior at Amherst College, can’t remember a time when he “didn’t do lots of bad writing.” Since starting the practice in childhood, he has worked on his craft more and more, recently gaining a spot as a contestant in the 100th Glascock poetry contest.

As described on the website, the “Kathryn Irene Glascock Intercollegiate Poetry Contest is the oldest continuously-running poetry contest for undergraduate students in the United States.” Mount Holyoke College hosts the contest every year, and since the second year of the competition, the Glascock committee has invited other colleges to join.

This year, Amherst College is one of the invited schools with Trice chosen as their representative. A creative writing professor that Trice had taken a class with during his first semester at college emailed him and asked if he would like to do it. “I was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ And then they put me in contact with y’alls people,” Trice said. “And here we are.” Trice described later researching the contest and seeing that Robert Frost had been a judge and Slyvia Plath had won; this was when he started to become both excited and nervous about the competition.

One moment in particular stood out to Trice in regard to his interest in writing. When he was in sixth grade, a class required everyone to create a presentation about what job they wanted to have when they were older. “I put, kind of as a cop-out because I didn’t really prepare, [that] I wanted to be a writer,” Trice said. “They want[ed] you to have how much money you’d make, so I said ‘it varies’ and then had a picture of books.”

Trice, a double major in English and sexuality, women’s and gender studies, tends to write shorter poems and submitted a number of poems within the time limit. The first two are inspired by his first summer at Amherst when he had a research fellowship looking at “reimaginings of the stories of the women of the Odyssey in contemporary literature.”

He was “obsessed” with Penelope, Odysseus’ wife who remains faithful to her husband while he is away on his 20-year-long journey, and was

He is inspired by the way his cousin has fought for peace and justice and wishes to do the same. Art is a way to share, connect people and remember historical moments, both benevolent and malevolent. Auslander explained that it is vital in both “helping us reflect on unspeakable acts and struggles for tolerance and justice even or especially with the darkest walls of the sealed railway car,” but it can also remind us of “this world before the Holocaust.” The people, places and things that existed before are still important memories and aspects of culture.

Another notion that Auslander emphasized was the close tie between the fight against antisemitism and anti-Black racism, and that one of the ways to combat this struggle is through partnership. He shared an anecdote of his connection to Black poet, storyteller and essayist André Le Mont Wilson who gave his own book talk to MHC on Feb. 20, 2023. Auslander explained that the two found connections between their own family histories, and have since been “working together collaboratively, documenting [their] re-

“The very essence of our beings is not entirely grim or hopeless, which may seem paradoxical, but it’s the paradox that is life-sustaining. Because this experience can yield the most remarkable gifts, as is the case, for example, with my new friendship with André Wilson,” Auslander said. Throughout his talk, Auslander spoke with candor about his privilege as a white man, and how he is working to better understand communities of color, particularly Black communities.

“I’m not joking when I’m speaking [of] myself as a recovering white guy, because I mean, I grew up in Washington, D.C., but I grew up in white Washington, D.C., and I knew very little of the Black majority city, even though my parents [and] grandparents and so forth, had been actively involved in the civil rights movement,” Auslander said. “I didn’t think of the centrality of race or anything like structural racism in other words, and so that was a process.”

In living in Central Africa for some years, connecting with his Black family members and with people like Wilson, he is working to combat his personal biases. He stressed that he believes this type of work is “a continuous process of learning.”

Toward the end of the talk, Sanders-McMurtry highlighted the work that the Jewish Student Union, the Association of Pan-African Unity and the Office of Community and Belonging have been doing to foster di-

“It has to be sustainable, there really has to be groups working together, and everybody knowing that there’s gonna be a space when these groups come together for frank disagreements and discovery,” Auslander continued. “It’s very hard work to do this type of collaborative work because we are all exposing our most fundamental vulnerabilities. And it doesn’t seem fair to each party that we’re being asked to account for things that we don’t feel personally held [responsible] for. But we can’t make progress if all we do is go into a defensive crouch.”

One student who attended the talk appreciated this appeal for intergroup collaboration and the candor about inevitable obstacles. “I am a prospective history major so I think it is so important to, as Dr. Auslander discussed, push through the friction that arises when two very different groups work together and have conversations that deepen compassion and spark change,” Caroline Lamb ’26 said. “It is vital to future generations, and current ones, to work together and learn from our past mistakes so that we can all better understand that we share one world and can make it a better place.”

Auslander believes that students, faculty and staff must all put in consistent effort to do their parts to make change. “We’re extremely lucky that at a place like Mount Holyoke, there are so many people committed to making this happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy here, it just means that we have the freedom and the space to do some of the really hard work,” Auslander said.

Interim President Tatum invites senators to give input on state of the College, cont’d

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plained that the College completes strategic planning because it’s necessary for continuous improvement. Additionally, it is required for the College’s re-accreditation. Tatum examined the many goals achieved by the previous and current plans. Triumphs include but are not limited to: funding for internships and research experiences, expansion of the Blanchard Community Center, creation of the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab, sustainability commitment to be carbon neutral by 2037 and advanced student recruitment.

inspired to write. “I ended up writing a couple of poems, Penelope-inspired poems, I call them my Penelope poems, but those are the opening ones,” Trice said.

In general, Trice draws inspiration from art, whether it be literature, paintings or music. He describes small moments of inspiration and credits Toni Morrison for “[bringing] out a lot of those moments.”

Additionally, he has a habit of writing poetry on planes. His family lives in Tampa Bay, Florida, and every time he gets on a plane to fly home, he ends up writing. “I’ve been trying to tease out why that is but I think it’s partly because I’m listening to music and I have nothing else to do to distract me, no [cell] service or anything,” Trice said. “It’s just whatever music I’ve downloaded on my phone and then I’ll be listening to something and then it’ll just come.”

Trice explained that some of his favorite writers are Toni Morrison, Allen Ginsberg, Maya Phillips — whose poetry collection “Erou,” Trice described as “possibly my favorite poetry collection at the moment” — and Evie Shockley, who is one of the 2023 Glascock judges and who Trice saw read at Amherst during the fall of 2022. “I’ve been moving in between excited and nervous,” Trice said. “But I think right now I’m feeling excited for [the contest]. I’m excited to meet the other people [and] to meet Evie Shockley again. It seems like a great time and it’s the 100-year anniversary so it sounds like it’s gonna be a very, very fun time.”

Tatum then asked the room how the college could improve. First, she examined the data presented by prospective students. This data showed that the college has the opportunity to distinguish itself and increase demand by underscoring cross-cutting themes, career focus, experiential learning, inclusivity and gender diversity.

As for already admitted students, Tatum looked at the student conference committee survey This survey is sent to MHC students every spring, asking them how they feel about certain aspects of the school. The major recommendation from this data was to increase the opportunity for inter-group dialogue — something that, as Tatum explained, the college has been expanding on this year.

Next, the Consortium on Financing Higher Education New Student Survey, a questionnaire sent out to all new and accepted students, collected data surrounding student demographics and the thoughts of incoming students. These results showed that 73 percent of students identified as LGBTQ+, 23 percent identified as having a chronic mental health condition, 35 percent felt unprepared or only somewhat prepared to succeed academically and 44 percent felt unprepared or only somewhat prepared to get along at college. Tatum stated that she believes that the growing anxiety and mental health issues can be attributed at least in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COFHE 2022 Senior Survey showed that compared to other schools, Mount Holyoke students were more likely to be satisfied with having gone to Mount Holyoke and would recommend this school to

their younger selves.

When this data gets broken down, Tatum illuminated the fact that minority students did not necessarily feel that way. The data shows that less than 30 percent of African American students, compared to more than 80 percent of white students, felt that they would have done so. Likewise, around 60 percent of Latinx students, 75 percent of Asian American students and over 90 percent of international students would have recommended this school to their younger selves.

When asked what experiences seniors would recommend, the survey found that students who were satisfied with their academic experiences had done research with a professor, an independent study, worked as a tutor, received tutoring or attended a LEAP symposium. Students who were satisfied with opportunities outside of Mount Holyoke had studied abroad, done an internship or completed volunteer work. As for participation in extracurricular activities, students recommended a usic/ theater group or student publications. Research shows that Mount Holyoke College, among other historically women’s colleges or liberal arts schools, has fewer students graduating with a job offer or official position. This is the same for students who had reached out and spoken to college alums. This is even though 75 percent of early career alums indicate that they would like to serve as a resource for current students interested in the industry.

Green, how safe the construction would be for members of campus.

