[The Stute] October 21, 2022 (Issue 7, Volume CXX)

Midnights

Stevens’ on-campus vaccine clinic

BY EVAN PAPAGEORGE, STAFF WRITER

At Stevens, the health and safety of the students are a huge priority. Wheth er it be the Stevens Campus Police, the Guardian App, or COVID-19 safety proce dures, the school shows its dedication to keeping its students safe. However, the campus must stay mind ful of COVID-19, as well as other illnesses, like the flu. With this in mind, Stevens offered both the flu vac cine and Bivalent/Omicron COVID-19 booster.

On October 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bergen New Bridge Medi cal Center, in partnership with Stevens, offered this year’s flu vaccine and a dose of the Bivalent/Omi cron COVID-19 booster in the Bissinger Room on the fourth floor of the Howe building. Both vaccines were available to all “all students, faculty, and staff at no cost to the individual,” according to a Stevens press release.

Bergen will collect insur ance information at the time of registration. The cost of the vaccines will be sent to SEE VACCINE PAGE 2

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We write Stevens history

Stevens celebrates National Coming Out Day

BY KATIE BLOOMER, OUTREACH CHAIR

October 11 was National Coming Out Day, an annu al awareness day observed in the United States to cel ebrate and support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people in “coming out of the clos et.” This is only one day out of LGBTQ+ History Month, which is the entirety of Oc tober. National Coming Out Day was created in 1988 with the goal of destigmatiz ing coming out and instead celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. Homophobia

Lore El Center insight series: Dr. Talithia Williams on eliminat ing health disparities

BY POOJA RAJADURAI, OPINION COLUMNIST

Seated in the apogee of Stevens’ construction ef forts in the past few years— the UCC (University Center Complex) TechFlex audi

torium—a sizable audience of faculty and students wel comed esteemed Dr. Ta lithia Williams as she took the stage to deliver a truly informative and engaging discourse about patient em powerment and eliminating health disparities. Upon tak ing the stage, Dr. Williams established her presence as a confident speaker embold ened not only through her impressive credentials but also through her affability and connection to the audi ence as a lover of learning.

Dr. Williams began her presentation by detailing her journey to the stage. As a student pursuing a Mathe matics degree from Howard University and a Statistics degree from Rice University, she had worked in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab where her research pertained pri marily to the sterility of a space probe. As a newcom

er to the lab, she had been encouraged to share her ideas, and this experience manifests in her endeavor to make numerical models applicable and understand able to everyone. Dr. Wil liams furthered her erudi tion by earning her Ph.D. in Statistics and is a tenured Mathematics professor at Harvey Mudd College. She is most well known for de livering the Ted Talk, Own Your Body’s Data in 2014, which delves into the pow er of being an expert on the data of one’s own body. Dr. Williams also spoke of her enthrallment at PBS as a young child returning from school, and completed the circle as an adult by hosting a show on NovaWonders, where she asked “Can we build a brain… and should we?” “No,” she jovially told the audience and re-estab lished her character as both a speaker and a scientist. Thus, as she transitioned from introducing herself to the meat of the discussion, the audience listened with open ears and a vested inter est in Dr. Williams’ presen tation.

thrives in atmospheres of silence and ignorance, so when people openly cele brate being LGBTQ+, they are fighting against ho mophobic or oppressive views. The goal is that once homophobic people know they have loved ones who are in the LGBTQ+ com munity, they are less likely to maintain their intolerant views.

Liliana Delman, the Di rector of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Division of Student Affairs, plans the National Coming Out Day events for Stevens each

year in collaboration with student Diversity, Equity & Inclusion staff and LGBTQ+ student organizations, Torch Alliance and oSTEM.

Delman explained that in 2016, Stevens created the vibrant purple “coming out day door” as a way to spread awareness. Fittingly, pur ple front doors on houses are generally known to be a sign of open-mindedness. The same can be said for this door which enthusiasti cally welcomes each person who walks through it. It is mounted to the door frame used in DeBaun productions

Hoboken Harvest Festival returns after two-year hiatus

BY BENJAMIN KNOBLOCH, STAFF WRITER

The Hoboken Harvest Festival, an autumn event organized by the City of Hoboken and the Hoboken Business Alliance, will be running on October 22 for the first time since 2019. The celebration, which will take place in Pier A Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., includes a number of harvest-inspired activities for children and adults alike.

The city tradition was interrupted for two years by the pandemic but will be returning with a larger scope than before. For the first time, this year’s event will coincide with an arts and crafts fair and market, which will open on Sinatra Drive Walkway from First Street to Fourth Street at the same time as the festival and close at 6 p.m.

Highlights of this year’s event for children will in clude a hay maze, pony rides, a petting zoo, a pump kin patch, horse and car riage rides, inflatables, and a trackless train.

The event will also have live music. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy performances from

acts such as The Americana Family Jamboree, Zydeco Revelators, and Rockness Music as they enjoy the view from the waterfront.

The Arts and Crafts Mar ket will feature vendors with a wide assortment of offer ings, including craft activi ties, food, and drink.

The announcement of the festival’s return was made by Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla who hailed the previously annual event’s resumption as a sign of the return to normality. “I am excited to welcome back the Hoboken Harvest Festi val this year so our families, friends, and neighbors can gather together again to cel ebrate the fall.”

Roxanne Earley, the Executive Director of the Hoboken Business Alliance, also spoke about the cele bration, “The Alliance be lieves that a whole Hoboken approach helps enliven our community where everyone can come to play and stay, and events like the Harvest Festival offer us an opportu nity to more deeply connect residents, visitors, and busi nesses to what makes Hobo ken great- these gourdgeous views from Pier A, and family-friendly fall fun.”

SEE FESTIVAL PAGE 2

which allows the Stevens community members to lit erally “come out” by walking through the fully functional door. The panels of the door are also full of signatures, showing support from those who have previously visited the door.

The door was placed in side the University Center Complex gallery on National Coming Out day along with a table of other activities like LGBTQ+ history trivia ques tions with prizes. There was also free coffee to encourage

Out of the Darkness walk

BY KEENAN YATES, MANAGING EDITOR

The American Founda tion for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will be hosting its Out of the Darkness Walk in Hoboken on October 23, 2022. Out of the Darkness Walks take place across the country every year, since their flagship event in 2004, with the goal of “giving peo ple the courage to open up about their own connections to the cause” by ultimately providing a “platform to cre ate a culture that’s smart er about mental health.”

Participants can also raise money to donate to AFSP, to which their donations will be used to fund research for suicide prevention, create and distribute educational programs, advocate for pub lic policy, and support survi vors of suicide loss. Thanks to the community that has donated and continues to support AFSP, they have been able to set a goal to re duce the annual suicide rate by 20% by 2025.

Founded in 1987, AFSP is a voluntary health organiza tion based in New York City and stands as the world’s largest private funder of sui cide prevention research. They host a range of events

SEE WALK PAGE 2

Bowling for Boobies strikes success

BY OZ AGUINAGA, NEWS EDITOR

October is the month of breast cancer awareness. As such, on October 13, two Stevens’ sororities, The ta Phi Alpha and Delta Phi Epsilon co-hosted a fund raising event, Bowling for Boobies, to bring awareness to the cause. The event was open to all students who wanted to participate. It was a night that brought Greek organizations and students together for some competi tive fun, a break away from the day-to-day grind, from burgeoning homework to upcoming tests.

The format was sim ple enough. Teams would show down in lanes for the oh-so-coveted “Best Boobs” award: a pink 3D-printed

trophy to celebrate the win ners. However, all partici pants, despite winning or losing the lane, were given a pink ribbon pin. Quite lit erally, a participation award to acknowledge the students who came out to the event. But that’s not all! The hosts provided a bake sale to sa tiate everyone’s desire for late-night sweets. A fun mini-game was played, rem iniscent of pin-the-tail-ondonkey, but instead pin-theribbon-on-the-nipple; the most accurate nipple-pinner also won a trophy. The fund raiser also included a raf fle. Delta Phi Epsilon sister Hannah Mayer remarked, “everyone had so much fun with their breast friends.”

All in all, a total of nine

FEATURE (5) Stevens

SCIENCE (6)

Scared of getting sick? Learn more about this year’s flu season and how you can protect yourself from the flu and COVID-19

PULSE(12)

Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly cross word puzzle and sudoku

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LILIANA DELMAN

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JENNA GIESECKE

Editorial Board

Operations Board

Staff & Contributors

NOTICE A MISTAKE?

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on Op-Eds

All members of the Stevens community are able to submit a stand alone opinion piece (otherwise known as an Op-Ed) to be published in The Stute. Op-Eds must be between 400 – 800 words, but longer sub missions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. To submit an OpEd please email eboard@thestute.com with your name and title (when applicable) or using our Google form (tinyurl.com/submit-t0-stute). For writers who wish to write an Op-Ed anonymously, please see our policy on anonymity.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to pub lish a submitted Op-Ed based on a majority rule vote, and additionally reserves the right to edit Op-Eds for clarity or request authors to revise. Provided that the author approves the final version, The Stute reserves the right to edit Op-Eds according to our copy editing procedures, de fined in our policies.

OUT

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a comfortable, social atmosphere.

of Torch Alliance, oS TEM, LGBTQ+ staff, and allies attended to celebrate and share resources. The event took place both in the morning and early af ternoon to allow attendance for as many students as possible.

LGBTQ+ History Month will be continuing for all of October with a variety of events and celebra tions. Future events include a Safe Zone Allyship Training, LGBTQ+ Networking Event, and Laven der Luncheon, to name a few. To learn more, check out DuckLink or the Corq app. Information about LGBTQ+ events and life on cam pus can also be found on Insta gram @torch.alliance, @ostemste vens, and @interculturalspace.

VACCINE

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the provided insurance company by Bergen.

In addition to this clinic, the Stevens website offers other op portunities and locations to re ceive flu and COVID-19 vaccines.

Most large pharmacies have vac cines, including CVS and Wal greens. Some smaller institutions like Better Life Pharmacy and Medicine Man also offer vaccines.

Most Hoboken locations accept in surance and while some take walkins, others require an appointment

ahead of time.

