The Brandeis Hoot, December 2, 2022

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe”

#BrandeisStrong: The community responds to shuttle accident

By Roshni Ray and Cooper Gottfried editors

Editor’s Note: This article may be emotionally challenging to read as it concerns a recent Boston/ Cambridge shuttle crash. While this article’s primary focus is the response of the community, reader discretion is advised.

e Brandeis community experienced a shocking tragedy when the Joseph’s Transportation Boston/ Cambridge shuttle carrying 27 students crashed on a routine route down South Street on Saturday, Nov. 15. Passengers were injured to varying degrees during the accident and undergraduate student Vanessa Mark tragically passed away.

Following the accident, Brandeis hosted campus events and made academic changes aimed at helping members of the communi-

ty connect, seek counseling and promote healthy healing. Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz communicated plans to use university transportation reports and the ongoing investigation of the crash to prompt updates to existing transportation options. A memorial service for Mark will occur in the near future where members of the community will have the opportunity to gather to mourn her loss and celebrate her impact.

e morning a er the accident, Liebowitz, Student Union President Peyton Gillepsie ’25 and Interim Vice President of Student A airs Andrea Dine held a community gathering expressing condolences for the sad news and connecting students to representatives of the Brandeis Counseling Center, Public Safety, Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) and religious and spiritual

leaders for support. In an interview with e Hoot, Gillespie cites that approximately 100 community members were gathered in person and another 300 joined via Instagram Live.

Vice President of the Student Union Lia Bergen ’25 created the #BrandeisStrong banner that was in the Shapiro Campus Center where students were encouraged to write messages on PostIts to spread kindness and support those most closely a ected by the accident.

In the days following the accident, university administration worked with student leaders to make the Shapiro Campus Center a space where students had access to de-stressing activities such as painting, writing notes, making friendship bracelets, coloring and making origami. Furthermore, the university

away during the fatal Bos ton/Cambridge shuttle accident on Saturday, Nov. 15. Mark was on leave from Brandeis at the time, but was residing in Waltham. In a university email, Brandeis

President Ron Liebowitz stated, “[She] was an active and cherished member of the Brandeis community.”

Several of her friends and acquaintances from Brandeis shared memoe Hoot in remembrance of her contributions to the comese conversations represent just a sample of the many lives she touched while at Brandeis.

Vanessa met many of her friends through her participation in performance

Read about how one of our editor’s best reads of the year

ARTS: PAGE 14

COURTESY OF ADAM FLEISHAKER

Perspectives from student leaders and community members following shuttle crash

By Cooper Gottfried editor

On Nov. 29, In an interview with e Brandeis Hoot, Student Union President Peyton Gillespie ’25 and Student Union Vice President Lia Bergen ’25 spoke about the recent shuttle crash. ey spoke on the sense of togetherness that swept the community in the wake of the crash, the administration’s response to the incident and more.

Editor’s Note: This article is centered around a tragic shuttle crash that took the life of one Brandeis student and injured numerous others. This article does not contain details about the crash itself, but may still be emotionally di cult for some readers. This article is not a newsbreaker, and contains no new facts about the tragedy.

What student union led initiatives were available to support the community after the crash?

We rst started with organizing the Sunday morning event where I believe the numbers were 100 gathered in person and 300 students on our Instagram Live. We had university executives from the administration, like Andrea Dine and Ron Liebowitz, BEMCo, some members of public safety, Spiritual Life and the counseling center was also there. We helped [to] lead the organizing of that to get students in the same room together the morning a er the incident. Leah’s idea was to create a banner and she, while I was writing my remarks for that morning, was creating the [Brandeis Strong] banner.

[We’ve] been working hand-inhand with the administration to ensure that there are events that are put on throughout the week. ey have been doing a signi cant amount of organizing; everything that’s going on in the SCC for the most part is organized by the administration and provided by the administration. Right now we are working with them to, this is our idea and we’re putting this together, organize a “Holding Space” event. … It’ll be this Monday [ is event is a “de-stress” event with snacks, arts & cra s and more. It is not a dialogue or re ection on the crash, but a community relaxation event]. Further details to

follow on our Instagram account.

We’ve been focusing on providing students with information. I think that is a very valuable thing for students during a time like this, when you’re getting all these di erent emails from di erent departments and everybody wants to (and should be) saying something about what’s happening, but you want students to nd grounding in … information from a credible source. We’ve been working with the administration to ensure that the information we put out is credible and accurate.

On the more logistical side, we have our director of accessibility working a lot with di erent students trying, especially the ones impacted by the crash, to get them classroom accommodations and academic accommodations. So she’s been meeting with parents and students which has been awesome.

Do you have any updates on BranVans and student-led transportation?

We have been told that there is going to be a formal investigation by state police into the incident and what happened and what the causes were, pending that report and the cause of the incident, we’ll be working hand-in-hand with the administration to ensure that something like this is prevented moving forward. In the months prior to the incident, [we were] working with Public Safety Chief Matt Rushton on transportation. Our contract with Joseph’s shuttles actually expired … Very recently, and we’re looking at just a holistic transportation [revamp]. is incident does come at an interesting time because it comes at a time when we … are looking at reforming transportation on campus already. So I think this incident reinforces the importance of redoing transportation and looking at ways we can improve it.

Do you have any timeline on when we’ll receive more information on the crash?

I don’t think anybody really knows how long the report is going to take. I think that really just depends on the state police. I think, initially, from what I understand, it was initially local police and they did … what they needed to do. Now it’s in the hands of state police and they will be conducting a thor-

ough report and we’ll hear about that as soon as that is released. In what ways have alumni supported the community after the crash?

e response from alumni has been phenomenal. ey were one of the rst groups, if not the rst group, in my understanding to reach out to families, to reach out to the university and to reach out to our community. ey’ve really reached out their hand and reached out the resources and said, “if you need anything, you let us know.” I heard from the Crisis Team in the administration who we’ve been in contact with that a former president of the student union reached out, and said, “hey, if you need anything, let me know.” at makes me proud of our community: Just knowing that the Brandeis community has so much reach, not just in students who are currently enrolled at the school, but [also in] those who have attended the school before. We also just posted the information about the Brandeis Emergency Fund and that information [was] also shared with alumni.

What is the status of the emergency fund?

I would encourage students who want information about that to go to our Instagram and check that out. We just posted today about the emergency fund. … We’ve been in contact with the administration to make sure that this fund is being used for victims of the incident and that it is able to cover the di erent needs of families. It is my understanding that the administration’s been very exible with that and will continue to be very exible with that to provide families with the nancial support that they need.

As long as students are able to donate, we encourage them to do so… to help support those families who are impacted and those who continue to be impacted.

at fund is something that Brandeis has had for many years. It wasn’t something that was created speci cally for this [incident]. It’s going to remain open for the foreseeable future. Admin has been reaching out to parents [of victims] to see [about] connecting the money that’s been donated to them. … Admin’s been very accommodating of the situation.

Do you know if the model of

bus that was involved in this crash is being used anywhere else that Joseph partners with?

I do not. But [we] did want to mention the Logan Shuttle program. [We] had a lot of students reaching out to [us] about, “is this still happening?,” worried about being on a bus. Totally fair, totally understandable. With regard to the model of bus, the Department of Student Engagement and Chief Rushton helped us with this.

Chief Rushton has done a ton to help the community during this time, so huge thank you to him and his team. We worked with Joseph’s to ensure that we were not using larger buses. Which, by the way, were not the same model as the one involved in the crash. But we used mini buses for the Logan shuttles and we also used the newer Mercedes vans that Joseph’s just got. We are keeping that program in place for winter break and they will still be using those same smaller vehicles, both of which have seat belts, which students are encouraged to wear, and they are di erent models of buses.

To be clear, it’s those buses (the larger ones) including the model that was used in the crash, that are no longer in use on Brandeis’ campus?

ey have been using a larger model of bus that’s not the same model as the one that was involved in the crash. It is a newer model, it says “limousine” on the side. Do all of those have safety features like seat belts on them?

I’m not sure about the bigger ones, I haven’t been on them yet. But I know that the smaller vans that they use for the Logan Shuttle and Waltham/ Campus shuttles … have seat belts and everything like that.

How are you?

We’re stressed, but the support from the community has been very encouraging. We’re both honored to be in elected positions, to be those who are given the opportunity to represent the community in a time like this. And to be the ones that students look to in a time like this and trust with information and organizing. It’s obviously a lot [to deal with] and it’s stressful, but it is very rewarding in the sense that we get to give back to our community and we get to experience the community come together in a

way that we don’t even really need to facilitate. e community was going to come together regardless, because we have a smaller community but I think Brandeis students truly love one another. It’s also shown us that our community is bigger than we thought. Although it’s been a lot [to deal with], we have never felt alone. ere’s support from admin, parents, alumni, fellow students and students at other student governments. We have heard stu from Bentley, Northeastern, BU [Boston University] and the Boston Intercollegiate Government. We heard from student governments all around Boston reaching out, asking “if you need anything, let us know.” ey’re very supportive and helpful, so although it’s stressful, it doesn’t feel defeating. It feels like we’re moving in a good direction because we’re all working together. We have the support of all these people … behind us.

The Hoot also conducted a separate interview with a Brandeis student who survived the shuttle crash.

When asked about how the Brandeis community has supported them, this student mentioned that “Brandeis has reached out to me through multiple channels. My academic advisor has been in contact with me, and so has Student accessibility services in working out a plan for nishing the semester. Also, campus spiritual life has been in touch with me and has checked in, which I have appreciated.”

ey also mentioned that they “don’t think I’ve been contacted by anyone high up at Brandeis.” is student said that they’re “very grateful to my professors for being exible about assignments and deadlines, which has helped a lot.”

“Overall, Brandeis needs to make sure they are supporting Vanessa’s family and any students with serious injuries or medical issues as a result of the crash,” the student added, “that should be their rst priority.”

“Mostly, I hope that campus doesn’t have to experience something like this again in the future,” they added, “and that Brandeis can ensure a safe campus environment.”

Students organize fundraiser for Brandeis Emergency Fund

By Thomas Pickering editor

In the wake of the shuttle accident which occurred on Saturday, Nov. 15, students Rebecca Soslowsky ’23, Celia Wu-Hacohen ’23, Krupa Sourirajan ’23 and Sydney Schur ’24 have organized a performing arts fundraiser to take place on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center. Sourirajan was able to take the time to respond to a few questions e Brandeis Hoot had about the fundraiser. “We all initially brainstormed on how we could best help those a ected by the shut-

tle accident,” wrote Sourirajan. When deciding how they would be able to help others Sourirajan wrote that, “We are all involved in various performing arts groups on campus and thought it would be nice to raise money through a performance fundraiser. From then, we contacted administration, booked spaces, and reached out to organizations who were able to perform!”

e performing arts have always been a method of bringing communities together but as Sourirajan wrote, “Performing arts in times such as these help bring the community together.” For the Brandeis community speci cally, she mentioned that “ ese performances will help

facilitate a space for healing and acknowledgment of what has happened and allow the performers to express themselves while creating a sense of belonging on campus.” is event will allow students to participate in something which will provide a safe space for the personal expression of emotions while also fundraising for a cause that will provide relief to the students and families impacted by the shuttle accident. e event will occur next week in the Shapiro Campus Center on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. in the atrium. For clubs and student organizations who wish to get involved, Sourirajan wrote that “Clubs and other organizations around campus can assist in get-

ting the word out for this event by reposting our graphic on social media, spreading the word to professors by having them tell their classes and sending emails to their listservs regarding the event.”

e graphic for the fundraiser event can be found on the editorial page of this week’s edition.

e event will not only be in person but will also o er an online option for students who wish to be a part of it but will not be able to attend. e link to the event is included in the graphic on the editorial page. Students who will be unable to attend either physically or virtually can also nd ways to be involved. For students nding themselves in this position, Sourirajan wrote, “Students can

de nitely support the cause if they cannot attend either in-person or online. e best way to do so is by donating to the Brandeis Emergency Fund which is helping the broader group of students impacted by the shuttle accident. Additionally, checking in and staying connected with friends can really help. A simple text message or act of service can go a long way!” To donate to the Brandeis Emergency Fund individuals can call the o ce for Student Financial Services at 781-736-3700 or email them at sfs@brandeis.edu.

REMEMBERING, from page 1

groups on campus. Her close friend Sam Forman ’21 shared that he met her during fall improv auditions, where she would go on to become a member of Brandeis’ oldest improv troupe, False Advertising. “I could immediately tell how friendly and funny she was. I have a video somewhere of her rolling on the oor with two other people, all singing their hearts out. It was hysterical and a clear sign of her character and personality,” he recalled. Another close friend Adam Fleishaker ’21 met her during rehearsals for the acapella group he and Forman were in, he shared in an interview with e Boston Globe. He recalled Mark’s upli ing presence and her ability to make others laugh. Beyond rehearsals and auditions, Vanessa met her friend Rachel Freed Sussman ’21 during pre-orientation before classes and Rebecca Goldfarb ’21 through mutual friends. Goldfarb reminisced on time spent with Mark, saying, “[Our friends and I] all had morning

Remembering Vanessa Mark

classes in [the Rabb Graduate Center] and every day a er class, we would meet in the quad and goof around…We were just a bunch of quirky kids…being ourselves.”

Mark exhibited talent for theater, comedy and art, her friends e usively recalled. Fleishaker remembered she was a star on stage, where “when it was her moment to shine, she captivated the audience, and her fellow troupe members would build o her performance to keep the show’s momentum going,” according to the Boston Globe interview. “She was amazing in every False [Advertising] show I saw,” added Golfarb.

Goldfarb grew closer to Mark during their collaboration on the Undergraduate eater Collective show “Beauty and e Beast,” where Goldfarb worked on sound design and Mark played the character Babette. She was particularly fond of tech week, where she recalls singing throwback songs in the green room or the auditorium with Mark and other members. “She was absolutely amazing and beyond perfect for that role,” Goldfarb said.

Mark’s talent on stage extended to her artistic talent. In her

spare time, Mark would present her friends with doodles and miniature sculptures of them. Forman cherished the artwork she made him saying, “Vanessa was a brilliant artist with a really unique style. Even her doodles were gorgeous. Anytime I saw her drawing I’d be so excited to see how it came out.”

Mark also cared deeply about education, especially for children, and worked for the Waltham Group program Prospect Hill Kids’ Club. “It was clear how much she loved it,” Forman shared. “She was just this incredibly patient, incredibly persistent person who always wanted to do the right thing,” Freed Sussman recalled in the Boston Globe. “She never gave up on anything.”

In mourning her loss, her friends re ected on how Mark helped them grow and what they learned from their friendship with her. Each person e Hoot interviewed emphasized her ability to make people laugh, upli their moods during stressful times and spread positivity. Beyond her jovial disposition, Mark came across as authentic and honest. Goldfarb recalled how

she never observed Mark with a facade or being anything other than her true self. Goldfarb added that while she struggled with social anxiety, Mark helped her feel a sense of belonging, saying, “It’s this attitude that she taught me that allowed me to really integrate myself with the group of friends I made freshman year and to really feel like I had found true friends.”

Forman re ected on her progression through her mental health struggles and how he grew as a friend. “Seeing her progression and growth over the years was incredibly inspiring… Vanessa taught me that to support her, I had to go at her pace, and through doing that I got to experience her resilience and resolve, and her exactly as she was. I’m deeply grateful to have known her at every moment.”

Across the board, her friends expressed immense gratitude for having known her and celebrated her active role in the Brandeis community. As her friend Marisol Abreu ’21 puts it, “For me, what will forever be remembered about Vanessa was the e ervescent, vivacious, sparkling quality to her, as if she sprinkled sug-

ar on my entire experience of the world.” Fleishaker asserted that in remembering Mark, people should look back on “the art and life that owed from her.” Her friends look ahead at changes that can be implemented at Brandeis and how the community can support one another. Goldfarb proposed rigorous safety inspections and safety policies for all student transportation. Forman cited steps such as vetting drivers and vehicles, or subsidizing commuter rail tickets for students until a better solution is in place. He added that given preexisting accessibility concerns at Brandeis, he hopes that “the school makes actual improvements to the shuttle service and regains students’ trust to ensure that this never happens again.” In mourning Mark’s loss and celebrating her life, Forman encouraged all students to not take the little moments for granted. “Contact [the] friends you’re thinking about; send them a text or call them, even just share a meme or something. ere’s a good chance they’re thinking of you too.”