Tatum responded by first acknowledging that no accident should have happened in the first place. But, she added, it was a construction accident. No student or staff was at risk for harm. The areas under construction will be roped off and safe. She warned, jokingly, that although it would be safe, it would be ugly.

Another student asked how the President felt about the statistics presented, especially since she has known the MHC community for longer than any of the senators. Tatum responded by saying that she felt as though Mount Holyoke College was evolving.

These results showed that 73 percent of new students identified as LGBTQ+, 23 percent identified as having a chronic mental health condition, 35 percent felt unprepared or only somewhat prepared to succeed academically and 44 percent felt unprepared or only somewhat prepared to get along at college.

A third member asked a general question that they knew other students had concerns about. Regarding the recent school shooting at Michigan State University, they asked, was Mount Holyoke taking any specific measures to update campus security? Tatum said that there were systems in place and that the OneCard system made the school remarkably safer than in previous years. But, she added, there’s no way to build a wall around campus. As such, we must rely on each other. She emphasized that it is important to remember that if you see something, you need to say something.

When thinking about how to communicate the MHC experience to the market, Tatum stated that she liked to use the acronym BIG, as in, “Think BIG: Build our community; Improve our infrastructure; Grow our distinctive programs.”

One senator asked a question regarding the geothermal project, an energy system that will take Mount Holyoke’s carbon footprint down 80 percent. They wondered, referencing the recent accident on Skinner

A final student took the chance to ask about accessibility. Many of the buildings, they stated, were not very accessible above the first floor. They asked if the College had any plans to change that. Tatum took the time to reference the earlier mentioned facilities update plan and said that as the buildings were renovated they would be made fully accessible, but many may not be for several years. Following the last question, Tatum presented an activity in which the senators were allowed to give their input on what needs to be done within the school. These ideas, she stated, would be organized and read by a committee, before being prepared as a list for President-Elect Holley.

Photo courtesy of Shana Hansell Amherst junior Jordan Trice will compete in the 100th annual Glascock poetry contest.

Maggie Millner’s ‘Couplets’ explores queerness and change

BY EMMA WATKINS ’23 MANAGING EDITOR OF CONTENT

“I became myself. / I became myself. / No, I always was myself. / There’s no such person as myself.”

The opening lines of Maggie Millner’s “Proem” reverberate due to both her clever use of exact rhyme and the introduction of the dynamic, ever-changing narrator. On the dust jacket at the opposite end of the book, Millner’s author photo gazes directly into the reader’s face, her reclined posture echoing the ease and intimacy with which her poetry and prose reveal her thoughts on love, queerness, sex, identity and discovery. Millner joined author and Mount Holyoke Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English Andrea Lawlor in conversation at Riffraff Bookstore and Bar in Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday, Feb. 17. In the hour that followed Millner’s selected readings, the two authors, which Millner referred to as “the best possible pairing,” discussed queer literary traditions and the playfulness of experimenting with form.

sis, the main character of “Couplets” finds an “escape hatch” from her life and begins an exploration of “queerness, polyamory, kink, power, and loss, humiliation and freedom.” With descriptions from critics referring to the book as “sexy” and “seductive,” readers can expect a glimpse into the physical realm of Millner’s love story, but “Couplets” offers much more than that.

I became myself. / I became myself. / No, I always was myself. / There’s no such person as myself.

– Maggie Millner

Millner carefully yet boldly explores feelings of uncertainty, anticipation, attraction and self-discovery by intimating the hot-yet-tender moments of a new relationship while also candidly discussing the hauntings that a past love can leave.

The main speaker’s voice contains contradictions — witty and poignant, irreverent and reflective.

Millner showcases this style in the poem “4.4.” The speaker addresses their class of students stating, “Evidence / must precede argument. Verbs are the heaviest / lifters.

Change is constant and inexorable.

Drawing readers in with an eye-catching mirrored title and a bright red and pink cover, Millner’s 2023 debut, “Couplets,” proclaims itself a love story. At the reading, Millner wore a bright pink tube top that echoed the color saturation of her book. According to the book’s dust jacket, Millner’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Poetry. Millner’s website lists her as “a Lecturer at Yale and a Senior Editor at The Yale Review.”

According to the book’s synop-

/ The Oxford comma isn’t really optional. / You will fall in love. The relationship / will end, though not at the same instant / as the love. Some version of this will continue, / maybe forever, happening to you.”

Millner explained that through writing in heroic couplets, she unexpectedly found her own escape hatch from feeling, in her own words, “restless with the contemporary lyric poem.” When explaining her choice to write a book in this style, Millner stated that she was interested in playing with poetic history and tradition but didn’t initially intend to write this book in rhyming couplets.

She noted that couplets as a form “enact closure” due to the way that the rhyming pairs complete each other before the next group of lines. She explained that the process of writing this book was a cycle of “push [and] pull between continuation and closure that allowed her to experiment with the “subtleties of syntactic flow.” Lawlor and Millner both agreed that this kind of writing allows for a “queer[ing of one’s] syntax” that can be “playful” and

“campy.” Millner described couplets as an “infectious” form, prompting Lawlor to reference Adrienne Raphel’s review of the book for The New York Times — which was written entirely in rhyming couplets.

Millner is clearly passionate about the craft of her poems and spoke excitedly about the writing process.

Kelsey Warren FP ’25, a Mount Holyoke student who attended the event, appreciated how Millner dug

into her book’s creation. “It’s exciting to hear from a writer whose work cracks open the genre binary and moreover get some insight into how Millner navigated the tension between poetry and prose, as well as her journey to letting the content find its form: experimentation and openness,” Warren said. “The talk reminded me that a book doesn’t always know what it wants to be when you begin it and to delight in the process.”

New Yo La Tengo album looks frankly at the state of the world

BY LUCY OSTER ’23 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

I am always wondering if life is either good or bad — a reductive way of looking at the world, but I can’t help it. Lately, I’ve been reluctantly settling on the latter, as romantic heartbreak looms eternally and trains tip and spill poison. When I feel like this, I turn to people with years on me, who have seen so much bad and good that they’ve learned to take the two extremes with a grain of salt, knowing it can all change so quickly.

“This Stupid World,” released on Feb. 10, is the 17th album from New Jersey-based band Yo La Tengo. Clocking in at nine songs, a respectable number for an objectively late-career release, “This Stupid World” does not blow up the Yo La Tengo sound established on prior albums such as their previous 2018 album, “There’s A Riot Going On,” in any way, and that can be appreciated in a world that can be so destructive otherwise. After all, how can artists remain authentic and produce something unorthodox if they’ve spent decades consistently releasing albums? Specifically, how can an independent rock artist continue writing music about love and sadness, the most obtuse yet overdone topics?

The answer to these questions has yet to be discovered, but it’s clear that Yo La Tengo has a clue, and their new album can help steer you through the messy nuances of life.

The album starts as expected for an indie rock band: with a lot of messy guitar and a steady drumbeat.

Yo La Tengo formed in the 1980s, and this will likely affect their music style for as long as they produce it, with rougher-sounding musical attributes and soft vocals defining the band. These sounds are present on the new album, and especially in the two first songs on the album, “Sinatra Drive Breakdown” and “Fallout.”

The songs on “This Stupid World” are generally lyrically lean with longer musical interludes. The lyrics that do emerge are poignant to many aspects of life. The album, after all, has a title that seeks to define the world, and the band has certainly been around the block.

“Fallout,” the first single and the album’s most-played song on Spotify, is about a desire to “fall out of time” because “every day it hurts to look.”

The sentiment is not positive, but it’s delivered in an honest tone. As I listen to the song, I cannot always

disagree with the desire to fall out of time briefly, and I feel relieved that I am not so alone in it.

Much of the album seems to cover aging and even death. “Until It Happens,” asks the listener to “Look away from the hands of time” and even “Prepare to die.” The last song on the album, “Miles Away,” wisely remarks: “The pain creeps in anyhow / You feel alone / Friends are all gone / Keep wiping the dust from your eyes.” The “keep” in the action of wiping the dust from your eyes is key to “This Stupid World.” Consistency and keeping on will change one’s perspective on life from bad to good and back again forever until it

all ends.

