Volume 103 Issue 18

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 103, Issue 18

TheFordhamRam.com

November 10, 2021

Fordham Says “No” to Scooters

Authors Honored at Sperber Ceremony

By DYLAN BALSAMO

By PAOLA GALIANO

MANAGING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fordham Public Safety, in coordination with the Office of Student Affairs, placed “No Scooters Allowed” signs placed at the entrances of all of Rose Hill's academic buildings, in addition to the McGinley Center, Rose Hill Gym and Walsh Library earlier in the fall semester.

These signs are in reference to the motorized scooters many Fordham students use to ride around campus.

In recent years, the sight of students riding around on these scooters has become a staple during a typical day at Rose Hill.

It is only recently, however, that administrative efforts at the university have included regulation of the use of these scooters, including restricting their use in buildings across campus.

Robert Fitzer, director of Public Safety for both Fordham’s Rose Hill and Westchester campuses, said these signs placed in academic and communal student spaces are meant to quell grievances regarding the space that the motorized scooters were taking

On Nov. 4, Fordham hosted the virtual 2021 Sperber Book Prize ceremony that featured a talk by each of the two winners. Kerri K. Greenidge, Ph.D., a professor at Tufts University, was a recipient of the prize for her book “Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter,” and Lesley M. Blume, a journalist, won for her book “Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World.”

Fordham University annually awards the Sperber Book Prize to honor the life of author Ann M. Sperber. Sperber was an American author best known for her biography of renowned journalist Edward R. Murrow, a work that was praised by readers for its attention to detail and as meticulous research.

Sperber was born in Vienna, Austria, and came to the United States at four years old to escape the Nazi-controlled territory. After graduating from Barnard College, she conducted the beginnings of her research on Murrow in Germany while she was a Fulbright scholar.

Sperber died at 58 years old, leading her mother, Liselotte Sperber, to establish the Ann M. Sperber Prize at Fordham University.

Sperber’s book, “Murrow: His Life and Times,” was published in the University Press, drawing the Sperber family to establish a prize that would honor Sperber’s life and career: the work of journalists. The Sperber prize honors journalists — the award going to an autobiography or memoir by a journalist, or a biography of a journalist.

In opening remarks by Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, he said that the Sperber Book Prize has “become one of the most coveted prizes in journalism.”

SEE SCOOTER, PAGE 3

ISABEL DANZIS / THE FORDHAM RAM

The Week of Action consists of programming put on by USG’s CSM that aims to help surviors of sexual misconduct.

Fordham’s CSM Celebrates Its Semesterly Week of Action

By ISABEL DANZIS

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

United Student Government’s Committee on Sexual Misconduct (CSM) hosted their semesterly Week of Action last week.

The Week of Action is a weeklong event of programming focused on educating people about

sexual misconduct as well as empowering and supporting survivors.

This semester, the programming ranged from self-defense classes to a “Candy and Consent” tabling event.

While the Week of Action has gone on for many years, there were some notable new additions.

“This year we introduced a brandnew event: the ‘Why I Didn't Report’

presentation and discussion,” said Farah Elrakhawi, FCRH ’24, the chair of the Committee on Sexual Misconduct. “While some events have certainly become integral parts of our committee’s programming, I always think diversifying the conversation is valuable.”

SEE CSM, PAGE 4

Students Pursue Writing Goals

By JULIANNA MORALES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

Fordham students have spent their free hours flirting anonymously via a new Instagram page dedicated to romance.

“Fordham Flirts” Account Encourages Campus Romances

By SAMANTHA MINEAR CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Meme accounts are common with the student body at Fordham University. @fordumbuniversity and @fordhamaffirmations are two accounts that have amassed

thousands of followers from funny, witty posts.

In the recent semester, the Instagram account @fordham_flirts has taken Fordham University by storm. With 132 posts and roughly 1,600 followers in almost two

months, it has become a fan favorite on both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses.

The account functions through its inimitable anonymity. Students can submit their words of admiration for their peers through an anonymous SEE FLIRTS, PAGE 5

It’s time to start writing — November is National Novel Writing Month. According to the NaNoWriMo organization’s website, National Novel Writing Month was first introduced in 1999 as a challenge to write 50,000 words within the month.

NaNoWriMo is best known for this yearly initiative, but the organization is responsible for much more. Since 2006, it has been a nonprofit that works to support education and fluency in writing, as well as acting as “a social network for writers like LinkedIn is for job professionals.”

Over 900 program volunteers around the world collaborate with communities to plan writing sessions. Last year, 552,335 writers participated in NaNoWriMo programs, SEE NOVEL, PAGE 5

SEE BOOKS, PAGE 4

in this issue

Opinion

Page 9

Supreme Court Reviews Second Amendment

Sports

Page 20

Men's Basketball Starts New Chapter With a Win

Culture

Page 11

Fordham Dance Clubs Host Open Classes for All

NEWS

Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS November 2 Salice-Conley Hall 1:15 a.m.

A security office notified Public Safety that a non-affiliated male was attempting to enter Salice-Conley Hall using the ID card of another student. A female student swiped her ID card to enter the building.

She was with a male who swiped an ID card and the guard identified that the male student was not the same student on the ID card. The guard confiscated the ID. November 3 Campbell Hall 6:20 p.m.

A student reported to Public Safety that she was stuck in an elevator. The female was not identified and had left the building by the time Public Safety arrived on the scene.

Elevator #1 in Tower 1 was identified as the broken elevator. The elevator was placed out of service.

November 5 E 189 Street 11:00 a.m.

A student reported a man bumped into him and dropped a bag of food on the floor. He then told the student that he should pay for the food that fell on the floor. The student refused and fled while the male shouted profanities at him.

November 6 496 E 189 Street 2:10 a.m.

A student reported that property was stolen from her parked vehicle.

She reported that at 2:00 a.m. she had parked her vehicle. When she returned to her vehicle at 4:00 p.m. she noticed items were missing. She reported that she did not lock her vehicle and there was no damage to her vehicle. The student called 911 to have the NYPD respond, and is currently awaiting their response.

Fordham FUSE Hosts Annual Diwali Festival of Lights Event

By MICHELA FAHY By SEBASTIANWRITER DIAZ CONTRIBUTING

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

On Friday, Sept. 5, Fordham University’s South Asian Entity (FUSE), decorated the front of Keating Hall with electric candles and string lights, turning it into a Festival of Lights in celebration of Diwali.

The event featured performances by Fordham Falak, the university’s Bollywood dance team, and Candela Latina, a Fordham-based Latinx dance group.

The event started with a checkin registration for everyone who had RSVP’d. According to an Instagram post following up on the event, almost 200 people attended the event. Shahidah Khanom, FCRH ’22, the president of FUSE, said she was excited about the number of attendees.

“I’m a little awestruck by the turnout,” Khanom said. “In my four years at Fordham, our turnout for Diwali hasn’t been that big! It’s nice to see that our club is becoming known and that we are able to spread our culture and traditions to the Fordham Family.”

Being able to share cultural celebrations with the Fordham community is a major principle held

by FUSE, explained Khanom.

“It’s important that Diwali and other south Asian cultural and religious holidays are celebrated on campus because we do have a growing Asian community on campus,” said Khanom. “We want them to feel like Fordham is their home away from home, and we do that by hosting events that we celebrate in our own homes.”

Later in the night, after speakers from FUSE’s board intro-

SEBASTIAN DIAZ / THE FORDHAM RAM

FUSE decorated the steps of Keating Hall with plant hangers, string lights and plastic candles lining the entrance.

duced the event, Fordham Falak and Candela Latina performed dance routines to an audience of event attendees. The dances were followed by a candlelight ceremony on Keating Steps.

The Fordham Falak provided a statement as a club to the Ram via their Instagram account about their involvement in the Diwali event, stating: “Our team is honored to have been given the opportunity to perform at an event that means so much to many students’ culture. We truly cherish being able to showcase our hard work throughout the semester and perform to bring our diverse Fordham community together for Diwali. We hope to continue to celebrate each other and all of our different cultures, through our love for dance.”

Follow us on Twitter! @TheFordhamRam

November 10, 2021

SEBASTIAN DIAZ / THE FORDHAM RAM

Food and drink were both provided to all attending students free of charge.

Candela Latina also provided a club comment from their Instagram account about being able to perform at Diwali: “We loved to have the two different cultures come together and show the similarities while also celebrating the differences,” they wrote. “We thank FUSE for inviting us to the event and we look forward to future collaborations with them as well as the Falak team!”

With FUSE hosting this event annually, the organizational process was a familiar one. Khanom said the event came together without many problems. “We had requested the event a month in advance, but a lot of the organizing and catering happened two weeks in advance,” said Khanom. “Usually, I call about the food a week and a half before just to get pricing, and then, closer to the date, I put catering orders in.

Outreach for collaboration for the event happened a month in advance.”

The Diwali Festival of Lights event was also a collaboration with a number of other organizations, including Fordham Office of Multicultural Affairs, Desi CHAI (Fordham Lincoln Center’s Desi Club), the Gabelli School’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Advisory Board and Fordham Asian American & Pacific Islander Committee.

Diwali is a religious celebration important to Hindu cul-

ture, a festival of lights that is celebrated by millions of people across the world. However, the significance of Diwali can vary across different Hindu communities.

In an essay on the Diwali celebration, Vasudha Narayanan, Ph.D., describes the common themes shared during the festival: “All the stories associated with [Diwali] speak of the joy connected with the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and goodness over evil… No matter which narrative Hindus associate with Diwali and which customs they practice, it is always a happy, joyous holiday filled with light, with family and friends and with goodness.”

Diwali will not be the last celebration hosted by FUSE, said Khanom. “FUSE is super excited to host more events that bring our South Asian Culture to the Fordham community,” Khanom said. “We want to not only create a home away from home but spread cultural awareness and we want to give back to the surrounding Bronx community. We do that by catering from local businesses and helping raise money during charity weeks with other cultural clubs on campus. A goal of ours is to create a space where not only our culture is celebrated, but the many others that are present on our Fordham campus.”

This Week at Fordham Wednesday Nov. 10

Wednesday Nov. 10

Thursday Nov. 11

Friday Nov. 12

Saturday Nov. 13

Out of the Shadows: The Next Cyberthreats

Fordham Theatre: The Drag

St. Jude’s National Registration

Fordham MSA Jummah Prayer

Fordham ACE Koreatown Food Outing

The Fordham University Theatre Program presents “The Drag,” a story about a closeted gay man who has to deal with the “cost of living with a secret life.” The show will run until Nov 20.

St. Jude’s at Fordham will be tabling registrations, encouraging all students at Fordham to sign up for the new club St .Jude Up ’til Dawn. The club works to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

The Fordham Muslim Students Association hosts a weekly prayer on Fridays as Muslims pray together in a Jummah. The event will be in Campbell Hall’s terrace and multipurpose room.

Fordham’s Asian Cultural Exchange is taking a group trip to Pelican Chicken Koreatown, giving students the opportunity to taste a variety of different kinds of Korean Fried Chicken.

Virtual Webinar 1 p.m.–2p.m.

A collaboration between the FBI and Fordham University will sponsor the International Conference on Cyber Security webinar event.

Guest speakers will discuss looming cyber threats.

Pope Auditorium 8 p.m.

McGinley Lobby 11a.m.–12 p.m.

Campbell Hall 12:30p.m.–2 p.m.

Off-Campus 10a.m.–8 p.m.

NEWS

November 10, 2021

Page 3

Fordham Fights to Take Back Hallways From Scooters FROM SCOOTER, PAGE 1

up in building hallways and their use in indoor spaces.

“The signs are in response to complaints received regarding scooters parked in the hallways and entrances of buildings,” said Carroll in an email correspondence regarding the matter. “It has also been reported that students are riding their scooters in hallways, creating a dangerous condition.”

Carroll did not disclose who and where these complaints and reports were coming from.

The scooters can be seen being ridden all around campus.

Arnav Bhutada, FCRH ’22, said that there is a lot of mystery surrounding the scooters for the part of the student body that does not ride them.

“I see scooters on campus multiple times a day, usually being used by athletes,” Bhutada said, explaining that many of the riders of these scooters are often wearing Fordham Athletics gear.

“I don’t know too much about them, but I would assume they just use them to get around after workouts because they’re sore.”

Carroll additionally expressed his recommendation as to where scooters can be placed on campus in order to avoid inconveniences or potentially hazardous situations for people in these buildings.

“To avoid cluttering entrances around campus, we recommend that riders secure their scoot-

ers to the bicycle racks located at the entrances to campus,” he told the Ram. Despite these efforts from Carroll, Public Safety and the Office of Student Affairs, the motorized scooters can still be found in academic and multipurpose buildings on campus most days.

During the heaviest of lunch rushes during the week, the McGinley Center entrance in front of the Marketplace can still contain up to a dozen scooters parked inside at a time, a handful of weeks after the signs were put up.

Carroll concluded his statements regarding the matter by revealing that Fordham is still looking into this matter involving student scooters.

“The university is currently evaluating the scooter use policy on our campuses,” he said.

For now, Fordham students continue to ride scooters inside the Rose Hill gates and leave them near entrances of campus buildings on a daily basis. It remains unclear where students are purchasing these scooters or why they are such a popular mode of transportation, especially considering their high costs. Online, prices can range from $200 to $1,500.

No signage has been posted discouraging the use of other common methods of transportation used by students, including skateboards and longboards.

ABBEY DELK/THE FORDHAM RAM

Signs have recently been posted on building entrances around Rose Hill’s campus prohibiting scooter use inside.

ABBEY DELK/THE FORDHAM RAM

Despite new signage barring scooters from buildings, it is normal to see several parked near building entrances.

What Is New York City Under Newly-Elected Eric Adams?

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Eric Adams will be the second Black mayor of New York City. He has plans to make the city more business-friendly.

By LUCY PETERSON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Nov. 2, 2021, current Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was elected to serve as New York City’s next mayor, the second Black mayor to hold the position.

Before his election as mayor, Adams spent 22 years working as a New York City police officer, served four terms in the New York State Senate and served seven years as the first African American Brooklyn borough president, according to his campaign platform website.

Adams beat the opposing candidate, Republican Curtis Sliwa,

the founder of the New York City nonprofit the Guardian Angels, in a sweeping victory, according to the New York Times.

News outlets began calling the election for Adams a mere 10 minutes after polls officially closed on election night.

Reactions to Adams’ recent election among college-aged voters at Fordham were mixed.

While he said he cannot speak for the club, Tim Koubek, FCRH ’22, the president of College Democrats said his response to Adams’ victory was one of “cautious optimism.”

Adams’ focus on improving the economy includes “revisiting regulations that discourage

growth, particularly in Black and Brown-owned small businesses,” according to his campaign platform website. Gabe Lopez, FCRH ’22, the president of the Fordham College Republicans, said he thinks Adams is “pro-business, so it would be good to see some small business tax reduction because opening a business in New York is prohibitively expensive.”

The changes Adams plans on making in New York City include “offering subsidized or free childcare to any New Yorker who needs it,” as well as “eliminating fees and significantly reducing fines for small businesses,” according to his campaign plat-

form website. Adams also hopes to provide support to bars, restaurants and minority-owned businesses, as well as womenowned businesses.

With respect to COVID-19 vaccination mandates, Adams said he agrees with the current Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to require a large majority of the city’s municipal workers to be vaccinated, according to the New York Times.

Koubek said he agrees with Adams’ response to vaccination mandates. “I personally am in support of it because these are jobs where you are supporting the public, and so actions need to be taken to support public safety,” he said.

Lopez expressed a similar sentiment regarding COVID-19.

“Government workers are subject to government regulations more than other people,” he said.

Adams has proposed a multifaceted response to the New York City housing crisis. According to his campaign platform website, Adams hopes to “up-zone wealthier areas where we can build far more affordable housing units” and “think big by thinking small and add basement apartments, SRO’s and other small units.” Adams also plans to repurpose other structures such as hotels and office buildings to create more affordable housing options.

Koubek suggested that many of Adams’ housing policies might positively impact college students who plan to move to the city after graduation. “The

price for New York City housing has gotten ridiculously high,” he said. However, Adam’s policies will “make New York City housing more plentiful and affordable,” said Koubek.

In addition to these goals, Adams has focused on creating policies that will combat the city’s high crime rates, making New York City neighborhoods safer, according to his campaign platform website. These policies will focus on “reinventing the anti-crime unit as an anti-gun unit” and “civilanizing areas of the NYPD that don’t need to be staffed by cops.”

Adams, a retired member of the NYPD himself, believes that New York City police reform will require both diversity and transparency, according to his campaign platform website. He hopes to add “Black and Brown officers who will respect and protect New Yorkers.” Adams also plans to assign New York City’s “first woman police commissioner.”