Community initiatives follow shuttle accident

COMMUNITY, from page 1

worked with a volunteering organization called Dog Building Opportunities for Nurturing and Emotional Support (B.O.N.E.S) to bring therapy dogs for students to visit. e full list of community care activities for this week can be found on the Health and Wellness Promotion page of Brandeis’ website. In addition to campus events, the Center of Spiritual Life organized an evening vigil at the Harlan Chapel titled “Gathering and Re ection.” Associate Director of the Center for Spiritual Life Lara Ericson shared the goals of this event and other similar initiatives with e Hoot, saying the center wanted to “respond to the community’s instinctive desire to gather together.” Each event was

open to members of all religious backgrounds and featured not only traditional spiritual elements such as singing and lighting candles, but also simply opportunities to converse and connect. e Center of Spiritual Life encouraged students to schedule one-onone con dential conversations with trained chaplains if they desired the support. “Our hope was that these gatherings would help students to feel that they are not alone,” Ericson added. Support for students extended beyond the campus initiatives; Brandeis alumni were one of the rst groups to reach out to families and members of the Brandeis community, according to Gillespie. “... e Brandeis community has so much reach, not just in students who are currently enrolled at the school, but [also in] those that have attended the school before,” he said. Furthermore, insti-

tutions in the Greater Boston area have acknowledged the recent tragedy and have o ered help. Bergen explained how Brandeis leaders have never felt alone in the days following the accident.

“We have heard stu from Bentley, Northeastern, BU [Boston University] and the Boston Intercollegiate Government. We heard from student governments all around Boston reaching out, asking ‘if you need anything, let us know,’” Bergen shared. “ ey’re very supportive and helpful, so although it’s stressful, it doesn’t feel defeating. It feels like we’re moving in a good direction because we’re all working together.”

e university made several academic amendments to the fall semester in light of the shuttle crash. All remaining classes before anksgiving Break were canceled in order to give students the opportunity to return home

early if possible. Furthermore, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic A airs Carol Fierke sent a university email extending the Pass/Fail deadline to accommodate for student performance and health following the shuttle incident. Faculty have been encouraged to extend assignment deadlines and enable remote work options. Bergen added that the Director of Student Accessibility Support Cara Streit played a prominent role in advocating for student academic accommodations for those closely a ected by the crash and has been in communication with parents and students during this time.

Furthermore, Brandeis addressed students’ nancial concerns following the accident and travel during anksgiving break by focusing emergency funding resources on needs for impacted students. e O ce of Student Fi-

nancial Services implemented the Emergency Fund for undergraduate students experiencing extenuating circumstances. e Student Union shared information on how to donate to the Emergency Fund and how to apply for funding on their Instagram page. e Brandeis community has the challenging task of recovering from a senseless and saddening event. However, student and administrative leaders express hope for the future through methodological transportation planning and extensive community support. Ultimately, what emerged from the days following the accident were symbols of compassion and resilience, from the #BrandeisStrong banner to community gatherings.

Student Union senator put on probation

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

e Student Union Judiciary gave its formal opinion on Nov. 18 regarding the impeachment of Senator Zachary Moskovits ’26. e Judiciary ruled to not impeach Moskovits but to put him on a probationary period.

e Judiciary opted to acquit Moskovits and not remove him from his seat as Massell Quad Senator because of the lack of evidence available to prove the events did not occur as Moskovits had described. According to the formal opinion, “In this case, we found that the totality of the evidence amounted to a scenario where the sole distinguishing factor between the likelihood of each side’s case was the word of their witnesses. In this way, both sides presented equally likely scenarios and the Petitioner did not prove that their version of events were more likely than not.”

In the opinion, the Judiciary

notes that the situation—to their knowledge—is unprecedented.

is is the rst time a senator has been impeached but not removed from their seat in the Brandeis Student Union. e judiciary, in light of this, decided to create a new category distinction for Moskovits. e new category called “Probation” has been applied to Moskovits and puts him on a probationary status starting on Nov. 18 and lasting until March 1, 2023.

Moskovits spoke with e Brandeis Hoot regarding the decision and said, “ e probationary period is not only fair, it reestablishes a sense of transparency that was lost during the impeachment proceedings. In no uncertain terms is the short probationary period a limiting factor in my work ghting for Massell Quad. It is simply a gesture of good faith between myself, the Judiciary and the rest of the Senate.”

With this status distinction, Moskovits will have to work under certain conditions. e conditions include that while acting as a

Student Union representative, he must be observed by a member of the Judiciary. e opinion noted that they do not “want to accompany [Moskovits] on his personal or private endeavors.” In addition, in his role in the Club Support and Sustainability committees, Moskovits must be watched by a member of the Judiciary.

e Judiciary also must be informed of any actions Moskovits takes outside of committee or Senate meetings while using his platform as Massell Quad Senator. e opinion notes that Moskovits hosts town hall meetings in his quad, and they do not wish to deter from these interactions but instead make the Judiciary aware of when these initiatives are happening. “ is should not serve as a deterrent to any activity. In fact, the Judiciary commends Senator Moskovits’ dedication to his quad and to the Union at large. is should not be read in a limiting capacity whatsoever. Senator Moskovits should feel free to

take on initiatives, apply to be a committee chair, etc. It should just be under the Judiciary’s supervision,” reads the opinion.

e Judiciary wrote that if during the course of the probationary period Moskovits stays in good standing he will be allowed to keep his position. However, if “[Moskovits] continues to engage in activities which construe impropriety” then the Judiciary will request a new hearing to remove Moskovits from his position.

“While we acknowledge that Senator Moskovits is an upstanding member of the Brandeis community with great passion for his positions, the Judiciary believes that in the alleged series of events, he lacked the foresight to predict how his actions may a ect others,” reads the Judiciary opinion.

e Judiciary explained that this ruling is meant as a “gesture of good faith.” e Judiciary wanted to emphasize that Moskovits has not gotten o “scot-free” but rather has a chance to redeem himself.

e motion to impeach was

brought up to the Senate on Nov. 6 by petitioner, Senator Nicholas Kannan ’23. Kannan had argued that Moskovits had acted with a “reckless disregard for [Student Union] ethical conduct.” Kannan had brought up a claim from three students where they claimed Moskovits had made them “uncomfortable and intimated” when discussing voting in Student Union elections.

In response to the Judiciary’s opinion, e Hoot reached out to Kannan for comment on the ruling and he explained, “based on the cases as they were presented, that the Judiciary’s verdict was as I expected and completely warranted. Our justices are incredibly capable and quali ed. ey are all great at their jobs, and I stand with their decision.”

e Judiciary opinion was written by Chief Justice Noah Risley ’24 and Associate Justices Farishta Ali ’24, Alyssa Golden ’26, Maxwell Lerner ’23 and Zachary Miller ’24.

Prof receives ‘Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize’

By Cooper Gottfried and Victoria Morrongiello editors

Professor Sabine von Mering (GER & WMGS)—Director of the Center for German and European Studies—has been awarded the Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize by Deutsches Haus at New York University (NYU). It’s given annually to individuals who help build relationships between German and American culture, politics and academics, according to the prize page.

von Mering received the prize as a result of her “outstanding contributions to the cultural, political, and academic relationship

between the German-speaking world and the United States,” according to the prize website.

Professor von Mering’s research focuses include “German as a foreign language, Jewish-German dialogue, German women writers and German cinema.” Her most recent publications include explorations of U.S. and Europe politics, global environmental politics, and Jewish emigration. She is not teaching any classes in the Spring Semester. Currently, she is writing the “Handbook of Global Climate Activism,” which will be published in 2023. von Mering will be o cially honored with the Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize later this month in New York, according to the

prize page. e laudator is Sultan Doughan—the Dr. omas Zand Visiting professor in Holocaust Pedagogy and Antisemitism Studies at Clark University—according to the prize page. Along with her work in German language and culture, von Mering’s “main research interests are global climate activism as well as antisemitism on social media and right-wing extremism in Europe,” according to her pro le. Another upcoming project of von Mering’s is “A History of our Future” which will be coming out with the Brandeis University Press in 2023, according to the page. e order in which the two publications, “A History of our Future” and “Handbook of Global Climate Activism,”

will be released is not speci ed.

Von Mering has received other awards and honors including the eodore and Jane Norman Fund for faculty research from 2018-2020. As well as the provost’s research grant from 2017-2018, according to von Mering’s faculty page.

e prize was rst awarded in 2013 and honorees receive a $5000 grant. e Volkar and Margret Sander Prize was started by Margret Sander—a professor at NYU. Sander established the prize in honor of her late husband, according to the prize page. Her husband—Volkmar Sander—was the former head of the German Department at NYU and was the rst director of the Deutsch-

es Haus—a department that celebrates and fosters the culture, music, heritage, language and history of Germany—at NYU. e prize is given through the cultural program Deutsches Haus at NYU.

Past recipients include Heinz Ickstadt—a professor emeritus at the Kennedy Institute of North American Studies at the Free University in Berlin— in 2021. ere is no listed recipient for 2020, and the 2019 recipient was Susan Neiman— Director of the Einstein Forum in Berlin.

Pass/Fail deadline reopened for students

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

e university announced it would be reopening the passfail registration for the 2022 Fall semester, according to an email sent by upper administration to community members.

e pass-fail registration was reopened in light of the accident that occurred on Nov. 19.

“We know that everyone reacts to tragedy di erently, depending on one’s history, relationships, and personal style. Some students nd returning to a normal routine to be helpful, while oth-

er students need more time and space to navigate grief,” reads the email to community members.

e new date for students to declare they’d like to pass-fail or credit- no credit a course was extended to Wednesday, Dec. 7 by 5 p.m. ET, according to the email. e extension was granted in an attempt to, “help alleviate the academic pressure [students] may be facing,” reads the email.

Undergraduate students had the option to switch a course to pass-fail whereas graduate students had the opportunity to change from credit to no credit.

Normal regulations for taking a class pass-fail are still in place,

according to the email. Students —in accordance with these policies—are only allowed to take one class pass-fail in a single semester. e class, if taken pass-fail, will not meet major or minor requirements according to the university’s academic regulations page. Students were also reminded that if they switch a class to pass-fail it may not meet the requirements for post-graduate opportunities like medical school, law school or graduate school. However, at the graduate level, if students elected to take a course as credit- no credit it will meet their program requirements, according to the email. With the extension, the email

also recommended to faculty members to allow for “extra absences, o ering remote participation in classes, late submissions of work and offering alternative formats for exams or even optional exams for students in good standing.”

e email noted that the structure of the class would a ect how exible a professor could be. According to the email, “it is up to each faculty member to decide what, if any, changes they can make and to communicate any such options or alternative plans to students in their classes.”

For students wishing to declare a course as pass-fail they were

encouraged to email passfail@ brandeis.edu with their rst and last name, their student ID number, the course department, title and the course number. Students in the email should write that they wish to take the course pass-fail. If students are looking to change the course they had initially selected to be pass-fail they can communicate this in the email. For graduate students, they have to email registrar@brandeis. edu with the Fall 2022 course that they wish to convert to credit-no credit, along with the same information required for undergraduate students.

Prof. research cognitive abilities of older adult inventors

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

A new study co-written by Margie Lachman (PSYC) discusses new ndings of how cognitive processes increase in age in experience-based knowledge and decrease in the ability to process novel information. e research builds o of previous research that found creative ability typically peaks during an individual’s mid-30s to early 40s.

Lachman’s research—with co-authors Mary Kaltenberg and Adam Ja e—looks at the role of age-related cognitive abilities and the invention process. Collaboratively, the trio created a

new database to assess the age of residing US inventors from patents, according to the study. e research also found that older inventors are more likely to use backward citations and originality measures versus younger inventors who typically use forward citations, number of claims and generality measures.

In agreement with other literature, the study found that the rate at which inventors patent increases in their rst decade of work life, however this number declines in the early 40s. Contrary to prior research, “the nature of inventions changes more or less monotonically with age, with invention attributions related to experience (backward citations, originality)

rising with age, and patent attributes related to creativity (forward citations, disruptiveness, generality and number of claims) falling with age,” according to the study. e researchers note that their study was guided by previous studies which found that over the lifetime, there are both losses and gains in cognitive function which can a ect performance in various aspects of life. According to the study, it is assumed that older adults are “less creative and productive” compared to younger individuals due to declines in cognitive ability. However, research supports that on average older adults have higher levels of crystallized abilities (Gc) than their younger counterparts,

though older adults have lower levels of uid abilities (Gf) compared to the younger generation.

“Because of the important contribution of both of Gc and Gf abilities to invention, we expect that a given inventor’s rate of patenting will peak in middle age when both of these abilities are relatively high; that is, knowledge and experience have accumulated and are on the rise, and the de cits in uid reasoning have not reached their nadir,” reads the study. e results the researchers collected provides longitudinal data and data on the qualitative attributes of the patents. is allowed for the research to examine the demographics of the inventors over the years and

their pattern patterns as well as looking at the patents to rate the creativity level over time. e research also was able to look at the age demographics of di erent patent teams to explore how the ages of members a ect the activities of the team as a whole. e research con rmed that the age of patenting peaks at age 40, and this is consistent across the gender binary. e pattern observed is also consistent with Gc and Gf levels which contribute towards inventive activity in the lifetime. ough, the researchers note that the ndings they have discovered are not a test of the cognitive aging theory, according to the study.

Transportation updates following shuttle accident

By Roshni Ray and Cooper Gottfried editors

Brandeis administration is currently in the process of determining future transportation service options for students. ese decisions are being informed by a transportation study from early in the summer as well as the ongoing investigation of the Boston/Cambridge shuttle crash.

Interim Vice President of Student A airs Andrea Dine announced via email that the Boston/Cambridge shuttle would be canceled for the remainder of the semester. e other transportation services are currently still in place. Students who were previously using the Boston/Cambridge shuttle for interviews, internships, jobs or academic purposes are encouraged to apply for the Undergraduate Transportation Fund.

In an email with e Brandeis Hoot, Assistant Vice President

for Communications Julie Jette, Vice President of Campus Operations Lois Stanley and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic A airs Carol Fierke shared a joint response to questions regarding the status of upcoming transportation. To get the most accurate information on routes and schedules, they cited using the Public Safety website. Student Union President Peyton Gillepsie and Vice President Lia Bergen shared that vehicles used for the Logan Shuttle Ser-

vice before break included smaller, newer models of buses that were equipped with seatbelts in an interview with e Hoot. According to Dine, the vehicles currently in use on campus have seatbelts as well.

Upper administration also shared that the investigation of the accident is in the hands of the Middlesex DA and federal transportation agencies. “Investigations into signi cant accidents can take many months. We know a long wait for more information may be frustrating to the com-

munity, but no doubt we can all agree that we want the investigation to be thorough,” they wrote.

Brandeis’ contract with Joseph’s Transportation, the provider of shuttles and drivers for Waltham and Boston/Cambridge routes for students, had recently expired according to Gillepsie. He noted, “ is incident does come at an interesting time because it comes at a time when we… are looking at reforming transportation on campus already.”

By Calli Morvay special to the hoot

Along with anksgiving comes the triple F. Contrary to many, this does not stand for “forced family fun,” but rather it stands for “family, food and football.” e tradition of anksgiving football games dates back to college football in the 1800s, and has held strong throughout the past 150 years. is year’s anksgiving Day football showdown included a tribute as it was the rst National Football League (NFL) anksgiving Day without football legend John Madden. Madden passed away in December of 2021, at the age of 85. roughout his revered 12year coaching career, and nearly three decades of commentating in the booth, Madden embraced anksgiving football unlike any other. His love of the game and food was ever-present. Madden and turducken became synonymous, a tradition he started in the late ’90s: a deboned turkey, stu ed with a deboned duck which was then stu ed with a chicken. Madden introduced this delicacy by awarding the player of the game, as well as the ve defensive linemen of the winning team, with the six scrumptious legs. is tradition has continued and six lucky players still are honored to partake a er each anksgiving NFL game. Maintaining tradition, both the Detroit Lions and the Dallas

Thanksgiving football recap SPORTS

Cowboys play each anksgiving. is year’s three games included one matchup where both teams held the same record. e other two games featured two front-running teams in the NFL.