Nuance is everything in this stupid world, and everything in “This Stupid World” as well. The songs are sonically harsh with soft lyrics, and the meaning behind the lyrics is full of nuance as well. “Sinatra Drive Breakdown” has the lyric “I see the moon rise as the sun descends.” Change is the only constant that we can rely on. Still, not all of the songs on the album are so bleak, as not all aspects of life are. “Tonight’s Episode” is bouncier than the other songs in Yo La Tengo’s repertoire, with fun lyrics about walking dogs, milking cows and the Japanese dish Shabu-shabu. Vocalist and guitarist

nine songs trace topics such as aging, death and perseverance. ing and a release from the sonically harsher noises. Here, Yo La Tengo demonstrates that a compositionally soft song can encompass some of the bleakest lyrics, the opposite of their usual mode of louder songs and sweeter lyrics.

Ira Kaplan even remarks, “I’ll show you a yo-yo trick.” Kaplan and one of the other members of the three-person band, Georgia Hubley, are married, and that domesticity shines through in “This Stupid World.” Married life also appears on the album in sadder ways, such as the song “Apology Letter,” where Kaplan sings, “If I were to smile at you / Would you smile at me?”

At the beginning of “Aselestine,” the second single, Hubley chuckles in the song’s prelude before sharing a gentle song. The lyrics are not sweet, proclaiming, “Where are you? / The drugs don’t do / What you said they do.” Yet, the tone is lift-

“This Stupid World” reveals that we cannot separate the bad and good from life. They are intricately tied up together, and they both make the other stronger with their contrast. I can, and even have to, appreciate both if I want to enjoy living even a little bit. After all, as the album’s titular song says, “This stupid world / It’s killing me / This stupid world / Is all we have.”

Photo courtesy of Kylie Gellatly FP ’23 Poet Maggie Millner, left, sits beside author and Assistant Professor of English Andrea Lawlor, right, at Riffraff Bookstore and Bar, in Providence, RI.

Photo courtesy of Ricardo Romanoff via Flickr Yo La Tengo, a New Jersey-based band founded in the 1980s, released their 17th album, “This Stupid World,” in February. The album’s

Leader of Scottish National Party announces her resignation

BY JENDAYI LEBEN-MARTIN ’24

GLOBAL EDITOR

On Feb. 15, 2023, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation from the role, a New York Times article said. According to BBC News, Sturgeon is the longest-serving first minister in Scottish history, as well as the first woman to ever hold the position.

The announcement of Sturgeon’s resignation comes amid controversy in Scottish politics. The New York Times article explained that in recent weeks proposed Scottish legislation aimed at making gender transitions easier was shot down by Britain’s Parliament. However, Sturgeon maintains that the recent controversy is not the reason for her resignation, a CNN article said. Sturgeon reassured skeptics that “[the] decision is not a reaction to shortterm pressures.”

As the leader of the Scottish National Party, Sturgeon has spent the past eight years working towards Scottish independence, the party’s founding goal, a BBC News article

explained. In fact, according to the SNP website, Sturgeon has been advocating for Scottish independence since she was sixteen, and over the duration of her career, she has worked toward making Scotland an active participant in world politics.

In a press conference addressing her resignation, Sturgeon said that a new leader will be better equipped to achieve Scottish independence, as Sturgeon herself believes that she has become too polarizing of a figure. According to BBC News, Sturgeon’s resignation leaves Scotland without a decisive leader in ongoing discussions surrounding Scottish independence and the prospect of future referendums. As reported by CNN, a majority of Scottish voters expressed that they wanted to remain a part of the U.K. in 2014. However, after Brexit in 2016, popular Scottish opinion on independence may have changed.

According to CNN, support for independence had grown since Scotland was forced out of the European Union by the U.K. in 2016, but hopes for a referendum have faced some

recent obstacles.

CNN reported that in November 2022 the British Supreme Court barred the Scottish government from holding a second referendum on its own, meaning that any referendum plans must now be approved by the U.K. government.

BBC News explained that the SNP is holding a conference in March to figure out how to address these restrictions and move toward a second referendum, but Philip Sim, a political correspondent for the BBC, stated that “with no clear successors waiting in the wings if Ms. Sturgeon isn’t running the independence campaign, it’s not clear who will be placed to call the shots.”

According to BBC News, Kate Forbes, a current parliament member, is one of the front runners to take over Sturgeon’s role. Some of Forbes’s ideas conflict with the political precedent that Sturgeon has set, however.

For example, Forbes, who was on maternity leave during the vote that passed the self-identification legislation in the Scottish Parliament, has

said that she would not have voted in favor of the bill, and that, as first minister, she will not fight the U.K. government on their block of the legislation. Nick Eardley of the BBC

reports that this conflict reflects an upcoming change in the direction of the SNP. BBC News reported that Sturgeon will remain in office until her successor is elected.

More than 200 asylum-seeking children go missing in the UK

grant asylum to many.

An article by The Observer explained that these goals to create strict immigration laws have worked in traffickers’ favor, as some traffickers have been exploiting the Home Office’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Africa in order to target young asylum seekers. “Traffickers tell them they’ll be sent to Rwanda if they stay in the hotel,” sources told The Observer.

The Guardian reported that their whistleblower who works at a hotel in Hythe, Kent, believes that approximately 10 percent of the children seeking asylum in the U.K. disappeared each week. The article continued to explain that there are many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the U.K. Figures published by the Guardian show that in hotels run by the Home Office, 282 children have gone missing in the six months between April and October, and seventy had not been found.

tecting asylum seekers, according to the Guardian. When speaking of the U.K. government’s lack of action in defense of asylum seekers, Moseley said that “not having documents makes you vulnerable and makes it difficult to stand up for yourself. Intimidating asylum-seekers is an act of pure cowardice. We need a government that shows leadership and protects the vulnerable rather than empowering bullies by using damaging and divisive rhetoric.” Rebecca Hamlin, a professor of legal studies and political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, echoed these sentiments and said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News that “the anti-immigrant politics in the U.K. is very toxic, and portrays a lot of people with legitimate claims for protection under international and domestic law as illegal and undeserving.”

BY KIERA MCLAUGHLIN ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article mentions human trafficking and involuntary sex work.

An investigation by The Observer broke the news in mid-January that over 200 asylum-seeking children are missing in the United Kingdom, The New York Times reported. NPR reported that Robert Jenrick, the minister for immigration in the U.K., notified lawmakers that more than 200 children and teenagers under 18 were missing from govern-

ment-approved accommodations, most of whom were teenage boys from Albania.

According to The New York Times, this government-approved housing consists of hotels, where asylum seekers stay until the Home Office moves them to a more stable location. Yvette Cooper, head of immigration policy for the Labour Party, explained to The New York Times that “there is a pattern here but no one is properly investigating.” She went on to say that “there is no targeted unit going after them and saying, ‘this is a pattern,’ where young people are being trafficked across

the channel and then into cannabis farms — or into prostitution in some of the worst cases — but into organized crimes, being picked up from outside these hotels.’”

According to an article by BBC News, there has been an exponential increase in Albanian migrants coming to the U.K. over the past three years. The New York Times reported that in the last year, approximately 40,000 people made the trip across the channel to the U.K., including 13,000 Albanians. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been working towards slowing the number of migrants coming to the U.K. and refusing to

Many organizations and the Home Office are disputing who is to blame for the lack of action on behalf of these children. Al-Jazeera reported that “rights groups condemned the [U.K.] government, while The Adolescent and Children’s Trust (TACT), a fostering charity, said the Home Office had ignored its calls to place the children in care homes.”

According to The Guardian, many asylum-seekers in the U.K. have been met with anti-migrant protests. The Guardian reported that an organization called HOPE Not Hate, which tracks far-right activity, identified five anti-migrant demonstrations that took place over the weekend. Clare Moseley, the founder of Care4Calais, a volunteer-run refugee charity, has called out the U.K. government for not pro-

The roles of this rising anti-migration movement in the U.K. and the response by the government have led to unrest and fear for asylum-seekers around the country, according to NPR. As reported by NPR, Labour Party lawmaker Peter Kyle pointed out in the House of Commons that “the uncomfortable truth for us is if one child who was related to one of us in this room went missing, the world would stop. But in the community I represent a child has gone missing, then five went missing, then a dozen went missing, then 50 went missing and currently today 76 are missing and nothing is happening.” While the number of asylum-seeking children placed in hotels by the Home Office increases, people like Yvette Cooper, Clare Moseley and Peter Kyle continue to speak up for the missing children seeking asylum.

Masking continues in South Korea and Japan, despite decreased regulations

BY QINGYUN SHI ’23 STAFF WRITER

On Jan. 31, 2023, South Korea dropped indoor mask mandates, a New York Times article reported. Beginning March 13, 2023, the government of Japan will further ease COVID-19 guidelines on mask-wearing, including those pertaining to public transportation and schools.

