12/14 BROKEN

The Berkeley Beacon

December 14, 2018

1

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Coast to coast: Boyle sisters reuinited at Emerson

living arts

The Berkeley Beacon

December 14, 2018

2

Student’s charity idea turns into campus-wide project Cassandre Coyer, Beacon Staff Purple cardboard boxes appeared around campus after sophomore Justin Ventura started a clothing drive for Catie’s Closet, a non-profit that provides clothing and toiletries for children in need.

“I thought, ‘Why can’t we as a community here at Emerson try to come together and help these kids out?’” Ventura said.

Catie’s Closet’s staff goes to schools and fills empty classrooms with donated clothing for kids in kindergarten to 12th grade.

Children come in and discreetly pick a week’s worth of clothing. Executive Director and co-founder Mickey Cockrell said the idea for the organization was born after learning her niece Catie went to school with children who were homeless.

She passed away several months after, and Cockrell said her family felt inspired to provide resources these children needed. It now operates within 70 schools and supports 37,000 children in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The clothing drive quickly gained momentum thanks to the help of Ventura’s former professor and Emerson’s Director of Nonprofit Communications Cathryn Edelstein. At the end of the first day of the drive on Nov. 26, Ventura said he already collected one and a half garbage bags.

Ventura and Edelstein put the boxes in the Piano Row lobby, the Dining Center, the Iwasaki Library, and the Emerson’s Fitness Center until Dec. 17.

“People head out for winter break, and maybe they’re taking clothes home with them and they see an extra sweater or an extra pair of pants, or maybe even shoes or socks they don’t wear that often that they might want to donate,” Ventura said. “I thought it would be a good idea to run it all the way up until winter break.”

Ventura told Edelstein he wanted to hold a clothing drive at Emerson last year when he

took her class. Edelstein said she immediately thought of Catie’s Closet because of a TED Talk Cockrell gave.

“I was so thrilled, when he asked me, to be able to say Catie’s Closet, because they do incredible work,” Edelstein said.

Edelstein said Cockrell told her lack of access to basic necessities is one of the top reasons students miss school.

“I’ll never forget when she first said that. I was like, ‘Wow, you don’t think about that,’” Edelstein said. “Especially, I remember, she said especially for girls that are just developing, and they don’t have bras, they don’t have clothes that fit. And they just feel they’ll be made fun of if they go. And you don’t think about things like that.”

Edelstein said she introduced Ventura to Cockrell and reached out to the Division of Student Affairs.

“They said he couldn’t do it as an individual—you have to be part of an official club. And you also need a letter from the non-profit saying that they know this is happening, and that there is a date when they’re going to come and collect the merchandise,” she said.

Edelstein said she pushed for the Communications Studies Department and the Athletic Department, since Ventura plays on the men’s basketball team, to sponsor the clothing drive.

“The Athletic Department is supporting him by getting all the athletes involved so that they bring donations in,” she said. “He wanted their support, and he needed my support.”

Ventura then came into Edelstein’s Introduction to Nonprofit Communication Management class this semester to get advice from students on how to efficiently run the drive.

Junior Althea Smith was in Edelstein’s class when Ventura presented his idea.

She ended up providing the design for the fliers around campus.

“A lot of my friends, I go into their dorm rooms and they have clothes just spilling out of all the storage, and they don’t even have enough

"A lot of my friends, I go into their dorm rooms ... they don't even have enough room for everything they have."

"It's just a good feeling to know that you're doing something for someone else."

Donation boxes are in Piano Row, the Dining Center, Iwasaki Library, and the Emerson Fitness Center until Dec. 17. • Sabrina Ortiz / Beacon Correspondent room for everything they have,” Smith said. “I thought that might inspire some people to donate their clothes. I highlighted the fact that they would be having more room.”

Cockrell said they accept and encourage all kinds of gently used clothing donation, but need boys and men’s wear the most.

“I don’t even get to see the faces of these kids yet that get these clothes, and I’m probably not going to ever get to, which kind of sucks, but I know that it’s going to help someone in the end,”

Ventura said. “It’s just a good feeling to know that you’re doing something for someone else.