Starting o the day for NFL football were the Detroit Lions and Bu alo Bills. Coming o of a win against the Cleveland Browns only four days prior, the Bills were looking to improve their 7-3 record. e game was evenly scored throughout, each team producing impressive plays, including Bill’s quarterback Josh Allen running for a touchdown in the second quarter. Lions quarterback Jared Go was tackled in his endzone, earning Bu alo two points with the safety. As the close-scoring game was nearing its end, things got interesting as Lions kicker Michael Badgley missed a 29yard eld goal attempt, and Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass missed an extra point following Bu alo’s touchdown in the fourth quarter with 2:40 remaining on the clock. A strong drive by the Lions late in the fourth quarter resulted in a eld goal, leaving the game tied 25-25 with 23 seconds remaining for Bu alo to potentially capitalize. e game ended with the Bills scoring a eld goal and winning 28-25. e Bills came away from the game improving their record to (8-3). is talented team is heading into this week with a game against the New England Patriots on ursday Night Football, though the Bills are currently facing an illness out-

break within the team. e Lions are moving on to play the (4-7) Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday.

To follow, the Dallas Cowboys played the New York Giants. Both teams came into this game with records of 7-3, the Cowboys coming in with hopes of breaking their three-game losing streak for their anksgiving record. e Giants were down three o ensive line starters who were out with injuries. ey did not help their case when their rst touchdown was called back due to an ineligible receiver being on the eld. e Cowboys, who lead the NFL in sacks, were able to maintain relative dominance throughout the game, despite quarterback Dak Prescott throwing two interceptions. Following a missed eld goal attempt by the Cowboys, the Giants got the ball with 1:13 remaining in the game. ey were able to get a touchdown o of a strong drive, but that is where the scoring ended for the game as they had a failed attempt to nish the game with a score of the Cowboys winning 28-20. e now 8-3 Cowboys will play the 4-7 Indianapolis Colts this Sunday. e Giants will be playing the 7-5 Washington Commanders this Sunday. Finishing o the evening were the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings in a much-anticipated meeting. e fast-paced game started with back-to-back successful drives for either team. Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson had an excellent game, making several great catches and

acquiring 139 receiving yards for the Vikings. Patriots tight end Hunter Henry had an impressive game as well, with nearly two touchdowns. Making an impressive catch, crossing the plane of the endzone with his hand fully protecting the ball from hitting the ground, this touchdown was called back, leaving players and fans wondering what the referees saw that led to this poorly o ciated call. e score remained relatively evenly scored throughout, though the Patriots lost steam during the fourth quarter. With several controversial calls, going for it on fourth down and several careless fouls, the Patriots gave up 10 points to the Vikings

in the fourth quarter, ending the game with the Vikings winning 33-26. e 9-2 Vikings will play the 7-4 Jets this weekend with red-hot second-string quarterback Mike White starting over rst-string Jets quarterback Zach Wilson. e Jets being weekto-week with quarterbacks will make this matchup entertaining. As for the Patriots, they will be playing the Bills. is will be the second time the Bills and Patriots meet this season. As the NFL heads into week 13, the Eagles, Chiefs and Vikings remain the frontrunners. Wishing everyone and their preferred (or fantasy) teams luck with the upcoming games.

Men’s basketball extends winning streak to six

By Justin Leung editor

A er starting the season with three straight wins, the Brandeis men’s basketball team looked to nish their rst month strong. eir rst game of this stretch was an away game against Lasell University on Nov. 19. Last year the Judges doubled Lasell’s score and won 88-44. In their matchup this year, sophomore forward Toby Harris ’25 got the scoring started with a jump shot 10 seconds into the game. O ensive rebounds for the Judges helped them build a lead with all these second-chance points. Roughly halfway through the rst half, sophomore center Gri n Walbridge ’25 scored a layup o an assist from senior guard Dylan Lien ’23. is gave Brandeis double the number of points that Lasell had, as the score was 30-15. e Judges maintained this lead, even a er Lasell went on a 13-5 run toward the end of the half. Going into the second half, the Judges were up 49-37 after shooting 65.6% from the eld. ey were also extremely e cient from the three-point range, after making ve of nine of their attempts. Junior Ryan Power ’24 got the Judges on the board in the second half with a layup. However, Lasell cut Brandeis’ lead to just seven points with 15:22 le in the game. e Judges responded by scoring 10 consecutive points, coming from three-pointers from Harris and freshman forward Quron Zene ’26. From there, the Judges didn’t stop. e o ense just kept going. eir lead got up to 21 points in the game. Ultimately, Brandeis beat Lasell 8566 and put the win streak at four.

Four Judges scored

double-digit points in the game. ey were led by Harris with 24 and Power with 15. Harris was particularly e ective from three in the game, as he hit ve of his seven attempts. Zene led the team in rebounds with 11, while also having 10 points in the game giving him a double-double. Freshman guard Ethan Edwards ’26 led the team in assists with four, in addition to 11 points o the bench. Overall, the Judges shot 52.2% from the eld and 38.5% from three. ey held Lasell to 40.6% shooting overall and just 23.8% from three. Brandeis also had 41 rebounds to Lasell’s 25.

A few days later, the Judges played another away game, this time against UMass Dartmouth (UMD). Last year, Brandeis beat UMD 76-68. A er both teams missed a few shots, UMD got the scoring started before Zene tied the game with two free throws. From there, the Judges went on a 17-5 run to build a 19-7 lead.

e Judges’ lead got up to 28-9 a er Harris hit a three, however, UMD brought the game back to within 11 just a few minutes later. A couple of three from Harris, Lien and Zene helped make sure that UMD did not make a comeback as Brandeis held a 41-24 lead over UMD at the end of the rst half. To start the second half, UMD scored 10 straight points to cut the de cit to just seven. Junior guard David Perez-Miralles ’24 helped stop that momentum with a layup and was followed by a three-pointer from Zene. e two teams traded points for the rest of the game with UMD never truly being out of the game. In the end, the Judges just outpaced UMD from three, and won 79-68.

Harris once again led the team in points with 23 and was followed by Lien with 18. Zene and Lien tied the team lead in rebounds with seven. Edwards led the team in assists with ve, while also adding 12 points. Although both teams shot similar percentages overall, Brandeis shot 44.8% and UMD shot 40% from the eld, the Judges were much more e cient from three. Brandeis made 13 three points on just 22 attempts for a 59.1% shooting percentage. UMD on the other hand made just four threes, while shooting 17.4%. e Judges got outrebounded 38-41 and had more turnovers with 18 compared to UMD’s 13, but the three-pointers and defense proved to be enough to get the win.

In the team’s nal game of November, they returned home to face Emerson College on Nov. 28. During an early season matchup last year, Emerson got the best

of the Judges 84-72. is time, it looked like it was going to be different. Edwards got the Judges on the board with a jump shot and from there, Brandeis never gave up the lead. ey started with a 9-2 run and then later a 12-4 run. In the nal eight minutes of the rst half, the Judges held their opponents scoreless and held a 31-19 lead. Although Brandeis was shooting just 36.4% from the eld and 27.3% from three, their defense was solid. Emerson made just eight shots in the rst half and were 1/10 from three. For the rst 6 minutes of the second half, Brandeis held a convincing lead. at was until Emerson went on a huge run to cut the de cit to 36-41. Zene stopped their momentum for a second, with a layup, but an Emerson triple cut the Judges’ lead to just four. e game remained close for the next ve minutes until Harris and senior guard Darret Justice ’23 hit

deep threes to give them a comfortable lead. Brandeis would go on to win the game 76-70. Edwards had a phenomenal game as he led the team in points with 24, while having just one turnover. He shot 10/13 overall and 3/3 from three. Harris had his sixth consecutive game with 20 or more points, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Zene led the team in rebounds with 10 and Lien provided 14 points from the bench. Overall, the Judges shot just 41.9% from the eld and 34.8% from three. is was worse than Emerson, however, the key di erence was that Brandeis had just six turnovers in the game. Emerson on the other hand had 14. e Judges now have a 6-0 record and will next play Colby College for the University Athletic Association- NESCAC Challenge on Dec. 3. On the next day, they will face Bates College before returning home for a game

PHOTO FROM NBCSPORTS COM

By Justin Leung editor

A er a few away meets to start the season, the Brandeis swimming and diving team hosted their rst home meet of the season on Nov. 19. e meet was against the United States Coast Guard Academy in a rematch from last year. Last year, the men’s team lost 185-97, while the women’s team lost 185-93. e men’s team was led by junior Sam Dienstag ’24. Dienstag nished with three rst-place nishes on the day. He rst won the 1000-yard freestyle event with a time of 9:29.33. His time was 24 seconds faster than second place. Dienstag followed that performance with a rst-place nish in the 100-yard freestyle event,

By Parker Press special to the hoot

e Brandeis Hoot sat down and spoke with Quron Zene Jr. (Q)—a rst-year on the Brandeis men’s basketball team. He spoke with e Hoot about his life as a student athlete and his time navigating competing at the Division III level.

Zene is a six-foot- ve power forward from Windsor, Connecticut and attended high school at International Management Group (IMG) Academy in Florida. He told e Hoot “the system there (at IMG) … and the (college athletic style) culture and familiarity with certain

with a time of 48.37. He narrowly beat rst-year Eric Xiao ’26 by .21 seconds. Dienstag kept going and won the 500-yard freestyle event as well. His 4:41.55 time was roughly seven seconds faster than second place. In his nal race of the day, he competed in the 200yard freestyle relay event with senior James Smith ’23, sophomore Andrew Ngo ’25 and rst-year

Benjamin Lee ’26. e group nished in second place with a time of 1:30.10, which was just three seconds away from rst place. Lee also had a strong day. He nished rst in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 1:46.31. Later that day, he also competed in the 200-yard individual medley (IM), where he nished in third place with a time of 2:02.96. Ngo and Xiao also grouped together for the 200-yard medley relay event with

teammates Smith and junior Ryan Schulken ’24. ey nished in 1:38.85 in second place. First-year Sam Bundy ’26 won his rst race of the day in the 200-yard buttery event. He nished in 2:00.98. Even with these great performances, the men’s team ultimately fell to Coast Guard 102-169.

Junior Monica Iiuzaka ’24 led the way for the women’s team. In her rst event of the day, she competed with rst-year Audrey Teo ’26, senior Bailey Gold ’23 and senior Ema Rennie ’23 for the 200-yard medley relay. e group nished rst with a time of 1:50.98. Iiuzaka also nished in rst place in the 100-yard backstroke event with a time of 1:00.69. She followed that event with a win in the 200-yard backstroke event. Her nal time of that race was 2:13.39, which was

Q’s Corner

plays that we run and terminology we use in basketball made the transition (to DIII) easier.”

Although Zene has been exposed to a college-style o ense and defense, he still feels the transition from high school basketball to Division III basketball has been di erent. He said, “ e speed of the game is di erent, more fast-paced, more physical and I am guarding seniors and 23-year-olds so it is harder from a physicality standpoint.”

When asked about individual success, Zene said, “I want to help the team win as many games as possible and play hard and play my role.” Zene is one of two starting forwards on the team and is tasked with guarding centers and

power forwards. In his second collegiate game against Rhode Island College, Zene had seven points, four rebounds including three o ensive rebounds and four assists. Beyond the stats sheet, Zene was very active guarding guards on help defense and assisting in contesting interior shots. In addition, he took a charge in the rst half that helped the Judges bring momentum on their side versus Rhode Island College. On o ense Zene, a distributor o ensively, helped to set screens and hando s to other plays to get open threes. In addition, o ensively Zene shows great court awarenes, knowing when to drop back for an open look, whether that be from mid-range

three seconds ahead of second place. First-year Nicole Caruso ’26 swept the distance events. In the 1000-yard freestyle event, she nished in rst with a time of 10:57.01. Later, she competed in the 500-yard freestyle event and nished in rst again in 5:20.82.

For her single non-freestyle event of the day, Caruso nished in second place in the 200-yard IM event with a time of 2:14.76. She was just .15 seconds behind rst place. Gold also had a solid day. She nished rst in the 200-yard butter y in 2:11.45, which was 10 seconds ahead of second place.

In her next event, Gold nished in second place in the 100-yard butter y event. Her 58.56 time was just .58 seconds behind rst place. Additionally, Gold competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay with rst-year Jenna Wild

’26, sophomore Chloe Gonzalez ’25 and Rennie. ey just barely nished behind rst place with a time of 1:42.22. Wild also nished in second place in the 200yard freestyle event in 2:01.60. Rennie added a second-place nish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.05. In diving, rst-year Summer Coronesi ’26 placed second in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 196.80. ough the team had a strong overall performance, the women’s team fell to Coast Guard 111-167. Up next is the Gompei Invitational hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). e event starts on Dec. 4 and goes on for three days. is will be both the last meet for the men’s and women’s teams before 2023. Last year, they combined to nish in seventh with 3400 points.

or for a 3-pointer and when to help with interior o ense. Zene’s playing time has helped the Judges to start o the year 3-0.

O the court, Zene is studying psychology. He is interested in sports psychology and social psychology. He said to e Hoot, “I want to help athletes with mental health.” In addition, he hopes to help athletes mentally from coming back from injury which can be a tough time. Outside of the classroom, Zene has been an active member in his community of West Hartford, Connecticut.

In addition, Zene is a podcaster on the podcast “Ghetto Boy Dreams.” e podcast aims to share stories of college athletes and in uencers from New En-

gland to inspire youth to go for their dreams and goals even if they may be facing challenges. Zene’s personal goal of the podcast is to share his personal story of reaching his goal of being a college basketball player to help youth be focused with their goals even if they face challenges. Also, he is interested in learning about social justice and understanding the lives and movements of in uential people like Malcolm X. Zene learns about social justice gures because he wants to help others and make their lives better. Zene has the skill set to be impactful both on and o a basketball court.

USMNT is going to win the World Cup

By Justin Leung and Cooper Gottfried editors

e United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) soccer team is going to win the 2022 World Cup. I am exaggerating here because I was very surprised to see them make it out of the group stage. Over the past 20 years, the USMNT has not been great. ere have been a few great players, such as Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, but overall the team has been mediocre. Most of the players were playing in Major League Soccer (MLS). is isn’t a terrible league to play soccer in, but when I watch Real Madrid play in the Champions League nal and then try and watch an MLS game, I have to turn o the game. But since those years with Dempsey and Donovan, the USMNT has gotten a lot better and this year they are showing that.

e players of the team are denitely better than in the past. is is evident in the leagues they are playing in. Forward Brendan Aaronson and mid elder Tyler Adams both play for Leeds United in the Premier League. Mid elder Weston McKennie plays for Juventus, which is one of the best teams in the Serie A. Defender Sergino Dest plays for the world class team, F.C. Barcelona in the LaLiga. Forward Giovanni Reyna plays for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. en of course

you have “Captain America” himself, Christian Pulisic, who plays for Chelsea F.C. of the Pre-

mier League. As you can see, the team has more talent than it has ever had before. Not only does it have talent, but it has young talent. e USMNT has the second youngest team at the World Cup this year, with an average age of 25.2. So far some of these guys have played like some of the best in the world. Adams has played phenomenally in the World Cup so far. Every time I watch him, it seems like he’s all over the eld. Dest has also played very well with multiple great crosses coming from the wing. en there’s Pulisic. It seems like the o ense runs through him. He always wants the ball. Although he isn’t the captain—Adams is—he sometimes acts like it on the eld.

