The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: September, 7th, 2017

A difficult remaining schedule follows UMass’ tough 2017 start

I

By Philip Sanzo Collegian Staff

t has not been an ideal start for the Massachusetts football team.

No game is ever supposed to be considered easy, but given the strength of the Minutemen’s schedule, their first three games against Hawaii, Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion were supposed to be the most winnable.

But instead of the hoped for 1-1 or even 2-0 start to the season, the University of Massachusetts finds itself in all too familiar territory at 0-2.

Following the Minutemen’s home contest with Old Dominion this Saturday, UMass’ only reprieve in the schedule will be its game against Maine on Nov. 11, and FCS opponent, at Fenway Park. Prior to that, UMass will face two Southeastern Conference teams, No. 25 Tennessee and Mississippi State, and No. 21 South Florida.

The Minutemen’s loss to Hawaii came on another late-game score by the Warriors. Finishing games has long been a problem for UMass, according to head coach Mark Whipple, and neither the offense nor the defense executed well late in the game.

“We’d worked it but we weren’t good on either side,” Whipple said after practice the following week. “We still had 50 seconds and we missed a couple throws and I think we didn’t do a good job handling that. I probably didn’t either.

You’re right there and you’re one play away and then you have to reset. We didn’t do a very good job on offense. And then we knew what they were going to run but we just didn’t execute.”

Though the loss to Hawaii came after UMass held a 14-point lead in the second half, the loss to Coastal Carolina may end up being the Minutemen’s most disappointing loss of 2017.

In their first game as a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team, the Chanticleers held the Minutemen in check, not allowing them to once take the lead.

After limiting the Hawaii backfield to only 95 rushing yards, the Minutemen defensive front had no answer for CCU and its running backs who racked up 253 rushing yards.

Coastal only managed 80 receiving yards but had four rushing touchdowns, two from Osharmar Abercrombie and two from quarterback Dalton Demos, which was enough to defeat UMass.

After being named starting quarterback in week three last year following an injury to Ross Comis, Andrew Ford has remained the primary quarterback for the Minutemen. During the preseason, head coach Mark Whipple mentioned that Comis would be taking some snaps in 2017, to which he has, but in a very limited capacity.

In both games against Hawaii and Coastal Carolina, Comis has seen limited playing time. He completed one of his four passes for 23 yards against the Warriors while rushing for 15 yards. Against CCU, he was 2-4 with 46 passing yards and nine rushing yards.

Tight end Adam Breneman, a redshirt senior, has once again emerged as Ford’s top target. In two games, Breneman already has 305 receiving yards and is averaging 16.9 yards per catch.

Wide receivers Andy Isabella, Sadiq Palmer, Brennon Dingle and true freshman Jessie Britt will also be targets for Ford this season. see

MINUTEMEN on page A5

Ed Pinkham aims to improve defense

Andy Isabella looks to keep improving

Minutemen host Old Dominion Saturday

Schreiner hopes to seize the moment

A2

A3

A3

Cover design by Maxwell Zaleski

A4

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A2

TIME TO CHANGE THE CULTURE New defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham looks to revamp the Minuteman defense

By Philip Sanzo

T

Collegian Staff

he Massachusetts football team is no stranger to late game drama – usually at the peril of the Minutemen.

So when the University of Massachusetts’ defense let up a 56-yard passing touchdown to Hawaii inside five minutes of the fourth quarter to close out the 2016 season, it became – at the time – just the latest disappointing loss in a season that already had nine of them.

That would mark the end of Tom Masella’s tenure as UMass defensive coordinator; shortly after would mark the beginning of Ed Pinkham’s tutelage.

Backed by Pinkham’s defense that was ranked No. 15 in scoring defense, Western Michigan finished its 2016 regular season 13-0 along with a trip to the Cotton Bowl – one of the best bowl games a college football team can play in at the end of the season.

Two weeks into the 2017 season, the Minutemen once again find themselves in a rut. Sitting at 0-2 with a formidable schedule ahead, another two or three-win season grows increasingly more likely.

