Mount Holyoke News – November 11, 2022

Julia Watts Belser discusses hope, grief and climate change

ing] discussion,” Madeleine (Mindl) Cohen, academic director at the Yid dish Book Center and visiting lectur er in Jewish studies at the College, said. “It was incredibly moving how open and vulnerable people were.”

Returning to the poem, this desolate resignation or “soulful … numbness” portrays a perception that it’s too late and that all is lost. Belser warns against getting stuck in this mindset. This numb feeling is, per Belser, “[the one] I’m work ing hardest to transform.” She does not want people to lose sight of what they can do to help.

discussed at length was the story of the city of Sodom. Due to her in tersectional lens, she started by ac knowledging that as a queer person herself, she knows that this text is of ten used to condemn homosexuality.

BY EMMA QUIRK ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article men tions mass death.

On Nov. 2, 2022. Dr. Julia Watts Belser gave a lecture to the Mount Holyoke College community enti tled, “Hope and Grief in the Age of Climate Change: Queer Disability Politics and Ancient Jewish Story.” Belser is a professor of Jewish stud ies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at George town University, faculty member in the Disability Studies Program at the same school, senior research fellow at the Berkeley Center for Re ligion, Peace and World Affairs, and author of several books, essays and articles, according to Georgetown University. She was introduced by Mara Benjamin, the Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies and chair of the religion department at the College.

Throughout her lecture, Belser discussed the intersections of cli mate change and disability, using ancient Jewish stories to emphasize

and explain her points. She focused not only on the factual urgency of the environmental crisis, but also on its “emotional terrain” and how ancient rabbis also struggled with grief, loss, power and violence, emotions that are often linked to the current crisis.

She started with stories of Jo nah, the “reluctant, bitter prophet,” calling on both the biblical text and a contemporary poem by Rabbi Jillian Cameron.

This poem is an example of Mid rash, a Jewish practice of “expand ing upon the biblical text” by ques tioning it, adding to the stories and exploring the emotions of biblical figures. It begins with the line, “I didn’t ask to be born in a cruel time,” which may resonate with many peo ple in relation to the current climate crisis. As the poem progresses, it highlights Jonah’s feelings that if one city is corrupt, then all the oth ers must be too, therefore leaving no purpose in attempting to fix it.

“It was clear that Professor Bels er’s discussion of grief and hope resonated very personally with many people who attended, and that encouraged people to share their emotional responses in the [follow

The use of biblical texts and theological beliefs in collaboration with the ideas of more current activ ists highlighted the complexity of re ligious studies. In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Benjamin said that she “[felt] proud to be part of a field, religious studies, in which di verse resources and methods can be brought to bear on matters of utmost importance.”

Belser also drew upon the writ ings of Rebecca Solnit — a feminist, climate activist, writer and historian — to highlight the issues that arise due to “climate doom,” or the notion that the world is dying and there is nothing that anyone can do to fix it. Belser believes that this ideology is a privileged one. “For those on the frontlines of crisis, giving up means surrendering to devastation. For the rest of us, [Solnit] said, giving up often ends up making life easier, at least in the short term,” Belser stat ed.

Clara Tupitza ’26 felt the combi nation of ancient and modern texts was captivating. “I most appreciated the interweaving of excerpts from various poems and religious texts. It made the lecture very moving and spiritually uplifting,” Tupitza said.

Another ancient story Belser

“It’s an awful story. It’s a brutal one. But one thing it’s not is a con demnation of love between men,” Belser stated. “It’s a chilling account of … how privilege can sometimes turn us insular and cool.” To expand on this notion, she explained how in the Talmud, men in Sodom would lend a coin to poor travelers. It was not in good faith, however, as they would mark the coins, not accept them as payment and recollect them when the person had died.

Belser tells this story because Sodom is “the city where so many of us live,” and the story explores how “the residents in one rich city set up a system that keeps themselves safe and secure while other people suf fer.”

“Unlike the Sodom story, where we can at least imagine a single per son stopping and breaking the bru tal pact, climate acceleration doesn’t offer individuals a lot of meaningful ways to throw a wrench in the sys tem,” Belser said.

However, this idea does not mean that everyone is affected by the climate crisis in the same way — it demonstrates precisely the oppo site. “The profound disparity of cli mate impacts the fact that … some of us have wealth and luxury to spare while others face the storm head,” Belser stated. The effects of climate change affect marginalized commu nities first and the hardest. Black people, Indigenous people and other people of color have, as Besler stat ed, “disproportionately borne the brunt of toxic pollution, resource ex traction and environmental harm.”

As she neared the conclusion of

her presentation, Belser focused on the different ways that hope moves people. “Hope can inspire us, propel us to action and give us a sense of strength and resolve, …[but] certain kinds of hope can foster passivity,” Belser said. “We’ve got to be critical of these types of hope.”

Audience members were appre ciative of this approach. “[The talk] was a powerful example of … what it looks like to center and learn from the people who are most affected by the climate crisis,” Cohen said. Ben jamin agreed and felt that Belser was able to articulate the nuances of this issue in an honest way. “[Dr. Belser] spoke about difficult and painful topics that many of us think about a lot but often don’t know how to talk about. [She] modeled how to connect to others on intellectually and emotionally difficult terrain,” Benjamin said.

It was not solely the topic that engaged the listeners, but Belser’s passion as well. “The event was in credibly informative, but also mov ing because of how heartfelt and earnest [Belser] was,” Tupitza said.

Belser ended her lecture by em phasizing how disabled people and other marginalized communities have been both the most affected by the climate crisis, and also the peo ple on the front lines of the climate justice movement. She has been cre ating a digital archive “to document the wisdom we have for navigating crisis,” filled with the work and ideas of disabled first responders, activists and artists.

“Disabled people, especially queer [and] disabled people of color, are already doing the work to help fight for each others’ lives,” Belser said. “Through grassroots organiza tions and mutual aid, I want to high light all the ways people have been showing up for each other.”

Elected Class of 2026 Board plans for first year, takes on responsibilities

BY MELANIE DURONIO ’26 STAFF WRITER

On Friday, Oct. 21, the results of the Class of 2026 Board election were announced. The newly formed team has already adopted their new roles and aims to create a sense of com munity and spirit among their firstyear peers. The student government roles include president, vice presi dent, secretary, treasurer, senator and two social chairs.

The Board had its first meeting where members introduced them selves to one another and formed a rough outline of their plans for the year. Activities will include wel coming the spring students, known as “springies,” as they transition to Mount Holyoke and assisting the upperclassmen student government boards with this year’s Big/Little program.

“[The Class of 2026 board is] so awesome. I’m genuinely so excited to get started working with them,” Shea Noland ’26, the first-year class

president, said. “The class boards for the other [class years] are also great and they’ve been so support ive. I know even in areas where we might fumble, they’ll be there to catch us and guide us through.”

This year, the main priority of the 2026 Board is to create a positive relationship between themselves and their peers. Noland hopes to hold an event where the first-years can meet the first-year board mem bers in person and ask questions.

“We’re representatives of the class and we’re helping [the class of] 2026 out, [so] we should have a relationship with them. I would like people to know me and the class board, and know that they can come to us for help,” Noland said. “We’re friends of you all.”

Class secretary Elle Mader ’26 also believes in open communication between the board and the first-year class, and she plans to create an on line suggestion box for students to submit their feedback and ideas for the board.

“That’s definitely one of the first steps, I think, to being a successful student council,” Mader said. “Lis tening to everybody’s needs … and translating those accurately to our policies and what we’re doing is re ally important to me.”

Mader reflected on her experi ence with her high school’s student council where she planned multiple dances and school spirit activities. During COVID-19, she and her team had to keep up morale and inform their class of their plans, so they cre ated a recurring video series.

“During COVID-19, … I had to be flexible. If something didn’t work out, I was like, ‘Okay, so here’s my next plan of action.’ I think that’s something I’ve become really good at, … compromising and figuring out how to work with what I have,” Mad er said.

Although Noland has never worked on a student council before, she does have experience in other leadership positions. In high school, she was the president of clubs that

sity — not with an empty, sub dued shrug.”

Regarding institutional commitments, Mount Holyoke has pledged to increase on-campus di versity and make movements toward equity. The most explicit of such was outlined in the College’s 2020 An ti-Racism Action Plan, published on August 27, 2020. The College’s anti-racism plan states: “Mount Holyoke must be persistent and un compromising. … We must identify and address all forms of implicit and explicit racism, bias and discrimina tion on our campus. And we must do the work … to better support our BI POC students, faculty and staff, and to ensure that this is a just, safe and welcoming community.”

Under the enrollment section of the plan, the College refers to the creation of an Admissions Diversi ty Working Group with the goal of “building anti-racist strategies to in crease the enrollment of BIPOC stu dents at the College.” They also note partnerships with organizations American Talent Initiative, College Greenlight and College Horizons — all with the purpose of increasing BI POC access to institutions of higher education. The College’s Strategic Plan for 2023 also references sup porting diversity policy and proce dure as its third strategic priority,

according to the College website. Differing from the 2020 Anti-Rac ism Action Plan, the Strategic Plan focuses more on facilitating diversi ty on campus rather than creating equitable opportunities that would increase diversity.