In an opinion piece for CNN, Eric Adams wrote that he supports Joe Biden’s proposed “Build Back Better” plan. The plan includes a variety of infrastructure changes related to housing, gun violence protection, childcare, transportation and climate concerns.

Koubek said he is in support of Adams’ commitment to creating “more renewable energy [and] less destructive environmental policies, leaving the next generation an Earth they can inhabit and live in.”

NEWS

Page 4

November 10, 2021

Sperber Book Prize Ceremony Celebrates Authors and Journalism FROM BOOKS, PAGE 1

Both Blume and Greenidge revealed the inspiration behind their works in this webinar, relating the content of “Black Radical” and “Fallout” to today’s world and issues.

The history of Greenridge’s book is rooted in incidents of racial violence, most notably the Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the Black Wall Street Massacre.

She said Trotter, the journalist featured in her book, was “a newspaperman through and through.”

“He used The Guardian to galvanize Black radicalism,” explained Greenridge.

Blume also recounted the inspiration behind “Fallout” and how her research for a new subject on nonfiction coincided with the rise of Donald Trump. “Against that backdrop, I knew that I wanted and needed to write a book depicting a story about the deadly importance of our journalists, investigative journalism and our free press,” said Blume.

After coming across the work of John Hersey and his research on uncovering the extent of America’s involvement in the Hiroshima bombing, Blume said that she found her story.

The journalists’ work and purpose of was seen clearly among the recipients of the Sperber Prize, said McShane. In the face of today’s issues and history, he said that he feels “a whole part of the American story has been invisible.”

Greenridge said she believes Trotter used his work with The Guardian to shed light on real issues that affected real people, like the events and aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Ultimately, Greenidge said that “newspapers are reflecting and inspiring actual people on the ground.”

With “Fallout,” Blume said she wanted to make sure to emphasize the role of journalists and their quests to cover things that will not be remembered unless written down. Trotter wanted to

COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

The Sperber Book Prize honored two authors this year, Kerri K. Greenidge, Ph.D., and Lesley M. Blume, for their work.

“hold a mirror up to nature” while John Hersey, Blume’s subject, wanted to hold the American government accountable, explained Blume.

In an interview with the director of the Sperber Prize, Beth Knobel, Ph.D., a journalist herself, said that even though both books are about the past, “they’re both so relevant to things that are

happening today.” Greenidge’s “Black Radical” is about the Civil Rights Movement and the fight to end systemic racism through the lens of William Monroe Trotter and his use of newspapers to galvanize a marginalized group," stated Knobel. Blume’s “Fallout” speaks on the power of investigative journalism, seen with John Hersey and his work to hold the

government accountable and uncover the truths that they kept close to their chest. In Blume’s words, Americans can see the impact of a tight-lipped government today as investigations continue to be done about the Jan. 6 riots. “Countless egregious events needed to be investigated, and the jobs of journalists could not have been more crucial,” said Blume.

United Student Government’s Committee on Sexual Misconduct Hosts a Series of Events to Support Victims FROM CSM, PAGE 1

ISABEL DANZIS/THE FORDHAM RAM

Shirts hang on the railing outside of Edward’s Parade as a part of the Clothesline Project, a program run by CSM.

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

Students work with CSM to decorate t-shirts with empowering messages to support sexual misconduct survivors.

On Tuesday, Nov. 2, CSM and the Women’s Empowerment Club worked in collaboration to host the “Speak Out Against Sexual Assault” at Rodrigue’s Coffee House.

“Speak Out Against Sexual Assault” is a semesterly event that invites people to come and share their experiences of sexual misconduct in a safe environment.

“We set up a microphwone and are basically like, ‘Whoever wants to go up can go up!’ People can just do whatever they want, express themselves however they want,” said Reilly Dunne, FCRH ’22, the general coordinator of the Women’s Empowerment Club.

“It’s very special to have a space. It’s definitely a very emotional and cathartic event, there's a lot of tears shed. [But] it’s a very liberating space,” said Dunne.

Having events like the speak-out can help people feel more comfortable sharing their experiences, allowing them to feel a sense of community, explained Dunne.

“You have all the t-shirts and that is a great reminder to see through the Week of Action, but to hear people share their personal stories and make connections, and to be able to express yourself [is important],” said Dunne. “A lot of people come, and they’re like, ‘I’ve never said this out loud, I’ve never told anyone this, but I feel ready to share this here and now, and that is an important thing to have.”

Like many events, this semester marks the first fully in-person version of the event after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The past two semesters, because of COVID, we couldn’t have [the speakout] inside. So we had it outside, where we basically just set up a blanket [and talked],” said Dunne. “That was a lot more conversation based, which I liked, but I think there’s some power in actually being able to hold the microphone and reclaim the power that some people feel has been taken

from them.”

Many students feel that the Week of Action serves as a great way to create change; however, many also feel that there is still room for improvement with creating change within Fordham.

“There seems to be a growing interest in the expansion of CPS, as well as a need for additional funding and support,” said Elrakhawi. “I’m in complete agreement that funding for a department as important as CPS should be prioritized, as mental health remains an area of concern for me. I can not emphasize the need for consistent supportive resources readily available for all Fordham students as mental health is an often wrongfully neglected area of concern.”

Despite these numerous concerns, the semesterly Week of Action remains to be known to a lot of people as a week that is impactful and important for survivors of sexual misconduct as well as inspiring education about it. “[I think that the Week of Action inspires a lot of change] on a cultural level,” said Dunne. “To be able to have these conversations with people, I think is really important in raising awareness of the faults of Fordham and the faults of Fordham students, and what we can do as a culture to improve things to mitigate sexual assault.”

Both CSM and the Women’s Empowerment Club serve as safe places at Fordham that students can go for help at any point in the year, not just during the Week of Action.

“It is incredibly saddening to hear of the lack of awareness of where to find supportive resources and help for students,” said Elrakhawi, “We make an effort to direct everyone to [CSM’s] LinkTree that can be found in [their] Instagram bio [found at @csm_fordhamusg] when searching for supportive resources!”

NEWS

November 10, 2021

Page 5

Students Flirt Anonymously Via Instagram Page FROM FLIRTS, PAGE 1

form, maintaining the secrecy of both their own identity and the identity of the person about whom they are writing. The submissions are thoroughly reviewed and then posted daily in photo carousels on the Instagram account. The owner, who has asked to remain anonymous, stated that the account receives about “50 [submissions] a day.”

The account owner has emphasized that they do not post any overtly “explicit” or “fetishizing flirts,” as the ethos of the account is to remain playful yet respectful. This goal of mutual respect has allowed the account to grow massively and build a rapport of trust with its following, according to the account owner. The account’s reach has extended to the Lincoln Center campus, with dozens of flirts comparing the dating pool between boroughs.

Inspired by a friend at St. Olaf ’s College, the creator of Fordham Flirts said they “[weren’t] particularly surprised when [the account] started becoming really popular,” but were excited by its growth. They adhere to a strict schedule of three posts per day and post about 30 flirts per day, after filtering out any inappropriate submissions.

The account moderator said they have received no indication that university administration is aware of the account’s existence.

Bella Sabino, FCRH ’24, was recently a subject of intense

admiration on the account, receiving dozens of flirts from anonymous students. One reads “It’s clear that there are multiple guys/girls interested in Bella S, so I propose a duel in the middle of Eddie’s,” and another stating, “I have the fattest fattest crush on Bella S.” The account has a dedicated carousel of photos to submissions only about Sabino.

Stating that her friends have only submitted “one or two flirts” about her as a joke, Sabino has no idea where the surge of submission popularity came from but said she is unbothered by the attention. Her only knowledge about the account and its owner is that they might be a sophomore in O’Hare Hall. However, she “[likes] the fact that they’re willing to delete posts if they make people uncomfortable” and finds the account “super cute” and “lighthearted.”

This seems to be a common theme among Fordham students, with the account gaining enough credibility to receive direct messages about “looking for a roommate” and other mundane queries, said the founder.

If students want their flirt to be posted, they must follow strict criteria, explained the account owner. First, the flirt can’t be “vague” or “crazy and fetishizing” and has to be, to a certain degree, entertaining enough for the account’s followers to enjoy.

A flirt is most likely to be posted if it is “specific [with] first name and last initial, or a not-creepy

COURTESY OF FORDHAM NEWS

COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

The “Fordham Flirts” account provides a space for students to send anonymous messages about their campus crushes.

description of your objection of affection” and “cute,” perhaps with a pun or some clever wordplay, according to the account’s submission form. Students can only submit through the anonymous form in the account’s Instagram bio rather

than through direct message; those submissions are never posted, explained the account owner.

The owner said they have experienced skyrocketing success with the account and hope it continues to grow semester after semester, akin to that of its fellow

meme accounts.

By maintaining its consistent posting schedule and keeping students invested through anonymity, Fordham Flirts seems poised to become a pillar of Fordham’s social scene for semesters to come.

Fordham Celebrates National Novel Writing Month

COURTESY OF UNSPLASH

Fordham students and faculty members are among this year’s participants in National Novel Writing Month.

FROM NOVEL, PAGE 1

according to its official website.

Volunteers guided 671 regions that spanned six continents. The “Come Write In” program was hosted by over 400 libraries, bookstores and community centers. The NaNoWriMo website compares the program to a Fitbit for tracking word count. Though the novel writing challenge occurs in November, programs are

being run year-round at many different levels, allowing opportunities for everyone to participate.

Fordham University has students and faculty members who partake in the project each year.

Jessica Cozzi, a project manager for the university, explained that there is a Fordham subgroup on the official NaNoWriMo website that several students are a part of. She also shared that the word

goal is 50,000 because that is the standard length for the first draft of a novel. Once you’ve reached that word count, it means you truly have written a complete novel.

Cozzi said that the organization holds virtual writing sessions for the participants throughout the month and that regional groups typically hold in-person events. However, the

New York City chapter has not been able to have in-person sessions for the past two years due to the pandemic.

The Fordham University Chair of English, Mary Bly, Ph.D., is participating in the challenge for the first time this year. She stated that she has known about it for years but never participated.

“But I am loving it!” she said.

Bly explained that she is currently writing a contracted book and was struggling to stay on top of her schedule, having been busy with her work as the English chair. The challenge has encouraged Bly to fit time for writing into her mornings and she stated that it has made her feel happier throughout the rest of the day.

Bly also discussed some of the resources that NaNoWriMo group has provided for writers.

The Fordham group has a chat that she has been using each night to see how everyone else’s writing is going. There is a help section with plot charts and videos to provide tips to beginners as well as experienced authors looking to continue learning.

“Basically,” said Bly, “I’d say that NaNoWriMo is for writers at every level.”

The English department hosts weekly “writing sprints” through its department website, English Connect, every Thursday from noon to 1:30 p.m. that are open to any level writer to work on anything of their choosing.

Fordham students who have gotten involved in writing the program said they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Stephen Bragale, a student participating in NaNoWriMo, said that he discovered the program through the Fordham English Department Instagram page.

He explained that he enjoys the way NaNoWriMo gamifies the act of writing.

“The site has a variety of achievements that writers can unlock as they update their word count throughout the month,” he said.

Bragale said that, ideally, this extra motivation wouldn’t be needed. Writers would be intrinsically powered by their own passion, making the novelin-a-month challenge unnecessary.

However, life gets busy sometimes, and having others to keep you going is essential.

There is also a satisfaction that comes from helping others in their efforts, said Bragale.

Emily Ellis, FCLC ’23, said that this is going to be the fifth year that she has taken part in NaNoWriMo. She explained that the deadlines can be difficult to meet while balancing the work that comes with being a college student, but also finds them very motivating.

“I hope other students who are interested in creative writing look into NaNoWriMo because it has a lot of great supplemental programs that help aspiring writers,” she said.

Ellis said she encourages her peers to utilize the resources NaNoWriMo offers, whether or not they are ready to commit to the full 50,000-word goal.

Page 6

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November 10, 2021

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OPINION

November 10, 2021

R

Serving the Fordham University campus and community since 1918 The Fordham Ram is the university journal of record. The mission of The Fordham Ram is to provide a forum for the free and open exchange of ideas in service to the community and to act as a student advocate. The Fordham Ram is published and distributed free of charge every Wednesday during the academic year to the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center and Westchester campuses with a readership of over 12,000 and a web readership of over 300,000. The Fordham Ram office is located in the basement of the McGinley Center, room B-52.

Website TheFordhamRam.com Email Address theram@fordham.edu Editor-in-Chief Rachel Gow Managing Editor Dylan Balsamo Editorial Director Erica Weidner Multimedia Director Hunter Benegas Business Director Aidan Youngs Digital Director Katie Morris Production Editor Vanessa DeJesus Copy Chief Megan Dowden Assistant Copy Chief Ginny Belt News Editor Abbey Delk Features Editor Hasna Ceran Assistant News Editors Sebastian Diaz Isabel Danzis Opinion Editors Emma Lipkind Taylor Herzlich Assistant Opinion Editor Michela Fahy Culture Editors Ava Erickson Sara Tsugranis Assistant Culture Editor Hanif Amanullah Sports Editor Alexander Wolz Assistant Sports Editors Michael Hernandez Kaley Bell Digital Producer Collette Campbell Visual Director Pia Fischetti Photo Editor Mackenzie Cranna Graphics/Illustrations Cory Bork Editorial Page Policy

The Fordham Ram’s editorial re-

flects the editorial board’s view on a campus issue.

Opinions Policy The Fordham Ram accepts submissions to fordhamramopinions@gmail. com. Commentaries are printed on a space available basis. The Fordham Ram reserves the right to reject any submission for any reason, without notice. Submissions become the exclusive property of The Fordham Ram. The Fordham Ram reserves the right to edit any submissions. Opinions expressed in articles, letters, commentaries, cartoons or graphics are those of the individual author. No part of The Fordham Ram may be reproduced without written consent.

Page 7

From the Desk | Vanessa DeJesus

A Second Goodbye to the Ram I never thought I would be writing this article: my second goodbye to the Ram. I’ve already done the overly sentimental goodbye, and I have already thanked everyone who made an impact on my life at the Ram over a span of four volumes in what I thought was my final goodbye. Now, in my fifth and final year on the Ram and at Fordham, there will be no shoutouts. I will just say that I love you all immensely, because you truly are better than most.

Since the pandemic pushed clubs to meet online, or not at all, it has been a huge process getting our entirely student-run journal of record operating back at full capacity. I will never forget the eight-hour copy Zoom calls when we were producing in lockdown.

It was certainly a huge adjustment, but it made us stronger.

We’ve worked harder, longer and better than we ever have before as a publication. I am proud and grateful to each and every staff member, writer and copy editor for doing more than their part to keep our newspaper alive.

We have not only upheld a more than 100-year-old tradition of a free press on Rose Hill’s campus, but we have also worked to ensure that The Fordham Ram will continue providing news, insightful opinions, sports updates and culture reviews for years to come. So, I will say thank you again to everyone at the Ram who helped get us back on our feet as the cultural pulse of Rose Hill.

In college, most of what we

learn comes from our professors, and rightly so. But I have learned so much more from my time at the Ram than I ever did in a classroom. That is the power of extracurriculars. My advice to all our readers is to get involved in something you’re passionate about oncampus. It’s never too late to learn or try something new. It can be really easy to breeze through college and focus solely on school, partying or sports. Extracurriculars are more than just experiences used to pad your resume; they provide a chance to develop varying skills and interests outside of your academic studies. Even more importantly, these clubs can help a lot of us maintain our sanity throughout the semester as we struggle to balance midterms, papers and the like. I personally chose to get involved in the Ram, which has helped me develop not only as a writer, but as a person and a friend.

I never thought that I would get a second chance at the senior year that COVID-19 took away from me and so many of my peers. As a part-time, commuting fifth-year senior I thought that I would miss out on everything.

Financially, I couldn’t swing a fifth-year living on campus, so I chose to commute from the sticks of New Jersey. I piled on the responsibilities just to see how much I could take. I work part-time at a local coffee shop, I have two remote unpaid internships and I drive into campus three times a week, twice for my

two classes and once for the Ram. I dedicate an incredibly social and stressful Tuesday night to the Ram every week, even with the 1,001 other things I have on my plate. I knew I would still miss out on some things, like all-nighters in the library studying for midterms and impromptu city Wednesdays.

But the home I found at The Fordham Ram was something that I knew I couldn’t give up.

I am so grateful for my fifth year.

Not only is it saving my GPA by allowing me to take four classes over two semesters, but it has

taught me so much about balancing my work and personal life, as well as prioritizing the things that make me happy.

I am going to miss so much about the Ram. I’ll miss the weird smell B-52 has had since the great flood. I’ll miss the five-hour sugar rush from all the copy table’s candy. I’ll miss the sweet baby angels who walk to the gym to refill multiple water bottles for the staff. I’ll miss the 8 p.m. hysteria and the 11 p.m. dissociation. And of course, I’ll miss all of the laughs. I’m happy it happened, but sad it’s ending.

