Mount Holyoke News — Nov. 5, 2021

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Former Professor Rie Hachiyanagi sentenced 10-12 years UMass reports

BY TARA MONASTESSE ’24 STAFF WRITER

armed person

Content warning: this article contains discussion of violence and assault.

BY KATIE GOSS ’23 BUSINESS MANAGER & NEWS EDITOR

After several trial complications due to COVID-19 precautions, former art studio professor Rie Hachiyanagi of Mount Holyoke College will serve 10-12 years in prison following a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

The previous Friday, Oct. 15, Hachiyanagi appeared in Franklin County Superior Court to plead guilty to nine charges, which included three counts of armed assault to murder a person over the age of 60, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a person over 60, and three additional counts of mayhem, home invasion and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony.

The charges pertain to an attack carried out by Hachiyanagi in December of 2019 on fellow MHC colleague, Professor Lauret Savoy, after an unexpected appearance at the victim’s home. Over a period of four hours, Hachiyanagi used pruning shears, a rock and a fire poker to attack Savoy, only relenting when Savoy convinced her to call for help.

A press release from the Northwestern District Attorney’s office outlined the sentencing process, wherein Judge Francis Flannery made the decision to adopt the 10-12 year prison sentence suggested by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas. Hachiyanagi’s defense attorney Thomas Kokonowski had recommended a 5-7 year prison sentence, citing Hachiyanagi’s lack of a previous criminal record and her status as a “model prisoner” following her incarceration as supporting evidence for a shorter sentence. Both attorneys recommended a period of

Members of the campus community at the University of Massachusetts Amherst were sent an alert on Tuesday, Oct. 26, that said, “Hostile armed person reported near UHS [University Health Services]. Shelter in place and stay indoors. Wait for all clear signal.”

The University sent out the alert around 12:40 p.m. after a man, not affiliated with the University, had called Amherst Police and threatened to harm himself. He claimed he was near UHS, but after Amherst Police notified UMass Amherst Police about the call, they determined the man was in North Amherst and off campus.

Amherst Police located the man driving towards campus, down North Pleasant Street, and had the University issue the alert. UMass Police stayed near UHS as the man was driving towards it. Once the man reached UHS, UMass Police along with Amherst and Massachusetts State Police took the man into custody, where UMass officials later said he was taken to a hospital within the area. When the man’s car was searched, a handgun and ammunition were found inside.

There is no current immediate threat to the community and no injuries were reported. The University thanked the police departments for their help in the matter.

According to a Western Mass News article, the University released a statement saying, “We are grateful for the immediate action of the Amherst Police and our UMPD officers and for the systems we have in place to alert the community to keep you safe from harm.”

Photo by Kate Turner ’21 After pleading guilty to nine charges, former MHC Art Studio Professor Rie Hachiyanagi was sentenced at Franklin County Courthouse in October.

horrific set[s] of facts I’ve heard, and I’m a Superior Court judge.”

Following her release from custody, Hachiyanagi will serve three years of probation. In addition to being fitted with a GPS monitoring device, Hachiyanagi will also be required to stay away from Savoy, Savoy’s residence and the Mount Holyoke College campus. She will also be required to attend mental health counseling and evaluations.

Savoy, who has worked with the College since 1990, teaches environmental studies as well as geology. She appeared at Hachiyanagi’s change of plea hearing on Oct. 15 to address the court regarding the impact of the assault on her life, both personally and professionally. Savoy’s statements were included in a press release issued by the NDA’s office the same day of the hearing.

“The emotional, physical, financial and professional impacts of this crime have been huge and they continue. Now the defendant’s violation of me is becoming part of a public persona that I did not choose. She

probation to follow their respective sentences. While he initially considered exceeding Thomas’s suggested sentence, Flannery ultimately decided to enforce it.

Even after reviewing evidence from the defense that indicated Hachiyanagi’s good character, Flannery was still reluctant to impose a lighter sentence. In a transcript of the sentencing hearing obtained by Mount Holyoke News, he discussed why he was conflicted during the sentencing process.

“On one hand, I have a defendant who is a talented artist, a respected peer. I read all the letters,” Flannery said. “But then, on the other hand, I have a defendant who tried to torture to death over the course of four hours someone who wasn’t an enemy, but was rather a friend.”

“I still don’t understand,” he continued. “A repressed childhood, work stress, the breakup of a relationship — this is what … Kokonowski had to work with, but I still don’t see these as adequate explanations for what happened. This is one of the most

has invaded my privacy, my career, my life,” Savoy said. “The cruelty she wielded with weapons, and expressed in words, was extreme.”

In addition to sustaining emotional and mental trauma, Savoy also suffered broken bones, several puncture wounds, and significant blood loss, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. Flannery highlighted Savoy’s perseverance during Hachiyanagi’s sentencing hearing.

“She was the completely innocent victim of a horrific crime, but that’s not what I’m going to remember about her,” Flannery said. “I’m going to remember that she had, somehow, the presence of mind, and the cunning, and the courage to convince her attacker not to kill her.

That’s remarkable.”

Hachiyanagi is currently being held in custody at MCI-Framingham, a medium-security women’s prison in Massachusetts. The 632 days that Hachiyanagi had spent in custody prior to the sentencing hearing will be applied as a credit towards her sentence.

Mount Holyoke College hosts 12th annual Hortense Parker Celebration

BY GILLIAN PETRARCA ’23 STAFF WRITER

The 12th annual Hortense Parker Celebration was held on Thursday, Oct. 28, from 7-9 p.m. in the Great Room. The event was organized by the SGA Students of Color Committee, the Division of Student Life, the Office of Community and Belonging, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Weissman Center for Leadership, the Alumni Associations and the Office of Advancement. At the event the “Hortense Parker Museum … Rewind and Reconnect” exhibit was unveiled in the Blanchard Student Art Gallery in lieu of the usual Hortense Parker Essay Contest. The museum was on display until Nov. 4th.

The celebration began with a land acknowledgment from Juliette Gagnon Strong Heart followed by welcoming remarks from Co-Chair of the Students of Color Committee Valeria Serna-Solis ’23.

Serna-Solis explained the theme: “Rewind and Reconnect,” saying, “Due to the pandemic, many of us are coming back to campus for the first time. For many, this is our first Hortense Parker Celebration in person or our first in-person celebration since our first year here. We want to acknowledge that.”

Serna-Solis then introduced President Sonya Stephens for her remarks. “It is my great pleasure to honor the labor of the students from the Students of Color Committee.

I look forward to this event every year,” Stephens said.

Stephens highlighted that this year’s theme underscored community, and highlighted in particular communities that have been excluded from Mount Holyoke in the past.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 On Oct. 28, the Students of Color Committee hosted the 12th annual Hortense Parker Celebration.

She concluded by emphasizing that as Mount Holyoke maintains its commitment to diversity, it is important to continue to address inequity and create systemic change.

Ewura Esi Yankah ’23 then introduced Vice-President for Equity and Inclusion Kijua Sanders-McMurtry.

“I can never thank students of color enough,” Sanders-McMurtry said.

“For the labor that you did to organize this event and for the invisible labor that you do every single day.”

Following Sanders-McMurtry, SGA President Lasya Priya Rao Jarugumilli ’23 made remarks.

“When I sat down to write this speech, I found myself writing my full name which I don’t do often. I often shorten my full name. Just because my name is difficult to pronounce does not mean it is not worth pronouncing. I encourage you to think about your name and demand that it be pronounced correctly just like every other Emma, Mark or Sarah,” Jarugumilli said. After Jarugumilli’s remarks, the event featured a dance performance from Jhumka.

Natasha Almanzar ’22 then introduced alumna speaker Christine Harding ’16. Harding is one of the students who took part in the creation of the “Hortense Parker Museum” in 2014 and is the first SGA Students of Color Committee chair. Harding said this year’s theme connected her to the “Past, Present, Future and You” Hortense Parker Day in 2014, which students used resources from to create this year’s exhibit.

“I think both of these themes are similar in how they want you to pause and be grounded in the present. These themes also remind me of the theme legacy, I encourage you all to look into what your legacy is,” Harding said. “When the original museum was created, Mount Holyoke was definitely in a time of transition. … In March 2014, there was an incident between a student and a campus police officer where a student of color was wrongfully arrested,” Harding said. “Following this, the MoHonest movement was created. This movement really galvanized students of color on campus.”

Harding then returned to the question she posed about legacy. She concluded by reminding students that, although Mount Holyoke encourages every student to leave as a leader or a change maker, that you can have a legacy outside of activism, whether that be by having a legacy as a good roommate or a caring friend.

An open-mic Q&A session then followed. Questions ranged from how to prioritize self care and how to motivate those around you to spark change.

Achol Otto ’24, secretary of the Students of Color Committee, introduced keynote speaker Zakiya Collier. Collier is a digital archivist at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She explained that she uses web archiving tools to expand the nature of the Schomburg Center’s archival collections to reflect 21st century Black life and experiences.

“I like the word reconnect,” Collier said of this year’s theme. “You are all reconnecting after being apart because of the pandemic, yet I am meeting you all for the first time.” Collier also gave a brief history of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, who created the archival project.

Schomburg was a historian, writer, collector and activist of Puerto Rican and African descent, who lived in the early 20th century and worked to compile a large archive of slave narratives and other records of Black culture and history at the time, the likes of which had never been amassed before. Schomburg dedicated his life to the collection of Black history and culture.

“When Schomburg was a child he was told that Black people did not have a history or culture. He then

traveled the world collecting artifacts that displayed Black culture.

Before purchasing the museum, he would present the items in his home,” Collier said. “However, having a museum run out of your house is not very accessible,” Collier added. “Because Schomburg was committed to accessibility, he purchased the museum. At the time of his death the museum had 9,000 items. Today we have over 11 million. Schomburg spent his whole life disproving that we don’t have a history.”

A Q&A section followed Collier’s speech. Questions ranged from Collier’s thoughts on the difference between curation and archiving, and how to collect history while remaining in the present.

When asked how she would imagine life without digital collections documenting the history of people of color, Collier answered that she wouldn’t want to. “Being able to experience your history is an untouchable experience — one that I think many people of color go without, which is why my work is so important to me,” Collier said. “I think if I had to imagine it I would document it through dances, smell or food. Although, food is not allowed in the archive.”

Following Collier’s keynote address, Co-Chair of the Students of Color Committee Kelechi Ezeugwu ’23 spoke. Ezeugwu thanked everyone for coming and invited everyone into the Unity Center for a Dessert Reception and for the unveiling of the museum.

Ezeugwu concluded, “I encourage everyone to go see the museum we put together, at least once, twice, maybe even three times. Tell everyone you know and bring your friends.”