Interim President Beverly Dan iel Tatum upholds these commit ments, responding to Mount Holy oke News inquiry by stating, “The College is working to become an anti-racist community as outlined in the Anti-Racism Action Plan. Ad ditionally, Mount Holyoke joined 32 colleges and universities in August 2022 in signing an amicus brief that supported upholding Grutter v. Bollinger. We remain committed to investing in the programs and part nerships that introduce prospective students of color to Mount Holyoke, such as American Talent Institution, College Greenlight and College Hori zons. Regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court decision, Mount Holyoke is committed to enrolling a student body that reflects our na tion’s diversity and which opens doors to traditionally excluded groups.”

According to the MHC Factbook, approximately 27 percent of Mount Holyoke’s domestic students were students of color during 2020-2021. In the current academic year, that number has dropped to 24 percent. The College’s recent implementa

tion of diversity, presented in these institutional documents, suggests a commitment and movement to ward increasing diverse enrollment. While this decrease is not addressed in the 2023 Strategic Plan, Vice Pres ident for Enrollment Management Robin Randall, noted the COVID-19 pandemic as explanation. She stat ed, “We did have higher success in enrollment of students of color in Fall 2020 as a result of pre-pandem ic initiatives. It is notable that the first year cohort entering in Fall 2020 included the last group of enrolled students who had the opportunity to attend our on-campus program ming before choosing to apply to the College. Incoming students of color were retained in the Fall 2020 class at a higher rate as we experienced a large deferral of enrollment. 20 per cent of the class deferred to start in the spring or following fall semes ter.”

Randall also addressed an in stitutional goal of rectifying this decrease, “Our current recruitment program continues to invest in best practices to overcome this dip in enrollment among students of col or. This includes increased use of census and other publicly available data to expand our investment in outreach and strategic travel plan ning to reach prospective students of color. We also continue to grow our counselor and community based-or

she created and was actively in volved in her Student Government Association. There, she assisted in organizing clothing drives, sugar

drives and a school carnival. One of the reasons Noland ran for class president was because she wanted to become involved in the Mount Holyoke community. She sees her time with the board as a learning opportunity, and looks forward to furthering her leadership skills with her fellow members.

“A title position like ‘president’ is just that, and it doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone else or you know more than anyone else,” Noland said. “I think… [what is] re ally key for good leadership is know ing that your position titles can help for delegation, … but every effort is collaborative.”

Overall, the new class board looks forward to their first year and all that they can accomplish togeth er. “I’m just really excited to start. I’m really happy and appreciative and grateful that I got elected. … I’m just looking forward to making a fun year for everybody, along with ad dressing important issues within the community,” Mader stated.

ganization database and relation ships in areas that serve students of color. We have seen growth in the number of prospective students of color we are reaching and expect that pipeline to result in application increases as well.” She continued, “We are pleased to be rebuilding our own staff capacity after experi encing high turnover post-pandemic with a group of recent hires, includ ing an associate director for access and inclusion. We also know that connecting prospective students of color with the campus community is really important in growing the ap plicant pool and increasing the yield of admitted students. These connec tions can be forged here on campus during visits, through virtual pro grams, peer-to-peer platforms and invitations to join virtual events that are open to the entire Mount Holy oke community.”

Currently, it’s unforeseeable how current affirmative action cas es and their decisions will affect the College’s commitments. Liptak provided his analysis, stating, “One question will be what tools [Ameri can higher education institutions] will be left with to achieve racial diversity if the court says they can’t take account of race directly. Will they still be allowed to take account of race indirectly through proxies? … The legal logic of a decision do ing away with affirmative action in

higher education could easily have an impact in other parts of society, in employment, in the military and other areas.”

With the MHC Factbook already revealing a percentile decrease in students of color enrollment since 2020, the College will need to devel op new strategies for increasing di versity depending on the limitations rulings in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could impose.

Randall responded to this say ing, “Until the decision is rendered, we will maintain our practices with in the current legal framework. Mount Holyoke’s current admission process mirrors that of leading col leges and universities in considering a wide variety of factors in making admission decisions. [Including] ac ademic record, life experience, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and background,” Randall contin ued. “Regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court decision, Mount Holyoke is committed to enrolling a student body that reflects our na tion’s diversity and which opens doors to traditionally excluded groups. We will continue to work lo cally, regionally and nationally with our peers and professional associ ations to identify a new set of best practices that align with any chang es required by the Supreme Court decisions.”

Photo by Emma Quirk ’26

Julia Watts Belser, above on Zoom, discusses climate

change, queer disability politics and Judaism.

Photo courtesy of Shea Noland ’26 Shea Noland ’26, pictured above, began her role as the first-year class president on Oct. 21.

Westeros returns to the screen in ‘House of the Dragon’

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

Content warning: This article dis cusses incest and mentions sexual violence.

Sky-high dragon fights, famil ial power struggles and political schemes mark Westeros’ return to the screen. The first episode of “House of the Dragon,” a prequel series to “Game of Thrones” set roughly 200 years before the events of the original series, premiered on Sunday, Aug. 21. The following nine episodes were released every Sun day on HBO Max.

The prequel series takes a dif ferent storytelling approach to the original, as it narrows in on the dynamics of the House Targaryen. One of the most enjoyable aspects of “Game of Thrones” was its sprawl ing, complex nature, as the show’s format almost directly mimics that of the George R. R. Martin books it was based on. The books’ chapters alternate by character point of view, with roughly 8-16 characters per spectives depending on the book.

“Game of Thrones” follows a simi lar pattern; episodes jump back and forth between different landscapes, characters and stories. The viewer travels across the harsh icelands beyond the wall with Jon Snow (Kit Harington), follows Daenerys Tar garyen (Emilia Clarke) through the Red Waste desert and sits in the small council room with Tyrion and Cersei Lannister (Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey), Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and Varys (Conleth Hill). These characters’ stories are loosely interconnected but largely separate for most of the series — the show builds to the point where they all meet.

“House of the Dragon” is en tirely structurally different — all of the characters know each other and interact often — which is not the case in the original series. The pre

quel largely takes place in only two locations: King’s Landing and Drag onstone. Thematically, it is a clas sic royal family melodrama. When watching the first few episodes, I saw it as a medieval, Westerosi ver sion of “The Crown.” Matt Smith’s presence as a sleazy husband in both “House of the Dragon” and “The Crown,” playing Daemon Targaryen and Prince Philip, respectively, prob ably had a lot to do with this. Beyond Smith’s performance, “House of the Dragon” fits the genre as it deals with succession politics and multiple generations of gender-based compe tition between heirs.

Before watching “House of the Dragon,” my biggest question was about how the show would frame sex and sexuality. “Game of Thrones” is known for it’s gratuitous sex and violence, often with the two going hand-in-hand. Female and occasion ally male sex workers were present in many, if not most, episodes, espe cially in earlier seasons, and were usually positioned as objects to be fetishized.

“Game of Thrones” premiered in 2011, before the #MeToo movement gained significant public attention in 2017. The way we talk and think about sexual violence today is vastly different than it was a decade ago. TV shows, especially ones with re boots, have had to adapt to the times in order to maintain their good standing in current social conscious ness. With this in mind, I predicted that “House of the Dragon” was go ing to have to do something different in the way sex was portrayed, but I wasn’t sure how they would go about it.

This is where the weird fem inism of “House of the Dragon” comes in. The show’s promotional material seemed to imply that it would open up a conversation about sexism within the Westerosi polit ical world. And it did, to an extent.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy) is chosen as heir to the Iron Throne over her

uncle, as she is her father’s only child at the beginning of the series. Later, after the birth of her half-brothers, Rhaenyra remains heir, much to the chagrin of the House Hightower and others at court. Set before the events of the prequel but shown at the beginning of the first episode, Rhaenyra’s aunt Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) gets passed over for heir in favor of her cousin, Rhaenyra’s fa ther Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Con sidine). Themes of power and sexism are present in these plotlines but lacked depth and were heavy-hand ed in some places.

What was most compelling to me was how young Rhaenyra’s personal aversion to the prospect of marriage

The Backseat Lovers releases new album

ie, painting a picture of an anxious character staring fearfully down an empty road. “Viciously Lonely” accepts this fear: “I tend to spend a couple hours a day / Waiting by the phone hopin’ there’s nothin’ to say / But I’ve got the feeling that my wake up call / Is on its way,” emphasizing that while their youth is gone and uncertainty lies ahead, they are also melting into the simplicity of life and slowly moving toward something new.

and childbirth contrasted with the knowledge that that is how she must serve the realm. The conversations between female characters about how they were only valued for their wombs presented a more nuanced side of the issue than seen in “Game of Thrones.”

The presentation of sexuality is where things get more complicated. It felt as though the writers decid ed to create a feminist, sex-positive fourth episode and then forgot what they were doing halfway through, slipping back into framing predatory power dynamics in a positive light.

The fourth episode of “House of the Dragon” follows teenaged Rhaenyra through a sexual awak

ening of sorts, incited by her uncle Daemon taking her to a brothel and initiating sexual advances, which she reciprocates. After a moment of impotence on his part, he leaves and Rhaenyra returns to her room, where she seduces and sleeps with her bodyguard, Ser Criston Cole (Fa bien Frankel).