But Pinkham has been here before. In his first season with Western Michigan in 2013, the Broncos finished 1-11. Three years later, they were undefeated and in one of the premier postseason games.

The Transition In a schedule that features Southeastern Conference foes Tennessee and Mississippi State, along with formidable mid-major clubs like Appalachian State and South Florida, the Minutemen’s opening three games against Hawaii, Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion were the type of games that needed to be won.

UMass could not pull it off, falling to Hawaii in the final minutes of the season opener 38-35, and even worse, losing to CCU on the road the

THOM KENDALL/UMASS ATHLETICS

Pinkham mans the UMass sideline in the Minutemen’s season opening loss to Hawaii. UMass is 0-2 on the season, giving up 38 points in each game, something Pinkham hopes to change. following week in the team’s first game in the bowl subdivision by 10 points, 38-28.

With Hawaii in town for week zero, it appeared that UMass had a chance to go 1-0. However, another fourth quarter debacle that saw a 14-point UMass lead evaporate killed any hope of that.

But according to coach Pinkham, there was still a silver lining.

Hawaii, a bowl team last season, managed only 112 rushing yards – 56 less than its contest against UMass a season ago. The Minutemen defensive line held the Warriors’ premier running back Diocemy Saint Juste to just 80.

“Normally when you hold a team to 100 yards rushing you have a 90 percent chance

of winning,” Pinkham said.

“And I think that they had 112 or 115 yards of rushing and 30 of it comes on a quarterback scramble.”

Two first-half fourth down stops, one on the UMass 16-yard-line, an Isaiah Rodgers interception and five sacks highlighted the Minutemen’s defensive performance.

“When you look what our guys did when they executed things properly, you can show them the left side of the screen and the right side of the screen and no one can beat you when you’re on the left side of screen and it wasn’t because you got any faster or smarter on those plays, you just did what you’re supposed to do,” Pinkham said. “On these

“You point it out over and over again.

You have to sell it. And the one thing when you’re selling whatever your culture is, success leads to people buying into what it is you’re proposing.”

Ed Pinkham UMass Defensive Coordinator plays you’re the same guy with the same speed and same strength, but you made mental mistakes. So what we have to do is cultivate these guys and eliminate these guys. When you see the video I think it becomes crystal clear.”

Pinkham compared learning a new defensive system to learning a new language.

Fortunately, he could be with the team in the spring

and in time for the spring game. However, miscommunication still finds its way to the field on game day.

Though far from a novice coach, Pinkham can only do so much from the sideline. Having a core group of seniors to help guide the transition is, as Pinkham puts it, “invaluable.”

“I think he’s got another year to go, yet, but a guy like [Bryton] Barr has been

really really good,” Pinkham said. “Steve [Casali] has been really really good.

Jesse Monteiro, those guys have bought in. They understand what it takes to win and they bought in and we talk about our culture and those guys have all bought in to the culture and what it is we’re trying to do and how we think we have to get there and what the important ingredients are to get there.”

Casali, a redshirt senior linebacker, believes Pinkham’s best attributes are his patience and his teaching ability. The two have to go hand-in-hand when teaching a new system, having a strong leadership presence can only help.

see

PINKHAM on page A5

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A3

OLD DOMINION PREVIEW

Minutemen’s season hangs in the balance UM hosts ODU after crushing loss

By Ryan Ames Collegian Staff

With game number three now on the docket for the Massachusetts football team, the importance of the outcome will only get greater.

Following a rough twogame stretch which featured two heart-wrenching losses, UMass (0-2) hosts Old Dominion on Saturday for a pivotal afternoon clash that could go a long way in defining the 2017 season.

Whether that script turns good or bad depends entirely on the Minutemen.

A season that started with optimism and hope has now swiftly been derailed after UMass dropped two winnable games in equally frustrating fashion.

On August 26 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium, the Minutemen were less than a minute away from victory, before Hawaii stormed back to snatch the win away from UMass.