According to The Japan Times, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hopes that relaxing public health measures will benefit economic and social activities. The New York Times article explained that wearing a mask has become part of a daily routine in people’s lives over the past three years, especially in some East Asian countries where pandemic restrictions have lingered for much longer than in other parts of the world. Despite the fact that governments are now easing legal restrictions, the article reported that many residents in countries such as South Korea and Japan are unlikely to stop wearing masks completely any time soon.

Naomi Tanaka, who lives and works in Japan, spoke to this issue in a recent interview with Mount Holyoke News. “Japanese people have always been wearing mask[s], even before COVID-19,” Tanaka said.

“In Japanese society, wearing masks is very common; many people — in-

cluding me from time to time — will put on a mask when going outside.”

There are several reasons for people to continue wearing masks, according to the article. First, the habit can be difficult to change since masking has been the norm for the past three years. In Japan, for example, some call masks “kao pantsu,”

or “face pants,” to convey that individuals would feel the same level of embarrassment when removing their masks as when removing their pants in public, The New York Times explained. For others in South Korea and Japan, masking can be a solution for social pressures around behaviors such as wearing makeup or

smiling frequently. The article also explained that mask-wearing is seen as an effective measure for protecting individuals such as the elderly or those at risk of developing severe symptoms from being infected with COVID-19. Tanaka discussed the reasons why many people in Japan still wear masks. “I think there are

two main reasons why Japanese people adopted this habit. One: wearing a mask when sick is a sign of consideration for others in Japanese culture. Two: Many Japanese people are allergic to flower [spores] in the air, especially in the spring. Wearing a mask can help you avoid contact.”

As of March 13, passengers on public transportation in Japan will not be required to wear masks due to individual seating, an article by The Japan Times reported. Students and teachers will also not be required to wear masks during upcoming graduation ceremonies as long as preventative health measures are put in place, such as adequate ventilation in rooms. The government will also encourage institutions to not pressure people to remove their masks if individuals wish to continue wearing them. Masks will continue to be recommended in congested indoor areas when social distancing is impossible, The Japan Times said.

Although both South Korea and Japan are continuing to reduce mask regulations, The New York Times reported that health authorities in both countries still encourage mask-wearing. COVID-19 infections in both countries have declined steadily in the past month, but health authorities worry that decreased regulations around masks and travel restrictions will cause another spike in cases.

Photo courtesy of Alisdare Hickson via Flickr

Over 200 aslyum-seeking children, mainly from Albania, disappeared from government housing in the U.K., causing concern over migration policies.

Photo courtesy of First Minister of Scotland via Flickr Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and leader of Scottish National Party, to resign.

Graphic by Mari Al Tayb ’26

Mount Holyoke Professor Patty Brennan receives lifetime honor for genital morphology research

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

A comic posted outside of Mount Holyoke Professor Patty Brennan’s office depicts two ducks going on a dinner date. As the female duck excitedly chatters about the latest avian gossip — old men tossing bread, close encounters with dogs — the male duck is distracted by a more pragmatic thought: “Oh my god. Your vagina better spiral in the same direction as my penis or I am out.”

Brennan is an associate professor of biological sciences whose research focuses on the evolution of genital morphology in animals, according to the Mount Holyoke College website. In Jan. 2023, Brennan was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a lifetime award granted to “scientists, engineers and innovators from around the world” in recognition of the contributions to society made throughout their careers, according to AAAS. The AAAS Fellow award dates back to 1874, with previous honorees including W.E.B. DuBois, the “founding father of American sociology,” and Ellen Ochoa, a former astronaut and the first Hispanic director of the Johnson Space Center, states their website. According to the College, Brennan was one of over 500 Fellows elected to the 2022 class. “I’m actually really excited about it because I love AAAS,” she said of the award, adding that she has been a member of the organization since grad school.

Brennan’s interest in biology came long before her emergence into the field of genital morphology. She studied the cardiac function of marine animals at the Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá, Colombia, and later went on to spend two years on a research boat traveling around the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. She then completed a doctorate at Cornell University, where her research largely focused on birds. She explained that upon starting the program she was less familiar with avian research, but was drawn to the field by an opportunity to study a group of birds in her home country of Colombia. Brennan had no idea at the time, but this group of birds was one of the few species that have penises, which would ultimately shape the direction of her career, she said.

“When I watched them mating, I saw the penis and I realized,” she said of her discovery of the birds’ genitalia. “I thought it was so weird,” she

continued. This initial glimpse into the world of avian genital morphology made her realize how little was known about the subject, and she resolved to investigate it further.

Morphology, in a biological context, refers to “the study of the size, shape and structure of animals, plants and microorganisms and of the relationships of their constituent parts,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Brennan’s research has explored genital morphology throughout the animal kingdom.

The diversity of animals found in Brennan’s studies is a product of her opportunistic research style. She explained that she reaches out to other labs in search of animal carcasses, and begins a study once she has enough specimens to work on. She remarked that it is relatively easy to obtain specimens, as most focus on parts of animals other than the genitalia, “in fact I have three freezers full of dead things downstairs,” she said with a laugh.

In the early days of her research, she discovered that female ducks have complex vaginas, which tells a “story of sexual conflict in genitalia,” she said. Sexual conflict is a common theme throughout Brennan’s research. The term describes when male and female members of a species have opposing reproductive interests, she explained. While both feel the biological urge to reproduce and advance the survival of their species, males and females may “disagree on the details,” such as who cares for the offspring. These

differences are not expressed over a bread basket in a nice restaurant, as the comic outside Brennan’s office may suggest, but through the evolution of their genitalia. Genital morphology has evolved in a variety of ways in response to sexual conflict, Brennan explained, from mechanisms in females’ vaginas that prevent the entrance of an unwanted male, to penile spines that injure females during procreation, delaying future procreation until they are healed. “For ducks, it is about where the sperm ends up,” she said.

According to a 2009 study conducted by Brennan and other researchers at Yale University, ducks have unique corkscrew-shaped genitalia with an important difference between the sexes — while females have vaginas that spiral in a clockwise direction, males’ penises spiral counterclockwise. This is an example of “sexually antagonistic genital coevolution” which is when “the sexes evolve traits that allow them to control the outcome of fertilization,” the study said. The study found that the opposing morphology of the male and female genitalia can prevent the penis from fully entering the vagina in situations of unwanted copulation. As a result, the male duck’s sperm is deposited farther from the ovaries during forced copulation, helping the female avoid an unwanted pregnancy. “I was surprised that this was something that was not already known,” she said of the female’s unique anatomy, adding that she then wanted to see if her

discovery applied to other species, leading to a wealth of new research on the genital morphology of other animals including bats, snakes and dolphins.

Another focus of Brennan’s research is clitoris morphology. According to ResearchGate, her publications on the subject include the first “complete description” of the snake clitoris and a study that suggests the presence of functional clitorises in dolphins. “I think that it is asking about pleasure, and the evolution of pleasure and the importance of pleasure,” she said of her research. She added that she aims to improve the understanding of human pleasure through her work and disrupt the notion that “everyone expects that sex will be pleasurable for males, but females not so much”, commenting that issues related to pleasure are often ignored “as long as [the individual] can still get pregnant.”

Her research in vaginal biomechanics, which investigates the diversity found in vaginal structures, comes from a similar motivation. This diversity plays an important role in the study of the human vagina. She offered the example of research on the effects of birth on the human vagina, which is often done using rat vaginas despite their major morphological dissimilarities. Brennan hopes to use her research on biomechanic diversity to find bet-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 u

Graphic by Sunny Wei ’23

All about STIs: prevention and testing

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

According to an article from Planned Parenthood, STIs are “infections that are passed from one person to another during sexual activity.” The use of a barrier — such as a condom or dental dam — is “one of the best ways” to avoid contracting an STI, the article said. This is because they prevent genital skin-to-skin contact as well as the exchange of sexual fluids. Most STIs do not cause any symptoms, so getting tested regularly is an important way to prevent their spread, Planned Parenthood explained. The type of testing used varies depending on the STI but can include a urine test, physical exam or swab. Some tests will produce instant results, while others take between days and weeks.

STI testing is available at Mount Holyoke Health Services and is covered by the Student Health Insurance Plan, according to Dr. Cheryl Flynn of the Health Center. Students with their own private health insurance and the “prepaid plan” can also receive testing free of cost. Health Services offers STI screening for students based on “their sexual behaviors and the risk of infections associated with those,” as well as diagnostic testing for students experiencing symptoms of an STI, Flynn explained.