While talking about flu and COVID-19 vaccines, an important distinction is the differences be tween the two illnesses. Both are viral-respiratory diseases and have many similar symptoms. One sig nificant difference is the time be fore symptoms appear. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “a person may experience symptoms any where from one to four days after infection [for the flu] [...] a person may experience symptoms any where from two to five days, and up to 14 days after infection.” De spite differences, the two illness

es are very similar in symptoms. Some symptoms of the two are as follows: fever or feeling feverish/ having chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fa tigue (tiredness), sore throat, run ny or stuffy nose, muscle pain or body aches, headache, and vomit ing.

To search for vaccine providers, refer to the Stevens website. Addi tionally, please see the CDC web site for more information. If you have any questions, are experienc ing symptoms, or have contacted anyone with the flu or COVID-19, please contact a health profession al.

WALK

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with the purpose of promoting mental health and suicide pre vention, which include: campus walks, which are 5k walks at col leges and high schools throughout the country, and overnight walks, in which participants walk over 16 miles from dusk till dawn, and community walks.

As of five days prior to the event, the Hoboken Out of the Darkness Walk has raised approximately $32,000, which is just under half of their goal of $65,000. Check-in for the event begins at 9 a.m. at the Stevens Institute of Technolo gy Babbio Center on the morning of, and the walk will begin at 10:15 a.m. For more information about the Hoboken Out of the Darkness walk, please contact Elizabeth Cle mens at mvargas@afsp.org.

While this specific event is held in Hoboken, there are many opportunities to join in on other walks throughout the country. To register for an event, learn more about the cause, or donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, please visit afsp.org.

attend the festival this Saturday can reach Pier A Park in just a short walk down the waterfront, only a few blocks south of campus. Those wishing for more informa tion on the festival can visit the City of Hoboken’s event page.

Stevens students who wish to

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AFSP.ORG

The addition of the new Arts and Crafts Market is partially due to an unfortunate occurrence ear lier this month. Remnants of Hur

ricane Ian prompted the cancella tion of the Hoboken Fall Arts and Music Festival, which was sup posed to take place at the begin ning of October. Vendors intended for that event have been repur posed for the new celebration.

FESTIVAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HOBOKEN ON FACEBOOK

INSIGHT

Dr. Williams broached the discussion by defining health disparities as preventable differ ences in diseases across different communities. The necessity of acknowledging such differences, she explained, arises in pursuit of achieving optimal health experi enced by socially disadvantaged members. Dr. Williams was quick to bring in statistical evidence of social determinants of health. She pointed out that 80% of health needs are accounted for by social and economic factors, and most states don’t cover basic needs. 85% of physicians believe unmet social needs lead to health issues. She also pointed out how rural patients face even more skewed realities due to barriers in health care. Dr. Williams then brought up a chart that contained the top ten leading causes of death, separated by gen der and race. She asked the audi ence to point out anything surpris ing they might find in the chart. Apart from genetic differences that might result in predispositions for certain diseases, it was easy to see how a lack of certain necessities might affect rates of diseases prev alent among certain demograph ics; for example, many races cited suicide to be a top 10 leading cause of death among men, but suicide was not a top 10 cause of death for

BOWLING

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teams came out on Thursday night to support the cause and the two organizing sororities. After sum ming up all the donations, $260 was raised—all of which will be do nated to Keep A Breast, a non-prof it organization, dedicated to breast cancer prevention and education. Flyers were put up with informa tion regarding breast cancer.

The event revived a tradition for Theta Phi Alpha, as they hav en’t been able to do all the philan thropy events they once did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. How

women, regardless of race. Of those races, suicide was far more likely in Native American men than in any other men. Cancer rates, heart dis ease, and Alzheimer’s also took up different percentages across differ ent races and genders.

Getting the audience comfort able with the numbers that they were likely to face based on race and gender allowed Dr. Williams to advocate for a culture of “data agency” which consists of author ity or power given to patients to take ownership of their health ex periences, as well as the process of becoming stronger or more confi dent in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights. She exem plified the importance of the first part by citing her experience in requesting a doula for the delivery of her child. As a Black woman, she noticed a shift in treatment when her close friend started calling her “Dr. Williams” halfway into the delivery. In being aware of the po tential differences in health experi ences, patients can be emboldened to speak up with the understand ing that they are deserving of op timal health care. The second part she exemplified by recalling how her mother-in-law had miscarried seven months into her pregnancy, only for the doctor to tell her that they were not able to determine the sex of the child when she asked (the sex of a child can be deter mined prior to four months into a pregnancy). Empowering patients

ever, with recent restrictions being lifted, they are once again able to host events. This goes to show the initiative and dedication to service these sorority members have to the community. Jenna Giesecke, one of the main organizers from Theta Phi Alpha said, “Overall I think the event was a success and we expect to do it again next fall bigger and better with the notes I took from this year.”

In the meantime, Theta Phi Alpha will be hosting other fund raising events open to all Stevens students. Keep a watch out for all future events by following @theta phistevens and @dphiesteves on Instagram or DuckLink.

means that they are aware of what they are entitled to as a human which makes them less likely to be taken advantage of in medical sit uations

Dr. Williams wrapped up her discussion by pointing out the importance of health data acces sibility and transparency, and in dividual ownership of that data. She noted distrust in healthcare practices such as vaccines because of historic events like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment which again reinforces the need for personal data agency and greater represen tation in STEM fields, which she actively works toward by holding programs for children and parents alike. These programs explain how to encourage children to succeed in scientific fields and nurture scien tific appreciation. She concluded her presentation with two lessons “Appreciate: Mindfully collect, un derstand, and evaluate data,” and “Illuminate: Lead with passion and Purpose.” Throughout the discus sion, Dr. Williams navigated the pitfalls of minimizing healthcare discrepancies to make the presen tation more palatable while pre serving the importance of such a conversation. She included anec dotes, personal experiences, and diverse perspectives which made it easier to understand the reality of representation in STEM, the evolu tion of healthcare, and the percep tion of healthcare, across different communities.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

ON INSTAGRAM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVENS.EDU

SAFETY AND OPERATIONS AT STEVENS

Stevens implements new work order request system

BY EVAN PAPAGEORGE, STAFF WRITER

At Stevens, the work order system is a way for students, faculty, and staff to report is sues or suggestions regarding the facilities of Stevens. In the past, filling out the request form for an order has been challenging, with additional problems after someone plac es an order. As part of Stevens’ continued effort to improve the building and facility ser vices, The Division of Facili ties and Campus Operations (FCO) is implementing a new web-based work order system using the provider Building Engines Inc. This new system will help ease the troubles in making work orders and their execution.

There are different aspects to the new system. The Build ing Engines request form is available through computers and mobile devices. To access it, log on to MyStevens and find the new BE logo. Once in the system, there is a sin gle sign-on form to initiate a work order. The next step is to fill out the actual work or der request form. The form asks for basic information like what building the order is for, where in the building, what the issue is, and what depart ment should respond, plus some information like email

and phone number for up dates to be sent.

In addition to this new form, FCO is also implement ing a new Help Desk service. This system will receive any calls to the Work Order Desk after hours. The business hours of the desk are Mon day through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Outside those times, the new help desk system will receive any calls. Regardless, FCO says any emergency calls should go to campus police.

A more innovative part of the Building Engines system is the process after someone places a work order. The sys tem will automatically send updates and alerts to the con tact information given in the request form. The update sys tems allow FCO to communi cate any changes if anything becomes complete, or any is sues arise. Primarily, this part of the system would alert who ever requests the order that the job is concluded, changed, or has some other problem.

FCO asks that members of the Stevens community have patience with the new system as it is still in its infancy and may have some issues. If there are any questions regarding the new system, contact the Work Order Desk at Ext. 5281 or by email at workorder@ste vens.edu.

Stevens releases 2022 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report

BY CLAIRE HANNAN, NEWS EDITOR

On September 30, Stevens released its 2022 Annual Se curity and Fire Safety Report detailing statistics for 2019 to 2021 related to crimes occur ring on or near Stevens-owned property and disciplinary sta tistics. The report is created by the Stevens Campus Police and available to all students, faculty, and staff.

The report starts off with a message from the Stevens Chief of Police, Timothy J. Griffin. Griffin states that the campus police’s “approach to providing campus safety and security is one of communi ty policing and partnership building within the Stevens community and with [its] host city.” He also reveals that the school is focusing on its emer gency management operations to best prepare for a serious or continuing threat. The mes sage includes some statistics on the Stevens police force, which includes 19 armed po lice officers who are fully cer tified by the New Jersey Po lice Training Commission and have full police powers within the state of New Jersey. The Stevens police force also in cludes two dispatchers, all of whom are trained to respond to a variety of emergency sit uations. Further along in the report, the Stevens Campus

Police stated that their mis sion and core values are pride, duty, and professionalism.

To start, the report stated the rules and emergency pro cedures, and it outlined disci plinary routes if rules are bro ken on campus. They reported on the Stevens’ Emergency Re sponse Plan (ERP) and how it is being maintained by annual evacuation tests in every cam pus building as well as training an emergency management team (EMT) which consists of staff members outside of the Police Department “with ex pertise in responding to emer gency situations and trained first responders.”

16 pages of the report are dedicated to the Stevens Title IX Policy, a nationally required program enforced by the Unit ed States Department of Ed ucation. The policy establish es rules and procedures that must be enforced in cases of “allegations of Sexual Harass ment, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, [and/or] Stalking and Retal iation.” The report provided the contact information for Stevens Title IX Coordinator, Xhiljola Ruci Kluger, as well as the two Deputy Title IX Coor dinators, Stacy Flowers Fisher and Maria Sinaileen Ouckama. Anyone who experiences dis crimination or harassment on the basis of gender or any kind of sexual assault should reach

out to the people and resourc es provided.

The report included a de tailed synopsis of crime and fire incidents occurring on campus, public property adja cent to campus, and off-cam pus housing locations within one mile of campus. The sta tistics show a small decrease in crimes between 2019 to 2021, with 2021 showing no burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, or dating violence. Each previous year contained between one to four incidents of each crime. Nota bly, of all disciplinary actions taken within the three year period, none come close to the number of liquor law viola tions, with 58 disciplinary ac tions taken in 2019 and 37 tak en in 2021. However, only one arrest was made over the three years for liquor law violations.