Fast forward seven days to September 2, and the Minutemen drop a contest to a team making their FBS debut in Coastal Carolina in rather ugly fashion.

The rear-view mirror hasn’t been an attractive glance for UMass football, especially recently.

However, the team, led by redshirt junior quarterback Andrew Ford, seems keen on making sure struggles from the past aren’t as close as they appear.

“We’re obviously disappointed about what hap-

pened on Saturday, but we can’t dwell on that,” Ford said. “We have a great team in Old Dominion coming into our place. We have to put last week behind us and just focus on them.”

Ford is coming off two good starts where he threw for a combined 64 percent (46-71), 593 yards, and three touchdowns.

Along with the quarterback position, for the most part, the offense hasn’t been a red flag for the Minutemen through this early portion of the year.

Ford, redshirt senior tight end Adam Breneman, junior running back Marquis Young and junior wide receiver Andy Isabella have all just about performed to their capabilities so far.

Isabella has 141 receiving yards, two touchdown receptions, and a rushing touchdown, Young’s rushed for 123 yards and four touchdowns, and Breneman boasts 305 reception yards as the runaway leader so far for UMass.

The Minutemen have scored at least four touchdowns in each match, and have also registered a score in all eight quarters of regulation to date.

While that’s been a consistency, the defense is still in a transition phase, surrendering 38 points on back to back occasions.

Even though UMass’ depth on offense doesn’t stretch far below the four names already listed, Ford is confident the offense could put up big totals if the defense struggles again this weekend.

“Our goal as an offense

“We’re obviously disappointed about what happened on Saturday, but we can’t dwell on that. We have a great team in Old Dominion coming into our place. We have to put last week behind us and just focus on them.”

Andrew Ford UMass quarterback

is to score points every time we get the ball,” Ford said.

“We know that’s going to be tough this weekend against that Old Dominion defense; there’s talent all over the field. That’s our goal and

we’re going to work hard to try and execute that goal.”

Stopping the run in particular has been problematic for the Minutemen, as they’ve allowed 436 yards on the ground in their ini-

tial two games.

The Big Blue (1-0) enter the matchup fresh off the highs of a solid 31-17 opening day victory over Albany.

ODU saw solid performances from quarterback Blake Larussa (161 passing yards and one touchdown), receiver Jonathan Duhart (five receptions, 97 yards, one touchdown) and running backs Ray Lawry and Gemonta Jackson (one rushing touchdown each) in the victory.

Despite the fact UMass is only almost a third of the

way through the 2017 year, this early season test against Old Dominion is about as close to a must-win game as it gets.

“I think you go into every one thinking it’s a must-win game,” Ford said.

“Obviously, we dug ourselves a hole here early, so [we] just have to focus on this week and hopefully come out with the win on Saturday.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

Ryan Ames can be reached at rames@umass.edu or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

Junior redshirt quarterback Andrew Ford (7) scrambles outside the pocket in last season’s late loss to Louisiana Tech at Gillette Stadium.

Isabella poised for strong second act Junior has two TDs “He’s one of the hardest workers on this thus far this season team. You almost have to tell him to stop doBy Ryan Ames

L

Collegian Staff

ast season, junior wide receiver Andy Isabella had a coming out party for the Massachusetts football team.

After hauling in only two catches for seven yards as a freshman in 2015, Isabella exploded for UMass during his second year, compiling 801 receiving yards and climbing to second on the Minutemen receiving yards list in 2016.

Just seven yards short of tying redshirt senior tight end Adam Breneman (808) for the team lead a season ago, Isabella’s production was a welcome addition to an otherwise anemic UMass wide receiving corps.

As the Minutemen now look to climb out of

ing some things because he wears himself out.

That’s just the kind of player he is.”

Mark Whipple UMass head coach

top marks in receptions (62), receiving yards, receptions per game (5.2), and touchdown receptions (seven).