Most tests cost between $20 and $50, with the exception of the Hepatitis B antibody test (around $65), Hepatitis C test (around $68) and the Herpes Simplex I and II test (around $330).

Those without the student health insurance plan will have the cost of the tests added to their Student Bill. Charges are noted as “health center charges” on the Student Bill, with no further details about the visit, Flynn said. Students are informed of their results, positive or negative, through My Health Connection.

Health Services also offers STI treatment, typically consisting of antibiotics or antiviral medications which are often available on-site. According to Flynn, for treatments that the health center does not carry, such as HIV and Hepatitis C, patients are referred to a specialist.

New study finds that teens’ blood pressure is affected by pollution

adding that high blood pressure is “a leading risk factor for premature death worldwide.”

The Environmental Protection Agency website explains that nitrogen dioxide pollution is caused by burning fuel, and is often emitted by buses, cars, trucks and off-road equipment. The EPA states that exposure to nitrogen dioxide can irritate the respiratory system, causing breathing problems, and can cause asthma or respiratory infections.

Additionally, when nitrogen dioxide interacts with water and other chemicals in the atmosphere, it can create acid rain that harms ecosystems and makes the air hazy.

The EPA has created National Ambient Air Quality Standards that define the maximum concentrations of nitrogen dioxide permitted to be in the outside air. When an area does not meet this standard, the EPA works with regional authorities to lower nitrogen dioxide emissions.

mobiles and power plants.

According to the EPA, the small size of the particles means that they are easily inhalable, and can pose a danger to humans if they get into the lungs or bloodstream. Studies have shown that PM 2.5 can cause “premature death in people with heart or lung disease, nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing,” the EPA said. PM 2.5 has also been linked to increased haziness in the air, increased acidity in rivers and lakes, changing nutrient balances in water and soil and affecting ecosystems. Similarly to nitrogen dioxide pollution, the EPA regulates PM emissions, but these regulations exclude particles with a diameter greater than ten micrometers.

BY SHIRA SADEH ’25 GLOBAL EDITOR

A study published on Feb. 8, 2023, in the journal PLOS One found that pollution affects teens’ blood pressure. While it was already known that pollution can affect people’s ability to breathe and can cause health problems such as cancer, this new study focuses on the effect of pollution on blood pressure, a CNN article about the new study reported.

The study involved 3,200 teenagers, whose blood pressure data was compared to exposure rates based on annual pollution reports for the areas in which the teens lived, CNN said. While previous blood pressure studies have observed adults and many pollution studies have observed children, this study is unique due to its focus on teens.

According to a CNN summary of the study, lower blood pressure levels were associated with exposure to

nitrogen dioxide, while higher blood pressure levels were correlated with exposure to particulate matter 2.5 — also known as particle pollution. Although the researchers did not look into the health effects of fluctuating blood pressure, low blood pressure is known to cause “confusion, tiredness, blurred vision and dizziness.”

High blood pressure in youth can “lead to a lifetime of health problems including a higher risk of stroke or heart attack,” the article explained,

Particulate matter is a type of pollution composed of a mixture of solid particles — such as smoke, dust, soot or dirt — and liquid droplets, the EPA website explained. PM 2.5 is a category of particulate matter made up of fine, inhalable particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. In comparison, the EPA states that the average person’s hair has a diameter of approximately 70 micrometers, making the largest PM 2.5 particles 30 times smaller than the average human hair. PM is emitted from numerous different sources, the EPA says. Roads, construction sites, fields and fires are major sources, but many particles also form in the atmosphere as a result of chemical reactions, often after emission by auto-

According to the study, female participants reacted to PM 2.5 pollution more dramatically than male participants, while participants of both sexes had similar reactions to nitrogen dioxide pollution. The researchers also found that there were marginally higher exposures to both pollutants in Black Caribbeans, Black Africans and Pakistani/ Bangladeshis compared to white participants.

The researchers recommend further study into the different reactions caused by the two pollutants and how they affect participants differently based on their socioeconomic backgrounds. “Understanding the social and biological mechanisms linking air pollution exposure to BP [blood pressure] over the life course is [a] major research and clinical gap,” the study concluded.

Photo courtesy of Patty Brennan Professor Patty Brennan was elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow for her contributions to biological research.

Photo courtesy of B137 via Wikimedia Commons

A study published in the journal PLOS ONE found that nitrogen dioxide pollution from vehicles correlates with lower blood pressure levels in teens.

Selective provision of new menstrual products on campus reflect the College’s lack of understanding regarding gender

BY HOPE FRANCES SIMSPON ’24 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article discusses transphobia.

Students on the Mount Holyoke College campus may have noticed something shiny and new in various bathrooms around campus: vending machines for menstrual products. Based on my observations, machines have appeared in buildings such as Auxiliary Services and the library. There is a problem with this initiative. Although the menstrual vending machines in these buildings have been installed in women’s and gender-neutral bathrooms, they haven’t been installed in men’s bathrooms.

Upon discovering this, I also learned that there is no proper menstrual product disposal in the men’s bathrooms either. This absence of menstrual vending machines or disposals makes it seem as though Mount

Holyoke does not harbor as much respect for non-cisgender students as it does for others.

Menstruation has historically been associated with women, but in my time at Mount Holyoke, I have seen that this is not the case.

I have acquaintances who menstruate and don’t identify as cisgender women. I myself use she/they pronouns, and I menstruate. Attending a gender-diverse women’s college has exposed me to all kinds of people who do not fit into the binary of male and female. Mount Holyoke is a gender-diverse historically women’s college, but it accepts a variety of students besides cisgender women, including transgender and nonbinary students. However, by not providing menstrual products and proper disposal for everyone, the school is reinforcing the idea that it is only cis women who menstruate.

In speaking with the Mount Holyoke Planned Parenthood Gen-

eration Action Treasurer Ally Contrini ’25, I got a better picture of how the menstrual product vending machines came to be. The initiative was brought to fruition by the Student Government Association and PPGA E-Boards. “This has been put into action by the current SGA E-Board and our menstrual product outreach coordinators, Nina Brothers ’24 [in] fall 2022 and Nina Baran ’25 [in] spring 2023,” Contrini said. Although they supply free menstrual products to students, PPGA is not in charge of the menstrual product vending machines, which are provided and stocked by a company called Aunt Flow.

On the matter of the machines only being present in women’s and gender-neutral restrooms, Contrini said, “This initiative is in its early stages, and at all stages of growth MHC PPGA will encourage the College to include access to people of all genders.”

While Contrini’s explanation addresses the lack of machines in men’s rooms, it does not account for the lack of proper menstrual waste receptacles. This unavailability forces students using men’s restrooms to dispose of their menstrual products in normal trash bins, which is a biohazard or resort to flushing them down the toilet, which could result in major plumbing issues.

Contrini affirmed that “The MHC PPGA believes that proper disposal options for used menstrual products should be available in all bathrooms for students and the safety of college janitorial staff.” However, it is important to note that the PPGA has no control over this particular matter.

Overall, this is an issue that could be easily resolved with time and effort. The school could show its respect for its non-cisgender students by installing the Aunt Flow vending machines in the men’s rooms around campus. More importantly, it should

Graphic

Wei ’23

expediently install proper menstrual product receptacles in men’s rooms for the health and safety of janitorial staff and students.

Recent edits to Roald Dahl novels don’t undo his history of bigotry

In the original text, Dahl describes Gloop as “enormously fat.” After revisions, he is simply an “enormous” nine-year-old.

BY JAHNAVI PRADEEP ’23 OPINION EDITOR

Content warning: This article discusses antisemitism and racism and mentions fatphobia.

Roald Dahl is a celebrated British storyteller best known for his works in children’s literature, adult fiction and screenwork. His forays into children’s literature include 16 stories, such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “The Witches.” These books gained popularity for their peculiar sense of humor that accompanied heroic stories of children who combat the adult world. They have been translated into 68 languages, adapted for the screen and the stage and remain as must-reads on the bookshelves of homes, libraries and schools worldwide.

More recently, Dahl has become the center of a literary debate over the derogatory language coloring his books’ contents. The Telegraph reported on Feb. 17, 2023, that Dahl’s works were undergoing content revisions by Puffin Books and the Roald Dahl Story Company. Per the article, “the publishers have given themselves license to edit the writer as they see fit, chopping, altering and adding where necessary to bring his books in line with contemporary sensibilities.” Puffin Books and the Roald Dahl Story Company partnered with Inclusive Minds, an organization aimed at, according their website, “authentic representation” in children’s literature by supporting diversity, inclusion, and accessibili-

ty to tackle offensive vocabulary in Dahl’s literature and adhere to what the Telegraph terms as “contemporary sensibilities.” With over a hundred edits to his works, their joint efforts aim to undo Dahl’s insensitivity toward gender, race and physical appearances, among others.