Senate talks Tranquility Room updates and addresses leaf blower concerns

BY HOPE SIMPSON ’24 STAFF WRITER

Big changes are coming to the Tranquility Room following Tuesday’s senate meeting. On Friday Oct. 29, the E-Board’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer, Maille Romulus ’23 and Earl Wren ’24 met with Richard Perna, executive

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director of Auxiliary Services and Aaron Ferguson, senior accessibility coordinator. The Tranquility Room will now be a no-talking zone and students will no longer be allowed to use it as a cut-through anymore. Additionally, the signs identifying the space as noise free will be replaced with much bigger, more noticeable ones. The SGA E-Board, in conjunc-

FEATURES: new Art Museum exhibit

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tion with dining hall staff, will look into ways of expanding the room’s single-seating. Senators raised other dining concerns as well. Brisa Hakin ’22, a dining hall employee, said that students have been leaving trash on tables when leaving the dining hall.

This adds more work for dining hall staff and makes it hard for students to know if tables are free or not. Ac-

cording to Hakin, it has been harder to find tables in Blanchard Hall recently, as the colder weather has pushed more students to migrate indoors. This issue was also addressed at last week’s senate meeting. Senators were told to include a reminder about the issue in their hall emails, so the persisting issue brought increased concern.

GLOBAL: Afghan alum panel meets virtually

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As November began, the E-Board reminded senators to keep up with specific deadlines.

Ways & Means funding for all student organizations is due Nov. 11 by 5:00 p.m. Senators also brought up events happening for the upcoming weekend.

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BOOKS: ‘The 2000s Made Me Gay’ review

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FEATURES Mount Holyoke College students sew homemade masks

BY REBECCA GAGNON ’23 FEATURES EDITOR

Dinosaurs, periodic tables, Blanchard bees, treble clefs and more have all begun to grace the faces of Mount Holyoke students this semester.

This semester, Aaron Wilson ’24 and Camden Breckenridge ’24 have been making and selling masks at a table outside of the Community Center with a myriad of different patterns. “[The masks] have adjustable straps and they’re all different patterns,” Wilson described. “They are double-layered [and] they’re handmade. We really try to go for … fun things that people want to wear and that are also comfortable.” Wilson continued to explain how the straps to the masks have safety pins that allow the wearer to adjust the mask to fit their face.

“Every now and then we make some different sizes to the actual base pattern,” Breckenridge added.

“So we sell those too and you can still adjust the elastic.”

Wilson began sewing masks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic both to make money, since he did not have a full time job, and because he couldn’t find nice masks to wear in the area. Since there was a new demand for masks, he also knew that the business would likely be successful. “Originally, I was pretty new to sewing,” Wilson said. “I had sewn when I was in elementary school,

November 5, 2021

and then not really much more than a simple dress, that type of thing.

Then I, on the local lister, found a sewing machine for like 20 bucks and just decided to try it.”

However, while at home, Wilson’s sewing machine broke, and he concluded that in order to continue his business, he would have to wait to return to campus.

When back on campus, Wilson’s business changed in a big way — he now had a new business partner.

“I remembered Camden from the first year seminar last year and how they talked about sewing,” Wilson said. “So I go over to their place and that’s kind of where everything takes place.”

“I’ve been sewing for three years and I was bringing my sewing machine to college,” Breckenridge explained. “So we ended up partnering up basically once we got here.”

Wilson stated that with Breckenridge’s help, mask making happens at a much brisker pace. Since he is new to sewing, he expressed gratitude for a more advanced partner.

However, there is a twist to their collaborative business.

“I genuinely hate sewing masks,” Breckenridge declared. “It’s very boring.”

Although Breckenridge has more experience with sewing, they do not sew the masks. Instead, that job is given to Wilson. Meanwhile, Wilson hates cutting the fabrics, since he is left-handed, so that is a task for Breckenridge.

“I cut [the fabric] out, put them

Photo courtesy of Aaron Wilson ’24 Above, a display of face masks made and sold by Camden Breckenridge ’24 and Aaron Wilson ’24.

in piles, cut out the lining fabric and then gave it to Aaron,” Breckenridge explained. “Aaron sews the lining one piece of the outside and then joins them together and sews the edges and puts the elastic in. So, we kind of go back and forth. I cut the fabric, Aaron sews them, then I iron them, put the elastic in and done.”

Breckenridge added that in order to cut the fabric, they cut out watercolor paper to use as a template.

“The sewing itself is just two of these front seams,” Wilson described, pointing to the middle seam on his mask. “And then one on each,

like the top of the bottom, and then two seams for the elastic straps.”

Wilson and Breckenridge can get about 30 masks completely made in one hour. The two mass produce them so they don’t have to work order to order, which can be extremely stressful to keep up with. This also allows them to sell in Blanchard Hall instead of strictly online.

Wilson’s favorite part about making masks is shopping for the fabrics. “I love going to the fabric store and looking at the patterns,” Wilson said. “It is so exciting to think about and there are so many fun pat-

Mount Holyoke News

terns — like finding the dinosaurs.”

Wilson pointed to his dinosaur mask as an example.

He added that another wonderful part of the job is when customers love the patterns he selects. “A lot of science people — we have a chemistry one — will really love that one.

Or people who have experience with farms love the cow one.”

“We have nine patterns,” Breckenridge added. “We’re sold out of a couple right now, but we’re doing nine patterns and hopefully going up to ten.”

Breckenridge explained that their favorite part about making the masks is that they get to spend time with their friend while doing it. “We talk about a lot of different things and it’s fun,” Breckenridge said. “It’s a good activity.”

The two are unsure of when they will sell in Blanchard next. “It’s pretty random,” Wilson said. “Kind of just catch us if you can.” However, they do hope to post announcements to their Instagram page, @masksatmhc, an hour before they set up their table, to let their customers know in advance when they’ll be available.

On top of that, customers can order masks online to be delivered. Masks currently cost seven dollars for one or twenty dollars for three.

Wilson stated that some important parts of starting a business are believing in the products that one is selling, choosing something that one would enjoy doing and believing in oneself. “Just kind of go for it,” Wilson said. “Be confident with it.”

Artist Lenka Clayton celebrates 75 years of the Skinner Museum would never normally end up together. They have this new narrative between them [in the] meeting [of] objects that wouldn’t normally meet.”

One of Clayton’s Skinner 75 pieces, “Meteorite at its Highest Height in 50,000 Years,” requires the suspension of a 115 pound iron and nickel meteorite from the museum ceiling.

The piece intends to pay homage to the long journey the meteorite has taken by returning the object to its rightful place above ground, a fitting

Photo by Jenny Yu ’24 Lenka Clayton discusses her new art exhibition for the MHCAM on Oct. 28 in Gamble Auditorium.

BY LUCY OSTER ’23 AND LENOX JOHNSON ’24 STAFF WRITERS

In her art, Lenka Clayton takes a unique, multimedia approach.

From films about aging to historical plaques, the artist brings an interdisciplinary approach to all of her pieces, and her new work at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is no exception.

Clayton spoke to the Mount Holyoke College community in person on Oct. 28 for the Patricia and Edward Falkenberg Lecture about her exhibition, “Comedy and Tragedy,” which is currently on view at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. “Comedy and Tragedy” uses objects originally collected throughout the lifetime of Joseph Allen Skinner, worked by Clayton into new pieces of art. One piece includes two gloves from Skinner’s collection, one of which is geologically petrified; Clayton titled this piece, “Petrified Glove.

Brave Glove.”

The exhibition, Skinner Museum 75, celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum bequest to Mount Holyoke College.

In August 2022, the exhibition will include pieces by Vanessa German, an American artist and activist.

Clayton and German were originally intended to share the space as a duo and find ways to utilize the objects curated from Skinner Museum in a synthesized exhibition of both of their creative efforts. The artists were encouraged to engage with the space however they wanted, a freedom Clayton saw as daunting.

During her talk, Clayton shared, “I’m really big on limitations.” She said that the “most frightening sentence is ‘you can do whatever you want.’ I hate that.”

COVID-19 prompted an abrupt shift in the original trajectory of the 75th anniversary exhibition. The curation process, once hands-on, became characterized by the constant exchange of photographs, email and communication across various remote platforms. Clayton and German’s collaboration was split into

two individual exhibitions, juxtaposing their distinct voices and calling attention to the contrasting material interpretations of the two artists. After months of back and forth, Clayton’s “Comedy and Tragedy” began to take shape.

Associate Curator of Visual and Material Culture and NAGPRA Coordinator at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Aaron Miller, has worked closely with Clayton since the fruition of Skinner Museum 75 in 2019. As close collaborators, Clayton and Miller worked in tandem to ensure the behind the scenes efforts evolved into the most earnest possible representation of Clayton’s vision. The remote approach to the curation process required more attention to detail. Despite the trials of the pandemic, Miller found the process to be enjoyable.

Several members of the Mount Holyoke community responded positively to Clayton’s work. Claire Williamson ’23 attended Clayton’s talk and found the artist to be inspiring.

“Something that I find interesting about her art is that a lot of it was videos and stuff: simple things … I wouldn’t have the vision to do something like that, to put it together.”

Tricia Paik, the Florence Finch Abbott Director of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, was previously interested in Clayton’s work.

Paik encouraged Mount Holyoke students to visit Clayton’s, and then German’s, exhibitions. “Lenka Clayton is this exceptional artist … and she’s actually interested in museum collections. So I was really fascinated by her work, and we started thinking it would be wonderful to have Clayton work with us,” Paik said.

In her work, Clayton aims to bring a unique perspective to the objects in the Skinner collection. In creating duets between objects that might never ordinarily interact, Clayton brings a new, fresh significance to their histories. Clayton is in the business of flipping narratives.

“The works are made up of objects that already have these very diverse and dynamic histories,” Clayton said. “I’m placing them in … situations together where they

place for an object that, “since the beginning of time itself, has had the freedom of flight,” the artist’s statement about the piece reads.

“Our brains are hardwired to make up a story where we have a fragment of something. That’s what happens when you have resonant objects that are incomplete in some way,” Clayton said. “My work here is about objects that point you strongly towards something, but don’t answer everything about it. Leave you

in a place of thought, but don’t give you the answers.”

Clayton’s first in-person encounter with the exhibition was on Oct. 28, one month after its opening. “[Seeing] photographs and … being live in the space is not the same,” Miller said. “It was interesting being with an artist seeing their work for the first time.”

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

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GLOBAL

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Afghan alums weigh in on their country’s future

BY SOPHIE SOLOWAY ’23 GLOBAL EDITOR

Two months after the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mount Holyoke College’s McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives brought together a panel of several College alums from the nation to discuss its present and future. On Oct. 27, panelists Sadiqa Basiri FP ’09, Makhfi Azizi ’15, Farima Afaq ’15 and Sajia Darwish ’18 gathered in front of a virtual audience to discuss the ways that their work, families and lives have been impacted since the withdrawal.