Despite UMass’s trouble securing wins on the gridiron last season, Isabella’s development was one of the lone bright spots in a less-than-flattering year for the Minutemen.

Turning the page onto this season now, Isabella admitted to falling victim to the pressure of some lofty internal expectations for himself.

“Maybe a little too much pressure [on myself ],” Isabella said. “I have to start catching the ball better and focusing on the lit-

“The 5-foot-10, 195-pounder clearly is his own toughest critic because through two games, he’s been a dynamic presence all over the field. His stats speak for themselves — 141 receiving yards, two touchdown receptions and a rushing touchdown in 120 minutes of game action.” an early 0-2 hole this season, Isabella will be relied upon to replicate or even improve his breakout sophomore campaign.

“He’s certainly one that will get better when he gets on the field,” UMass head coach Mark Whipple said.

“We have to continue to try and get him the ball.”

Isabella’s numbers thrust him atop the ranks as the Minutemen’s most lethal pass catcher, with

tle stuff.”

The 5-foot-10, 195-pounder clearly is his own toughest critic because through two games, he’s been a dynamic presence all over the field for UMass.

His stats speak for themselves—141 receiving yards, two touchdown receptions, and a rushing touchdown in 120 minutes of game action.

In the team’s seasonopening loss to Hawaii,

Isabella had two of the Minutemen’s five touchdowns, and contributed with a 44-yard kick-return in the 38-35 defeat.

Last week, in the 38-28 loss to Coastal Carolina, the upperclassman out of Mayfield, Ohio reigned in 101 receiving yards and a touchdown reception, to further cement his status as a weapon on offense.

“He’s one of the hardest workers on the team.

You almost have to tell him to stop doing some things because he wears himself out,” Whipple said. “That’s just the kind of player he is.”

With Breneman getting most of the attention from opposing team’s defenses, Isabella fits nicely as UMass’ number two target. With the combination of both Breneman and Isabella, the Minutemen have two extremely effective pass-catchers, even if their style of play is almost completely different. “[Breneman] does a great job,” Isabella said.

“The defense really has to watch for him, so that really opens up the field for the rest of us receivers.”

“They both complement each other,” Whipple added. “The big thing is they’re really good kids and leaders. Adam’s a little more vocal than [Isabella], but [Isabella] works hard.

He’s the first guy out [working] on his craft.”

While Breneman can use his enormous 6-footsee

ISABELLA on page A5

JEDIAH ZURAW-FRIEDLAND/COLLEGIAN

Isabella hauled in 801 receiving yards, 62 receptions and seven touchdowns in his breakout 2016 season.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A4

SCHREINER READIES FOR HIS MOMENT

Redshirt kicker is prepared for UMass

By Ryan Ames

O

Collegian Staff

ften, the kicker on a football team gets forgotten.

Cast aside while the other position players spend a large chunk of action on the field battling for points, a kicker doesn’t have a whole lot to do during the course of a game.

There are kickoffs and extra points, sure, but unless the opposition makes an incredible play in that time, the attention is almost never on a football team’s kicker.

That is, until it is.

Massachusetts redshirt freshman kicker Michael Schreiner found this out in a hurry during his second-ever collegiate contest against Coastal Carolina.

Trailing CCU 31-21 with 11 minutes remaining in the game, Schreiner got his first opportunity to show off his power on a 33-yard field goal attempt.

Unfortunately for the young Minuteman, the ball sailed wide-left of the uprights.

“It felt real good coming off my foot, it just went left,” Schreiner said. “[Being my] first kick ever, I had to get used to the timing and going out there being on a short clock.”

Placekickers are one of the most relied upon players on a football team—whenever they are called upon for field goal attempts, the situation is

JONG MAN KIM/COLLEGIAN

Minutemen kicker Michael Schreiner lines up a kick during the UMass spring football game back on April 20 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Schreiner is the starting UMass place kicker this season. usually very important.

Knowing this, a kicker has to be mentally strong, so that any misses don’t haunt them for the rest of the season.