The annual fire statistics showed a positive trend with no fires occurring in student housing in 2020 and 2021. This is an improvement from 2019 when at least one fire occurred in every on-campus housing location except for Palmer Hall, Castle Point Hall, and the Lore-El Center. In or der to maintain fire safety, the report lays out the list of pro hibited items for on-campus housing, including but not limited to Christmas trees, large accumulations of paper, candles, and explosives.

NEW STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ON CAMPUS

Meet the trivia club!

BY KATE WILCOX, CONTRIBUTOR

At Stevens, students are free to explore their interests in and out of their major; one interest that seems to be pop ular among students from all different walks of life just hap pens to be trivia. The Stevens Trivia Club, STC, was found ed last year by the President of the club Kevin Ward, a 5/5 Computer Engineering stu dent, and Vice President Ste phen Pachuki, a 2/4 Comput er Science major. According to Pachuki, “We have a passion for trivia and we knew that there would be people who felt the same way.” Although they are currently a step four orga nization, this is a probationary period before becoming an of ficial Stevens club, the Trivia Club has gained a substantial number of members with over 100 members in their Discord

alone.

Due to significant interest, the e-board members all have their work cut out for them, with each of them focusing on improving a different aspect of the club. Kevin Ward stat ed, “I want to make sure that we are producing entertain ing and educational events for Stevens students […] make sure that [the] people who par ticipate in our events are hav ing fun and hopefully learning some interesting facts along the way [...and] create a foun dation for the rest of the STC E-Board to be able to build off of in the future.” Sadly, Ward will be graduating be fore the STC becomes an offi cial club, but by working with the current e-board members to, “create systems and proce dures […] which will allow the club to run smoothly and effi ciently in the future […] I have

full confidence that they will be able to make the club even better than what it is current ly.” Victor Alfonso, the secre tary and a 2/5 Computer En gineering major, says that his hopes for STC are, “to help run fun events for the students on campus, provide a semi com petitive game that people can just come with their friends to participate in,” and “to get a feel for how to run our events and what kinds of topics the audience would enjoy, in ad dition to planning other types of events.”

Typically, the club tends to be a competitive space. How ever, many of the e-board members try to make it a fun experience for everyone, and those who play can team with up to four people. Lila Matu lac, sophomore mechanical engineering major and the treasurer of STC, stated, “I

think students should know that although the concept of our club centers around com petition-style events, we real ly aim to entertain a variety of audiences and you shouldn’t feel intimidated to come out and just have a good time with your friends.” In fact, the president of the club admitted that he is not that good at triv ia himself, but he finds enjoy ment in learning obscure facts to then share with the many members of STC.

To change things up a bit at each meeting, and to try to include as many people as possible, STC creates different themes for their trivia nights. On their Discord, they pro vide polls for members to vote on what theme they want for the following meeting. One of their popular events was Geek Bowl, which hosted a vari ety of questions involving all

things geek-related, including questions about Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and even Rick and Morty.

At the end of the night, the top three teams that get the most points do not go unre warded for their efforts. The Stevens Trivia Club provides prizes, often themed each meeting, as well as candy to all the members who come. Sometimes, during half-time, the club will ask questions and give out smaller prizes to the individuals who get the ques tions right.

Overall, the club is a fun competitive experience where people who enjoy learning facts and competing for priz es can hang out with friends; as it currently stands, with the club’s current popularity de spite being so new, it will be interesting to see how much more they improve.

Stevens Consulting Club joins campus

BY KATE WILCOX, CONTRIBUTOR

The School of Business is always inspiring its students to learn outside the classroom, and that seems to be exactly what Aditya Bhangale took to heart. Bhangale is the found er of the Stevens Consulting Club, SCC, here on campus, the first of its kind. The Con sulting Club is a recent addi tion to extracurricular activ ities students can participate in, however, that has not slowed down the club’s popu larity. With seventy-nine stu dents in the club’s GroupMe, the club aims to have its first

meeting sometime this month.

COPA, The Corporate Out reach & Professional Ad vancement Office, sent out an email featuring the launch of the club, stating that SCC’s goals are “to build relation ships with companies and the school to prepare students for the consulting industry and to build general skills that they can apply anywhere. Eventu ally, the club aims to connect students with small busi nesses by creating opportu nities for students to take on pro-bono consulting projects. Not only would these projects help students apply what they have learned in the classroom

to real life situations, but they would also allow students to build up their resumes.

Although the Stevens Con sulting Club is open to every one, Bhangale wants students to feel challenged and for the club to create a “competitive environment with opportu nities for leadership, growth, and work experience.” No matter what area you are studying in, the Stevens Con sulting Club is a great oppor tunity to gain some profes sional experience!

Students can join the Ste vens Consulting Club by join ing their GroupMe.

SCAN THIS CODE TO JOIN THE TRIVIA CLUB’S GROUPME!

Feature

L G B T Q+ HISTORY MONTH

Torch and Stevens Trivia Club present LGBTQ trivia

BY TASHA KHOSLA, FEATURES EDITOR

As many may know, October is LGBTQ+ History Month. To celebrate, many organizations on campus including Torch, oSTEM (Out in Science, Tech nology, Engineering, Math), SITTV, the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Stevens Trivia Club, have planned events all throughout October.

In an interview with The Stute, Serina Rodriguez, Pres ident and Secretary of Torch, shared more details about the event, which is happening on October 21, and is “open to all.”

Rodriguez explained, “For the Queer Trivia event students should expect a good time puz zling out answers to carefully curated trivia questions thanks to Stevens Trivia Club. We have

looked over these questions and I can say a decent amount of them will tickle your brain. We are hoping to provide ev eryone who comes with a great time. And I believe there should be prizes for the top 3 perform ing teams.” At the event, stu dents will be playing in teams of up to four players, and “[t] he questions range from LGBT rights movement to LGBT in media and art. I think most of the questions are solvable for the general public, in other words, mainstream enough.”

Additionally, Rodriguez stressed the importance of coming to the events being hosted by the aforementioned clubs. She noted, “This event is a way to engage the Stevens community to learn more about LGBTQ+ History and have some fun doing it. There are many events happenings for

Torch’s Halloween potluck

BY JORDYN RAMELLI, BUSINESS MANAGER

On October 31, 2022, Torch is holding a Halloween costume potluck dinner. The event will take place in Morton 105 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and everyone is encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes. Serina Rodriguez, President and Sec retary, explained more about Torch and the upcoming event.

The event is available to register for on DuckLink, and Torch asks that everyone who would like to come register be

forehand. Rodriguez described more about the event, “We do ask that since this event is on Halloween you bring your spookiest costume. Also, since this event is a potluck, we do ask attendees interested to RSVP when the DuckLink goes up letting us know if they will bring anything.”

Rodriguez explained the importance of Torch and their mission on campus. “Torch is the LGBTQ+ Alliance here at Stevens. We want to build community amongst the LGBT students at Stevens and allies.

LGBTQ+ History Month and I recommend anyone who want to show up to interact with Queer culture and learn more about our history.”

As Rodriguez stated, many of the events are open to every one and are a way for students to interact with these clubs and gain more understanding of LGBTQ+ history at Stevens. She summarized, “I think that the best part of celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month at Stevens is that I get to learn a lot about our history and then share that with others. On top of that plenty of the events are fun and entertaining.”

For anyone who is inter ested in learning more about LGBTQ+ resources at Stevens, including at the library, on campus organizations, and be yond, there are research guides available.

Lavender luncheon

BY ADVAIT DANTULURI, CONTRIBUTOR

Are you hungry for meet ing new people and expanding your network (and also hungry for food in general)? In cele bration of LGBTQ+ History Month, on October 20, at 12:30 p.m. Lavender Luncheon took place in Martha Bayard room 104. This event was hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as two LGBTQ-focused organizations at Stevens, Torch, and oSTEM. Torch is a student-run organi zation where members of the LGBTQ+ community, allies, and people questioning their sexuality can join together in a safe social space without the fear of being alienated. oSTEM (Out in Science, Technolo gy, Engineering, and Math) is another student-run organi zation that mainly focuses on empowering LGBTQ+ indi viduals in STEM-related fields and aiming to help them per sonally, academically, and pro fessionally.

spring semester and one in the fall semester of the academic year) and has been occurring for the past four to five years.

The luncheon is another one of the many efforts at Ste vens to foster inclusivity on campus. At Stevens, we must work together to create in clusive spaces that accept ev eryone regardless of gender identity and sexuality, as well as work together to get rid of some of the normalized bias es that hurt members of the LGBTQ+ community. We have to reassess our everyday life and the people around us in order to recognize the bigotry against LGBTQ+ people and take action to prevent it, such as speaking up about it or be ing willing to dissociate with bigoted people if they refuse to change their ways. We must create safe spaces that can al low people to come out as well as share their own experiences. These are steps we must take in order to make Stevens even more LGBTQ+ inclusive.

We host GBMs every Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. We host lots of GBMs where everyone is invited to come and enjoy a good time while supporting the LGBT community at Stevens. We also hold some events to bring awareness or celebrate LGBT subjects and matters.”

Torch has held many events in the past, such as Jeopardy, Gayme Night, and Speed Vibe Checking. Supporting Torch and its events empowers and supports the LGBTQ commu nity, in addition to celebrating LGBTQ history month.

According to Kai Goz (they/ he), one of the co-presidents of oSTEM, the luncheon is an event where people can come and chat, with the main goal be ing to help people get to know one another and to increase the network for LGBTQ+ peo ple on campus. This event was made specifically for students (both graduate and undergrad uate), faculty, staff, and alumni in order to start conversations and allow people to speak com fortably about their own ex periences. The luncheon is an annual event (and sometimes a biannual event, with one in the

If you are interested in meeting more people from the LGBTQ+ community, listening to different stories, and maybe looking for a nice bite to eat, then be sure to attend the next Lavender Luncheon! And be sure to support organizations like Torch and oSTEM, to help Stevens be a more LGBTQ+ inclusive place! If you are also looking to learn more about LGBTQ+ identity, as well as in justices and issues that harm fully impact the LGBTQ+ com munity, you can RSVP for the Safe Zone Allyship Training, hosted by the Office of Diversi ty, Equity, and Inclusion.