One such impact centered around the changing potential for education, particularly the education of women, in Afghanistan. According to Time Magazine, World Bank data collected in 2020 shows that education rates in the country have been declining for months, with current literacy rates displaying a clear gender-based disparity. Their data suggests that 66 percent of adolescent boys in the country are literate, while only 37 percent of teenage girls can read and write. Since the withdrawal, the Taliban has stopped public schools from allowing young girls to re-enter their institutions.

One panelist, who wishes to remain anonymous due to her work and family remaining in Afghanistan, highlighted this loss.

“I had so many dreams. And I

could see them taking shape, and I Despite this loss, Darwish still definitely knew that the education has hope that she can aid in getting that I [got at] Mount Holyoke, that education to Afghans. “We have I would just go back and share with been able to get some of our students my community, with teachers as out and so I’ve been thinking about well as students,” the panelist said. how to help them, and also people According to Darwish, this loss back home,” Darwish said. of education While most has devastated panelists agreed “I’m really really proud of on this topic, her family and friends. some questions all our alumn[i] and they “My oldest brought about did an incredible job. And sister never got very different I’m so pleased for Mount educated.

My responses.

In Holyoke to step up and mom never got c o nve r s a t i o n s educated. If you listen to what their students surrounding the draw a line, there response of the have to say.” was that generaUnited States, tion on the end and of the primaof that line — on ry concerns for - Anonymous panelist one end — but modern Afghans, then there was the panelists hope because the other end was get- made their voices heard. ting educated, they were changing,” According to Afaq, debate was Darwish said. “Now, to think that expected before the event began. both ends of that line are going to be “People may come with different uneducated — it will take a long time points of views or perspectives,” to come back.”

Afaq told Mount Holyoke News. “It Darwish noted that this loss will does have to do with the kind of eximpact those Afghans that left the periences we might have had and country after Aug. 15, asking, “What where we are coming from — Afdoes [the withdrawal] mean for edu- ghanistan — because we have difcation for Afghans outside the coun- ferent ethnicities and tribes, and betry? You look at refugees in the U.S. cause of that reason we all have been — where does their education lie? impacted at different levels.”

Many of them don’t get to higher edAfaq expressed that one central ucation. They are just preoccupied point of this contention, for her, is with just thinking about survival in the lack of inclusion in some convera different environment.” sations about the U.S. withdrawal.

“I think, being from Afghanistan, we all need to be inclusive of everybody. People did not point out … the minority groups. The Taliban have been discriminating against minority groups historically and presently: the women, activists, musicians.”

“I referred specifically to one of the minority groups — the Hazara ethnicity,” Afaq said. “The Hazara ethnic group and Shia religious minorities have been particularly targeted and persecuted by the Taliban and ISIS, whose mission is to exterminate the Shia and the Hazara minorities. The Taliban’s first regime — 1996-2001 — clearly demonstrates their cruelty and mass killings of the Hazara and Shia religious minorities,” Afaq explained.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in a report on these violations against the Hazara group, “As stated frequently by Hazara activists in and outside Afghanistan, immense and increasing human rights violation is not one and only Hazaras’ concern, rather the central question is Hazaras’ survival by and large.”

Despite these disagreements, however, Darwish reflected on the importance of bringing this conversation to the Mount Holyoke community. In an interview with the Mount Holyoke News, Darwish said, “You get this influx of questions from people about, well, ‘What is hap-

pening? Are you okay?’ So I thought this talk was very helpful in terms of coming collectively from very different perspectives from Afghanistan.

We could … voice all of the things that there’s just not time to … And also do it in one sitting. There are so many pieces to it.”

The same anonymous panelist echoed this appreciation for the event.

“I’m really really proud of all our alumn[i] and they did an incredible job. And I’m so pleased for Mount Holyoke to step up and listen to what their students have to say … and also bringing the situation to the people, how dire the situation is, in terms of raising awareness to the students at Mount Holyoke and also the broader Mount Holyoke community.”

The panel concluded with calls to action, beyond the Mount Holyoke community and to the international one as it responds to the crisis in Afghanistan.

Afaq said, “​​ The International governments and communities can support the vulnerable people and minority groups through securing locations and corridors for humanitarian assistance and freedom of movement, document[ing] crimes through international human rights organizations, most importantly prioritize and provide refuge to these minority populations currently at serious risk, considering the urgency of the situation.”

International students respond to new winter housing policy

BY AMELIA LUO ’23 GLOBAL EDITOR

Although domestic travel in the United States is getting safer and easier as vaccination rates increase and more airlines reopen, international travel is still widely restricted by vaccination, visa, testing and quarantine policies. Because of this, many international students, facing various challenges, have decided to stay on campus over the winter break.

On Oct. 21, 2021, Mount Holyoke College revealed its winter break housing policy, granting housing for both international and domestic students who are facing difficulties getting home. Eligible students would need to be approved to stay on campus. Mount Holyoke is charging $380 for staying from Dec. 14 to Jan. 2, but students are permitted to use student safety net funding to cover this cost. The fee that students pay will “cover meals, heating and limited building housekeeping,” according to an email sent by the Office of Residential Life. Mount Holyoke is providing housing for free from Jan. 3-21, 2022.

Yuming Wang ’22, a Chinese international student who grew up in Japan, decided to stay on campus

Photo by Naomi Jiang ’25 International students speak on new changes to winter break housing policies for MHC students.

over winter break. She hasn’t been home since the COVID-19 pandemic started. She said that she did not look into the College’s pricing to inform her decision, but it is good that Mount Holyoke is charging less than in previous years. When talking about why she decided to stay on campus, Wang said, “I don’t really have a choice. I don’t have any relatives living in the [U.S.]. It’s not realistic to move outside of school just for one month. [To do that,] you

would have to research and pay for rent.” Wang said that she is not even sure that renting a house nearby for only a month is possible. “I also don’t have a car,” Wang continued, “so it would be really hard [for me to move]. [Living on-campus] is my only choice.”

Coco Zhu ’22, an international student who currently lives in a suite in Creighton Hall, said, “since this is my first year staying here for the winter, I do like [this] policy since

it provides me a [familiar] place to one and a half weeks that [the Colstay.” Zhu was initially planning on lege] didn’t have food on campus.” going back home for winter break, Wang said, “You have to buy [food] but said, “since the pandemic hap- beforehand. [The College] also did pened, the quarantine period [in Chi- not have shuttles for [us, except na] is so long that I cannot go back. once]. I am not sure how this year That’s why I can is gonna be but I only stay.” Zhu do hope that they “I don’t really have a also likes the [provide] meals choice. I don’t have any price that Mount every day … and Holyoke set, sayif they don’t, I relatives living in the ing, “[Living onhope they [pro[U.S.]. It’s not realistic to campus] does vide shuttles].” move outside of school just not cost much Zhu is more [compared] to concerned about for one month.” [renting] a house Christmas, since [near Mount she does not - Yuming Wang ’22 Holyoke]. I don’t know if there will need to move.” be any campus “The [COVID-19] situation in Ja- facility open during that time. She is pan is not doing great,” Wang said. also worried about potential winter “[Mount Holyoke] is quite secluded depression. from the city and everything, so as “I’ve heard from my other long as you are staying on campus, friends who used to live on-campus you are safe. My home is more [ur- during the winter break that [the ban] than [South Hadley], so it is ac- winter break] is a very [depressing tually safer for me to stay here. ” time] since no one is around. I am Both Wang and Zhu are con- not sure what [not having lots of cerned about the impact of having friends around] would be like.” As limited campus facilities during the the winter comes, South Hadley will break. experience a lot of snowfall. Zhu said “Last winter, [the College] of- that “the weather [might] make peofered meals every day during the ple feel sad.” Still, they said, “I live in winter break, but the winter break a suite, so I am not sure if [having my before the pandemic, [there was] roommates] would help.”

Princess Mako of Akishino officially marries, loses royal status

BY SOPHIE MACDONALD ’25 STAFF WRITER

Princess Mako of Akishino is now officially Mako Komuro, after marrying her fiance Kei Komuro on Oct. 26, 2021, at a registry office in Tokyo. The couple’s union came after months of intense scrutiny from the Japanese media and public, specifically stemming from Kei’s commoner background and financial status. Article 12 of Japan’s Imperial House Law states, “In case a female of the Imperial Family marries a person other than the Emperor or the members of the Imperial Family, she shall lose the status of the Imperial Family member.” In marrying outside the Imperial family, the Princess has consequently lost her place in the Japanese royal family, and has moved to New York City with her husband, who is a lawyer.

The couple first met as students at Tokyo’s International Christian University, where Mako studied art and cultural heritage. After graduation, Kei moved to the United States, earning a Juris Doctor from Fordham University in New York City.

Even while separated, the couple maintained a long-distance relationship and were engaged in 2017.

Most of the media scrutiny directed at Kei targeted his financial background and a controversy involving his mother. Kei’s family was involved in a financial dispute over 4 million yen ($35,000) that also covers his education, Kyodo News reported.

In response to the scathing criticism from the Japanese public, [Kei] re-

leased a 28-page document detailing the controversy surrounding his mother and planning for resolution.

Many Japanese internet users were quick to express their disapproval of Kei, with many criticizing his background and questioning his intentions with Mako. Kei was seen with a ponytail on Sept. 27, 2021 at Narita airport by the press, which triggered critique from Japanese society, which, according to Hitomi Tonomura, a women’s and gender studies professor at the University of Michigan, the Japanese society view Kei’s ponytail as a sign of his nonconforming attitude towards social expectation, especially since Japanese are expected to dress and act according to their social status and role. Tomomura told CNN that, “If he were a singer or artist, it would be fine, but people think he is not ‘lawyer-like’ nor looking appropriate for a person who will wed a royal woman.” Much of the sentiment was expressed online and through the media. But on their wedding day, there was a physical protest against the union, with hundreds of Tokyo residents pouring into the streets to condemn the couple.

In a New York Times article, Professor Kumiko Nemoto of Senshu University in Tokyo elaborated on the criticism, stating, “Part of it is that [Kei] was not very submissive to Japanese values because he went to international school [and] is a fluent English speaker.” People within the Japanese community are expected to sacrifice part of themselves to society and their family. Contrary to

this expectation, [Kei] is more “individualistic, trying to prove himself by accomplishing something professionally,” Nemoto continued.

Mount Holyoke Professor of anthropology Joshua Hotaka Roth does not find the negative press surprising, commenting, “Princess Mako’s mother herself is a commoner, but her father was a college professor.

The current emperor’s wife was also a commoner, but from a high-powered family. [Kei]’s family is relatively less successful, which makes the match seem even less appropriate.”

Roth added that, “From the perspective of the Imperial Household Agency, her marriage and subsequent loss of status as a member of the family was a further crisis for the future of the Imperial Household itself, which had dwindled in number, leading to questions about whether a male heir will be available for a future succession to the throne. As of now, the line of succession would bypass the daughter of the Emperor and go to his brother, Prince Akishino, and then to Akishino’s son, Prince Hisahito — Princess Mako’s little brother.” Roth said, “If anything happened to him, the Imperial line would end.