Editorial | Concert Culture

Travis Scott Must Take Accountability for Tragedy at Astroworld Festival Last Friday, Nov. 5, Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas, ended in tragedy. A crowd surge during Scott’s headline performance resulted in eight deaths and hundreds of injuries.

We first want to express our shock and sympathy after this horrible tragedy. We cannot imagine what these concertgoers and their families went through. Many of the victims were college students, and it is easy to see ourselves in that crowd.

The Astroworld tragedy raises questions about the nature of crowds. Was this tragedy a natural consequence of a concert mosh pit? Was a group of crazy fans responsible for the crush of people toward the stage? Was it a “blood sacrifice,” as many have alleged on social media? Were these deaths preventable? And if so, who failed to prevent them?

In the wake of a mass casualty event, finding who is at fault is important. Unfortunately, assigning blame cannot bring back those who lost their lives, but accountability can help prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Much of the blame for this tragedy rests on Travis Scott. At its core,

this was a horrific accident, unforeseen by panicked concertgoers and overwhelmed event staff. The fact that this tragedy was unintentional, though, does not mean that Scott is blameless.

We can contest Scott’s responsibility as a performer, considering his claim that he was unaware of the commotion in the crowd. However, Scott needs to be held accountable for his persona, his festival’s organization and his encouragement of unsafe crowd behavior.

It’s no secret that Travis Scott has a history of wild concert crowds.

In itself, this is not a bad thing — Scott is an energetic performer who wants to put on a good show, and his fans’ excitement is a byproduct of that energy. However, this behavior has raised a few concerns in the past.

At the 2015 Lollapalooza festival, Scott encouraged his fans to jump over security barricades and rush the stage. In the process, a 15-yearold girl was trampled. Scott’s set was cut short, and he later pleaded guilty to reckless conduct charges.

A similar charge followed an Arkansas concert in 2017. That same year, another Travis Scott fan sued for damages after a riotous

crowd left him paralyzed.

Last Friday’s festival began to follow a familiar pattern. Fans rushed the gates as soon as they opened that morning. An enormous crowd waited for Scott to arrive on stage and surged forward as a group when the countdown clock began.

When Scott performed, he encouraged concertgoers to “rage.” While the tragedy unfolded, he called for his fans to make the “ground shake.”

In the wake of at least three legal incidents, especially ones that involved serious injury, it is easy to see Scott’s fault in last week’s Astroworld disaster.

Travis Scott bears full responsibility for the concert culture he has created for the past several years.

Artists are responsible for the fanbases they cultivate and the actions they encourage.

Calling for fans to make the ground shake provokes a certain response. If performers want their crowds to mosh, they are partially responsible for those people’s safety.

We do not criticize the “raging” aspect of Scott’s concerts. This is not an anti-mosh pit editorial. It is possible to have a crazy, wild, hardcore show while fans and con-

certgoers treat one another with respect. Mosh pit etiquette is real; the punk scene has been “raging” safely for decades now. Creating a fanbase that cares about its members’ safety is valuable, and it is a task left up to the artist at its center.

That etiquette is especially important to promote now. Due to the pandemic, it’s been a while since concertgoers have been packed together at festivals. Mosh pit etiquette may have faded to the backs of our minds after a year of social distancing. As concerts and crowds become more common, it’s important that we remember to stay safe.

Crowd safety at concerts generally relies on security staff and crowd members themselves, but artists have the power to speak to the audience directly.

For instance, Linkin Park once stopped mid-song to make sure a man who’d fallen in the mosh pit was helped up. The singers reminded the crowd that safety came first, then resumed their set. A small action like this can help prevent moshing injuries.

Performers have fans’ admiration and attention, and they are the ones holding the microphone. That, too, is a kind of crowd control.

OPINION

Page 8

November 10, 2021

Increased Political Polarization and Violence Threatens Democracy

COURTESY OF TWITTER

New polls are hinting at increasingly violent political tendencies.

By TAYLOR HERZLICH OPINION EDITOR

Almost a third of Republicans support using violence to “save” the United States, according to a new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. More specifically, these Republicans agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” These findings align with a survey from February by the American Enterprise Institute. The survey showed that 39% of Republicans believe that “if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions.”

This is a terrifying discovery.

Clearly, the anger witnessed during the Jan. 6 riots is not fading. Republicans feel wronged — so wronged that they believe they are entitled to violence. The false injustice of a

“stolen” election is still propelling Republicans to back Trump, despite no evidence of corruption.

The question becomes whether or not these statistics are displaying a new trend toward violence.

There is certainly evidence backing this notion. This trend could explain the appearance of radical groups like the Proud Boys. It could explain why surveys show that most poll workers feel unsafe doing their job and want government-provided security. It could explain the barrage of death threats that politicians and election workers have been receiving. It could explain the constant spotlight on hate crimes and terrorist acts shown by the media.

So, is this violence partisan? Yes and no. The answer is complex due to the vagueness inherent in the term “political violence.” Political violence is any violence used to achieve a political goal, but what is

a political goal? Some might consider protests or riots led to protect human rights an example of political violence. Others may believe that human rights should be separate from the political sphere.

Nonetheless, political violence is a clear partisan issue simply because of the nature of the violence at hand.

The infamous riots on Jan. 6 are a clear partisan issue, considering 66% of Republicans don’t even consider the riots to have been an attack on the government, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University. This finding comes despite the fact that the riots occurred at the Capitol Building, one of the most prominent symbols of the American government. Since Trump’s presidential loss, we have witnessed Republican attempts to downplay violence as politically just time and time again. It is no wonder why the first poll mentioned attempts to justify violence at the hands of “true American patriots.” Republicans see themselves as these true American patriots for having the “courage” to stand up for what they believe in, even if this involves storming and vandalizing a government building, breaking through doors with crowbars and forcing political figures to shelter in place.

Of course, if this were ever to be brought to the attention of a Republican who supported these attacks, I’m sure I could predict their response — to bring up Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that have turned violent as an example of

Democratic political violence.

Although this is a separate matter, it is worth analyzing for the sake of argument. Some BLM protests did turn violent, though it is more than worth noting that more than 93% of these protests did not include violence or destruction, according to a report by the U.S. Crisis Monitor. No one is trying to justify the damage done to small businesses and towns as a result of some BLM protests, but it is important to contrast the different contexts. BLM protestors are fighting for equal rights. The movement’s mission statement is “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” This is a plea for equal human rights, which seems a much more just cause for protests and demonstrations than being upset that your preferred presidential candidate did not win.

In discussing this topic, I fear that some Republican readers might take this as a personal attack on the party, but this is truly not the case.

Clearly, not all Republicans believe in using violence to get their way.

The increase in political violence is a result of extreme political polarization and exposes the threat that political sectarianism poses to our country.

Political sectarianism is basically the idea that each party becomes so divided that there is no room for compromise or niceties, posing a direct threat to democracy. Republicans and Democrats have begun

to view each other as the enemy.

Americans no longer care about facts, or even about a presidential candidate’s platform. Be honest with yourself: how many people do you know, including yourself, who truly researched the political platform of all of the presidential candidates last election? Did you really know each candidate’s stance on every key political issue? Americans don’t really care about these things as much as they should. We are more focused on being right because we feel like morality is so ingrained in our political views.

This, in turn, leads to viewing the “other side” as inherently immoral because of their opposing beliefs.

The media plays a huge role in our increasing political sectarianism. The media does play an admirable role, with reporters relaying news and keeping Americans informed, but the opinionated nature of broadcast specials has gone too far. The media acts selfishly, doing what it can to build up views without caring about the damaging effects to America’s political landscape. It is in media outlets’ best interest to create a community of devoted viewers, and we all know an unfortunate uniting factor for communities: a common enemy.

America’s political landscape is just too important for media outlets to manipulate viewers to dismiss compromise and the ability to lose.

Taylor Herzlich, FCRH ’23, is a journalism major from Mt. Sinai, N.Y.

G20 Summit Falls Flat Without Leaders

By NICOLE BRAUN STAFF WRITER

President Biden attended the Group of 20, or G20, summit for the first time last week. While the G20 summit did not necessarily produce the sweeping successes that climate change activists were hoping to achieve, it was still a win for the Biden administration and our country as a whole. Honestly, any remotely positive change could be considered a win compared to the United States’ embarrassing showing at last year’s G20 summit. President Trump showed a clear lack of respect for the conference, seen golfing while he was supposed to be attending the event virtually.

Overall, Biden’s appearance at the G20 was a success. Other world leaders need to follow in his example and at the very least show up to these summits to display that they acknowledge the current threat of climate change.

The summit, an “international forum that brings together the world’s major economies,” accounts for over “80% of world GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the population of the planet.”

The most significant trophy Biden will bring home from Rome is the

global minimum tax of 15% for large corporations. Other world leaders present adopted this objective, and they hope that this plan and others will crack “down on tax havens that have drained countries of muchneeded revenue,” as reported by the New York Times.

The new tax plan is aimed at companies “with annual revenue of more than 750 million euros ($866 million) and would generate around $150 billion in additional global tax revenue per year.”

World leaders and finance officials hope the tax will stop companies’ race to the bottom, an economics term which “refers to heightened competition between nations, states or companies, where product quality or rational economic decisions are sacrificed in order to gain a competitive advantage.”

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called the new landmark plan “a historic agreement for a fairer and more equitable tax system.”

While the 15% tax plan appears to be a monumental success, there were no concrete and distinct solutions regarding the growing threat of climate change. That said, Biden’s European tour is not over; Biden recently traveled to Glasgow, Scotland for this year’s United Nations

Climate Change Conference, known as COP26. Admittedly, there is still cause for concern that climate change may not be high on the president’s list of priorities, as he appeared to take a quick snooze during the summit.

However, the fact that Biden participated in the G20 summit and contributed to some positive global change might have to be the victory in and of itself compared to last year’s G20 summit, where Trump did not deliver a message at the event, and the session was lacking an overall American presence in the session.

Much of the discussions last year focused on providing the world with a global vaccine, which was obviously not a chief concern of Trump’s as he left the World Health Organization and departed for Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia shortly after the G20 opening ceremony.

Since taking office, President Biden has committed himself to repairing the United States’ frayed reputation abroad.

Reporters say that the 15% tax plan is “the culmination of years of fraught negotiations that were revived this year after President Biden took office and renewed the United States’ commitment to multilateralism.”

I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the profound impact and

presence that COVID-19 also had at 2021’s G20 summit. In the place of notably absent world leaders, such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Italian healthcare workers posed for a photo with G20 figureheads in an effort to celebrate their tireless dedication to public health throughout the pandemic.

Putin and Xi cited climbing cases of COVID-19 and quarantine restrictions as their respective reasons for non-attendance. CNN commented that “the decision to forgo one of the world’s foremost diplomatic events only fuels the sense that Xi and Putin have become less concerned with global cooperation.”

The absence of Putin and Xi was

specifically notable because it underscores a fear that Biden will not be able to ease tensions between the U.S. and those two powerful adversaries. According to CNN, Biden “desperately hopes to personally engage [with China and Russia] as he works to prevent already tense relationships from deteriorating further.”

Ultimately, even though Biden is only bringing home one distinct victory from the G20 summit, we can still hope that COP26 will be a bigger success — if only the world leaders wake up and see the threat posed by climate change.

Nicole Braun, FCRH ’24, is undecided from Saddle River, N.J.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

President Biden attended the G20 summit for the first time last week.

OPINION

November 10, 2021

Page 9

Supreme Court Addresses the Second Amendment

By KEAGAN OSTOP

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Second Amendment has sparked spirited conversations for decades. On Nov. 3, for the first time in more than a decade, the Supreme Court clarified the amendment in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen after Robert Nash and Brandon Koch applied for a concealed carry firearm license for the purpose of self-defense. Both applicants were denied due to the state’s settlement that neither met the requirements for providing a “proper cause,” which requires proof that you will be unsafe in public unless you are armed and protected. In response, both applicants filed for violation of their Second Amendment rights.

In the United States, gun laws differ by state. In New York, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Maryland and New Jersey, the right to keep a gun in a household for self-defense is permitted, but the right to carry a gun in public is only permissible with “good cause,” which requires a separate public carrying license from the state. Considering these states are home to a substantial portion of the population and some of the most densely populated cities in the country, requiring a proper cause is sensible.

One should not feel the need to carry a gun in a public space to

feel safe. The Supreme Court’s handling on Wednesday discussed whether or not requiring a proper cause counterbalanced the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

In 2008, the Supreme Court concluded in District of Columbia v. Heller that one has the right to keep a gun in their house for self-defense, but other restrictions can be applied by states.

This leaves the Supreme Court with perhaps the most open ended concern: what about carrying a firearm in public? This is not directly addressed in the constitution, as there is no definition of the verb “to bear.”

These states absolutely have the right to require a proper cause in order to carry a firearm in public. If a citizen lacks a strong enough reason to be accepted as a proper cause, then there is no rationale for them being armed in public.

Nash and Koch argued that if citizens, like themselves, who have perfect records can’t get approved, then the system must be flawed. In my opinion, being a good law abiding citizen is not necessarily enough reason to arm yourself; you need a good cause.

With a dominating conservative presence, suspicion surrounding the constitutionality of the state’s law was high on Wednesday. With the appearance of Trump’s appointed justices

COURTESY OF FLICKR

The Supreme Court addressed a case interpreting the 2nd amendment for the first time in over a decade.

Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, New York will have a run for its money. All three justices have been clear advocates for gun rights in the past. In the lower courts, Kavanaugh and Barett were prominent advocates for rethinking gun regulation frameworks. If these same viewpoints persist, and depending on the justices’ ability to sway other members, the strong support of gun rights has the potential to rule over this case.

This emphasis on gun rights might put public and city safety at risk. The 6–3 conservative ra-

tio is one of the major concerns in this supreme court case. If the justices continue on the path of protecting a rule from our 234year old constitution, they will put the American population at risk.

Requiring a proper cause is not a violation of anyone’s rights.

Rather, it is a safety precaution.

If a person is unable to provide what is deemed a good cause for needing a firearm, they should not be armed in public. This does not go against the right to own a gun. In the confinements of one’s home, the law stays the same.

However, in public there should be tighter restrictions. To not feel safe in public without being personally armed is an extreme circumstance, one that hopefully will never apply to the masses.

The requirement of a good cause does not alleviate the second amendment: “The right of people to keep and bear arms.” It is simply a measure meant to ensure the general public remains safe.

Keagan Ostop, FCRH ’25, is a journalism major from West Hartford, Conn.

Facebook’s Meta-morphosis is Social Media at its Darkest

By NOAH OSBORNE STAFF WRITER

Right on the heels of a whistleblower, social media giant Facebook has unveiled its latest effort to rebrand itself as Meta.

While it is clear Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to prepare Facebook for a more tech-centric future, it is even clearer that he wants to do so directly following a plethora of issues that have plagued the site.

Former employee-turned Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen accused Zuckerberg of knowingly ignoring hate speech, insisting the site’s failure to respond marked an attack on American democracy. She also claimed Zuckerberg was aware of the harmful effects Facebook has on users’ mental health, particularly among its youngest users.

Since Facebook’s inception, Mark Zuckerburg has been at the center of the empire; the newly rebranded

Meta will be no different. In 2004, Facebook’s mission was to promote and encourage a stronger global connection. Zuckerburg wanted to create an easy way to bridge people and entire communities together. The social networking site pioneered the concept of the “like button,” allowing users to instantaneously express their approval of certain ideas, topics or profiles. With social innovations like the “like button,” users felt they had an open, honest and fair say in an increasingly-online world. This sense of trust helped bolster the site’s mainstream appeal. Yet after years of scandals, a whistleblower and a name change in 2021, it seems like Zuckerberg would rather blur the company’s image than change it.

The selling point Zuckerberg is pursuing is not digital worldly connection, but digital immersion, where virtual experiences meet reality. For example, in his company’s founder’s letter, Zuckerberg’s meta-

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

The popular social media app Facebook has rebranded as Meta.

verse emphasizes the future ability to be present through hologram technology when not physically able. The introduction of hologram technology could even suggest an environmentally conscious approach, promising to cut the collective carbon footprint and reduce factory production.

This mention of holograms might sound promising in our ever-digitizing world. However, it serves as another not-so-masterful aversion to the company’s real problems spanning from privacy concerns to election interference in 2016. The rebranding’s intent is not to address the matters raised by the whistleblower, but to distract users from Facebook’s unremedied issues.

Nearly all of Facebook’s scandals have been linked to the common issues of privacy and mental health concerns. The earliest example of a privacy concern occurred in 2006 with the introduction of a newsfeed feature to the site, which was a hub purportedly focused on increasing user accessibility to friends’ profiles.