Science

Robotic drug capsule delivering drugs to gut

BY KATIE BLOOMER, OUTREACH CHAIR

A new, robotic drug capsule was created to allow large proteins, like insulin, to be better delivered and absorbed through the digestive tract which would allow them to be taken orally. This capsule, the RoboCap, uses a unique spinning method to navigate through mu cus and create the optimum envi ronment for drug absorption. The main goal of the RoboCap is to re lease the drug in the exact location that it is needed so the rate of ab sorption is as high as possible and therefore the most effective.

When large protein or nucle ic acid drugs are swallowed, they can’t get through the thick mucus of the digestive tract which means that they aren’t able to reach the target location and don’t have high absorption rates. This is why med ications like insulin need to be injected. Shriya Srunuvasan, the lead author of the study, designed the RoboCap to resemble tunnel boring machines drilling into the soil. The newly designed capsule spins through the mucus-like a drill bit until it reaches the desired location.

This spinning action occurs af ter the gelatin coating is melted and

This year’s flu season

BY TANYA AVADIA, CONTRIBUTOR

Influenza, otherwise known as the flu, is unfortunately due to make a comeback this year. During the last two years, the flu, along with other respirato ry viruses, was not as prevalent because the COVID-19 virus was more contagious. This year, how ever, as restrictions from the pan demic have loosened up, disease experts are expecting high infec tion rates for the flu. Predictions for a harsh winter, low vaccina tion rates, and people returning to a nuanced version of life before COVID-19 all contribute to the possibility of there being a surge in flu cases. Already, there have been two reported cases of the in fluenza virus in Delaware hence why medical specialists are rec ommending people get vaccinat ed now.

The influenza virus has been around since the 5th century BC and has been denoted as a very deadly disease. While the symp toms of this virus may range from mild to severe, it should be taken seriously as this disease is responsible for killing 12,000 to 52,000 people annually in the US according to the Centers for Dis ease Control (CDC). The symp toms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle aches, runny or stuffy nose, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is important to note that not all of these symp toms will apply to everyone. The virus spreads through tiny respi ratory droplets when an infected

person coughs, sneezes, or talks. The contagiousness of the flu is at its highest in the first one to four days after a person is infected.

This year, infectious disease scientists believe the rate of flu infections will go up. Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric disease doc tor at NYU Langone Health, ex plained that flu seasons start in the southern hemisphere and move upward. For this reason, experts are tracking flu rates in Australia on what to expect here in the US. Unfortunately, Austra lia had one of the worst flu sea sons this year according to Aus tralia’s Department of Health and

reveals the small studs that propel the capsule. It has been compared to the design of a toothbrush head with little bristles scraping away at plack much like the studs scrape away mucus. As the spinning mo tion begins, it simultaneously slowly erodes the compartment that contains the drug so it is able to be released when the final des tination is reached. Although the current gelatin coating is made to melt when it reaches the pH of the intestines, the coating could be altered to dissolve at a differ ent pH to target other organs. Ac cording to a study in Science Ro botics, the researchers found that

this opens up the possibilities for drugs that could be delivered us ing this method. The RoboCap even has the ability to be used for topical drugs by amplifying the concentration and therefore more intensely treating inflammation in cases like ulcerative colitis.

In animal studies, researchers found that the RoboCap can de liver 20 to 40 times more product than the standard, nonrotating capsule. It enhances the distribu tion of both small molecules and macromolecules. Potential con cerns, like irritation, inflamma tion, and long-term disruption of the mucus layer, were shown to

not be consequences of using the RoboCap. Even the mucus layer that was tunneled through and displaced returns to its original state on its own after a few hours. The body of the RoboCap that does not dissolve is able to pass through the rest of the body without any issues.

Overall, the RoboCap has prov en to be a successful capsule in delivering protein drugs to the specifically intended destination using its spinning design. This new method has the potential to impact the delivery of other drugs and change the way pills can be used.

Aged Care. The good news howev er, is that disease experts in the US were able to figure out what strains of the flu were prominent in Australia’s 2022 flu season and use this knowledge to alter the flu vaccine accordingly. Lighter stat ed for the Popular Science news outlet, “we know that the current vaccine is matching well with what’s circulating in communities in the southern hemisphere” in response to this year’s flu vaccine.

Outside of just the worrying prospects of a difficult flu season, there are other concerns disease specialists have. One of them is the decreasing vaccination rates

for the flu. The COVID-19 pan demic made getting a flu shot less of a priority for people. The CDC reports that only 57 percent of children were vaccinated against influenza last year which is 5.6 percent lower than in 2019-2020. The vaccination rates for adults are even lower as they ranged from 35.9 to 60 percent. Anoth er point of worry for medical ex perts is the waning immunity of the population. Masking and so cial distancing due to the coro navirus pandemic prevented the spread of the flu in the past two years but now the general public hasn’t been exposed to the virus

in a while. Experts claim that because of this the immunity of people against influenza has like ly decreased, causing people to be more susceptible to getting the flu.

While the possibility of having a severe flu season is scary, the best thing to do right now is to get vaccinated. Many pharmacies and medical centers have already started giving out flu shots in an ticipation of the 2022 flu season. Although it is uncomfortable to experience the vaccine’s side ef fects and flu symptoms, it is bet ter to be protected than to get se verely sick.

Nobel Prizes: grave digging, teleportation, and human rights

BY QUENTIN JIMENEZ, SCIENCE WRITER

At the beginning of October, the Nobel Foundation began its annual tradition of conferring six distinguished awards for advanc es in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics. Each year the Foundation awards individuals and organizations the prize for outstanding achieve ments within their field, and this year is no exception. Laureates this year were commended for their widespread achievements, from untangling the entangle ment of quantum particles, to the sequencing of 40,000 year old ge nomes, to groups fighting against authoritarianism in eastern Eu rope.

The first prize to be award ed was in medicine was given to Svante Pääbo, a Swedish geneti cist whose work uncovered a link between modern humans and an cient neanderthals. Through the discovery of a 40,000 year old piece of bone, Pääbo was able to completely sequence the genome of a neanderthal, an ancient evo lutionary cousin of humans. This allowed researchers to trace back the evolution of some of our genet ic traits, and led Pääbo to answers regarding a shared gene between the two species. His research had initially been ignited during the pandemic, when he noticed a gene that was correlated with a more severe response to the illness. The

discoveries allowed him to trace the evolution of this gene back to interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals. He was award ed for this work, and also for the process developed for analyzing ancient genomes.

The next day, three men were awarded the prize in physics for their work made in quantum tech nology over the span of 60 years. All three were experimenting with quantum entanglement, a proper ty that allows two particles to in teract while separated. Two of the researchers laid the mathematical groundwork for the experiments, conducted by Dr. Zeilinger, who showed that quantum information can be transmitted and received at long distances, upwards of 100 ki lometers. This research is helping scientists build the next generation of computers, quantum computers which will rely on the still murky properties of the microscopic.

Countries are already investing in this technology for satellites, which would allow encrypted in formation to be transmitted even faster than already possible, and researchers are already in the pro cess of testing the effect with lowearth orbit satellites. The founda tion highlighted these scientists for their fundamental work in a rapidly expanding future technol ogy.

The most recognizable No bel award, the peace prize, was presented later in the week to human-rights activists and or

ganizations in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus working to end the authoritarianism of Belarus and Russia. The Belarusian laureate, Ales Bialiatski, was commended for his life-long fight for democra cy in his home country. Bialiatski has been jailed several times for his activism, most recently for his organization of protests against rigged elections designed to keep long time president of Belarus Lukashenko in power. The award

also went to the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, an organi zation recently dedicated to docu menting war crimes committed by Russia, and a longtime advocate for democracy in Ukraine. A prize was also given to a humanitarian organization on the other side of the conflict as well, Memorial. Me morial is a group long dedicated to highlighting the political op pression of the Soviet and Russian states. It was established by Gor

bachev and recently dissolved by Putin, but still carries on in exile. With the recent war in Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation = thought it would be most appropriate to award peace efforts in the region.

Just as it does every year, the Nobel prize has highlighted the great achievements of humanity, allowing us a retrospective look at what we have accomplished, and a lens into what might be possible in the future.

PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY OF CDC.GOV

Sports

ON DECK IN SPORTS

FRI, OCT 21

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL vs Kean University Hoboken, NJ 4:30 p.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

vs Wesleyan University Hoboken, NJ 7 p.m.

Splashing and dashing into season

BY KAI WONG, CONTRIBUTOR

On October 8, Stevens Wom en’s Swimming had its dual meet season opener against Kean University.

Stevens fell 172-89, but the Ducks battled a few obstacles in and out of the pool the week leading up to the meet. The team was unable to practice in the pool because of bacteria issues, but the team did not let this hin der its training routine. Junior Lauren Smith said, “It was a team effort and none of us could have gotten through […] if we didn’t have all of us [working out together] and doing team prac tices.” Smith’s sophomore team mate Julia Munger also said that

“team leadership and camarade rie was really important for us to stick together and make sure that we were ready as best as we [could] be going into Saturday.”

Stevens claimed two titles, each by first-years. Gabby Tyer clocked a 5:34.80 in the 500 yard Freestyle, making her the fastest time in the Middle At lantic Conference thus far in the season. Alongside Tyer, Na talia Brunetti came out on top in the 100 yard Butterfly with a 1:00.90, also solidifying her a top spot in the Middle Atlantic Conference. In addition to Tyer and Brunetti, five other Ducks (first-years Adriana Bertolotti, Amanda LaFrancois, Sydney Lanager, Rachel Merrifield, and Gabby Sokolik) made their colle

giate debut.

Despite not having a senior class of swimmers this year, there is plenty of rising talent.

Junior Heather Maclachlan said, “After losing seniors from last year […] it is super important that we have a big class of fresh men coming in that are all very strong swimmers.” Her soph omore teammate Emily Lynch also added that “We’re growing our team and we’re getting bet ter […] I hope because of all the new [swimmers] we have on our team, we win MACs this year.”

The women’s team was edged out by Messiah University last year at conferences but has its eyes on bringing a championship title back to Stevens this season.