Co-showrunner, producer and director Miguel Sapochnik, who has since left the show, stated in an “Inside the Episode” segment on episode four that “there was a lot of conversation about Rhaenyra not being innocent, and at the same time

Mount Holyoke Art Society hosts Fall Arts & Crafts Fair

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

The Backseat Lovers, an in die-rock band from Utah, has done the seemingly impossible and solid ified themselves as a timeless band in an age where much music, specifi cally indie, can sound like the echoes of its predecessors, lacking the cre ation of anything groundbreaking. Formed in 2018, the band appeals to a younger generation thrust into the uncertainty of a world turned upside down, experiencing the bittersweet and precarious nature of growing up. The Backseat Lovers — Joshua Harmon, lead singer and guitar; Jo nas Swanson, guitar; KJ Ward, bass; and Juice Welch, drummer — em body exactly what it means to be a kid-turned-adult in a world that isn’t quite prepared for them.

With the debut of their EP “El evator Days” (2018) and first album “When We Were Friends” (2019), The Backseat Lovers maintained a trend of singing about the woes of young love, with a mature and del icate take on the matter — not one tainted by anger, but instead flushed by uncertainty and appreciation. Within this theme is a broader one: coming-of-age. Nearly all of their songs may remind older listeners of the adolescent fear of growing up while simultaneously allowing younger listeners to sing along and identify with a band and lyrics that seem borne out of their own wor ries and insecurities. This trend did

not stop with “Waiting to Spill,” the band’s second album, which was re leased on Oct. 28, 2022. Focusing on the same themes present in their previous work, the band has grown from expressing the uncertainty that accompanies getting older and instead focuses on the bittersweet sadness of having grown, and the anxiety that follows, both in their relationships with themselves and in their romantic experiences. This change is accompanied by a more mellow, climatic orchestration, with more piano accompaniment to il lustrate the maturity of emotions that accompany them into this new phase. “Waiting to Spill” is a triumph for those riddled with post-adoles cent anxiety and bittersweetness.

Present in both the first, “Silhou ette,” and last, “Viciously Lonely,” tracks on the album is the acoustic guitar, an instrument that also ap pears at the beginning and end of some of the album’s other songs. This instrumentation is also echoed in “Morning in the Aves,” the album’s third track, in which the musician reminisces and wishes they could go back to appreciate the simplicity of the past. “Silhouette” has only eight lines of verse, with lyrics “Run while you can / While you are still a silhou ette of a man,” illustrating the feel ings of pain and uncertainty that the singer experiences, a theme present throughout the album. The sounds of crickets and car engines whirring by in the initial and final chords set the scene of a coming-of-age mov

“Close Your Eyes,” the second track on the album, is more upbeat than the first, with the guitar and drums at the forefront of its produc tion. In classic Backseat Lovers man ner, as one instrument fades out, it is soon replaced by another, ensuring that said instrument communicates the intensity of the lyrics it accompa nies. The chorus, “Could you waste your life / If you painted mine? / Now the day has died / But it’s too late to close your eyes,” expresses that to soothe their fear of getting older, they wish they had someone with them to feel less lonely. Ending with the repetition of the lyric “Oh, I’d hate to get any older,” instrumentals begin to build back up for an intense crescendo, mirroring the realization of aging and saying goodbye to those they love to let them grow. Track seven is introduced and concluded with the piano, as drums and gui tar create a slightly upbeat melody throughout the middle parts of the song. The song “Follow The Sound,” also reminisces on the familiarity of childhood, with lyrics like, “I’ll quit the race and turn my hеad / To see what’s left and who I kept,” and “It’s been awhile / Should I run?” leaving the listener wondering — Who did the singer leave behind as he fell vic tim to his mind and time?

Track four, “Growing/Dying,” is arguably the strongest song, lyrical ly, out of the album. “Why does the plant on the windowsill reflect my state of mind? / Growing and dying all the time / Why did the clerk that rang me up look so hypnotized? / Just look me in the eyes,” introduces the song, accompanied by hefty elec tric guitar and drums that are care ful not to overpower the song, allow ing the listener to focus more on the lyrics rather than the arrangement. This song’s bridge, “Searching for a sliver / Just enough to tell the forest

BY N. CIEPRISZ ’26 STAFF WRITER

The Mount Holyoke Art Society hosted its third annual Fall Arts & Crafts Fair on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in the Community Center Great Room. That afternoon, the room was filled with tables from many different stu dent artists selling a range of cre ations, from tote bags to earrings to stickers.

In addition to the vendors and their art, the Great Room was abuzz with the sounds of students mill ing about, appreciating their peers’ artwork. “I just really liked being in that kind of environment and looking at people’s art and crafts.

…

It was so cool to see the kinds of things people have made,” Antara Yogeshwari Roy Tripathi ’26 said.

In an economy where art is often mass-produced, students flocked to the student-owned small business es that put time and effort into their craft. The fair’s impressive turnout demonstrated the Mount Holyoke community’s dedication to the arts, as well as students’ desire to support their community members, whether they know them or not. “I was tempt ed to buy so much stuff. [I] spent too much money and wanted to spend

even more,” Tripathi added.

Vendors also spoke about the positive experiences selling their art at the fair. Jordan Boatman ’26 said that she had spent weeks pre paring collages specifically for the fair, catered towards Mount Holyoke students, and the results were a suc cess. “I was really surprised at how much people loved them. Everyone was so extremely kind. Even if they didn’t buy anything they made it known that they loved my work,” she said. Boatman also emphasized the connection with other vendors, saying “everyone was super nice and helpful and made sure that we weren’t in each other’s ways. … It was also really cool to be able to see the work of the other students and many of my classmates.”

Luna Bawa ’26, another vendor, also spoke about the ability to con nect with other artists: “I think it’s a really nice way for artists to share stuff they’ve been working on with other people and to also sell some of it. I was able to connect with some studio art majors through the craft fair which was really cool! It was also really great to see how many people showed up [and] how involved the student body is with the visual arts on campus.”

Photo courtesy of Daniel Lewis via Flickr “House of the Dragon,” which explores the Targaryen family history almost 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” premiered on Aug. 21.

Photo courtesy of Thomson200 via Wikimedia Commons

The Backseat Lovers continues their bittersweet ode to youth and looking forward in new album.

Photo by Ali Meizels ’23 The Mount Holyoke Art Society held its Fall Arts & Crafts Fair in Blanchard Community Center.

UMass Amherst’s ‘Confronting Empire’ series discusses the long history of US colonialism in Asia and the Pacific

The idea of the United States as an empire isn’t new, but seems to be sweeping academics and changing the way American history is dis cussed in college classrooms. This idea was discussed in the context of the relationship between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region on Tues day, Nov. 1, 2022, when the University of Massachusetts Amherst present ed “U.S. Empire in Asia and the Pa cific: Repression and Resistance” as a part of the “Confronting Empire: The 2022-2023 Feinberg Family Dis tinguished Lecture Series.” As spec ified in the Feinberg Series’ website description of the lecture, the speak ers focused on the history of the U.S. in the Philippines and the current relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The panelists argued that the U.S. is an empire with deep roots in racism, and they each used the Asian-American communities in the U.S. as evidence of racism within the U.S. The presenters were Moon-Ho Jung, a professor of history at the University of Washington, Nerissa S. Balce, an associate professor of Asian American studies at SUNY Stony Brook and Brian Hioe, a found ing editor of New Bloom, a website which describes itself as “an online magazine featuring radical perspec tives on Taiwan and the Asia-Pa cific.” University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor of History Sigrid Schmalzer moderated the panel dis cussion.

The lecture began with Jung explaining how the U.S. is an em pire, which he connected to the an ti-Asian racism throughout Amer ican history that continues today.

Jung stated, “A democracy rooted in empire and white supremacy is not democracy. That’s American de mocracy.” Schmalzer told the Mount Holyoke News that, “Professor Jung is definitely not alone in … seeing the U.S. as an empire, and explaining the trajectory of our history in terms of [an] empire alongside other em pires.” She continued, “That’s where the field is moving more and more.

… Recognizing that we should not treat the U.S. as if it’s different from other kinds of empires, because the U.S. has expanded [to an empire] … from the very origins [of it] because it is founded in settler colonialism.”

Jung’s presentation continued to dis cuss how the U.S. is also considered an empire because of its role in colo nialism and imperialism throughout its history. “Empire and democracy cannot coexist. If the United States

is anything, it was and is an empire that has claimed unilateral author ity over lands and peoples and has claimed the authority to incarcerate and kill anyone around the world in the name of freedom and democra cy,” Jung stated.

As the lecture continued, Balce took over and explained the history of violence in the Philippines created by the U.S. as portrayed through art, literature and violent images focus ing on the Philippine-American War. One of the pieces of literature she focused on was Filipino author Gina Apostol’s “Insurrecto: A Novel,” a book about two women, a Filipino translator and an American film maker, writing a script in the Phil ippines during the Philippine-Amer ican War. Balce quoted Apostol and stated, “The voice of [the Philip pine-American War] is the voice of the enemy. What I have understood is that our silence or forgetting of our war against the Americans is structural, cultural destruction. It is not amnesia. It is not a disease on our part, it is an aspect of genocide.