So how did the USMNT make it out of the group stage? eir rst game against Wales was a bit of a disappointment. ey led for most of the game a er Tim Weah scored a great goal in the 36th minute o an assist from Pulisic. But a bad foul in the box gave Wales superstar Gareth Bale a penalty kick in the 82nd minute. His goal evened the game and led to a 1-1 nal score. e game seemed so winnable, but all that came out of it was a tie.

en came the game against England. It was such a hyped-up game. Most people believed that England was going to absolutely dominate this game. To put this into perspective, the USMNT has a few players from some of the top leagues in the world. e entire England team comes from these top leagues. If the USMNT were going to win the game, they

needed a miracle. Somehow, the two teams tied. I laughed at all the headlines a er the game as they kept saying that the USMNT won the game 0-0. It was both great for the team and also terrible. For me it was sad to see how low the standard is for the team, but that is just what the reality is. It was good for the team, though, considering they competed with some of the world’s best. Some of these teams have world class players and England is one of them. e tie against England set up a must win game against Iran. It was simple. If the USMNT won, they would move on. If anything else happens, they would lose. Every moment of the game was tense. Every shot from the USMNT felt like it was going in, while every shot from Iran looked like it was going in. en in the 38th minute, McKennie had an incredible pass to Dest, who headed the ball into the box towards the man who had all the pressure, Pulisic. Sometimes it seems like Pulisic has the entire country on his shoulders considering he is marketed as the team’s star player. Before this, in the World Cup, he hadn’t scored but was playing well overall. However, everyone was waiting for him to score. en, just like it was destiny, Pulisic came ying out of nowhere before kicking the ball into the net. e USMNT had taken the lead in the must-win game and who else but Captain America to do it. Although everyone was celebrating, the goal came at a cost. Pulisic went down with a pelvic injury that would cost him the second half of the game. Noth-

ing really happened in the second half, but every single time Iran took a shot, I felt my heart drop. e 10 minutes of extra time were especially excruciating considering Iran kept ailing hoping to get a penalty kick. But eventually the game was over and the USMNT advanced to the Round of 16. I am not an expert in soccer, and I have de nitely not watched all these players on the USMNT play before, but I do think that the team could make some changes. For one, Reyna should de nitely be playing more. I have no idea why he’s not playing, considering he plays for one of the best teams in the world. I also think Aaronson should be playing more. When the guy somehow has the nickname “Medford Messi,” that alone warrants more play time. Also, a few substitutions during games have been a bit questionable, and the experts of Twitter have o en agreed with me. Again, I probably have no idea what I am talking about, but if people are talking about these guys being the best players on the team, then you should probably play them, especially considering they are playing a very good Netherlands team on Dec. 3. e Netherlands also did not lose a game during the group stage, but they led their group a er winning two out of three games. e USMNT did not play perfect soccer in the group stage, but in order to stay competitive, everything is going to have to go well. Play the best players and hopefully Pulisic is well enough to play. en maybe the team has a chance to go far.

Soccer is not one of my favorite sports to watch, but I de nitely see the appeal of watching the World Cup. Most Americans probably do not watch a lot of soccer, but when it comes to cheering for your country, it’s completely different. e match between England and the United States set the record for the most watched men’s soccer match on American English television ever, with 15.4 million viewers. is year, it’s even easier to watch because the players are so much better. Do I genuinely think that the USMNT is good enough to compete with teams like France or Brazil? Nope. However, it’s fun to cheer for them now and it’s great to see how the future of the team is bright. But, soccer can also be unentertaining to watch at times. In incredibly low scoring games, like Croatia vs. Belgium, it can feel like nothing’s going on. e players clearly have immense talent that a mere Brandeis student can never hope to match, but there’s no payo for all of the long trips down the eld the players take. And, there are the gratuitous ops that so many players perform. It’s just overkill: they fall down in apparent agony a er a tap on the shoulder in an attempt to draw a foul. It’s not the worst thing in the world to watch, but soccer can feel simultaneously boring and overly dramatic.

Brandeis women’s basketball gains individual successes, falls to Tufts, Roger Williams and Babson

By Mia Plante and Justin Leung editors

Brandeis women’s basketball continued their season last Saturday, Nov. 19, hosting Tu s women’s basketball at the Auerbach Arena. Last year, the Judges faced o against Tu s in an early season matchup that saw them narrowly lose 77-81. While Brandeis kept up throughout the third quarter, the Judges were unable to defeat the 11th-ranked Tu s team. Emma Reavis ’23 led Brandeis in scoring throughout the game, winning the Judges 26 points. is is Reavis’ career-best outsourcing her previous 19-point record. Following was Francesca Marchese ’23, who scored 12 points with four shots landing from the 3-point range and Katherine Vaughan ’26 scored 11 points for the Judges. Caitlin Gresko ’25 and Reavis tied for a team lead in assists with two. ree players had four rebounds in the game to tie the team lead. is included Shannon Smally (GRAD), Reavis and Vaughan. Ultimate-

ly, the Judges fell to the Jumbos who won with a score of 84-70. One week later, on Saturday, Nov. 26 a er anksgiving break, the Judges returned to the court in Rhode Island playing against Roger Williams University. Last year, the Judges fell to Roger Williams 61-70. Although Brandeis lost to the Hawks with a score of 89-58, the Judges outscored Roger Williams 20-18 in the fourth quarter. Additionally during the game Marchese marked the ninth-ever member of Brandeis women’s basketball to make 100 career 3-pointers throughout her time at Brandeis. Marchese completed this feat in 55 games, faster than anyone else in school history due to COVID-19’s impact on college sports. roughout the game, 13 Judges scored and seven made assists. Smally led the team in rebounds with four, while Gresko and Vaughan tied the team leads in blocks with one. is week on Wednesday, Nov. 30 the Judges nally played against their rival Babson, a game that was rescheduled from

Nov. 22, at the Auerbach Arena.

e Babson Beavers overtook the Judges from the start of the game, with Brandeis women not scoring until the end of the rst quarter. e second quarter continued this trend, yet the third brought the Judges up 24 points. Ultimately, the Beavers beat the Judges with a score of 85-56, marking the 54th game between

the two teams and the rst time the non-home team won a game between Babson and Brandeis since 2015. Tathiana Pierre ’23 scored just shy of her career-best with 13 points throughout the game and six rebounds. Smalley was the only other Judge to score in the double digits Wednesday night and led the night for the team with eight rebounds. Rea-

The 2022 World Cup is on!

By Thomas Pickering editor

e 2022 World Cup in Qatar is nearly out of the group stage. irty-two nations from all over the world have been competing over the past week playing a round-robin style of tournament at the moment to advance out of their group. e setup of the group stage is simple: there are eight groups each containing four nations. e top two nations from each group advance to the single elimination bracket of the World Cup. For those less familiar with the setup of the group stage, if a team wins a game they are awarded 3 points in their group, if they tie they are awarded 1 and if they lose they are awarded 0. If it so happens that two nations have the same amount of points at the end of the group stage then it is the goal di erential which will determine which teams will move on and which teams will not.

e rst 4 groups of the World Cup have all nished their matches while the last 4 are still waiting to play their nal matches at the end of this week to determine who will move on. As of right now the nations which have solidi ed their spot in the single elimination bracket are the Netherlands, Senegal, England, the United States of America, Argentina, Poland, Australia and the 2018 Defender Of e World Cup, France. ose eight Nations will be leaving behind Denmark, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Wales, Iran, Ecuador and the host country, Qatar. No nation to leave the group stage so far has won all three matches in their group. But, as it stands, Portugal and Brazil, who are waiting to play their nal matches within their group, have an opportunity to be the only nations in this tournament which could win all of their group stage matches. But the action from each group has been equally exciting and impressive! Starting with group A: the Netherlands, with one of the strongest teams in the tourna-

ment, went 2-1-0 to set the tone in their group as the de nitive leaders behind Senegal who beat Qatar and very narrowly beat Ecuador to advance to the elimination stage. Unfortunately for the host nation of Qatar, their team was eliminated in the group stage, the rst nation to be eliminated from the tournament in fact. As for Enner Valencia, the captain of Ecuador, he leaves the tournament as the leader of his team who scored the goal which allowed them to tie the Netherlands to keep them in contention.

In group B, England took a commanding lead by beating Wales and Iran but the United States put up a tough ght, tying them in the second game for the group. e United States had a shocking and impressive performance to advance out of the group stage. e United States tied Wales, which could have been a win had the defenseman Zimmerman not fouled star striker of Wales, Gareth Bale, in the 18 yard box. And the win over Iran, which was made at the cost of Christian Pulisic’s future generations, earned the team the right to move on in the tournament a er not qualifying for the World Cup in 2018. e United States has the youngest team in the World Cup and has been impressing nations le and right so far.

In group C, Argentina and Poland will move on even a er Saudi Arabia pulled o a shocking upset victory over Argentina earlier in the tournament. All four teams in group C which comprised Argentina, Poland Mexico and Saudi Arabia played incredibly high level soccer. Ochoa, the goalie for Mexico, performed at his best when he was needed most by his country when he was staring down Polish striker Robert Lewandowski for a penalty kick which he was able to save. But unfortunately, Mexico could not score the amount of goals they needed against Suadi Arabia to move on in the tournament.

In group D, France and Australia will move on a er Australia pulled out an absolute shocker of a win over Denmark. Denmark,

ranked as the 13th best team by FIFA, had sports reporters convinced that they would obtain a spot in the round of 16 for their group. However, Australia, known as the “socceroos”, have not quali ed for the elimination stage of the World Cup since 2006. But in group D they were able to nish second in the group as Australia was tied for points with France; both teams having six points and Australia only trailing behind France by a goal di erential of one. Group E, has seen some of the most shocking games yet in the World Cup. With the most surprising coming from Japan who was able to pull o a victory over Germany in their rst game of the World Cup. On top of that, Costa Rica was also able to beat Japan while Germany and Spain tied each other. is has le the group almost entirely open with no team yet being de nitively eliminated from the World Cup. Germany with only one point needs a win and three goals scored over Costa Rica to advance to the round of 16 but Japan, Spain and Costa Rica all very much have an opportunity to make it into the elimination stage of the tournament. is is the rst group which will be nishing its matches in the coming days. e following group which needs to nish their matches is group F, where Croatia and Morocco hold four Points to Belgium’s three and Canada’s zero. While Morocco has the ability to keep Belgium out of the round of 16 and advance with Croatia into the elimination stage; group F has largely been seen not as the group in which Morocco upset the other teams but the group in which Canada proved itself on the world stage! Despite the Canadian team having zero points, this is their rst World Cup qualifying ever. Meaning that for the Canadian program it was a huge accomplishment simply to make it to the World Cup and qualify out of the CONCACAF qualifying tournaments.

Group G has been dominated by Brazil. As one of two teams that has the opportunity to leave

vis had an all around great game with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. e Judges return to the Auerbach Arena court on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. against MIT.

Editor’s Note: Sta writer Francesca Marchese is a captain of the women’s basketball team and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.

the group stage with three wins, the South American nation has been dominating the World Cup so far. Led by veteran striker Neymar Jr. and mid eld phenom Cazimero, Brazil’s program is incredibly strong this year. Yet the moments which have de ned Brazil’s performance so far at the World Cup have not come from either of those players. While Neymar Jr. received a lot of attention for his injured ankle which was swollen to the point where it looked like a watermelon, most of the focus was on Richarlison.

In Brazil’s match against Serbia Richarlison received a cross that was less than ideal. It bounced o of his heel and into the air but he was able in that split second to score a goal with one of the most acrobatic bicycle kicks the tournament and FIFA has ever seen! It is now up to Switzerland to ensure that with their three points that they also advance out of the group stage with Brazil but all it would take is one loss to Serbia for them to be eliminated. And nally there is group H. Led by Portugal and their world famous striker Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal has already quali ed for the elimination stage with their two wins against Ghana and Uruguay. Cristiano Ronaldo has caused quite a controversy at the 2022 World Cup a er he made

particularly harsh comments about his current coach Erik ten Hag at Manchester United. Due to this disruptive conduct Manchester United released Cristiano Ronaldo from his multimillion-dollar contract and have now placed him into the transfer market. Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to play in the 2022 World Cup as a free agent and is only one of three players to ever be in this position at a World Cup. While Cristiano Ronaldo has said in interviews that if he wins this World Cup he will retire at the end of it, it is highly unlikely as teams such as Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and even one Saudi Arabian team have been sending him massive o ers to play at their clubs a er the World Cup. But this group is not over yet. If Uruguay can win over Ghana they will move on and out of the group stage but if Ghana can hold on with a draw then they will move on over South Korea and Uruguay to the elimination stage.

e World Cup is only heating up at the moment as teams are preparing now to play full matches, not just tie, but go to overtime and then penalty shootouts to advance in the tournament.

e United States’ next game against the Netherlands will be on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m.

What does playing a sport at a D3 school feel like?

By Jenny Zhao editor

If you have ever watched any trending Net ix shows about American college life it may not be new to you how big sports can be in a person’s college life. In these shows, there is always a football player who never shows up to class and never studies for his exams. en there’s that kid on the basketball team who dates all the blond girls from the same sorority. And there’s a whole slew of other stereotypical depictions of student athletes. In short, there is always this stereotype of student athletes that they are popular, do not study and are only friends with others on their team.

Student athletes at Brandeis also have a high presence on campus. If you walk into Gosman on a Friday a ernoon, you can always spot members of the baseball team going in and out of the varsity weight room. During weekday dinner time, you will see at least one sports team gathering around a long table at Sherman, enjoying their team bonding time after practice. Given the small student population at Brandeis, the matching hoodies and backpacks student athletes have with their sports and names on sometimes do make them stand out from the rest of the student body.

However, the athletic atmosphere at Brandeis is di erent from what the trending TV shows are depicting overall. Brandeis is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III and all 19 sports at the university compete through the University Athletic

Association (UAA). Even though Division III sports o en do not get as much attention in comparison to Division I or II, Brandeis athletics has done a good job cultivating the team atmosphere and making each sports team as welcoming as possible to potential athletes. Rebecca Grafstein ’26 on the women’s tennis team explained why she chose Brandeis: “I really enjoyed my coach and the team while I was on my o cial visit. I spent quite a few days with them and I really felt the team culture and the team dynamic to be a healthy t for me.” Grafstein very much appreciated the support system of the tennis team as she mentioned that the best thing about being a student athlete is “having people that are just always rooting for you.” As a rst-year student, she is enjoying what the team has offered her so far.

Zachary Reynolds ’23, a thrower on the men’s Track and Field team, gave out a similar reason on why he chose to come to Brandeis. “I was convinced when I did a recruiting trip my senior year of high school. I came here, did an overnight stay and I really liked the people on the team, like it was a good community,” he added, “the interesting thing about track is that how well you do is pretty individual as opposed to a team sport. Our track team’s pretty good, but that’s not like why I came here. I came here because I wanted the community on the team… I felt like it was a good community that I could train hard in motivating myself to train hard.”

A common thing that student athletes are all stressed about is

having a packed schedule on a daily basis while having to balance sports and school. Starting this year, many sports teams are required to come to weekly morning speed schools and li s, which has been a stressful and exhausting thing for many athletes. Morning practice can start as early as 6 a.m. so athletes would have to wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready for practice. is o en follows more li s and individual practices throughout the day and in the evening. is means a lot of athletes are o en either sleep-deprived or would have to go to bed very early. With a packed day already planned ahead, athletes often feel the di culty of staying on top of the schedule.

Anna Kolb ’25 from the so ball team told e Hoot: “You feel like sometimes it’s a job and not really a passion… it’s not that easy to manage as you think.”

As a Division III school, Brandeis is known for not having a massive amount of school spirit and does not put that much of emphasis on sports. e good side of the drawback is that student athletes would focus more on academics and have a better balance of sports, school and personal life.

At Brandeis, academics is always the priority for student athletes. Grafstein explained to e Hoot: “Our coach makes sure you have your priorities in the correct order, meaning academics are rst, athletics and tennis are second, and then your social life is third. So if he sees you kind of switching it up… he will talk to you about that.”

Kolb felt the same way: “Division III is like academics rst. at is the most important thing.

at is what our coaches prioritize. ey’re like, if you have to leave practice to go to class, you go to class. You get what you sign up for.” Reynolds also mentioned that he o en had to bring his computer to practice as well.

All three athletes are pretty satis ed with the team spirit at Brandeis, especially knowing they were signing up to play at a Division III school. Reynolds said: “Even if the general student body doesn’t have a lot of spirit for track, you’ve got your whole team at the meet cheering for everyone. ere’s a lot of spirit at the meets. Even if it’s not like general students showing up, you are [still] supporting each other.”

“If you’re going to a big Division I [school], like Alabama or Tennessee, of course you’re gonna have fans. Of course everyone’s gonna be into any athletic department. ” said Kolb, “But [at] Division III, there’s no funding for athletes. ere’s no big grand stadium. I mean, the best thing we got is they did our laundry for us and I thought that was awesome.”

Grafstein agreed: “I haven’t really experienced any type of popularity… If I’m not training or if I’m not in class or if I’m not with a friend, I tend to just keep to myself. If someone says hi to me, then I’ll be like, hey, that’s basically it.”

However, the three athletes all expressed their concern about their teams being underfunded on facilities. Grafstein wished the tennis team could have some new balls. Reynolds hoped to get their own outdoor throwing circle, because right now the throwers had to travel to Regis College on a BranVan to borrow their throw-

ing equipment.

Besides mentioning a potential renovation to the so ball eld, Kolb brought up a critical point that women’s sports is not equal to men’s sports as a global phenomenon. It is sad that the so ball team does not receive the same amount of resources and attention as the baseball team, according to her, as they do not have proper dugouts and lights. She is glad that Brandeis is aware of this gender inequality in sports as the athletic department is making a multipurpose eld. “Brandeis is very knowledgeable about that and they are doing better.”