Unless the government amended the Constitution to allow women to take the throne once again.”

Amy Fujioka ’25, an international student from Japan, added, “For me, it was not surprising that there are a lot of negative rumors and press because … [Kei] is facing a lot of monetary troubles. I personally am glad for their marriage.” Fujioka expressed that though “Prin-

Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons Princess Mako visits the Copán Sculpture Museum in western Honduras with Seiichi Nakamura.

cess Mako suffered from mental illness due to numerous [tabloid] criticisms,” that may not be as much of an issue now, as she will be away from the Japanese tabloids, having departed from the royal family. Still, Fujioka continued, “it is doubtful that [Kei] has the financial whereabout to support her,” now that she is cut off from her family’s economic support.

Professor of Japanese Naoko Nemoto said that from now on, “the Japanese newspapers [will change] the way they call her from ‘Makosama’ to ‘Mako-san,’ as she got married and withdrew herself from the Royal status.”

The couple, who were dubbed “Japan’s Harry and Meghan,” by the

tabloids, held a press conference following their wedding on Oct. 26, defending their relationship and expressing their love for each other.

“Kei is irreplaceable for me,” Mako said. “For us, marriage is a necessary choice to live while cherishing our hearts.” She also apologized for the controversy, stating, “I am grateful for those … who have continued to support me,” Japanese Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The groom expressed similar sentiments, commenting, “I love Mako. We only get one life, and I want us to spend it with the one we love. I feel very sad that Mako has been in a bad condition, mentally and physically, because of the false accusations.”

4

BOOKS & SPORTS

November 5, 2021

. Mount Holyoke News

Grace Perry reflects on her sexuality ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ stumbles

BY MAGGIE WILLS ’25 STAFF WRITER

BY OLIVIA WILSON ’24 STAFF WRITER

“Pop culture may be an escape from real life, but I haven’t been able to escape pop culture myself.

It’s glommed onto my psyche; it’s shaped my view of myself, my reality, my body, my sexuality,” Grace Perry writes in her new book, a collection of essays entitled “The 2000s Made Me Gay.” Published in June 2021, Perry’s essays explore the intersections between contemporary pop culture and queerness. Perry is a freelance writer focused on the overlaps of media, queerness and identity. Her work appears in BuzzFeed, The Cut and The New Yorker.

The essays of “The 2000s Made Me Gay” blur the line between social commentary and memoir. In each piece, Perry hones in on a specific moment in early 2000s pop culture and dissects its social or cultural implications, as well as how it personally shaped her identity. There are equal amounts of healthy self-deprecating humor, niche early 2000s references and deep analysis into internalized homophobia, gender performance and media representation.

Perry wrote the first essay of the collection, entitled “Cherry Chapstick,” in response to Katy Perry’s hit song “I Kissed A Girl,” ten years after it was released. “I was like ‘Oh, I can do this kind of exercise with a bunch of different books, movies [and] TV shows,’” Perry said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News.

“I started thinking, ‘Okay, what were genuinely the things I watched in that decade, what were the things that I was taking in?’ It suddenly became like: ‘Oh, I could do that with ‘Harry Potter.’ I could do that with ‘The OC.’ I could do that with all different kinds of things.’ Once I really hit the ground running with it, the ideas came pretty naturally.”

Her essay on “Mean Girls” begins with a flashback to when the film first came out when she was 14 years old. Perry writes about watching the film in theaters and being instantly drawn to the quick-witted humor that gives the movie its quotable lines. She then zooms in on how the film portrays queer women.

“In ‘Mean Girls,’ calling someone a lesbian is treated as an insult unto itself,” Perry writes. “And so, a subtle but disappointed narrative nestled into a corner of my brain for years after 2004: it’s cool for guys to be gay. It’s cool for girls to be friends with gay guys. But it’s an insult to be called a lesbian.”

For years after, Perry repressed her own sexuality, even noting that it was this “soul-affirming movie,”

Love and regret span across lifetimes and centuries — two human experiences that are beautiful, horrible and inescapable all at the same time. That’s what Anthony Doerr seems to aim to teach in his new book, “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”

Published on Sept. 28, 2021, “Cloud Cuckoo Land” follows five characters across five centuries who, in one way or another, revolve around the fictitious story of Aethon, the boy who wanted to be transformed into a bird to fly to a better place.

In his book, Doerr includes a main character who is canonically gay, and takes readers through a chronicle of the character’s first inklings of love. But there is one caveat: one of the gay characters dies from a seemingly random cause, depriving readers of seeing a happy ending for him.

For a straight, white male author, Doerr’s representation and the inclusion of a gay character in itself is a pleasant surprise. Too often in LGBTQ+ stories, the character’s identity revolves around their sexuality, which can create flat characters that lack depth or any connection to the audience. However, Doerr establishes the character’s life and story before even mentioning his sexuality, so readers can fall in love with him and perhaps see their own struggles in his experiences.

The story follows two young soldiers in Korea, fighting in the Korean War in the 1950s. The pair meet in a Chinese prison camp where they survive horrible conditions. They also bond over the ancient Greek language; one of the soldiers is an avid classicist.

Once Aethon’s sexuality is revealed, it’s still a grounded, relatable portrayal of love because he expresses feelings for a love interest by picking out all of the things he loves about him. It’s a touching sentiment in any context, but as Doerr leads readers through the first and only love of a gay man, it’s even more poignant.

The novel also succeeds in featuring two gay characters whose sexualities aren’t the pinnacles of their personalities.

The characters have interests and lives outside of that part of their sexuali ties. This level of

Photo courtesy of Kort Havens Grace Perry, above, discusses queerness and media in her new book, “The 2000s Made Me Gay.”

not her Catholic upbringing, that was the greatest contributor to her own internalized homophobia.​​This essay may leave readers reflecting on media that were pillars in their own lives. It sheds light on the power of language, and the idea that what may be intended as a joke can create damaging stereotypes and shape individuals’ attitudes towards their own identities.

Her essays also share refreshing moments of navigating adolescence and young adulthood while finding humor in the challenges and imperfections of growing up. Stories of coming out, first relationships and heartbreak are weaved in throughout media analysis.

To Perry, these personal anecdotes are “a really useful tool in storytelling and getting your point across … the anecdotes make [the essays] something that’s really worth reading and really worth sinking your teeth into.” She added that through these personal touches, she “can really put [her] voice into it and … make it easier to hold onto for the reader.”

Perry grew up in a Catholic family in Chicago, Illinois. Many of the essays share how her upbringing in this religious environment made her queer identity difficult to come to terms with. In “The 2000s Made Me Gay,” she recounts experiences from her high school, where there were no openly queer individuals.

In one anecdote, she recalls a class in which students debated homosexuality as an ethical dilemma. Her family attended a relatively progressive church and were socially liberal themselves, but these experiences led to Perry not coming out to herself until college.

While attending Tufts University just outside of Boston, Massa-

chusetts, Perry studied History and American Studies. In “The 2000s Made Me Gay,” Perry frequently touches on these years in college, a time when she was able to come to terms with her sexuality and experience her first queer relationships.

It was not until after college that she saw writing as a possible career.

“It took me a while to really come to writing, and I think that has really informed my attitude towards writing,” Perry said. “I’m not very precious about it.”

In writing this book, she intended to create something that felt casual and conversational.

“So much of what I wrote about in this book was ideas that I had been screaming to my friends about at parties for a decade or whatever,” Perry said. “These are ideas that I had been wanting to get off my chest for a long time.”

While Perry intended the book to be mainly nostalgic for millennials, she did not expect it to resonate as deeply with readers who grew up in other generations.

“It was interesting. I’ve actually found that a lot of people who have reached out to me about this are people who are in their early 20s … and I didn’t think about that at all when I was writing the book,” Perry said.

“The 2000s Made Me Gay” is a charming and insightful collection that cleverly blends analysis and nostalgia, making it a perfect choice for anyone who enjoys consuming and avidly discussing media. It reminds those that grew up in the early 2000s of the characters and moments that defined a generation.

It’s also for queer folks who wish to seek comfort and community in the shared experience of what it means to have an identity greatly shaped by the digital age.

nuance may help readers, regardless of identity, connect with the characters, presenting sexuality as just a part of the human condition, not the defining factor of it. However, after readers are introduced to this positive portrayal of gay characters, Doerr falls into the unfortunate trap that many authors are prone to: killing off one of the gay characters.

One of the most common trivializing tropes in media about the LGBTQ+ community is the ever-dreaded “Bury Your Gays” trope.

According to a post by TV Tropes, “Bury Your Gays” is defined as “the presentation of the deaths of LGBTQ+ characters where these characters are nominally able to be viewed as more expendable than their heterosexual counterparts.”

It’s not just the fact that a character dies, it’s the way that a character is dispatched. TV Tropes goes on to note the caveat that “sometimes gay characters die in fiction because, well, sometimes people die.”

In “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” the ill-fated gay character is not the only character killed, but it’s the only character death that felt wholly unnecessary.

In a war scenario like the one in which he places his gay characters, it might seem natural that Doerr would kill off one of them, especially since the book spends a lot of its time exploring the subjects of life and death. However, the issue comes when a gay character who fought in a war, surviving against all odds, dies from a completely unrelated health condition a few years later.

The death of the love interest leads the gay main character to spend the next several years feeling unfulfilled, which makes the death’s necessity doubtful. Doerr could have achieved the same ends without subscribing to this trope. As TV Tropes noted, in the “Bury Your Gays” trope, the deaths of gay characters often don’t necessarily serve the story, so any addition to the list of works that fall into the trope is ultimately detrimental to the portrayal of LGBTQ+ people in media.

For its shortcomings with LGBTQ+ representation, “Cloud Cuckoo Land” is still a story with poignant commentary on the human condition. As a review from the New York Times expressed, Doerr’s story is “an ode to books and storytelling.” It would be unfair to undersell the artistry he puts into his work. It’s just a shame that a gay character was killed in order to achieve Graphic by Sofía Savid ’24 that end.

Game of the Week: MHC Cross Country runs in NEWMAC Championships; Volleyball ends season at home; Field Hockey and Soccer conclude seasons Breen said, “I’m just so proud of this team and all of the work we’ve put in this season. Coming off of not being able [to] practice as a team due to the pandemic and dealing with multiple injuries and low numbers, we definitely gave it our all.”

The team’s 2021 season final record is 2 wins, 12 losses and one tie.

BY VICTORIA FAULKNER ’25 & EMILY TARINELLI ’25 STAFF WRITERS

Field Hockey Mount Holyoke Field Hockey defeated New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference rival Wheaton College 1-0 last Friday evening at home in their final game of the season.

Prior to the start of the game, the team honored all seven members of their senior class. Seniors Phoebe Aaronson ’22, Abby Baldwin ’22, Emma Bowler ’22, Julia Klein ’22, Kass Lawrence ’22, Margaret Robb ’22 and Madison Stover ’22 walked through a team tunnel on separate occasions while descriptions about them were read aloud. At the end of the tunnel, the seniors took photos with their family and/or coaches.

