The Brandeis Hoot, October 21, 2022

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe”

Period Activists at ’Deis host Open Mic Night

By Roshni Ray editor

e Brandeis Period Activists at ’Deis (PAD) club recently hosted their annual event called Open Mic Night where members of the Brandeis community were able to listen to and share stories regarding menstruation. PAD President Kyla Speizer ‘23 and the PAD team shared their thoughts on the event and their club’s mission in an interview with e Hoot.

PAD sought to create a safe environment for sharing a range of stories about menstruation during their Open Mic Night. Speizer

explained, “ e purpose of creating this kind of space is to destigmatize menstruation by making it something fun and lighthearted that can be shared in front of a crowd as opposed to something private and shameful.”

Ultimately, the club hoped to convey that menstruation is not a shameful process, but rather something that people “can (and should!) talk about,” Speizer added in an email with e Hoot.

e club is currently planning an initiative in collaboration with the Brandeis Student Union to provide

See PAD, page 3

Univ. announces 2022 Rosenstiel Award recipients

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

e university announced the recipients of the 2022 Rosenstiel Award— an award given to researchers with distinctive work in basic biomedical research, according to the award’s page. e winners are Chris-

tine Holt and Erin Schuman.

Holt and Schuman received this distinction, “for their pioneering work that shed light on the role of local protein synthesis in neuronal development and function,” according to the university’s website.

In their review —Local translation in neurons: visualization and function— Holt and Schuman looked at neurons and their in-

teractions with proteins. Neurons are a type of cell in the human body that are used to transport signals throughout the brain using electrical impulses. To do this, neurons must use proteins as their main sensors and e ectors, according to Holt and Schuman’s review. In the review, Holt and Schuman identi ed how, “the modi cation of the proteome in

axons and dendrites is used to guide the formation of synaptic connections and store information.” A proteome is an entire set of proteins that can be expressed by a cell. Axons and dedrites are both part of the structure of neurons. Dendrites are the part of the neuron that receives electrical impulses necessary for communication across neurons. While axons

PHOTO BY KYLA SPEIZER

are is the main part of the neuron cell and acts as a cable which electrical impulses travel down to be passed to the next neuron in the system. “Neurons are among the most compartmentalized and interactive of all cell types,” according to the review by Holt and Schuman. e discussion Holt

See AWARD, page 3

Brandeis Community Celebrates ‘Incendio’

By Cooper Gottfried editor

Brandeis Latinx Student Organization (BLSO) recently hosted their annual culture show, Incendio. At the event, BLSO board members explained that “Incendio is meant to be a gateway into this diversity [that makes up Latin America]” e event, which was held in Levin Ballroom on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., included performances by musical groups and choreographed dance performances. Mariachi Veritas de Harvard, Harvard’s only mariachi band,

played rst. As they played mariachi songs, people danced through the crowd and appreciated the unique opening act. Juan Jimenez, BLSO’s Events Coordinator, performed a few songs designed to “make everybody fall in love,” according to the introduction given by other BLSO board members. en, audience members were called up to the stage for a game of musical chairs—but BLSO decided to up the ante: contestants had to keep dancing while they were walking to keep from being disquali ed. A er the game of musical chairs , Kaos Kids— the university’s premier competitive hip-hop dance crew — according

See BLSO, page 2

ARTS: PAGE 15

PHOTO FROM @BLSO98

Guest speaker discusses costs of diet to the planet

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

Ed Winters, activist and vegan educator, spoke with community members on the hidden costs of our food choices on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Winters discussed the changes needed in our food systems and choices in order to reduce our carbon footprint.

Winters, a vegan, spoke with students about how he was raised eating meat. Consuming meat, dairy and eggs was a part of his diet for the rst 20 years of his life, he explained. In his family, vegetarians and vegans were seen as “strange people,” Winters explained, saying his parents are still of this mindset.

He believed that vegans were “crazy, extremist, militant people who had no sense of humor.” is is because he did not understand what people could have against dairy and eggs. Going vegan was a “shock” to Winters because of the “disdain” that was associated with vegetarianism.

Winters explained another huge part of his journey to veganism was having a pet; as a child they did not have pets in his family. According to Winters, the closest he got to an animal was when it was digesting in his stomach.

ere was a turn in Winters’ life when he turned 21, when he read an article about a chicken truck crash. A truck carrying chickens

to a slaughterhouse had gotten into an accident, leaving multiple chickens dead or severely injured. When reading this, Winters said he came to empathize with the chickens in the crash—something he had never done with an animal before.

Winters joked that at the time fried chicken was his favorite food, so he hadn’t wanted to emphasize with the chickens. At the moment he felt con icted, saying that he had thoughts of animal su ering and cruelty and his values around these issues. e article made him realize that while he felt sympathy for the animals in the crash, he hadn’t had the same sympathy for the chickens killed to produce his favorite food. is experience made him go vegetarian, but he kept milk and eggs in his diet, Winters explained.

Next in his journey, about eight months a er going vegetarian, Winters watched a documentary. e documentary, according to Winters, was “depressing” because it was over an hour of watching things get done to animals that “we do not want to see.”

At this same point in time, Winters got his rst pet—a hamster named Rupert. Rupert was a “sassy little character,” according to Winters, and he taught Winters how animals could have personalities and are unique individuals. Rupert didn’t like his hamster wheel—a toy that hamsters are

meant to universally love—but he loved broccoli. However, if you tried giving Rupert kale he would get mad, and Winters explained that he could see exactly what Rupert was thinking. Understanding that animals are unique individuals solidi ed Winters’ resolve to become a vegan. Winters said he realized that his food choices impacted others and caused harm.

Winters said that while his initial journey to veganism was for ethical reasons, he began to become educated on the environmental cost of food choices. He went on to explain how animal farming relates to the climate crisis. According to Winters, it is important to not lose focus on what we are talking about when we talk about the climate crisis: the focus should be the experience of others, Winters explained. e climate crisis is important because there are climate-exacerbated events that are impacting others and causing their su ering.

“ e reason why we care about the climate crisis is not because these things are happening to our planet—and that’s bad in and of itself—but because what’s happening to our planet is going to cause others to su er,” Winters said.

Some notable examples Winters identi ed of people su ering because of climate-related disaster events include the recent ooding in Pakistan and Hurrican Ian in

Florida. Winters explained that being more sustainable would lead to less su ering in the world from climate events like these.

To become more sustainable we have to change how we live, Winters said to community members, and we can start by changing what we consume. Agriculture is one of the leading industries producing harmful emissions. If emissions were from agriculture alone, with no other industries contributing, it would be impossible to lower the warming temperatures by 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. is statistic was used in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 as a top priority.

Animal farming is the part of the agriculture industry that disproportionately harms our environment, according to Winters, because of its emissions and land use. Winters cited a statistic from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): 41.8% of the land in the 48 contiguous states used for farming is for animal farming. In addition, only 4% is used for plants intended for direct human consumption. “ at is a staggering amount of ine ciency,” Winters commented.

Growing plants for direct food consumption, according to Winters, is more e cient and produces more crops while using less land. Globally, if we switched to plant-based diets we could free up 76% of land used for farming.

With this space freed up, Winters suggested that we “return the land to nature,” which could help reduce our carbon footprint.

Winters explained that consumers have the opportunity to impact how much animal farming occurs in the US; if there is no demand for meat products then the animal farming industry would not need to produce so much. is could also be applied to seafood demand, as many sheries over sh, leading to de cits in marine ecosystems. Winters explained that it would be benecial for the planet as well as for the experience of people if we let the earth heal. By giving land that was deforested for animal farming back to nature, it could help reduce our carbon footprint. e same could be applied to marine life, if we let the oceans repopulate. Allowing just 1% of phytoplankton to repopulate would be the equivalent to planting 2 billion mature trees, in terms of the amount of carbon that can be sequestered, Winters explained.

Winters is the founder of an ethical vegan British sh and chips shop as well as an ethical vegan clothing brand. He is a media and design fellow at Harvard University, and this is his second talk at Brandeis.

Brandeis CGES professor discusses new book on antisemitism

By Mia Plante editor

On Oct. 11 WPTV out of West Palm Beach featured Brandeis professor Sabine von Mering (CGES) in an article discussing her newly co-edited book with University of Haifa Ph.D. student, Monika Hübscher, entitled “Antisemitism on Social Media.”

e book, published in March 2022, addresses how social media has increased the dissemination of antisemitism across numerous platforms. According to the book’s synopsis it “demonstrates how social media is weaponized through the dissemination of antisemitic content by political actors from the right, the le , and the extreme fringe, and critically assesses existing counter-strategies.” Another Brandeis professor, Jonathan D. Sarna (DEPT), among others, reviewed the book and wrote that: “this timely, disturbing and all-too-necessary book shows from a global perspective how an-

tisemitism has taken hold within contemporary social media. e authors document the antisemitism of conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and Islamists; discuss the implications of omnipresent hate speech; and propose counter measures. eir scholarship illuminates the internet’s darkest corners and exposes the vulnerable underside of the digital revolution.”

e WPTV News article also highlighted how the book is timely, as it was published the year after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reached an all-time high for antisemitic incidents in the U.S. In the article, von Mering is quoted saying that “technology rewards negativity” through the use of algorithms.

In the book, TikTok is described as a uniquely large source of antisemitism that millions of youth have access to online. Two contributors to the book write that “TikTtok has become a magnet and a hotbed for violent and extremist content.” Some examples

of anti-semitism on TikTok include anti-semitic sermons, conspiracy theories and caricatures in the form of lters.

It isn’t just anti-Jewish hate speech that occurs o en online, but anti-LGBT hate speech also occurs o en and harms LGBT youth who are faced with it, according to a 2021 study published in the Women and Criminal Justice journal. e WPTV article noted how there has been a 28 percent increase in hate speech online from the years of 2019 to 2021 and that over one-third of Americans have been severely harassed online.

e phenomenon of hate speech on social media is partially fueled by conspiracy theories pushed by QAnon and based on anti-semitic tropes, explains a Brandeis University article on the topic.

Von Mering explains in the WPTV article that this is the rst book published on the topic of hate speech on social media and that “we urgently need more research.”

Brandeis Latinx Student Organization hosts annual cultural event ‘Incendio’

BLSO, from page 1

to their Facebook page— performed to a medley of several pop songs.

Dinner was then served, catered

by Los Chamos of Lynn, Massachusetts. A er attendees enjoyed the Venezuelan cuisine, there was another dance performance followed by a dance competition for audience members. Contestants danced bachata, salsa and nally to a Bad Bunny song, with the

winner being determined by applause levels from the audience. Finally, several piñatas were broken open by the winners of musical chairs, the dance competition and the ra e (attendees bought tickets for a chance to hit a piñata, with proceeds going to

Sociedad Latina, an organization promoting the empowerment of young Latinos, according to their page). A er breaking the pinata, participants chose a prize: either a JBL speaker, an axolotl plushie or a LEGO set.

To close out BLSO’s annual cul-

tural show, there was one nal musical number before the board members gave a sendo , adding a “Huge thank you to everyone who came to Incendio” via their Instagram account.

PHOTO FROM ROUTLEDGE COM

Brandeis club promotes destigmatizing menstruation

PAD, from page 1 free menstrual products in rst year residence halls. Eventually, the club plans to expand this initiative to other buildings on campus.

Additionally, PAD’s Advocacy Chair Savannah Jackson ’22 published a report on the state of menstrual product access at Brandeis. Monthly newsletters can be found on the PAD website. e club was founded during the spring of 2019 by Brandeis alumni Linzy Rosen (Rosen

graduated from Colby College in 2022) and Cassady Adams ’22, who realized the need for a menstrual justice club that would provide the campus community with vetted information about menstruation and strive for menstrual product access and menstrual equity on campus.

PAD has been hosting their Open Mic Night event for the past four years. “It was originally started by one of our founders Linzy Rosen who wanted to host an event for a larger audience that focused on stigma-breaking. It was super successful and everyone

loved it, so it became an annual stigma-breaking event,” Speizer described.

Members of PAD shared what prompted them to join the club and why they continue to be involved in it. PAD Media and Outreach Chair Sarah Schi man ’25 said, “I was drawn to the club because I wanted to learn more about period poverty and menstrual justice. But what made me stay was realizing it was one of the only spaces I had to talk about menstruation without feeling any stigma or shame. It’s just a totally open and welcoming environ-

ment and a good time!”

PAD E-Board member Grace Lassila ’25 added, “I had seen PAD at the involvement fair and really loved their message as a club. A er attending a PAD general meeting, I was blown away with how inclusive the space was. I had never been in such a safe space where I felt so seen as a menstruator. A er attending a few more of PAD’s events, including the Open Mic Night, I knew that PAD was an organization I wanted to be more involved in their executive board, and their mission as a group.” Speizer shared, “I ini-

tially joined PAD as a rst-year because I found the enthusiasm and passion for menstrual justice to be inspiring, and I was excited at the opportunity to ght for this movement on and o of Brandeis’ campus.”

Moving forward PAD will be hosting a painting and stigma-breaking event in collaboration with the campus group Liquid Latex on Nov. 13 and a movie screening of the lm “Period. End of Sentence.” in collaboration with Brandeis’ South Asian Student Association on Dec. 1.

Alumnus named to lead U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division

By Thomas Pickering editor

Lee H. Vilker ’90, a member of the graduating class of 1990 from Brandeis University, was recently named as one of two senior prosecutors to head the United States Attorney’s O ce’s Criminal Division, as announced in a United States Department of Justice press release.

To lead the United States Attorney’s Criminal Division Vilker will be responsible, as described by the Department of Justice, for developing, enforceing, and supervising the application of all federal criminal laws except those that the Department of Justice has assigned speci cally to other departments. e Criminal Division and the 93 U.S. Attorneys have the responsibility for overseeing

criminal matters as well as certain civil litigation, of which Vilker is now one of the 93 as announced in the press release and described by the Department of Justice’s website on the functions of the position.

A er graduating from Brandeis in 1990, Vilker attended law school at New York University (NYU) School of Law where he graduated in 1993 and received the annual American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law, as reported in the press release.

According to the University of Oklahoma College of Law, the American Jurisprudence Award is an award given to law school students who demonstrate outstanding scholastic achievement by holding the highest class rank and grade in a speci c type of law. Vilker, during his time in

law school, specialized in constitutional law which concerns itself with the interpretation and application of the United States Constitution as it relates to fundamental questions of sovereignty and democracy, as de ned by the Legal Information Institute.

A er graduating from law school, Vilker worked as a litigation associate in New York City in the law rm of Proskauer Rose, LLP from 1995-1999, according to his biography on the Department of Justice’s website. For one year during his time at Proskauer Rose, LLP, 1995-1996, Vilker worked for the Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court as a law clerk, this also according to the Department of Justice. However, in May of 1999 Vilker le his New York Law Firm of Proskauer Rose, LLP to work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District

of New Jersey. A er three years, Vilker continued his work in the Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney but transferred from the District of New Jersey to the District of Rhode Island where he has remained since, as written in his Justice Department biography.