At the end of the day, student athletes are essentially no di erent than any other Brandeis student except they have to commit certain times of their day to their sports. ey hang out with both people on and o their teams, and have to worry about school and other involvements, just like any of us.

“Being a student athlete is great, but don’t forget that we’re humans as well and we make sacrices you wouldn’t quite see at the start,” Kolb asserted, “growing up through middle school and elementary school, I had no time to hang out with my friends every weekend, every holiday, going to tournaments in di erent states knowing nobody. And you have to understand that you can’t be jealous of us because on the inside we might be jealous of you.”

Editor’s Note: Editor-In-Chief Victoria Morrongiello ’23 is a captain for the Track and Field team and did not contribute to this article.

Interviews with Brandeis University’s academic leadership: The English department

By Jessie Yang staff

Studying English and having good writing ability is the essential foundation for a well-rounded liberal arts education. Professor John Burt is the chair of the English department with an expertise on American literature. In his eyes, poetry and literature have gone beyond words and texts by having deeper implications that connect minds of the readers and authors. e Brandeis Hoot invited him to provide insights into English literature and the English and Creative Writing programs at Brandeis.

When Burt graduated from school, he found that jobs in academia were extremely scarce. Brandeis o ered him the job, so he came to Waltham and stayed at Brandeis for 40 years. “Yes, this is my 40th year at Brandeis.” Burt commented.

Burt was a biochemistry major in college. At the beginning of his

college career, he took an American romantic poetry class to fulll a distribution requirement.

en, Burt discovered that it was not just science, but other important scholastic elds in which feeling and thought illuminate each other. at is why he chose to explore the English eld more.

Burt said that the most important thing he learned from English majors was that everything people say has layers containing quali cations. “ ey have subtexts, which they have implications, and the implications might be di erent in di erent minds,” said Burt. ese realizations came to Burt when he was a college junior which resulted in him taking more English courses in his senior year. Finally, he picked up a second major in English. is decision changed Burt’s whole life. He decided not to attend medical school and instead chose an English graduate program.

Burt also has a podcast. It is all about what he thinks about liter-

ature, and it’s open to everybody. Burt said, “It was informal and fun.”

Burt also o ered some suggestions on course selection for the spring semester, as students at Brandeis may still be thinking of changing their schedule for the upcoming semester. For those who want to try English-related courses, Burt recommended ENG19: Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop, which he thought should be the rst class for students who want to try creative writing courses. Creative writing courses are open to everybody, but an essay portfolio is needed.

e English department offered a variety of courses for next semester. e creative writing workshops are all based on credit/non credit format. Burt mentioned, “We have a poetry workshop, a ction workshop and a screenwriting workshop which is taught by Professor Marc Weinberg who has taught screenwriting here for about 15 years.”

In addition to traditional creative writing courses, the department is also o ering a brand new course named ENG159A: Short Film & Web Series, which is mainly about writing the scripts of YouTube videos or any short lms. ENG 70B: Environmental Film, Environmental Justice is a course with an interesting combination of English and science.

Burt also wanted to let international students know that language should not be a barrier when studying English or creative writing. He said, “One of the best readers of English poetry I ever had is an international student from China whose English was her second language.” It is hard at rst, but it is possible to do. A lot of excellent writers’ rst languages are not English. Burt gave an example, “Joseph Conrad. I think English was maybe his third language. Polish was his rst language.”

e way an English major can be transmitted into real industry jobs is always under heated

discussions. Burt said, “Oh, so if you were gonna be a spy, the rst thing you had to do was learn how to read poetry.” Reading and writing are important for almost all lines of work. Burt continued, “not just being an editor, being an English professor. You can become a lawyer, or be in public relations. Or even medical schools love to bring English major students in.” Also, students who want to teach creative writing in the future have to have an MFA degree, so lots of students who majored or minored in creative writing continue pursuing an MFA degree a er graduation. Speci cally, MFA students write novels, short stories, and poems.

At the end of the interview, Burt said that there’s one thing he wants to share with students who wish to study creative writing or English, “studying writing and language will give you the ability to negotiate the ambiguities of people’s expression of what people say.”

Thank you, Brandeis

Editors-in-Chief

Victoria Morrongiello

Thomas Pickering

Madeline Rousell

Managing Editor Mia Plante

Copy Editor Logan Ashkinazy

Social Media Editor

Cyrenity Augustin

News Editor Roshni Ray

Arts Editor Rachel Rosenfield

Opinions Editor Cooper Gottfried

Features Editor Jenny Zhao

Sports Editor Justin Leung

Editor-at-large Lucy Fay

Volume 21 Issue 11 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham ma

FOUNDED BY Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Jonathan Ayash, Soren Birnbaum, Jillian Brosofsky, Vincient Calia-Bogan, Sam Finbury, Zach Katz, Sarah Kim, Joey Kornman, Josh Lannon, Kristianna Lapierre, Max Lerner, Rafi Levi, Francesca Marchese, Abigail Roberts,

MISSION

As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information. Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Recognizing that better journalism leads to better policy, e Brandeis Hoot is dedicated to the principles of investigative reporting and news analysis. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

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The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon. Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words. The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

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We

In the wake of an unbelievable tragedy, we as an editorial board have never been prouder to be members of the Brandeis community. From the check-ins on the night of Nov. 19 that we all received from friends and classmates to the extremely accommodating response from the university’s administration, this community has been full of love and warmth towards all. To the Student Union: thank you for the event you organized the morning a er the shuttle crash, giving information and unity to students when they needed it most, and for the emergency fund advertisement and continued community support that you have continued to provide is deeply appreciated by the whole community. To the Brandeis administration: thank you. You have provided students with the accommodations they

need: moving the pass/fail deadline, canceling classes in the days following the tragedy and more. Your continued communication with the community, providing us all with accurate information as it becomes available, is valued highly by all of us. Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to Brandeis students, alumni and families. All of you have surrounded your friends, acquaintances and classmates with the support we all desperately need in times like this. We are so proud to call ourselves members of this community. We also think it’s important to acknowledge our role in covering this tragedy. Concerning the events of Nov. 19, we want to be mindful of our space as student journalists. Our rst priority will always be the mental and emotional health of our sta . Our second priority is the community. And, collectively, as an

editorial board we wanted to give the community a space to process the events of the day at their own pace without rushing to publish and adding to the noise of an already confusing and terrible event. In this edition of e Hoot, our last for the fall semester, we have written about the shuttle crash. We took accounts from a survivor of the crash, from prominent members of the Brandeis community and from students who knew Vanessa Mark. Although we haven’t necessarily uncovered any new information, we tried to paint a picture of the Brandeis community as it is: compassionate, open and caring. ank all of you for allowing us to paint that picture. With each new day, we grow prouder to be your community newspaper. It is our sincere joy to be a part of Brandeis.

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Sophie Salgian, David Shapiro, Matt Shapiro, Naomi Stephenson, Michael Sun, Jamie Trope, V, and Alex Williams

Top ten liminal spaces at Brandeis

By Jamie Trope staff

A liminal space is a threshold of unease, a place that is somewhat uncomfortable to be in and yet could exist anywhere. Brandeis University hosts an astonishing number of these liminal spaces, and today, for all of the devoted Hoot readers out there, I will be ranking my top ten favorite liminal spaces on campus. For the true liminal experience, I would suggest exploring these by yourself at night to enhance the space.

Number 1 (least liminal on the list): The Gosman Basketball court

You enter the basketball court, feeling the glossy court surface texture beneath your feet. It is unusually dark—the lights in the room are motion activated—for a moment, all you can see is the eerie re ection of yourself on the oor. e motion sensor captures your movement, and large hanging lights switch on loudly above your head. Not all of them, not quite yet, only the few above you, as if the Gosman basketball court has commenced its interrogation of you. What are you doing here? Planning to play basketball? Or are you just a passerby—on your way to the swimming pool? (Indeed, the only way to access the Brandeis swimming pool is

to walk through the basketball court.) is room feels o , wrong somehow, and yet it looks exactly as one would expect a basketball court to appear.

Number 2: The Entrance to the Faculty Club

ere is a covered staircase leading up to the faculty club, darkened and dim. As a student, there is nothing speci c barring you from walking up these stairs, and yet, you are uncertain. You are at the threshold between what is accessible to students and what is barred. It can be uncomfortable to walk up the stairs in the darkness before emerging in front of the double-doored entrance.

Number 3: The Sound and Image Media Studios (SIMS) Study Area

SIMS is a fantastic place to check out camera and lighting equipment within the library. And, if you walk past the desk and rows of computers and around the side of the room, the back area of SIMS has many desks and tables at which to study. You are in a compressed, silent space. Other students are also there studying –they speak in hushed tones. e sound of computer keys typing away is endless, if not unnerving. ough there may be other students, the place still feels abandoned. Nobody speaks to you. You sit at a desk, back to the wall, arti cial lighting immersing you, scribbled words etched into the

desk in front of you.

Number 4: The C-Store Back Rooms

Perhaps you have seen it on your way to buy a packet of chips. An open door leads to a room with a small desk and computer with the security camera footage playing live. Or, you went to buy milk, only to spy between the gaps of milk cartons, sometimes behind the milk. A room, lled with food, and yet unable to be purchased. e C-Store back rooms hold promise. You cannot go there, but you can see a glimpse of the present – see on the screens who is walking in the store—and of the future—what the C-Store will soon have stocked on its shelves.

Number 5: Downstairs Health Center

Across from the reception desk lays a staircase, its placement appearing as if its steps go nowhere. Instead, go down the stairs, and you will nd old les and chicken wire and other miscellaneous items, perhaps shelved there for lack of a better space. It is unknowable in its vastness.

Number 6: Library Dungeon

Go down to the lowest oor of the library, they said. It will be a great place to study, they said. In the library dungeon, your footsteps are heard across the oor, louder and squeakier than you imagined them to be. e air here is stale, not quite in the mood to

go anywhere. You will get work done down here and not quite remember how you had the drive to accomplish it.

Number 7: Levin Ballroom

e location of events such as fake ice-skating spring 2022 and ominously lit Fall Flex 2022, Levin Ballroom is truly the multipurpose liminal space of your dreams (or nightmares). From the upstairs banisters and underhangs to the backboard of the stage, there is a cursed energy that exists within the room. Walking through, you feel bothered, as if you should maybe leave and go somewhere else (anywhere else) instead. Nobody goes to Levin Ballroom unless absolutely necessary.

Number 8: Gosman staircase

Perhaps you signed up for a Brandeis group exercise class in the dance studio, or you want to run on the treadmill, or you want to use the rock wall. Today, you choose not to use the elevator, and instead, venture down the staircase. e Gosman staircase is uncomfortably eerie—perhaps due to the scu ed nature of it and its lack of natural lighting. If there was ever a staircase leading to unknowable horrors, it would be this one. Also, it always smells like Mcdonald’s.

Number 9: all of East Quad’s hallways

ey are narrow, they are at odd angles... give a warm welcome to

The CGI hate-train needs to stop

By Soren Birnbaum staff

It’s clear that we have moved into a society where a parasocial relationship with the media we consume is a given. Living in a digital world, maybe this is to be expected, but it’s been surprising seeing the degree to which these massive Goliathan corporations have been bending over backwards to please their core fanbases—a group of people which, up until very recently, were probably the last ones to be consulted about any major lm or TV enterprise concerning their character of choice.

is was for one very easily understood reason; pre-existing fans of an intellectual property were the ones most likely to go and pay to watch the end product, even when it turned out the end product was total shit. is entire model has been turned on its head recently. With media becoming more atomized than ever, it has become essential to please the core fanbase above any casual consumer of these products in order to turn a pro t. e most obvious example of this I can think of is probably the original Sonic movie, back in 2020. ey changed the entirety of the design of Sonic the Hedgehog himself, needing to change every aspect of him in the scenes he was already modeled in, for a two-hour movie. While this quite frankly saved what I feel like would’ve been a nightmare-inducing fate had the original design been kept, it does bring up an interesting point. Audiences have more power than ever before, in uencing the lms and shows which they then end up watching. is means that criticism of those properties come with some inherent risks wherein the blowback and criticism can

be much more meaningful than the sort the industry has gotten in the past. I’d like to focus on one of these common complaints today; namely, the overuse of CGI, or computer-generated imagery. When it comes to the modern entertainment industry, there’s nothing which I hear railed against more than the constant overuse of CGI. is is a somewhat fair criticism. Certainly I can agree with the overall sentiment; lazy lmmaking is to movies what salt is to slugs. Directors and creatives of all types have a responsibility to try and push the medium forward, whether that be through storytelling, music and yes, imagery. When we accept bad CGI as just being “normal,” we’re sentencing ourselves to have a more mediocre experience as audience-goers. I preface this also by saying I am de nitely the type to have my experience compromised when I see bad CGI in my movies, which is why I feel more con dent in saying that we should be giving editors and other computer imagery artists more credit when they succeed in making good products.

One thing that computers have learned to simulate extremely well has actually been objects— or at least things which are not humans. From explosions and water, to smoke and even things like cars, computers are now able to render these sorts of inanimate objects extremely well. It’s so ubiquitous to the extent that most of the time, it’s probably hard to even recognize it as being made by a computer. Seriously, nearly all multi-car crashes in TV shows these days have at least some degree of CGI involved in their creation.

And this is a good thing! Well, it is as long as you actually like the prospect of stu actually getting made. It cannot be denied,

the #1 reason why anyone would choose to use computer e ects rather than practical is simply the cost. Practical e ects cost way more and cause way more problems than CGI could ever hope to, and this has made its widespread adoption more and more of an eventuality. e ease of use of many of these tools has also made it much easier to justify the cost of many new productions, leading to many more projects getting the go-ahead.

Perhaps some of the negative reactions can also be inferred from the recent examples of computers trying to emulate the human form. I think about Scorsese’s “ e Irishman” (2019) here, and the sometimes odd-looking de-ageing e ects which they implemented on much of their cast. However, I feel much more uncomfortable with the experiments undertaken by the Star Wars franchise, and their attempt to resurrect now-deceased star Peter Cushing in “Rogue One” (2016). While both of these lms were generally well-regarded, there was certainly a feeling I got while talking to people about these lms that there were times where it felt a little o -putting about the way CGI was used in them.

is is understandable, and I think that it would be advisable if the entertainment industry would keep its distance from trying to recreate real humans when it came to acting, at least for the near future. People can just instinctively feel when a part of a person they’re looking at isn’t real. is was demonstrated when Warner Bros. tried the relatively simple x of trying to remove Henry Cavill’s mustache for “Justice League” (2017), and the internet collectively ipped their shit (for good reason, it was horrendous).

Something I think we should also bring up now is animation. I was actually inspired to write this article a er reading through a long list of complaints online from people deriding the Net ix original anime “Kengan Ashura” and its art style, which primarily uses 3D models which are stylized to look 2D. I actually am a big proponent of the show, as well as its art style. It e ectively accomplishes the Herculean task of animating the movement and feeling of a story about martial arts, and if CG was the lynchpin which got the show greenlit, I think that it’s well worth it. Personally, while I do prefer two-dimensional ani-

the East Quad hallways! ey are a point of transition, never somewhere to linger in for long. You only walk down an East Quad hallway if you are living in East or are trying to leave the building. e white textured walls encroach on you, begging the question: was the hallway REALLY this narrow the last time I was here?

Number 10 (the most liminal): Downstairs Spingold Theater No windows, odd rooms that could be either in an elementary school or a fallout shelter and a circular design that will make you envy eseus’ easy route in the labyrinth on his quest to nd the minotaur. Round and round you will walk, encountering the same rooms again and again (or are these rooms di erent from the last rooms you walked by only moments before?) Downstairs

Spingold is truly the most liminal space at Brandeis University. Just like walking through a grocery store in the middle of the night, time is endless and unknowable—it could be any time of day in the world outside, and you would have no idea. I encourage you to check it out—maybe bring a ball of yarn so that you can nd your way back out again.

Honorable mention: the empty Phi Psi Basement.

mation, I think that examples of 3D animation have been particularly strong coming out of the Japanese anime industry in the last few years. I would certainly hate to see this burgeoning artistic movement get thrown away because people simply couldn’t handle living with an extra dimension (AKA, they’re weaklings).