However, this feed generated more division than unity. Users blasted the site for broadcasting nearly every aspect of their personal lives, as posted to their profiles, to be seen on the newsfeed, and called the feature intrusive. With regards to mental health, the problem is equally as disconcerting. Data shows that Facebook’s psychological costs range from increased feelings of social envy to exacerbated depression.

With more and more awareness of Facebook’s questionable practices, this rebranding could not have come at a worse time. Zuckerberg

seems more preoccupied with the media’s depiction of Facebook than with fixing the site’s clear adverse effects. The rebranding does nothing to reassure users that their privacy is being protected online or to address the mental health implications mentioned by the whistleblower.

The rebranding is a way of throwing a fresh coat of paint over Facebook’s already crumbling wall.

Zuckerberg wants users to believe that Facebook is moving on to new domains, so users won’t focus on it’s issues. The blatant failure of the company to remedy its issues, and its attempt to get away with this failure, sets a dark precedent for the future of social media.

Facebook’s rebranding relays the message that social media companies never truly need to concern themselves with the plights of their users. Zuckerberg is treating this rebranding like a band-aid, attempting to keep users pacified despite potential information exploitation and harmful mental health effects. After all, it is much easier to make empty promises of advanced connectivity than it is to fix the platform’s serious issues.

With Facebook looking to rebrand, it raises questions as to what other social media platforms will look to do from now on when they face rightful scrutiny. Snapchat’s response to mental health concerns included introducing a mental health service called “Here for You,” where users struggling with mental health can access helpful resources and content through the app. This is promising, but surely not enough to combat the mounting problem. The

same could be said for Zuckerberg’s response to privacy concerns, since he has promised to shut down Facebook’s facial recognition service and delete the data it has collected on people’s faces as a result.

Although the whistleblower is calling on Zuckerberg to step down from the company to bring about true change, it no longer matters who is in charge. The social media giants of the world now know what they need to do to keep their companies alive under the same toxic but profitable business practices — rebrand.

However, rebranding does not necessarily guarantee success, as seen by the 68% of adults who express disinterest in Facebook’s new metaverse approach. Rather, it proves big tech companies are more interested in a rinse, lather, repeat approach to pacify users on social media than in taking the effort to cleanse the system of present issues.

Seeing how ingrained social media has become in our daily lives, and from a financial standpoint, it seems unlikely that the puppetmaster of social media will be taking the time to delve into and rectify the platform’s issues. It is likely that other companies will soon rebrand themselves following Facebook’s example.

Facebook’s rebranding proves the puppetmaster of social media will never truly free us from its control, but will instead find new ways to pull our strings so we will all fall in line.

Or really, online.

Noah Osborne, FCRH ’23, is a journalism major from Harlem, N.Y

OPINION

Page 10

November 10, 2021

Traffic Stop Practices Must Be Rid of Racial Biases

By AVA KNIGHT

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Many cities and towns are financed by traffic ticket revenue, creating an incentive for cops to pull more people over and write more tickets. At least 20 cities evaluate officer performance by the number of stops or tickets written per hour and even offer raises and promotions in return for writing more tickets. Critics argue that this has led to over-policing, more violent police encounters and community distrust of police departments, especially among people of color. Routine traffic stops have turned violent, leading to the injury and deaths of hundreds of drivers, most of which are Black. In January, NPR found that at least 135 unarmed Black men and women were killed in traffic stops since 2015. Low-level traffic offenses should be deemphasized to minimize police traffic stops that turn violent.

Nearly 600 towns get over 10% of their police department revenue from ticket and court fines. In addition, many of these towns have disproportionately large police departments relative to the number of residents, leading to suspicion over whether ticket-writing is encouraged by police departments to make money for local governments.

North Carolina court data concluded that “significantly more tickets” were issued when localities experienced financial difficulties, suggesting they were “used as a revenuegeneration tool rather than solely a means to increase public safety.” Although federal officials deny imposing quotas on tickets, the government issues over $600 million a year in highway safety grants that subsidize ticket writing. Seat Pleasant, Maryland, for example, has around 4,800 residents with 24 full-time police officers, a 3-person dedicated automated speed enforcement team and a drone aviation unit. Red-light and speeding ticket revenue made up almost half of

the town’s budget in 2019.

Also in 2019, Henderson, Louisiana got 89% of their revenue from ticket fines alone. Later, officers were accused of illegally receiving cash rewards for writing more tickets. An email from police chief Rodney Riddle in Windsor, Virginia was leaked in which he reminded officers to “write a minimum of two tickets per hour.”

This was just after Caron Nazario, an Army lieutenant, was threatened and pepper sprayed by a Windsor police officer during a routine traffic stop over a license plate infraction.

These revenue-producing routine traffic stops can often turn violent quickly. The New York Times identified 400 cases from the last five years where mostly Black unarmed civilians were killed by officers when they weren’t under pursuit for violent crimes, amounting to more than one per week. Officers were convicted in only five of these 400 cases.

The aforementioned Caron Nazario, a Black and Latino Army lieutenant, was driving late at night on Dec. 5, 2020, when he saw flashing lights behind him. He waited to pull over to a well-lit gas station, not far from where he was driving. Bodycam footage showed Nazario had placed his cellphone on the dashboard of the car and positioned his empty hands outside of the window.

Two officers had pulled Nazario over for a license plate infraction, but Nazario’s lawsuit later showed that he had legal temporary plates for the car he had just bought. Officer Joe Gutierrez yelled at Nazario to get out of the car, and when Nazario said that he was afraid to, Gutierrez said, “You should be.” Seconds later, the officer sprayed Nazario with pepper spray though body cam footage showed no threat from Nazario that would warrant this kind of violence. Many other instances of violence and even death at the hands of officers during regular traffic stops have surfaced in recent years like the cases of Debra

Hamil, Sandra Bland and Daunte Wright.

“Because everybody on the road violates traffic laws, that allows the police, who are also in charge of criminal law enforcement, to investigate crime without meeting any of the standards required for criminal investigation,” explains Sarah A. Seo, a law professor at Columbia University. Police can pull people over under the guise of a traffic violation or pure suspicion with few checks or procedures that can prevent situations from escalating.

Police are trained to draw their weapons when they sense they are in danger, and this training often uses a worst-case-scenario approach to prepare officers for threats in the field.

Officers are shown videos of police being shot within seconds of pulling someone over and are told stories of cases “gone wrong” which exaggerate the level of danger in traffic stops and can sometimes lead to officer-created jeopardy. Officer-created jeopardy is when officers purposefully put themselves in vulnerable positions, like standing in front of a fleeing suspect or reaching into a car, and then fire their weapon claiming self-defense.

This is their attempt to take control of the situation before it gets out of hand, but it actually unnecessarily escalates a nonviolent situation.

Seo’s explanation also provides insight into how officers’ racial biases can influence violent encounters. Because there are fewer procedures for traffic stops, officers can pull over anyone they think is “up to no good,” and situations can easily escalate from there. An analysis of over 100 million traffic stops found that Black drivers are about 40% more likely to be pulled over than white drivers, a discrepancy which helped coin the term “Driving While Black.” It was also found that the racial disparity was smaller in traffic stops performed at night, further supporting the theory of racial bias as a factor for traffic stops.

Several solutions have been proposed to combat the incredible number of traffic stops growing and becoming violent. Some argue that police officers should be removed from traffic responsibilities and fully replaced with automated systems like cameras instead. This would eliminate the possibility of officers’ racial biases influencing the escalation of a routine traffic stop. It has also been suggested that communities should come together to determine their own public safety solutions that would best fit their unique needs.

This could be beneficial in making sure small towns and large cities are run on their individual needs rather than by a federal or state system.

However, a lack of uniformity and a multitude of different public safety systems would be too complex for local governments to keep track of and adhere to appropriately.

In February, a more concrete and direct solution to the excessiveness and possibility of violence in traffic stops was implemented in Berkeley, California. A reform package was implemented where low-level offenses like not wearing a seat belt were deemphasized, and the focus of traffic

stops was shifted to major safety hazards and suspects in violent crimes.

The procedures around traffic stops were also reevaluated and refocused in attempt to eliminate influence of racial biases. Other reforms included obtaining written consent for vehicle searches and providing clear evidence for charges, both of which have been shown to reduce racial disparities when implemented in other cities. Councilmember Terry Taplin said: “There is a chasm of mistrust between communities of color and law enforcement … Repairing the mistrust is going to take a lot of work.”

These kinds of reforms are not only concrete, direct and relatively simple to implement, but they are also universal. These reforms can be placed in all kinds of cities and communities. Police work should be refocused from low-level offenses to violent and major crimes and safety hazards to reduce racial disparities and appropriately use police resources to combat more important issues.

Ava Knight, FCRH ’25, is an integrative neuroscience major from Seattle, Wash.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Traffic tickets can quickly become violent in certain situations.

NYC School Enrollment Rates Suffer Due to Parents’ Fears

By CAROLYN BRANIGAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Since schools were forced to switch over to remote learning in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, school attendance has suffered greatly. As the pandemic began to die down, it seemed only logical that both attendance and en-

rollment in public schools would increase, with the threat of COVID-19 somewhat at bay. However, this has not been the case, as public school enrollment in NYC has gone down by around fifty thousand students since the start of the pandemic. This decline has continued into 2021, with a 1.9% decrease in enrollment compared to pre-pandemic years.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

NYC school enrollment has suffered significantly due to COVID-19 fears.

The cause of this decline is clear: People are still living in fear and have grown accustomed to the new way of pandemic living.

Of course, there are multiple, individualized reasons each student may have for choosing not to re-enroll in school, but I believe fear is by far the most prevalent. As children were herded into their homes with strict orders to stay inside, an air of fear overtook NYC students. They feared for their lives, as well as for the lives of their friends and families, and were willing to do whatever it took to keep people safe.

This fear, unlike the potency of the pandemic, has not died down. Even now with vaccines available, parents and kids alike are still fear-stricken by the deadly disease. New York students are not prepared to move forward yet. Collectively, NYC suffered a trauma that is still far from being healed, which offers insight as to why so many families continue to withdraw from society.

Humans are creatures of habit, and the habits people formed during the pandemic are no exception. Many of those who turned to homeschooling during the height of the pandemic

have come to enjoy the freedom it provides. As a result, they have not found the need to return to their old scholastic structure. Parents see the value of private homeschooling as well, since it gives them ample time to focus on their children while simultaneously ensuring their safety from exposure to the virus.

Another possible factor, although much less likely in my opinion, is that many families that once resided in NYC have moved away from their homes and to the suburbs. After having been cooped up in their apartments for so long, a lot of families headed toward more residential areas in order to spread out and be further away from people in an effort to protect their families. It is possible that a lot of these families that fled to adjacent states like New Jersey and Connecticut enjoyed suburban life so much that they decided to leave NYC behind. Though this is definitely possible for some families, I don’t believe this is the driving force behind the lower enrollment rates. As a New Jersey resident myself, I know of many native New Yorkers that fled to my town during the height of the pandemic, but they were quick to

return to NYC once the restrictions were lifted. To them, residential areas were nothing more than a quick escape and by no means a permanent fixture.

While we have come a long way since the horrors of last year, many still have a cause for concern in regards to the health of their children.

Vaccines have been a great step toward allowing the fear to dissipate, but as breakthrough cases continue to occur, parents are keeping their guards up.

If NYC educators really want the public school enrollment rates to return to pre-pandemic rates, NYC needs to do the same and return to its pre-pandemic state.

Breakthrough cases will need to be nothing more than an old-timey anecdote and masks will need to be a thing of the past before parents have enough trust in the public school system to send their children back. Enrollment rates will continue to suffer until New Yorkers see the end of the pandemic’s lingering restrictions.

Carolyn Branigan, FCRH ’24, is a film and English major from Tinton Falls, N.J.

CULTURE

November 10, 2021

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Fordham Dance Clubs Hold Open Classes for all Levels

BY AVA ERICKSON CULTURE EDITOR

As you walk through a Fordham club fair, you are overwhelmed by tables advertising dance clubs: Sláinte, Expressions, Flava, Candela and Fordham Dance Alliance. If you have zero dance experience like me, you scurry past — the narrative that you have to learn to dance before the age of five running through your head. However, Fordham’s Irish Dance Team Sláinte and the Expressions Dance Alliance are fighting that stigma by offering “open classes” that allow all students to experience dance.

Patrick Breen, FCRH ’22, the co-president of Sláinte, explained that at club fairs they always generate a lot of interest

from students who have never Irish danced before. But Sláinte is an audition team, so they cannot accept everyone into the competitive group. However, they still want everyone to have the opportunity to participate, so last year they started hosting open classes so anyone could try it out, even if they had no experience.

Sláinte hosts their open classes every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Keating Basement Dance Studio. They begin their classes by teaching the basic forms of Irish Dance, like how to stand and how to hold your arms, and a traditional Irish jig — a soft shoe step. Next, they teach the attendees how to do a treble — a hard shoe step. Breen said it doesn’t matter that the attendees

COURTESY OF MEG LUCA FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

Meg Luca, GSB ’22, is the vice president of Expressions.

COURTESY OF AVA ERICKSON / THE FORDHAM RAM

Sláinte hosts open classes every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Keating Basement Dance Studio.

don’t have the traditional Irish dance shoes; they can practice in sneakers. If you are interested in attending one of these open classes, you can DM @slaintefid on Instagram to reserve a spot.

Expressions Dance Alliance, a dance company that utilizes many styles, also holds periodic open “master classes” throughout the year. Their most recent master class was on Nov. 2, and it was taught by Meg Luca, GSB ’22, the vice president of Expressions.

Luca’s class went incredibly well, “I walked into my masters class last week and there were at least six girls not on Expressions and it honestly just brightens your day to see [that] these people are interested, they want to come and dance with us.” Luca described the experience as simply “happiness.”

At Expressions’ master classes, one of the club members teaches attendees choreography. They do a warm-up, teach a little bit of choreography at a time until everyone is on the same page and then split into smaller groups to run through the whole dance.

Luca said there was an improv

section to her dance: “I don’t like to improv, so I said to people if you are not comfortable doing it and you walk off I don’t care … it’s supposed to be a fun thing so if people didn’t want to do it I wasn’t going to make them.” She explained that master classes are supposed to be a comfortable environment for people with all levels of experience. If you are interested in attending, Expressions will be hosting another master class on Dec. 6. Luca encourages everyone to come, as it can help clear your mind before finals.

While it can be daunting to go into a dance class in your 20s with no prior experience, both Sláinte and Expressions welcome students who have never danced before.

Luca said that the stigma around learning to dance later in life doesn’t exist in Expressions.

At her master class last week, one of the Expressions member’s roommates came who had no dance background, and she still had a great time, “She was very willing to learn.” There are even some members of Expressions with less experience who

still made the team and are incredible dancers.

Breen said, “We’re trying really hard to get people who have no dance background to come, so all are welcome at Sláinte open classes.” He explained that there is definitely a stigma within the Irish dance community that you have to have been dancing your whole life to participate. He himself started when he was just three years old. However, he finds that those who started dancing later often pick up the choreography faster. “There definitely is a stigma of starting older, but I don’t think that should exist. I think anyone should be able to learn to dance at any age.”

But, if you’re not quite ready to lace up your dancing shoes, there are a few performances coming up so you can enjoy the art of dance from the comfort of the audience.

Expressions Fusion will be on Nov. 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. in Collins Auditorium, and Sláinte will be performing at Fordham ASILI’s Taste the World event on Nov. 11 in the McGinley Ballroom. Additionally, Sláinte will be competing at the Intercollegiate Irish Dance Competition at Villanova University in late November.

It’s a (No) Bones Day: Practicing Self-Care

Noodle has become such a widespread sensation that when a girl in my class announced that it was a “bones day,” it felt as though the energy in the room had physically lifted.

For those not familiar, Noodle is a 13-year-old pug who has gone viral on the TikTok account @jongraz which is operated by Noodle’s owner, Jonathan Graziano. Every morning at around 10 a.m., Graziano posts a video lifting Noodle from his bed. If Noodle remains standing, it is declared a “bones day,” and viewers are encouraged to treat themselves to whatever they desire — be that a plane ticket or a rice cooker. If Noodle slumps right back down in his bed, it is a “no bones day,” and Graziano instructs viewers to take it easy and be kind to themselves.

With seemingly no explanation, Noodle has captivated TikTok to the point that there are creative mashups and songs about him.

TikTok user @notthemaincharacters made a “no bones” theme song to the tune of “Mama Said” by Lukas Graham. There’s even a dramatic sea shanty about Noodle (by @ malindamusic), paying homage to a TikTok trend from months ago.

Noodle has jumped to other platforms as well, meeting celebrities and inspiring a COVID-19 vaccinepromotion video from Louisiana Governor Jon Bel Edwards.