With 18 years of experience of work in the District of Rhode Islands’ U.S. Attorney’s O ce, Vilker was promoted to the ofce of Deputy Criminal Chief in December 2020. en, a er only two years, in the August of 2022 Vilker was promoted to the o ce of Acting Criminal Cheif as described by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Vilker’s time in the Department of Justice has seen him take legal action on a number of di erent cases over the course of 20 years. Notably, Vilker’s background in

constitutional law has led him to specialize in investigating and prosecuting multifaceted fraud cases with the Justice Department. As described by the Department of Justice, Vilker has had a direct hand in working with the Justice Department to investigate Ponzi schemes, investment fraud, and corporate embezzlement. But, Vilker has not been limited to his specialization while working in the U.S. Attorney’s Ofce, as reported by them, Vilker has also successfully prosecuted other types of legal matters such as complex narcotics o enses and crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Vilker’s career in the U.S. Attorney’s O ce at the Department of Justice has been lled with a wide variety of cases and opportunities.

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

e Health Center has announced dates when it will be providing vaccination for community members. e clinic will be o ering COVID-19 booster shots and u shots, according to a post on the Student Union’s Instagram page.

ere will be dates to receive the Moderna booster shot in both October and November, according to the post. Community members can register to receive the shot on Oct. 18, 20, 24 and 27. Alternatively, students could also receive the Moderna booster shot on Nov. 1, 3, 8, 10, 15 or 17. To register for an appointment students must call the Health Center at 781-736-3677. Appointments

can be made between the hours of 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

In order to receive the booster shot, students must be out of their 90-day window of having tested positive for COVID-19.

Students can also sign up to receive their u shot through the Health Center. To make an appointment, community members must use the patient portal at https://brandeis.medicatconnect. com, according to the post. Flu shots will be administered every Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., though the Health Center will be closed on Nov. 15 for the anksgiving break and Dec. 30 during the winter break.

e Health Center will be hosting the clinic at the Golding Health Center. For more information about boosters and vaccines, students can use the university’s student health website.

Rosenstiel Award winners of 2022 announced

AWARD, from page 1

and Schuman brought to the table is how local synthesis of proteins is an important source of protein for dendrites, axons and their associated elements. In the study, Holt and Schuman reviewed data that indicated, “the presence of the machinery required for protein synthesis, and the establish functional roles for

local translation for many di erent neuronal functions.”

Holt is a professor emerita of Developmental Neuroscience and fellow of Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge. Schuman is a professor of Neurobiologyat the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.

e Rosenstiel Award for Distinguish Work in Basic Medical Research was established in 1971, according to the university webpage. It was intended to be “an

expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the encouragement and development of basic science as it applies to medicine.”

e award is given out annually, with the nomination for recipients to be submitted by August 31 and the presentation of the award being in the following Spring, according to the page. e nominations go through a panel of Boston-area scientists appointed

by the Director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center who review applications.

To qualify for the award, scientists must make a discovery of originality and have an important application to basic biomedical research.

e award is meant to place an emphasis on the relationship between basic science and medicine, according to the page. e formation of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center

hopes to support the connection between research in basic medical science beyond the university’s community.

e 2021 recipient of the Rosenstiel Award was Robert Sinner for his “for his key role in revealing the dynamics of gene expression using high-resolution imaging,” according to the webpage. Holt and Schuman will receive the 2022 Rosenstiel Award in a presentation ceremony hosted by the university in Spring 2023.

PHOTO FROM BRANDEIS EDU

Swim and dive start season with sweep SPORTS

By Justin Leung editor

e Brandeis men’s and women’s swim and dive started their season strong in their rst meet of the season on Oct. 16. ey traveled to Hartwick College for the 16th annual Hartick Relays. Last year, the men’s and women’s teams both nished in rst place at the meet. Event one was the women’s 400-yard medley relay. Relay A saw the Judges nish rst, with the relay consisting of junior Monica Iizuka ’24, freshman Jasmine Huang ’26, senior Bailey Gold ’23 and sophomore Chloe Gonzalez ’25. e group combined to nish in 4:09.5, which was nine seconds faster than second place. In relay B, the Judges also nished in rst place with a time of 4:27.89. is group consisted of sophomore Anastasia Bekou ’25, sophomore Eva Parson ’25, senior Aria Smith ’23 and freshman Sophia Stewart ’26. e second event was the men’s 400yard medley relay. For relay A, the Judges nished in rst place with a team consisting of senior Benton Ferebee ’23, freshman Eric Xiao ’26, sophomore Gerald Deng ’25 and junior Ryan Schulken ’24. ey nished with a time of 3:43.91. Relay B also nished in rst place with a time of 3:55.54.

at team contained sophomore Tal Spector ’25, junior Leone Kisler ’24, senior James Smith ’23 and freshman Joseph Parsons ’26.

e next event was the women’s 3x100 yard backstroke relay. Brandeis’ team consisted of Bekou, junior Maya Haubrich ’24 and Iizuka. ey nished relay A in rst place with a time of 3:05.31. Relay B was also won by the Judges, as freshman Becca Kaplan ’26, senior Becky Goodfellow ’23 and freshman Nicole Caruso ’26 nished in 3:20.48. Event four was the men’s 3x100 yard backstroke relay. For relay A, the Judges won by nine seconds with a time of 2:48.10. ey were led by Spector, sophomore Andrew Ngo ’25 and Ferebee. Event ve was the women’s 3x100 yard backstroke relay. In relay A, the Judges nished in rst place with a time of 3:42.01, which was 11 seconds faster than second place. e team consisted of Huang, Kaplan and Parson. Brandeis also nished in second place for relay B, with the team containing junior Alex Pickett, freshman Sophia Kriegsman ’26 and freshman D’Arcy Anselmi ’26. e next event was the men’s 3x100 yard backstroke relay. Brandeis once again won the event with a time of 3:06.06. is team consisted of Xiao, Ngo and freshman Benjamin Lee ’26. Looking to continue the winning streak, the next event was the women’s 3x100 yard butter y relay. e Judges nished in rst, with the group consisting of Gold, senior Ema Rennie ’23 and Gonzalez. ey nished with a time of 3:07.39 and were four seconds in

front of second place. Freshman Audrey Teo ’26, Goodfellow and Aria Smith also won relay B with a time of 3:29.00. Event eight was the men’s 3x100 yard butter y relay. is time the Judges narrowly nished in second place with a time of 2:46.73, as they were just .33 seconds behind rst. e team contained Deng, Aria Smith and freshman AJ Martinez ’26. Next came the women’s 850-yard freestyle relay. e Judges won in dominant fashion as they nished in 8:52.09, which was 20 seconds faster than second place. is group consisted of Rennie, Gonzalez, freshman Jenna Wild ’26 and Caruso. In the men’s 850-yard freestyle relay, they also won convincingly with a 7:41.01 nish. e group consisted of Xiao, James Smith, Lee and junior Sam Dienstag ’24 won by 36 seconds. Event 11 was the mixed 200-yard medley relay. Brandeis once again came in rst for relay A, and were led by Maya, Kaplan, Deng and James Smith. ey nished in 1:49.22. In relay B, the Judges also came in rst, as the team consisted of Parsons, Pickett, Parson and junior Ido Petel ’24. In the women’s 200yard freestyle relay, the Judges narrowly nished in rst place with a time of 1:44.29. e team of Gonzalez, Rennie, Caruso and Wild beat second place by two seconds for relay A. While in relay B, the margin of victory was even smaller, as the Judges won by one second. e team was

made of Maya, Kriegsman, Aria Smith and Parson. Event 13 was the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay.

e Judges nished in rst place for relay A with a team consisting of Xiao, Dienstag, Ferebee and Ngo. eir 1:28.47 time beat second place by .38 seconds. In relay B, Brandeis nished in rst place with a time of 1:32.52 and were led by freshman Solomon Skelton-Harris ’26, Schulken, Petel and freshman Eric Cherny ’26. e next event was the women’s 3x200 yard medley relay. Brandeis won relay A again with the team consisting of Bekou, Maya and Teo. ey nished in 7:10.15, which was 22 seconds faster than second place. e Judges also won relay B, with a team made up of Aria Smith, Anselmi and Stewart. Event 15 was the men’s 3x200 medley relay and the Judges nished rst again. Lee, Spector and freshman Sam Bundy ’26 led the team to a 6:23.66 nish. e women’s 200-yard medley relay was next, and Brandeis won relay A with a time of 1:53.98. e team consisted of Iizuka, Huang, Gold and Rennie. Bekou, Teo, Anselmi and Stewart also won relay B with a time of 2:01.78. is event was followed by the men’s 200-yard medley relay. Brandeis nished in second with the group containing Spector, sophomore Allen Hawkins ’25, Martinez and Schulken. Event 18 was the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay. e Judges won both relay A and B with times 3:51.12 and 4:10.49

respectively. Relay A was led by Wild, Teo, Kaplan and Caruso, while relay B was led by Anselmi, Goodfellow, Kriegsman and Stewart. In the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay, the Judges also won both relay A and B. e relay A group consisted of Dienstag, Schulken, Skelton-Harris and Ferebee and they nished in 3:19.53. Relay B was made of Parsons, Hawkins, Kisler and Cherny and they nished in 3:32.60. e last women’s event of the day was the women’s 800yard medley relay. ey absolutely dominated this nal race of the day with a time of 9:13.95, Iizuka, Huang, Gold and Wild led the team to a win that saw them 40 seconds ahead of second place. e nal event of the day was the men’s 800-yard medley relay. Brandeis won this last race in extremely convincing fashion with a time of 8:21.9. is team consisting of Dienstag, Ngo, Deng and Lee won the race by a whopping 53 seconds. Overall, the women’s team nished in rst place with a score of 140. ey won all ten of the races on the day. e men’s team also nished in rst place with a score of 132. ey were close to the clean sweep, but still won eight of ten races. e two races they didn’t nish in rst, they were narrowly in second place. A er a great start to the season, the two teams look to continue this success at Vassar College on Oct. 22.

By Jillian Brosofsky staff

e Judges rang in their 20222023 season in a home game on Saturday where they dominated their matches against Nichols College. Going 9-0, the women’s

tennis team swept all three doubles and all six singles matches. Combined, the rst two doubles matches, with teams Bhakti Parwani ’25 and Rebecca Suarez ’26 and Cecilia Denis ’25 and Phoebe Tamaoki ’26, lost two games, 8-1 each. Sophomore team Sabrina Loui ’25 and Anastasia Sia

’25 won 8-3 in third doubles.

Loui was joined by rst-year Tamaoki in the double bagel club. ey played at third and h singles respectively. e closest match was at rst singles. Firstyear Suarez won in a tight second set, 6-3, 7-5. Other singles results included Parwani’s 6-2, 6-0 win at

second singles, Sia’s 6-2, 6-3 win at fourth singles and Nancy Zhang’s ’26 6-1, 6-0 win at sixth singles.

In total, the Judges lost ve games in all three doubles matches and eight games in second through sixth singles in a total of two hours and 15 minutes.

With this overwhelming win,

Brandeis women’s tennis also closes out their fall season matches, picking back up in February 2023. ey’ll kick o that leg of their season with an away match against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Brandeis volleyball is serving the 2022 season

By Francesca Marchese staff

e Brandeis University volleyball squad wrapped up the University Athletic Association (UAA) regular season in Rochester, New York. A er losing a pair of contests to sixth-ranked Emory University and the University of Rochester, both 3-0, the Brandeis women’s volleyball team is the eighth seed at November’s UAA tournament. Despite their standing in conference play, the Judges remain positive, committed and driven to attack the remainder of the 2022 season.

e Judges went headto-head against Emory in the opening set, taking a late 16-15 lead over the Eagles. Arianna Jackson ’23 and Sydney Bent (GRAD) defended the net to tie things up, and Emory’s attack error on the following possession gave the Judges the lead. e Emory Eagles took a necessary timeout and gained unstoppable momentum, scoring 10 of the set’s nal 13 points to secure the opening set, 25-19. e second set fell in the Eagles’ favor, as well. While the Judges were unable to force a fourth set, they rallied from an

eight-point de cit o a 10-4 run and withstood multiple match points in the third set. Emory did eventually close out the third set 25-23, but the Judges fought hard. Service was a key factor in this matchup, as the Eagles dominated with 12 aces to the Judges’ three.

A er falling to the Eagles, the Judges faced the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. U of R took an early 12-5 lead, but Brandeis found their legs and recovered by winning six-straight points to tighten the gap, 12-11.

e Judges tied things up at 16 and the Yellowjackets scored three consecutive points to snap an 18-all tie. Both squads traded points, but the hosts took the opening set, 25-22. Motivated and determined, the Judges took an 8-6 advantage on a Bent kill. U of R retaliated by winning the next ve points and never trailing again. Stephanie Borr ’22 helped the Judges establish an early 11-7 lead in the third on a service ace, but a er seven ties and ve lead changes, Rochester went up 24-22. Brandeis held o the rst two match points and had a pair of set points of their own at 25-24 and 26-24. Unfortunately, the Yellowjackets scored the nal three points to close out

the game, 28-26. While Rochester did have a 10-8 advantage in aces, the Brandeis Judges owned the net with an 8-2 edge in blocks. In both matches, Bent led the Judges in kills with 12 against Emory and 10 against Rochester; so far this season, Bent has double-digit kills in 10 matches, including the last four. Defensively, Bent totaled 11 digs against the Yellowjackets for her seventh double-double of the 2022 season. Ella Pereira ’24 led Brandeis

in digs in both matches with nine against the Eagles and 13 against the Yellowjackets. Texas natives

Rita Lai ’24 and Lara Verstovsek ’25 each had ve kills against Emory and Lai added a teamhigh three block assists. Verstovsek tallied seven kills against Rochester, while Lai had ve blocks, including one solo. Head Coach Alesia Bennett utilized a two-setter line-up. Rookie Julia Liang ’26 posted 14 assists and veteran Ines Grom-Mansencal

’24 added 11 against the Emory Eagles; the two recorded opposite totals against the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. e Brandeis Judges return to non-conference action in Red Auerbach Arena on ursday, Oct. 20, taking on the visiting Johnson and Wales University at 6 p.m. e Brandeis volleyball squad will look to increase their 9-12 non-conference record.

By Justin Leung editor

Six days a er their homecoming game, the Brandeis men’s soccer team traveled to the University of Rochester to play their second to last away game of the season. is was set to be their third University Athletic Association (UAA) game of the season in a big rematch from last year. In their matchup last year, the Judges the game went through two overtimes, but neither team could score. is year, the Judges sent out sophomore goalkeeper Quintin Wrabley ’25 for his rst career start in goal. Rochester started the game o with a couple of early shots, but they were blocked. Brandeis got their rst shot in the eighth minute of the game by junior forward Max Horowitz ’24. His shot was on target but saved by the Rochester goalie. Horowitz had another shot a few minutes later but it went wide. Wrabley made his rst save of his career in the 18th minute to keep the game tied. Rochester continued to put pressure on Brandeis, but the Judges’ defense held strong. Senior forward Khalil Winder

’23 and sophomore back Andres Gonzalez ’25 had the last Judges shots of the half, but the game remained tied at 0-0 at hal ime. Brandeis was outshot by Rochester 5-8 in the rst half and also had two less corner kicks than Rochester. Wrabley made a good save to start the second half to make sure Rochester didn’t take the momentum. First-year midelder Nico Beninda ’26 followed a few minutes later with his rst shot of the game, but it went wide. Mid elder Rainer Osselmann-Chai ’26 also had his rst shot of the game shortly a er, but it was blocked. For the rest of the half, the two teams traded shots, but neither team could score— until the 82nd minute when Rochester took the lead to nally break the tie. e Judges had one more opportunity to tie the game in the 85th minute, but Beninda’s shot went wide. ey lost a heartbreaker to Rochester 0-1. Although the Judges outshot Rochester 7-5 in the second half, they were still outshot overall 12-13. Rochester also had ve shots on target compared to Brandeis’ four. Wrabley had a very strong rst career game with ve saves and just one goal allowed. Rochester had eight cor-

ner kicks compared to Brandeis’ four. e game was a physical game, as the two teams combined for 22 total fouls in the game, with Rochester having 12 of those. After nearly 200 consecutive scoreless minutes between the two teams over two games, Rochester nally got the better of Brandeis.