Rachel Katzenberg ’25, a goalkeeper for the team, said, “I would just like to give a shout-out to our seven seniors for their dedication, support and love for this team. I am going to miss them so much next year.” Later, Katzenberg posted four saves and earned her first-career shutout. Grace Wilkinson ’25 scored the single goal that broke the 0-0 score between the teams. The goal came in the second quarter of the game when the Lyons got an opportunity from a penalty corner. Robb passed the ball to Aaronson, who then took a shot at the net, which was tipped by Wilkinson.

“On Friday, we as a team played with some of the greatest intensity I’ve felt all season, and we were all on the same page in the sense that we needed to give it our all for our graduating seniors,” Wilkinson said.

Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Athletics Senior Brayden Walden ‘22 receives flowers from Volleyball teammate Marion Abeja ’23.

Photo courtesy of Reese Brown Members of Mount Holyoke Field Hockey celebrate their final game of the 2021 season.

With this win, Mount Holyoke closed its field hockey season at 4-9 overall, with a 3-5 mark in league play within the NEWMAC. Regarding the close of the season, Wilkinson reflected on how the team became “more aware of” the privilege they had to compete during the 2021 season. “We all came together and pushed through it, though, with the leadership of dedicated coaches and captains.

My first season on the [Mount Holyoke] field hockey team taught me what it means to be strong, resilient and supportive,” Wilkinson said.

“I couldn’t be more grateful for my new-found family.”

Head Coach Andy Whitcomb said, “I am proud of this team and how they fought all season. We had a lot of hurdles, but they never gave up and kept getting better each day and week. We were fortunate to finish so strong, and to end on a win is a life-long memory that our [seven]

seniors will take with them and reflect on for years to come.”

Soccer Mount Holyoke College Soccer finished their 2021 regular season in a 0-0 draw with Wellesley College after two overtimes, totaling 110 minutes of game play, at a NEWMAC game on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Goalkeeper Shannon Breen ’24 completed the game with a careerbest 16 saves, and commented on one particularly “shocking” save.

“Shots off of crosses have been one of my weak points this season and I finally got a save on one. It wasn’t a high jump or flashy dive, but it was the save that meant the most to me,” Breen said.

Sonia McCollum ’25 and Hannah Ellis ’25 racked up two collective shots for the Lyons, while Sarah Forster ’23 registered the only shot on goal for the team.

Regarding the end of the season,

Cross Country Mount Holyoke College Cross Country continued their season on Saturday, Oct. 30 in the New England Women and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships at the Nehoiden Golf Club in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The Lyons finished fourth out of 11 teams with a score of 91 points. Massachusetts Institute of Technology took first place with 34 points, Wellesley College grabbed second place with 63 points and Smith College finished in third place with 79 points.

The championship marked the first time in Mount Holyoke history that four runners — Lauren Selkin ’23, Madeline Rieders ’22, Hannah Rieders ’22 and Simone Jacob ’22 — earned All-Conference Honors by finishing in the top 17. With a time of 22:15.50, Selkin topped first for the Lyons with a fourth place individual finish overall, followed by Madeline Rieders in 10th, Hannah Rieders in 13th and Jacob in 17th.

Selkin said the Lyons ran in packs to keep each other motivated.

“We were very aware of our competition and strategized to be in the best position as possible to score well,” she said.

Cross Country Head Coach Chris Kibler said he “was proud of the team’s bravery and belief in

themselves” during the competition.

“The team as [a] whole has made very evident improvements in our strategy, mindset and course execution with each meet,” he added.

The Lyons will round out the season with the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Regional Championships at Harkness Memorial State Park in Connecticut and the NCAA Division III Championships at Tom Sawyer State Park in Kentucky. Kibler described these meets as the “most important” competitions that the team has been “truly working for.”

Volleyball Mount Holyoke College Volleyball finished off their season on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a 3-0 shutout loss to Emerson College at home.

The set scores were 25-22, 25-16 and 25-19. The Lyons performed 29 kills in total, led by Sarah Bishop ’22 and Marion Abeja ’23, who each captured seven kills. Also contributing to the total kills were Brayden Walden ’22, Gabi Davis ’22, Mar Simon ’23, McKenna Crosby ’23 and Willet Parkins ’25. Bishop, Chelsea Galicia ’22 and Lucie Berclaz ’25 also performed 13, 16 and seven digs, contributing to the team total of 49.

“I think our team succeeded in a lot of different areas this year,” Berclaz said. “We were able to move past any and all mistakes we made on the court, and continue to fight in each and every game we played.”

Iyana Alleyne ’22, Bishop, Davis, Galicia and Walden were all honored in their senior match against Lasell University on Thursday, Oct. 28. The team’s overall record for the 2021 season was 4-17.

November 5, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

. Mount Holyoke News

5

Netflix’s ‘Night Teeth’ review: a bloody awful film with very little bite

BY ROSE COHEN ’22 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

In Netflix’s new original vampire thriller film, “Night Teeth,” viewers meet the main character, Benny (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), a broke college student whose future goals include succeeding as a music producer and buying his grandmother a house. Benny’s fairly average life, defined by writing academic papers for his classmates and skateboarding around his hometown, takes a turn for the worse when he begs his older brother, Jay (Raúl Castillo), who works as a chauffeur, to let him play the role of driver for one night.

From there, Benny begins chauffeuring Blaire (Debby Ryan) and Zoe (Lucy Fry), a pair of sultry vampire friends interested in attending several lavish parties in Los Angeles with the intent of wreaking havoc.

While “Night Teeth” shows promise by showcasing a star-studded cast — Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry and Megan Fox, to name a few — and attempting to feature chemistry between starcrossed lovers Benny and Blaire, it falls flat, mainly due to its nonsensical dialogue, lack of exciting action and unimaginative scenes that are in desperate need of some plot twists.

Within the first few minutes of “Night Teeth,” Blaire, the nicer of Benny’s two passengers, sets up the movie’s plot by telling viewers everything they need to know about why the bloodsucking creatures live in the wealthy areas of Southern California. She explains that vampires and humans struck up a truce in order to maintain peace after a long history of violence between the two parties. “To this day, there are some who still uphold the truce, who keep our secret,” she narrates. “As long as we stick to the three rules. Don’t let humans know we exist, don’t feed on the unwilling and never ever enter Boyle Heights without permission.”

After Blaire’s foreboding nar-

ration, a predictable event occurs: Victor (Alfie Allen), a rebellious vampire lord tired of abiding by the truce, enters Boyle Heights and kidnaps Jay’s girlfriend. The film contains few surprising twists and turns after the abduction, but viewers would be doing themselves a favor by logging out of the streaming platform, choosing to never again return to “Night Teeth.”

Even Fox, known for her role as the titular character in the supernatural horror “Jennifer’s Body,” deemed by Vox as “a feminist cult classic,” cannot save “Night Teeth” from its faults. Fox, who appears for one scene as a rich, sassy vampire, brought promising horror movie experience, but even she could not breathe life into the poorly-written script. During the short scene she appears in, she delivers a handful of cringeworthy lines, one of which includes, “Do you think I don’t get frustrated? Do you think that when my pool boy leaves a leaf in the pool, that I don’t wanna string him upside down and suck him dry?” The double entendre and the “pool boy” example do nothing for the scene, especially since they occur when viewers are supposed to find Fox’s character threatening. This line distracts from the serious nature of the scene, instead providing a cheap laugh and taking away any semblance of terror.

If there was another element of the film that held any promise, it was the blossoming relationship between Benny and Blaire. After the long history of compelling romantic relationships between humans and vampires in the horror genre, seen in vampire films and shows like “Twilight” and “The Vampire Diaries,” it would have been interesting to see how the pair’s relationship played out. But poorly written dialogue keeps audiences from clinging on to the romance. In one scene, Blaire further explains the truce to Benny after he fails to run away from

Graphic by Gabby Gagnon ’24

her and Zoe. Then, she tells him, “You think majoring in economics is gonna solve all your problems?” The lines have little to do with the scene, do not establish any chemistry between the characters and the joke — if one can even call it that — simply doesn’t land.

Many of the film’s scenes highlight the soft aesthetics of vibrant pinks, purples and blues, but even captivating shots sprinkled with fluorescent lighting cannot hide uninspired scenes lacking any exciting action. At one point, the head

member of the night legion, looking to take down the vampires, tells his henchmen to attack Blaire and Zoe. Once again, a predictable event occurs — Benny, who, for some clichéd reason feels the need to protect his captors, grabs a glass bottle and smashes it against the head of the leader of the night legion. Although the scene relies heavily on flashing lights, moving kaleidoscope images and cool-toned colors, it plays out exactly as one would expect and adds nothing new to the plot of the film.

The dialogue in “Night Teeth”

highlights the kind of cheesy, dull screenwriting that should not have a place in the horror genre. Scenes are often full of clichés, and it’s hard to imagine any viewer becoming excited by the events unfolding on screen. With a cast full of talented actors and the presence of the timeless cinema trope of forbidden love, “Night Teeth” shows potential, but it ultimately fails as a vampire film because it possesses more cringeworthy moments than creepy or gory ones, which often define the vampire horror genre.

Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra’s Monsters’ Ball returns to campus

Graphic by Laura

Hinojosa ’23

BY EMMA WATKINS ’23 COPY CHIEF & ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

On the rainy night before Halloween, the Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra welcomed its first in-person audience since March 2020 to the 11th annual Monsters’ Ball. The balcony of Chapin Auditorium was practically filled to the brim with attendees, most of whom dressed up in Halloween costumes for the occasion. Instead of wearing traditional concert attire, the musi-

cians also donned Halloween costumes, dressing up as Spider-Man, the Duolingo owl, a butterfly, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and the protagonist from the 2019 folk horror film “Midsommar” — to name only a few.

In previous years, Monsters’ Ball had a larger emphasis on dancing and was described on the College’s events calendar as the “annual Halloween dance party.” In 2019, the event moved from its long term location in Abbey Memorial Chapel to Chapin Auditorium. In this new space, there was plenty of room for attendees to dance since the orchestra was seated on the stage instead of the floor.

Sarah Day ’22, cellist and orchestra president, discussed the overall event of Monsters’ Ball and the selection of the music. “We usually play maybe twice the amount of music we did [this time]. There’s a lot more dancing; it’s a lot more of a production, basically,” Day said.

“When we decided to [perform

New exhibition opens at the MHC Art Museum, cont’d u

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

According to Miller, the Skinner Museum has become deeply integrated into the teaching mission of the College and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in the last decade. Paik emphasized the uniqueness of Skinner’s collection and the importance of utilizing it. “I don’t know [another] small, liberal arts college that has a collection like this … with objects from across the continents and across time,” Paik said.