I’m not going to end this article with saying that CGI is the savior of modern cinema, far from it. It is simply a tool, one that can be wielded properly to enhance a piece of media, or improperly to its detriment. Is this all leading to a Dali-esque hellscape where it’s impossible to distinguish a CapitalOne product placement from an AI-generated model of Ryan Gosling’s face deducting your social credit points when you decide to litter? Possibly. More likely, it’s going to be used as another prop in the toolbelt of politicians attempting to disguise our society’s descent into gerontocracy by rapidly de-ageing themselves during live TV press conferences, or for Super Mario Movie 2, where Mario is suddenly teleported to modern-day Queens. We will have to wait and see.

Happy holidays, everyone!

By Justin Leung editor

I got an email recently that told me I—as well as the other residents in my hall—were being charged $25 for damages to Village C. e email from the Department of Community Living (DCL) explained how there has been signi cant damage to the common areas in the residence hall including kitchen and bathroom spaces. Since they have no way of knowing who is responsible for the damage, the costs for cleaning and repairing are being billed to everyone equally, in accordance with the Student Rights and Responsibilities code. e email goes on to reference this in the Rights and Responsibilities Section 9.6, “ e assigned residents of a given residence hall will be held accountable for any inappropriate behavior that occurs within the hall, or any damages resulting from such behavior. Each student is responsible for any damages caused by the student and/or the student’s guests. When damage occurs in a student’s room, corridor, or apartment but cannot be attributed to a specific party, the costs may be billed in equal parts to all residents of that area.” Now that I have described this email, let’s back up a bit.

On Nov. 7, I got a similar email

DCL is being funky but not fresh

from DCL, that basically told everyone to be cleaner. In summation, the inhabitants of Village were being disrespectful to the common spaces. It goes on to say that if this damage continues, they are going to bill us. At no point in this email do they ever say what was damaged, just to be better. I read this email and assumed that there would be no other issues, especially considering the fact that I do not frequent these common spaces. However, it did bother me that DCL wasn’t telling me what was broken. I personally had seen nothing broken. e bathroom right across the hall from me has no problems. e kitchen nearby also I have not seen any problems with. So, I wondered how I was supposed to change anything when I had never seen anything broken.

We now ash forward a couple of weeks when DCL sent me this email saying they were actually going to charge me $25. In this email, they once again did not tell me what they were charging me for. From my perspective, DCL was charging me $25 for no reason. I was annoyed and decided to email the Area Coordinator (AC) to ask about what was actually broken. She responded and told me that the damage included broken toilet seats, clogged drains, chipped tiles, shattered microwave plates, hair dye stains and mold buildup. My rst reaction

was that all of these things seemed typical for a college dorm, run-ofthe-mill wear-and-tear. e mold build-up was a little concerning considering I am not exactly sure what we are supposed to do about that. When I asked further for speci c locations, she told me that we were being charged speci cally based on where we were living and not the entire building. is further increased my confusion. Again, I have never seen anything broken in the bathroom across the hall. It makes no sense to me that I am being charged for something that I don’t even use. Yes, the bathrooms upstairs may have broken toilets, but why would I go upstairs and use it when there is one right across the hall? So already, this location-based charging is awed and ridiculous. I also want to know how they came up with this cost. In the response from the area coordinator, she said that they were still in the process of adding up and that the bill would be posted at the end of the semester. As of now though, they are going to charge at least $25. Again, I ask for some transparency here. How are they coming up with this number? If you look up the cost of a toilet seat or some new shower curtains, it doesn’t really make sense why everyone in the area is paying $25. A new toilet seat is maybe $20 and a new shower curtain is maybe $9. Seriously, how many of these did

we break? I am very interested to see if they include what was broken, how many of it was broken and where it was broken in the bill at the end of the semester. It is very possible that I am missing something, but right now I am just confused because the numbers don’t seem to add up.

Additionally, let’s talk about the Rights and Responsibilities statement they brought up. I understand that I signed it and will honor what it says, however, the statement does seem a bit ridiculous. Any Brandeis student can enter Village. Clubs can actively reserve the common spaces and use the kitchens. You don’t even need to reserve any of these spaces either. You can just walk in and use them. Of course, with this, you can use any bathroom you want. So why should I be responsible for their behavior? It’s not like I can control whether or not a club comes in and breaks everything in the kitchen. Or if a student needs to stop and use the bathroom and ends up breaking the toilet. Yet, I am still responsible for the behavior of those students? Can someone explain the logic? I currently cannot come up with a better solution for this, because it is truly di cult to determine who broke things. But I think it is unfair to assume that only Village residents are responsible. When in reality plenty of people on campus come and do

FIFA vs. the world

By Thomas Pickering editor

e 2022 FIFA World Cup is slowly exiting the group stage and entering into the Round of 16! ere, the best two teams from each group will enter into the single elimination bracket to determine which team from around the world is best. But this World Cup has had a lot of heads turned and voices either raised or silenced due to the massive amounts of controversy which surround it. From human rights violations to outright abuses and from bribery to downright trickery, Qatar has exposed and ampli ed the gaping wound that exists within the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

To understand why FIFA is predisposed to such massive scandals with what seems to be little to no repercussions, it must rst be dissected as an organization to understand where the power is held.

FIFA, seeing as it controls all of world soccer, has a number of standing committees which each have their own powers and responsibilities. For instance, one coordinates the referees for the games and ensures that there is equal training among all refs so that there is a quanti able standard among them. But committees such as the referee committee all report to two bodies within FIFA which hold all of the power: the FIFA Council (formerly the Executive Committee) and the FIFA Congress.

Now this is where things become a little more complicated within FIFA’s hierarchy. e FIFA Congress has 211 members currently, which represent each nation that is within FIFA. ose nations all have national soccer associations which elect one representative to be a part of the FIFA Congress and vote on FIFA

issues. However, with such a large number of nations in the congress, FIFA also created the FIFA Council (formerly the Executive Committee). e FIFA Council is comprised of 37 members, of which one is the president of FIFA (currently the Italian former president of EUFA Gianni Infantino), with eight vice-presidents and 28 members which represent each continent’s soccer federation. One step down from FIFA, which is the global soccer governing body, are the continental federations which each have their own designations such as the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), which is the North American soccer federation, or the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which is the European soccer federation. ese bodies have historically had the most power within FIFA as they have passed back and forth which body has had the ability to choose the host country of the world’s biggest sporting tournament: the World Cup.

So where does corruption t into this picture? How could the governing body of soccer, or any sport for that matter, truly be that corrupt? And how is it that they have had control over some of the most important countries in the world when their power only rests on the pitch?

is is where bribery comes into the fold. As of recently it has been within the power of the FIFA Council to determine which country will host the World Cup.

is process is done by a vote made by the members of the FIFA Council (not the president or the vice presidents) and only a simple majority of 15 votes is required for a nation to win hosting rights.

is has led nations to do sketchy and in some cases illegal things to win over members of the FIFA Council. is was overwhelmingly obvious in 2010 when then

FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced that not one World Cup host but two would be chosen at once. Traditionally, FIFA had chosen the host of the World Cup eight years prior to the event but in 2010 they shi ed gears to choose two.

e 2018 World Cup was going to be given to a European nation and the 2022 World Cup would be outside of Europe. While both contests had roughly ve bids to host, the main two in each competition were the United Kingdom and Russia for the 2018 bid and the United States and Qatar for the 2022 bid. All four nations poured millions of dollars into campaigns to prove to FIFA that their World Cup would be the best, aunting infrastructure, hotels and marketing deals. It was clear to those watching the debates that the two bids who were the best prepared for the World Cup and would o er the best tournament would be the United Kingdom and the United States.

But as history has recorded, that was not the case. e voting ended with Russia and Qatar winning the bids for their respective World Cup dates. But how could nations with little to no infrastructure for these games ever win those bids? e answer to that question is under the table.

Bribes played an important role in the selection of Russia and Qatar. It was revealed that the Russian and Qatari delegations to FIFA had bribed members of the FIFA Council to buy their votes. In sums in the millions of dollars to members of the FIFA Council, it was no small sum being wired to these executives but rather large sums of money to ensure their victory over the other bids. Nations such as Qatar and Russia which currently are run by authoritarian regimes do not hold the same accountability to thenancial system as democratic regimes do.

While the United Kingdom and

activities in the building.

Although I have spent the majority of this article explaining why I think DCL is making some mistakes here, I would also like to talk about the students. I address Brandeis students here when saying this. We are adults here. Let’s be more responsible. Clean up a er yourself when using the kitchen or common areas. It’s a common courtesy to not leave everything like a mess. You are not the only people that use the area. Have a better sense that your actions a ect those around you. You breaking something clearly has an e ect on others, so be more careful. Also, if someone knows how the toilet seats were broken, please let me know because I would be fascinated to learn how someone broke a toilet seat, if not multiple.

All I want is for this to make sense. I am sure that DCL has a reason for charging us like this but from my perspective, it really doesn’t make sense. Have some transparency and give more information. It is not helpful when you are vague and then proceed to punish us when you didn’t even tell us what was wrong. I had to speci cally ask what was broken. Imagine if they just said Village C second- oor toilets have been broken.

United States used taxpayer dollars to support their bids, every dime had to be accounted for in those campaigns to be transparent and clear to the public how their funds were being used. But in the cases of Qatar and Russia where wealthy oligarchs are directly connected to the government and control the nancial sector of their nations there is no need for accountability. Money can be used as bribes under their system because the government is not only in bed with those who have money but is also in favor of how they are spending it. erefore, FIFA can be played like a ddle and votes can be bought because for the Switzerland-based organization no one is looking over them due to Swiss banking protection laws and the international nature of the organization.

FIFA chose in 2010 to have two World Cup hosts selected to allow for the members of the FIFA Council to rake in more bribes due to the fact that they were unsure if they would be in that position in four years. FIFA not only deals with authroitirian regimes in private conversations away from their players and sta but has been in bed with them for years.

e World Cup is one of the most watched events in sports throughout the world and is also one of the most lucrative. For nations such as Russia and Qatar, the ability to host such a tournament is a massive step in nation building and proves to the world that they are “big players.” None of this deals directly with soccer at all. Qatar has never quali ed for a World Cup prior to 2022 and Russia has only quali ed for four in its history with its best result coming in 1966 when it was still the Soviet Union. But the money to be made and the patriotism which can be ampli ed due to the World Cup simply being hosted within a nation is immeasurable.

To nations such as Russia and

Qatar, that opportunity is worth more than any amount of bribes needed to win a World Cup bid from FIFA.

So now FIFA nds itself in one of the hardest positions for any organization to be in—a relationship with authoritarians. FIFA’s choices to let Russia and Qatar host the World Cup has led to a number of human rights violations. Most recently has been Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights and Qatar’s limiting of women’s rights and inhumane treatment of migrant workers.

It is estimated that for the 2022 World Cup to properly function with infrastructure to support it, that did not exist at the time of the bid in 2010, roughly 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar. e blood of those workers covers the hands of the FIFA Council members who voted for them to host the World Cup.

In an e ort to curb such widespread fraud in FIFA the FIFA Congress now has been given the power to vote on World Cup hosts which should hopefully decrease the chances of bribes with so many more votes being needed. But the road to recovery and more importantly change is a long one for FIFA. ey are an organization with little to no oversight from any government, they control world soccer without input from the players they are directly impacting and they need to draw a harsh line between promoting the beautiful game in underrepresented nations of the world and becoming a bank for authoritarian regimes to pour money into.

FIFA has been issued a red card by the world and until changes occur, the beautiful game, which players and fans alike idolize and love, will continue to be a Ponzi scheme by those who run it out of their own self interest.

Old growth forests: One of our most precious natural carbon sinks, fewer in numbers than ever

By Hailey R. Crane special to the hoot

e US Forest Service de nes old-growth forests as “ecosystems distinguished by old trees and related structural attributes. Old growth encompasses the later stages of stand development that typically di er from younger stages in a variety of characteristics that may include tree size, accumulations of large dead woody material, number of canopy layers, species composition and ecosystem function.” ese old-growth forests used to be prevalent all across the United States however they are few and far between now. Out of the entire 1.9 billion acres of land that

By Danny DeMilia special to the hoot

make up the United States, only 3.7 million acres are made up of old-growth forests. is is roughly 19.5 percent of the entire United States based on data from the US National Forest Service and the University of Washington. Old-growth forests used to make up over 90% of the United States in the mid-1800s. Old-growth forests are incredibly important to our climate, as they sequester large amounts of carbon, helping to lower atmospheric CO2 signicantly and sustainably. A forest can be de ned as a thick growth of trees and bushes in an area. As previously mentioned, forests make excellent carbon sinks. A carbon sink for those unfamiliar can be de ned as anything that absorbs signi cantly more carbon than it releases, this includes

the ocean, soil and forests. is is because of the sequestering power of both the trees and bushes as well as the soil. Trees and bushes, which are autotrophic (create their own energy), photosynthetic organisms, which through the process of photosynthesis absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as sunlight and H2O. e water is then oxidized (loses electrons) while the carbon dioxide is reduced (gains electrons), this transforms the water into carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide into glucose (energy in the form of sugar), e tree then releases the oxygen back into the atmosphere and utilizes the glucose to store energy. According to the US Forest Service, America’s forests currently sequester 866 million tons of car-

bon a year, which is roughly 16% of the US annual emissions. is is just the forests in America as well, if we look past our borders at the global e ect forests have on CO2, it’s astounding. With global CO2 levels on the rise and climate change having a myriad of serious e ects ranging from changes in weather, storm severity, frequency of natural disasters and even the slowing of jetstreams. e climate crisis is now, however, the issue of deforestation is not purely in the interest of the climate. It is also in the interest of the ecosystems that inhabit said forests, including temperate, tropical and arboreal. Forests are home to most of the world’s organisms and leaders in species/ecosystem biodiversity. is is why we must do everything we can to protect

our forests both for the value as a method of carbon sequestration and as a natural resource and safe haven for biodiversity. ere are many things each of us can do, as both citizens of the country we reside in and inhabitants of the Earth. It can be as small as staying informed on statewide and federal policies regarding forest protection, or going on a government-run forest service/conservation website to stay updated on issues in the area or lack thereof. But if one desires to take it a step further, there are plenty of activism opportunities everywhere, ranging from peer education to protesting policies/disagreeable acts. It’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s important to stay educated and act when necessary.

Climate change and its emotional impacts

Many people o en think of climate change as simply a physical issue; obvious changes are occurring around the world that are observable, measurable and open to analysis. While many recognize these apparent physical impacts, such as the wild res, hurricanes and tsunamis, along with their increase in both frequency and severity, these issues o en overshadow a seemingly pressing problem on the rise. As global warming worsens, resulting emotional implications are becoming increasingly common.

ese impacts, known by many names, such as environmental anxiety, climate anxiety, eco-anxiety and climate grief, are de ned as the impending sense of “environmental damage or ecological disaster … based on the current and predicted future state of the environment and human-induced climate change,” according to Medical News Today. Environ-

By Cooper Gottfried editor

e 27th annual UN climate summit, or Conference of the Parties (COP), has wrapped up in Egypt. For anyone that’s attuned to the natural world in any capacity, myself included, this event brings (unfounded) hope and a (misguided) belief that substantial change will be made.

e results of COP 27 were disappointing, seeing as “Fossil fuel producers bene ted from sympathetic treatment” and the negotiation results were more than kind to these planet-killing companies. e agreement featured extremely limited commitments to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, likely due to the host nation

mental anxiety can prove detrimental to one’s everyday life, lling an individual with a sense of hopelessness and causing issues such as a constant lack of motivation, increased aggression and even fatalism.

Environmental anxiety also impacts di erent people in different ways, depending on one’s relationship with the environment. For example, someone with a strong connection to nature who may live next to a national forest might be more likely to be impacted psychologically by the forest experiencing a wild re than someone who lives in an urban community far away from the disaster. Based upon this, it could be argued that there is a clear relation between geographic distance to a disaster and one’s emotional distress resulting from it. To add, people who live o the land, such as Indigenous groups, are more likely to be impacted in their everyday life by the changes to the surrounding climate, and therefore are more likely to experience environmental anxiety.