“Just having that [first kick] under my belt now, it’s good to know,”

Schreiner said. “We’ll make the changes and I’ll be ready to go for the next kick. I’m as ready as ever.”

As one of the more unique positions on a squad, kickers generally must start earlier in their playing careers than oth-

ers, to get the most time practicing the tricks of the trade.

Schreiner’s amateur career was no different.

“You do it long enough, through middle school, high school—you just have to stay calm and stay confident in yourself,” he said.

In case Schreiner ever does need some guidance in the kicking game, he won’t have to look too far, as redshirt senior kicker Logan Laurent is half teammate, half roommate.

“He always gives me tips here and there—when you have to be a little more focused and when you got to make sure the reps count—so he’s been a good influence on me for sure,” he said. C o m i n g out of Webster, New York and a successful stint at Thomas High—highlighted by a 2015 regional kicker of the year award—Schreiner noted the value his redshirt season last year had

“I guess for any kicker, [the goal is] to be consistent. To kickoff well, to kick my field goals, to not miss extra points. It’s the goal as a kicker to be consistent and that’s what I’m strving for.”

Michael Schreiner UMass kicker on his development.

“Having that year was big,” Schreiner said. “I got used to college kicking, how fast you have to be, and how you have to kick. “Coming into this year, [I’m] a little more confident and know what’s expected of me,” added the 6-foot, 230-pound swingman. “Making the transition from college to high school hasn’t been much of an issue.”

With the remaining slate of games on the horizon, Schreiner knows he’ll probably be asked to deliver a few kicks to help UMass out. Whether it’s to extend a lead or to aide in a come-

back effort, he’ll almost certainly see his number called soon.

Prior to that happening though, Schreiner hopes to build a solid routine that will help him contribute when everybody’s watching.

“I guess for any kicker, [the goal is] to be consistent,” Schreiner said. “To kickoff well, to kick my field goals, to not miss extra points. It’s the goal as a kicker to be consistent and that’s what I’m going to strive for.”

Ryan Ames can be reached at rames@umass.edu or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

PINKHAM

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A5

continued from page A2

“Me, Bryton and Shane [Huber] – we definitely have the younger guys underneath our wing and we help them out a lot,” Casali said.

“Like coach Pinkham, we don’t have as many years of experience obviously, but each of us have five years of college football. So us having that we can definitely teach the younger guys to make the game that much more simple for them.”

Going up by 14 points in the second half vs. Hawaii and then proceeding to let that lead slip away epitomizes UMass football’s FBS experience. The addition of coach Pinkham could not only add a fundamental change, but a cultural one,

too.

Learning How to Win In the last five years, UMass has labored to make its football program as attractive for recruits as possible.

An updated stadium, a brand new performing complex, a new press box, competitive opponents, etc.

However, the one thing – and biggest thing – that still eludes UMass is winning.

The Minutemen are a combined 11-52 since making the jump to the FBS in 2012.

In its first two games, UMass found itself losing when the matchup suggests it should have won.

JON CRIPSIN/UMASS ATHLETICS

Head coach Mark Whipple looks on with Pinkham during UM’s season-opening loss.

According to Pinkham “to avoid losing is to stop making critical mistakes.”

“There is a thing that they say, you have to avoid losing before you think about winning,” Pinkham said. “We stopped [Hawaii] a couple of times on third down, we should be off the field yet we spear the quarterback in the red zone. You’re putting the ball on a tee and giving the guy a fourth strike when you do something like that and you can’t do that. When you’re learning how to win, it’s hard to overcome those things.

“You point it out over and over again. You have to sell it. And the one thing when you’re selling whatever your culture is, success leads to people buying into the culture. People buying into what it is you’re proposing.”

Pinkham knows this is not a one-year task. With over 30 years of coaching experience and having been a part of Western Michigan’s recent rebuild, Pinkham is familiar with the process.

According to the defensive coordinator there are steps to building a bowl caliber team and it starts with recruiting.