On the one hand, the revisions to Dahl’s texts are a welcome maneuver that works toward making children’s literature decreasingly stereotyped in its content and more sensitive to ideas of diversity and inclusion. However, while it can be lauded as a way to make a cherished anthology of books less offensive, simply modifying the text’s vocabulary does not undo the history of stereotypes, bigotry and hatred that Dahl’s texts have perpetrated. Rather than focusing on the prose of the past, our priorities in supporting inclusive children’s media should focus on contemporary work that better represents today’s goals for literature.

According to The Telegraph, changes have been implemented in ten of Dahl’s books: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Esio Trot,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “George’s Marvellous Medicine,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Matilda,” “The BFG,” “The Enormous Crocodile,” “The Twits” and “The Witches.” One of Dahl’s most notable works, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” follows the story of Charlie and four other contestants, children meant to contrast our earnest protagonist, who win a golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Augustus Gloop is one of the contestants.

Another Dahl story, “Matilda,” follows the story of child prodigy Matilda as she navigates home and school life. In her story, the constant mention of “mothers” and “fathers” in the text has been changed to “parents.” As an avid reader, Matilda now reads the books of Jane Austen instead of Rudyard Kipling. A third story, “The BFG,” follows young Sophie’s encounters with, as the title suggests, a big friendly giant whose characterizations have also been rewritten. In the text, the “tall black figure” is a “tall dark figure,” and the “long pale wrinkly face” is now a “long wrinkly face.” The Telegraph notes that tweaks to Dahl’s texts have been common in the past as well. For example, the Oompa Loompas in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” were “extensively reimagined over the years.” Still, the current set of revisions is the first largescale change to his works.

These changes are imperative — they undo the harm of offensive language that has permeated widely read literature. These alterations become increasingly pertinent when noting that the primary audience of Dahl’s books is comprised of children. Children’s literature has the potential to educate and impact its young readers. Reading habits in children help them learn about themselves, the world and how to communicate with others. Here it becomes crucial to evaluate the types of books kids read, the content of these books and how they might influence children’s critical thinking processes. In my own childhood, I grew up reading several of his books, including all those that Puffins Books and the Roald Dahl Story Company are now revising. While I loved Dahl’s catchy stories and inspiring young protagonists, as a child I was not fully aware of the harm of the texts. Revisiting them as an adult, I immediately realized the blatant bigotry that underlined the stories.

Offensive language, as seen in Dahl’s books, can be incredibly harmful in this process, further emphasizing the importance of edits.

After all, Dahl is one of the most famous and beloved children’s authors, and it is only right to make his works more conscious in their portrayals. Aware of the popularity of Dahl’s books and the potential for their content to impact young readers, the Roald Dahl Story Company and Puffin Books’ endeavors

align with making children’s literature more sensitive in content and are more conscious of its ability to influence readers. In an article for The Guardian, a Roald Dahl Story Company spokesperson discussed the revisions: “Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered.” Herein, revising Dahl’s language helps future young readers engage with his widely popular stories without allowing implicit biases to form through their reading habits.

Nonetheless, censoring Dahl’s language does not do enough justice to the history of bigotry that both the author and his works carry. Dahl, while celebrated for his gift of writing, was guilty of racism, antisemitism and misogyny. A New York Times article from 2020 discusses how Dahl’s family had to publicly apologize for the author’s outspoken antisemitic comments in his career as a public figure and author. The Roald Dahl Story Company’s website features the joint apology of the company and Dahl’s family for the “lasting and understandable hurt caused by Roald Dahl’s antisemitic statements.” The apology goes on to state that “those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations.”

However, Dahl’s family’s apology does not erase the harm of his hatred, and continuing to celebrate this author erases his problematic past without holding him or his works accountable. Dahl’s sentiments cannot be separated from his work, and this becomes increasingly evident in the manifestation of his bigoted ideas in his literature. In an article for CNN, David M. Perry discusses how Dahl’s antisemitism shows through in his books, such as “The Witches.”

Perry discusses how “Dahl created a caste of hook-nosed women who can literally print money and who like to kidnap and murder innocent children. The characterization appears to draw directly from the blood libel slander, the medieval and modern conspiracy theory that Jews annually kidnap and murder Christian children.” Simply editing language that reflects bigotry does not undo the underlying sentiments of the stories and characters. If publishers are committed to inclusion and diversity, they must do better than continuing to champion Dahl’s

work. The company spokesperson’s claim of revising texts to “maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text” is incongruent with their desire to do right by ideas of inclusion and sensitivity.

A Time article similarly builds on the idea that Dahl’s works reflect his obvious racism. The article explores how the Oompa Loompas in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” were meant to be members of an African Pygmy tribe and describes other instances of bigotry and stereotypes in Dahl’s work. For example, in “James and the Giant Peach,’” as per the Time article, “the Grasshopper declares at one point: ‘I’d rather be fried alive and eaten by a Mexican.’”

Dahl’s misogyny, ableism and fatphobia are similarly ubiquitous in his books. Characters across books are ridiculed for being fat, Augustus Gloop being one of many. A 2016 article by The Irish Times discusses how Dahl wrote about women, specifically in “The Witches,” where “the witches themselves are terrifying and vile things, and always women.” Here, it is clear that mere revisions are not enough to tackle the hate that pervades Dahl’s literary canon. Simply editing the language used to describe the Oompa Loompas that makes their tribal roots obvious doesn’t erase the problematic root of these characters’ creation. The Telegraph notes that if the publishers had to carry out more than 100 edits, the rampant nature of offensive content in the books is already established in its framework, and simply removing the obvious bias does not undo its place in the work.

The current drive toward revising Dahl’s work allows us to evaluate whether or not we want to continue heralding his works as essentials of children’s literature. While Dahl may be considered a classic for his excellent penmanship, we cannot easily pardon the bigotry and hatred packed within his novels. Removing Dahl from the literary canon is not easy, but we can treat him as a product of his time and move him to the back of the shelf instead of continuing to actively promote his work.

With this, we have an opportunity to make space for new prose, instead of revised literature, that carries the potential to educate children on diversity and inclusion over bias and stereotypes. While revisions are a step toward addressing and changing the problematic past of the writer, publishing houses and agencies can do better by their promise of diversity and inclusion by focusing on the creation of new literature.

Professor of Biological Sciences Patty Brennan becomes AAAS Fellow, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

ter subjects to inform human-centered research. “I am looking at other models that we can use to look at what happens to the vagina when it is stressed during birth,” she said.

Brennan’s research has been the subject of much excitement from the public and in the media. “People love stories of weird animal sex,” she said, adding that each new discovery is “something that we should have known but we didn’t for some reason.”

Brennan does not shy away from the intrigue. “It’s one of the best parts of my research, being able to do outreach,” she said. She is also an advocate for basic science.

Basic science, unlike applied science, does not attempt to address a particular issue, but instead evolves out of curiosity and a desire to expand scientific knowledge, an NPR article about Brennan’s work stated.

In a 2014 article titled “Time to step up: defending basic science and animal behaviour,” Brennan and other authors argued for the continued support of basic scientific research after U.S. politicians and interest

groups deemed several “unusual” scientific studies a waste of spending.

Today, basic science faces a more positive outlook, according to Brennan. “I think the biggest change happened just now with Covid,” she said, explaining that ongoing research on coronaviruses enabled scientists to rapidly develop a vaccine amid the wave of panic caused by the pandemic. “If we hadn’t had that basic science infrastructure we would’ve been really screwed,” she remarked. Brennan went on to explain that this demonstration of the importance of supporting all types of research led

Congress to devote more funding to the National Science Foundation.

The AAAS’s support of basic science is another reason why Brennan was excited to be elected as a Fellow, she said. “They really are a fantastic organization and I just couldn’t be happier,” she said.

Brennan remarked that after working for Yale University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mount Holyoke made an ideal home for her research.

“It’s really kind of funny,” she said of the harmony between her research and Mount Holyoke’s status as a historically women’s college,

“but it’s perfect because my students are really interested.” Brennan runs a robust lab, with thesis and independent study students conducting research on topics such as shark and ratfish genitalia. She added that our current lack of understanding of female genitalia is “damaging in the long term.”