Rolling Stone, however, is not entertained. In an article from Oct. 27, writer Ej Dickson declared Noodle the Pug “canceled.” Dickson and her co-host, Brittany Spanos, labeled Noodle’s moodcast as “cheugy,” meaning that Noodle and his owner were uncool and trying too hard.

Graziano, however, was undeterred. In a TikTok video, he acknowledged that there was some truth to the claim, admitting that he was a 30-something year old on TikTok, but he continued with the daily Noodle updates.

Many on TikTok joke about what a grip Noodle has on their well-being. I, too, am a little guilty of letting this random predictor set the tone for my days, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a problem. If you wake up feeling under the weather, seeing that it’s a “no bones day” may help you remember that there’s no shame in taking a day to rest and take care of yourself. It serves as a reminder that we all have off days, and it is important to be accepting and gentle with yourself. Graziano typically includes suggestions for selfcare, such as taking a bubble bath or staying in bed.

On the flip side, the declaration of a “bones day” can turn your perspective to see the mundane facets of everyday life more positively. It may be just enough of a boost to transform getting your morning coffee from routine to “treating yourself.”

It might seem like a silly notion to let a pug’s balancing abilities determine your day, but in many ways, Noodle is having a positive impact on mental health. Beyond the fact that his owner advises viewers to practice self-care, Noodle’s daily forecasts are the excuse that some people need in order to take time for themselves. Instead of pushing past their limit, Noodle’s declaration of a “no bones day” gives individuals permission to take it easy and feel

their feelings. We all have “no bones days,” even if they don’t coincide with Noodle’s.

Whether or not you enjoy checking on a pug for the day’s vibe, do make sure to treat yourself or take care of yourself as your body and mind need you to. Not every day will be a “bones day,” but not every

day will be a “no bones day,” either.

Take them as they come and do what will work best for your mind on any given day. Remember that you’re allowed to take a day in bed and recover, and you’re allowed to treat yourself. So take the time you need to check in with yourself and take care of your needs.

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

TikTok famous dog Noodle encourages viewers to practice self-care.

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November 10, 2021

Native American Heritage Month Recommendations

BY MORGAN MORRISSEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

November is Native American Heritage Month (NAHM), and is a time to celebrate and acknowledge the histories, cultures, traditions and contributions of Native American people. This monthlong celebration originates from an American Indian Day proposed by Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Senecan Indian, and taken up by the Boy Scouts of America. This day gained further recognition in 1915 when the annual Congress of the American Indian Association proclaimed American Indian Day to be the second Saturday of May. Similar efforts were made in the same year as Blackfoot Indian Red Fox James

presented 24 state government endorsements to the White House for a national day of recognition.

New York state was the first state to recognize American Indian Day in 1916, with several states making similar efforts in the following years.

It wasn’t until 1990, however, that this day gained national recognition when President George H.W. Bush named November “National American Indian Heritage Month.”

Since then, each president has recognized what has come to be called Native American Heritage Month.

With this celebration of Native American heritage comes the opportunity to educate one another and oneself about the past and present experiences and challenges of Native Americans. There are count-

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“RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World” was released in 2017.

less ways to celebrate and educate with books, movies, documentaries, shows and podcasts. Below is a list of award-winning, critically acclaimed and accessible mediums to celebrate and understand Native American Heritage Month.

Books “Carry” by Toni Jensen is the historical account of a Native American woman as she recollects her experiences with gun violence in her country.

“Winter in the Blood” by James Welch takes place on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana and follows a Native American man as he attempts to connect with the land of his ancestors. He also faces tragedies of his own.

“Code Talker” by Joseph Bruchac is one of the first novels to share the experiences of Navajo code talkers in the fight against Japan in World War II. Told through the lens of a fictional 16-year-old Navajo boy, the book recognizes the Navajo Marines’ effort in World War II. “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko is one of the most profound works of Native American literature.

It follows a Pueblo myth and has remained a classic since its publication almost 40 years ago.

“The Portable North American Indian Reader” by Various Authors is a collection of poetry, tales, myths and more from tribes like the Cherokee, Winnebago, Sioux, Blackfeet and Hopi.

“As Long as Grass Grows” by Dina Gilio-Whitaker is an overlap between Native American history, justice and environmental activism.

Gilio-Whitaker explores violations made against Native Americans and their land that have also heavily impacted the environment.

“Almanac of the Dead” by Leslie Marmon Silko recreates the history and development of America through the lens of Native American tribes.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Take time to educate yourself about Native American heritage this November.

Films “Four Sheets to the Wind” (2007) is a coming-of-age movie that follows American Indian Cufe after his father’s death as he explores life outside of the reservation.

“Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner” (2001) is the first film written and acted in the Inuktitut language.

The cast is almost entirely Inuit, and the plot is based around an ancient myth of murder and love.

“Trudell” (2005) is a documentary about Native American poet and activist John Trudell. The documentary follows Trudell’s life from his Omaha childhood to the tragedies he faced to his activism.

“Dawnland” (2018) is a documentary about Indigenous child removal, the government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission.

“RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World” (2017) is a documentary that follows the stories of Native American influencers in rock and roll.

“Without a Whisper” (2020) is a documentary about Indigenous suffragists and how Native Americans contributed to the fight for women’s rights.

“The Warrior Tradition” (2019) is a documentary about the untold experiences and stories

of Native Americans in the U.S. military.

Podcasts “All My Relations” is hosted by Matika Wilbur, from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples, and Adrienne Keene, from the Cherokee Nation.

They discuss being Native Americans in today’s world and representation.

“This Land” is hosted by Rebecca Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. This podcast discusses crimes, Supreme Court decisions and treaty rights of different tribes.

“Toasted Sister” is hosted by Andi Murphy, a Navajo journalist. She discusses Native American Food and her culinary journey. She also provides recipes and culinary tutorials on her website.

“Native America Calling” is a live podcast linked to public radio stations to discuss issues facing Native Americans.

“Red Nation” is hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley. They discuss Native American history, culture and left-leaning politics.

They created this podcast intending to educate, advocate and bring awareness to issues that affect Native Americans.

With these books, films and podcasts you can educate yourself about Native American heritage and culture and important issues faced.

ABBA Releases Album “Voyage” After 40 Years

BY KARI WHITE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Sept. 2, my world stopped when I saw the impossible take place: ABBA, the Swedish disco group popular in the 1970s and ’80s, released new music after a 40-year hiatus. Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad returned with songs “I Still Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down,” which flooded TikTok. This past Friday they introduced the world to their new album, “Voyage.” Just as the title implies, this album crosses the distance between the past and present, old and new.

Connecting the past to the present runs beyond just the lyrics of the songs, but into the creation of the album itself. According to the album’s official page, the band recorded the single, “Just A Notion,” in 1978. Now, they have released it alongside nine other songs, all recorded recently.

They released this album with the idea of creating a concert experience that utilized modern technology to take their fans

back to the past. The technology allows fans to see the band perform as younger versions of themselves. How will they do that? Holograms! Set for spring 2022, the concerts will be held in a specially designed stadium in London, where a live band will perform alongside the (mildly sim-like) avatars. This allows present-day fans to experience an ABBA concert as if it took place 45 years prior. It’ll be an interesting experience.

The album starts with a few slower songs, piling on the emotional gravity with the lyrics and slower tempo. In the first track, “I Still Have Faith In You,” ABBA introduces the larger, orchestral sound that it intertwines with the deep disco that defines the band. It’s a more mature, relaxed sound, which reflects how the band members themselves have grown up.

Honestly, the first few songs did not grab my attention. For my introduction into “Voyage,” I played the album while in the car with my sister. (Both of us could sing ABBA’s top hits by heart, so I figured we were quali-

fied enough to judge the new album.) Nothing grabbed our ears until later into the album list when “Don’t Shut Me Down” played. Following it, “Just A Notion,” “Keep an Eye on Dan” and a few other songs reminded us of our undying love for the band. These songs capture the essence of ABBA, which makes you want to jump up and dance even while the lyrics pull from past hurt and joy. The other songs missed that mark.

Ultimately, the album focuses on the relationships between the band members and reflects their maturity. This album doesn’t brim with the restless energy of the late teenage and early adult years, but explores how people and emotions echo through different periods of life. “Keep an Eye on Dan” is about child custody and co-parenting, which most 17-year-old dancing queens can’t relate to. This may show a blindspot on my part, where I didn’t enjoy this album as much because I struggled relate to it.

I grew up on the timeless hits of ABBA that I fell in love with while watching “Mamma Mia” with my grandmother

and learning all the words to the soundtrack with my sister.

My parents bought an “ABBA: Gold” CD because of my obsession at six years old. Most of the songs on “Voyage” do not pos-

sess that same timeless quality, but some do. “Don’t Shut Me Down” is a fantastic addition to ABBA’s greatest hits, and I could certainly see my eightyear-old self singing it in the car.

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

ABBA’s new album is kickstarting a tour using hologram technology.

November 10, 2021

CULTURE

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Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Creates COVID-19 Memorial

By MARIBELLE GORDON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

For many of us, life is returning to normal after the pandemic, but for some 5 million families around the world, normalcy is no longer an option following the loss of loved ones. This time has allowed artists to express and memorialize some of the intangible emotions that have come along with this devastating virus. Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has created an art exhibit entitled “A Crack in the Hourglass,” which serves as a tribute to the many lives taken by COVID-19.

The exhibit features a robotic mechanism recreating photos of victims using sand. Seconds after these portraits are created, they disappear as the sand spills out to be recycled for a new photo. The slow formation of the portrait is like watching somebody’s life being built up, grain by grain, demonstrating the intricacies and individuality of human life. Watching the sand quickly fade out of view from the glass represents the intense loss experienced when these grains of a life disappear from the world, especially as it has been occuring at such

an accelerated pace due to the virus.

Lozano-Hemmer works with many architectural and technological design elements to evoke stronger public attraction to and interaction with his art. He does not rely on just the composition of his work to convey the meanings of each piece, but also the materials themselves. In “A Crack in the Hourglass,” the grains of sand represent the countless fibers of an individual identity, the arrangement of which cannot be replicated by any other individual.

By using a material so miniscule to make up a much larger image and showing how easily it can disappear, the viewer must confront the pricelessness and volatility of life. The portrait is created slowly, which contrasts against the quick speed of the disappearing sand to form a crucial part of the exhibit’s meaning. According to LozanoHemmer, it’s meant to feel like watching a fusion of life experiences being created and ending with a sense of closure in how quickly it disappears. The aspect of closure in this exhibit is especially important because the pandemic has limited many people’s ability to mourn how they please. This

20-40 minute process can act as a funeral and celebration of life.

This emotional display is not only unique in its medium, but in its interactive nature as well.

Anyone who has lost a loved one to the virus can submit a portrait along with a short biography or dedication to be featured on the exhibit’s website. So far, there are over 500 people memorialized in the exhibit just a couple of weeks after the display’s opening. The images are brought to life through the messages left with them as family and friends publish small glimpses into the grains that made up the individuals’ life. Featured are stories of grandparents, parents, friends, spouses, coworkers, artists, frontline healthcare workers and many other people from all walks of life.

This exhibit does a remarkable job of humanizing the pandemic, as so much of the past year and a half has been a whirlwind of statistics and science. Sometimes it is easy to forget that those numbers in the news are more than just numbers; behind them are families, legacies and memories. As I read through the biographies, I learned more about these people than just their status as victims of COVID-19. I

learned their nicknames, favorite songs, careers, sororities, quirks and characteristics. Reflecting on the tragedy of the pandemic was melancholic and poignant, leaving a greater impact than reading a statistic in a newspaper. Learning about just a few of the grains of sand that contributed to a much larger and more intricate picture of

life made the pandemic’s effects feel much more emotionally impactful and personal.

This exhibit will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum until June 2022 and is also available in an online livestream format as well.

It is an easily accessible and highly meaningful way to honor those that have been lost to the pandemic.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Lozano-Hemmer uses a robotic mechanism to create portraits.

Editors Pick | Music

“The Hissing of Summer Lawns” is a Window into the Past

By HANIF AMANULLAH

ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR

I first heard Joni Mitchell’s 1975 album “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” on my back patio on a blistering July afternoon. It was the album’s 45th anniversary in 2020, so I had decided to listen. The Texas sun beat down as I made my way through an album that, at first glance, was cool in every sense of the word—the instruments acoustic and unobtrusive, Mitchell’s voice trickling like water over subtle rhythms and percussion.

“He bought her a diamond for her throat / He put her in a ranch house on a hill / She could see the valley barbecues / From her window sill / She could see the blue pools in the squinting sun / Hear the hissing of summer lawns.”

These are the opening lines from the eponymous title track, a song about a suburban married couple whose lives initially seem luxurious and peaceful. They set the tone for the album as a whole: lyrics imagery-rich, descriptive, but otherwise ambiguous — at first glance, perhaps unremarkable. Yet, as with all of the renowned Canadian musician’s work, there is more to the words than meet the eye.

For example, Mitchell notes that the husband buys jewelry not for his wife as much as for her throat; instead of buying her a necklace for her to wear, he purchases an expensive statement for her to display. He “puts” her, like one would place furniture, in a ranch house (which screams seclusion). From the windowsill, she stares out at the lives of suburban neighbors — whether in longing or caution

we do not yet know — and takes in the sounds. She hears “the hissing of summer lawns.”

What is the “hissing” of summer lawns? The realization struck me that July afternoon in a way it might not have if I wasn’t outside my suburban home. Superficially, the hissing refers to the sound a sprinkler makes. If you listen in closer, you’ll realize the “hissing” represents the sinister influences that linger in seemingly domestic and tranquil communities (notice too the snake on the album’s cover). It represents the evil and ugly truths that lie beneath societal norms, awaiting chances to explode and disrupt the calm, urbane lifestyles we lead.

This dark undercurrent flows through the entirety of the album.

It’s a piece of work that reflects on problems “developed” societies try to mask (and the problems we kid ourselves don’t really exist)— the most prominent of which is the subjugation of women. The last stanza of the title track explains, “He gave her his darkness to regret / And good reason to quit him.” Despite obvious examples of emotional and psychological abuse peppering the rest of the song, the narrator sings these lines with sarcasm and disappointment — she knows how the story ends: “Still she stays with a love of some kind / It’s the lady’s choice / The hissing of summer lawns.”

Despite having become famous in the confessional singersongwriter scene of the early ‘70s, Mitchell chose to continue exploring territory with “Hissing.” The album is a stark and cerebral social commentary — contrary to her most popular work (albums like “Song

to a Seagull” and “Blue”). In lieu of her prior sentimental work, which demonstrated her earnestly showcase the happy-sad emotional rollercoaster of relationships, Mitchell chose to pull back from the lyrical hand holding. In “Hissing,” emotions are not simply good or bad, and people do not simply love or despair. The emotional states of this album are ambiguous, twisted, subtle, shifting. Pitchfork sums it up best: “the characters that inhabit ‘Hissing,’ mostly women, are strangers to their innermost feelings, or struggling to become so in order to escape or cope.”

When I first realized that the album, in all of its smooth, jazz-inspired folk instrumentation, held such gut-punching layers, it was a shock. The songs are meditative and deeply atmospheric. The guitars reverberate above your head, the basslines swirl below. The soft sounds of “Hissing” betray the murkiness of their accompanying lyrics, the biting and beautiful second wave feminist poetry. This is, of course, the point: Mitchell fashioned the sonic elements of the songs as meticulously as she wrote the words, and crafted both to lull the listener into the same false sense of security that deceives the songs’ subjects.

That darkness is evident in every glistening track. In “Edith and the Kingpin,” a drug lord keeps his molls leashed to his side through narcotics. Mitchell describes them: “Women he has taken grow old too soon / He tilts their tired faces / Gently to the spoon.” In “Harry’s House / Centerpiece,” a businessman gazes out of a hotel’s continental suite, reminiscing about the way his wife looked before their

marriage: “He drifts off into the memory of how she looked in school / With her body oiled and shining / At the public swimming pool” (in other words, a catch).

Meanwhile, the wife chooses “Yellow checkers for the kitchen / She is lost in House and Garden.”

In “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow,” a husband lambasts a wife for speaking up: “He says, ‘we walked on the moon / You be polite.’”

And in “The Hissing of Summer Lawns,” “There’s a heatwave burning / In her master’s voice.”

In each song, the characters don’t fully realize the roles they fill. The men punch down obliviously; the women retreat, convincing themselves that all is well. Mitchell sardonically refers to the men as “masters” and “paper-minded,” two-dimensional proponents of toxic masculinity; she confidently refers to the women as “prophet witches,” burned at the stake for

speaking their truths.

Mitchell writes of this clearly and artfully, as her career can attest. As folk singer John Sieger writes, that anyone can describe a “woman’s point of view so clearly and sympathetically, in a way the average thick-headed man can relate to, is rare.” The women in her songs embody the standard relationships Mitchell grew up seeing, witnessed as she wrote the album.