Forgetting is an aspect of genocide.” Balce focused on using Filipino art and voices to bring back the Filipi no narrative that she explained has been snuffed out by the American version of the story. Schmazler em phasized the importance of Filipino stories and art to portray the history of the Philippine-American War, “I think what we as scholars want to be able to do is to tell not only the stories of the atrocities, … which is focused on that is really not very empowering, right? It really doesn’t even leave anybody in a position where you feel like you can do any thing,” she said.

Schmalzer continued to re flect on the images shared by Balce of the violent crimes perpetrated against the Filipino people by what she called “anti-left, anti-Commu nist counterinsurgency campaigns funded by the US military industrial complex.”

During the presidency of Fer dinand Marcos and other Filipino dictators, she said, “It’s important to be able to confront those [images]

in whatever histories that we were looking at. But then if you stop there, you are, in some ways, just re-vic timizing the people who [were] vic timized. … To people in resistance and people who are … telling a new story, creating different images that celebrate the lives and the culture and the resistance of the people who have been subjugated is … just real ly important.”

The lecture ended with Hioe elaborating on the U.S. as an empire and how it has influenced ties to Tai wan, especially relating to the cur rent news of the U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit only a few months ago.

Hioe stated, “Taiwan has been neglected, has not been talked about a lot, [but] particularly in recent months and weeks it has suddenly taken on global significance.” He further explained the visit by the U.S. Speaker of the House and how it has led to internation al media exaggerating hypotheses of World War III. Hioe responded, “People have had decades to [get]

used to Chinese threats directed at Taiwan, but that is not picked up on in international media coverage. What does that tell us? It tells us that the perspectives of Taiwanese people have been ignored. Taiwan has had decades to [get] used to Chi nese threats.”

Schmalzer explained that inter national media has ignored this situ ation in Taiwan, saying, “Most people have seen it the whole time as … you can’t acknowledge the sovereignty of Taiwan without confronting that the [People’s Republic of China] won’t tolerate [it]. … I think that’s part of why it’s the thing that we are all pretending isn’t happening — … because it’s politically inconvenient and potentially dangerous to push the issue.”

This past between the United States and Asia and the Pacific is complex, and as Jung explained at the end of his presentation, “There are no easy answers, but I know this much — In this struggle for justice and democracy, we cannot but be a menace to empire.”

The Backseat Lovers drops nostalgic new album, cont’d

she is not the perpetrator of this. The idea that this is actually abuse felt really important to explore, but we put aside that Daemon is her uncle because that is the Targaryen custom.” In the show itself, however, “the idea that this is actually abuse” is not explored whatsoever. In fact, the show seems almost entirely un aware of how Daemon’s behavior is predatory and abusive. Viewers would never know that the creators were even thinking about Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship as abu sive without having watched this in terview.

Sapochnik states in the same interview that “[Daemon] awakens something in her which is her per ception of sex as a pleasure. She comes home and [Ser] Criston Cole seems to be the nearest person avail able.”

What’s interesting here is that “House of the Dragon” seems to be trying really hard to justify incest in a way that “Game of Thrones” never did. Siblings Cersei and Jamie Lan nister were not the couple that you were rooting for, and they were not the ones whose romance or sexual chemistry you were intended to be invested in. Yes, “Game of Thrones” has become known as “that show with the incest,” but the characters in the incestuous relationship were not the good guys. However, “House of the Dragon,” as Sapochnik explic itly states, ignores the fact that Dae

mon and Rhaenyra are related and tries to convince the viewers that Rhaenyra discovers her sexuality by way of an almost sexual experience with her uncle.

In the same interview, Sapoch nik said the reasoning for Daemon’s impotence is that he knows what he is doing is wrong. Interesting, given that it doesn’t seem to be a problem for him later on in the show when he marries Rhaenyra and she births their children.

One thing that episode four does well if we, as Sapochnik says “put aside,” the incest of it all, is the re framing of sex in a more positive and less misogynistic light. Women’s bodies are not treated as objects and Rhaenyra has some agency over her sexuality. In the same “Inside the Ep isode” interview segment, Clare Kil ner, who directed episode four, said that “directing scenes like that can be really difficult. … Being a female director, I’ve grown up watching how male directors have directed sex scenes and, as a woman, I have to really think about how to shoot it because my go-to images are ones I grew up with which aren’t necessar ily from a woman’s point of view. … It was really important for it to be a scene where people are equally en joying themselves and freeing them selves from the constraints of the world that they’ve been living in.”

What’s interesting is that cri tique of the fourth episode is mostly missing from other reviews of the show. The New York Times’ recap of the fourth episode touches briefly

on these issues of representation but doesn’t dig deep into the hypocrisy of the plot.

The morning after Rhaenyra’s night out with Daemon, she receives a cup of tea, essentially a Westerosi “Plan B,” from the maester, the cas tle’s healer and scholar. This shows how, ultimately, her body and womb are completely controlled by the realm and the men in her family. However, I enjoyed this touch of real ity that could easily have been over looked. While it was alluded to in the original series, this was the first time contraception really got screen time in the “Game of Thrones” world.

Ultimately, “House of the Drag on” was a very enjoyable watch. It still lends itself to fun escapism into a fantasy world. The show’s nar rower focus on the Targaryen fam ily isn’t as compelling as the scope of the original show and the family melodrama plotlines feel unoriginal at times.

The show delivers moments that harken back to “Game of Thrones,” such as a wedding with a bloody twist and Targaryen women disrupt ing the peace on dragonback. Gratu itous sex is replaced by gratuitous childbirth and the violence remains ever present.

The show had to change with the times and seemingly attempted to take on a feminist perspective.

By “Game of Thrones” standards, it worked, but it didn’t present any new or subversive feminist ideas that haven’t been shown before on television.

from the fire / Slowly gеtting closer / Every moment in thе light is drifting by,” is followed by heavi er, more intense guitar, echoing the anger and pain of the reality of the world that the singer has been ex posed to.

“Snowbank Blues,” the sixth track on the album, also leans into the acoustic sound, with lyrics “There’s a girl from down the road / Sendin’ looks my way / Frankly dear I’m not quite sure” and “I know you had to leave / But you didn’t have the right / To take the Sun / You stole it in my sleep,” communicating that a lover brought light into an otherwise dim, mundane world. Snow acts as a motif for mental illness in this bal lad, as the chorus, “Wish I could roll the windows down / But the snow has swallowed up our little town,” further emphasizes the light that his lover provided. The ninth track, “Know Your Name,” with electric guitar and drums coming in strong and then fading out, appearing once again with the first lyrics, “Para noia is painted on the membrane of my mind / Waitin’ for ya to gather up what’s left and leave me behind / Cause I’m a fallen soldier over and over / I’ve seen it twice before and I’m so afraid to close the door again,” almost seems to respond to the sadness presented in “Snowbank Blues.”

The eighth song on the album, “Slowing Down,” is the best of the album, both in production and lyri cism. Introduced with reverbed gui

tar and drums that join later to cre ate a seemingly sonic orchestration, the first four lyrics, “The sound of laughter / Echoes from a few doors down / The sound of pressure / Is getting louder,” are then followed by “Whisper in my ear / That you need me / But if you saw it clearly / Would you leave me?” As the instruments fade in and out to accompany the lyr ics, the burning desire the singer has for his beloved is apparent, but un derscored by his tendency to over think. In the song’s latter half, the singer proclaims, “I’m honest to you / But I’m lyin’ to myself” and “Peo ple moving faster / Am I the only one that’s slowing down? / Am I slowing you down?” which, when accompa nied by instruments that grow stron ger the more fixated the singer is on his worries, leads perfectly to the assertion, “But if you saw it clearly / You would leave me.” Reassurance of his partner’s love for him is nec essary, as is the guarantee that even if his lover is exposed to the inner workings of the singer’s mind, they won’t leave.

As The Backseat Lovers contin ue to make music based on their own experiences and worries, listeners can find comfort in the authenticity and intimacy that “Waiting to Spill” elicits. Not shying away from depict ing themselves as lovelorn and anx ious young adults who may not feel equipped to enter a world outside the guide and safety of adolescence, this album assures listeners that they are not alone in these worries, as both band and fan navigate the uncertainty of what is ahead.

‘House of the Dragon’ has a strange approach to sex and sexuality, cont’d

Photo courtesy of Keystone Press Agency via Stimson Center

During his portion of the panel, Brian Hioe, associate professor of Asian American studies at SUNY Stony Brook, discussed Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit and its representation of U.S. imperial influence.

Lula’s victory could reverse the trend of Amazon deforestation

since he first took office in January 2019, ultimately hitting “a 12-year high” between August 2019 and July 2020. NBC reported that the presi dent consistently encouraged agri culture and mining operations and reduced funding for environmental protection agencies. Additionally, Reuters described Bolsonaro’s sup port of a bill which would allow min ing for potash on Indigenous lands. For these reasons, Bolsonaro has been blamed for the increase of for est fires in the Amazon. Between the start of his term in 2019 up to 2021, CNN cites that over 33,800 square ki lometers of the rainforest have been lost.

absorb, with the Rainforest Alliance citing that deforestation makes up roughly 10 percent of the world’s to tal carbon emissions.