From this, one could assume

there is an increase in environmental anxiety among individuals in areas that are more prone to disasters caused by climate change. Coastal regions, areas with nearby forests and the tropics are more likely to experience these disasters. Furthermore, people who may work in environmental-related spheres are more likely to be impacted given the concern about retaining their jobs: “People who work in environmental jobs or as rst responders and emergency healthcare workers might also be more prone to eco-anxiety,” according to Medical News Today. While environmental anxiety can be a serious issue in one’s life, there are many ways to mitigate its impact and reduce climate-related stress. Many people combat their environmental anxiety by becoming part of the solution; while it is true that many climate-related issues require systemic change, engaging in activism to support those systemic changes is a great way to feel as though you are creating a better future and thus reducing your anxiety about it. at said, it should be mentioned that

it is possible to over-involve yourself in these e orts. As one engages in activism, they are more likely to hear about new climate-related issues which could actually work against them and worsen their own anxiety about the future. Nevertheless, lots of environmental anxiety is caused by misinformation. As a result of this, while it could be considered a double-edged sword, educating oneself about climate change and global warming and their resulting environmental impacts is critical. Given the nature of educating about climate change, it is important to have limits—you want to be able to disprove the misinformation that may be causing you anxiety while simultaneously preventing further anxiety as you potentially learn about di erent issues. erefore, when it comes to education to reduce environmental anxiety, it is entirely up to the individual’s discretion and each case is unique. To build o of this, it is also vital for one to know their limits in terms of disengaging. While engaging with climate

A cop out at the COP

being a natural gas exporter and due to the energy crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine. For me, it raises the question of the viability of greenhouse gas regulation. Is it ever going to be possible to convince legislators to curb emissions? A Sisyphus project, for which all of earth’s inhabitants su er.

In their report on the Conference, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) heralded the “announcement of [a] historic loss and damage fund.” is is, to the UNFCCC’s credit, a signi cant achievement. Developed nations will contribute to this loss and damage fund, and money will later be paid out to less developed nations when they experience e ects of climate change “which communities and countries are

unable to adapt [to].” is is a signi cant achievement and embodies the principle of common but di erentiated responsibilities that environmental policy strives for. is fund will o er crucial support to less developed nations ravaged by climate disasters they did not create. It is important to note that the size of the fund, which nations deposit into the fund, which nations will withdraw from the fund and other details are still being negotiated. But, unfortunately, this was the only major achievement of the conference. e nal text promotes “low emission energy,” but this includes natural gas. Given the results of the Emissions Gap Report 2022, which found no realistic pathway to limiting warming to 1.5°C or lower, negotiators failed. ey could have

and should have, done more to commit themselves to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Just because we’ll pass 1.5°C of warming doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prevent as much warming as possible. 1.8°C degrees is much safer than 2°C, but at this rate, those numbers will be in the rear-view mirror in no time.

ere were other (small) victories in this conference: a satellite system to track and notify governments about methane leaks, a global peatland assessment to track carbon sequestration and … that’s really about it. is agreement fell short on its most important goal: reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A loss and damage fund doesn’t matter if our planet is ablaze. And, if we don’t reduce emissions, the climate will keep warming and ex-

activism is of course bene cial, like educating, it can also have its downsides and produce even more anxiety.

Another recommendation for treating and reducing environmental anxiety is to see a professional. As environmental anxiety becomes more prominent, due to both an increase in the severity of the impacts of global warming and knowledge surrounding their resulting impacts on people, more medical professionals are becoming trained to handle these situations. One could consider speaking to a doctor or a therapist in order to try and calm their nerves surrounding the changing world around them.

To conclude, environmental anxiety is an issue that is becoming increasingly common. While it is not yet worthy of an o cial medical diagnosis, this does not imply a lack of severity in its potential to wreak havoc in the lives of those who experience it.

treme weather events will become even more frequent. e negotiations at COP 27 failed to address the root cause of climate change: anthropogenic carbon emissions. Without addressing those emissions, the planet will keep warming.

Given how much the climate negotiators (who are meant to be among the most environmentally passionate citizens in the world) love fossil fuel corporations, I’m beginning to doubt the possibility of real progress. e Emissions Gap Report 2022 mentions that only an “urgent system-wide transformation can avoid climate disaster.” With an uninspiring COP like this one, that seems to be impossible.

The Museum of Broadway is thrilling place for anyone who wants to learn more about theatre

While theatre is a medium that is performed and celebrated around the world, the capital of it all is in the Broadway district of New York. It is the goal of most playwrights and composers to get their show on Broadway so that they can achieve mainstream appeal and win a Tony Award. However, what people may not realize is that Broadway has a rich and complex history that deserves to be heard. at is why the Museum of Broadway is nally here. At 145 W. 45th St, New York City, New York, in the heart of the Broadway district, this museum shows everything that Broadway has to o er and then some. e Museum of Broadway opened to the public on November. 15 and has already seen many eager theater fans wanting to learn more, including myself. Tickets cost 43 dollars$43 each, except the rst Tuesday of every month where tickets are $25 dollars each, and I believe the visit was worth every penny.

When you rst step into the exhibits of the Museum of Broadway, you are greeted by the Playbill room. is is a wall with playbill posters for every show that is currently on Broadway, along with descriptions of the shows underneath. ere are even QR codes for you to scan if you want to buy tickets. While it is not a dramatic way to start the museum and feels like advertising, it was kind of cute and shows how Broadway is thriving today. A er that room, visitors are brought to another room to watch a short lm about the history of Broadway. It talked about how Broadway became what it is today, how it moved around a lot, all of the troubles it has gone through, mostly economically, and how Broadway is optimistic for the future. It was a fairly informative video and it made me realize that I never really thought about where Broadway came from, so I liked watching this video. A er the video, the museum really began. is is not the type of museum

where people can really bounce around and decide what path they want to take. ere seemed to be a general path that was expected of visitors, and it was a path that went chronologically, from the beginning of Broadway to the present. It was like going on a theatre journey through time, and it really showed how theatre has evolved over the past century. e museum starts at the early days of Broadway, with shows like “Ziegfried Follies” and “Oklahoma!”. Shows like these had their own little sections that showed classic props and costumes that were used in either the original productions or revivals. e little rooms would be were decorated like you stepped into these shows. ere would also beere some blurbs on the wall about these musicals and their cultural impact. Each era of Broadway also got its own little section on the wall talking about the important achievements in theater at the time as well as the prominent playwrights. For instance, the early days started with playwrights like Eugene O’Neill and early actors like Fanny Brice. ere were also photos on the wall of this time, which I felt made each exhibit feel like a time capsule of theatre history. Before going into this museum, I was not that familiar with old and early Broadway compared to the more recent shows, so I liked that I got to explore this side in an interesting way.

A er the earlier Broadway shows, the museum goes into the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, which was the beginning of some innovation on Broadway. e walls talked about the age of comedic farces in terms of plays and the rise of Stephen Sondheim in terms of musicals.

is was also the beginning of some fun photo opportunities found in the museum. You could take a picture behind a soda bar that you might nd in “West Side Story,”, swing on a pretty pink swing like a ower child in “Hair”,” or sit at a table with cake for Bobby’s 35th birthday in “Company.”. All of these photos make for great mementos of your time at the museum. ere were also some videos playing at certain exhibits in

the museum so that people could see what the shows were actually like. is includes dance routines from “West Side Story” and advertisements for “ e Wiz.”. It was also cool seeing some photos from this time, as you get to learn about some famous actors that did plays on Broadway that you may not have realized. e blurb of this time was lled with topics about how Broadway was expanding from its early days. It seemed that these shows were more bright and colorful than the previous era of musicals, which made it all fun for the eyes to take in. You don’t even feel like you are learning as it is all in such a vibrant environment. It is like someone wrote you a story, and that story had a song and dance number. A er this era, the ’80s and ’90s came along. is brought some new plays by August Wilson and Neil Simon as well as some new musicals by Andrew Lloyd Web-

ber. e era was fairly experimental as we reached the end of the century. is era of shows in the museum also highlighted the AIDS epidemic, which was a ecting a lot of the theatre community. One of the only plays that was speci cally highlighted in this museum was “Angels in America,” a two -part seven -hour play that showed what it was like to be a gay male in the height of the AIDS epidemic. Right a er this, the musical “Rent” was highlighted, which also dives deep into this topic. ere was also some recognition of Broadway Cares: Equity Fights AIDS, a charity that has been connected to Broadway for a long time and you will o en see it advertised a er a Broadway show. is museum wants to honor the good work done and show how Broadway has touched so many lives in important ways. While there were other plays and musicals for this time period, the giving back is what really stood out in this area. en came along the shows of the 21st century, which were a little di erent in terms of exhibits compared to the other years. While there ere were some special show exhibits, like a chair and microphone set up for “Spring Awakening” and an intricate model of the Gershwin eater for “Wicked.”. However, the rest of the 21st- century section had a timeline of shows from the era. From 2000 to the present, and past the present with room made until 2025, there were pictures on the wall from around ve to six big productions for every single year. It shows musical and play evolution for modern times. As you walked along this wall, you would see some modern shows that were able to re ect the times they came from. From “ e Full Monty” to “Six,”, it was all there. A er the timeline, there was a display of all sorts of costumes worn in these modern Broadway shows. is includes Idina Menzel’s costume in “Wicked” and Hugh Jackman’s costume in “ e Boy From Oz” and so much more. Broadway has a storied history that has brought thousands of shows, and the hits will just keep on coming.

Alright, so we have gone through all of the years, the museum is probably over by this point. But wait, there’s more. e museum is mostly about what the people see when it comes to Broadway, but the behind-the-scenes matters as well. A er going through all of the shows, the next exhibit is about the making of a Broadway show. It talks about everything that goes on behind the scenes. F, from the stage managers to the casting to the sound to the costumes and so much more. ere are a lot of moving parts that make a Broadway show successful, and the people that are in charge of these parts deserve some respect. is exhibit was lled with video interviews of behind-the-scenes people to hear their side, and important items for each part, like di erent scripts or lighting boards. While this area was not as ashy or as captivating as the early exhibits about speci c shows, it would not be right to celebrate Broadway if it was not all of Broadway that was being celebrated. Ever since I was a small child, Broadway has been an important part of my life and I feel lucky that I have been able to see so many wonderful shows. I have been waiting for a museum like this for a long time and I am glad it is nally here. I had a lot of expectations, and it did not disappoint. It was a thrilling experience that helped my love for Broadway grow. at being said, you don’t have to walk into this museum as a Broadway or theatre lover. is is a museum for anyone who has even a little bit of curiosity about this world. It can be informative for people with any amount of Broadway knowledge. I have described a lot of this museum to you, but it will be completely di erent to actually experience it. So if you nd yourself in the New York area soon, and you think you want to know more about Broadway, buy some tickets for e Museum of Broadway. Or at the very least, buy a fun shirt or mug in the gi shop.

BookTok worth it or not: 2022 book recap

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

Well folks it has o cially been a year of me reading books and reviewing them. What a journey this has been. It’s been nice reconnecting with reading for fun and not as just a chore for class work and it’s also weird to think it’s been a whole year. My goal of 50 books for the year is in sight and today I bring you a review of the 46 books I’ve read so far.

Anyway, here’s my deal: I have a slight addiction to Instagram reels which is TikTok three weeks late. I then see book recommendations, and I then try to get said book. Once I get the book I look at it— maybe read it— and then come here to write about my thoughts.

Now my opinions are severely biased and they may not be for all, but I really did enjoy these books— for the most part. Ranking these books was actually more di cult than I thought it would be but I would say the top 10 and bottom 10 are for sure in the right spots.

is is also a terrible comparison because I’m literally comparing across genres that bring very different types of stories to the table.

Without any further delay, here is my 2022 wrap-up.

1. “ e Immortalists” by Whole Benjamin

I will defend this book until I die.

2. “Anxious People” by Fredrick Backman

It was hard for me to put this at number two but my allegiance has to stay with “ e Immortalists”. No this is not a spin-o of “Normal People”. “Anxious People” has my heart.

3. “Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo

Just such a thrill to read, Bardugo outdid herself. Very excited for the sequel.

4. “Daisy Jones and the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. “Daisy, he loves you. You know he loves you. I know that he loves you. But he’s not going to leave me.” I died.

5. “Circe” by Madeline Miller Girl boss story. Everyone needs to talk about “Circe” more. Okay, wait the ending is a little weird but it’s Greek mythology…

6. “Lovely War” by Julie Berry

A really bold narrative choice that was executed so well.

7. “How the King of El ame Learned to Hate Stories” by Holly Black

I love e Folk of Air Trilogy and this was the short story I needed.

8. “ e Hating Game” by Sally orne Ugh. Don’t judge me. is started me on my romance book kick and I’m not mad about it.

9. “A ousand Nights” by E.K. Johnston THIS IS AN UNDERRATED RETELLING OF A THOUSAND AND ONE ARABIAN NIGHTS AND MORE PEOPLE NEED TO APPRECIATE IT!

10. “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover I wanted to hate it. But I didn’t. I actually hate how much I love it, especially considering the main character’s name is Lily mf Bloom and she’s a orist.

11. “ e Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern

Magical and fun to read but justice for my girl Isobel who got led on the whole story.

12. “ e Dead Romantics” by Ashley Poston

Another really bold choice in the plot line and is executed really well. is one is for the people who watched that ghost love story Christmas movie before they took it o Net ix. at is a very niche comparison and I realize this may not be my target audience.

13. “Normal People” by Sally Rooney

I read this in a day and avoided a party to nish it. Couldn’t get into the TV show though which was disappointing.

14. “ e Spanish Love Deception” by Elena Armas

She’s a cute and irty book.

15. “A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem” by Manda Collins

A Hallmark movie as a book. is is a compliment

16. “Book Lovers” by Emily Henry

Another girl boss book. I love that the main character is a shark, female protagonists do not have to be lovable and sweet they can be strong and sharp-witted and still be likable to the reader.

17. “Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller

It’s only this far back on the list because BookTok set my expectations too high.

18. “ e Last Letter from your Lover” by Jojo Moyes Heartbreaking.

19. “ e Cheat Sheet” by Sarah Adams

It’s cute okay sue me.

20. “A Touch of Darkness” by Scarlett St. Clair No, I wasn’t a Percy Jackson kid, I was a Latin kid in high school.

21. “ e Witches Heart” by Genevieve Gornichec

Norse mythology retelling

which was new for me but I liked it.

22. “Dance of thieves” by Mary E. Pearson

I wanted you to be better but your cover is pretty.

23. “In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle

No, YOU’RE crying goddamn it.

25. 4 e Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner

Magical and engul ng, an underappreciated book. Don’t trust men I think is the moral of the story.

25. “You Deserve Each Other” by Sarah Hogle

A really funny romance book. I want to be this spiteful.

26. “Conversations with Friends” by Sally Rooney

Not as good as “Normal People.”

27. “ ree Dark Crowns” by Kendare Blake

Good book, but not good enough to make me buy the rest of the series. Love a good story about sisters with some magic though.

28. “People We Meet on Vacation” by Emily Henry

My queen Emily Henry would never drop her crown.

29. “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr

It wasn’t the book’s fault, it was mine.

30. “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng

Oh, there was a re FOR SURE. It was not little. is book is ammable.

31. “Beach Read” by Emily Henry

My least favorite Emily Henry book.

32. “99 Percent Mine” by Sally orne

I told you I went into a romance book thing. It was a rough time okay. I love Sally orne— end of story.

33. “Fix Her Up” by Tessa Bailey HGTV as a romance novel. I’m realizing this article is not convincing people I’m NOT a 40-year-old woman.

34. “Vow of ieves” by Mary E. Pearson ere should have never been two books. We HATE the miscommunication trope.

35. “ e Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran Will make you question life.

36. “Second First Impressions” by Sally orne THE TURTLES>>>>> Honestly as a self-identi ed old person trapped in a young person’s body I felt this one. Maybe a little too close to home.

37. “Maybe Not” by Colleen Hoover

Don’t judge me.

38. “A Touch of Ruin” by Scarlett St. Clair

At this point just invested in the series.

39. “A Touch of Malice” by Scarlett St. Clair

Honestly did not know there was this many books when I read the rst book (there is another one coming out soon too).

40. “ e Guest List” by Lucy Foley

Literally what was happening in this whole book, we could’ve removed like 50 pages and it would’ve a ected NOTHING.

41. “ e 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton No, no not THAT Evelyn book, that’s the next one. A really bold plot with an ending that almost redeemed the confusion you had to put up with throughout the entire novel. Took a lot to hang on to the narrative. Very confused, the execution could have been better.