Looking to turn this part of the season around, the Judges traveled to Emory University for their nal UAA away game of the season. Last year, the Judges also went to overtime against Emory; however, in this game they scored just six minutes into the period and won the game 3-2. Emory was clearly ready for this revenge game, as they had three shots within the rst ve minutes of the game; however, they all missed the net. Senior forward Sancho Maroto Tobias ’23 had his rst shot of the day in the ninth minute, but it was saved by the Emory goalie. Beninda had a few consecutive shots shortly a er, but they were also saved. Brandeis nally went on top a er a great corner kick from Osselmann-Chai. Maroto Tobias took advantage of the great corner and backheeled the ball into the net. It was Maroto Tobias’ fourth goal of the season and Osselmann-Chai’s h assist of the

season. e Judges weren’t done there, as Horowitz and sophomore Toby Marwell ’25 combined to get another pass to Maroto Tobias just three minutes later. Maroto Tobias once again put the ball into the back of the net and gave the Judges a 2-0 lead. at put him at ve goals for the season. It was Horowitz’s third assist of the season and Marwell’s rst assist of his entire career. Emory didn’t give up there, though. Ten minutes before half time, Emory scored their rst goal of the game to cut their de cit to 1-2. Brandeis had the advantage in shots a er the rst half, 13-8, but the game was still close. e Judges also were playing very physically, with seven fouls in the rst half. is would prove to be foreshadowing for the rest of the game. It took just one minute into the start of the second half for Emory to tie the game at 2-2. Emory most certainly had the momentum at this point. Beninda tried to answer two minutes later, but his shot was saved. en everything went downhill for the Judges as they got a red card in the 51st minute. Being down a player really put Brandeis on their heels for the rest of the game. Shortly a er that red card, Emory took the lead 3-2.

Connecticut College

By Justin Leung editor

In their last race before the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, the Brandeis men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to compete in the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 15. Last year, the men’s team nished in 15th place, and the women’s team nished in seventh.

Senior Matthew Driben ’23 not only led the men’s team, but the entire race. He nished the rst 8k of the day in rst place with a time of 25:25.40. is was his fastest 8k time by 14 seconds and his third race win this season.

Sophomore Lucas Dia ’25 was not far behind. Dia nished in fourth place with a time of 26:22.60, which was a new personal best in the 8k for him. is was the second time Dia has nished under 27 minutes. en came rst-year TJ Carleo ’26 in 12th. He nished

with a time of 26:43.40. First-year Rob King ’26 was shortly behind him in 24th place with a time of 27:11.10. Sophomore Daniel Janicki ’25 rounded out the top ve runners for the Judges with a 74th place nish. He ran the 8k in 29:36.30. Sophomore Ethan Meilander ’25 and senior Taylor Diamond ’23 nished in 95th and 125th respectively. Meilander nished the race in 30:31.60, while Diamond nished in 34:55.30.

Overall, the men’s cross country team nished in third place with 109 points.

In her rst race of the season, junior Juliette Intrieri ’24 was the top racer for the women’s cross country team, as she nished 6k in 39th place. She nished in 22:48.00 and set a new personal best by 15 seconds. Senior Bridget Pickard ’23 was next from the Judges with a time of 23:24.70. Pickard placed 83rd and she also set a new personal best in the 6k with a 24-second improvement.

Junior Lizzy

Reynolds ’24 n-

ished shortly later with a time of 23:29.20 in 88th. First-year Katriona Briggs ’26 nished 95th in her rst time running the course. She was just a few seconds behind Reynolds, with a time of 23:33.20. Sophomore Zada Forde ’25 rounded out the team’s top ve with a 23:35.60 nish. Forde placed 100th and set a new personal record by 15 seconds.

First-year Ella Werkentine ’26 was not far behind Forde as she nished in 107th place. In her rst time running the course, Werkentine nished the 6k in 23:42.30. Junior Katie Lyon ’24 came next with a time of 24:09.20 and in 144th. She improved on her previous 6k time by over two minutes. Junior Adah Anderson ’24 nished in 266th and improved her previous 6k time 30:29.5 to 26:22.80. e women’s team overall nished in 14th with a score of 378. e next stop for both of these teams is the UAA Championships in Georgia on Oct. 29.

Last year, the men’s team nished eighth, while the women’s team nished in sixth.

Editor-In-Chief Victoria Mor-

Although the Judges were getting solid shots o , they could not convert. Additionally, since Emory had the man advantage, they continued to push the attack and that led to another goal in the 87th minute. Brandeis couldn’t make the comeback and lost 2-4. ere was de nitely plenty of o ense, as the two teams combined for 49 shots in the game. Emory ended up outshooting Brandeis 15-13 in the second half, but Brandeis still ended up with three more shots overall. Brandeis had 12 corner kicks compared to Emory’s nine. Senior Aiden Guthro ’23 had nine saves in the game, which was the same number of saves as the Emory goalie. Six of those nine saves came in the second half for Guthro. It was another physical game, with Brandeis having 12 fouls and Emory having nine. It’s been a tough stretch for the Judges as they have not won a game in October. e team now sits at 4-6-2 overall and 0-4 for conference games. However, they look to turn things around with a home game against Saint Joseph’s College of Maine on Oct. 22. It is their last non-conference game of the season.

By Natasha Girshin

Twenty-one-year-old Czech Canadian Arber Xhekaj (pronounced jack-eye) made headlines for being the youngest undra ed defenseman on the Montreal Canadiens to score a point in the National Hockey League (NHL). ere was no dra before 1963, and from 1963 to ’69 it was only used to supplement teams’ roster pools, as most of the best prospects had been signed up by then. So in essence, almost any NHL player of any consequence before 1969 was undra ed. e prior youngest player to do so was 21-year-old Sylvain Lefebvre on Oct. 7, 1989. Xhekaj, who was never dra ed

by the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) or the NHL, made his debut with the Canadiens on Oct. 12, 2022. e Hamilton, Ontario native came o an outstanding prior season that saw him guide his hometown Bulldogs to an OHL championship, recording 16 points in 18 contests during the playo s last year.

Xhekaj skated 12:47, threw four hits and had two shots on goal in his rst NHL contest as the Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in their home opener. e 6-foot-4-inch 238-pound defender recorded 20 goals, 34 assists and 54 points in 161 OHL regular season games between 2018 and 2022.

Xhekaj worked as an employee at a Costco store where he was red due to lack of availability from playing hockey

at the same time. ree months later he made his NHL debut. e former OHLer has been a problem for his opponents since his junior days, playing the style of game that endears him to hometown fans and infuriates those who play against him. Signed to an entry-level deal with the Habs a er an impressive showing in training camp last year, Xhekaj earned this point in his career the hard way. He was an invitee to the Habs’ rookie camp and then earned a call to the team’s main camp. To say Xhekaj has been a problem for his opponents this pre-season would be an understatement. He’s made hits with players such as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Michael Bunting and almost everyone on the Ottawa Senators in the rookie tournament

and four pre-season encounters.

“I like being the bad guy,” Xhekaj said in a post-game interview. “O the ice, I’m a nice guy and I’m very calm and gentle. But when I get on the ice, it comes out of business, and I can ip the switch pretty quick.”

Xhekaj is a bit of a throwback player. Aggressive, o ensive and downright punishing as a defender. He also brings some modern qualities to his game such as a quality skating ability and intelligent passing skills. He has a big shot as well, and he certainly isn’t afraid to use it.

He’s been suspended twice in the OHL: once for a slew foot and another time for making a sleeping gesture a er a ght in which he knocked his opponent out cold. Xhekaj was feared in the

rongiello is co-captain of the women’s cross country team and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.

OHL. Xhekaj understood how to play a simple, safe and e ective defensive game while also battering his opponents in front of the net and along the boards. He has e ectively blended the old-school enforcer with the modern-day defenseman. at physicality and brash nature that Xhekaj brings to the game has endeared him to the Canadiens’ coaching sta and management, as well as fans. ose qualities are also why he may have a case to at least start the season with the Habs. Needless to say, Arber Xhekaj is a player to look out for in the coming seasons and can be a huge turning point for the Canadiens if they choose to hold onto him.

editor

PHOTO BY VICTORIA MORRONGIELLO

By Justin Leung editors

e 2022-2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) season is just getting underway. A er this past o season and most recent NBA playo s, there have been some interesting storylines that have developed that may de ne this season. Here are a few that I found particularly intriguing. Are the Boston Celtics ready to be the best in the league?

A er reaching the NBA Finals last year, the Celtics looked like one of the best teams in the league. ey started the season relatively slow but went on an incredible run to save the season.

eir defense signi cantly improved with great defensive play from guard Marcus Smart and center Robert Williams III. e o ense was steadily maintained by forwards Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum, so going into the playo s they looked to be a true contender to win the nals. Although they played well overall, they could not handle the Golden State Warriors’ o ense, and ultimately lost the series 2-4. Now what? In the o season, rumors circled regarding a trade for Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant. is trade would have included Brown going to the Nets. ere were mixed reactions because some people did not want to ruin the core of the team, while others wanted one of the greatest scorers of all time. In the end, no trade was made, but it did make people think about what was next for the Celtics. Are they ready to contend every year?

eir core is relatively young but has tons of talent. Celtics head coach Ime Udoka recently got suspended by the Celtics, so that may throw a wrench in

Fun NBA storylines

their plans. But overall are we going to see this team continue to perform like they did at the end of last season? Or are we going to see Boston regret not trading for Durant in the o season?

What is going on with the Warriors?

e Warriors are the NBA champions. A er beating Boston in the NBA Finals last year, they looked ready to make another run again. eir dynasty was back. en there were rumors about another Durant trade. Was this championship-winning team really going to break up to bring Durant back? e Nets rescinded the trades before that could even have a chance at becoming a reality. en forward Draymond Green punched guard Jordan Poole during a practice. e two players were arguing and Green punched Poole in the face. Shortly later, Poole was given a fouryear $123 million extension. So, the team stayed together a er all the drama. Even though on the surface everything seems okay, is everything really okay? How can you continue to play with a guy that punched you in the face?

e Nets experiment take four

In 2019 the Nets signed both Durant and guard Kyrie Irving, two of the best players in the NBA. ey were truly forming a super team. Year one of that super team didn’t work because Durant was mostly injured. Year two didn’t work because Irving didn’t want to get vaccinated. en in year three, the Nets were done messing around and traded for All-Star guard James Harden. e team should have been one of the best teams ever assembled. But then everything again fell apart. Irving continued to have troubles and Harden just wasn’t great. So, the Nets gave up and traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben

Simmons. Simmons didn’t play for the entire 2021-2022 season and the Nets continued to not win. ey got swept in the rst round of the playo s by the Celtics. What happens now? e team’s big three now consists of Irving, Durant and Simmons. A full season of these three players without any interruptions should be good, right? Durant was almost traded in the o season so maybe the Nets don’t think so. ey didn’t end up trading him so there is some faith, but is this the last chance for the super team? Did the Nets make another trade mistake?

Young teams becoming the best teams e NBA is getting better and better with each year. is is because the players from college and elsewhere are just better, so the NBA overall is getting more competitive. A few young teams are looking to make legitimate pushes for the playo s as their young players develop. Teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons look like they are truly ready to compete with the best of the best. e Cavaliers traded for Donovan Mitchell in the o season and now looked primed to be good for a long time. Led by recently draed forward Evan Mobley, guard Darius Garland and Mitchell, the team has the potential to be one of the best in the league. e Pistons also look primed to make a jump. A er dra ing guard Cade Cunningham last year, the team already looked substantially better. Now they add guard Jaden Ivey and center Jalen Duren, and all of a sudden they are even better. What’s going on with the Los Angeles Lakers and Russell Westbrook?

e entire o season all everyone heard about the Lakers was, “What are they going to do

with Westbrook?” Westbrook is one of the best point guards of the past decade. He has averaged triple-doubles for an entire season and even won the Most Valuable Player award in 2017 with the Oklahoma City under. en he was traded all over the place. He went to the Houston Rockets, then to the Washington Wizards and nally to the Lakers. A team consisting of Lebron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook should be good right? Last year they were actually terrible. Westbrook clearly was not a good t for the team. His lack of perimeter shooting made it di cult to play him at the same time as James and Davis. So going into the o season everyone was calling for him to be traded.

e issue was that Westbrook’s contract is terrible. He is getting paid over $40 million a year. So, in the end the Lakers kept him. Now new questions come up. Is he coming o the bench? Is he even going to play? Who knows?

e Lakers are in a strange spot with James getting older and the team not being great since their championship in 2020. So, they might want to gure things out sooner rather than later.

Luca Dončić is the best offensive player in the NBA

A er watching the playo s last year, I have come to the conclusion that Dončić is the best o ensive player in the NBA. He carried the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals because he was so impossible to guard. rough the seven games he played in the playo s, he averaged 35.7 points, 10.3 assists and 7.9 rebounds a game. at is absolutely absurd. When you watch him play you can see how he can shoot from anywhere. He can drive by anyone, and he can make the right pass to set up his teammates to score. Dončić has been

great since he entered the league, but in the playo s, we saw a whole di erent side. He is de nitely a candidate to be the best player overall by the end of the season. Is Zion Williamson healthy?

Zion Williamson at Duke University was one of the most fun players I have ever watched in college basketball. He was a human highlight reel. His dunks were crazy, and his blocks looked superhuman. It was obvious that he was the best player in his dra class, and of course he got dra ed number one overall in the 2019 dra class by the New Orleans Pelicans. Due to injuries, Williamson sat out part of his rst year in the NBA, but when he played his rst game, it was evident that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. In just 12 minutes, he scored 22 points while shooting 72.7% from the eld. e rest of the season was similar. When he did play, he was incredible. e key though was him actually playing, and this continued for the next couple of years. Williamson continued to get injured and there were rising concerns about his weight. His weight was concerning because everyone was worried whether or not he was going to lose some of that explosiveness. is year though, it looks like he is in much better shape. He apparently lost around 24 pounds during his rehabilitation process. Williamson said, “My focus over the summer was just to get back to playing shape, playing condition and honing my cra as usual. I feel like I’m at my best right now. I feel like I’m moving faster, jumping higher, I feel great.” If Williamson can nally stay healthy, the Pelicans might be one of the best teams in the NBA.

By Justin Leung editor

A er homecoming, the Brandeis women’s soccer team played their next two games away. eir rst game was on Oct. 14, and it was a University Athletic Association (UAA) game against the University of Rochester. Last year, in their late-season matchup, the Judges took the lead midway through the second half to give them a 2-1 victory. In the past two games, the Judges have had some slow starts, so they looked to get going early in this game. Senior mid elder Caroline Swan ’23 quickly had the rst shot of the game in just the rst minute, but the shot went wide. Sophomore defender Morgan Collins ’25 had the rst shot on target a few minutes later, but it was saved by the Rochester goalie. e Judges kept the o ense going with a shot by senior forward Juliette Carreiro ’26 in the seventh minute. However, even with all these shots, they couldn’t nd the back of the net. Rochester responded with a few shots of their own, but they barely got any shots on target. All of a sudden it was half time, and the game was tied 0-0. e two teams were tied with ve shots each through the rst half, but Brandeis had three shots compared to Rochester’s one shot on target.

e Judges continued to put pressure on the Rochester defense going into the second half.