BY SARAH GRINNELL ’26 STAFF WRITER

On Oct. 30, 2022, Brazilian Pres ident Jair Bolsonaro was ousted by candidate and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in one of the narrowest races in the country’s history, Bloomberg reported. The election has attracted widespread attention from the environmental community — including lobbyists,

politicians and activists — given Bol sonaro’s notorious role in the defor estation of the Amazon rainforest, International Business Times said. Lula’s election has thus led to ten tative hopes for a future of stronger conservation policy in the country.

The Amazon rainforest has suf fered greatly during Bolsonaro’s term. According to CNN, the pres ident attracted global scrutiny for allowing deforestation to increase

As described in an article from the NASA Earth Observatory, the Amazon rainforest poses “clear sig nificance to the planet.” The arti cle explains that the Amazon basin spans at least six million square kilometers, which, as mentioned by a National Geographic article, com prises half of the world’s tropical forests, and therefore plays an inte gral role in the offset of greenhouse gasses.

The rainforest has a major func tion in trapping atmospheric heat, according to the article, as it ac counts for one-quarter of all carbon dioxide on Earth that is absorbed by land. However, this amount has dropped by 30 percent since the 1990s due to rapid deforestation. Ac cording to CNN, deforestation has led forests such as the Amazon to emit more carbon dioxide than they

An article in NewsWeek sug gests that Lula’s victory could mean the curbing of these trends of en vironmental harm. The article de scribes his pledge to “crack down on illegal mining” and reinstitute the Am azon Fund, a “key project supporting the protection of the rainforest” which the Bolsonaro ad ministration had done away with.

In fact, Lula was quoted telling CNN Brasil that “there will be no Amazon deforestation” in his government. According to CNN, during Lula’s previous pres idency from 2002-2010, “deforesta tion shrank 65 [percent].” Reuters further reports that he plans to give official “protected status” to half a million square kilometers of the Am azon, as well as “reform Brazil’s tax code” to foster a greener economy.

position by the Brazilian Congress, which is expected to consist mainly of Bolsonaro’s allies in the future. As Bloomberg pointed out, “the fact that Lula won by the narrowest mar gin in the country’s history shows the deep well of conservative values that pervades Brazilian society.”

The fact that Lula won by the narrowest margin in the country’s history shows the deep well of conservative values that pervades Brazilian society.

Bloomberg says that even despite his loss, Bolsonaro’s “brand of rightwing identity pol itics is now deep ly anchored in Brazil.” There is reason to believe Lula will have difficulty gain ing public favor within certain blocs of voters, mainly including the miners and loggers who benefitted from Bolsonaro’s lax environmental policy, who say their “support here is totally with President Bolsonaro,” Al Jazeera reported.

While the election results are a victory for those wishing to see an end to Bolsonaro’s leadership, a number of challenges still stand in the way of Lula’s mission to recov er the Amazon, the Reuters article warned. According to Reuters, Lu la’s intended environmental negoti ations are expected to face stark op

In his acceptance speech, the newly-elected president said, “when we cut down an ancient tree, we cut down a part of our own lives. My gov ernment will stop the destruction of Amazon entirely. With us, it is safe forever.”

If he can make negotiations with Brazil’s congress and follow through on these pledges, political leaders believe Lula will “give new hope for the Amazonian and global environ ment,” Time reported.

Europe turns to Africa for natural gas amid fossil fuel shortages

BY LILY BENN ’26 STAFF WRITER

Much of Europe is facing a natu ral gas shortage, and will continue to feel the economic and social effects of this shortage through the gas storage refilling period in summer 2023, according to an International Energy Agency article. The article explains that this shortage is due to a halt in pipeline deliveries from Russia. The New York Times report ed that because of this loss, Europe must find new sources of natural gas and oil, and has already begun searching.

Beginning in September, many European leaders have sought Af rican economic and governmental assistance in sourcing natural gas ses. This included the president of Poland meeting with the Senegal government to form new gas deals, according to The New York Times.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also went to Senegal in search of the same thing, telling the German Par liament that there are possibilities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while still working together with countries with new gas field options, The New York Times reported.

Italy has also begun to set up new exports of natural gas from Mozambique directly to Europe through Eni, one of the world’s larg est energy companies.

Many African officials highlight issues with this search for new op portunities by European govern ments. Historically, there has been a rarity of funding from Western gov ernments in renewable energy tran sitions in Africa up until last year, The New York Times reported. Akin wumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, as well as other African leaders, expressed that there is a disparity between the actions of European countries now and their behavior throughout re cent history, and that it took a war “thousands of miles away” to give African countries a place in bar gaining over energy deals, The New York Times said. Amani Abou-Zeid — the African Union’s commission er for energy and infrastructure — stressed that only months ago, Euro pean governments were pressuring the same African countries they are now asking for help with the fossil fuel scarcity to expend less fossil fuels and begin the switch to renew ables. It has been expressed by many of these representatives that the ex pectation to switch to renewable en ergy was not helpful, as Europe has not extended funding to these coun tries, which already contribute little to the world’s fossil fuel emissions, according to The New York Times.

ABC News reported that Euro pean Union governments are push ing for at least a 15 percent reduction

in gas consumption over this coming winter. Europe is a large emitter of greenhouse gas, while a majority of African countries’ — not including the country’s few biggest emitters — combined emission amounts are less than individual contributions from some of Europe’s smaller countries such as Greece, according to The New York Times.

Additionally, if all of Africa’s countries developed their gas re

According

course of action. Additionally many African leaders have expressed that it is economically important, espe cially if European countries want to exploit Africa’s gas reserves, that funding for African gas projects be gins soon, the article said. The ar ticle goes on to explain that these projects need to be mindful and di rected towards African economic development, not simply to satisfy Europe’s fossil fuel needs.

Remains of the first-known Neanderthal family discovered in Siberia

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

On Oct. 19, 2022, a group of re searchers reported finding the re mains of a Neanderthal family — the first discovery of its kind — to the scientific journal Nature. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the re mains were found alongside animal bones and stone tools inside the Ch agyrskaya Cave in Siberia.

The excavated remains consist ing of teeth and bones belonged to 11 Neanderthals who had lived in the cave around the same time, the Smithsonian Magazine stated. The article explained that the discov ery of multiple individuals from the same time period is rare in archae ological sites as old as Chagyrskaya Cave, making the breakthrough an exciting moment for researchers.

Nature explained that DNA analysis revealed that among the excavated group were a father and daughter, as well as two more of their distant relatives. Additionally, a possible set of cousins from another family were among the cave’s inhabitants, the ar ticle said.

Neanderthals lived in what is now Europe and Asia for over 350,000 years, before disappearing with the emergence of homo sapiens, or hu mans, in Europe approximately 40,000 years ago, the Smithsonian

Magazine

The

of researchers

Also

cording to the Smithsonian Maga zine.

Discovery of the family first came about when, in 2020, analy sis of female Neanderthal remains from the Chagyrskaya Cave revealed DNA that was distinct from many previously excavated Neanderthals. Further investigation of the other

remains found in the cave revealed the father and daughter pair, who shared half of their DNA, which was the “surprise of [Skov’s] career,” the Nature article said.

According to the Smithsonian article, the low levels of genetic di versity found among the group re vealed that the Neanderthals lived together in small groups of 10 or 20, but similarities in stone tools found in multiple caves in the area indicate that Neanderthal groups likely in teracted and shared knowledge with each other.

DNA analysis also revealed new information about the Neanderthals’ family dynamics. Observations of mitochondrial DNA — which is passed down from a mother to their children — revealed genetic diver sity that indicated women moved from one cave to the next while men stayed with their clan, the Nature ar ticle reported.

These groundbreaking discov eries into the lives of Neanderthals may be only the tip of the iceberg, the Nature article explained. The ar ticle stated that only one third of the cave has been excavated and a quar ter of the discovered remains have been analyzed.

As research in the cave contin ues, scientists can hope to add more branches to the Neanderthal family tree.

Photo courtesy of Arbyreed via Flickr As Russia threatens to halt its natural gas exports to the EU, European leaders have turned to African countries, such as Senegal, for energy sources. serves, this would only increase their contribution to global fossil fuel gas emissions by 0.5 percent, the article said.

to The New York Times, the Congolese president re ported that the country did not plan to endanger vital environmental sites, but was entitled to using its gas and oil, explaining that the United States and European countries have been historically following this same

reported. The Chagyrska ya Cave remains were determined to be between 50,000 and 60,000 years old, meaning that the group lived to wards the end of the Neanderthals’ time.

group

who discovered the family was led by Laurits Skov, a researcher at the

Max Planck Institute for Evolution ary Anthropology, and population geneticist Benjamin Peter, the Na ture article stated.

among the group was Svante Pääbo, who won the 2022 No bel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on improving methods for extracting Neanderthal DNA ac

Photo courtesy of Jeff Walker via Flickr Newly discovered human remains, animal bones and stone tools tell scientists the story of the first Neanderthal family from around 50,000 years ago.

Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum via Flickr Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s new president, has promised to preserve the Amazon rainforest.