You may not know who they are, but they’re struggling, and you just have to kind of keep that in mind.”

 cassandre_coyer@emerson.edu

Read It and Weep: How Milk and Honey rebranded poetry

Katie Redefer Redefer is a freshman journalism major, and the Beacon’s literary columnist.

The resurgence of poetry seemed to happen all at once. A few years ago, I could only find poetry in classroom settings or in small online communities like Tumblr and Wattpad. However, within the past year or so, poetry books successfully broke the mainstream barrier and flew off bookstore shelves across the country.

The National Endowment of Arts reported that, in the past five years, the percentage of young adults reading poetry in the U.S. has more than doubled from 8.2 percent in 2012 to 17.5 percent in 2017. Personally, I believe this is largely attributed to the 2014 publication of Rupi Kaur’s debut poetry collection Milk and Honey.

Through Milk and Honey, Kaur laid the

foundation for an entirely new genre of poetry, characterized by its minimalistic style. Concise and clear, this shortened version of free verse poetry fits perfectly in the mold for social media virality. Often referred to as “Instapoetry,” this genre caught the readership of millennials and Generation Z, a feat the publishing industry rarely accomplishes in modern day.

After its publication, verses from Milk and Honey quickly became unavoidable on my Instagram and Tumblr feeds. Kaur’s book remained on the New York Times Best-Seller list for over a year, selling 2.5 million copies from publication to current day.

Despite its popularity, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of Kaur’s poetry. After sitting down and reading both Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers, I decided Kaur’s poems were too minimalistic to captivate me and, at times, I found them unbearably cliché.

When I try to evaluate what I find lacking in Kaur’s poetry, I often return to its extreme conciseness. The entirety of one poem from Milk and Honey read a mere nine words: “you have sadness / living in places / sadness shouldn’t live.” To fans of Kaur, this excerpt may feel ex-

"For the most part, art is subjective— we don't all have to enjoy the same works."

pressive in an understated way. To me, it just seems lazy. In poetry, I expect deeper meaning and more artistic word choice than that poem contains. This problem recurs throughout Instapoetry. Free verse poetry has no “rules” by which the author must abide, but should that mean any sentence can be considered poetry?

I’m not alone in my dislike for Kaur’s poetry. Kaur’s more playful critics have turned her poems into memes circulating Twitter and Facebook that mock her formulaic writing style.

A parody book, Milk and Vine, by Adam Gasiewski and Emily Beck makes similar commentary, swapping Kaur’s verses for famous quotes from the social networking app Vine. Milk and Vine received its own internet virality and at one point charted as the No. 1 best seller worldwide on Amazon after its release.

For the most part, art is subjective—we don’t all have to enjoy the same works. Even though I’m not a fan of Kaur, it’s only fair to give credit where credit is due. As an appreciator of poetry, I’m grateful for the attention Kaur’s books bring to the genre. Perhaps Kaur isn’t the poetic mastermind of our generation, but her books

get young people to read, and that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Poetry collections using the simplistic “Instapoetry” style popularized by Kaur include Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell, I Hope This Reaches Her in Time by R. H. Sin,The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace, and Flux by Orion Carloto. All of these books experience high readership from young adults and focus on topics such as romance, mental health, and social justice.

This rebirth of free verse changed my view of what poetry is and can be. Previously, when I thought of famous poems, the first to come to mind were classic works written by poets like Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Edgar Allan Poe. I realize now that poetry isn’t a dying art only readable to traditionalists and English professors—poetry that attracts the masses can be anything it wants.

"Kaur laid the foundation for an entirely new genre of poetry, characterized by its minimalistic style."

 kathryn_redefer@emerson.edu

The Berkeley Beacon

December 14, 2018

living arts

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Junior makes primetime debut in BET political thriller Monika Davis, Beacon Staff When junior Sydney Elise Johnson’s agent told her about a potential role in an original primetime television movie, Johnson frantically learned lines in between classes. After learning three scenes and sending in a video audition that day, Johnson heard a few hours later that she landed the part.