Junior forward Yasla Ngoma ’24 had a shot within the rst six seconds of the half, but it went wide. Carreiro also had a few more shots but they were blocked and saved. Brandeis was controlling the pace on o ense, but they just could not get anything into the net. It seemed like the game might just end in a draw. en in the 85th minute, Rochester nally broke through and scored a goal to give them a 1-0 lead. e Judges couldn’t respond within the last ve minutes and fell to Rochester in heartbreaking fashion 0-1. Brandeis outshot Rochester 8-3 in the second half and had two shots on goal compared to Rochester’s one. However, that one shot on target was the only goal of the game. Sophomore goalie Hannah Bassan ’25 had one save in the game. Carreiro led the team in shots with ve with Collins and Ngoma following her with two shots each. e Judges had eight corner kicks compared to Rochester’s one. Brandeis and Rochester were relatively even in fouls, as the Judges had seven and Rochester had nine. A er a few losses in a row, it was time for the Judges to turn it around. ey traveled to Emory University on Oct. 16 for another UAA game. In their battle last year, the Judges scored a goal halfway through the rst half and that goal proved to be the only goal in the entire game, so they won 1-0. e start to this year’s game was quite the oppo-

site. Junior forward Sydney Lenhart ’24 got the game started with a shot over the goal. en Emory came out ring on o ense with ve unanswered shots. e h shot went into the net at the 15th minute to give Emory an early 1-0 lead. For the rest of the half, Brandeis could not get their offense going; it was all Emory. e Judges could not even get another shot o until the 39th minute. is shot was by senior defender Meaghan McDonough ’23 but it sailed over the goal. At the end of the rst half, it was clear that Emory was controlling the pace of the game. Emory had 11 shots in the rst half compared to Brandeis’ two. ree of those 11 shots were on goal, while the Judges had no shots on goal in the rst half. e second half immediately showed promise, as Swan took advantage of a loss of control from Emory and sent the ball toward Carreiro. Carreiro took advantage of a great pass and scored to even the game at 1-1 just 21 seconds into the second half. It was Carreiro’s eighth goal of the season and Swan’s h assist of the season. e Judges were right back in the game. However, that momentum began to slip as Emory once again started ring shots on o ense. Emory scored again on a penalty kick in the 52nd minute to take the lead. Swan nearly equalized the game less than a minute later, but the shot was saved by the Emory goalie. Brandeis had a

few more opportunities to tie the game, but they could not score. Emory put the game out of reach in the 79th minute with their third goal of the day. e Judges couldn’t make the comeback and they ended up losing 1-3.

From start to nish, the Emory o ense kept Brandeis on their heels. Emory overall outshot Brandeis 23-8, with eight of those shots being on target for Emory and three of those shots being on target for Brandeis. Bassan had ve saves in the game. e two teams were even with four corner kicks each. It was a very physical game overall, as both teams

had 12 fouls each. Carreiro’s goal tied a career high for goals in a season and was her 24th goal of her career. Swan’s assist puts her one behind her career high for assists in a season set at six.

A er a few consecutive losses, the Brandeis women’s soccer team is now 6-6-1 overall and 0-4 in conference games. ey look to turn their fortunes around in an away game against the University of Southern Maine on Oct. 23. is will be their last away game of the season. Following that game, they will nally return for a home game against Washington University on Oct. 28.

Fifty-two athletes named All-UAA Academic

By Justin Leung editor

ere were 52 Brandeis athletes that were named to the All-UAA Academic team for the fall of 2022. is award is given to athletes that have completed at least one full year of college study and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.30. is the second highest number of Judges to earn this award during the fall season. e most in the fall season came last year, when there were 62 fall athletes earning the accolade.

Ten of the athletes were from the women’s cross coun-

By Thomas Pickering editor

is weekend marks the end of the fall break for the Formula 1 2022 season. A er a two-week hiatus from the cheering fans and sounds of the V6 (six-cylinder) turbocharged engines, F1 fans are looking forward to the season coming to the United States! But before the tires hit the tracks on the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, there is a lot to recap from the Japanese Grand Prix on Oct. 9. From Japan come two very di erent kinds of news: on the one hand Formula 1 fans are frustrated with the level of mismanagement and confusion when it came to the race in Suzuka, and on the other, all have become the peanut gallery to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) as initial reports of the budget cap investigation are coming back from the 2021 season.

Problems in Suzuka e Japanese Grand Prix began in the same way that most Belgian Grands Prix do—with massive amounts of rain. e track was covered in water and to most of the drivers, it looked like a swimming pool. For Formula 1 cars, water is a huge issue because just like the “normal” cars we drive on a more daily basis hydroplaning is a big concern. With the light weight of the F1 cars and the width of the tires the cars, unlike a normal passenger car, can act like a boat on even half an inch of water. So with water being the main concern of the drivers and their team strategists, all cars on the starting grid had their wet weather tires on. ese tires, unlike clear condition tires, have deep ridges to allow for water to travel under the tires without pushing up on the car and causing hydroplaning.

e cars approached the starting grid a er a slow warmup lap to inject heat into the tires. On the starting grid, Red Bull and Ferarri alternated spots in the rst four positions. In pole was Max Verstappen in his Redbull, followed by Charles Leclerc (Ferarri), Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Carlos Sainz (Ferarri). In sixth was Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes and in ninth was Sebastian Vettel in his Aston Martin.

Going into the race

Ferarri knew this was their last chance to stop Red Bull from driving away with the driver’s championship. If they could prevent Max Verstappen from winning the race then Ferarri would have a shot at slowing Verstappen’s lead. So when the lights went out in Suzuka, Ferarri knew what they had to do. Verstappen and Leclerc bolted out of the

try team. is included sophomore runners Kyra Au ’25, Kayla DiBenedetto ’25 and Zada Forde ’25. Furthermore this included juniors Adah Anderson ’24, Juliette Intrieri ’24, Katie Lyon ’24 and Lizzy Reynolds ’24. Finally, there were the seniors Bridget Pickard ’23, Kate Danziger ’23 and Victoria Morrongiello ’23. Nine of the athletes were from the men’s cross country team. e sophomores included Lucas Dia ’25, Daniel Frost ’25, Spencer Lee ’25 and Erik Lopez ’25. is also included juniors Willem Go ’24, Samuel Kim ’24 and Henry Nguyen ’24. Last but not least were the seniors Taylor Diamond

’23 and Matthew Driben ’23. ere were 13 Judges from the women’s soccer team that were named to the All-UAA Academic team. is included the senior mid elder Juliette Carreiro ’23, mid elder/forward Morgan Clark ’23, mid elder Jess Herman ’23, forward Makenna Hunt ’23, defender Meaghan McDonough ’23, goalkeeper Jessica Murawsky ’23, mid elder Sabrina Salov ’23, defender Ruby Siegel ’23 and mid elder Caroline Swan ’23. e sophomores included defender Morgan Collins ’25, mid elder Dominique Paglia ’25 and defender Ali Karafotias ’25. Lastly, this included

junior Charlotte TeKrony ’24. On the men’s soccer team, there were 12 athletes on the All-UAA Academic team. is included sophomore forward Henning Dierks ’25, back Andres Gonzalez ’25, forward John Loo ’25 and goalkeeper Quintin Wrabley ’25. In the junior class it included mid elder Liam Carpenter-Shulman ’24 and forward Max Horowitz ’24. e rest were seniors, including forward Josh Gans ’23, goalkeeper Aiden Guthro ’23, forward Sammy Guttell ’23, back Isaac Mukala ’23, back Forest Shimazu ’23 and forward Khalil Winder ’23. e nal eight athletes

came from volleyball. ere were four seniors, including Stephanie Borr ’23, Talia Freund ’23, Amelia Oppenheimer ’23 and Emerson White ’23. ree were juniors, including Rita Lai ’24, Gracie Lerian ’24 and Ella Pereira ’24. Last but not least was sophomore Lara Verstovsek ’25. Congratulations to all these Judges for excelling academically and in sports.

Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Victoria Morrongiello is a co-captain for the women’s cross country team and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.

starting grid and entering the rst turn it seemed like Leclerc would overtake Verstappen and leave him behind. But Verstappen was able to hold the outside of the turn and keep the lead in his possession away from Leclerc.

Unfortunately, the race never presented us with a challenge for the lead, but what happened behind Verstappen and Leclerc was a true nightmare for the drivers. A er the rst 10 turns of the race (components of the rst lap still) there were two drivers who did not nish due to hydroplaning. Alex Albon lost control of Williams’ car and spun the tail of his car into the barriers. Likewise, Sainz was unable to control his Ferarri in the rst few turns and lost his car into the track wall. More cars spun out due to hydroplaning and from Sainz’s crash debris ew onto the track and got caught by the front wing of Pierre Gastly’s Alpha Tauri car. Due to all of the issues on the rst lap the race coordinators postponed the race for 10 minutes to allow the rain to settle and for the track to dry up a little bit.

But race control in Japan made a major mistake when cleaning up from Sainz’s crash. ey sent a crane onto the track to remove the car from the wall but did not inform the drivers as to the location of the crane. is led Gastly, whose vision was already reduced due to the debris he was going to have removed from his car, to come within inches of crashing directly into the crane. From his

frustration, Gastly was recorded yelling at the race coordinators of the Japanese Grand Prix: “We lost Jules eight years ago in similar conditions, with a crane on track in the gravel. I don’t understand how eight years later, in similar conditions, we can see a crane. Not even in the gravel, on the racing line! It is not respectful to Jules, his family or his loved ones, or all of us. It was a dramatic incident. On that day we learned that we don’t want to see tractors in these conditions.”

is has led the FIA, the ruling body of Formula 1 and its lower divisions, to investigate the Japanese Grand Prix and work on implementing better rules during rainy conditions. But once the rain cleared the race was on again! Verstappen held the lead throughout the race but was followed closely by Leclerc and behind him Perez. At the last lap Verstappen was clearly the race winner but between Leclerc and Perez was a race for second. Perez was about to overtake Leclerc on the last turn when Leclerc drove onto the grass and out of the track to gain an advantage over Perez. However, due to this unsportsmanlike action, Leclerc was given a ve-second penalty which advanced Perez to second place behind his teammate and now a two-time world champion of Formula 1—Max Verstappen!

FIA Budget Cap Regulation

However, Verstappen’s second title as Formula 1 World Champion was overshadowed by

some very technical news from the FIA. For the 2021 Formula 1 season the FIA issued a budget cap for teams. e intention behind this action was to level the playing eld between teams. Prior to the 2021 season, teams were allowed to spend what they had for money which gave great advantages to the larger teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren which are teams who come from huge car manufacturers and have unconditional nancial support from their parent organizations. is means that car development, testing and design all favored those teams with more resources to accomplish larger tasks. en, for about a decade, smaller teams such as Williams Rocket Racing and Haas were unable to even compete with larger teams because they could not spend as much and because they were not winning races could not pick up sponsors as easily.

So, in 2021 the FIA placed a £114 million budget cap on each Formula 1 team. is budget cap came with degrees of penalties which are based on how much over the budget teams spent. Anything below a 5% overspend would be treated as a minor infraction and anything over that limit as major, with the FIA withholding discretion as to how these penalties would be issued. As of Oct. 20, the FIA concluded its investigation into Red Bull which was accused of going over the budget cap during the 2021 season. It was discovered that

the Red Bull team had spent over the budget but did not cross over the 5% margin into the realm of major budget infractions. Currently, the FIA is determining how Red Bull will be punished for their budgetary infraction and their decision will be released soon. is has shaken the Red Bull team, who now look towards the American Grand Prix in Austin with a very di erent attitude than they expected prior to racing in Suzuka. McLaren boss Zak Brown says Red Bull’s breach of the F1 2021 budget cap “constitutes cheating” in a letter written to the FIA. Brown went on further to even insist that Christian Horner’s team (Red Bull) should be penalized both nancially and on track/during car development. e implications of going over budget to any degree in Formula 1 can be quite important. ose who overspend by even a pound are given the advantage of more resources for car development and testing which can translate into further research which impacts future seasons. is is a huge blow to Red Bull’s momentum as a team that has won the Driver’s Championship for the past two years now. So with the eyes of F1 watching them remove the veil of spending on the Red Bull team, it is yet to be seen how fans and the FIA alike will view the Red Bull team going forward. Cheaters? Competitors? Or Liars? e Formula 1 world is waiting to make up its mind.

Interviews with Brandeis University’s academic leadership: the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional

By Cooper Gottfried editor

e chair of Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership, Professor Shirley Idelson, sat down for an interview with e Brandeis Hoot to shed a little light on the program, its future and herself. is interview is part of a series of interviews with the chairs of a plethora of di erent academic departments and programs at Brandeis.

Editor’s Note: is interview was recorded during the spring 2022 semester.

Why did you choose to come to Brandeis?

I’m a rabbi, I’m a historian and I’m also a journalist. All of my professional work, really going back to when I rst entered the rabbinate, has been focused on the intersection of higher education and Jewish leadership. I’ve worked in various positions in Hillel. I was Dean of a rabbinical school in New York City. e opportunity to serve as director of the Hornstein program was just unbelievably exciting for me because it’s really right there at that intersection that I care so much about, which is how we, as institutions of higher education, train a new cadre of Jewish leadership who can face the enormous challenges that not just the

Jewish community, but the global community, is facing. So it was a very exciting opportunity. To be at an institution like Brandeis also struck me as a very special opportunity because of [its] uniqueness.

Is there anything that you wish students knew about the Hornstein program?

What students should know is if they have an interest in Jewish professional leadership, Hornstein should be their rst stop. We have a B.A.-M.A. program that is open to Brandeis undergraduates.

So it’s conceivable that a Brandeis student could start the Hornstein program in their senior year, applying in their junior year. But, what Brandeis students should know about Hornstein is that it’s deeply committed to Jewish professional leadership, social justice, and empowering emerging leaders to have a vision for Jewish life and to make that vision real. We give our students the tools, the knowledge, the skills that they need to make their vision real out in the broader community. I would add that we have a nearly 100% placement rate, it’s a great … path toward having a meaningful career in the Jewish community.

Where do Hornstein graduates end up after graduation?

Our graduates serve in a whole range of mostly Jewish organizations from Jewish social justice

organizations to Jewish summer camps to the informal Jewish education sector, but also formal education. … ere’s a pretty broad range. e one thing I would add, because I said Jewish social justice organizations, which is a really important one, but also, Israel advocacy would be another area. A good number of our graduates are working in Israel advocacy and a whole range of other nonpro ts that don’t t any of those categories that I just mentioned, but just like nonpro ts they are geared toward very targeted needs within the Jewish world.

How many students typically participate in the Hornstein program?

Our graduating class this year is 19, and next year’s class [will be] 12 students. … It’s generally within that range.

What are the requirements to participate in the Hornstein program?