“It’s exciting to be at the forefront of those questions at a place like Mount Holyoke,” she said. As a Hispanic woman, Brennan also emphasizes the importance of diversity in research. “If we don’t have diversity in science we are not going to ask the right questions,” she said.

Photo courtesy of solarisgirl via Flickr Roald Dahl Story Company and Puffin Books partnered with Inclusive Minds to edit Dahl’s stories.

by Sunny

MHC English department celebrates Valentine’s Day with open mic event Agreement reached to end HarperCollins strike

truths in a supportive space. Darwin Michener-Rutledge ’24, an English Department liaison, said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News, “This is the second time we’ve [hosted this event] now, and it’s always so exciting to hear what people are working on, especially because poetry is often so personal. And so to get together and share such big feelings in such a friendly space … is pretty magical.”

After each person who had signed up at the beginning of the event had read, the floor was opened to everyone in attendance. The openness and freedom of the event motivated many audience members to volunteer on the spot until the event ended. In addition to original writing, students read poetry and prose by famous writers that moved them and even song lyrics centered around the Love/Hate theme.

BY OLIVIA WILSON ’24 BOOKS EDITOR

BY SOPHIE FRANK ’26 STAFF WRITER

The Cassani Room in Shattuck Hall was strung with pink and red hearts and balloons on Feb. 13. A table was laid out with candy arranged in heart shapes, and extra chairs had been set out in rows to hold the throng of audience members who had come to hear their fellow Mount Holyoke students share their work. Almost every seat was filled.

The second annual Love/Hate Open Mic was hosted in a joint effort by the Mount Holyoke Review and the English department liaisons. The organizations have hosted open mic nights before; on Nov. 3, they hosted a Good/Evil Open Mic in the Abbey Memorial Chapel and this Love/Hate Open Mic night was the second of its kind, with the first held in February of 2022.

The Valentine’s Day Open Mic was open to all students to read poetry and prose on the theme of love and hate. Students shared poetry, personal essays and excerpts from longer projects. The students’ work was filled with biblical allusions,

particularly to Eve in the Garden of Eden, as well as gothic language and self-reflection. Students meditated on sisterly love, childhood friendship, the endings of relationships and old enemies.

Junior Vivi Corré read a piece about a childhood friend they saw every summer and the way the relationship changed over time, reminiscing on turning 21, a glamorous age in the eyes of a small child, without their friend by their side.

The piece garnered soft smiles from some audience members. A free verse poem on meeting a mystery woman online earned laughs, and students nodded rapturously at a piece that explored a woman at home going through the motions of traditional gendered chores.

Many pieces carried an undertone of feminist existence within the patriarchy, and many students seemed completely tuned into the readings, throwing encouragement and support behind their fellow students.

The intimate venue and welcoming atmosphere allowed the students who wanted to share their work aloud to explore personal

Vivi Corre ’24 read a piece she had written in a Mount Holyoke creative writing class. She described feeling hesitant to read after taking almost exclusively psychology classes for several semesters but wound up being proud of what she had written. “This was my first time reading anything I had written outside of [sharing it within the] English class, so that was kind of terrifying, but I’m really glad I did it because it just feels so satisfying,” she said.

Every person that read received enthusiastic applause and a red rose to commemorate their achievement. Many people lingered once the reading was over to take pictures, eat the candy laid before them and talk with the department liaisons. Students exited Shattuck Hall into a curiously warm February evening, ready to ring in Valentine’s Day following a night of student readings.

The Mount Holyoke Review and the English department liaisons promote events and share department news on Instagram under the handles @mountholyokereview and @mhcenglishliaisons. Students from any department are invited to attend future events.

After a grueling sixty-six-day strike that captured national headlines and involved almost 250 employees, the union at HarperCollins publishing has announced the ratification of a new contract and the conclusion of the strike.

The demonstration began on Nov. 10, 2022, and officially ended on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, when employees returned to work after over two months of public and virtual demonstrations.

The new contract comes at a troubling time for HarperCollins, as they announced they would be cutting five percent of their U.S. workforce by June 30, according to Publishers Weekly.

The New York Times reported that the company, which saw a surge in profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now suffering losses and is down 14 percent in sales from last year. HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray pointed to unprecedented supply chain and inflation costs as a reason for the layoffs.

Among other demands, the union has been negotiating for an

increase in starting salary from $45,000 per year to $50,000 per year to compensate for the high living costs in New York City, where HarperCollins headquarters are located. There have also been demands for improved family benefits and a stronger initiative from the company in diversifying its workforce, according to a report from The New York Times.

The released terms of the contract include improved compensation and benefits, guaranteed annual raises for anyone rated above ‘unsatisfactory’ for work and paid time to participate in company diversity and inclusion initiatives. In addition, the contract allows employees to continue working remotely until July 1, 2023.

A statement from union President Olga Budastrova told Publisher’s Weekly that the union was incredibly pleased with the terms of the new contract, which will last through the end of 2025.

In the statement, she told Publisher’s Weekly that she was “confident” that the contract would “lead to a long-lasting change in HarperCollins work culture and perhaps in publishing at large.”

Cara Murphy ’14 promoted from assistant to head rowing coach

BY LAUREN LEESE ’23 STAFF WRITER

For the Mount Holyoke rowing team, the new semester brought a new head coach: Cara Murphy ’14, who had worked with the team as an assistant coach since 2018. Murphy succeeds former Head Coach Seth Hussey, who left the role after six seasons. Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, Murphy played several different sports growing up, including baseball and soccer. In the ninth grade, she started rowing and discovered a new passion. “[Rowing] kind of … took over my life,” she said.

During her time at Mount Holyoke, Murphy was a member of the rowing team for four years, and she still looks back on her student-athlete experience as one of her greatest achievements. “I’m really proud of my time that I was here and the stuff that I did,” she said. One of her best memories was of the 2014 Eastern College Athletic Conference National Invitational Collegiate Regatta, where the Lyons went head-

to-head with a Smith College boat and won. “They talk about the ‘flow state’ in sports … performing beyond what you can normally do,” Murphy said. “It just happened to be a race where everything worked in the boat … they got off ahead, and we caught them by the end. They had no idea we were coming.”

Murphy initially planned to become a professor but discovered her passion for coaching when she got a summer job coaching a master’s rowing team. “It’s a great way to stay connected to your sport,” Murphy said. “When you become a student of your sport, you just learn to enjoy it so much more.”

After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Murphy earned a Master of Science in Sports and Exercise Studies at Smith College. Her first coaching job following completion of the master’s program was at Colgate University, where she worked for two years until she received a call from then-Rowing Head Coach Seth Hussey. “He was looking for an assistant, and somebody suggested to him that he call me,” Murphy said. “He was

… sort of starting [the rowing program] over, and it just seemed like a really interesting project to come and join and be able to give back to my alma mater.”

Regarding the transition from assistant to head coach, Murphy said, “It’s kind of like … when you

have a birthday and you’re a year older, but you really don’t feel any older.” However, she also mentioned the increased freedom she now has to make decisions as head coach. “When I sit and think about what I want to do, I actually get to do it instead of having to run it by somebody and say, ‘Hey, well, how would you think about this?’ I just run it by myself.” Furthermore, Murphy spoke about the unique experience of coaching at her alma mater. “I think that the student-athletes at Mount Holyoke are some of the most interesting people,” she said. “It’s never a dull day because you get challenged intellectually … I have to dig into my fount of knowledge and explain [the] why, the what and [the] how. And that makes me better at what I do.”

Throughout her transition from student to assistant coach to head coach, representing Mount Holyoke has remained at the forefront of Murphy’s mind. “I want [the graduates of the rowing program] to be really good representatives of Mount Holyoke … and also be proud to have them as kind of teammates by asso-

ciation. So yeah, it’s a big responsibility. But it’s so cool,” Murphy said. “You’re once a rower, but you’re always a teammate.”

When asked about her coaching achievements, Murphy again turned it back to the athletes, giving them the credit for the team’s accomplishments. “I kind of show you the path and tell you how to do it, [but] I’m not the one rowing the race,” she said. “[I ask], ‘did I set them up for success?’ And I think for the most part, any boat that I put out there, I’m proud of what they were able to do.” Looking to the future, Murphy expressed her excitement at being able to continue improving the team even after her collegiate athlete career ended. “It’s an opportunity that so few people have, to be able to come back and work for your alma mater,” Murphy said. “One of the things that I found in my head while I was a rower was this idea of leaving the team in a better spot than when you found it … And I think I did that, and now I just get to keep doing it, which is just so cool … I’m super humbled by the opportunity.”