The team also had many im

pressive second place finishes. First-year Bertolottli grabbed second place finishes in the 50 and 100 yard Breastroke, junior Jamie Juan placed second in the 50 yard Butterfly, and soph omore Kai Wong took second place in the 100 yard Backstroke. The women’s 200 yard Individ ual Medley (Wong, Bertolotti, Brunetti, Sokolik) and 400 yard Freestyle (Brunetti, Smith, Ma clachlan, Reinhardt) relays also took second place.

The Ducks are back in the pool on November 5, for a twoday New York University Fall Invitational. The next week, they face Rowan University on November 11 at the DeBaun Aquatics Center for a dual meet matchup.

Lady ducks claim Player of the Week honors

BY KAI WONG, CONTRIBUTOR

On October 10, the Middle Atlantic Conference named its weekly awards for Players of the Week. Stevens Ducks Rachel Rouse of Women’s Soccer was honored as Offensive Player of the Week, and Bailey Axelrad of Women’s Volleyball was honored as Defensive Player of the Week.

Graduate student Rachel Rouse claimed her first weekly award of the season. Rouse plays at the forward position and led the Ducks to two big confer ence victories this past week. On October 4, Rouse totaled two assists in a 4-1 victory over FDU-Florham. Rouse struck again on October 8, where she added two more goals and one assist in a 5-0 win over Wil kes University. On October 12, Rouse was also named College Player of the Week by United Soccer Coaches, which is the first national player of the week award in program history and of Rouse’s career. Rouse has start ed every game this season for Stevens and leads the team with four goals and six assists for 14

points.

The women’s soccer team will host its Mental Health Aware ness Game as they are set to face No. 3 Misericordia in a confer ence matchup at home this Sat urday, October 22, at 12 p.m.

Sophomore Bailey Axelrad claimed another Player of the Week title for the Ducks, and the Defensive Player of the Week honor is the first of her colle giate career Axelrad finished the week with 95 digs across four matches and was also named to the All-Tournament team at the Juniata Invitational. She to taled 21 digs in a match against No. 3 Juniata College and 35 digs against Messiah University during the tournament. Her 35 digs against Messiah were the most in a game by a Duck since 2016. Axelrad currently leads Stevens with 378 digs on the season.

The women’s volleyball team is 16-6 overall and undefeated in the MAC conference. They face Lycoming University on Wednesday, October 19, in Wil liamsport, PA, and then return home to face Kean University on Friday, October 21, at 4:30 p.m.

STEVENS SCOREBOARD

OPPONENT

DATE TEAM

SAT, OCT 22

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

vs New York University Hoboken, NJ 10 a.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

vs Misericordia University Hoboken, NJ 12 p.m.

MEN’S SWIMMING

vs United States Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point, NY 1 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY

vs Delaware Valley University Hoboken, NJ 4 p.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

vs Stockton University Hoboken, NJ 6 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER

vs Misericordia University Hoboken, NJ7 p.m.

TUE, OCT 25

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

vs Delaware Valley University Hoboken, NJ 7 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER

vs Arcadia University Glenside, PA 7 p.m.

WED, OCT 26

WOMEN’S SOCCER

vs Arcadia University Glenside, PA 7 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY

vs King’s College (PA) Wilkes-Barre, PA 7 p.m.

THU, OCT 27

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

vs Arcadia University Glenside, PA 7 p.m.

LOCATION SCORE

WOMEN'S SOCCER

DELAWARE VALLEY UNIVERSITY

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL DREW UNIVERSITY

AWAY W (2-1)

HOME W (7-3) FIELD HOCKEY FDU-FLORHAM

AWAY W (3-1)

MEN'S GOLF

THE MELEE–ROUND 1

AWAY 7TH OF 11 FIELD HOCKEY EASTERN UNIVERSITY AWAY W (2-1), OT WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CONNECTICUT COLLEGE INVITATIONAL

AWAY CANCELLED MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CONNECTICUT COLLEGE INVITATIONAL

AWAY 22ND OF 23 WOMEN'S SOCCER LYCOMING COLLEGE AWAY L (0-1) MEN'S SOCCER LYCOMING COLLEGE AWAY W (2-0)

MEN'S GOLF

THE MELEE–ROUND 2

AWAY 6TH OF 11

WOMEN'S SOCCER DESALES UNIVERSITY AWAY W (1-0)

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM (SHOT BY MIKE MCLAUGHLIN)

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM

BAILEY AXELRAD RACHEL ROUSE

Opinion

THE

The purpose of an editorial

Based on the recommendation of a good friend, I spent a sleep less night watching the 2003 dra ma Mona Lisa Smile. The film had the typical hints of “feelgood” and “nostalgia” that any early-2000s movie gives off, and had quite the star-studded female cast: Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllen haal, Ginnifer Goodwin to name a few. Warning, there are a few spoilers ahead.

Set in the 1950s, the movie follows the journey of Katherine Watson, a recent grad who decides to accept a teaching position at the all-girls Wellesley College. To her expectation, Watson’s students are all brilliant young women who mastered the syllabus of her Art History course before the first day of class. But Watson quickly pivots and turns her class into an interpretive experience that chal lenges her students’ perspectives on learning itself.

The main conflict in the movie occurs between Watson and one of her students, Betty Warren.

While Watson is revered for her progressive lifestyle by many of her students, Warren is revolted by Watson’s liberal approach to her life. While Warren is a sharp student and academically adept, she believed the pinnacle of her life would be achieved through marriage. During this time pe riod, it was the norm for women students to attend college, but not pursue a full career afterward due to the responsibilities that came with marriage. Warren herself had many conservative values and often expressed those through the editorial for the Wellesley student newspaper.

Warren’s first editorial shown on screen covered the school’s nurse Amanda Armstrong, and exposed to the Wellesley commu nity that she was supplying con traceptives to students; the piece resulted in Armstrong being fired. Warren’s other editorials focused on Watson’s unorthodox teaching methods, her encouragement of students to pursue careers, and her strange desire not to get mar

MIND OF A FRESHMAN

Reunions and playgrounds

ried. In an effort not to spoil the entire movie, all I’ll say is that Warren and Watson end up patch ing up their relationship, which leads Warren’s last editorial in the movie to focus on Warren’s re spect for Watson.

The movie got me thinking a lot about what the purpose of an edi torial is and the power it can have on a community. My favorite part about writing for this editorial has been having the opportunity to express my own and The Stute’s opinions, and I recognize that this column holds a decent amount of weight. It’s freeing to have the opportunity to comment on the student body, talk about art, and talk about my personal feelings. But watching Mona Lisa Smile and reading stories about ground breaking editorials changing the course of a community made me think: am I being too soft? While some people are using the edito rial to comment on the deep in justices surrounding them, here I am expressing my love for Taylor Swift and talking about walks I’ve

taken in the park.

My philosophy with the edito rial is to be true to myself and The Stute. I want to use this platform to share with the student body the strides that The Stute has taken, but also share things that I’ve learned about the world through my own experiences. I also ac knowledge that I’ve had limited and somewhat sheltered experi ences at Stevens, but if even one person can take away a lick of ad vice or a cautionary tale from the mistakes I’ve made, I can consider my job done.

To stay true to my normal theme, here’s some advice and mo tivation for the rest of the semes ter with midterms on the horizon: you can do it. Not the ground breaking advice you were proba bly expecting, but after six semes ters of grinding for midterms and reaching that mid-semester burn out, I can promise you that you’ll make it out of midterms season alive. The most important thing you can do now is not to forget to take care of yourselves.

SENIORITIS The app sampler

Sanjana Madhu ‘23 Editor-in-Chief

BY TANISHKA KAPOOR ‘26

You know the feeling of getting under the warm comforter as you prepare yourself for sleep during winter? The undeniable cozy feeling that keeps you so comfortable that you start thanking the creator of beds and comforters? As if this combination of the cool temperature, warm comforter, and soft mat tress is the best thing that the universe has ever cre ated? That’s what it felt like when I ran across the pier up to my high school bestie and pulled her into a warm embrace.

Seeing her brought up so many memories and re minded me of that comfort of home I craved to feel ever since I came to college. As we walked against the cool breeze of fall, we talked about our recent new lives: How has college been? How have you been? How is that person you CAN NOT stop talking about? You haven’t

gotten your heartbroken yet, have you? No dumb decision? (The answer to that last question was a sly smile and a guilty look that told me all I needed to know). Before we knew it, we were both ranting about anything and every thing that had happened within the past month. As we explored the very mod ern-looking playground at Pier C, we laughed, took pictures, and reminisced. The playground was like her home since she nat urally seemed to fit in with the children who slid down the tunneled slide. The playground brings out this sense of innocence in her, which I can’t help but share whenever I see her stumbling across the in tricate ropes course in the park.

Even as I sat in Elysian Park at the end of Castle Point Terr (where the frat houses are) and enjoyed my Bagelcado from Bagels on the Hudson, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the little children chasing each other, with the only thing worrying them was not getting caught by “It.” As the leaves gently swayed down with the cool breeze, I gently laughed with ad miration while watching a man in what seemed to be his late 30s, picking up and swinging children in a cir

cle as they crowded around him with their arms in the air, eager for their turn. It reminded me of the meet up spot me and my friends had when we were young er. This is where all the tea was spilled, the best monkey bar-er was deter mined, and where the most competitive game of Ice Tag was played. For me, playgrounds symbolized rings of laughter, carefree moments, and happy mem ories.

That’s also how the re union made me feel. This past week, when I saw two of my high school friends, I was reminded of the inno cent, carefree memories of early high school. As adult hood dawns on me now, I think back to those mem ories and appreciate the little things. For example, as a child, just knowing that my mom was working from home would lead me to sprint up the stairs to our apartment and launch myself in her arms as she opened the door. Or the sheer joy of playing Just Dance and absolutely de molishing all of my friends. I think that sometimes col lege life can be a bit daunt ing, but knowing that there are people that bring out that innocence and fond memories are enough to keep us going.

The portal

BY OFF CENTER

—SATIRE—

A giant portal to the underworld was opened by the Torch Bearers stat ue this week and nowhere near enough people are as freaked out about it as we are. “It’s literally a portal to the underworld, what do you not understand guys,” said our editor desperately trying to get quotes from passersby. Dinosaur cries could be heard from deep within as well as what we think was a dodo bird but we were unable to find a recording of what it sound ed like so we’re not sure.