Being Jewish is not a requirement and not all Hornstein students are Jewish. We welcome absolutely everyone who is interested in the eld that we serve, which is Jewish professional leadership, but you do not have to be Jewish to go to enroll in Hornstein. … We’re looking for students who have a demonstrated capacity for leadership and who have the seeds of a vision for a world that they want to shape. We

want students to bring a strong academic record, but [we also look] beyond the classroom. You certainly can show leadership in the classroom and that’s important, but we also look at a student’s record outside of the classroom. A strong Hornstein candidate would have demonstrated leadership in any of a variety of areas. … at’s the mix that we look for: a strong academic record, a demonstrated capacity for leadership, and a vision for a world that they seek to create. Another thing that I love about the Hornstein program that’s really important is that we’re a pluralistic community, and that’s always been core to Hornstein. at’s one of the things that drew me to Hornstein. We have Hornstein students and have had in the past Hornstein students who are not Jewish, but the majority of students are Jewish. And one of the beautiful things about Hornstein is that we create a cohort experience, and the cohort experience in Hornstein is another thing I should have mentioned earlier. at’s really central to who we are building a strong sense of cohort is part of what Hornstein is about. And we do [all of] that in a pluralistic environment.

What draws you to reform Judaism speci cally?

In Hornstein … our aim is to bring people together across differences, and we do that really well. at’s really core to my approach to Judaism: an embrace of

pluralism. … What drew me, and still draws me, to reform Judaism is the principles of equality and the centrality of the Jewish tradition in relation to social justice. ose are two principles that are, I think, core to reform Judaism and very important to me.

Is there anything that you wish that the students knew about you?

I want to meet Brandeis students. So feel free to reach out, to talk about anything. I’d love to talk with you about Hornstein, but I also would love to talk to you about your life, your experience at Brandeis, your priorities, your vision for the world and the challenges that you’re hoping to be able to confront when you graduate from Brandeis. at’s the most important thing. I really have an open door, [so] feel free to reach out. You can put my email address (sidelson@brandeis.edu) in the article. at is the best way to reach me. … So that’s probably the most important thing: I’m just eager to meet Brandeis students.

Interviews with Brandeis University’s academic leadership: the HSSP Program

By Jessie Yang special to the hoot

e chair of Brandeis University’s Health: Science, Society, and Policy (HSSP) program, Professor Darren Zinner, sat down for an interview with e Brandeis Hoot to shed a little light on the program, its future and himself. is interview is part of a series of interviews with the chairs of a plethora of di erent academic departments and programs at Brandeis.

Zinner spoke on the cardinal components of the HSSP major; including the bene ts that students can gain from an interdisciplinary program like HSSP, the hands-on experience the program o ers and a few paths that students can follow a er graduating from Brandeis.

e HSSP major was created 20 years ago, Zinner explained, to build on many strengths Brandeis has as an institution. It’s an interdisciplinary track with strong connections to biology, natural

sciences, social sciences and policy. e program is also connected to the Heller School and the Legal Studies department primarily, according to Zinner.

According to Zinner, “maybe 20 percent to 25 percent [of HSSP students] are in a pre-clinical pathway that could be medicine, nursing, or dental, another group [works] in hospitals and insurance companies. Another group might be interested in global health. Other groups probably work for patient advocacy or more social justice concerns working for nonpro ts across the board. And others might get graduate degrees like a master of public health or master of public policy, or even a healthcare-oriented MBA.”

Other paths toward nursing school, assistant dentistry or physical therapy are popular too.

“Insurance companies, clinics and pharmaceutical rms all need scientists and managers and directors,” Zinner added.

A er introducing the post-graduation possibilities for HSSP students, Zinner talked about one of

the most critical components of the HSSP program: the hands-on experience. He mentioned that “two-thirds [of HSSP students] satisfy the hands-on experience requirement through an internship. ose internships need to be with health care organizations, but the range is as wide as our students take.”

Students ful ll the hands-on experience requirement in many di erent ways, Zinner went on: “we have folks teaching ve-yearolds about nutrition in a summer camp. We have folks who are working at Manhattan Mental Health court.” According to the HSSP website, there are eight di erent ways that students can complete the experience requirement.

e rst option, which Zinner described, is having students complete an internship and take a class in tandem with it. ere are other options including a summer study abroad program in Mérida, Mexico with the HSSP 137A class. Students can also ful ll the requirement by choosing other

study abroad programs with a health-related focus, according to the university’s page. HSSP majors could also elect to do a senior thesis or independent research, according to the page.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the major created additional options for students in order to complete the requirement. e temporary options were created because the department wanted to recognize the struggle of obtaining an internship due to COVID-19 restrictions, according to the HSSP page.

e HSSP program provides a lot of freedom for students. Zinner also added that some students try a study abroad program to ful ll the hands-on experience requirements. As described above, one such program is the Brandeis in Mérida program “in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, where [students] learn about public health in South and Central America.” Zinner also mentioned that some HSSP students study abroad in London or Denmark.

He went on to explain that HSSP

students do their internships in a variety of di erent ways. “In bio labs at Brandeis and others in biotech rms. Some work in hospitals or nursing homes, but we also have interns that are working with helping in a living center with traumatic brain injury,” said Zinner.

Zinner added that hands-on experience plays a vital role for students who want to try something in the real world, which might help them con rm their path after graduation. According to Zinner, the vital component of HSSP is that the program tackles more than just medicine or research, but both the justice and the medical needs in the real world. Zinner listed a couple of essential factors that could possibly impact an individual’s medical well-being, including housing, environment and nutrition.

e HSSP major provides students with an interdisciplinary study of health and hands-on experience opportunities, the major prepares students for a variety of professional opportunities.

Time after time: goodbye to standard

Editors-in-Chief

Victoria Morrongiello

Thomas Pickering

Madeline Rousell

Managing Editor Mia Plante

Copy Editor Logan Ashkinazy

News Editor Roshni Ray

Arts Editors

Rachel Rosenfield Cyrenity Augustin

Opinions Editor Cooper Gottfried

Features Editor Jenny Zhao

Sports Editor Justin Leung

Deputy Sports Editor Natasha Girshin

Editor-at-large Lucy Fay

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Nov. 6 will mark the end of daylight savings time across the continental United States with the one exception of Arizona—the only state to not follow daylight savings time. However, the Sunshine Protection Act, introduced in March of 2021 by Florida Senator Marco Rubio could change all of that. e bill would ensure that the new standard time around the entire United States would be daylight savings time. For those who only know the time distinction as “fall back” and “spring ahead,” daylight savings time is the period of time that runs from spring through summer and into fall. During this period of time, the country is one hour ahead. e traditional bene t of this system is that it preserves daylight during the day—hence the name daylight “savings.” With sunset delayed an hour it makes for longer days in the warmer months. An argument in favor of the change of time presented by Rubio is that it gives children an additional hour of sunlight a er school which will allow for safer trips home, more time spent outdoors and other health benets. However, every coin has two sides, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has listed some issues with a permanent erasure of standard time for daylight savings time. According to the AASM, standard time is the time most closely associated with

the circadian rhythms within our bodies. We wake up with the sun beaming down and fall asleep with the dark cover of the night sky over us. is is how our bodies are tuned when placed in an original and natural environment. In defense of standard time, the AASM has said, “When we receive more light in the morning and darkness in the evening, our bodies and nature are better aligned, making it easier to wake up for our daily activities and easier to fall asleep at night. Daylight saving time disrupts our internal clock, leading to sleep loss and poor sleep quality, which in turn lead to negative health consequences.” ey even noted that with more darkness in the morning that the level of car crashes, accidents and fatality rate of said accidents will increase as well. is would be due to sleep loss and decreased visibility in the morning. Both sides make powerful cases for their idea of the perfect way to measure time throughout the day. However, what are people if not the social beings that we are? We desire more time in the day and more hours of light to spend with friends. Let us not forget that time is a concept we created to measure our days. What can be a natural circadian rhythm can also be an altered one! As college students, it is truly depressing to walk into a 3:30 p.m. lecture with sunshine and after one hour or more of class walk

out to a dark dreary landscape. It is understandable that some want the sun to be up when they are, especially since the sun would not rise in New York in January until 8:30 a.m. But it is when we try to make society natural that we lose the idea of what society is. It is a re ection of human attitudes and for those, like us, who desire a longer day with later sunsets, we stand by the Sunshine Protection Act. So as we head towards this change in clocks make sure you are taking care of yourself. Seasonal depression is common in individuals ages 18 to 30 when there is a shi in the number of daylight hours between seasons. As we begin to take nals and receive rubrics for group projects, make sure you are also prioritizing your individual health both mentally and physically. is time of year is stressful. You’ve got exams and projects, the u, no more long weekends and now less daylight. It's a culmination of a lot of stressors that can trigger an individual. But know that you will get through it. You will get through that test and even though it may be stressful you’ll learn something from it. And yes, this may be the last daylight savings, but it will hopefully lead to positive sleep and health consequences. Look for the silver linings in these di cult moments and know that while they may suck in the moment it is only temporary.

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Abigail Roberts, Sophie Salgian, David Shapiro, Matt Shapiro, Naomi Stevenson, Michael Sun, Jamie Trope, V, and Alex Williams

Why do so many Asians hate cinnamon?

By Jenny Zhao editor

You know it’s that time of the year when the fall weather turns cold. No matter if it is a drink or a home supply, or if you walk

into a Starbucks or Bath & Body Works, you will de nitely notice a seasonal limited edition avor: pumpkin spice.

I was fooled by the warm orange color and the word pumpkin when I rst came to the US.

I still remember when I went to

my friend’s house and her mom baked us a pumpkin pie. It looked so delicious, but it tasted nothing like pumpkins at all. Instead, it was extremely sweet with an eerie scent like you were licking a piece of bark. I started to hate pumpkin avoring a er that experience.

I later realized that there was no reason to blame pumpkin. It was cinnamon that played the bark role. erea er, I have been trying my best to avoid cinnamon at all costs, but it is still di cult.

I once thought that the chai tea latte was a ai tea latte at Starbucks, and so I ordered a venti cup, but I ended up having to throw the whole thing away. en, I was not sure if the apple pie in the dining hall contained cinnamon; wary, I had to let my American friend try it before I did. en, of course, one of the most popular American pastries,

a cinnamon bun, was a big red ag in my diet.

Cinnamon is dangerous and stealthy. It does not always reveal its presence from the name of the product like a cinnamon bun. It secretly lies within the ingredients chart, trying to scare those haters as much as it can. It is sugarcoated in an enticing orange or red warm tone with the hoax of being “seasonal” and “limited time,” tempting the innocents to take a bite or sni

I hate cinnamon, and so do 90% of my East Asian friends. As a spice native to Sri Lanka but later gaining popularity in the West Indies and South America, cinnamon does not always have a place in the diet of East Asians. ere is another possible assumption that cinnamon was rst used as medicine in China, so the Chinese have this natural fear of medicine

in their DNA when cinnamon comes to be in their food. Cinnamon is always accompanied by a massive amount of sugar, and the diet of East Asians does not tend to contain too much sugar. Also, cinnamon does not act like some common seasonings like pepper or soy sauce that build up the avor of a dish. e strong aroma of cinnamon directly gives the avor of the dish. at might be the reason that we cannot always tell whether a certain dish has soy sauce, but can always identify whether it contains cinnamon. It is o entimes so identical that it easily catches the attention of cinnamon haters.

Maybe fall isn’t my favorite season because it is the cinnamon season. It all makes sense now.

The Year of Climate Action Column In the face of cataclysm, hope!

By Logan Ashkinazy editor

In the summer of 2018, Swedish teenager Greta unberg started skipping school, spending her Fridays outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, holding a sign which read “School Strike For Climate.” Her e ort quickly gained traction, expanding beyond her home country to the entire world. How I found out about her was through a TED Talk she had given in January 2019, and her story moved me. She was struck with depression, the tale went, a er learning about the devastating e ects of climate change and the negligence which the planet’s most powerful people had been granting them. So, she decided to try to make her mark on the world, and as it seemed, I was far from the only one who was inspired by her…

During the time that I wasn’t busy getting distracted by e Hoot’s Opinions editor’s luscious chestnut hair and iridescent, verdant eyes during one of our production nights, I heard word of his new column in partnership with Year of Climate Action (YOCA). Gripped by my need to write about something, I volunteered to contribute to its rst edition.

No shade intended toward the many talented writers who will be contributing in the future, but you see, I’m sure that over the

course of its lifetime, you will see a lot of things in the YOCA column that’ll just make you feel like shit. Be it angry, sad, powerless or anything else that can be abbreviated into one of the English language’s most useful four-letter word. Because, let’s face it—there is rarely ever good news in the topic of climate and the environment. So I think it may be useful to start this thing o on a rather optimistic note. I know this may not seem like the time and place for positivity, but just hear me out, and let me tell you about my experience with climate activism.

…Eventually, in the early stages of the spring of 2019, the unberg wave had settled in my home city of Paris, France, and my fellow high school students had been talking about skipping school on an approaching Friday a ernoon to join a planned “School Strike For Climate” protest. Motivated by unberg’s activism, my own knowledge of the climate crisis and an opportunity to hang out with friends instead of being at school, I decided I’d get out there and protest. A few friends and I made a protest sign the night before, a crudely painted planet Earth with the words “ ere is no Planet B” captioning it. Due to pure accident, the blue and green paint we’d used started dripping down the sign. We were concerned for a second, but we realized that this created a cool teardrop—or bleeding—e ect which did nothing but emphasize our point.

So, the next day, sign in hand, I le school a er lunch alongside a group of 20 or 30 people, and we headed toward the location where the protest was starting. When we got there, the crowd had already mostly formed. It was kind of awkward. Di erent groups of teenagers talking among themselves, kids messing around on their morally justi ed day of playing hooky. Once we started moving, however, the atmosphere changed. We were led by those who really cared about the protest, starting chants that everyone soon joined. All of a sudden, I was taken by the shared connection everyone had. No matter how initially invested everyone was, it became clear that we were all here for the same goal. I started interacting with my fellow protesters, sailing through the sea of humans to nd people of di erent backgrounds and walks of life all here for the same thing: to make the world better. It was electrifying. I wanted to personally take the decaying world the generations before us had disdainfully le us with on the way out and to restore it to health. In a word, it gave me hope for the future.

In the end, I think that’s kind of the point of it all. We take action to inspire hope which in turn inspires more action. In 2022, Greta unberg isn’t as much of a household name as she was in 2019. But that doesn’t really matter. She was never wrong. Her message still stands. She did a lot of good, and surely will continue to do so, but

there is even more to be done by we who carry on her mission. If you’re reading this and you’re not my parents, chances are you’re a college student. And I know that growing into adulthood in this world that our forefathers le us is scary. You fear for the future— at least I know I do. Sometimes you wonder, will there even be a future? And if not, what’s the point of doing anything about it?

“Screw you, grandpa, you messed up the world anyway and we’ll all be extinct in a hundred years so why the hell do I need to recycle?” But we can’t give in to these existential thoughts and despair. As activists, as the youth, as the future, we need to have hope. We need to know that we do what we do, no matter how small or large in scale, because we want the world to become a better place. Because we know the world will be a better place.

I’m not telling you to ignore the bad stu at’s a futile e ort— you’ll see it everywhere: on social media, in the news, maybe in this very column. In fact, I’m telling you to listen to it closely. But don’t let it wear you down. Like Greta unberg, take those shitty feelings and turn them into action. Turn them into a hope that our kids or our grandkids or maybe our great-grandkids aren’t going to need to see it. People have been engaging in climate activism for decades, but here, at the tipping point, its true legacy begins with us. And deep in my heart, I know that we can change the world.