“I wasn’t feeling super good about it because [the process] was so fast, but [my agent] called me the same night and was like, ‘Hey you got the part!’” Johnson said.

Johnson stars in the new film Running Out of Time, which premiered Saturday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. on the Black Entertainment Television channel. The political thriller features a family that is kidnapped while trying to navigate a new life without a father. Johnson plays the daughter, Kristen.

“It was my first booking and my first professional job ever, and I went in really nervous because the people I was working with had been in [the business] for a really long time,” Johnson said. “I only had one line the first day, and I was terrified, but the cast was really friendly and they taught me a lot.”

Junior Sydney Elise Johnson sitting on set of her first feature film, BET’s Running Out of Time, with co-star Telma Hopkins. Courtesy of Sydney Elise Johnson

Shot over one month in Los Angeles last spring, each day consisted of 12 hours of filming, according to Johnson. She said she felt nervous and had a difficult time getting into character early on. Her co-star Tasha Smith, who stars in FOX’s Empire, gave her some advice to channel her energy.

“She was like, ‘OK, just take a breath and think about your circumstances, be in the character, and just be with me right here, and you can do it,’” Johnson said. “She was so open, and after that it was super easy to connect with her and really just feel how I was supposed to be feeling in that moment.”

Junior Destini Stewart, a friend of Johnson, said she frequently helped Johnson record self-tapes for auditions and was there when she heard about the role.

“She was here last semester when she got cast in the movie, so just seeing her go through the process of being cast in the movie, going to L.A., and watching her go to her red carpet premiere—just the whole experience of watching this dream come true for her has been really amazing,” Stewart said.

Stewart said she and Johnson were both cast in a student production last semester, but Johnson had to drop out after being cast in the movie. Johnson said she took time away from Emerson to film the movie last April and completed her exams when she came back at the beginning of May. She’s currently studying in New York but plans to eventually come back to Emerson to finish her degree.

“Sydney is such a hard worker and she was doing video audition after video audition,” Stewart said. “Just to see that work pay off for her—being an outsider watching that happen for her was amazing.”

The movie premiered at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City in September. Johnson said she felt nervous on the red carpet but enthralled by the experience.

“It was amazing, and I saw a lot of people I look up to,” Johnson said. “Ava DuVernay is a director and she was there and I was freaking out, and it was like my first red carpet, so I was very nervous. But it was a lot of fun.”

Johnson said her family gathered to watch the film when it premiered on television last weekend, and she found it awkward to watch herself on screen.

“It was hard to watch, but I think we all did a really good job,” Johnson said. “It was just hard for me to watch myself and not critique it.”

Lindsay Beamish, an assistant professor in the Performing Arts Department, taught Johnson in a scene study class last semester. Beamish said Johnson had an innate professionalism and open heart that was present in class.

“Sydney was really generous and open as a student and an actor,” Beamish said. “No matter how hard I was pushing or how difficult what we were doing was, she always had this incredible attitude through it all.”

Beamish said her scene study classes focus on teaching actors how to make art from their vulnerability. The students work on basic scenes and study how to make their experience a performance.

“Honestly, I find it kind of shocking for her to land such a big profile part and job while she was in school,” Beamish said. “That really does not happen that often and [especially] outside of Boston. So I was really happy for her, and I think it’s like a kind of a significantly big deal.”

Johnson said studying performing arts at Emerson made sense as the next step after acting for 10 years. She said she plans on acting full time after she graduates.

“I grew up in the theater world and then in high school—I think junior year—I got really serious about it and decided I wanted to major in it in college,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the cast gave her tips on entering the industry and becoming a professional actor.