It is largely due to the Skinner Museum collection that different artists, like Clayton and German, can showcase their distinct takes on aspects of the same collection. “The expanse of the objects is pretty remarkable and we really wanted to celebrate it,” Paik said.

Clayton’s “Comedy and Tragedy” will conclude with the creation of a digital media piece showing the making of one of the pieces in the exhibit, “Remainder,” which displays the pouring of archival-grade sand into graduated vessels arranged in

descending size order, the sand overflowing freely. The film will ensure that Clayton’s work at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum can be appreciated long after its disassembly. Miller emphasized the lasting impact Clayton’s exhibit will have, saying, “Even though most of these works are temporary, they’re created with objects from the museum.

It’ll have that tangible part of it that goes on.”

In fostering the collaboration of contemporary artists and historic objects, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is giving new life to the Skinner Museum collection. Fresh perspectives and interpretations from artists like Clayton give Skinner Museum 75 its innovative edge.

Clayton’s “Comedy and Tragedy” will be on display through May 29, 2022.

“Some of the magic of what she does is look at things in ways that are unexpected, but also make so much sense,” Miller said. “She has that unique ability to share with others, her own way of seeing the world.”

with the orchestra seated on the dance floor], we made the decision to evaluate the music and the sound of the music more, rather than the intensity of the event,” they added.

The selection and sound of the music was evidently well-received, based on the audience’s reactions throughout the night. When Orchestra Director and Associate Professor of Music Tianhui Ng mentioned the “Harry Potter” series, members of the audience erupted in cheers and applause. Opening their set with John Williams’ “The Chamber of Secrets,” the titular song from the second “Harry Potter” movie, the orchestra brought spectators into the world of witchcraft and wizardry. Dressed in a sparkling wizard robe, Ng helped bring the movie soundtrack to life.

Despite the lack of the dance floor, Ng invited the audience to dance at the start of Austrian composer Johann Strauss II’s “The Beautiful Blue Danube.” Some audience members swayed along to the music, and others took dance partners into the aisles to have room to waltz.

The musicians then switched

gears, playing three songs from the space opera franchise, “Star Wars,” showcasing the intensity of the brass and strings.

When discussing the different setup of Monster’s Ball this year, Day said the spatial organization of the orchestra proved to be a challenge.

Day explained the main challenge that arose from the different organization was “absolutely about returning to the sense of ensemble in our ears.” They also explained that being in Chapin Auditorium and playing on the floor instead of the stage changed the way audience members heard the music “because sound [bounces] off the walls in different ways.”

Addressing the movie themes they performed, Day commented that those pieces had a different energy from the more classical numbers like the ones from Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky and Strauss. “Both of those are composed by John Williams, who has a very particular style,” Day said. “He certainly is not a composer for the instrument, he’s a composer for the sound … [which] means it’s a differ-

ent challenge.”

Before the orchestra performed their final selection from “Star Wars,” they revisited the music of Strauss and played “Thunder and Lightning Polka,” a song they play “pretty much every year,” according to Day. With bold dynamics and exciting percussion, “Thunder and Lightning Polka” possessed high energy from the very first note until the last, and many audience members responded enthusiastically with lively dancing and some clapping along.

The energy from this performance marked a powerful start to the orchestra’s concert season, which will continue for the remainder of the academic year. The next MHSO concert, Pandemic Virtuosi, will take place in December and feature Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major” and German composer Robert Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54.” Reflecting on the return to concerts on campus, Day stated the orchestra feels “really grateful to be able to play in person again.”

6

OPINION

November 5, 2021

. Mount Holyoke News

Indian cricket team’s selective activism ignores history of colorism

BY KAVERI PILLAI ’23 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: this article discusses police brutality and racism.

As I made myself comfortable in the Buckland Hall common room on Oct. 24, 2021, anxiety and anticipation hit me all at once. Like many Indians across the world, I, too, was going to watch India’s first International Cricket Council T20 World Cup 2021 match against the team’s eons-old arch-rival, Pakistan. With Pakistan winning the toss and India starting the first innings with opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, the fun was just about to begin. But it was what happened before the match that left me gawking at the TV set. The Indian cricket team, for the first time ever, took a knee as a way to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. 11 men in blue kneeled down outside the team dugout — a nod to a social movement that has spread across the globe.

It is the unprecedented nature of this decision that raises the question of why the Indian team thought it was relevant to show solidarity now.

The Indian cricket team’s move of taking the knee alludes to the bigger issues of selective activism and suggests complete ignorance of the nation’s tainted history with colorism.

According to the captain Virat Kohli, the team was given instructions by their management to take the knee. Last summer, the cricket teams from England and the West Indies did the same in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. That being said, India’s sudden involvement in being an ally to the Black Lives Matter movement raises multiple red flags — one of them being the issue of selective activism as a way of appeasing the global community.

Indian Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy replied to a Twitter post covering the match, saying, “Um …

Muslim lives, Dalit lives, Kashmiri lives, Indian lives?” Nundy’s attempt at highlighting various issues pertaining to marginalized groups in India nods to how dangerously convenient it was for the cricket team to address a situation that doesn’t directly concern or affect the Indian population.

The current government has a history of cracking down on political dissenters, making it relatively harder for popular figures, including national athletes, to speak up on matters without facing any repercussions. Instances of these government crackdowns are endless. In 2019, prominent Kashmiri journalist and author Gowhar Geelani was prevented from flying internationally after he published comments

criticizing the Indian government on exclusion of dark-skinned South the controversial case of Kashmir. Asians from high ranking governThis makes commenting on issues ment positions. that don’t necessarily affect Indian Fairness cream products, a lives a safer option. However, it is prime example of modern colorism their platform and their credibility in India, propagate an ideal image of as Indian sportsmen that would help beauty and whiteness that are valthrow light on the ued in the subcondiscrimination tinent. Likewise, The Indian cricket team’s and mistreatment in matrimonial faced by social advertisements move of taking the knee algroups within the ludes to the bigger issues of in newspapers, country. The need families are often selective activism and sugfor approval and a essentially on the gests complete ignorance of lookout for fair futile thumbs up the nation’s tainted history from the global skinned matches, community by which further ilwith colorism. showing support lustrates Indian for something society’s denunthat is topical on an international ciation of dark-skinned people. level undermines the potential of Moreover, India’s history of colthis platform. orism extends to a realm of deep Moreover, the issue of this form rooted racism that is discussed in of selective activism doesn’t stop at director Mira Nair’s 1991 film “Misthe fact that there are pressing is- sissippi Masala.” The protagonist, sues in India that require attention Mina, played by Sarita Choudhary, — it also includes the fact that the is an Indian woman living in Greencricket team’s move to take the knee wood, Mississippi, who falls in love was tone-deaf. India’s long drawn with an African American man Dehistory with colorism adds an in- metrius, played by Denzel Washingcredibly explicit note of irony to this ton. The film showcases the conseperformative action. quent apprehension Mina’s family Borgen Project’s 2020 analysis has regarding the relationship and, traces the legacy of colorism back as a whole, the Black community. to the British colonizers identifying This idea of colorism is now enthemselves as the lighter-skinned graved in the Indian mindset. The ruling class and the prominent hesitancy to embrace interracial

relationships or even accept those who aren’t Indian makes one question how a country so deeply against such tenets of equality has agreed to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

This exhibition of solidarity was evidently only temporary — the Indian cricket team did not take a knee during their subsequent match against New Zealand on Oct. 31.

New Zealand, however, was seen doing it while Indian cricketers stood awkwardly on the field. The Indian Express publication quoted an Indian cricket team source who, when asked if India would continue taking the knee in the World Cup, said, “We have done it for now. Will see in the future.” This was a slap in the face to anyone who saw their action on Oct. 24 as a genuine show of support. Additionally, after India’s devastating loss against Pakistan, Indian bowler Mohammed Shammi, a Muslim player, was solely blamed for the loss on social media and was trolled relentlessly for it. Perhaps India could take a knee for the obvious religious divide that erodes Indians’ supposed promise of secularism. One can only hope that performative activism can make some space for discussions that concern Indians on a local level and can solve rooted issues of colorism before blindly offering solidarity to global issues.

Social media breeds the harmful misuse of mental health terminology

Graphic by Anjali Rao-Herel ’22

BY SABRINA RAPOPORT ’25 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: this article discusses mental illness and mentions eating disorders and self-harm.

Countless times, I have heard people my age say “I have such OCD over my pens,” or “Honestly, I have PTSD from that homework assignment.” Using mental health terminology colloquially is extremely harmful to those who experience mental illnesses. These sorts of remarks lead to misinformation that

incorrectly defines illnesses and consequently, people either misdiagnose themselves or fully dismiss their own symptoms.

Social media exacerbates the misuse of mental health terminology, and has featured the romanticization of mental illness since its conception, according to the Humanology Project, a blog focused on mental health. In Tumblr’s early days in the 2010s, this manifested as “pro-ana” — pro-anorexia — blogs, which centered around the glorification of eating disorders, and the romanticization of self-harm, as reported by TechCrunch, a technolo-

gy-focused newspaper. The internet has a long history of mishandling the subject of mental health. As a generation that has grown up with heavy social media influence, most of the knowledge we gather is, to certain degree, tainted by these earlier generations of misinformation. This, therefore, makes it nearly impossible to obtain proper definitions of conditions because of the obfuscated way in which the discussion is constantly portrayed.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is one commonly misrepresented condition, both on and off of social media. The “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” a handbook largely used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental illnesses, defined PTSD through multiple criteria: exposure to “actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence,” recurrent and involuntary distressing memories of the event — referred to as flashbacks — and negative changes in cognition after the event, such as completely distorted or absent memories of the traumatic event.

PTSD, although commonly associated with veterans of war, is not a rare condition. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association claims that one in 11 people will be diagnosed with PTSD in their lifetime. PTSD is a spectrum, and not everyone has the same severity of symptoms. As someone professionally diagnosed with PTSD, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people misappropriate this term to use casually, and how many times, consequently, I

did not trust that person anymore.

Similarly, obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined in this manual as “repetitive behaviors (e.g., hand washing, ordering checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to the rules that must be applied rigidly.” While there are versions of OCD that involve cleanliness, that does not mean that the term can be used offhandedly to describe people who simply value cleanliness. The misapplication of the term harms people with OCD by obscuring both its definition and its symptoms.

OCD, like PTSD, exists along a spectrum, meaning that different symptoms can manifest in different ways depending on the person experiencing them. The exclusion of the diversity of possible manifestations is a significant misinterpretation of the condition, which can lead people to be mis- or under-diagnosed.

“I have OCD, but didn’t know that I could possibly have it because of people using it casually and incorrectly,” Olivia Vermeire ’25 said. “It makes me feel sad for other people who may have OCD but not know, since it is way more than just being neat and hand washing.” Once the incorrect use of these expressions interferes with people’s diagnosis or ability to detect their own illnesses, it is clear that misinformation has affected our day to day lives.