PHOTOS FROM BRANDEIS EDU AND THEBRANDEISHOOT COM, GRAPHIC BY COOPER GOTTFRIED

PHOTO FROM KINGARTHURBAKING COM

Brandeis: number 48 on the 50 ugliest college campuses list

By Cooper Gottfried editor

Brandeis’ campus has gotten a lot of ack over the years. It’s included on Complex’s list of “ e 50 Ugliest College Campuses Ever,” and many students o en comment on the weird mix of architectural styles. Countless online users have cited Brandeis’ ugliness, with one user joking that it would be sneaky if “Brandeis purposely made its campus ugly as a way to in uence the types of students who apply there.”

I will admit, Brandeis’ campus does feel a bit janky. ere are modernist buildings next to brick-and-concrete boxes, and I o en feel a disconnect when walking out of my dorm in Skyline and past Lemberg to go to class in the Mandel Humanities Center. Something feels o about seeing bland brick cubes next to more inspired buildings. ere’s also an extremely out-of-place castle, for some reason.

Brandeis’ campus could use some work, but there is one thing that I nd truly awe-inspiring about this place: the way it looks in the fall. e way golden leaves

dance around me as I walk to class, the distinct crunch of dead foliage along the path in Sachar Woods and the way that East Quad actually looks presentable; there’s just nothing like it.

Looking out the window from a study room in Skyline as I write this article, there’s a perfect example of what I admire about this place. An ancient, twisted tree with golden teardrop leaves hanging o of every branch, shaking gently in the wind. I understand the animosity some Brandeisians have towards our architecture, but I can’t say I empathize with those who can’t admire the more natural beauty of our campus in autumn.

e so sounds of leaves whirling through the trees, the quiet at night broken only by the soles of my shoes on the occasional maple key,and the multicolored clusters of trees that dot Chapel’s Field and leave me awestruck every time I pass them.

But that’s enough pseudo-poetic ranting on what I like about campus: it certainly needs some work. Pretty trees are just an alltoo-faint light in the abyss of the rest of Brandeis’ campus. Certain buildings are literally falling apart. ere are high levels of

lead in the tap water in the Brown Social Science Center and Edison-Lecks building, mold in Village, rats in the Shapiro Lounge and much more.

e freshman dorms are just gross. For students to pay nearly $4,000 more for housing than the national average and live in these conditions is inexcusable. Some dorms don’t have laundry machines, some dorms don’t have water fountains and others are horri cally hot in the spring yet as cold as Siberia in the winter.

Even Skyline, Brandeis’ “stateof-the-art residence hall” has serious problems, particularly with the glass bridge that connects Skyline North and Skyline South. Bird strikes, or bird-window col-

lisions, happen all too frequently at Brandeis’ newest dorm that prioritizes “sustainability.” Because the glass bridge between Skyline North and Skyline South is almost entirely transparent, birds try to y through it and end up killing themselves. is problem could easily be xed with low-cost stickers and lms and is a massive architectural oversight that needlessly kills birds. ere are too many unignorable problems with Brandeis’ buildings. Bird strikes are one thing, but dangers like mold, lead and rats are just inexcusable. If Brandeis expects students to pay up to $13,838 to stay in an on-campus dorm, they need to shape up. No amount of pretty

Slim down your Oreo pickings

By Thomas Pickering editor

To my loyal readers, I regret to inform you that this week I will be taking a brief departure from my usual rantings about farm equipment and my thoughts on them to bring to you a larger observation about life. I understand that this comes much to the dismay of our Opinions section editor who recently told me that he from here on out he would like to be referred to as: “Admiral General Gottfried, Supreme Leader, Chief Ophthalmologist, Invincible, All Triumphant, Beloved Oppressor of the People of Brandeis and excellent swimmer, including butter y.” He has made it strikingly clear that there is no further abbreviation for his new title as well. Whenever we are to address him we must use the full title and nothing short of it.

I am beginning to think that all the praise and attery I had

assigned to him in earlier articles has gone to his head. He is now so consumed in his own power that he cannot understand a world where it physically does not revolve around him. But how could you not think that when your smile illuminates the night sky and parts the clouds on rainy days? e attery I have given to our Opinions editor, sorry I mean to Admiral General Gottfried, Supreme Leader, Chief Ophthalmologist, Invincible, All Triumphant, Beloved Oppressor of the People of Brandeis and excellent swimmer, including butter y seems to be grounded. But alas, I must stop so that his insatiable desire for more power and attery is diminished. To start this on the right foot I want to at out express what should never be diminished:

“Oreo ins.”

Have you ever looked at an Oreo but thought to yourself, “this is too much cookie and not the right amount of cream?” Or perhaps tried to stomach more than three

“mega stuf Oreo” cookies but then felt a sudden urge to throw up due to all of the food you just slammed down your pie hole? Well then I can tell you right now that you are certainly not alone in this ght against those tyrannical idiots at Nabisco.

Let me introduce to you, only seven years a er their rst appearance on shelves across these United States, to “Oreo ins.”

is new cookie has simply perfected what it means to be an Oreo cookie. As someone who recently lost his “Oreo ins” purity let me tell you that these little guys should be on the FDA’s gateway drug list. I cannot seem to stop purchasing those little baby blue boxes which are lled with the best cookie known to man that is an Oreo.

But what makes the “Oreo in” such a great cookie you ask? Well thank you for asking by the way but let me tell you exactly why this is the case! e entire cookie ts in your mouth and cracks

like a potato chip when you eat it. It is so easy to slam one into your mouth and once you feel that satisfying crunch, another cookie will be sure to follow the last one shortly. But the reason you can enjoy the entire cookie in your mouth is sure, due to its small size, but the true answer is the perfection of proportions when it comes to the cookie and cream within one.

e original Oreo was onto something big. A cookie that was really two cookies with a little cream lling holding it together in the middle; what an invention! I am sure it blew the suspenders of every early 20th century individual who tried one. But there was a clear issue with the cookie from its inception. People just wanted the cream! ey would split the cookies to achieve greater access to the cream—a signal to the Oreo creators that there was too much cookie and not enough cream.

Unfortunately, Oreo went in every other direction when trying to alleviate this issue. ey created Golden Oreos, an Oreo with vanilla cream and vanilla cookies on either side. What an oversight you Nabisco fools! You have the right components, just the incorrect amount. But Nabisco doubled down on their incorrect ways of creating cookie Frankenstein creations such as “Mint Oreos,” “Golden Chocolate Oreos,” “Double Stuf Oreos” and even “Mega Stuf Oreos.” Yet the issue persisted that people only wanted the cookie for the cream and not for the cookie eating experience.

en what I can only imagine happening at a Nabisco meeting in 2015 was that one brave soul stood up at an Oreo meeting and began preaching the Gospel according to Oreo perfection. is brave soul had the courage to say what none of the other people in the room did as he clearly recited what his wife had said to

leaves that can make up for these numerous egregious health hazards.

Brandeis’ campus is visually pleasant at times, but the countless misplaced drab buildings lled with lead, mold and rats make it di cult to appreciate the abundant natural beauty that can be seen in Chapels Wetlands, Sachar Woods or even in East Quad (if you squint and pretend you’re looking somewhere else). To shake its reputation for being horri cally ugly, Brandeis could use a faceli . Getting rid of the lead, mold and rats wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.

him a number of times, “No, you don’t need to be the biggest, you just need to be you and own up to it.” From there Nabisco knew that they had been going the wrong way all along, the race was never to create the largest cookie, but to create the perfect one. e larger cookies are far too painful and lling to be truly enjoyable, therefore what was needed was an understanding of what truly makes a good Oreo.

In that moment the brave soul at Nabisco must have said something along the lines of, “if we want to be in more people’s pantries what we need is to shrink.” For it is not size that matters when making the perfect Oreo but proportion. us, the ideal Oreo was made. A cookie with the original design, vanilla cream between two chocolate cookies but shrunk in size. Creating the perfect ratio of what an Oreo cookie is. One with just enough cream that you taste it despite there being more cookies, but not too much in which it entices the consumer to split the cookie in an e ort to just reach the cream. It is the modern existence of the “Oreo in” which gives me hope that every cookie will aspire to reach the top of the leader board as “Oreo ins” have in my heart.

So this year, challenge yourself to not look for the cookie with the most inside it because what those cookies have in size they lack in quality. Bigger, as Nabisco found out a er 80 years of product testing, is never the answer.

PHOTO FROM COMMONS WIKIMEDIA ORG

On the joy and power of Kate Bush

By Ella Amouyal special to the hoot

e rst time I heard a song by Kate Bush, I hated it. I was sitting in the car as my father drove me to school. Typically, he plays dad music while driving: e Beatles, e Police… the whole collection of white men. Until one morning when he put on “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush. I went into shock. Bush’s voice dipped and dived in waves. Piano rattled, the sound as cloying as a strong perfume. It soon became a running joke in my family that I hated Kate Bush. If you wanted to frustrate me, all you had to do was play that annoying lady. A few months pass, and I walk into the living room. My father’s eyes skim a newspaper. A folklorish song hums from his phone. e lyrics tell the story of a mother who loses her son during the Vietnam War: “What a waste / Army dreamers / Ooh, what a waste of / Army dreamers.” I listened in a state of intoxication; I felt drunk on the lyrics. I asked my father who the artist was. “Kate Bush,” he told me. Really? I could not believe it. For the next few weeks, I danced in my room to “Army Dreamers.” While the piece is sad, Bush’s spirited vocals brought excitement to my routine schooldays. I was o cially a Kate convert. What once sounded like screeching transformed into gothic perfection. Kate cast a spell on me, and I was enchanted. Her work is not just music; it’s witchcra When the coronavirus began, my world shrunk to the size of my bedroom. I could not pay attention to my online classes. I felt stuck, and with newfound time, I began to explore Bush’s discography. Each song le me more in awe than the last. Bush rarely sings about herself, rather she explores the human condition through a cast of characters. is includes a jilted wife, a fetus during a nuclear fallout and a bank robber. e result is songs that are not confessional; but they do confess, in detail, the kaleidoscopic reality of Bush’s mind. e combination is music that is achingly honest and over-the-top all at once. Listening feels like entering a funhouse mirror. She distorts common emotions like sadness and happiness and re ects them back to us in new and novel ways.

Bush grew up in a musical household. Her early talent allowed her to present her music to Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. Bush’s unique voice and storytelling ability oored Gilmour. She soon got a record deal and released her debut single “Wuthering Heights” in 1978. e song is uniquely literary. She sings from the perspective of Cathy, the unhinged female lead of Emily Bronte’s iconic 1848 novel Wuthering Heights. Since punk reigned in the ’70s, Bush’s sparkly masterpiece refreshed audiences. It was a breakout hit.

Kate continued to release music with a clear-eyed, witchy vision. Bush’s fourth album “ e Dreaming,” from 1982, shocked me more than “Wuthering Heights” ever had. “ e Dreaming” was the rst time Kate had complete creative control—no more wrangling with male executives to execute her vision. Her vocals thunder and scream. In one song, she impersonates a mule. e tracks are claustrophobic, uninviting and yet intensely creative. “ e Dreaming,” similar to male rock, intrudes upon the listener. But, Kate intrudes with utterly feminine grace. In a world that belittles emotion, Kate Bush emotes with a thrilling, even transgressive, immoderation. As she says on “Leave It Open”: “We let the weirdness in.”

While “ e Dreaming” is an undeniable example of Kate’s genius, her talent explodes in prismatic reworks on her 1985 album “Hounds of Love.” While the sonic colors of “ e Dreaming” are red, plum and jewel-toned, “Hounds of Love” is purple, pink and pastel. I am used to music about sensuality, but “Hounds of Love” is special. From the rst racing note, Kate explores desire empathically without sacri cing complexity. It is her crowning glory, her magnum opus.

Kate ascended such heights of creative perfection because of the album’s genesis. Bush built a studio in the British countryside to record the album. Fluttering birds, blossoms and family became her only company. e result is a tribute to euphoria. While pain can create powerful art, happiness can as well. Nothing displays this as well as the creative joy Kate Bush experienced while writing and producing “Hounds of Love.”

Bush split the album into two

suites. e rst side has ve pop songs, including, notably, “Running Up at Hill (A Deal With God).” On the track, Kate sings about wishing that men and women could swap places for greater understanding. e lyrics are achingly honest. e persistent synthesizer creates a thrilling musical atmosphere. e music video has stunning contemporary choreography, a new dance form at the time. e song was recently featured in the latest season of “Stranger ings,” bringing her vision to new fans and delighting old fans alike.

e second suite of “Hounds of Love” is entitled “ e Ninth Wave.” e conceptual sequence details a vision quest. A woman lost at sea enters a series of dreams as she awaits rescue. e songs are experimental brilliance, fusing technological innovation with traditional British and Irish sounds and instrumentation. e disparate musical elements create not only a musical experience but a musical journey, more ebullient than “ e Dreaming’s” ery war-

bles.

“Walking the Witch” is a particular favorite from the second suite. e song is electric; voices glitch and serenade in hope and fear. e lyrics chronicle a hallucinatory witch trial, fascinating for its feminist slant. As Kate said in an interview:

“I think it’s very interesting the whole concept of witch-hunting and the fear of women’s power. In a way, it’s very sexist behavior, and I feel that female intuition and instincts are very strong and are still put down.”

e last song on the album, “ e Morning Fog,” sounds like relief. e woman has survived the near-death experience and returns to consciousness. Her vocals balance depth and lightness with poetic lyrics: “I am falling / Like a stone / Like a storm / Being born again / Into the sweet morning fog.”

“Hounds of Love” con rmed Kate’s status as a sonic visionary. If anyone had doubts, the album proved them wrong. Kate is an unparalleled musical genius not to discredit or mock.

Kate continued to release albums, including “ e Sensual World” (1989), which showcases more suave artistry, and “ e Red Shoes” (1993), memorable for its awless lyrics. Kate collaborated with Prince on one song, who one called her “his favorite woman.”

A more recent album is “Aerial” from 2005. My favorite track is “Bertie,” a song dedicated to Kate’s son. She sings: “Here comes the sunshine / Here comes the son of mine / Here comes the everything / Here’s a song and a song for him.” While hundreds of songs explore sexual love, “Bertie” is the only song I have ever heard exploring maternal love. Bush depicts the subject with so much reverence that I cried once while listening to the track.

Bush profoundly in uenced the music industry. She invented the cordless headset, experimented with the cutting edge of technology and seamlessly blended folk and pop. Kate Bush did not just break the glass ceiling; she shattered the glass into confetti and

then set it a ame. e result is one of the best and most successful musical geniuses of the 20th century.

Virginia Woolf wrote of Emily Bronte’s novel, “Wuthering Heights”: “ e impulse which urged her to create was not her own su ering or her own injuries. She looked out upon a world cle into gigantic disorder and felt within her the power to unite it … [h]ers, then, is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts; with a few touches indicate the spirit of a face so that it needs no body; by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar.” Make the thunder roar. at is what Kate Bush’s thunderous music does for the listener. She ows into your soul and lls you with beauty. As Kate sings in “Moments of Pleasure,” “Just being alive / It can really hurt / And these moments given / Are a gi from time.”