“They said to ‘keep training, keep working, find your people who are there for you and root for you’” Johnson said. “They told me, ‘If I’m not having fun, then it’s time to find something else, because you’re supposed to have fun doing this.’”

 monika_davis@emerson.edu

Colleagues finish late curator’s rare broadcast exhibit Cassandre Coyer, Beacon Staff The opening night of “The Vision of Television” exhibit filled the Emerson Media Art Gallery with flashing wall projections of experimental media art, staticky television screens, and an unusual emotional charge on Nov. 15.

Late art historian and curator Joseph D. Ketner II researched archives in Germany for five years to gather the work of avant-garde artists who used broadcast television as a medium for art.

The exhibit was not only the first one of the season, but also the first to follow Ketner’s passing in September.

Freshman Cameron Carleton, a gallery guide, received a packet from his superiors beforehand to study and understand the artwork presented that night.

“In the late 1960s and mid-1970s, this was the new medium of the time,” Carleton said at the event. “This was groundbreaking technology, so a lot of artists kind of took the chance and hoped that television stations would give them air time to air whatever they wanted. They tried to push the boundaries as much as possible.”

“The Vision of Television” runs until Jan. 19 in the Emerson Media Art Gallery, which is open Wednesday through Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m.

James Manning, exhibition manager and Ketner’s long-time friend, helped finish and put together the show after Ketner’s passing. He said the exhibit displays how mid-century artists experimented with mixing art and broadcast.

“There is a lot of pieces that he found, especially in the German archives, that hadn’t been seen since they were aired,” Manning said. “And some of them are very important pieces—there is documentation of the first Fluxus event, and there’s also documentation of one of Joseph Beuys’ most famous performances where he talks to a dead rabbit.”

According to the Tate museum, Fluxus is an active avant-garde collective of artists that engages in experimental art performances since its start in the 1960s.

Ketner’s son, Alex Ketner, attended the exhibit on opening night after following his fa-

ther’s work for years. He said he witnessed his father discovering the pieces one by one during his travels back and forth from Germany.

“I’ve always loved that about all my dad’s work. Everything he’s ever found, every exhibit he’s ever shown, it’s never been the most popular thing—it’s always been the obscure,” Alex Ketner said. “It’s always been the rare finds.”

George Fifield, director of Boston Cyberarts and Ketner’s friend, stepped in after Ketner’s passing to help finalize the exhibit as well.

He wrote the explanatory texts on the kiosks interpreting the pieces displayed.

“A number of people there really felt that it was their responsibility to bring avant-garde culture—not just culture—to the people,” Fifield said in an interview.

Fifield described Ketner’s discoveries of documentaries on avant-garde art in these archives as gems that reveal the overarching interaction between video art and public television stations in Germany and the United States.

“Key to this are these early German documentaries from German television stations that made an effort to go out and make documents about things like the Zero group, things like Joseph Beuys, and present them on air. Some of these shows are being seen for literally the second time ever,” Fifield said.

Fifield urged people to come see the exhibit and learn about the historical gems and said his favorite is “Three Transitions” by Peter Campus, which he refers to as the most perfect piece of video art ever made.

Fifield said he thinks the history of video art has recently grown and people should look at the wealth of information made available to them.

“Anytime I’m sad, I’ll be around here, or anytime I’m happy, whatever. But I’ll come here as much as possible, definitely. And everyone should,” Alex Ketner said. “Everyone should always come here, all the time, this is a little gem that you would never know, right next to the Common.”

 cassandre_coyer@emerson.edu

“The Vision of Television” gallery features German art from the 1960s and 1970s and will run until January. • Maya Gacina / Beacon Staff

Alex Ketner, son of Joseph D. Ketner II, watches an installment in his late father’s gallery.

Maya Gacina / Beacon Staff

sports

The Berkeley Beacon

December 14, 2018

4

UPCOMING ACTION WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson @ Gordon, 7 p.m. tonight CROSS COUNTRY: Division III Invitationals, Saturday MEN’S BASKETBALL: Emerson @ Boston University, 1:05 p.m. Sunday

Women’s volleyball looks to future after tough season

Maximo Lawlor, Beacon Staff Women’s volleyball wrapped up a season filled with injuries, but has its eyes set on a successful future.