The 2022 midterm elections could be a tipping point

tions of power and peaceful protest have materialized. The recent outcry against the United States govern ment demonstrates that more people feel that the system is dysfunctional, which only serves to show that criti cal concern and consolidated efforts to restore democracy only occur when more people, such as white, cisgender, heterosexual or able-bod ied people who have historically not been oppressed, feel threatened.

Per a CNN Politics article, prominent political figures, most notably President Joe Biden and former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, traveled to criti cal battleground states ahead of the 2022 midterms to galvanize support for their respective candidates.

As the article reports, these three figures all made appearances in Pennsylvania at the beginning of November due to the momentous weight that the state senate race there holds. Candidate John Fetter man, championed largely by demo crats, confronted the Trump-backed GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. Ac cording to a Nov. 9 article by NBC, Fetterman is the projected winner of the state senate race, flipping the seat from Republican to Democrat. Fetterman has since been named senator-elect, The New York Times reported.

claims — his re-election would pose a significant threat to the future of American democracy.

Ahead of the midterm elections, reporters surveyed the activity of voters. Jordan Klepper, a left-leaning reporter who uses satirical means to expose GOP hypocrisy, conveyed the continued influence of Trump on the GOP through recent interviews with Trump’s supporters. Klepper’s most recent installment of “Jordan Klep per Fingers the Pulse,” titled “Jor dan Klepper Fingers the Midterms — America Unfollows Democracy,” was posted on Youtube by The Dai ly Show with Trevor Noah channel at the beginning of November 2022. In it, he travels to Arizona, Pennsyl vania and Michigan to talk to GOP voters about their ideas concerning the electoral process, transition of power and state of democracy.

Klepper explains the danger of election denialism when he states, “It’s not that MAGA [Make America Great Again] supporters are the ma jority. It’s that they refuse to believe they may not be.” He highlights the delusion that election deniers have fallen into due to the demagoguery of Trump and his way of fabricating election fraud evidence to persuade his audience.

BY SILAS GEMMA ’26 STAFF WRITER

With the midterm elections held on Nov. 8, 2022, there is a rising con cern about how the results will fore cast or even determine the future of democracy in the United States. Ac cording to an article by the U.S. Em bassy & Consulates in Italy, the mid term elections decide the future of all members of the federal House of Representatives since each of them only hold two-year terms. Mean while, only around a third of federal Senate seats are on the ballot. Addi tionally, the article points out that some state and local elections are playing out concurrently.

Although neither Biden nor Trump was on the ballot on Nov. 8, the outcomes of the midterms are crucial for gauging their influence as well as the future party dynamics of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The dissemination of conspiracy theories — particular ly those related to unfounded 2020 election fraud claims — as well as an overall mistrust in the electoral system augur a dim future for de mocracy.

Trump claimed that the election results were not valid and pursued various lawsuits to no avail. The arti cle firmly states that there is no data to substantiate Trump’s claims that Biden was not the rightful winner of the election.

The current claims that voting practices such as absentee ballots or early voting are fraudulent further represent an attack on democracy.

According to The Brookings Insti tution, the surge in COVID-19 cases during the 2020 presidential election led to a record reception of mail-in or absentee ballots. The Brookings Institution article reports that since the majority of in-person voters were republicans and the majority of mail-in voters were democrats, some of the claims of fraud promot ed by GOP figures such as Trump were fueled by the way in which the ballots were counted. That is, in-person ballots were counted first, making it seem deceptive when democratic votes suddenly began to be counted, flipping the results. The same article lays out some of the ob jectives of “election deniers,” which include abolishing absentee voting, early voting, which is voting prior to election day and “drop-boxes,” or the place where many mail-in ballots are placed.

the spread of these theories did not mark the beginning of democracy’s decline. A University of Rochester article, which details interviews conducted with three political sci ence professors at the university, demonstrates that political “hyper polarization” has brought about the dissolution of democracy. One of the professors, Gerald Gamm, traced the beginning of the stark partisan ism we see today to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Gamm stat ed that polarization has increased as topics such as women’s rights, gay rights and abortion rights have be come more discretely divided along party lines. The Pew Research Cen ter exemplifies this solidifying parti san division through a recent study indicating that Congress members of both primary parties, Republican and Democrat, have shifted further away from the center of the political spectrum in the past 50 years. This demonstrates why Congress often votes strictly along party lines, stall ing legislation and determining the success of a presidential administra tion’s objectives.

The distribution of the Senate is also contingent on the midterm results in Georgia, a battleground state. As Politico reports, on Nov. 9, it was announced that the Senate race between Democratic candidate Ra phael Warnock and Republican can didate Herschel Walker would enter a run-off. This article explains that this will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 6, and is the procedure when neither of the candidates garners more than 50 percent of the vote.

Another NBC article reports that when speaking publicly about pursuing re-election, Biden has gen erally demurred, although he more definitively expressed a desire to run during an interview with Rever end Al Sharpton in September 2022. This comes as many are anticipating Trump’s official announcement as to whether he will seek a second term. The previously mentioned CNN ar ticle reports that Trump’s decision will be an incentivizing factor as to whether Biden will run for another term, although officials of the Biden administration are already prepar ing for a re-election campaign under the assumption that it will be pur sued.

In an interview with a supporter of Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, Klepper discusses the possibility of Mastria no’s defeat, to which the supporter replies that he will not believe the results if they are not in Mastriano’s favor. A core tenet of democracy is election security, but there can be no security without belief in the validi ty of results. Americans, particular ly GOP voters, will now only believe in the credibility of an election result if their preferred candidate wins.

With the arrival of the midterms, questions about the future of democ racy are topical and valid. Democ racy has never been guaranteed for all. Its erosion began long before the current battles over voting rights or peaceful transitions of power. How ever, the core foundation of Amer ican democracy, even if it has not been much more than a mirage since its establishment, is crumbling. The midterms are a turning point for the future of the American political landscape.

It must be acknowledged that

It is important to remember that democracy has never been egalitar ian. Instead, more overt and publi cized contradictions to core values of democracy, such as trust in the electoral process, peaceful transi

A British Broadcasting Corpo ration article reports that Trump announced at a recent Iowa rally that he will “very, very, very proba bly [run for the presidency] again.” Considering the GOP reaction to the 2020 election — largely fueled by Trump’s exhortation and groundless

With the arrival of the midterms, questions about the future of democ racy are topical and valid. Democ racy has never been guaranteed for all. Its erosion began long before the current battles over voting rights or peaceful transitions of power. How ever, the core foundation of Amer ican democracy, even if it has not been much more than a mirage since its establishment, is crumbling. The midterms are a turning point for the future of the American political landscape.

Opinions on Marxism are shaped by common misconceptions

BY HOPE FRANCES SIMPSON ’24 STAFF WRITER

According to a Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc es article, after the November 2020 election, former President Donald During Christmas of 2016, I started talking politics with my un cle. During our conversation, he expressed how he thought Senator Bernie Sanders was a communist. To be clear, Sanders is not a commu nist. As per The Atlantic, Sanders is a social democrat, which cannot be used interchangeably with the title of communist. Calling politicians like Sanders a communist only acts to spread misinformation and in crease fear in people, especially the more conservatively minded, around left-wing politics.

I have often encountered mis understandings of communism, like with my uncle, by the general public. However, going to an institution like Mount Holyoke allows students like myself to learn about Marxism and communism beyond the way it is de fined by popular American culture and beyond general misconceptions and fears regarding its place in cur rent politics.

According to The Center for European Studies at The Universi ty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “communism,” as defined by Karl Marx in the “The Communist Man ifesto,” advocates for “a society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor equally, and eliminates the class system through redistribution of on income.” It is an economic and political theory of collective owner ship over the means of production.

Furthermore, Kenneth H. Tucker, Helen P. Bibbero Professor of So

ciology at Mount Holyoke College emphasized that the kinds of com munism espoused by communist leaders like Stalin and Mao used aspects of Marxist theory in their regimes, however they did not adopt every aspect of Marx’s ideas.

In the United States today, in 2022, there is no longer a fear of Soviet missiles like during the Cold War era, but people are still afraid of com munism. In a New York Post article, Amy Phan West said “Our country is in the beginning stage of commu nism.” She cited “lockdowns, free speech suppression and hypocrisy among elected leaders” as examples of this and what she called “authori tarianism” in the U.S. These types of views are an example of how people in the U.S. still see communism as a threat even since the end of the Cold War.

Some cours es at Mount Holyoke College educate students on Karl Marx, Marxism and communism in a way that challenges the dominant misconceptions that I have encoun tered. For instance, I came to Mount Holyoke having only read “The Communist Manifesto,” but with little knowledge of Marx’s theories otherwise. In sociology classes at Mount Holyoke, I learned more crit ically about Marx’s theory behind why he felt Marxist communism was the ideal economic system. For me

this showed that communism is not one-dimensional, but a full-fledged ideology made up of both good and bad ideas that cannot be used flip pantly in current politics to encour age fear.

In sociology classes at Mount Holyoke, I learned more critically about Marx’s theory behind why he felt Marxist communism was the ideal economic system.