The swirling winds and thunderstorms sur rounding the portal made it really hard to tell what our reporter was say

ing. Shouting over the wind and rain, we could just make out him saying something like, “and as you can see, oomph, ow!

The portal is—oof getting stronger—oof,” before he lost his footing and began getting sucked inexorably into the portal. Our cam eraman dashed toward the portal and grabbed his hands just as his feet reached the event hori zon. He tried to claw his way back along the grass but the rain and power of the portal were too strong and both our lovely col leagues began to slide into the portal again. The des perate struggle continued, but the wet, slippery grass meant it could only end one way. Or so we thought.

Just as the camera man’s head slipped out of sight behind the pur ple swirls of the portal to the underworld, a terrif ic screech could be heard and both of our colleagues flew back out of the por tal on the back of a dodo bird, which, we found out later is a flightless bird, but anything goes in the underworld I guess. “Why did we let these things go extinct?!” was our report er’s reply when we asked if he was okay. Once it was clear the focus was really all about the dodo bird, we brought in our animal expert for more expertise. Unfortunately, just as they arrived a hunter/explorer from the 1800s came out of the portal and shot the bird which promptly got

BY CHARLES BEALL ‘22

I go back and forth on whether appetizer sam plers are worthwhile at restaurants. On the one hand, it’s great having multiple apps to choose from to get a sense of what you like best. I like hav ing a variety of foods, so a sampler is great for that.

But on the other hand, maybe there’s a really good item on the menu that’s not on the app sampler, so why bother trying the sam pler’s offerings? Moreover, getting a lot for the appe tizer portion of the meal may sully the main course and dessert, since you’ll already be somewhat full.

I have a similar internal debate regarding a differ ent type of app: applica tions. As of the publication of this article, I will have submitted an application to the Graduate Research Fellowship Program, a government-funded schol arship to support young

researchers in their Ph.D. studies.

I started out not real izing how much work this application would entail. I’ve had to write two de tailed statements and go through multiple rounds of feedback and edits, all on top of my schoolwork and student org involve ments. At times I’ve gotten discouraged, knowing that thousands of people, all of whom with surely im mense talents, are apply ing to the same program.

To make it better, I still have to apply to the Ph.D. programs themselves in the next month. This is my busiest time of the semes ter, and as a result, I’ve had to lower the number of schools I’m applying to. I hope I’ll still have adequate time to submit a quality app, but those deadlines seem to be ap proaching faster than ever.

It feels like the app will determine my whole meal, which is not the best feel ing to have. So, I have to remind myself of a few important facts. The first is that with these applica tions comes a lot of oppor tunity. There’s definitely a chance that I’ll get a bunch of no’s. But there’s also the chance that someone goes to the restaurant where they’re serving my app in the sample, and that per

son says “this is one I’d want to have more of.” To me, that is incredibly ex citing, and it motivates me to be my true self and give all that I’ve got in crafting the application.

The second fact is that I’ve already received so much support in the ap plication process. My pro fessors, advisors, mentors, classmates, research proj ect members, friends, and family have all given me so much to write about in these apps, and they are more than willing to help revise as I attempt to pres ent my best self. I may be the cook making the app, but they have provided the best ingredients to im press even the strongest critics.

And as a final fact, even if these apps are a ton of work, the possibility of taking the rest of the meal as leftovers is built in. I likely will not have all the results for several months, but I can feel accomplished with what I brought to the table during the appetizer course, and focus on other things while I await the re views. This is nerve-rack ing in its own way, but the first two facts can give me solace in this stage too. And once all the applica tions are in, I can treat myself to a well-deserved app sampler as a reward.

swept back into the portal. All we had time to do was say “What the hell, man?”

We pushed him back into the portal so he could forever be haunted by the knowledge that he ended our last chance to talk to a dodo bird. But we had little time to celebrate our public service as in a Night at the Museum Moment, the Torch Bearers them selves came to life as the power of the underworld continued to permeate the area.

As the massive silver guys finally passed off the torch they had been hold ing for longer than anyone could remember, the one on the horse fell off and made a giant dent in the very expensive pedestal the statue is built on. In

ertia’s a bitch I guess, and the horse had places to be. They gave us a fist bump which sent us all flying backward into a pile of lan ternflies by UCC and then jumped through the por tal, finally released from their earthly burdens.

Godspeed gentlemen.

What did we learn from this experience? Why are we reporting it? Is it newsworthy? Of course it is. There was a portal to the underworld. It was so cool. And as quick ly as it opened, it closed.

The winds died down, the leaves stopped swirling, and the only evidence that it had ever been was the now missing Torch Bear ers statue. And a dodo bird feather.

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Opinion | Professional Topics

Save money and the environment

BY KATIE BLOOMER ‘25

College is expensive. From tuition to food, every thing costs money. This is especially true in Hoboken where a cup of coffee can eas ily exceed $5. Last year I had the Tera Bite meal plan and all 230 regular swipes that come with it. For me, this was way too many swipes, and I struggled to use them all. At the time, I wished I had more independence with the food I was consuming. I had dreams about the amaz ing meals I would prepare if I had access to a nice kitchen and ingredients. However, I was living in Davis which had a run-down kitchen, and I didn’t want to waste my meal plan by not using the swipes. So, my dream of eating the food I wanted to become something to look forward to in my sophomore year when I would have a brand-new, full kitchen.

Over the summer I start ed trying to gain basic cook ing skills so that I would be ready to feed myself for a full year. Unfortunately, the summer was gone in the blink of an eye, and I arrived at my suite with a recipe for my favorite quinoa dish and

little other knowledge. As a vegetarian, I have found it difficult to think of easy, in expensive meals that can be meal-prepped multiple days in advance. I primarily rely on the previously mentioned quinoa recipe, Annie’s Mac & Cheese, and random free food from events. For pro tein, I eat greek yogurt, nuts, and the occasional protein powder shake. Although it seems like it would be easier if I wasn’t a vegetarian, I see my non-vegetarian friends also struggle to eat enough protein and find easy meal ideas. The stereotypical col lege diet of Ramen Noodles isn’t too far from reality.

In addition to having dif ficulty finding things to cook, groceries are expensive. A trip to ACME can easily be around $50, which adds up each week. This is where being a vegetarian can be beneficial since staples like beans tend to cost less than meat. I have not experiment ed with chickpeas and beans as much as I would like to, but they are a good source of protein when I’m desperate.

Although I try to limit the treats I buy on Washington Street, I do like to get take out every once in a while. This can add up, especial ly if you buy small, pricey items like pastries. To save money, I use an app called Too Good To Go. Partici pating businesses sell their leftover products for an ex tremely discounted price. These items would have been thrown away at the end of the day, but are saved by your purchase. Don’t worry,

everything is just as fresh as if you purchased it at closing time. The catch is that nearly everything is mystery bags so you don’t get to choose what you receive. This is not a problem for me because I am not a picky eater, and if I don’t like something, there are plenty of hungry college students around me who would happily accept free food. Many restaurants and bakeries on Washington Street are on Too Good To Go and post daily. The app also features restaurants in most states, so you can use it at home, on vacation, or nearly anywhere else. In my small town in Rhode Island, there aren’t many places us ing Too Good To Go, so I take advantage of it when I’m in Hoboken or New York.

So far I haven’t tried any thing from restaurants since there aren’t a lot of vegetar ian options. I have ordered pastries from multiple dif ferent bakeries and have no complaints! The surprise bags at bakeries and coffee shops typically cost around $3 and they normally give you 3 pastries, which is an amazing deal since most in dividual pastries are over $3 each in Hoboken. There are occasionally grocery stores that post surprise bags which is intriguing and defi nitely something I want to try. These surprise bags have allowed me to save money while still enjoying the de licious foods in Hoboken. I hope you download Too Good To Go and save some money while you reduce food waste!

NOT FINANCIAL TIMES (NFT) Rival grocer Albertsons being acquired by Kroger

company would come close to rivaling Walmart, falling only $10 Billion in annual revenue short to the grocery behemoth.

BY JOSEPH AMES ‘22

On October 14, Kroger announced plans to acquire Albertsons for a fee of $24.6 Billion ($34.10 a share) , a potential game chang er for the grocery market. Combined, the companies would have an annual rev enue of $209 Billion and operate over 5000 stores nationwide. The pro forma

The deal is expected to face a heavy test in passing regulatory authorities—with prominent members of both parties calling for its rejec tion. The announcement spawned trust-busting sen timents from both Bernie Sanders (D - VT) and Mike Lee (R - UT), both citing the recent rise in food prices (11 percent YOY) and the poten tial for the new conglomer ate to exacerbate the issue facing Americans’ pocket books.

In order to potentially mitigate these concerns, the pro forma company would consider spinning off up to 375 stores into their own

separate company, although even this may not be suffi cient to pass Federal Trade Commission (FTC) author ity. If approved, the move could lead to a major change in the grocery landscape— directly impacting the ev eryday lives of millions of Americans. The ultimate question is: will the bene fits to business outweigh the potential risks to grocery prices?

Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse were the pri mary advisers to Albertsons while CitiGroup and Wells Fargo advised Krogers in addition to arranging $17.4 Billion of debt financing to support the deal. The deal dictates that Kroger pay Al bertsons $600 million upon termination.

SCIENTIFIC CURMUDGEON How Can We Help Our Long-term Future?

machines will become self-motivated any time soon, if ever. MacAskill, based on his credulous treatment of autonomous AI, may spend too much time hanging out with tech-obsessed futur ists--which brings me to my next gripe.

BY JOHN HORGAN CAL PROFESSOR

Philosophers bick er over what morality means, but you could de fine it as simply helping others. The moral move ment called longtermism says we should do more to help those who might live in the future; we should try to maximize the num bers and happiness of possible people. And how exactly should we do that?