The women’s volleyball team finished with an overall record of 15-14, an improvement from 13-14 last year. The Lions placed ninth out of 11 teams in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference with a 2-8 record.

One major theme for the Lions was the plethora of injuries throughout the season according to Senior setter Moira Brennan. Brennan said the absence of three key players—Carolyn Vaimoso, Jessica Braunstein, and Anna Hamre— were huge obstacles the team had to overcome.

“We have had a lot of injuries, but we kind of halted that a little bit,” Brennan said. “We talked a lot about [the injuries] off the court, but on the court, we all definitely stepped up.”

Head coach Ben Read said the team achieved some major goals throughout their season, but he wished they made it to playoffs.

“The major goal we were looking at was a winning record, which we did get,” Read said.

“We also wanted to have a record that was good enough to go ahead and get us into NEWMAC playoffs, which we obviously did not accomplish.”

Emerson’s final game ended with a 3-1 loss against regionally ranked Springfield College.

Read said even though there were many setbacks this season, the Lions always competed at the best of their abilities.

“At one point we had four people out, so it’s really tough to go ahead and battle back from that, but looking back on it, we finished with a 15-14 record,” Read said. “We were very competitive in every single NEWMAC game we played.”

Read said the team surprised Springfield with their level of play despite the outcome of the matchup.

“On their senior day, we kind of stunned [Springfield College] a bit as well, winning the first set 27-25,” Read said. “Those are minor vic-

Freshman libero Lauren Quan plays the ball towards the net. • Anissa Gardizy / Beacon Staff tories, and we feel good about that. We wish we Wheaton College to five sets who were regionalwould have won, but we feel really good that we ly ranked I think fifth or sixth in the region. We were able to take a set and make it competitive.” took nationally ranked MIT to four sets, and we Read said games against Wheaton College stunned them in the first set and made it pretty competitive.” and MassachuRead said setts Institute of the team always Technology posstrived to get itively stood out "The effort this team had every day better and imto him. The Lions themwere upended by in practice—getting better, lifting as prove selves.

Wheaton in a tight “The effort five-set matchup well—was huge." this team had 3 - 2 — h o w e v e r, every day in Grace Tepper tied practice—gether career best ting better, lifting as well—was huge,” Read said. against the Lyons for 20 kills in a single game.

Emerson also lost 3-1 to MIT in a compet- “It shows the mindset of our team that we want itive matchup, but Tepper shined with 10 kills to keep getting better as individuals for the team and 11 digs, with teammate Fara Cohen close and being the best we can be, and [the team’s] going to work hard to go ahead and do it.” behind with 10 kills and 10 digs.

The three seniors leaving the team are setter “15 wins is quite an achievement, so that right there is huge,” Read said. “[We pushed] Moira Brennan, middle blocker, Kelley Guerra,

and outside hitter and defensive specialist Fara Cohen.

Freshman defensive specialist Lauren Quan said the seniors impacted the team in a positive way throughout the season.

“The seniors have created this awesome team culture that has really brought everybody together,” Quan said. “Everybody is positive—everybody is kind and hardworking and aggressive and competitive while being a team at the same time.”

Brennan said she is excited for the future of the team as there are good things to come.

“This was kind of a building year, and all the underclassmen, the freshmen—they’re so good.

And [the team] is just going to get better, especially with the new recruiting classes coming in,” Brennan said. “They can really take names in the NEWMAC.” Brennan said, as a senior, she wants the future of the volleyball team to focus on having a close bond and enjoying each other’s presence.

“I just hope that the girls continue to have fun and just focus on the team,” Brennan said.

“Winning sets and all, like that’s fun, but when you’re older you remember the team. Winning isn’t as important.”

Quan said in the future she hopes the team continues the team dynamic the seniors implemented her freshman year.

“As a team, I think our upcoming goal is to keep the same team culture that the seniors left and implicate it into next season and keep it going,” Quan said.

Read says the goals for next year are still up for discussion, but he wants to make sure the team is all on board for the future.