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the moments of pleasure Kate has given me. I cannot wait to spend many more years listening to her discography; she has been one of the transformative joys of my life. I am thrilled for the new fans who are discovering Kate Bush for the rst time. As a longtime resident in Kate Bush’s world, it is a wonderful, wacky and continually fascinating place to be. While we assume many of our life’s special moments are big, small moments, like listening to a song, can be just as powerful.

Here are two book recommendations on her work and career for all Kate nerds and aspiring Kate nerds:

“Under the Ivy: The Life & Music” of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson

“Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory” by Deborah M. Withers

PHOTO FROM EN WIKIPEDIA ORG

‘The School for Good and Evil’: a retrospective from 2013 to 2022

By Jamie Trope staff

In the summer of 2013, while on a family vacation to Nova Scotia, I stepped inside a secondhand bookstore in Halifax. A er slowly making my way slowly up and down between the stacks, I carefully choose two books to take home with me. One of those books was Soman Chainani’s “ e School for Good and Evil.”

e rst of six books in a middle grade series, “ e School for Good and Evil” is foremost the story of Sophie and Agatha, two girls who grow up in the small town of Gavaldon. Every four years, two children are kidnapped from Gavaldon and taken to the School for Good and Evil. Here, one child is trained to be a hero and the other a villain. If the students are successful in their studies, the Storian (a magical pen) writes about their adventures and canonizes the students into fairytales. ese stories then make their way back to Gavaldon.

Sophie may look like a princess, and Agatha like a witch, but SGE fervently argues that appearances can be deceiving. On the night that Sophie and Agatha are kidnapped, Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, and Agatha nds herself in the School for Good. Did the School Master make a mistake? Or is there something else at play? is exploration of fairytales entranced me: I was immediately hooked, and will, forever and always, be fascinated by fairytales and their retellings.

A er I read “ e School for Good and Evil,” I regularly tuned into Soman’s YouTube channel, EverNever TV and was always on the SGE website.

In 2016, I created an Instagram account dedicated to the book series and began posting daily SGE memes. Slowly my account grew until it was the largest Instagram fan account for the book series. It is funny to think that had I never traveled to Halifax and found

SGE, I may never have met other SGE fans who have now become friends.

In 2018, I became an EverNever TV intern and, in addition to many di erent year-round SGE projects, I made episodes in New York City for Soman’s YouTube channel during my high school summers with Soman, JoAnn (Soman’s previous assistant), Ramon (the masterful actor in the SGE sock puppet series), Jun (Soman’s current assistant) and Douggie (Soman’s friend’s dog, who hung out o en at Soman’s apartment). I still have my email to Soman asking to be an intern, where I listed that I could use iMovie and had received an A in English class the previous year. (Soman’s response: “Hopefully we can make it happen. We love Jamie. She really is our favorite reader!!!”)

As all of this was happening, the rights to an SGE movie were sold to Universal Studios and then later resold to Net ix. I vividly remember how the movie was going to be released in 2015, then 2016, delayed again and again with no release date in sight. For most of my time spent following the series, the movie was in development hell. Finally, in 2020, it was announced, o cially, that Net ix would lead the project. Reader, the entire SGE fandom nearly lost their collective mind online! is was the moment we had all been waiting for—though we would have to wait another two years to see the nal product. I would also later become an ambassador for the SGE movie.

e SGE movie was lmed in Northern Ireland over the summer of 2020, entirely under COVID-19 lockdown protocols. During the months that followed, we learned of the actors who would star in the lm, including but not limited to: So a Wylie, Sophia Anne Caruso, Kerry Washington, Charlize eron, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Flatters, Laurence Fishburne, Kit Young, Freya Parks and Earl Cave.

It is an interesting experience to follow the production of a movie

from beginning to end. Usually, I stumble upon a Net ix trailer for a movie releasing a week from now, add it to my watchlist, and then watch it a week later. With SGE, I have lived through the release of every new piece of information, every leaked image and every last teaser trailer and movie theory.

A er the SGE movie received its o cial release date on Netix on Oct. 19, 2022, Soman announced a few o cial pre-release screenings (one in London, one in New York City, one in Dublin and one in Los Angeles).

By invitation, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the early screening in New York City along with three of my SGE friends. On Oct. 13, I took a train from Boston’s South Station to New York City and met up with Ellie—who also runs Soman’s TikTok account—at Penn Station. Longtime SGE friends, Ellie and I met in person for the rst time back in February to lm an EverNever TV episode with Jun. It was a fun reunion under the clock in Moynihan Train Hall. A er lunch at Chipotle, we checked into our hotel and then walked to A La Mode for ice cream (I got speed bump and pumpkin spice, she got oat milk latte and pumpkin spice). And nally, it was time to change for the reception and the movie screening. Under a darkening evening sky and intermittent rain showers, we walked to the reception to receive our gold wrist bands for the event.

It was fun to see familiar faces— Soman! Jun! Ramon!—and lovely to speak again with Soman’s editor at HarperCollins, Toni Markiet. Sophia Anne Caruso, who plays Sophie in the movie, was in attendance, too! A er much talking, picture taking and making slow loops around the reception room, it was time for us to make our way to the Paris eater.

A er showing our wristbands, we found ourselves not two seats but four. We were expecting two more SGE friends, who soon arrived to great excitement. I had

never met Sabrina and Noam in person before, and I can say with con dence that they are just as sweet in person as they are online and over Facetime. None of us are from New York City, and it was incredible that a book brought us all together. We caught up hurriedly and loudly, cramming in as much conversation as possible before the opening credits.

Slowly, the lights in the theater dimmed and the music swelled, and in what seemed like an instant, two hours and 28 minutes had passed, and the closing credits appeared on the screen. To watch the SGE movie with people who have known and loved the series for as long as I have, was a truly unique and unforgettable moment in time for which I will forever be glad to have experienced. Surreal would be the best way to describe it—on the screen were the characters I had grown up reading. A er the movie, Ellie, Noam, Sabrina and I went back to the hotel and debriefed until 1 a.m. e SGE movie is as faithful an

adaptation as I could have hoped for. Certain scenes did not make it into the nal cut and new plot points were added, and through it all, it was an immensely enjoyable experience. SGE questions whether anyone can truly be pure good or evil and speaks to the power of friendship and the absurdity of fairy tale logic. e soundtrack, composed by eodore Shapiro, is stunning. SGE committed to using as many practical e ects as possible, and the authenticity within scenes really shows. rough it all, I am so grateful to be a part of the online SGE community for the book series. It has meant the world to me. is is an exemplary case of being in the right place at the right time, and I will always carry the book series in my heart. ank you to Soman Chainani for writing “ e School for Good and Evil”—I cannot wait to see what projects you will announce next.

“The School for Good and Evil” is now streaming on Net ix.

By Mia Plante editor

Once again Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, is in the news for spewing harmful extremist rhetoric. A week or so ago, Ye posted on Twitter that he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people and that Jewish people have an “agenda.” Naturally, this caused Ye to be banned from the platform which further empowered

him to continue acting erratically. On Oct. 17, Ye entered into an agreement to purchase the radical right-wing social media site Parler. e current CEO of the platform noted how Ye is making a “groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again” by joining Parler and planning to purchase it.

Ye’s recent actions are extremely concerning and can cause real-life harm to those he is talking

about. On top of his radical antisemitism, Ye has been sharing comments about George Floyd, the Black man killed by police excessive force in 2020. Ye claimed a er watching a Candace Owens documentary on Floyd that he didn’t die from police violence, but from fentanyl during an appearance on the podcast “Drink Champs.” Floyd’s family consequently began dra ing a cease and desist letter to present to Ye, as the family has experienced a signi cant loss due to the reality of anti-Black police violence in America, and subsequent trauma from the death being publicized and used as an example of sorts. Having such a well-loved public gure claim the death of George Floyd wasn’t due to police violence but fentanyl instead perpetuates the criminalization of Black men and the use of excessive force. Ye also has pushed further into acting out against the Black Lives Matter movement by wearing a shirt with the phrase “White Lives Matter” during Paris Fash-

ion Week.

It’s clear that Ye’s mental illness likely isn’t making this situation better, but being bipolar isn’t a cause of becoming a radical rightwing extremist. Antisemitism doesn’t go hand in hand with mania, and Ye is showing his true colors beyond being able to blame his mental illness. Ever since around 2016, Ye has fallen into the trap of conservatism and has only gone deeper and deeper into the delusion and violent rhetoric that is central to the ideology.

In 2020, Ye called COVID-19 vaccines the “mark of the beast” and noted that “they want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven.” Ye’s combination of religion and extremism is particularly dangerous as his rhetoric is as emotionally charged it can get when he uses words like “demonic” to describe Lizzo’s body positivity alongside airing out his anti-abortion stance.

Ye’s connections to Black ex-

tremist Louis Farrakhan explain some of his takes being connected to Black Hebrew Israelite talking points including the idea that Black individuals are the only “real” Jewish people and that the “fake” ones are trying to control the non-Jewish population. With this comes Ye’s claim that he cannot be antisemitic because he identi es as Jewish.

While I am neither Black nor Jewish, I am concerned about how public Ye’s turn to extremist views has been. Anti-semitic hate crimes in the United States hit an all-time high last year, with a 34% increase from the year prior. e NYPD reported 24 hate crimes against Jewish people in the city in the month of August 2022 alone, a 118% increase from last year. With antisemitism on the rise, Ye’s words and actions have a real impact on Jewish people across America.

PHOTO BY JAMIE TROPE

‘How to Build a Sex Room’ is raunchy home design mixed with beautiful love stories

editor

You’ve probably seen the standard format for home design shows before. A couple thinks their home is boring, so they ask a designer to make it prettier; the designer goes all out and the couple is shocked and happy in the end. ese shows have been done millions of times, but now there’s a twist. What if instead of designing homes, the designers were designing sex rooms? at is the concept behind “How to Build a Sex Room,” which was released on July 8 on Net ix. e show is hosted by Melanie Rose, an interior designer who is basically the Mary Poppins of sex. A variety of couples want a sex room for a variety of reasons, and Melanie is there to help. From the kinkiest couples to the couples that care more about romance, Melanie is willing to help anyone. Her job is to make sure that people have happy and ful lling relationships, especially in the bedroom. is show is trying to erase any taboos related to sex and show that it is perfectly natural to want a space speci cally for intimacy. Not only do we see people’s sexual fantasies ful lled, but we also see relationships grow. is is a very entertaining home design show for the modern age and it will make almost anyone feel valid in their desires. Each episode focuses on two or three couples. We are introduced to their ways of life and what makes each of them unique. Melanie also talks to them about why they want a sex room. Some couples want it to practice BDSM, some couples want it because they feel they have not been intimate in a while because of children and sometimes couples want a little

bit of both. Melanie tries to get the full idea of what these couples expect from their room so she can make them as happy as possible. She will also show them some sex toys, like plugs and oggers, to gauge the couples’ interests. en, later she will take each couple to a di erent location to give them more ideas and embrace their sexualities. Once she has it all gured out, Melanie gets to work on the room with her contractor, Mike. We cut back and forth between her working on di erent couples until we get the grand reveals. is can sometimes be late in the episode or the beginning of the next one depending on when the couple is introduced. She is able to take these somewhat ordinary spaces into something extraordinary. Her main goal is to make sex more enjoyable for the couples, and she and Mike want to do the best jobs with these rooms that they possibly can.

What I loved about this show was the diversity of the couples. While there were some couples that t the mold of who you would expect to have a sex room, there were some people that were di erent. We saw couples of many di erent sexualities, backgrounds and living situations. One episode had a polycule of seven people (they kept saying seven but I could only count six) with a large basement for their sex room and another episode had two women living in a van and they wanted the van to become their sex room. You have people with a bunch of children, people who are long-distance and so much more. Each story was fascinating and I felt I was learning a lot about the human experience. I would have preferred if there was one couple per episode and maybe just make more episodes. I feel that we could have gone more in-depth about

the couples and we could have also learned more about the actual building process. I felt that we didn’t see enough about making the actual room and I would have enjoyed more of that. Even so, everyone’s room turned out to be amazing, even though I thought there were too many couches and not enough beds. Each room was aesthetically pleasing and I am sure everyone will have a great sexual future in them. I also think this show did a great job of picking the designer. As soon as you see Melanie for the rst time, you just know she would be cool to hang out with. From her red glasses and matching nails to her lovely British accent to her extravagant taste in necklaces and scarves, she seems like so much fun to be around. Not only does she look great, but you can tell she cares about her clients. is is not a show that is just about a place to have sex. We dive deep into some couples’ relationship issues and their connections through romance. Melanie takes all of this into consideration when she is designing. Everyone’s feelings are always valid and Melanie understands they you don’t need to be a hardcore dominatrix to want a sex room. She will make some considerations, but she will always hear what people dislike. She is also hilarious as she cracks jokes with everyone she meets to make the whole atmosphere lively. I also love every scene with Mike the contractor. He does not seem to be a sex expert, he seems mostly like he is a normal contractor. In every episode we see him learning and getting used to the di erent contraptions and spaces. You can tell that he is having a great time. He is playing around a little in between building and making sarcastic remarks that will always have you

chuckling. e rooms always turn out fantastic so he clearly knows what he is doing. I have enjoyed the personalities of all the couples as I feel they are all unique and spunky. It is nice to meet new people, but I am glad we always have Melanie and Mike around.

Sex rooms may not be a room that most people have in their homes. Some people may see them as unnecessary and others might shame the people that want one. While it is completely reasonable to not want one, there is nothing wrong with having your own sex room. We are in a progressive era where people should not be shamed for legal sexual activities. is show is extremely sex-positive and allows people to be open about their desires, kinks

and fetishes. ey are able to be free, which is a beautiful thing. You may be a more vanilla person and assume that this show will be too much for you. However, it is told in a very digestible format. It is structured like a home design show that you may nd on HGTV, just a little more intimate and adult. is show was fascinating and I really hope there’s another season. So if you are curious about what goes into a sex room and you want to hear di erent stories of love, watch “How to Build a Sex Room” today.

We are living through a horror renaissance, do not engage with ‘Smile’

By Lucy Fay editor

Unless you are one of the dozens of people looking forward to watching the h “Halloween” movie to claim to be the franchise nale, this October’s Hollywood horror releases are rather underwhelming. us, undoubtedly many horror fans, desperate to engage in the Halloween spirit, will be drawn towards “Smile” (2022), one of the few horror movies released in theaters this month. I would advise against this on the recommendation you look instead straight to streaming service movies to ful ll your desire for horror.

I wish “Smile” was worse than it is. Were it a total bore or so bad it’s funny, a recommendation would be straightforward, but it isn’t. “Smile” has redeeming qualities, not many, but enough to be con icting and frustrating. is movie is not original or clever. Its characters are lacking both realism and likability. e vast majority of the lm’s frightening moments are obnoxiously loud jump scares, and its attempts at symbol-

ism are pathetically on the nose and simultaneously shallow. But I cannot deny entertainment value. It has a couple of genuinely scary moments that stuck with me. e gore, while given limited screen time, was high quality. Also, the last 20 minutes are a wonderfully campy and thrilling conclusion. Stupid but exciting and fun nonetheless. And thus, I am stuck at a crossroads. Does “Smile’s” entertainment value outweigh its lack of quality, making it worth watching despite its aws? No, it does not provide a major caveat.