The colloquial use of these terms in conversation also removes a safe space for people diagnosed with

mental illnesses. When we see one of our friends reduce the importance of something so impactful to us, it feels like our emotions and experiences are being reduced with it.

More recently, social media has largely improved conversations about mental health, providing an outlet for mental health specialists and mentally ill people to share their experiences and knowledge, according to Talkspace, an online therapy service. However, social media has proven to be a two-faceted provider of information. I see people reposting infographics about how to obtain therapy, all the while misappropriating official mental health terminology. We have gone from one extreme to the other: from refusing to talk about mental health during the early 2000s to making it a quirky or fun trait to be mentally ill.

I propose a healthy middle. I ask that these terms stop being used casually, as it removes the importance and depth of their symptoms, but I encourage open dialogue about diagnosed conditions. If we do not have open spaces to communicate with each other, whether it is with our friends and family, or people with shared experiences on the internet, then mental health topics may be fully dismissed again. However, it is our job, as informed listeners, to correct behavior. So when your friend says they have “such OCD” regarding their behaviors or were “given PTSD” from mundane situations, listen, then address it. There is only one way we will be truly able to address this issue: communication.

Elizabeth Holmes exploited the feminist movement: a response to Ellen Pao

BY ANNABELLE MACKSON ’23 HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR; STAFF WRITER

Former executive Elizabeth Holmes is currently on trial for allegedly committing multiple counts of fraud through her health technology company, Theranos. Theranos claimed to produce a non-invasive medical device that would be able to complete rapid blood tests with a mere finger-prick of blood. According to Holmes, this was meant to be revolutionary, especially for disabled people or people with severe needle phobias.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 when she was just 19 years old, but it would take over ten years and billions of dollars for people to discover the truth behind both Holmes and the company. The smoking gun came in October of 2015, when The Wall Street Journal published an expose outlining Theranos’ medical claims and lack of transparency concerning the actual success of their operations. By the following October, Theranos had closed its labs and laid off a large number of their staff.

Complete termination of the company came in 2018. After reviewing Holmes’ history and criminal allegations, I thought the case was fairly cut and dry against her in terms of morality, but one individual in par-

ticular seems determined to shift the conversation from Holmes’ alleged actions to her gender.

In September of 2021, investor and former CEO of Reddit Ellen Pao published an Opinion piece in The New York Times titled: “The Elizabeth Holmes Trial is a WakeUp Call for Sexism in Tech.” The article claimed “it can be sexist to hold her accountable for alleged serious wrongdoing and not hold an array of men accountable for reports of wrongdoing or bad judgment,” and used examples of scandals at WeWork, Uber, Tesla and Facebook to prove their unpunished guilt. Initially, Pao’s support of Holmes is understandable given the rarity of female success in tech. Before her downfall, Holmes was the personification of a mainstream feminist girlboss: an incredibly successful and perfectly marketable woman in a male-dominated industry. Instead of shattering the glass ceiling, however, she weaponized it, equating reasonable criticisms of the Theranos device to sexism and misogyny. Holmes’ continuous manipulation of her own narrative as a technological entrepreneur surrounded by sexist men convinced other women that the stringent prosecution against her was due to her gender, and Ellen Pao is among them. The companies Pao names in her article have had their

fair share of controversies, but her argument surrounding Holmes, sexism and accountability doesn’t hold up for a plethora of reasons. While she does compare Holmes’ charges to cases centered on male executives, I would have been far more sympathetic to her argument had they actually been legally related.

The two male-centric cases Pao specifies involve Kevin Burns and Elon Musk, the former chief executive of Juul and the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, respectively. Her first example shows that Burns was the incumbent chief executive at Juul when the company received its first volley of lawsuits regarding their alleged attempts to market their e-cigarettes to minors. However, the $40 million settlement Pao cites was agreed to this year, and Burns left Juul in September of 2019. In her second example, Pao references the securities fraud charge brought against Musk by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018. Combined, Musk and Tesla had to pay $40 million in penalties, and Musk had to step down as Tesla’s Chairman for the time being. $40 million in penalties is a drop in the bucket for a billionaire like Musk, and could have aligned with the “hand slap” punishment Pao illustrates, but she neglects to mention that the SEC filed the complaint due to Musk tweet-

Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons Elizabeth Holmes is currently on trial for fraud.

ing about taking Tesla private and pricing investments at $420 a share.

While this one comment did result in “significant market disruption” according to the SEC’s press release, anyone vaguely familiar with Musk’s antics knows this is not out of character, whether it’s defensible or not.

While I am in no way defending these men or their actions, the cases Pao references just don’t hold a candle to Holmes in terms of severity.

Additionally, she never once specifies that the cases she exemplifies as men “getting away with murder” were civil cases, not criminal ones.

Someone indicted in a civil case is ordered to pay damages and/or change the behavior that got them charged, while an individual indicted in a criminal case faces incarceration or probation depending on the severity of their infraction. The charges of wire fraud against Holmes make her case not only criminal, but federal as well. Pao’s false equivalency of these two very different forms of litigation creates a strawman argument designed to pull focus from the fact that Elizabeth Holmes is in the ninth week of her criminal trial. Pao also claims that holding Holmes accountable and acknowledging that such accountability is rooted in sexism can exist in tandem, but her article only pushes the latter of the two beliefs.

Men evade the law every day, as do women, and in some fields male indictment may be comparatively rare. This does not mean that it is sexist to focus on a woman doing the exact same crime, nor is it sexist to focus on that woman’s trial more than a man who might have done something bad but hasn’t been charged with anything. Feminism is about equality of the genders and sexes, and that applies to the law as well. The case of Holmes shows how that vision of equality can be altered to support prejudiced thinking all over again.

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT College introduces new sustainability plans Climate which include divestment from fossil fuels Activist Spotlight: November 5, 2021

. Mount Holyoke News

Photo by Tzav Harrel ’24 The Board of Trustees met in the Willits-Hallowell Center in October to discuss sustainability.

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

In a letter shared with the community on Oct. 18, Mount Holyoke President Sonya Stephens outlined several new “climate action commitments,” including the decisions to divest from fossil fuels and take steps toward carbon neutrality. The letter was sent via email soon after the Board of Trustees’ October meeting.

In addition to announcing new commitments and initiatives, Stephens enumerated past actions taken by the College towards achieving the recommendations of the Sustainability Task Force, which convened in 2017. The Task Force’s recommendations were approved by the Board of Trustees in 2018. They included achieving carbon neutrality by 2037, improving the energy efficiency of campus buildings and utilizing the campus as a “living laboratory for cross-disciplinary teaching, research and learning.”

CJC discusses divestment Divestment from fossil fuels had long been fought for by student groups on campus, most prominently by the Climate Justice Coalition.

In February 2020, the CJC held a sitin at Blanchard Hall to protest the College’s investments in fossil fuels.

More recently, they hung a banner from the Mt. Holyoke Summit House on Mountain Day that read, “divest from fossil fuels, invest in our future” and hosted an email writing campaign before the Board of Trustees met in October.

On these actions, CJC member Dino Schipper ’22 commented, “we were just trying to do as much as we could so that [Stephens] and the Board of Trustees couldn’t ignore it.” Schipper added that the organization also had occasional commu-

nication with the Board of Trustees prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that it had not been fruitful.

Stephens’ letter announced to the community that the College would withdraw all of its investments in fossil fuels within the next decade. According to the letter, the College has been investing in sustainable technologies, such as solar mini-grids and compostable packaging, since 2014.

This is not the first time the College has rerouted its investments to have a more ethical impact. According to The Associated Press, in 1985 the Board of Trustees voted to pull out all investments from companies that were based in or did business with South Africa in protest of the country’s state of apartheid.

On Oct. 20, the CJC shared their response to Stephens’ email, saying they are “ecstatic that Mount Holyoke College has finally committed to phasing out investments in fossil fuels.” To ensure that the commitments made by the College see full realization, the CJC made several demands, which they shared in the full statement. The demands include, but are not limited to: regular updates to the student body after Board of Trustees meetings, a concrete timeline for divestment and a reinvestment of the fossil fuel funds into communities “most harmed by the fossil fuel industry,” the statement reads.

In a statement to the Mount Holyoke News, the group said that they “would like to know if [the Board of Trustees] are actively working to divest or simply allowing the investments to fizzle out.”

“While the College has indicated an interest in and intention towards climate justice, CJC wants to emphasize that climate justice does

not exist without racial justice. Additionally, they have by no means met our demands — divestment within 5 years — or the demands of marginalized people most impacted by climate change on campus — specifically, providing material support to students of color, particularly to Black and Indigenous students and community members,” the CJC said. “There is still a lot to push for divestment from, and a lot of things that fall under climate justice, so our work is far from over.”

The CJC’s commitment to holding the College accountable sets the tone for their future as an organization.

“We will continue to fight for transparency in the divestment process,” they asserted in their initial response to the letter. Schipper added that the CJC formed a working group tasked with contacting Stephens and the Board of Trustees to seek more clarity on the specifics of the College’s divestment plan.

While the CJC is far from finished with taking action on divestment, according to Schipper, they have begun to branch out into new territory. The organization recently formed new working groups devoted to food justice and political education. “What we’re working towards has shifted,” Schipper commented, adding that the CJC’s membership has “close to doubled in size” in comparison to recent years, allowing for the organization’s focus to broaden.

College aims for carbon neutrality When addressing the goal to achieve carbon neutrality, Stephens’ letter primarily addressed past and in-process steps taken by the College.

According to the letter, renovations to campus buildings, such as the installation of new windows in Ham and MacGregor halls, were part of a multi-million dollar investment made by the College to transform Mount Holyoke’s built environment to support this goal. Additional steps towards carbon neutrality include the replacement of 30 percent of College-owned vehicles with hybrids and the establishment of the Green Revolving Fund, which is used for green energy investments.

Community commits to climate justice The third focus of the letter was on the announcement of the Community Commitment to Climate Justice, which will officially launch on Nov. 4. The CC2CJ will be spearheaded by the Miller Worley Center for the Environment. Olivia Aguilar, professor of Environmental Studies and director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, described the Commitment as a “ground up ap-

proach to sustainability initiatives.”

According to Aguilar, the initiative will create community-wide conversations to help identify potential areas where new sustainability projects can occur, as well as what assets the community can utilize to achieve them. “It’s really a space to allow for multiple stakeholders to come together and talk about things that they would like to see and they would like to commit to doing,” she said.

Inspiration for the CC2CJ came from Aguilar’s own experience in the MWCE. “I was hearing from different parts of the campus things that people were concerned about that they wish we were doing and then also things that people wanted to do,” Aguilar said. From this, the CC2CJ emerged as a way to bring together ideas from across campus with groups that have the tools to achieve them. An example that Aguilar provided was hearing from staff members who were interested in recycling printer ink cartridges.