William MacAskill, a philosopher and leader of longtermism, wrestles with this question in his new bestseller What We Owe the Future . MacAs kill excels at conveying the vastness of our poten tial future, during which our descendants might colonize other star sys tems. He somehow makes you feel both very small and very important. Our actions now, he argues, might determine wheth er trillions of our ances tors live well or poorly, or whether they live at all. Young people in search of a mission should check out What We Owe the Future . But I have a few objections to MacAskill’s pitch for longtermism:

* Is AI really our big gest existential threat? MacAskill has been in fected with the singulari ty meme, the idea that we are rapidly approaching the point when artificial intelligences become au tonomous and race past us. And so, in addition to worrying about climate change, lethal pandemics and nuclear war, MacAs kill frets over the possi bility that intelligent ma chines will rise up and enslave or exterminate us, as in countless sci-fi flicks.

Rich, powerful hu mans are already using machines to become rich er and more powerful. But the hype over AI has outrun the reality, and there are no signs that

* What about capi talism? MacAskill is con cerned with how noxious ideologies can become so entrenched that over throwing them is hard. I’m concerned too. Right now, humanity seems pretty locked into capital ism, which has been ad opted even by communist China. Yes, capitalism has helped increase human ity’s net wealthover the past few centuries, but it has severe side effects.

Capitalism is a Darwin ian system, with winners and losers, and it has bequeathed us climate change as well as inequal ity.

Can we do better than capitalism? Are fairer economic systems possi ble? MacAskill never ad dresses these questions. Is MacAskill reluctant to criticize capitalism be cause he hangs out with, and raises money from, the free-market libertari ans of big tech?

* What about milita rism? MacAskill dwells on the threat of war be tween “Great Powers,” especially those possess ing nuclear arms or bio weapons, but he doesn’t give war the attention it deserves. War pos es the greatest threat to our near-term and longterm future. War not only harms people directly; preparations for war also consume over $2 trillion a year (more than a third attributable to the U.S.). That money could help us tackle poverty, pandem ics, climate change, social injustice and other prob lems.

War is perpetuated by the ideology of milita rism, which is as deeply entrenched as capitalism. Militarism assumes that war is a permanent feature of the human condition, and hence that nations must maintain armies to protect themselves from each other. Militarism is an apex problem, which exacerbates other prob

lems. Militarism corrupts science. The U.S. military is a major funder of re search on artificial intel ligence, quantum comput ing, neural interfaces and other fields—not to men tion nuclear weapons and biowarfare. U.S. innova tion in weaponry triggers destabilizing arms races with other nations.

MacAskill says wouldbe altruists, when prior itizing problems, should consider two criteria: Is the problem neglected , and it is tractable? Mili tarism satisfies both cri teria. MacAskill himself notes that the risks of war “have largely fallen out of the mainstream conversa tion among those fighting for a better world.” Most people, including activ ists, see peace between nations as a utopian pipe dream, according to in formal surveys I’ve car ried out for years.

If we can overcome our fatalism, I believe, the problem of militarism will turn out to be trac table. Virtually everyone except warmongers and arms dealers would wel come the end of war. War between nations is a topdown problem; Putin and Zelensky could agree to end the war in Ukraine today.

The question is, how can antagonistic nations demilitarize safely, with out raising the risk of pre-emptive attacks? How will nations and other groups resolve conflicts nonviolently? Do nations, individually or collective ly, need some minimal force to protect them selves against attacks by rogue nations or violent, apocalyptic groups?

I would love to see Ma cAskill and other smart scholar/activists hack the problem of war, infect ing politicians and other leaders with their zeal. When I peer into the fu ture, I envision a world in which war between any two nations has become inconceivable, just as war is today between Germa ny and France. Resourc es once devoted to death and destruction are used to improve human well being. We should begin trying to create this world now. We owe it to the fu ture.

Opinion | Arts and Culture

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Egon Schiele

ways in motion, so the best way to learn to give life to a human subject is to draw them as so. I’ve developed my figure drawing this way over time, while also draw ing on the styles of differ ent artists that I find along the way. One of the artists I especially aspire to draw similarly to is Egon Schiele.

BY ITAI GELLER ‘26

One of the most difficult things beginner and expert artists struggle with is the portrayal of the human fig ure. This is a struggle I re late to personally; my figure drawing has improved over the years but I still can not say I am particularly pleased with any of the fig ure drawings I do. They are disproportionate, sloppy, and almost always anatom ically incorrect. One of the best ways to learn figure drawing is to study poses, specifically poses where the subject is contorted or in motion. Obviously, human life is never frozen. It is al

SPOILER ALERT

Egon Schiele was an Aus trian artist who belonged to the modernist movement of Expressionism, which originated within his life time in the 20th century. I say within his lifetime be cause Schiele lived a trag ically short life, passing away at the young age of twenty eight to influenza. However, within this time, he managed to produce up wards of 200 professional pieces. Schiele was a di verse artist, but his spe cialty lay in his unique por trayal of the human figure. When looking at Schiele’s work, you can immediate ly see the influence of the Expressionism movement. Expressionist pieces are

The Iron Giant

Bros. Alas, the film was still very well received and has garnered a cult following in more recent years, a follow ing that I am a heavy sup porter of.

known for their unconven tional approach to portray ing subjects, as they focus more on conveying emo tion rather than physical reality. Schiele’s portrayals of the human body are clev erly exaggerated, giving the subjects more fluidity and expressiveness. Even his pieces that depict subjects standing still manage to il lustrate instability.

My favorite work from Schiele is “Standing Male Nude with a Red Loincloth”, a rather bland name for an otherwise extraordinary artwork. It depicts a nude man, covered by a red loin cloth. His right hand rests on his head, while the other holds his head up and forc es it to his shoulder. When I draw figures, I find that my subjects look lifeless, de flated, and square. Unlike my art, Schiele’s portrayal of the male subjects in this piece is somehow both an atomically correct and ab stract. The figure’s arms are unconventionally angular but still human. Although

the red loincloth’s color ful vibrance distracts from the actual subject, this helps remind us that the subject of the piece is not actually the man, it is the motion. The piece doesn’t necessarily have a different meaning, but it serves its purpose by offering a dif ferent approach to analyz ing the human body’s ver satility. Also, by choosing a contorted pose, Schiele can help portray the pain that is seemingly felt by the subject. I believe this idea is intensified by the bright red color of the loincloth. I think that beginner and intermediate artists can get a lot from just examin ing and attempting to rep licate Schiele’s style. His art teaches us that we can stray away from convec tion and explore how the world around us is animat ed, rather than just how it looks. His rebellion against realism helps viewers ques tion how they perceive re ality, unlocking the uncon scious mind.

BY COLE GARDELLA ‘24

1999 will go down in his tory as one of cinema’s most historic years in terms of releases. The penultimate year of the millennium saw the likes of The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, American Beauty, and many other classics hit the silver screen and become box of fice successes. However, the film I want to talk about here was not one of those suc cesses. The Iron Giant only grossed a little over half of its budget in theaters, with a large majority of the blame being placed on unusually poor marketing by Warner

In the directorial debut of Brad Bird, who would later go on to work for Pixar and direct Ratatouille and both Incredibles films, we follow the story of young Hoga rth Hughes, an intelligent 9-year-old whose curiosity leads him into stumbling upon the titular Iron Giant, voiced by Vin Diesel, who crash-landed from space the night before. Hogarth and the Giant become friends, and Hogarth takes it upon himself to protect the Giant from being captured and destroyed by a paranoid US government in the midst of the Cold War. The movie truly hinges on the backs of its two lead characters with great success as it flawless ly showcases that although physically the two could not be more different, Hogarth and the Giant are much more

similar than what meets the eye.

Their friendship feels im mensely genuine, and they both learn a little bit from each other throughout the film, with Hogarth’s famous quote “You are who you choose to be,” being the most important lesson learned by both our heroes.

Considering this is an animated film, it only feels appropriate to discuss the animation. Bird and his team were not given a lot of money due to previous an imated films from Warner Bros. being commercial fail ures, which greatly changed the plan the crew had for production. Eventually, the team decided to hand-draw the majority of the film, and save the CGI budget solely for the design of the Giant, and honestly, although it was a cost-cutting move, I believe it works in the film’s favor. Because the Giant is animated with a different method, he ends up looking out of place compared to the

rest of the characters and settings, and I mean that as a compliment in the best way possible. After all, he is from outer space. The Gi ant’s movements and facial expressions, while obviously robotic, seem fluid, like the machinery he is made out of.

As I had previously stated, The Iron Giant has gained a cult following over the years despite an initially lukewarm reception upon release. De spite the gain in popularity, the movie continues to be overlooked, partly due to it being released around mul tiple other great films, partly due to people often prefer ring more recent animated films. Regardless of what the reason may be, I feel that it is an absolute shame that I don’t hear more people talking about this film when discussing great animated films. If you are looking for an animated film to watch on one of these upcoming cold fall nights, I would easily give The Iron Giant a strong recommendation.

Awake by Natasha Preston: a chilling novel about the grotesqueness of people and family

BY VICTORIA YASHCHUK

Every family has its un fortunate realities, experi encing the harshness of life in such a way that seems like a perpetual cycle of misery and affliction. It is safe to say that every family has unique circumstances that shape every individual in said family in one way or another.

The past was a notorious reality and is referred to by every individual as being the chisel of who they are today. However, it is worthy to acknowledge how signifi

cant the past may be to the present or even the future. As participants in the real ity we live in, we can all re late to one thing —there are hidden truths and secrets that have been kept from us at least once. Some may argue that keeping secrets and refraining from infor mation is a positive, abso lutely necessary doing as it keeps the soul free of an other, possibly superfluous worry. Others argue that every truth must be spoken, as it prevents future conflict from occurring and in fact enlightens every necessary party with information de serving of being heard. This is where the connection be tween circumstances and secrecy is made.

In her novel Awake, Na tasha Preston creates an unusually twisted reality, where a menacing truth is hidden from Scarlett, a teenager with five years worth of memories lost from

a traumatic event experi enced in childhood. While it is not out of the ordinary for a child not to remem ber certain parts of their early years, Scarlett begins to have strange dreams af ter getting into a car crash; dreams consisting of a burning building. With this fact being shunned away by Scarlett’s parents, Scar lett seems to have what you consider the normal life of a teenager.

With the introduction of another plot-twisting character, Noah, Scarlett’s reality begins to slightly al ter. The “pretty boy” caliber Noah exudes, along with a quickly developing attrac tion towards Scarlett, holds a menacing deception un known to Scarlett. With the chapters of the novel alter nating between Scarlett’s and Noah’s perspectives, it is revealed to the reader that Noah is a danger from Scar lett’s past.