Kim Kindred FP ’24 had a simi lar experience. She said that when she was in high school she was told, “Karl Marx created communism [and that] … communism is bad.” Kindred discussed her trajectory with her understanding of commu nism and Marxism. She entered Mount Holyoke with a limited knowl edge, whereas now, at Mount Holy oke, Kindred said Marx piqued her interest because it felt important to learn about his ideology even if she did not agree with it. For example, she stated that she wanted to take “Soci-223” to understand Marx better. “I knew I’d never read any of his literature on my own, she said” Herein, she has understood more about how Marx ism figures into society structures, irrespective of whether she agrees or disagrees with it.

Along with her experience with communism and Marxism at Mount Holyoke, Kindred discussed its per ception outside this setting. She pointed out how she grew up during the time of the Cold War, discussing the fear around communism pres ent at this time in the United States.

That fear still exists today but the way it is espoused has taken on a dif ferent form. It is used as a dog whis tle to scare people away from certain ideas that are associated with it, as seen in the case of my uncle talking about Sanders. This thinking re flects a limited understanding on the subject.

Critically understanding Marx ism is important for modern politics. According to Tucker, “Marx [was] a critic of too much of the extreme economic inequalities in our society today.” Ideas of communism coming back are seen in the push for more socialized health care over the past decade. However this is not quite the same as pushing for communism al together, rather adopting certain as pects of Marxist ideology.

Kindred also explained, “Grow

ing up in the religion I was in, we were told to [have] nothing to do with politics.” A position such as this puts people in a position to fall for the fear tactics around commu nism. Kindred chose to educate her self more deeply on politics at Mount Holyoke. “I’m not going to vote if I don’t understand what’s going on,” she stated. Kindred wanted to vote, so she chose to learn.

Kindred was in a unique position where she lacked previous knowl edge when she first began studying politics at Mount Holyoke. She had to learn about the United States po litical system as an adult, so she had more critical thinking skills. This sort of position gave Kindred a more objective view of Marxism because while she grew up hearing about communism as a bad thing, she was without the context as to why.

Here at Mount Holyoke, students have the opportunity to learn about Marx from an academic perspective, contrasting to how he is portrayed otherwise in the United States, where Marx is framed as a boogey man, especially by conservatives. However, when you come to under stand his ideas, even just the basics as described by Tucker, Marxism begins to have some appeal because it was arguably directed, by Marx, at the working class. I am not endors ing that Marxism is bad or good, rather it is an ideology with pros and cons. One that we are encouraged to learn about at Mount Holyoke, but it is best to remember that not all of greater society gets that opportuni ty.

Photo courtesy of Matt H. Wade via Wikimedia Commons

The Nov. 8, 2022, midterm elections in the United States highlight the stark political polarization and dissolution of democracy threatening America.

Graphic by Natasha Nagarajan ’26

f HOROSCOPES f

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21

The clock doesn’t stop, no matter the time. Slow down, no matter how long. Don’t be afraid to give yourself what you deserve.

Do: Gifts | Don’t: Ink

Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

The weather is beginning to change. This is an exciting time for you. You thrive when you freeze. Expand your horizons like you know how.

Do: Blaze | Don’t: Orange

Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

You have so much more to learn, even about yourself. You can take your time with the process. Be gentle.

Do: Risk | Don’t: Boxes

Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Your hair is all done up. The wind likes to undo it, but you aren’t bothered. This is one of the many ways you know you’re free. Don’t give that up for anything.

Do: Gender Euphoric Bliss | Don’t: Abandon ship

Feb. 19 – March 20

You don’t need to see to believe. Some times things are moving behind the scenes. Faith will guide you. This is im portant for your growth.

Do: Soccer | Don’t: Flow

March 21 – April 19

Turn the tables this week. Set the table too! Don’t forget the napkins. Is there someone you’re forgetting?

Do: Gracious| Don’t: Loathe

Mount Holyoke

Interest

April 20 – May 20

Stop right now. Put it down. Turn it off. Let it go.

Do: Listen | Don’t: Overthink

May 21 – June 20

The water is warmer than the air when the sun sets. Things may not be how they appear. Don’t be afraid to adventure in the dark.

Do: Grease | Don’t: Isopropyl Alcohol

June 21 – July 22

Are you sure this is what you want? Don’t settle. You deserve the best, and it will come in time.

Do: Storm hunt | Don’t: Daydream

July 23 – Aug. 22

Trust is something you don’t always need to earn. Accept from others what you don’t always accept from yourself.

Do: Blue | Don’t: Length

Aug. 23 – Sept. 22

Are you a meme? Is that good or bad? We all know the answer, but do you?

Do: Leave | Don’t: Straws

Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

The waves are rough, but they can carry you somewhere new. Don’t let change in timidate you. Watch out for a butterfly.

Do: Sky | Don’t: Pins

Mount Holyoke News

Wang ’25, Lily Hoffman Strick ler ’23, Thao Le ’25, Sophie Simon ’25 & Ramisa Tahsin Rahman ’25

Publication Guidelines

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

Letters Policy

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

Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster merger blocked by judge, cont’d

have reduced competition, … di minished the breadth, depth and di versity of our stories and ideas and ultimately impoverished our democ racy.”

The decision is also seen as a victory for the Biden administration, which has taken a much more ag gressive stance on antitrust protec tions than any presidential adminis tration in the recent past, The New York Times reported.

Authors also celebrated the rul ing Most prominently, renowned horror author Stephen King testified on behalf of the U.S. government last year and said in an interview with The New York Times that “further consolidation would cause slow but steady damage to writers, readers, independent booksellers and small publishing companies.”

While the ruling is widely seen as a victory for writers and publish ers, the future of the company and the industry as a whole remains un certain. The publishing industry has gone through a significant number of mergers and acquisitions in re cent years, including Penguin Ran dom House itself, which combined publishing giants Penguin and Ran dom House in 2013, The Guardian reported.

Penguin Random House immedi ately denounced the ruling and is ex pected to seek an expedited appeal, but such an appeal would involve extending the current deal with Par amount Global, the parent company of Simon & Schuster, according to NPR. If the deal falls through or an agreement is not reached, Penguin Random House will owe Paramount Global $200 million. A plan for the appeal has not yet been released to the public.

Event Highlights

Saturday, Nov. 12

Victory Eights 80th Reunion Concert

Join V8s, new and old, for their 80th reunion weekend concert.

Chapin Auditorium 8 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 12

Taylor Swift Night

This event is a fundraiser to donate to the I-Care Foundation to support Pakistan during the monsoon season. Tickets are nonrefund able. There will be a photo booth area, Taylor Swift stickers to take and more! Masks are strongly encouraged.

Community Center - Great Room 10 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 13

Deconstructing and Decolonizing Wellness Fair

Come and learn more about wellness practices around the world. There will be pastries from different cultures and countries, drinks, games, a photo-booth, face-paint and giveaways.

Multiple activities and stands will be operated by peer-health educa tors and cultural/religious/general organizations.

Community Center - Great Room 1:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 13

Make Your Own Pronoun Pin!

Join Gender+ at Fimbel Lab to create your own pronoun pin to kick off Trans Awareness Week. All materials will be provided.

Fimbel Lab 4:30 p.m.

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

Students read at Good/Evil open mic Publishing merger blocked

BY EMMA PLATT ’26 STAFF WRITER

Electric candles strewn throughout Abbey Memorial Chap el set the mood for the Good/Evil Open Mic hosted by the Mount Holyoke Review and Department of English . On the night of Thursday, Nov. 3, writers and audience mem bers filled the pews.

After some chatter among the crowd, the lights went down and one of the open mic’s emcees, Edi tor-in-chief Rebecca Kilroy ’23, en tered the stage to begin the event.

Kilroy introduced the concept of the evening and read her own work be fore welcoming the next reader on stage. Readings ranged from prose and poetry to the translation of An cient Greek epic poems.

Many works followed a theme of religion, particularly of the Abra hamic figure Eve eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the book of Genesis. One such work was written by Jeremiah Karass FP ’23, who said: “My piec es are inspired by a book that I am writing of characters from mythol ogy or history who were transsex ual or intersex, so the pieces that I wrote were about Satan, who John Milton says is intersex, and Elagab alus, who is a Roman emperor who identified … as a transsexual wom an in Ancient Rome.”

“I think that it’s a fun opportu nity to play with [religion] and also because of Good/Evil, that’s such a [religiously] rooted dichotomy,” co-emcee and Editor-in-chief Kylie Gellatly FP ’23 commented. “It was definitely in the ethos of the thing.”

Both Kilroy and Gellatly agreed that the venue played a part in the religious themes as well. Kilroy commented that the hosts of the event “were very excited to have gotten this venue. … From the very start of the concept, we were like, ‘What if we held an open mic night in the chapel?’”

The themes varied far beyond religion, however. The theme of Good/Evil was addressed through many different lenses, from vi gnettes to short stories to poetry,

with stories told in the first person and in the third. “We’re just stag gered by the talent and the variety that people brought tonight,” Kilroy commented. “We’re really pleased with the amount of people who showed up willing to be vulnerable and brave and read.”

Embry O’Leary FP ’23 inter preted the theme in a different way: “My middle name is legally Val entino — I got that name from Cesare Borgia, the infamous historical figure — and I have a bunch of pop cul ture references just littered in my work, so it’s kind of a space of gender envy and a collection of names and inspirations and trying to make that into something mildly sensical for the rest of the world.”

ed.