42. “ e 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid is is THE Evelyn book. If the love of my life even THOUGHT about treating me like that I’d be livid. e love of your life does not a rm the idea that people only like you because of your body even if they’re upset. Separate note, oh you were besties with the guy who killed my dad… it’s okay.

of ‘Chainsaw Man’

editor

Over the recent holiday, I headed home and spent some time with friends. A er catching up on “Blue Lock” (which is fantastic), my friends convinced me that we should watch all of the available episodes of “Chainsaw Man.” I was not disappointed; this show delivers with action-packed combat, beautifully animated scenes of horri c creatures and an overly libidinous main character.

Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) is a devil-human hybrid who made a contract with his dog, who is

the chainsaw devil, to gain special powers. at was a lot of information in one sentence, so let me explain. In this universe, devils are born from human fears.

e more feared something is, the more powerful that devil becomes. So a blanket demon likely wouldn’t have much power, but a nuclear bomb demon would.

Denji, a er becoming a Chainsaw-Devil-human hybrid, joins a team of government-sponsored Devil Hunters in the Public Safety Division. But Denji doesn’t really care about saving people’s lives, he just has a crush on the leader of this devil hunting division.

at’s a recurring theme in

this show: Denji will do literally anything for women. As the show progresses, Denji ghts the Bat Demon (A giant, humanoid bat) because he ate a girl he likes. But Denji doesn’t ght the Bat to save the girl; he only does it because he’s attracted to her. He even goes on a quest to kill one of the most dangerous devils in the whole world: the Gun Devil (who came into existence a er a major terrorist incident in the USA), just because the leader of the devil-hunting divison promises him sexual favors for doing so. is show is just fun. ere are other members of Denji’s devil hunting team with incredible

powers (like summoning a gigantic fox to eat anything or controlling a ghost’s right arm), interesting villains (like a hotel oor where time stops unless Denji sacri ces himself to the Eternity Devil) and an unbelievably lustful main character (even the frenzy of all the action, Denji always manages to make his intentions clear: he’s killing hugely powerful gods so he can be with a woman). is show keeps a light tone, never lingering on plot points for too long, instead choosing to develop characters through battles with devils and interpersonal relationships. e characters refuse to take themselves too seriously;

*sidebar: if I had a nickel for every time I read a book with a title including the number seven and the name Evelyn in it I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it has happened twice.*

43. “If We Were Villains” M.L Rio I just- sigh- theater kids.

44. “ e Fire Keepers Daughter” by Angeline Bouley is book convinces you everyone is bad at at least one point, only to make someone who you didn’t want to be bad bad. Was that sentence confusing? Yeah? So was the book.

45. “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan It’s a no for me dog. at’s all.

46. “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam is entire goddamn book I’m thinking, “wtf is going on”. en I nish and I’m STILL thinking, “wtf is going on”. Months a er nishing the book I look at it and think, “wtf was going on”. Someone please tell me.

while trapped on the never-ending hotel oor Power (Fairouz Ai) decides that she’s going to win the Nobel Prize, use that as a foothold to become Prime Minister of Japan and raise taxes to 100%.

“Chainsaw Man,” like most anime adaptations, has further story progression in the manga. But I’ll keep watching this eccentric stroll through demon-riddled Japan as it releases in animated form. With subtitles, not dubbed. As anime should be watched.

‘Wednesday’ is an entertaining teen mystery that anyone could enjoy

By Lucy Fay editor

e Addams Family brand does not get old. While it can be used and interpreted poorly, every reimagining has the ability to create something wonderful without putting much of a twist on the original concept.

“Wednesday,” the new Net ix original TV show, directed by Tim Burton, follows Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) as she attends Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for outcasts. e mystery comedy, while far from the perfection of “ e Addams Family Values” (1993), entertains from start to nish.

ere is a more blatantly supernatural aspect to “Wednesday” than in past iterations of the Addams family. With the world being split into outcasts and normies. Outcasts being those of supernatural classi cations, werewolves, psychics, sirens, etc, and normies being the majority population, serving as a metaphor for any number of real forms of societal discrimination. e Addamses are classi ed as outcasts because of their psychic abilities/ witchcra but remain unusual even within outcast circles.

In lieu of a longer summary, the most straightforward description of “Wednesday” is “Gossip Girl” meets “Goosebumps.” A teen drama oriented around a series of spooky supernatural mysteries that has no idea what speci c age it is targeting. Characterizations, a notable lack of sex and the show’s sense of humor feel appropriate for middle school audiences, but swear words, gore and occasional plotlines based on darker subject matter prevent it from being classi ed as a kid’s show. is unevenness is noteworthy not because it takes away from the show but rather because it may make the show better for a wider audience. A major problem with shows like “Riverdale” and “Euphoria” is they’re a little too angsty for their own good. ey stew in a world of the supposed harsh reality that is as separated from the real world as a light sitcom, so it appeals to high schoolers who enjoy grownup feeling situations, but for those outside of

By Christopher Dech special to the hoot

e importance of comfy media is something that, I feel, everyone can agree on. In the age of the internet, it’s not uncommon to hear people talking about their comfort show or their comfort character or book. A er all, it’s hard to disagree that getting cozy under one’s covers and watching kitsch cartoons or reading a good book is fun to do. Arguably, it’s not just fun, but even necessary. In my opinion, it’s not as simple as a want to be comfy: it’s a need. e need to relax, to feel safe, even momentarily, is something that I believe is critical to one’s mental and even physical well-being. We are hardwired to ght for surviv-

high school, it can feel like a parody that takes itself very seriously.

“Wednesday,” through commenting on the inherent silliness of its characters and plotlines, prevents itself from ever getting too deep into being a teen drama or straying too far from the Addams Family brand, but its TV-14 rating allows the show to have serious moments. ese keep the stakes high and the mysteries tense.

A more damaging area of unevenness in the show was the mentality of being an Addams. A core feature of any iteration of the Addams family is their love for all things morose and morbid. is penchant becomes more di cult to express the more grounded the world around the Addamses becomes. When someone dies, and the show frames it as a tragedy, it is o -putting when the protagonist of the show celebrates the death. But since that is central to Wednesday’s being, you cannot just have her act out of character. “Wednesday” never found a satisfying way to reconcile this. When directly a ected, Wednesday would show empathy and remorse for a character gravely injured or killed, but one degree of separation from the victim and she expressed excitement around the tragedy. is made her character o en come o as unfortunately villainous.

Wednesday’s character was probably the show’s most consistent weakness. e actress Jenna Ortega did a great job with the role, and most of the time she was a great protagonist. Funny, dynamic and true to the established character, but there were moments every episode that thoroughly annoyed me. Wednesday was simply too perfect, and even when she messed up, the world was quick to forgive. Every challenge Wednesday faced she was perfectly equipped for. Wednesday’s only presented aws were her stubbornness and her insistence on being a loner. Both of which ultimately served her well in solving the show’s overarching mystery. Depending on the viewer, “Wednesday’s” greatest asset was its world. If you are not a fan of wacky realism, it’s not the show for you. e Addams Family and Tim Burton probably will not generally suit your taste. But to people who enjoy these types

of stories, “Wednesday” really succeeds in setting a world that allows for strangeness without losing all sense of grounding. is was achieved through side characters, location and lore.

A massive range of characters appears in “Wednesday.” From ing, a disembodied hand that can move, hear and communicate as well as any human, to Sheri Donovan (Jamie McShane), a widower, who struggles to communicate with his son while suppressing his grief and leading a murder investigation. ese two characters successfully t into the same world entirely through their reactions. It doesn’t matter how strange or boilerplate a character is, everyone in this show, besides Wednesday, reacts to things as a human should, thus the world is cohesive. e same goes for the setting and lore. As a Tim Burton project, the physical location feels odd, slanted and overly stylized infrastructure is kind of his

thing, but it refrains from getting too “Edward Scissorhands”-ish. Many areas look crazy but they are interspersed between normal-looking buildings and landscapes. Nevermore Academy exists in a classic small town spiced with weird locations to re ect its many outcast citizens. And still, strange things happen everywhere, all locations are treated the same. Lastly, the lore of “Wednesday” takes standard New England history, mainly the treatment of heretics, but switches out false accusations of witchcra for actual supernatural abilities. is way, no matter the speci cs, viewers already understand what happened and the long-term e ects it would have had on the area. Whether or not the witchcra is real is unimportant to the viewer’s perception of the show’s lore. e nal section of this review serves to comment on the mysteries “Wednesday” is built around. It strikes me as rude to simply say

The importance of being comfy

al, but that carries with it the need to feel safe and sheltered as well.

Related to the need to feel safe and relax is the need to be distracted. College life is stressful, and the quotidian struggles we all su er need to be le behind sometimes. And it’s something we all do without realizing it, too.

e need to be distracted, even just a little bit, so we forget the stresses of work, or the tragedies of our lives. So, yes, it is perfectly valid to procrastinate just a little bit longer on your paper or studying if you seriously need a break, even just for an episode of a show or a chapter of a book. One cannot simply force themselves through the week or even the day without just a little bit of distraction, and a little bit of relaxing.

So, now that the fall season is in full fall swing, I thought

it would be nice to highlight some comfy media that I enjoy, and I hope you do as well.

Let’s start o with some anime and manga. For my manga supremacists, there is “Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou,” or “Yokohama Shopping Log,” a post-apocalyptic manga set in Japan about an android that runs a cafe. ere is also “Wakakozake,” both a manga and anime about a young woman who just likes a good meal a er work. Another one I can recommend is the “Working!!” series, which has also been turned into an anime series. It’s a slice of life about working in a restaurant. e running theme is blatantly apparent, especially since I’m about to also mention Ghibli movies, like my personal favorites, “Ponyo” and “Arrietty.” To end my choices of anime, my all-time favorite,

the mysteries in this show are predictable. Not everyone watches the same shows in the same amounts as I do, so I will simply say, while the multiple mysteries in this show tend to be straightforward and rely on simple subversions of expectations, they are consistently fun to watch unfold and “Wednesday” manages to almost entirely avoid the many irritating mystery show tropes. It is a fun show, it’s just not very complex.

“Wednesday” is extremely bingeable, it does not have a clear worst episode or character, it uses the Addams family property well and has very few aws that fully sti e its enjoyment. I look forward to its inevitable, though not yet announced, season two.

“Samurai Champloo,” brought to you by the director of “Cowboy Bebop” with the sickest lohip-hop soundtrack featuring Tsutchie, Fat Jon, Force of Nature and Nujabes. It’s super chill, with the smoothest animation you’ve yet to see, and sick sword ghts.

Moving onto music, a great comfy song is one my girlfriend showed me, “Dedicated To e One I Love” by e Mamas & e Papas, a comfy little sleepy love song. And I can’t mention sleepy songs without “Sleep Walk” by Santo & Johnny, probably the most famous example of steel guitar I can think of. Another song my girlfriend showed me is “Lonely (But Not Alone)” by Rob Cantor of Tally Hall and “Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf” fame, another comfy love song. To end this little section, I also

recommend “My Friends Are Cosmonauts” by Duster, “san francisco” by MIDICRONICA, “Take On e World” by Wavves, “No Surprises” by Radiohead and really any track by J Dilla. Ok, honestly, I don’t have much in the way of shows. Best I can o er is the U.S. version of “ e O ce” and the MTV animated series “Daria.” So instead I encourage you to tell someone what your favorite comfort show is. Maybe tell that special someone you’d like to watch it with them. Now, with all that said, grab your mug, make your hot drink of choice, get into what I am sure are very comfortable Brandeis-issued beds, grab a blanket and get cozy.

By Naomi Stephenson staff

Well folks, we did it. Twelve bakers, 10 episodes and two and half months of recapping have all led to this moment: the crowning of this year’s Bake O champion. It’s been an uneven series. e lovely bakers have been illserved by terrible challenges and grouchy judges. Still, our nal three are some of my absolute favorite nalists, and Bake O for all this series’ aws—is still Bake O : a charming series full of nice people and sweet treats.

Our nalists are Sandro the Overachiever, Abdul the Underdog and Syabira the Flavor Queen. Unlike most nals, this one has a theme: “Our Planet.” e park outside the tent is decked out with giant models of endangered species all ready for the garden party tomorrow.

e signature challenge is a picnic showcasing seasonal and sustainably grown British ingredients. It involves six nger sandwiches, six mini-cakes and six mini pies. is is a showstopper challenge disguised as a signature, and the time allotted (three hours) is nowhere near enough. e challenge-setting de ciencies of this series

And the winner is…

are alive and well for the nal!

Luckily, we have charming cutaways to the baker’s families to distract us. Sandro’s mum moved him and his three siblings from war-torn Angola to London. Sandro wants to prove that other people from the same background can achieve their goals too. Abdul’s parents wish him luck from Pakistan, and his sister is supporting him from San Diego. Syabira’s boyfriend can’t stop saying how proud he is of her. Syabira feels as though she has won the lottery jackpot. “I’ve never been the top person in any competition or any classes I’ve attended,” she says. “Maybe baking is my hidden talent.” A reminder that this is a woman whose day job is researching the human genome.

Back in the tent, Syabira is making “no-porky pie” with aubergine and mushroom. In case you didn’t know what aubergine was, Matt and Syabira happily say “eggplant” in terrible American accents. Syabira’s also making broad bean and salsa verde heart-shaped sandwiches and elder ower strawberry swiss rolls. Abdul is also making swiss rolls. His are cherry and tarragon avored, along with leek, onion and Yorkshire feta pies, and beet, carrot and cream cheese sandwiches. I have to also take a moment to praise Abdul’s shirt this episode, which is absolutely

fantastic. Sandro is making ve di erent types of bakes instead of the required three. His cauliower cheese pies, egg and cress sandwiches and lemon and elderower cakes all sound delicious, but the addition of tarts and biscuits is ridiculous. Oh, Sandro.

Onto the nal signature judging! Abdul’s nger sandwiches are a bit too thick, but the avors are excellent. His pies receive rave reviews, but his swiss rolls don’t have enough tarragon. Sandro’s sandwiches are deemed “heaven,” but his pie pastry is underbaked. Syabira’s picnic spread is neat as a pin and reminds Paul of the hotel business. Her avors are, unsurprisingly, fantastic across the board. e technical challenge is a “summer pudding bombe.” What is a summer pudding bombe? Good question. It is a set jam and a set mousse surrounded by bread (the same bread the bakers made in the signature, ha) soaked in raspberry syrup. e nal product looks a bit like an internal organ. e key word is “set,” with vegetarian gelatine that needs to be boiled in order to work, information Paul has helpfully le out of his recipe. Do the bakers have enough time to set their bombes, even if they do know how to use vegetarian gelatine? Of course

not! All the bakers’ e orts suffer some level of collapse. ird place Sandro’s bombe resembles cat sick, and second place Syabira’s bombe is leaky. Abdul’s bombe is too so , and he takes the win as the best of a bad bunch.

e showstopper challenge is an “edible sculpture” based on the theme “Our Beautiful Planet,” with a cake base and a minimum of three other baked elements. I wish I could say this challenge is ridiculous, but it’s pretty par for the course for nal showstoppers.

Abdul’s sculpture is based on the honey bee (a clever strategy, considering 2017 winner Sophie’s nal showstopper was also based on the honey bee). Syabira is baking an orangutan holding up a forest. It’s insane in the best of ways. Sandro, who reminds the judges that he “achieved” the world all the way back in week four, is baking a tiered representation of the earth. It is, in true Sandro fashion, overambitious.

In the nal judging of the series, Sandro’s avors receive high praise. Unfortunately, his bread is too chewy, his cake is burnt and his biscuits are overbaked. It just wasn’t to be for Sandro. Syabira’s showstopper is deemed “clever” and “strange” (that’s Syabira for you). e judges love all her avors, but wish her orangutan was just a bit neater. Abdul does well on

nearly everything, but his showstopper looks a bit messy and his choux buns are deemed a “failure.” e bakers get a loud cheer as they leave the tent to join their friends and families. A er two years in the pandemic-induced “Bake O bubble,” it’s lovely to see such a big crowd. Sandro’s family has a giant “you did it!” sign and I nearly bawl.

And the winner is… SYABIRA!

An absolutely perfect winner. Syabira has been one of my favorites from episode one, with her brilliant avors, infectious enthusiasm and cool head under pressure. And she’s the rst Southeast Asian winner of Bake O ! It’s about damn time.

“ is is the biggest achievement of my life,” Syabira says, beaming. “We can do anything we want as long as we have all of our heart and work for it.”

It’s hard to believe, but the series is really over. I hope you all have enjoyed reading these recaps as much as I have enjoyed writing them. And what will the next series bring? Well, we’ll just have to wait until next year (argh!) to nd out.