“We want everyone to be on the same page—I don’t want to just sit them down and say, ‘Hey, these are my goals, this is what we want to accomplish,’” Read said. “We want to decide these things together because we are a team. We are going to work together to accomplish that.”

 maximo_lawlor@emerson.edu

Young men’s soccer team aims to build on 2018 season

Men’s soccer placed last in the NEWMAC with a 1-6 record. • Anissa Gardizy / Beacon Staff Andrew Lin, Beacon Correspondent Although the men’s soccer team missed out on the playoffs, the team is optimistic about its youth and its potential to become a competitive program.

The Lions finished with a 3-13-1 overall record including a 1-6 record in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference. They ended in last place out of eight teams for the sixth consecutive season since Emerson’s inaugural season in the NEWMAC. Junior captain and defender Creighton Dorfman praised how the squad performed better than what their record suggests.

“Our record might not show how well we played this year, but in my time here this was the best team we’ve had,” Dorfman said. “Everyone’s going to be returning, so I think there’s a lot of potential.”

Entering this season, head coach Bryan Harkin said he hoped the team could compete in the conference and qualify for the playoffs. However, the team opened their first five games with four losses and ended the season with an eightgame losing streak consisting of seven losses and one draw. Overall, the Lions conceded a

total of 31 goals while scoring 10 this year.

Junior forward Gavin Faucette led the Lions with five goals while senior midfielder Paul Bou Aziz scored three.

Freshman midfielder Avery Niles said the team struggled with communication early on as they had to adjust with 16 new faces, including 13 freshman players. However, Niles also said the communication struggles gradually improved as the team built more chemistry together.

“I do think that we definitely struggled in the beginning with our formation as a team, in keeping tight throughout the midfield and the defense,” Niles said. “But as the season went on, I think a lot of our relationships grew, and the consistency [in communicating] really grew. I’d say that was the biggest growth.”

Harkin said the team will need to find ways to win even on bad days.

“We had to play really well to win games, and good teams win games whenever they’re not playing well. They bend but they don’t break, and we broke too many times this year,” Harkin said.

Though the Lions struggled this season, Harkin said there is reason to hope they will have

Freshman Darius Boamah chases the ball against Springfield. • Anissa Gardizy / Beacon Staff more success—the team is incredibly young. He believes that, with increased training and a new batch of recruits next year, they will be ready to compete with a young team.

“Spring will be a vital time for this group to grow together, to get in the weight room together, to play games together, to train together,” Harkin said. “The group has a lot of potential.

We have a lot of good players and good characters. We will add another group next year and they will be the group to transform Emerson soccer and get us to the next level.”

As the team prepares for next year, they will also lose three seniors—forward Max DeLuca, forward Danylo Kowal, and Bou Aziz. Niles said that, with the loss of these senior leaders, the squad will look to the leadership of Harkin and Dorfman to guide the younger players and keep the group motivated and focused.

“The thing that kept us together the most was our leadership, whether that was from our captain or from our coach,” Niles said. “I’d say the leaders have always kept us motivated and kept us focused on what we were trying to do.”

With over half the team comprised of underclassmen for next season, Harkin said the Lions will have to once again rely on youth to drive

them towards their goal: the playoffs. Harkin said there is a lot of positive energy and optimism since the players all want to improve for next season.

“It’s been fun to be around the guys and see them learn, mature, and keep working. It would’ve been easy to just quit at times but this group showed a real good energy and desire that they want to improve and want to get better,” Harkin said. “I give them a lot of credit for sticking with that, and we’ll go into the offseason with some positivity despite a tough season.”

Despite a rough season, Niles said he hopes the young core will develop and lead the team to a more successful season next year.

“I’m just really excited to get the core group of guys back and bring in some new people and let them know what we’re trying to work towards,” Niles said. “I think we have a super strong core group and a good group of young guys that are going to carry this team and, hopefully, we’ll see a lot more success.”

Deputy Sports Editor Aaron Miller did not edit this article due to a conflict of interest.  andrew_lin@emerson.edu