In fact, they embody the relationships we see even today. In the era of #MeToo and long-overdue women’s rights advancements, looking back at this oft-forgotten album provides a looking glass into the past. The sorrow has always been here, and will likely persist for years. And while “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” helps us track our progress, they warn us that some “heat waves” are hidden in plain sight.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

“The Hissing of Summer Lawns” provides a window into the past.

CULTURE

Page 14

November 10, 2021

Celebrating the Life of Mort Sahl: Comedian Dead at 94

By ZOE ALATSAS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, comedian Morton “Mort” Lyon Sahl passed away at age 94 in his home in Mill Valley, California.

Sahl was born in Montreal on May 11, 1927, to Harry Sahl and Dorothy Schwartz. The family moved to Los Angeles in the late 1930s, where Sahl attended Belmont High School. When he was 15, Sahl dropped out of high school and tried to enlist in the military by lying about his age. His mother pulled him out three weeks later and enrolled him back in Belmont to finish his studies.

After graduating, he enlisted in the military to serve in World War II. He immediately resisted the authoritarian systems by growing a beard, refusing to wear a cap and joining a newspaper that often criticized the U.S. military. He was honorably discharged in 1947 and enrolled in the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in civil management. During his graduate studies, Sahl dropped out of school to become an actor and comedian.

Between 1950 and 1953, Sahl struggled with his work. He tried and failed to get jobs at Los

Angeles nightclubs and even auditioned for NBC, who told him he would never make it as a comedian. He later moved to New York City, where he wrote short stories and novels that went unpublished.

While trying to sell his plays and novels, he had no luck. During this period, he worked as a car salesman and messenger in order to keep himself afloat.

In 1953, things began to change.

Sahl began dating Sue Babior and moved back to California with her. He began working at Hungry I, a nightclub in San Francisco owned by Enrico Banducci. There, he began to attract large crowds of people and the attention of television personalities with his political commentary. His edgy yet laid-back performance regarding McCarthyism is what caught the attention of Eddie Cantor, a film comedian who took Sahl “under his wing.”

While other comedians were very hesitant to discuss politics, Sahl made it his platform. Satire became his main style, as he made jokes about the hot-button issues plaguing the news cycle. Other comedians began to take inspiration from his style of comedy, including Woody Allen, George Carlin and Richard Pryor.

It wasn’t just Sahl’s style of

satire that changed the game of comedy. While most professional comedians wore a suit and tie on stage, Sahl refused the “traditional” dress code just like he did while in the military. During his sets, he wore a V-neck sweater with khaki pants and had a newspaper tucked underneath his arm. Steve Allen, the creator of The Tonight Show, complimented Sahl on his appearance.

In the 1960s, the assassination of President Kennedy fascinated Sahl so much he joined the District Attorney’s investigation to find the killer. The New York Times attributes this fascination to the fact that he was blacklisted after he gave his true opinions in one of his sets. The return of the satirical comedy style in the 1970s inspired Sahl’s comeback.

From then on, Sahl went on tour all over the world making TV show appearances. In the 1980s, he continued headlining for clubs owned by Enrico Banducci. In 1988, Sahl performed in a oneman off-Broadway show entitled “Mort Sahl’s America,” which received rave reviews from critics, including the New York Times. In 1991, he was given his own show, “Mort Sahl Live.”

Regarding his personal life, Sahl was married and divorced three

times. In 1955, he married Babior, whom he divorced three years later. In 1967, he married actress China Lee and they had one son, Mort Sahl Jr. They divorced in 1991, and their son died in 1996.

In 1997, he married Kenslea Ann Motter, and they divorced in 2009.

Comedy Central has placed Mort Sahl 40th on their list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He is ranked between Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart. A biography about his life, titled “Last Man Standing” was published in 2017 by author James Curtis.

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Mort Sahl, a celebrated stand up comedian, dies at age 94.

Who’s That Kid? | Angie Wright FCLC ’23

Junior Finally Finds a Place to Settle at Fordham

By HASNA CERAN FEATURES EDITOR

Angie Wright, FCLC ‘23, may not have “been there, done that”, but she’s vying for Mr. Worldwide’s international crown nonetheless.

Growing up, she rarely spent more than a few years in one place. Her family moved from country to country due to her father’s job, and Angie grew up in a variety of environments. Born in Jordan, she’s lived in Syria, Virginia, Abu Dhabi, Turkey, Virginia again and finally settled in New Jersey, from where she commutes to the Lincoln Center campus.

The transient lifestyle has its pros and cons, according to Wright. “[The positives are that] I learned how to adapt, I learned about different cultures, I was friends with so many different people with different backgrounds. I definitely would have preferred that to the suburban life, where I’d spent 18 years growing up in the same house I was born in.”

She continued: “On the other hand, some of the difficulties are that I don’t relate fully to any one group of people.” Wright reminisced on the last two years of high school she spend stateside,

in Virginia. “I had a lot of trouble relating to everyone in high school in Virginia … Everyone had already formed their friend groups in middle school. I wasn’t a part of that, but at the same time I’m not foreign — though I had a very different concept of America, having only learned about it through the eyes of people in the embassy, them being people serving America diplomatically and militarily.”

Wright is currently double majoring in History and Middle East Studies and minoring in Arabic.

“I started out as a math major, actually,” she said. “I was interested in minoring in history, but then the pandemic hit and I found

COURTESY OF ANGIE WRIGHT/THE FORDHAM RAM

Well traveled Fordham student Angie Wright, FCLC ‘23, is vying for Mr. Worldwide’s international crown.

a lot more joy in an elective history courses than I was finding in my major courses for math.”

The Middle East studies major and additional Arabic minor was a natural choice for Wright, who spent her childhood bouncing from one cultural setting to the next. “I wanted to learn Arabic at Fordham — I took French and Turkish in high school, and took Arabic when I lived overseas in fifth and sixth grade.”

Languages aren’t the only skill Wright likes to collect; she plays multiple instruments, as well. A list of the instruments she plays are as follows: clarinet, bass clarinet, contralto clarinet, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone and she is currently learning to play the drums and piano. She played the clarinet in the Lincoln Center Chamber Orchestra from fall 2019 to May 2020.

Wright, who has participated in band and orchestra since elementary school, found that music was the same for her no matter where she was living.

“The one constant thing for me was music,” she said.

Currently, she’s the cultural programming coordinator of the Women’s Herstory Month committee, which is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Her duties include brainstorming programs, organizing the committee, and planning out events for Women’s History Month in March of 2021.

When asked her favorite things about studying at Fordham University, Wright, perhaps inspired

by Fordham’s famous motto, “Fordham is my school, New York is my campus,” for the location of Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. The fun of thrift shopping in the area, the ability to travel to famous landmarks and locations from the campus’s central location and the local foodie culture and restaurants all featured as benefits of coming to Lincoln Center.

However, Fordham’s location is not all it offers this student.

“I really like the professors here,” she explained. “They’re accessible, and they make the classes fun.” She continued to discuss the smaller class sizes at Fordham.

“It’s interesting! When you’re just outside of campus, there are so many people you pass by... it can be isolating to be in a city so huge and so full of people by yourself, but you come here and there are these small classes and the small campus … it’s just so intimate,” ... “it makes me feel less alone,” said Wright.

Being a Fordham student has helped Wright realize what she is passionate about, as well. “I realized how much I want to get into international law,” she explained. “I’m actually looking to go to law school right after graduation. I’m passionate about hearing people, listening to them, being empathetic and I want to use the skills I have to help people.” The Syrian refugee crisis was something particularly important to Wright.

“I just really want to engage with humanity on a large scale.”

November 10, 2021

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SPORTS Football Wins Sixth in a Row, Sets Up Meeting with Holy Cross

November 10, 2021

Page 16

By ALEXANDER WOLZ SPORTS EDITOR

Ever since Fordham Football began winning in the Patriot League, all eyes have been pointed toward a Nov. 16 battle with the College of the Holy Cross. It was pitted to be a fight between one and two in the preseason polls with the conference title on the line.

With that, it would have been very easy for both teams to look beyond the challenges in front of them. For Fordham though, that did not appear to be the case. It produced a pair of resounding blowouts to Wagner College and Bucknell University, scoring a combined 122 points across the two, garnering nearly every Patriot League weekly honor in the book and dominating the conference’s statistical categories.

However, with all the distractions of Family Weekend on Oct. 23, Fordham showed its first signs of looking a bit too far in the future, as it pulled out a squeaky 35–28 victory over a winless, then touchdown-less Lehigh University. It was not pretty, with the Rams needing the Mountain Hawks to fumble every missed opportunity they had in order to give Fordham a fighting chance to win.

However, good teams find a way to win the games when they are not at their best. Fordham did just that, seizing the chance in front of them with 21 unanswered points.

Then, they received something they desperately needed, a bye week after eight straight weeks of football, to refuel, refresh and gear up for Georgetown University.

And this time, Fordham did not make the same mistake twice, coming in with a clear game plan and overpowering the Hoyas en route to a 41–20 victory at Cooper Field in Washington D.C., their sixth in a row to move to 6–3 on the season and a perfect 4–0 in Patriot League play.

Georgetown is, somewhat surprisingly, the Rams’ most familiar opponent, as this meeting represented the 67th between the two squads, with Fordham leading the all-time series 40–23–3, taking the most recent matchup 30–27 two seasons ago on Oct. 19. That game came in 2019 because the Hoyas were the only Patriot League team to miss the conference’s spring campaign.

This game felt as familiar as ever, especially for Fordham. In one unfortunate way, Georgetown, like Lehigh, rolled right down the field on its opening drive thanks to a surprising quarterback change.

From there, the Fordham offense that rose to the top of the conference made its return, as the Rams crossed the 500-yard threshold en route to 34 points through three quarters, putting this contest well out of reach before a pair of late touchdowns in the fourth with the reserves on the field.

At first glance, 500 may not sound like much of a surprising number for this Fordham team.

But rather than the career-high 401 yards, senior Tim DeMorat dished out against Lehigh, this time, the yards came from the rushing attack just as much as the air. Head coach Joe Conlin always sees the running game as a priority.

After just 87 yards on the ground two weeks ago, it certainly became more of one this time around, with 230, 103 of which came from graduate student Zach Davis.

Davis, the Rams’ leading rusher in 2019, had not looked quite right since returning from injury this season. But, thanks to rehab during the bye week, Davis was an entirely different player, rushing with an aggressive attitude and northsouth approach reminiscent of his old self, punching in two touchdowns, fitting that the last time Davis hit that mark was Oct. 12, 2019, against those same Hoyas.

Accompanying him was 76

yards from junior Trey Wilson II and 39 courtesy of DeMorat, utilizing the legs that Conlin hopes he does when the opportunity is there. Alongside the terrific production on the ground, the offense delivered familiar numbers in the aerial attack. DeMorat finished 22–38 with 273 yards and three touchdowns, again without any interceptions. He has not thrown one in conference play, the last coming Sept. 18 against Florida Atlantic University.

On the receiving end of those completions were senior Fotis Kokosioulis, catching five balls for 91 yards and two touchdowns as he remains atop the friendly battle for the top of the Patriot League in the latter category with junior teammate Dequece Carter, who added four catches for 46 yards and a touchdown himself. Matching those numbers without the endzone strike was junior MJ Wright. Davis added four himself

from the backfield to contribute to all facets of the offense.

The offensive output could be expected for Fordham, but the most significant area of improvement came on defense. And from that first drive onward, it delivered, keeping the Hoyas off the scoreboard for two consecutive quarters.

Leading the way in that effort was fifth-year defensive back Jesse Bramble, flying all over the field with six tackles and an interception. Junior Stephen Williams II pursued six of his own while freshman James Conway, even on what could be considered a down week for him with just six tackles, half for loss, notched his fifth Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors. The Rams’ were also active in the pass coverage as well, with a number of pass breakups, two of which came from sophomore Brandon Spencer.

Fordham has received this mix

of offensive and defensive success at multiple points this season.

However, it is one of the first times that the offense featured such a delicate mix in the run and pass game. The Rams certainly still have key things to improve upon, such as the avoidable penalties and special teams snafus plaguing them from the Lehigh game, but when the offense is meshing like this, they will prove a very difficult team to beat.

All of the waiting, the circling on the calendar and the foresight can finally fade away, and Fordham can turn the page to the team they’ve been waiting for, Holy Cross. Senior Day is this Saturday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m., and the Rams have much more at stake. The season can already be considered a success, but if they hope to make it something much more, a win this Saturday is a necessity. And, fortunately for Fordham, they look to have their best football yet in store for it.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Davis had one of his best games on the ground in two seasons to push Fordham to a win over Georgetown.

Student Athlete Column: The Luckiest Girl in the World

By SARAH TAFFET

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF INSTAGRAM

Taffet stayed strong with her team.

Let me begin my story with what my doctor told me earlier this week. I am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world.

On Oct. 3, 2021, I collapsed on the softball field after a tag to the chest. This sent me into a seizure followed by approximately two minutes of cardiac arrest. Luckily, I was saved by an amazing and prepared group of people performing CPR and using a defibrillator.

You would think my story and my luck would end there. I mean, that’s pretty damn lucky. But that was just the beginning.

My life returned to normal, going to college and classes like any normal 21-year-old, with a few doctor appointments sprinkled in. Doctors were so close to chalking up what happened to me as “a freak accident” and closing the case, declaring me lucky to be alive and moving forward. Luckily, one doctor, my cardiologist, insisted on checking every single little box

before making the final call.

On Oct. 28, I had one last test: a CAT scan. With all of my other tests coming back normal, I expected this one to do the same.

It didn’t. When the doctor didn’t show up for hours after the scan finished, I knew something was wrong. The doctor pulled me into a room with a very serious expression and told me that the CAT scan revealed something called ALCAPA, or anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. This is a congenital defect I was born with where my left coronary artery comes from the pulmonary artery which is not where it’s supposed to come from.

Basically, I was not getting as much oxygenated blood flow to my heart that I should’ve been.

This is an extremely dangerous condition, but also one that shows just how lucky I really am.

There are one in 300 thousand babies born with ALCAPA (.00000333% of the world) and if not caught in the first year of life, the fatality rate for people

with this defect is 90%. The irregular way my heart functioned 21 years later wasn’t going to last forever, and as scary as it sounds, I could’ve dropped dead at any given moment. The odds of a defibrillator and a trainer who knows CPR being there when it happened again weren’t very high.

The doctors decided to keep me in the hospital from that day on until they could perform surgery on me on Monday, Nov. 1.

The next few days were a lot for me mentally. I couldn’t help but ask, “Why me? Why is this happening to me, but also why am I the one to defy these insane odds for over two decades?” It was all so much to process, but no matter what emotions I faced — anger, sadness, doubt or fear — I kept coming back to what my doctor said: I really am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world. This has been a confusing time and stressful time for me, but also one of truly understanding just how much of a blessing it was to be alive for these past 21 years.

The surgery went perfectly, performed by one of the best of the best in congenital cardiac surgery, and now the recovery process has begun. It’s going to be a grind, but I know it is something I can handle and come out of even stronger. Every day I wake up, and even though the pain is unbearable at times, I tell myself it’s going to be okay.

I will get to live a strong, healthy and happy life, and for that, I am thankful.

My friend Rachel Hubertus gave me this quote to think about right before my surgery: “God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.”

These are the words that I will live by through this entire healing process. I am looking forward to making a full recovery and hitting the softball field once again when the time is right. That could be months from now, but that is the light at the end of my tunnel.

With my teammates, friends, family, coaches, doctors and all those behind me supporting me, I know I can accomplish anything.

SPORTS

November 10, 2021

Fantasy Football Week 9

By RYAN WEITMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

This turned out to be the week of upsets and surprisingly terrible performances, starting with the Buffalo Bills’ loss to a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that was supercharged this week against the Bills’ offense, one of the most robust in the NFL. The Bills offense put up an incredibly uninspiring performance, with Josh Allen being the only fantasy player on the Bills to (barely) break double digits and the receiving and running games both being mostly nonexistent.

The Jaguars, who are largely considered to be the worst team in the NFL this year, relied heavily on their defenses to come away with the win.

They finished the game with four sacks and two interceptions (one of which was thrown by Bills quarterback Josh Allen to a Jaguar defensive end named Josh Allen, which is guaranteed to be one of the most bizarre headlines of the 2021-2022 season). Hopefully this performance is going to be an outlier for the Bills, as up until this point Bills players have been must-starts every week.