What Scarlett does not know is that Noah is part of a cult, by the name of Eter nal Life, which is the same cult Scarlett was a part of when she was a little girl; Noah was sent out to find and bring Scarlett back so she can be sacrificed, hop ing that sacrificing Scarlett will bring salvation. The truth reveals itself as Noah’s plan and escalates after he wrongly falls in love with Scarlett. Scarlett’s real par ents are the leaders of Eter nal Life; the people Scarlett believed to be her real par ents were runaways who re fused to continue pursuing the cult. As the truth reveals itself, Scarlett finds herself surrendering to Noah’s plan and stepping foot into the territory of those who want to kill her.

Even though Natasha Preston established such an oscillating storyline, the novel ends with justice and peace —Scarlett and Noah

pursuing a healthy rela tionship and the cult being reported to the police after Scarlett and Noah man age to escape. Throughout the novel, the reader finds themselves balancing the morals of each party pres ent in the story, as each character chooses between

life or eventual death. With Scarlett experiencing such trauma and betrayal, she learns more about herself and discovers what she be lieves to be the truth about the meaning of life, all while helping Noah discover who he is and what he wants to become.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIART.ORG

PHOTO COURTESY OF DKNGSTUDIOS.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

Opinion

First book fair

refueled and inspired just having these plans to look forward to. This may be due to the district of Chel sea being so full of colors and different experiences at every corner.

BY ANAÏS BOUCHATTA ‘26

As a little kid, I had been one of the kids to always look forward to the Scho lastic Book Fairs which had books, magazines, those in visible pens, the notorious chocolate calculators (fa mous for their fake choco late smell which I was not a fan of) and those obnox ious (and a bit pointless) pointer poles. I know the reason I attended was due to being so intent on get ting one of the detective’s invisible pens. This past week I had a similar ex citement with a newly-dis covered type of book fair. As this past week started to feel more autumn-y as more leaves fell, being in the city around the Chel sea area was specifically nice. Out of all the other weekends, I spent this one focused on going to this fair and helping a friend try thrifting. I instantly felt

LIFESTYLE HACKS

This weekend I specifi cally left Hoboken to expe rience Printed Matter’s Art Book Fair. It had been pro moted through a club I re cently attended, and after finding out tickets had been so affordable, I decided that I had to go. This mis sion was mainly to start my journey of intellectuality and for inspiration in gen eral. I enjoyed going out to a fair in a more mature and educational setting. It felt rewarding. And as a whole, the fair had been one un like any other I had been to. This may be due to the fact that absolutely every one who attended seemed so cool and comfortable with being themselves. I could not quite figure out why, but everyone seemed to be their own complete character. The vendors also seemed to be just as inter esting. The tables were all completed with collections of books on all different topics: activism, anime, coloring books, comic books, books about books, books about artists who make books, books about

book fairs, books about projects, photography, and even politics.

A sectioned-off exhi bition specifically caught my attention and the detail that was put into it being so interactive led me and my friend to put on glass es that made the whole thing become 3D. Looking at these books by a mix of different artists such as Al lemane and Micheal Loren zini. I figured this out after looking further into it all: the blue and red colorways had been placed in specific ways and the abstraction of the art on these pages had made the scenes move when the glasses were on. If not for looking into the exhibition further, I would not have noticed all the de tail put into the setup... and probably wouldn’t have seen the interactive piece for what it was meant to be.

Next, I toured a few more tables before picking up a book that I was inter ested in reading further. The book I picked up was 26 texts by Gavin Wade & Friends. The book stood out in comparison to the rest of the books due to the title, the emphasis on using the text through its spine and repetitive state ments that were: “steal this book, copy this book,

Midterms are here, but don’t fear

Try to make a little bit of progress every day so you’re not overwhelmed at any given time and always do something productive with your limited time.

BY ZOE HACK ‘24

It’s hard to believe that midterms are right around the corner. I don’t know about you, but it feels like we only just had our first full week of classes. Be fore spending too much time stressing, give these study tips a read:

1. Make a plan!

Create a calendar and mark all of the dates you have exams. From there, you can backtrack and set a timeline for reviewing specific topics in order to successfully prepare. Make sure you give your self enough time to spread out the material so you don’t end up cramming!

2. Find people to study with Don’t be afraid to reach out to other students in your classes to get to gether to review material before an exam; collabo ratively studying is one of the best ways to increase understanding and make sure that everyone is pre pared for success. See if your peers want to meet up in the library, go to a coffee shop, or even hop on Zoom to review topics and help each other study.

3. Short-term goal set ting

Setting short-term goals is one of the easiest ways to feel super confi dent in your progression of any task. It’s great to have an idea along the lines of “I want to get an A on this exam,” but the

easiest way to reach that goal is to set short-term goals that will make suc cess more seamless. May be three days before the exam is when you decide to plan to finish reviewing all material that will be covered, so you can spend the rest of your time lead ing up to an exam focus ing on specific topics you want to spend extra time on or are struggling with. Set short time goals that are both achievable for you, but also helped along your road to topic mas tery.

4. Office hours, and re view sessions

If you are ever strug gling to understand a concept, don’t hesitate to reach out to your profes sors — they will more like ly than not be willing to lend a helping hand. Fre quenting office hours is another way to foster good professional connections for your future endeavors, so if you need help, don’t be afraid to speak up!

Lifestyle

BY CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24

Homesickness is a com mon experience for col lege students to experience throughout their transition of moving away from home for the first time. Especial ly with the COVID-19 pan demic, most of us are used to spending a lot of time at

home very close to our fam ily, so the transition over the past few years has been tough. As a former counsel or at a sleep-away summer camp, I can tell you with 100% certainty that dis traction is the best way to overcome homesickness. When you’re feeling over whelmed, the best thing to do is go out. It doesn’t mat ter if you’re just going on a quick walk or to lunch with friends, but just get yourself out of your room and out of your head. Once you’re feeling better, you can call someone from back home or maybe even take a week end trip back home if that’s possible. For me, the hard

est thing is realizing the difference between when I’m homesick versus when I need to change something about my living situation. If you’re feeling homesick, try changing something about your room to make it more familiar and comfortable. You could bring a blanket from your childhood or some pictures of the things and people you enjoy. It could also help to reorga nize your space so that you feel more in control of it. If all else fails and you don’t feel better after all of this, let yourself be sad. You’ll get through this; it will only get easier to live away from home.

take this book, change this book,” and finally “upcy cle this book”. The layout of this book is unlike any thing I have ever read as it is equally focused on the graphics as much as it is on its content. The book uses society to talk about all the ways art interacts with the world and how artists live in society. It brings up pol itics and economics as well and the connections be tween the three topics were enough to want me to buy the book.

All in all, the book had been just one of the few things that I excitedly brought back to my dorm. Another thing was prints that promoted organiza tions such as Fugitive Ma terials…a group of people who focus on the preserva tion of radical documents, posters, and histories; they worked towards this goal through their archives, publishing, and booksell ing. I also picked up a few freebies such as decor pins at another table. In the end, I felt extremely content as my mission to be inspired was successful and in sync with my artistic side as it was the first book fair I’ve been to since the elemen tary school ones, and I am more than interested in go ing to their next pop ups.

POEM Not Supposed to be Free.

BY PETER WHITE, CONTRIBUTOR

I guess we’re not supposed to be free if all those who love, will someday be grieved.

All in shackles pass too, though with much less adieu, but I guess we’re not sup posed to be free.

Consider the wren, but more, consider his plight.

Think of the train, who does just what is right.

Now turn to within where choice breeds despair. What to eat? And where to go? Chop my hair, but who should care? It only gets deeper.

The choice to leave, you say, “What’s the matter?”

They want to be free, but that will hurt you. so let go of your choice, be un-free too.

I guess we’re not supposed to be free

maybe love is a curse we no longer need.

Your life isn’t easy, so we can make it a breeze, cause I guess we’re not sup posed to be free.

Move aside for the plan, and a good life. No more mistakes; at least none by your knife.

Of course this is right, there’s no other way. Your pleas are not the law, that’s why they won’t stay. You’re telling them now, “It’s bigger than you.”

And yes, you do mean it. Let’s tame the shrew whose goal must be selfish. Think of the wren, safe in his cage, and still free to no end!

I guess we’re not supposed to be free, for how can they know what sacrifice to make?

No one knows best, and especially not you, but I guess we’re not sup posed to be free.

Additionally, many pro fessors or organizations around campus hold real ly helpful review sessions for big exams that are a great way to assess your understanding of the ma terial and spend time with others in the same posi tion as you.

5. Ask for previous or sample exams

If not already offered, some professors will cre ate or share previous versions of the exam you will be taking or create a sample of some of the questions you might see. Personally, this is what works best for me while preparing for a big exam.

I usually have a lot of test anxiety, so knowing the structure or format of the test ahead of time is an ab solute lifesaver. From my experience, sample exams and or previous exams are usually extremely accu rate and telling of how the test will look as well as its difficulty level.

BY ETHAN KLESCHINSKY ‘24

As the weather gets colder and it has been around two months since you have last seen your family, you may begin to get homesick. This is a normal part of the college experience that most stu dents will have to manage

because this is the first time they are living away from home for an extended amount of time. There are ways to deal with home sickness, so I am going to do my best to give you a couple of options. One way to deal with the feeling of missing home is to make plans and efforts to visit your home when you need to. Some of you might not be from an area where you can just travel home for the weekend and are also curi ous as to how you can deal with your homesickness. I would recommend sucking it up and doing a better job considering the location in which you choose to at

tend college next time. You probably thought you made a great choice getting as far away from your parents as possible, but it has come to bite you. The advice for this week is that your choices have consequenc es. The nicest way to put it is that if you don’t live in New Jersey or NYC, you have brought the suffering upon yourself. However, if your suffering becomes un bearable and you’re look ing for someone to act as a surrogate mother, email my friend Will (wparente@ stevens.edu). His mother is always looking for a new child to be less disappoint ed in. Good luck!

DEAR CLAIRE AND ETHAN...

Q: What can I do when I’m feeling homesick?

ROVING REPORTER

By Rafael Lee Li

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isn’t

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