Swimming and Diving finishes eighth in NEWMAC championship

seventh place with 133 points, putting them ahead of Babson College by 12 points and behind Wellesley College by 76.5 points. Mount Holyoke finished eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Megan Schneider ’25, Heierhoff ’25, Carolina Loayza ’26 and Adji Diouf ’24 coming in at 1:40.39. Schneider came in 29th in the 50-yard freestyle event in 25.31 seconds, ahead of teammates Diouf, who completed the event in 25.44 seconds, and Loayza, who finished in 25.64 seconds.

“That was something I don’t think the swimmers were expecting to happen, including myself,” Bushway said. “We were not thinking about the record board and times going into that race.”

BY GENEVIEVE ZAHNER ’26 STAFF WRITER

finished on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Day one of the NEWMAC Championship saw Mount Holyoke finishing in eighth for the day with 34 points. The competition opened with the 4x200 freestyle relay. Mount Holyoke’s A relay of Hannah Heierhoff ’25, Maggie Freisthler ’26, Ruth Bailey ’26 and Evelyn Bushway ’24 placed ninth with a time of 8:13.10. Day two ended with the Lyons in

Maddy Sewell ’24, the only diver on the team, received a second-place ranking in three-meter diving, scoring 464.5 points in the finals. Sewell’s finish earned 21 points for Mount Holyoke and earned her Second Team All Conference honors.

During the third day, Mount Holyoke had 172 team points. Diouf, Bushway, Loayza and Schneider all competed in the 4x50 medley relay, taking eighth place with a time of 1:50.20 and beating the previous team record of 1:50.25 set in 2015.

Additionally, Loayza placed 11th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.15 seconds after shaving 0.61 seconds off the preliminary time. Bushway placed 14th in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:43.92, and Heierhoff placed 15th in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:01.31. In the 100-yard backstroke, Heierhoff placed 30th and Diouf placed 28th, while in the 100-yard breaststroke, Schneider placed 27th.

The fourth and final day of competition ended with Mount Holyoke taking eighth place with 275 points. Highlights of the final day for the Lyons included Heierhoff earning 14th place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.02, Loayza taking 15th place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:17.75, Seran Goudsouzian ’24 finishing 24th in the 200-yard but-

terfly with a time of 2:39.91, Schneider finishing 25th in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.18 seconds and Diouf finishing 30th in the same event in 56.11 seconds. Bushway finished in 12th place in the 1650-yard freestyle, completing the event in 18:50.42, and also competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay alongside Schneider, Loayza and Diouf, which they placed eighth in.

“I think as a team, we can be proud of what we have accomplished not only at this meet, but over the course of this season,” Heierhoff said. “Almost everyone swam personal bests or at the very least, season bests.” At NEWMACs, the team dropped 276 seconds in its events.

The NEWMAC Championship concluded the regular swimming and diving season, with an overall dual meet record of 5-4. Sewell alone will go on to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III

Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving competed in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championship this weekend, coming in eighth place out of 10 teams and beating Smith College and Clark University. The meet started on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and

Diving Regional Championship at New York University on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.

Photo courtesy of Bob Blanchard Cara Murphy ’14 was promoted to head rowing coach after being assistant coach since 2018.

Photo courtesy of Kylie Gellatly FP ’23

The Love/Hate Open Mic was held in the Cassani Room, which was decorated for Valentine’s Day.

Graphic by Sunny Wei ’23

Photo courtesy of Dave Allen Mount Holyoke’s A-relay team of Evelyn Bushway ’24, Carolina Loayza ’26, Adji Diouf ’24 and Megan Schneider ’25 broke the team record in the 200-yard medley relay on Saturday, Feb. 18.

f HOROSCOPES f

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

Feb. 19 – March 20

Move into your new nest. Move it! Don’t take time to linger in comfortable places. The sooner you get there, the sooner you will get settled. It’s all a process!

Do: Slurpees | Don’t: Remix

March 21 – April 19

Our bodies often confuse excitement with nervousness. What else is it confusing? Take a moment to sort through your thoughts. The end of the week is your reward.

Do: Fluorescent lighting| Don’t: Bloat

April 20 – May 20

Stability is not always the most fruitful coping mechanism. Let entropy rule your life. It’s only the nature of existence. Don’t take yourself too seriously this week.

Do: Headphones | Don’t: Pineapple

May 21 – June 20

I wish I was your dog. I want to lie on your lap. I want to show you how I wag my tail. People want to prove themselves to you.

Let them.

Do: Gas | Don’t: Mugs

June 21 – July 22

Maybe if you had a business, you’d know what it takes to run a business. It’s time to get up and work. How have you pursued your goals this week? The opportunity is right there.

Do: Strip | Don’t: Water

July 23 – Aug. 22

I see how hard you’ve worked. Whether you’re getting paid for it or not, it doesn’t go unnoticed. How are you going to spread the wealth? Get a job. Maybe you didn’t think of that as an option. You probably didn’t think of anything actually. WTF is wrong with you?

Do: Read | Don’t: Laugh

Train derails in Ohio, cont’d

u CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Aug. 23 – Sept. 22

If you’re so right, why are you so bothered? Stay in your lane this week, Virgo. It’s easy to want to veer off the settled path, but that’s where danger comes from.

Do: Spikes | Don’t: Play

Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

There are five apples in your basket. How will you share them? Will you slice them or leave them whole? No matter what, make sure to wash them and eat them while they’re fresh. Wear brown on Monday, Libra.

Do: Rainbows | Don’t: Glass

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21

You are like a pocket gopher. Chewing through too much. Sleeping in people’s pockets. Why are you so concerned about others? The mirror is calling you. Reflect on your decisions this week.

Do: Silence | Don’t: Spotlight

Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

Take off two accessories before leaving the house. It’s time to work on simplicity. Keep your mind clear and your patterns in the closet. Put effort into learning how to style your basics.

Do: Pinecone | Don’t: Pain

Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

Is it as easy as you make it look? Sometimes you don’t always need to put on a show. Quality time is the foundation of all relationships. And trust. I trust you.

Do: Reach | Don’t: Peep

Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

You think you’re so funny, huh? Well, it’s true. Lean into higher self-esteem. You are what the people want! Thanks for being you.

Do: Slap | Don’t: Denim

Mount Holyoke News

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

Executive Board

News Tara Monastesse ’25 & Bryn Healy ’24

Arts & Entertainment

Eliška Jacob ’24 & Lucy Oster ’23

Opinion Jahnavi Pradeep ’23

Books Olivia Wilson ’24

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

Sports Emily Tarinelli ’25

Editorial Board

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

Science & Environmental Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23

Photos Rosemary Geib ’23 & Ali Meizels ’23

Graphics Gabriella Gagnon ’24 & Sunny Wei ’23

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

According to NPR, Ohio Governor DeWine is also urging Congress to change the current transportation laws that allowed Norfolk Southern to evade reporting the several train cars containing hazardous materials, since most were not.

On Feb. 17, the Biden-Harris administration released an official statement: “The Biden-Harris Administration has mobilized a robust, multi-agency effort to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio,” the statement begins.

The report continues by claiming that the “administration is committed to supporting the people of East Palestine every step of the way, and holding Norfolk Southern accountable.” It then outlines the ways in which several federal departments including the EPA, NTSB and the Department of Transportation are working on handling the issue, specifically by screening for contaminants, monitoring air quality and ensuring the water quality is safe enough to drink.

Despite this, many residents and others remain worried about the larger environmental impact this wreck may cause. Many also feel distrustful of officials’ claims regarding

the relative safety of returning to their homes, CNN reported.

Even so, they have been forced to return to their homes to retrieve legal documentation necessary for the promised government aid.

According to CNN, the Greathouse family, who returned to their home on Feb. 10, had been wearing N-95 masks as well as gloves for protection, but still experienced symptoms such as sore throats, burning eyes, rashes and migraines. They maintain that the odor was still present in the air. Upon seeking their $1000 compensation check at Norfolk Southern’s community family assistance center, they were told they needed to present further documentation. This in turn forced them to again return to their home, to the same adverse health effects.

Since this initial incident in early February, two more trains have derailed in East Palestine, adding to the concerns of alleged negligence and contributing to the debate regarding change of transportation regulations.

Most recently, on Feb. 21, the EPA announced that Norfolk Southern bears responsibility, and will take control of the disaster response. The cleanup and relief will be overseen and approved by the EPA.

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

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

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Ramisa Tahsin Rahman ’25