Time for part two of the Mike White saga! The breakout backup quarterback for the Jets, who currently has the best first-time performance for a quarterback in NFL history, entered the Thursday night game against the Colts with a boom in the first quarter, quickly passing for a touchdown and then just as quickly being taken off the field with a forearm injury. This injury, which sidelined him for the rest of the game, ended another chance for White to put up a second incredible performance

(something that I needed in order to win this week in fantasy, but that is just my luck I suppose). It is unclear who will start next week against the Bills, as Zach Wilson, the Jets’ starter until suffering an injury that sidelined him, is back at practice. Wilson’s presence at practice makes it unclear whether he will take White’s spot and continue to put up the subpar performances that made the Jets live up to their “stellar” reputation. The massive rise in the popularity of Mike White among fans and Jets players alike is incredible, with the Jets offense putting up 64 points over the span of two weeks. Even though White left the Colts game in the first quarter, I still think he is a phenomenally underrated quarterback. If White starts, he should definitely be considered for a starting role in your lineup.

The best performance this week by far has to go to Arizona Cardinals’ running back James Conner, who put up 96 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, alongside five receptions, 77 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown, nearly breaking 40 points in most leagues. I am not exactly sure why anyone would have benched him this week, but his performance definitely merits a promotion to must-start status.

Continuing the unexpected boom of the New York Jets offense, wide receiver Elijah Moore put up seven receptions, 84 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. My only concern with adding any player on the Jets is the fact that if Zach Wilson returns to the starting slot, their performances will return to being uninspiring and nowhere near worthy of your starting lineup.

Hopefully, this does not end up being the case (because I really need a wide receiver like him in both of my leagues). He has the first priority for my waiver wire pickups this week.

Waiver Wire: Devonta Freeman (RB, Baltimore Ravens) I can’t believe that this guy has flown under my radar for so long, as this is the third week in a row that he has put up double digits.

While not exactly the best and most reliable running back in the league this year, his consistently decent performances definitely merit some flex consideration if the need arises.

Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR, Cleveland Browns) After the bizarre departure of Odell Beckham Jr. from the roster, Donovan Peoples-Jones quickly rose to fill in the void, putting up a 60-yard touchdown with only three targets. While I normally don’t like adding players with such low targets, he is still putting up more points than Jarvis Landry for some reason. Ultimately, he is on my list for waiver wire adds this week, and he definitely deserves some attention if you are desperate for a solid wide receiver (much like myself, because I wouldn’t be suggesting that you add a Jets wide receiver unless you were really scraping at the bottom of the barrel).

I hope you enjoyed my wordierthan-usual analysis of Week nine.

Next week, I am looking forward to the Seahawks v. Packers, as Russell Wilson finally returns to the field.

Hopefully he will salvage Seattle’s performance and my fantasy performance simultaneously, but I am never that lucky. I will see you next week in my Fantasy Football Analysis for Week 10.

Page 17

City Wins Manchester Derby

By NICK GUZMAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Coming into the Manchester Derby, both Manchester United and Manchester City were needed a win. United, who mustered a 2–2 draw against Atalanta in the Champions League last Tuesday thanks to the heroics of striker Cristiano Ronaldo, had won just three out of their previous ten matches dating back to September. This poor form, along with the humiliating 5–0 defeat against Liverpool two weeks ago, caused many United supporters to call for the sacking of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

For City, a rare loss in the Premier League at home to Crystal Palace last weekend left them in third place, five points behind league leaders, Chelsea. A win would reaffirm City’s title ambitions and keep them on pace at the top of the league.

With a point to prove, Man City wasted no time asserting its dominance against United in the first half. An own goal from Eric Bailly gave the Sky Blues a 1–0 lead after seven minutes. City’s midfield trio of Rodri, İlkay Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne ran circles around United, creating chance after chance for forwards Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. United keeper David De Gea made countless first-half saves, keeping the score at 1–0 approaching half-time despite City’s impressive play.

Then, just before the break, Silva tapped in a João Cancelo cross that somehow found its way past United defenders Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw to double City’s advantage. Silva’s tight-angled effort seemed to catch De Gea off guard, as the ball spilled off his

gloves and into the net. United exited Old Trafford at halftime to a chorus of boos, the Red Devils thoroughly outclassed by their cross-town rivals.

Despite a flurry of substitutions and a system change, Manchester United was unable to grab a foothold in the second half. Man City more or less played keep-away in the second 45 minutes, limiting United to just one shot on target with 33% possession. The match finished 2–0 to City, although the final scoreline suggests that the contest was closer than it actually was.

After another poor performance at home against a fierce rival, the cries to sack Solskjaer are louder than ever from United supporters.

The Red Devils currently sit sixth in the Premier League, nine points behind first place Chelsea and five points outside of the top four. Even with this historically bad run of form, United’s upper management has not made any indication that it plans to get rid of Solskjaer, at least not until the end of the season. The international break could not have come at a better time for United, who needs to regroup as the team heads into the busy holiday season. United will travel to Watford on the other side of this upcoming slate of international matches.

On the other hand, Man City leapfrogged Liverpool into second place in the league, just three points behind Chelsea who dropped points against Burnley.

Although the team has hit a few roadbumps this season, this performance at Old Trafford showed that a City team in first gear is still a force to be reckoned with. The Sky Blues will host Everton after the international break.

Verstappen Dominates and Perez Celebrates in Mexico

By MICHAEL HERNANDEZ ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Over the weekend, the 2021 Formula 1 season continued as they traveled south of the border to Mexico City for the Mexican Grand Prix. Heading into this race, Max Verstappen led the drivers championship in front of Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes was leading from Red Bull in the constructors.

Heading into the weekend, Mercedes was slightly on the back foot. Verstappen won the previous race at the track which was largely considered a Mercedes stronghold. Now, they were headed to Mexico, which has been a Red Bull track in recent years. This meant that Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez were already favorites for the race win. In addition to the track layout, this is also Perez’s home race, which meant that he would be more motivated to perform in front of his home crowd.

Throughout the practice sessions, the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers constantly traded the top spot, with Hamilton’s teammate Valteri Bottas being quicker than the seven-time world champion.

When it came time for qualifying, Mercedes shocked the paddock as they grabbed a front row lockout, with Bottas grabbing pole position and his teammate in second.

In their final qualifying lap, both Perez and Verstappen had to abort their laps due to the Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda going off of the track. During qualifying, Tsunoda was told that the Red Bulls were rapidly approaching his part of the track. Tsunoda moved off of the track so that they could continue their laps. However, this distracted Perez forcing him off the track as well.

Verstappen then saw the two drivers go off and slowed down, expecting a yellow flag to be waived, which would have forced him to slow down. The flag never came and he had to abandon his lap. Verstappen thus qualified in third with Perez in fourth.

One thing to note about the track is that it is a long straight until the first corner. This meant that the cars could get a slipstream from other cars that were ahead and possibly overtake them before turn one. This came to pass when the lights went out. Bottas and Hamilton got away as Verstappen launched to an amazing start. He used the slipstream from Bottas and was alongside Mercedes as they raced toward the first corner. Verstappen, who was on the left and on the more traditional racing line, broke later than the Mercedes and swooped around the outside to take the lead. Ham-

ilton remained in second. However, Bottas’ weekend was about to go from good to bad. Bottas was tagged on the back by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose brakes locked up and forced Bottas into a spin, dropping him to the back of the grid. Perez used the Bottas chaos to go up into third where the safety car was called out. Amid the Bottas/Ricciardo incident, there was another incident in the first couple of corners. Tsunoda and Haas’ Mick Schumacher were out of the race. They were both taken out by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Ocon was sandwiched between both cars as they headed to turn two, forcing retirements.

This was perfect for Red Bull.

Both cars were in the podium places while one Mercedes was in last place, and at that stage, getting no points which would be huge in terms of the constructors’ standings. The safety car was brought in a couple of laps later and racing resumed with Verstappen immediately building a gap to Hamilton.

Verstappen had already built up a five second gap after a couple of laps while Hamilton was only able to have a two second lead to Perez.

Hamilton started to radio to his team that his tires were starting to go off while Perez radioed that his tires were getting better. Just like in the previous race, Red Bull had

the tactical advantage in the race strategy. Red Bull could pit Perez, who was in undercut range for Hamilton. This forced Hamilton to pit immediately and cover off Perez, leaving Verstappen in the lead to manage his pace and tires.

The possibility of a Red Bull 1–2 was definitely in the cards, and with Bottas only able to get into 12th at that point, meant that Red Bull would be able to leave Mexico leading the constructors’ championship.

Hamilton finally entered the pits on lap 29. It appeared that Perez was going to pit that lap with the mechanics in their positions, but it didn’t happen. Perez was probably told to do the opposite of Hamilton and with the Mercedes driver pitting, Perez stayed out. Perez didn’t immediately respond and stayed out.

Red Bull didn’t react for a couple of laps and eventually called in Verstappen on lap 33. This meant that Perez now led the race. Perez eventually pitted on lap 40 and went back down into third.

At this point in the race, Bottas was still out of the points and was unable to overtake the car ahead.

Ironically, it was Riccardo who was in front of Bottas, blocking his progress to enter the points.

At the same time, Verstappen was dominating and making it look

easy. Hamilton was in second, miles off of the pace of the leading Red Bull and had a gap to Perez after the pit stops. Perez was now hunting Hamilton down with tires that were 10 laps younger. Lap after lap, Perez was reducing the gap and eventually caught up to Hamilton on lap 61. Perez now had 11 laps to try and overtake Hamilton to secure a Red Bull 1-2.

After 71 laps, Verstappen won the Mexican grand prix with Hamilton able to hold Perez off to remain in second place. This was a dominating win for Verstappen as he never looked back after taking the lead on the first lap. Hamilton was off the pace and had to settle with second while also defending for his life from Perez. Perez also made history by becoming the first Mexican to lead or grab a podium at their home race, giving the 300,000 people who attended the weekend a reason to cheer.

Verstappen now has a 19 point lead over Hamilton in the drivers championship after 18 rounds while Mercedes’ lead has been reduced to a single point in the constructors championship, . The next race is this week at Brazil which, like Mexico, bodes well for Red Bull. With four races to go in a season like no other, expect both championships to go down to the wire as the end approaches.

Page 18

SPORTS Varsity Scores & Stats

November 10, 2021

Volleyball Drops Three

By GIGI SPEER STAFF WRITER

With two games left in the regular season and two starters out, Fordham will host the University of Rhode Island this Friday at 5:00 p.m in the Rose Hill Gym. Heading into the weekend, they are coming off a three game home stint, dropping matches against No. 2 Saint Louis, No. 3 VCU and No. 4 Davidson.

Friday night’s game against the Saint Louis Billikens was a five-set thriller, that saw 60 kills as a team from the Rams, along with 30 errors from the visiting team. Top 10 in the NCAA in aces, the Rams’ defense held the Billikens to five aces, seven less than their last match-up against the serving powerhouse.

When the two teams faced each other earlier in the season, SLU swept the Rams in Missouri, yet on Friday, the teams went back and forth: 20–25, 25–17, 21–25, 26–24, 11–15. This is only the Rams fourth match to five sets, and they now have a .500 record when they take it all the way to five.

Not only did the Rams’ defense standout, the offense put on a show, with 13 blocks, three aces and a .183 hitting percentage. Senior Bella Urena led the way, matching her career high of 18 kills at a .384 clip, and a career-high seven blocks. With Joey Landeros out, senior Clare O’Neil got her first start of the season, notching 13 kills, and fellow middle blocker Izzy Fichtel added 11 and led the team with eight blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Whitley Moody had a double-double, with both 10 kills and digs. Sophomore setter Megan Brzozowski also added a double-double, with 49 assists and 12 digs, not to mention four blocks and an ace.

The squad worked together and

forced their worthy opponent to commit errors. Moody notes, “We’re really happy that its still in our hands whether we make the A-10 tournament or not. We have to win both games against Rhode Island and I know we’re capable. It was a tough weekend of losses to say the least, we’re gonna give our all on in practice this week and hopefully have positive outcomes this weekend.”

The games didn’t get any easier for the Rams throughout the weekend, though the standing of the opponents dropped each day. On Saturday, the VCU Rams swept the Fordham Rams 20–25, 23–25, 21– 25. The hosts led the visitors in both blocks and aces, with nine and four, respectively. However, the visitors outhit Fordham by 17 kills at a .246 clip, and also had 10 more assists.

Urena once again led the team with 13 kills, and Chloe Pejouan started and picked up six blocks in the game. Aria De La Rosa also added 6 kills and three blocks in the loss.

The following day saw another sweep, as the Rams fell to Davidson 25–17, 25–22 and 25–22 to round out the weekend in Rose Hill Gym. Moody led the team on Sunday with 12 kills, three blocks and one ace, while Fichtel had eight kills and five blocks before suffering an ankle injury in the last set.

With both Fichtel and senior Joey Landeros out, Moody says, “With two starters out, its especially tough on team morale. An already tough season coming to a close, these two players out is like losing pieces to a puzzle. Trying to finish the season out like this when we’re incomplete is gonna be tough.”

The next two games against Rhode Island are must-wins in order for the Rams to secure their No. 6 spot and bid to the Atlantic 10 tournament. Last year was the first time

Squash Vassar 6 Fordham 3 H.Frawley: 11-7, 11-6, 11-3

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Over the weekend, the Fordham men’s soccer team continued its season with the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

After earning the fourth seed during the regular season, the Rams had home-field advantage for the first round. The last time Fordham faced VCU, the Rams beat them on the road with a goal in the 89th minute courtesy of sophomore defender Galen Flynn in a 1–0 result.

In this match, the scoring started earlier than that. The Rams started the scoring in the 26th minute.

Sophomore midfielder Max Rogers crossed a ball into the box where it then deflected off of VCU defender Simon Fitch and into the back of the net for an own goal to give Fordham the early 1–0 lead. The score remained like that until after halftime. In the 49th minute, VCU equalized courtesy of Jared Valdes.

VCU’s Damian Gallegos fired a shot that deflected off of Valdes and ended up going into the net to even the score at one apiece.

Fordham had several chances in the second half to regain the lead

but was unable to convert any of them. Redshirt senior forward Sameer Fathazada had two shots that hit the post and crossbar, respectively, in the 53rd and 61st minute.

After 90 minutes of regular time, the match went into overtime.

In the first 10 minute session of overtime, neither team was able to score. However, in the 101st minute, the Rams scored to give them the 2–1 win. Graduate student defender Matt Sloan took a throw-in and sent the ball into the box to graduate student defender Luke McNamara.

McNamara was then able to pass it to Rogers on the left side, who sent a cross into the box. The ball fell to sophomore defender Florian Deletioglu who struck the ball that deflected off of the right post and into the net to punch Fordham’s ticket into the semifinals of the A-10 championships. This was Deletioglu’s fourth goal of the season; he is tied for the most goals on the team.

When asked about the victory and giving Fordham its third consecutive A-10 championship semifinal, Fordham’s head coach Carlo Acquista said that it “is what [the team] works for.” In addition to that, Acquista said that “[they’ve]

Volleyball Fordham Saint Louis

B.Urena: 18 K, 18 DIG

2 3

Fordham VCU W. Moody: 13 K, 10 DIG

0 3

Fordham Davidson W. Moody: 12 K, 4 DIG

0 3

6 3

Fordham Quinnipiac A. Dingle: 34 Pts, 3 Ast

Georgetown 8 Fordham 1 D. Panichello: 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9

Water Polo Mount St Mary’s Fordham J. Parella: 4 G, 4 A, 2 S

–Compiled by Michael Hernandez

George Washington Fordham C. Loupakis: 4 G

13 12

Men’s Basketball Fordham 77 Columbia 67 D. Quisenberry: 25 Pts, 4 Reb

Navy Fordham H. Zdolsek: 2 G, 2 A

9 10

Football Georgetown 20 Fordham 41 T. DeMorat: 273 Yds, 3 TD

George Washington Fordham J. Parella: 3 G, 5 A

11 13

Northeastern Fordham W.Reed: 11-9, 11-3, 11-9

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

they had made the playoffs in a decade, and the depth and strength of their roster gave them the predicted No. 4 spot in the preseason coaches’ poll.

Fordham will play URI at 5 p.m. at home on Friday, before traveling to Kingstown, Rhode Island on Sunday to finish off their season.

Men’s Soccer Defeats VCU in Overtime Thriller, Advances to A-10 Semifinals

By MICHAEL HERNANDEZ

Women’s Basketball Fordham 84 Post 44 A.DeWolfe: 18 Pts, 2 Ast

put [themselves] in a good position to win the conference.” When asked about Deletiglou’s winner, Acquista said that “the coaching staff put [Deletigolu] back in because the team needed someone in the box from a deeper run and score, so it was a picture moment for all of [them].”

The Rams next match comes this Friday as they travel to face Saint Louis University in the semifinals of the A-10 championships. The last time these two teams faced each other was only a few weeks ago when the Rams lost 2–0. When asked about how the team will prepare against Saint Louis, Acquista said that “as a staff, we have progressed since that last game [against Saint Louis]. We played them right after Seton Hall and I don’t think we were 100% prepared then. I think we’ll be a lot more prepared [for this game].”