Aguilar described the CC2CJ as a process that will work alongside the College’s sustainability commitments, which she said often operate on the “macro level” while having independent goals. “The idea is not for it to be a place where we are answering to any sort of mandate from the College, but rather a place where we are creating our own sort of agenda of what we want to do,” she explained.

The CC2CJ will likely meet three times a year, according to Aguilar, and is open to students from all backgrounds. The first meeting will focus on bringing a full representation of the community to the table, to “make sure everybody has a voice” before entering into discussions of sustainability initiatives. “In order to be involved, you don’t have to be an expert or even know much about sustainability or climate change,” she said, adding that the organization instead is looking for “somebody who does a good job of communicating with their peers and their colleagues, and then getting feedback from their peers and colleagues to bring back to the conversations that we’re having.”

Aguilar was enthusiastic about the CC2CJ’s prospects. “There’s so much energy and concern about the environment across campus,” she commented. The initiative is tasked with the job of taking this energy and using it to organize the community’s assets and provide a platform for campus-wide communication.

Through that platform, sustainability ideas, small and large, can see realization.

Those interested in attending the kick off of the CC2CJ or subsequent events can reach out to the MWCE.

7

Xiye Bastida

Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons Bastida started organizing in high school.

BY HELEN GLOEGE ’23 STAFF WRITER

Xiye Bastida is a 19-yearold Otomi-Toltec climate justice activist. She is currently a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. In an article in Penn Today, Bastida described the flood that forced her family to immigrate from San Pedro Tultepec, Mexico, to the United States in 2015.

When she moved to New York City, Bastida was greeted by the remnants of Hurricane Sandy, which passed through the area in 2012, according to an article in Now This News. The article stated that it is from these direct experiences with climate change that Bastida was motivated to become involved with the climate justice movement and subsequently joined the environmental club at her high school. In the environmental club, according to NPR, Bastida and others organized for their classmates to join them at the Youth Climate Strike on March 15, 2019. Her work spurred around 600 students into action.

After this success, Bastida helped organize for the Global Climate Strike on Sept. 20, 2019, during which a crowd of 300,000 marched in New York City, according to Green Biz. Now This News stated that Bastida was inspired by her grandparents and parents, who themselves were “climate activists who fought to protect their sacred Indigenous land in Mexico.” During the pandemic, Bastida shifted her activism online to the Re-Earth Initiative, which she co-founded with Joseph Wilkanowski, who, according to his LinkedIn page, is a student at Skidmore College. The aim of the initiative, according to the organization’s website, is to provide resources for people who want to participate in the climate movement to make it more widely accessible.

Mount Holyoke hosts global conference on sustainability in higher education “The Future Is...” In this theme, there is “an invitation to reimagine the future, to get away from the business as usual scenario that has led us to oblivion [and to] focus on presenting Organized by the Association for an alternative vision of society,” acthe Advancement of Sustainability cording to V.S. (Raghu) Raghavan, in Higher Education, the Global Con- the director of sustainability and asference on Sustainability in Higher sociate director of the Miller Worley Education is an annual conference Center for the Environment and vice that engages students, administra- chair of the AASHE Board of Directors, business partners and political tors.

Raghavan joined the MWCE in leaders in critical discussions on the role of higher education and insti- July 2020 and hopes that the discourse created tutions in overby the confercoming the chalRaghavan views sustainence will inspire lenges posed by ability as inevitably woven Mount Holyoke climate change. students to creThis year, the into the larger movement ate sustainable, conference — the for justice. equitable and resecond to be held silient communiin a virtual setting — took place from Oct. 12-14, ties that focus on bringing change 2021. It aimed to address AASHE’s both as individuals and through colcommitment to reducing the carbon lective action. This sentiment was footprint of their events, as stated echoed by AASHE, who, on their on their website and lead to a 300 website, described this year’s theme percent increase in participation in of the conference as “reflect[ing] the comparison to the previous confer- uncertainty of the future that many ences. Mount Holyoke is one of 44 feel and invit[ing] participants to host institutions, alongside universi- recommit themselves to the urgent ties such as Stanford and Carnegie work of building a future that is susMellon, that are re-envisioning sus- tainable, equitable and resilient. We seek to highlight inspiring examples tainability in higher education.

As stated by AASHE on their of higher education leadership that website, the GCSHE aims to help empower participants to envision higher education institutions re- and create such a future.”

The conference hosted a diverse spond to the climate crisis through discussion, community development roster of keynote speakers. Accordand the theme of the conference: ing to the GCSHE website, keynote

BY SIONA AHUJA ’24 & ANOUSHKA KUSHAWA ’24 STAFF WRITER | SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

speakers included Heather McGhee, tive Director of Auxiliary Services an author who has written about Rich Perna and Raghavan. achieving racial equity while trying Raghavan praised Perna’s leadto make the world more sustainable, ership during the pandemic, saying Zamzam Ibrahim, President of the “There’s no room for failure … you The European Students Union and can’t even miss one meal.” RaghaDaphne Frias, an van mentioned American activthat Perna also If we continue to pursue ist who focuses “improved upon this more aggressively [we the efficiencies on climate justice. Also present can] transform the campus within dining, in were academic of reducing into what is called a living terms professors whose waste.” Waste relab for sustainability.” expertise covduction was done ered a variety of in part by gentopics, such as erating a “Lean - V.S. (Raghu) Raghavan economics, enviPath Method”: ronmental racism a way to reduce and how Indigenous knowledge can pre-consumer food waste while also help solve the climate crisis. These saving the institution money, Raghaappeared alongside a wide range van explained. of presentations from students, facJordan Lassonde ’16, assistant ulty members and professors from director for the MWCE at Mount colleges and universities around Holyoke, commented on the advancthe world. Their presentations ad- es made by Dining Services in the dressed a wide range of topics on past few years. sustainability, such as equity, resilAccording to Lassonde, Dining ience within communities, diversity Services has managed to increase of student participation and how sustainable and local purchasing institutions can support local busi- percentages to almost 20 percent, nesses. The conference resembled a “which, for the middle of a pandemone-stop collection of some of the top ic, is quite impressive.” actors in sustainability at university According to Raghavan, the and college campuses around the compassionate and humane apworld. proach taken by Perna in dealing Mount Holyoke also presented a with the campus stakeholders, staff session on conducting and improv- and students was one of the major ing the sustainability of campus reasons he chose Dining Services dining operations in the middle of a as the focus of their presentation. pandemic, which was led by Execu- He commended Perna’s manage-

rial acumen in dealing with staff furloughs during the pandemic, saying, “Unfortunately, within the sustainability field, this aspect tends to be neglected. But I’m glad that it’s not neglected here at Mount Holyoke.”

Raghavan views sustainability as inevitably woven into the larger movement for justice. “Sustainability is justice,” he said. Much like the GCSHE keynote speakers of the recent past, Raghavan called for a movement that will make the world a more egalitarian and democratic place. To rectify the climate crisis is to “bring back a society, which is egalitarian, which is flatter without the gross inequalities that we see,” Raghavan said.

Lassonde echoed Raghavan’s statements about inclusivity, sustainability and environmental justice, saying, it’s all about “making sure that we’re really making [sustainability efforts] a space for everyone to participate in and to feel like they belong and that everyone can [have] agency in.”

To Raghavan, the pandemic has propelled the need for concerted mass action within sustainability movements. His belief is that Mount Holyoke’s progressive space is ideal to model this kind of behavior, bringing it outside of textbooks and into practice. “If we continue to pursue this more aggressively,” he said, “[we can] transform the campus into what is called a living lab for sustainability.”

8

COMMUNITY

November 5, 2021

. Mount Holyoke News

^ NICHE CAFE DRINK ORDERS FOR THE SIGNS ^

BY DAVID NEJEZCHLEBA ’22 & MAGGIE DONOVAN ’23 COPY EDITOR & HOROSCOPE WRITER | LAYOUT EDITOR & HOROSCOPE WRITER

March 21 – April 19

July 23 – Aug. 22

Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

Large iced mocha with extra whole milk and light ice. You’re someone who knows what they want, and we respect it.

London fog with a shot of espresso. You’re an absolute animal, an innovator (and deep down, you love doing quirky things for attention).

Frozen hot chocolate. You’re groovy — you bring hot and cold together with contradictory style and you own it.

April 20 – May 20

Aug. 23 – Sept. 22

Medium black cold brew with peppermint mocha. It’s bold, but grounded; you might not say a lot, but you certainly speak volumes.

Irish coffee. You’re strong, classic in an offbeat way and you often leave people feeling warm on the inside.

May 21 – June 20

Caramel macchiato with almond milk. You’re classic, elegant and distinguished — and you have a bit of an attitude. Plus, you’re so stubborn that you don’t care if the milk apparently doesn’t whip (or maybe you’re lactose intolerant, sorry).

Pumpkin spice latte made with soy milk. It’s a timeless drink with a questionable twist — reliable and unprincipled all at once.

Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

Lavender iced latte. You can be a little hit or miss, and you’re super likable, even if the reason why is not always clear.

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21

June 21 – July 22

Iced Americano made with decaf espresso. If that sounds like a roast (no pun intended), that’s because it is.

Fred and Moose

BY SILVIE SCHLEIN ’23 STAFF CARTOONIST

Red eye with white mocha. When some people hear you’re a Scorpio, they’re like, “Woah, that’s intense,” before realizing there’s really nothing to fear about you. You like frivolous flavors, just like all the other signs.

Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Iced cappuccino with skim milk. You know ordering this doesn’t make any sense, but then again, neither do most things you do. You’re a master of going with the flow.

Feb. 19 – March 20

Matcha latte. But you take it sweetened, maybe with oat milk, a hint of vanilla and a dash of coconut syrup. It’s the perfect balance of artful, enchanting and unexpected.

Senators announce events, cont’d u

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

On Nov. 5, the Jewish Student Union will be hosting a Learners’ Shabbat in the Eliot House. It starts at 5:00 p.m. and all students are welcome. The College’s PlusSized Affinity Group will be having its first meeting on Nov. 6 at 2:00 p.m. in Blanchard 218. Subsequent meetings will be held on the first and third Saturday of each month. The Western team is having a home competition from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Mount Holyoke’s Equestrian Center.

SGA then opened the floor for students to raise concerns and make announcements. The senator for Pearsons Annex, Piper Hattenbach ’25, mentioned that students have noticed the sounds of leaf blowers and lawn mowers being used at 8:00 a.m. on Friday mornings. Not only is the noise upsetting to some, but Hattenbach pointed out that leaf blowers use a lot of energy while generating CO2 emissions. The SGA E-Board will be getting in touch with administrators regarding the noise, but they expressed that banning leaf blowers would be a more complicated task. The sustainability commission discussed petitioning to remove or lessen leaf blower usage, but there were no further updates on the matter. The sustainability commission will be tabling in Blanchard later this month; on Nov. 17, 18 commission members will be there to answer questions and field concerns from the student body.