In regards to why they had cho sen the theme Good/Evil, Kilroy said, “Last spring semester, we held an event on Valentine’s Day — the Love/Hate Open Mic — and it was [widely] attended and got a really incredible reaction from the student body, so when we were brainstorm ing events for the fall, we were like, ‘What can we do that plays with di chotomy?’”

Gellatly added that she and Kilroy had also thought about the seasons when coming up with the theme. “[We] thought about the time of year — the season change and Halloween and this sort of darkness to light. We were think ing dark/light, and then … good and evil,” Gellatly said.

We’re just staggered by the talent and the variety that people brought tonight. We’re really pleased with the amount of people who showed up willing to be vulnerable and brave and read.

– Rebecca Kilroy

Other themes throughout the night included Greek mythology, a forest infested with something evil, an ancient monster and more. “The theme was really adhered to, but in such wildly different ways and it was so exciting,” Gellatly comment

Positive chatter filled the room as people left their seats. Hannah Kocsmiersky ’26 commented that “It was very cool to hear everyone’s work.” Students will have other opportunities to read their work to the Mount Holyoke community throughout the academic year. “We host events similar to this once a se mester, Good/Evil and Love/Hate, … and the creative writing depart ment also has at least one open mic night a semester. So between all of these amalgam ated groups, we end up having two or three open mic nights on campus every semester,” Kil roy explained. This is not just open to En glish students. “We try to reach out beyond [the Mount Holyoke Review], be yond the English department, and we try to get the word out so that people who might not regularly be in English classes but write for fun can have a chance to engage in that community,” Gellatly said.

No matter your major, you are welcome to read your work at the next open mic night, Love/Hate, which is scheduled for Feb. 14.

BY OLIVIA WILSON ’24 BOOKS EDITOR

A judge for the U.S. District Court recently blocked publishing juggernaut Penguin Random House from acquiring rival publishing house Simon & Schuster in a merg er that reportedly would have been worth 2.2 billion dollars, National Public Radio reported. This merg er would have further reduced the number of major publishing houses from five down to only four, Publish ers Weekly reported. Judge Flor ence Y. Pan presided over the case and gave her decision last Monday, Oct. 31. According to an article by NPR, the entirety of her reasoning for the decision is not yet available to the public due to “highly confi dential” information. Pan has asked the two sides to meet with her to dis cuss redactions.

The decision came after a three week-long court battle in August involving testimony from the gov ernment, Penguin Random House and other authors, NPR reported. The lawsuit was initiated in Novem ber 2021 and Monday’s ruling was marked as a major victory for The U.S. Department of Justice, which sued the company on the grounds that the proposed deal violated “The Antitrust Division’s Hori

zontal Merger Guidelines” which protects the buyers and sellers of goods and services, according to the department website. Relevant here, it promises authors competition for their books to ensure that they are fairly compensated for their work.

During the trial, Pan questioned whether Penguin Random House could feasibly claim that the deci sion would not disadvantage au thors, NPR reported. While Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle stated that the merger would still allow for competition between Si mon & Schuster and its new parent company over the publishing of new work, he admitted when pressed under oath that the agreement was not “legally binding” and there was a possibility that competition would be taken away, according to NPR coverage.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice De partment’s Antitrust Division cel ebrated the decision, citing it as “a victory for authors, readers and the free exchange of ideas” according to a statement released by the Justice Department following the decision. He further elaborated by saying that “the proposed merger would

Mount Holyoke Fencing competes in fall invitational ‘The Big One’

BY LAUREN LEESE ’23 STAFF WRITER

Mount Holyoke Fencing compet ed in “The Big One” 2022 Fall Invita tional on Saturday, Nov. 5. The invi tational, hosted by the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference, consisted entirely of individual events, with each fencer represent ing a member institution.

The Mount Holyoke team con sisted of foil fencers Halina Smolen ’26, Cat Dippell ’25 and Liv Evans ’26, saber fencers Eli Gerbi ’25, Danyah Shaikh ’25, Qiao Se Ong ’25, Imari Williams ’26 and Kate Koenig ’26 and épée fencer Ruth Pellegrino ’24.

In foil, Smolen led Mount Holy oke’s team, placing 22nd out of 57 foil fencers. Dippell came in 42nd, and Evans tied with two other foil fenc

ers for 50th place. Gerbi and Shaikh came 27th and 28th respectively out of 47 saber fencers, with Ong taking 40th, Williams taking 41st and Koe nig finishing in 43rd. Mount Holy oke’s lone épée fencer, Pellegrino, came 45th out of 53 competitors in that category.

Ong described the atmosphere of competing in “The Big One.” “It wasn’t as daunting as I expected it to be considering it was the biggest tournament of the fall season,” she said. “We got to meet many return ing competitors, and fencing new people for the first time is always fun as well.”

Despite having to fit the compe tition in around a packed week of academic commitments, Ong high lighted her happiness at returning to competition. “I felt like I could have

done better than I actually did, but I attribute this to it being a pretty hec tic week all around,” Ong said. “I still enjoyed myself, though. I was happy to fence competitively again.”

Dippell spoke about the experi ence of competing in her first “Big One.” “I was able to get some smart and hard-won touches. Even in bouts I lost, that made me proud of how I’ve progressed,” she said. “I’m ex tremely proud of all the new mem bers of the club that came to fence at ‘[The] Big One’ — they all worked incredibly hard and did so well.”

The NEIFC Championships will take place at Wellesley College on Feb. 25, 2023.

Editor’s note: Kate Koenig ’26 is a staff member of Mount Holyoke News.

Racial gaps in Title IX persist, putting female athletes of color at a disadvantage

BY GENEVIEVE ZAHNER ’26 STAFF WRITER

Since 1972, women and girls have been given equal opportunities in education and federally-funded pro grams thanks to Title IX of the Ed ucation Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational settings, according to the U.S. Department of Educa tion. More women are now allowed into spaces previously dominated by men, such as higher education and sports. Despite Title IX’s 50th anni versary being celebrated this year, white women remain the biggest beneficiaries of representation in sports, leaving women of color with a disadvantage when seeking oppor tunities for sports participation.

The New York Times reported that Black women are heavily under represented in college sports, mak ing up 11 percent of college athletes across all three divisions during the 2020-2021 school year. This concen tration of Black female athletes was mostly split into two sports: track and field and basketball. Black wom en made up 20 percent of female ath letes in track and field, while in bas ketball they made up 30 percent of female athletes, the source reported.

The New York Times reported that the wide racial gap in sports is due to several issues. For one, there are more sports opportunities for women and girls in schools with a majority-white student popula tion compared to schools with the majority being students of color. According to a study conducted in March 2022 by the National Wom en’s Law Center, schools with a stu dent population that was at least 90 percent white had more than twice as many athletic opportunities as schools whose student body was 90 percent nonwhite. The New York Times also reported that girls of col or often grow up in school districts where there are fewer opportunities for sports, regardless of their socio economic status. Additionally, The Women’s Sports Foundation report ed that African American girls are more likely to attend schools with higher poverty rates, which leads to limited access to resources such as gyms, fields, coaches and sports pro grams.

Another potential reason that there are fewer women of color participating in sports is financial accessibility. Women of color have more representation in sports with a lower entry cost, such as track and

field, as opposed to sports that tend to be more expensive, like horseback riding, Associated Press News re ported.

Parental financial support is also a factor in the low participation rates. 33 percent of African Ameri can parents have had to either pull their daughters out of sports or re frain from letting them begin at all

because of financial inaccessibility.

Only 18 percent of white parents have had to resort to the same ac tions, as reported by The Women’s Sports Foundation.

Furthermore, The New York Times reported that at most five percent of Black female athletes are on softball, swimming, golf, soc cer or tennis teams. In spite of this,

athletes such as Naomi Osaka, Ser ena Williams and Simone Biles have become prominent figures in sports. They are helping to break barriers created by Title IX’s lack of racial in clusion and encourage younger girls of color to participate in sports.

Female athletes of color are not explicitly protected by law in Title IX, which has led to major racial gaps in sports. The disparity starts with inaccessible youth-sports orga nizations for young female athletes of color, which puts them at a disad vantage for the rest of their time in the sport.

Despite the disproportionate op portunities, some prominent athlet ic administrators think that today’s increasing conversations about em powerment and representation will help garner opportunities for female athletes of color. As reported by The New York Times, Ketra Armstrong, director of diversity, equity and inclusion and sport management professor at the University of Mich igan, cited her admiration for Black female athletes like Osaka, Williams and Biles.

“When I was growing up, you didn’t see that. And we often say you can’t be what you can’t see,” Arm strong told The New York Times.

Photo courtesy of Agência Brasil Fotografias via Wikimedia Commons Simone Biles overcame barriers in sports despite Title IX’s lack of protection for women of color.

Photo by Bryn Healy ’24

Rebecca Kilroy ’23 reads her original poetry.

Photo courtesy of ajay_suresh via Flickr Above, the outside of Simon & Schuster, which will not be acquired by Penguin Random House.

Photo courtesy of Maya Frey ’23

Qiao Se Ong ’25, above, fenced an opponent in a sabre direct elimination bout at “The Big One.”