Acquista did say that some tactical changes will be made and those decisions will be made during the week. When asked about how the team feels after a win like that, he said that the team feels great, adding that “once [the team] gets on a roll, we are difficult to defeat.” The semifinal match is at 1 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.

79 71

9 17

Men’s Swimming & Diving Georgetown 199 Fordham 94 S. Clarke: 100 m Freestyle: 1st (47.06)

Men’s Soccer Fordham VCU F. Deletioglu: 1 G

2 1

Women’s Swimming & Diving Manhattan 94 Fordham 198 A.Martin: 100 Breaststroke

Water Polo Wins MAWPC

By JACK ROCHE STAFF WRITER

After a 3–1 weekend on the road to finish in conference play, the No. 15 ranked Fordham University water polo team has been named the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) East Regular Season Champions. This is Fordham’s first regular season title since 2009, finishing with an 11–1 record in the conference and 23–5 overall.

The first match and victory of the weekend came in Maryland, as they played Mount St. Mary’s, winning 17–9. Fordham scored six goals in the opening quarter, following that with a five-goal second period. The Rams lead persisted, in large part behind strong performances from three freshmen.

Jacopo Parrella dazzled with four goals, four assists and two steals, while George Papanikolaou added four goals, three assists and four steals. Thomas Lercari played in net for the majority of the game over the usual senior captain Bailey O’Mara.

Fordham’s perfect record in the MAWPC came to an end as they fell to Johns Hopkins on Saturday 13–12, who they handily defeated earlier in the season. Sophomore Christos Loupakis’ four goals steered the way on offense, but ultimately they were not enough to bring the Rams to victory. While Fordham played behind for the majority of the match, a late game comeback effort came up just short in their first match of the day.

Saturday’s second match brought the same margin of victory, this time Fordham on the winning end,

as they defeated Navy 10–9. The Rams jumped out to a quick 3–0 lead behind Hans Zdolsek and Gabriel Melillo goals. While the Midshipmen would make things close, Fordham maintained at least a one goal lead for the majority of the match.

The final contest of the weekend came as Fordham played in D.C. against George Washington. The first half was extremely close, with back-and-forth leads between the two teams, Fordham up 9–8 at the half. This trend would continue, with another match going down to the wire. The Rams led 12–11 late in the fourth quarter, where a clutch Thomas Lercari block in net sealed Fordham’s victory, giving them the MAWPC East regular season title and the No. 1 seed at the MAWPC Championship. Freshman Jacopo Parrella finished with three goals and five assists, adding this on the team’s overall success on the year ahead of the MAWPC championship.

“We are happy with this first goal, but we are aware of having to work hard during these two weeks because anything can happen in a single game. Every team we meet will give their all to fight us. We are aware of our potential but we have to show it.”

Looking ahead, Fordham hosts St. Francis College at Brooklyn at the Colonel Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. for its final regular season match. This also serves as the Rams senior night. Following this, Fordham travels to Annapolis, Marland for the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Championship.

November 10, 2021

Swimming and Diving Split Against Georgetown University

By KALEY BELL

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Rams were back in action in the water yet again for their fourth meet of the season. This past weekend, Fordham competed against Georgetown University in the Bronx at Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center. In what was predicted to be a really difficult meet, the Rams were able to pull through and race hard against a strong team.

The women were able to pull off the win, securing their record of 4–0. The men came up close, but ended up losing to the Hoyas despite their hard efforts.

On the women’s side, freshman Ainhoa Martin led the ladies with three individual event wins. She took first place in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke with times of 1:05.34 and 2:17.56, respectively. Her last individual win came in the 200 individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:04.67.

Other multiple-event wins for the Rams come from senior Natalie Ortof, freshman Jessica Zebrowski and freshman Madeline Bergin.

Ortof swept the diving events yet again, showing her continued strength as the season picks up. For the 1M she scored 273.87, and in the 3M she pulled off the winning score of 282.22.

As for the swimming events, Zebrowski won both butterfly events with times of 56.98 in the 100-meter and 2:05.91 in the 200.

Bergin won the sprint freestyle

events with times of 24.51 in the 50 and 53.56 in the 100.

Individual event wins came from junior Audrey Tirrell in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.79.

Another individual win came from freshman Leire Martin in the 100 backstroke, who secured the win with a time of 58.37. Junior Alison Lin won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.11, and freshman Emilie Krog the 500 freestyle event with her time of 5:03.95.

The ladies were also able to win points in both relay events, as they secured the win in both the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

On the men’s side, the Rams picked up three event wins from three individual swimmers. However, they did not secure the win in the meet.

Junior Ethan Murray won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:55.32.

Freshman Vitalis Onu won the 100 butterfly with his time of 51.20, and senior Spencer Clarke won the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.06.

In commenting how she felt about the meet win, graduate student Becky Kamau said, “[They were] not my best times that I have done previously, but the focus was just on racing and winning points.”

The Rams are scheduled to have their first travel meet of the season in nine days when they will travel to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to face the Bucknell Bison in their home pool.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

The women’s swimming and diving team improved to 4–0.

Athletes of the Week

Natalie Ortof Senior Swimming & Diving

Florian Deletioglu Sopohmore Soccer

The women’s swimming and diving team continued its excellent start, extending its season record to 4–0 with a 198–86 win over Georgetown in Washington D.C. Senior diver Natalie Ortof swept the diving events on the women’s side; scoring 273.87 for the 1M dive and 282.22 for the 3M dive.

Sophomore Florian Deletioglu delivered the game winning goal in the 101st minute of the match against VCU in the A-10 championships. Deletioglu played just 14 minutes in the game altogether, but took one shot and scored, assisted by Max Rodgers and Luke McNamara. It was his fourth score of the season. With Deletioglu’s season saving goal, the men’s soccer team advances to round two of the Atlantic 10 tournament to face the Billikens of Saint Louis University.

Each week, The Fordham Ram’s Sports section honors two athletes for their on-field performances as their “Athletes of the Week.”

SPORTS

Page 19

College Football: What’s the Point?

By ALEXANDER WOLZ SPORTS EDITOR

Every year, fans play the same song and dance in the college football season. They enter it with the promise of perfection, potential Playoff aspirations, only to see the same four teams in the mix at the end of it and their own relegated to a meaningless bowl game.

It is a problem that the NCAA seems bound to address. There are rumors of a Playoff expansion on the way to not four, six or eight, but a whopping 12 teams.

However, those movements seem to always reach a hiccup, and for now, the Playoff remains the same.

That has become especially clear in a year like this — one where there are very clearly no four best teams in the country.

The University of Georgia stands tall above the rest at 9–0, led by a fantastic defense allowing a mere 6.6 points per game.

No team outside of that has proven much this season. The University of Alabama, routinely the country’s sweetheart, suffered a loss to Texas A&M while narrowly squeezing by Louisiana State University at home this past Saturday.

The University of Oregon is on a crash course to the PAC12 Championship, even though they have garnered very few style points along the way and own an ugly loss to Stanford University themselves. Ahead of the Ducks are the Ohio State Buckeyes, the team they defeated in week two.

Next is Oklahoma University, the top dog in a limping BIG 12 conference, who remains undefeated but has looked so inconsistent that many believe it is only a matter of time until they fall.

So, in a year where every team has proven to be vulnerable, how is the College Football Playoff

Committee expected to choose its top four? It comes back to the ageold argument of the best teams versus the most deserving.

That first set of rankings that came out last Tuesday featured Georgia, followed by the Crimson Tide, Michigan State University and the Ducks. Now, with the Spartans receiving a firm defeat to Purdue University, Ohio State will likely slide right in its place.

There is one big missing piece in all of this: the University of Cincinnati. The Bearcats sit at 9–0 on the season, the latest example of a Group of Five school making a run to the Playoff. And it seemed like they were on their way there, receiving a top four nod in both the AP and Coaches’ polls. The Committee knocked them down to sixth instead.

How could two national polls, much less an entire country, see Cincinnati as a top four team only for the Committee to look the other way? Some may cry out that their schedule is not strong enough. At the season’s end, it is very likely Georgia will not have faced a top 25 team whereas the Bearcats defeated the University of Notre Dame. Others will say their wins have not been convinc-

ing enough or that they do not pass the eye test. Cincinnati has the fourth-largest scoring margin in the country.

Those arguments do not apply, especially in a muddle season like this one. Instead, there is one possible hypothetical. Could a team that runs the table, goes undefeated and wins a conference championship, really be left out of the Playoff regardless of where they come from?

These are the questions the Playoff Committee will reckon with this season. Regardless of how Cincinnati wins, as long as they keep doing so, the pressure on the NCAA will become too much to ignore. To leave them out would show that a Group of Five school has no chance of reaching the postseason — the feeling the Playoff was created to eliminate.

There simply are no best four teams this season. It is about who deserves it the most, and an undefeated Bearcats team certainly does, more so than the same old teams in it right now. Don’t believe me? I’m saying that with an Oregon jersey on my chest. Place them right ahead of the Ducks and in the Playoff.

COURTESY OF TWITTER

The College Football Playoff lineup looks familiar in an unprecedented season.

Varsity Calendar HOME AWAY

Men’s Soccer Women’s Basketball Men’s Basketball Volleyball Squash

Wednesday Thursday Nov. 10 Nov. 11

Friday Nov. 12

Saturday Nov. 13

Sunday Nov. 14

Monday Nov. 15

Saint Louis 1 p.m.

Seton Hall 11:30 a.m.

Manhattan 7 p.m.

Saint Thomas 7 p.m.

Rhode Island 5 p.m.

Navy 7 p.m.

Haveford 12 p.m.

Denison 5 p.m.

Holy Cross 1 p.m.

Football Cross Country

Northeast Regionals 11 a.m.

Water Polo

St. Francis Brooklyn 8 p.m.

Rhode Island 5 p.m.

Boston University 10 a.m.

Tuesday Nov. 16

SPORTS

Page 20

November 10, 2021

The Fordham Ram

Fordham Opens Kyle Neptune Chapter with Win Against Columbia

By ALEXANDER WOLZ SPORTS EDITOR

There have been questions from the moment Kyle Neptune was hired as the new Fordham Men’s Basketball head coach. As the summer evolved, with new faces arriving to campus by the day, the intrigue only continued to grow.

Answers have started to trickle in over time, as the staff and roster assembled. Neptune shared some of his ideal style of play in Fordham Athletics interviews or the Atlantic-10 Media Day. However, regardless of what people say or see, nothing really matters until the opening tip begins.

That came this past Tuesday, Nov. 9, against Columbia University, as the new-look Men’s Basketball took the floors off the heels of a very familiar win from Stephanie Gaitley and Fordham Women’s Basketball.

They were greeted by a full, despite different-looking Rose Hill Gym. For 30 minutes, they gave that crowd much to cheer about, jumping out to a resounding lead behind 25 points from graduate transfer Darius Quisenberry and ultimately holding on, 77-67, for a win that, while closer than it should have been, gives Fordham the first win of a new era.

The first new sight was the starting five, including returning players junior Kyle Rose and graduate student Chuba Ohams, taking the floor after two injury-riddled seasons. Sophomore Antrell Charlton, junior Antonio Daye Jr. and graduate student Darius Quisenberry, the Youngstown State transfer, joined them.

While Fordham brought a largely unfamiliar roster together, the same could be said for Columbia. The Lions did not compete last year as

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Quisenberry has already proven himself to be the Rams' most feared offensive threat after just one game.

the Ivy League forfeited all competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These two teams were each uniting for the first time.

All of the energy coming into this game could have gone one of two ways, either resulting in terrific production on both ends of the floor or recklessness and an early deficit. It proved to be the former. Fordham scored a remarkable 49 points in the first half, a far cry from the team’s offensive struggles a season ago.

The excitement came from the opening whistle as Ohams marked his return to the floor with a massive jam inside. Much of the show went to Quisenberry, however, who poured in 20 points, including six threes. Fordham overall opened up a 22-point lead shooting 19–34 from the field, 11–22 from deep,

leading from the very beginning.

That production came without a single free throw, certainly living up to the fast-paced, three-point shooting squad Neptune promised. They also showed poise on the defensive end, forcing eight turnovers and capitalizing with 15 points off of them.

Much of the chemistry Neptune discussed seemed to be more than just lip service. Fordham was firing on all cylinders, showing collective poise with nine team assists and scoring at an impressive rate as a result. Columbia kept pace too, hitting 56% of their shots, simply taking nine less of them.

What would Fordham do when the shots began to fall? The second half showed some signs of that, as the Rams plummeted to shooting

just 26.9% from the field, 1–10 from deep, while Columbia kept pace at 41.9% and 38.5%, respectively. All of a sudden, Fordham’s unstoppable train hit a screeching halt, as Columbia worked its way back in the game to hand the Rams a near scare toward the end of the 10 point victory.

Most importantly, Fordham did its job in the end, holding off the Lions and preserving the victory.

Quisenberry finished with 25 on the scoreboard. Daye, the leading scorer at Florida International University added 12, despite shooting just 4–13 from the field, as he and Quisenberry look to construct a backcourt that will form the bulk of the Fordham scoring.

Charlton added a very efficient 13 points on 5–7 shooting, 2–2

from behind the line, to round out the transfer production, as two more from sophomore Abdou Tsimbila made it 52 of the Rams’ 77 for the night. Ohams scored 13 of his own, also swallowing up 15 rebounds and getting to the line six times. He contributed two blocks and three assists to cap off the allaround performance, and ColonNavarro dropped in five.

On paper, Quisenberry is undeniably the Rams’ most lethal scorer. However, the inconsistency in decision-making down the stretch makes one wonder who will hold a lion’s share of the ball in the final few minutes. Fordham suffered numerous shot clock violations in the final period, a casualty of their unselfishness. It may not have mattered in this game, but it will certainly give Fordham one element to consider going forward.

There are countless others that will cross Neptune’s mind, too. His rotation will certainly evolve as the season progresses to factor in players like freshman DJ Gordon, injured junior Jalen Cobb or freshman Pat Kelly. The team will next face the season's first road test, heading to Manhattan College for the annual Battle of the Bronx this Friday at 7 p.m.

Now the next question becomes, will that first victory translate into continued success? We may not know the answer yet, but the hardest part of any journey is getting started. And even though Neptune asserted the results do not matter most, it was important, from an outside standpoint at least, to start this new chapter with a win: a sign that there was something different in the air, a new buzz, energy and excitement the program has lacked in recent memory. And Tuesday night felt just like that.

MORGAN SPILLMAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Inaugural Late Night Event Brings New Life to the Rose Hill Gym

BY ALEXANDER WOLZ

& KALEY BELL It’s no secret that word on campus spreads quickly. Once Fordham Athletics announced that there would be an inaugural Late Night on the Hill, Fordham students were buzzing with excitement in anticipation about being able to both celebrate the basketball team and having a performer on campus.

It is something Ram fans from a decade ago will recognize. “Midnight Madness,” as it is often referred to, is an annual event just after the clock hits 12 a.m. on the first day of college basketball practice.

Many teams have their own iteration of it, and Fordham used to have its own, “Ramtown.” The annual event featured food from local vendors, a scrimmage and all the staples of the Fordham Basketball season.

However, as the men’s program began to fade into futility, so did the events associated with it. Now, with continued success from the women’s program and a new energy with Kyle Neptune, it became time for Fordham to bring it back.

Athletic Director Ed Kull knew it too, as he has made a priority of reigniting the student and alumni audience. He felt this event was one way to do it, while also being a fit-

ting way to reward a Fordham community forced away from its sports teams for over a year. That is true for basketball especially, which played the entirety of its 2020 season behind closed doors.

And so, Fordham gathered about 2,700 students in the Rose Hill Gym on Thursday, Nov. 4 to ring in the beginning of what is expected to be an exciting basketball season for both the women and the men.

Each student that sat in the gym was given a free t-shirt: white with the words “Fordham Basketball” and the Block F logo. Some students may have come for the freebies, but others had much more of a reason.

“I wanted to support the men’s and women’s basketball teams because I have friends on both,” said senior Juliana Burke.

DJ Ria played the music along, with emcee Chuck Lott orchestrating giveaways and competitions. Waiting for the main act was rough at times, with a bit of standing around and a lack of action that other events usually see, especially considering the two hour wait. The build-up, though, set the stage for musical performer, New York native A$AP Ferg.

The guest performance was one of the most anticipated aspects of the night, and rapper A$AP Ferg

lived up to it, electrifying the redsoaked Rose Hill bleachers with his familiar hits and bringing energy to the long dormant Rose Hill Gym. “I’m personally not an A$AP Ferg super fan, but I felt like it was an opportunity I could not miss,” Burke added.

It was a fitting way to open up a new basketball season, with those same fans expected to storm the Rose Hill Gym for the regular season. “It was super fun, the energy was amazing. I didn't even feel like I was at Fordham,” said Burke. And with two wins already in the books, it seems like only the start of the excitement this season will provide.