Streaming services were formerly blamed for the death of certain movie genres like mid-budget comedies or non-franchise action movies, as these services exist currently, they have created a space for every kind of lm to be produced and distributed in ways never before seen. ey created an explosion of lm that made movie theaters redundant. Cinemas still have their charms and provide a speci c service that cannot be matched in a living room but they are no longer the forefront of lm releases. ere is simply no way a movie theater can release as many or as wide a range of movies as

hundreds of streaming services.

So, while October horror releases in theaters may be lacking, the same should not be said about this month’s horror releases in general. Hulu, Amazon Prime, Net ix and Shudder are just a few of the streaming services releasing horror movies and TV shows. And an important distinction to be made about horror released on a streaming service as opposed to in a theater is they have to appeal to far less people.

Wide-release horror movies can no longer target specific groups. ey need to either be major events, like a Jordan Peele or Ari Aster movie, part of a franchise, like Halloween, or of the “Smile” archetype, which you can nd examples of in a theatre near you nearly every two months. ese movies are indeed entertaining, but they’re also uninspired, not memorable and not pushing any boundaries.

I am of the strong belief that we are living in the best era for horror media. “Smile” is thus both a waste of time and a slap in the face of the dozens of incredible horror movies and shows released this year. No matter your

horror preferences, there is something from the last year (probably streamable on Net ix) that you will enjoy more than “Smile”.

Maybe seven years ago I would have recommended horror fans give this lm a chance. A er all, it’s an ino ensive, occasionally scary, movie that does exactly what you expect it to do. But as the state of horror stands today,

as streaming services have ooded the market with the content of massively varying quality, appealing to every breed of horror fan, please don’t watch this dumb average movie written and directed to algorithmically appeal to as many people as possible.

PHOTO FROM NEWYORKTIMES COM

PHOTO FROM POLYGON COM

By Naomi Stephenson staff

Dessert Week has always been one of my favorites. e challenges are more unpredictable, generally look fun to make and there’s usually a healthy dose of chaos. Why does “Bake O ” have an entire week dedicated to the broad theme of “desserts?”

In British English, “desserts” have come to mean any sweet treat that isn’t traditionally ourbased. ink mousse, an, ice cream, sou é and meringue. is week, the de nition of dessert was stretched to the breaking point, but we’ll get there.

Noel is back in a sweater this week, a particularly ugly number featuring what appears to be a pink koala on a motorcycle. e banter between him and Matt is as weak as always. How long will it take for production to realize that these two just aren’t a good double act?

e signature this week is eight individual steamed puddings. A steamed pudding is quite possibly the most British bake ever. ey’re stodgy, syrupy and warming. Paul says that the U.K. is “known for having some of the best steamed puddings.” No, Paul. You’re known as the only nation that likes steamed puddings. “Bake O ” has done steamed puddings several times, but this is the rst time they’re having the bakers make them in miniature. It’s a good challenge—it looks simple at rst, but there are plenty of places to mess up. Most notably, the moment you open your saucepan or oven, all the steam ows out and your cooking time is over.

Less than ve minutes

in, Paul is referring to Dawn as “mum,” much to the discomfort of everyone. He then holds forth about the scent of his tanning lotion, making me question why

I’m even watching this show. Carole burns her plums (not a euphemism). Kevin has decided to go traditional with dense and ugly clootie dumplings. He justi es it by exploring his heritage, even though Scotland has not contributed much to the culinary world beyond toast and shortbread.

Sandro’s apple-cherry-crumble-booze steamed puddings are well-received. Syabira makes innovative watermelon steamed puddings, but her use of extract angers Paul. Janusz is making pina colada puddings, because of course he is, and Maxy is keeping it simple with sticky toffee puddings. Most bakers do relatively well in this challenge, but Carole, who’s barely squeaked her way into week ve as it is, su ers disaster. Her steamed puddings, ironically titled “my little beauties” are undercooked and collapse when she takes them out of the mold. ey look like sad, undercooked pancakes, and her judging is suitably harsh. Carole seems on the verge of giving up, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for her.

e technical challenge is Prue’s favorite pudding: a lemon meringue pie. Does this fall under the purview of dessert week? Debatable. I would generally associate lemon meringue pie with pies and tarts week, or pastry week. But we’ve been playing fast and loose with themes this series anyway, so I roll my eyes and take it. e drama of this technical challenge is the lack of instructions. e only direction is “make the lemon meringue pie.”

It may seem daunting initially, but once you break a lemon meringue pie down into its component parts (crust, lemon curd, meringue) it’s fairly straightforward. ese are all skills the bakers should have mastered long before coming on the show.

Poor Syabira panics, having never made a lemon meringue pie before. She half-heartedly suggests making a sweetcorn pie instead (oh dear). It’s the rst real moment of weakness we’ve seen from her, and she massively underbakes her pie crust. On the other side of the spectrum is Dawn, who’s made 500 lemon meringue pies in her time, but she doesn’t fare much better, coming in seventh to Syabira’s eighth. Carole rounds out the bottom in sixth. Abdul proves himself to be a dark horse with second, and Janusz comes rst, because of course he does. Syabira deems the challenge to be a “nightmare come true,” and reminds herself that to do well in “ e Great British Bake O ,” you have to be familiar with all the classic (and o en disgusting) British desserts. e showstopper challenge is exactly the type of ridiculous challenge you’d hope for from dessert week. It’s a layered mousse cake featuring a hidden design in the center. I’m obsessed. e challenge is deemed a “gelatin-fest.” Gelatin is a notoriously nicky setting agent. Too much, and your mousse will be like rubber. Too little, and it’ll just be soup. Sandro, already in a strong position going into day two, decides to make planet Earth in mousse, complete with “Sandro Island.” Abdul’s going one step further with a solar-system themed mousse cake, and Syabira’s back

to watermelon with hers. A er last week’s sweetcorn extravaganza, I’m starting to worry that using the same avors in both signature and showstopper will be a recurring issue with Syabira. Janusz, meanwhile, is making what is quite possibly the gayest cake on “Bake O ,” with a rainbow cupcake hidden design.

Onto the judging. Abdul’s Star Baker hopes fall away due to rubbery textures. Despite a simple design and a boring hidden surprise, Maxy’s is deemed beautiful. I’m starting to sense just a hint of favoritism. Dawn fails to achieve a hidden design and is miserable about it, but she’s praised for a beautifully textured mousse. A er over-meloning her signature, Syabira’s showstopper isn’t melon-y enough. Sandro’s

showstopper is deemed “astonishing.” Carole also struggles with textures in a mediocre showing.

In the judges’ pavilion, Sandro and Janusz are up for Star Baker, while Carole, Dawn and (gasp!) Syabira are in danger. Sandro takes Star Baker, nally ending the Janusz-Maxy streak, and Carole is sent home. She’s been on borrowed time for a while, but she didn’t completely humiliate herself this week, and can leave with her head held high. Next time: HALLOWEEN WEEK. I can’t wait. Can Syabira redeem herself a er an uncharacteristically rocky week? Is it Dawn’s time to go? And what spooky concoctions will the bakers be brewing? Join me next week to nd out.

BookTok worth it or not: ‘The Witch’s Heart’

By Victoria Morrongiello editor

While the weather has been quite dreary—and not entirely helpful with dealing with the seasonal depression blues—it is good for one thing: reading. ere is nothing quite like curling up into your bed, avoiding your emails and classwork and reading a good book while the rain pitter-patters on your windowsill.

And now that we’ve o cially entered spooky season, we can start reviewing spooky books. In hindsight I probably should have saved “ e Guest List” by Lucy Foley for my spooky season read, but alas what can a gal do. is week I will be reviewing “ e Witch’s Heart” by Genevieve Gornichec. It hasn’t been the most popular on mainstream BookTok but if you go down the mythology/lore subsection of BookTok it does come up quite frequently along with “Circe” by Madeline Miller and “A ousand Ships” by Natalie Haynes.

Without any further ado let’s get into it!

Unlike the titles mentioned above, “A Witch’s Heart” does not center around Greek and Roman mythology. Instead, Norse mythology is the inspiration for Gornichec’s work. I’m a sucker for a good mythology retelling so I had some high hopes for this book when I picked it up. I’m also a sucker for a retelling that switches the role of the main character,

meaning that if in mythology the character is typically portrayed as the villain, the retelling shows them as a hero. Miller does this in her work “Circe” just as Gornichec does in “ e Witch’s Heart.”

We love a good perspective shi to showcase that the world is rarely ever black or white. I also love that the retelling centers on a woman who was rst written by a man so her actions come o as evil or villainous and she is o en given a lesser role in mythological texts. In Gornichec’s version she takes center stage and instead the male characters become secondary to her story.

e story centers on a witch who goes by many names, but for the majority of this book the reader knows her as Angrboda. In Norse mythology, Angrboda is known as the Mother of Monsters and the wife of Loki, god of mischief. Her role in mythology is tied with her association with Loki and the heirs she produces, so it was cool to see Gornichec choose her as the character to take center stage.

Angrboda is a powerful being, and being so powerful makes her desirable to the gods—specically Odin, another god with a lot of di erent backgrounds. She has the ability to see into the future and learn people’s fates—a dangerous power to have. But she refuses to give the gods the knowledge they want because of the risks it poses, and due to her insubordination they do what will be done to witches for centuries. ey burn her. ree times over,

because she is so powerful she is very hard to kill. en they cut out her heart (because burning her three times over wasn’t enough).

In spite of this, Angrboda lives, but she knows little of her past life a er waking up. She resides in the forest, away from the gods, and it is here that Loki enters her story. Being the god of mischief, he stole Angrboda’s heart from Odin who had taken it from her. He o ers to give it back to her and from the exchange a friendship, of sorts, begins.

Still unaware of her past and power, Angrboda stays in the woods and makes potions for people in a nearby town. She is honestly living the cottagecore dream. She’s girlbossing (making these potions), gatekeeping (not telling Odin her visions) and gaslighting (herself). Gornichec does an excellent job of showing this side of Angrboda, where if she is le alone she has no ill intent to anyone. No desire to hurt them.

She and Loki end up having three children together and are technically married—but Loki is also married to another god, which I won’t go into because the relations between gods will alwyas be messy and incest-y like House of the Dragon. Anyway, tangent aside, Angrboda’s children are all strange, to put it mildly. Her rstborn—a daughter—died in utero. But using her powers, Angrboda brought her back, which she really wasn’t supposed to do. So when the girl is born her legs aren’t quite right. Her second born is

born a wolf—don’t ask too many questions. And her third born is born a serpent—again, don’t ask questions, it’ll be easier if you just accept things as they happen. en things get interesting: we get this rst part of the story where life is calm and domesticated for Angrboda, and then it all begins to unravel. It unravels as people nd out her power and about her children, and they begin to fear her. Angrboda starts to piece back together parts of her old life, and she tries her hardest to hide her children from the gods at the edge of the world. Gods have never been known for being great at their relationships, and there becomes a ri between Loki and Angrboda as their children get older. Loki leaves for long periods of time to be among the gods and his other family, which Angrboda was ne with at rst. But as the children get older, they notice their father’s absence, and it begins to a ect them. is leads to a ght between Angrboda and Loki and he calls her the Mother of Monsters. Being the protective mother that she is, Angrboda goes o on him—as she should, because a er all, they are his children too.

Unfortunately during this interaction her son hears his father call him a monster and insult his mother and on top of that Loki’s other wife decides to show up. Really poor timing and maybe we should rethink having arguments in the woods. is sets o a catalyst for things to go really downhill.

Loki’s other wife proceeds to tell the gods where Angrboda is hiding and they are in agreement that she is the Mother of Monsters, even though her children were not dangerous when she raised them. It was a er they were taken from her that they became vengeful against the gods who stole them from their mother. e story ties into the Norse myth Ragnarok— yes, like the Marvel movie— and it’s lled with heartbreak.

Gornichec tells a story of a mother trying her best to protect her children from a world that would be unkind to them. It is a plight any person can understand even if they don’t have children yet. Angrboda gets used and pushed aside and written o as a villain in stories but here we see her struggle and try to still do what is right.

It’s a great retelling, even if you are not familiar with Norse mythology—I myself did not know much aside from what I learned through Marvel movies. Gornichec does a good job of breaking down the character relations and telling you who is who. Overall I would recommend it to a friend; the ending was 100% worth the read.

Next up in our spooky reads will be “ e Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner.

PHOTO FROM VULTURE COM

Watching ‘Rings of Power’ as a Black fan

By Cyrenity Augustin editor

“Rings of Power!” A new addition to the world of Middle Earth, telling the story of how the rings came to be. I originally hadn’t felt myself drawn to watch the show, and to be quite honest, the only reason that I ended up doing so was because my father told me that he and my mother enjoyed it, so I gured why not? Now that I’m on the penultimate episode of the season, I have to say that I did rather enjoy the show, for the most part. e characters are okay (Elrond and Durin’s relationship is one for the history books) and have ultimately earned their spot as my favorites. On top of that, the various interwoven plots have

been quite interesting to follow, and I can’t wait to see how they will all collide and ultimately line up to lead to the events in “ e Hobbit.” My main problem, however, ultimately falls on the elves. Going into this show, I had heard whisperings of the introduction of Black elves into the series, and as I waited for the show to come out I had been glad to know that we would nally get that representation. So imagine my surprise when the rst image pops up on the screen, featuring Galadriel’s childhood, and all I see are white elves. Every single one. A er that, my expectations for the show dropped. Rather than enjoying the plot, I spent the rest of the episode searching for Black people. And I will say, it was amazing seeing Black actors among the harfoots, dwarves and humans!

ey were seamlessly introduced, no questioning about why they were there, and the various actors and actresses did a wonderful job. And I feel that because they did so well with every other fantasy race in the show, it only highlighted the issue of there being only one Black elf.

e issue that is generally held with the elves, at least from my unerstanding and viewpoint, is that they are highlighted as noble and wonderful—beautiful creatures that are above the rest of Middle Earth. And in terms of casting, the actors who played the elves were always white. To be quite honest I didn’t really like the elves (the dwarves and the hobbits were my favorites), but that doesn’t discount the harm that such casting choices in icted on viewers of color. And so, a er

years of speaking out on the need for diverse casting and the issues that a lack of representation causes, I gured that a lot more care would be taken to x this issue. And I think that the writers for this show heard the complaints, and then tried to solve it in a way that more or less completely missed the issue. Rather than simply making it so that actors of color lled the role of the elves, they instead created a plot that pointed out how elves weren’t perfect, and how sometimes they are wrong, and entitled, and that they aren’t better than everyone, rather than focusing on casting. at isn’t to say that such a plot wasn’t good (in fact, I think that it was a necessary and important thing to do, and I personally enjoyed this disruption of perfection). I just feel that as a Black viewer who was

looking forward to the diversity of the Middle Earth world, that it was a quite obvious oversight that made it di cult to appreciate this new chapter as a whole.

So, to make a long article rather short, I am so happy to see the amount of diversity that is represented in Middle Earth through the dwarves, the humans and the harfoots. And I think that it is great that Black fans are able to look at the screen and be able to see a Black elf (and one that is rather moral, compared to the others). However, I don’t think that I should be le to settle for just one. I think more diversity can (and should) be added to the series, and I hope to see actions taken to do so in the next season.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: RETRO INTERIOR” BY JENNIFER PODHORZER AND ‘BIRD IN RED AND BLUE” BY LAUREN PODHORZER