“I can tell you that looking at a place like Western Michigan, how did it go from

whatever it was, we were 1-11 to 13-0 and going to the Cotton Bowl, it was through recruiting,” Pinkham said.

“Every year we had the number one recruiting class in the MAC (Mid-American Conference) and usually it was better than half of the Big 10. People always say in the coaching profession that great players will make you a great coach so you really have to develop that as you go along in addition to your system, whatever your system may be.”

It ultimately comes down

ISABELLA JEDIAH ZURAW-FRIEDLAND/COLLEGIAN

UMass allows Hawaii quarterback Dru Brown to break through the plane of the endzone for the Warriors.

MINUTEMEN Along with Breneman, Isabella quickly became one of Ford’s top targets last season. So far in 2017, the junior wide receiver has had a touchdown in both of the first two games.

The biggest change on the defensive side of the ball from last season has been the addition of Ed Pinkham as defensive coordinator.

Pinkham filled the void left by Tom Masella who was fired following the end of last season. Previously the defensive coordinator at Western Michigan, Pinkham led one of the best defenses in the country last season. The Broncos finished the year 13-1 with an appearance in

continued from page A1

the Cotton Bowl.

“It’s getting to know the players, getting to know what your strengths are and see if you can take advantage of things that guys do really really well,” Pinkham said of his transition to UMass. “It’s been a great opportunity to start in the spring, we got spring ball under our belts. And then having had fall camp, it’s been a good transition, I think they’re getting to a point where they are mastering what we do and understanding how it all fits hand in glove with other positions.”

The Minutemen showed signs of being a defense that could come through with the clutch stops a few

of times in the opening game against Hawaii.

A huge fourth down stand on the UMass 16 yard line with six and a half minutes remaining in the half helped keep the game knotted at seven.

UMass ultimately went into halftime tied with the Warriors at 14.

The offense should continue to produce at a high level with premier offensive players in Ford, Breneman, Isabella and Young. The defense, however, will remain the team’s biggest question until it can prove it can right the ship.

Philip Sanzo can be reached at psanzo@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo.

5, 255-pound frame to muscle through defenders, Isabella relies on his quickness and high football I.Q.—most of which can be credited to him being a running back in his freshman season—to create space for himself.

“He’s just always in front. He’s a hard-worker, and he’s fast,” Whipple said. “He has a lot of pride, and is very competitive.”

That experience and familiarity at running back gives UMass the bonus of being able to plug him in at different

to the players.

“It’s a player’s game, as coach Pinkham says, so it’s on us,” Casali said. “It’s on the seniors and all the older guys, we decide where this defense goes.”

By joining UMass, Pinkham is giving up a defense that helped win 13 games for one that only won two. Though the talent gap is wide, Pinkham does not look at it as a disadvantage or a downgrade. He anticipates the process, the development. It’s what he loves about his job.

“It’s part of what I enjoy doing – building programs,” Pinkham said. “I don’t look at it that way, like it’s harder to coach this group than that group. I look at it as this is the first step of development in what I think we can build to achieve the same results that we achieved at a place like Colgate or a place like Western Michigan.”

Philip Sanzo can be reached at psanzo@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo.

continued from page A4

spots, should the situation arise.

“He can play three, four different positions, which makes a difference.

If somebody goes down, he can pop right in,” Whipple said.

While playing alongside a star talent like Breneman does have its perks, the reverse side of that coin, having to be the sidekick in a way, can rub some players the wrong way.

Not Isabella.

“We’re teammates so we both have our jobs. I just have to do my job,” he

said. “Hopefully if I do my job, if we do both our jobs, we’ll win games.”

Isabella also said having a player of Breneman’s caliber motivates him, and the rest of the team, to work hard on a consistent basis.

With the season just about in full swing now, Isabella has the chance to have a special season and prove to any doubters that his incredible sophomore season was no fluke.

Ryan Ames can be reached at rames@umass.edu or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

September 7, 2017

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

FIELD HOCKEY

STARTING ANEW

Minutewomen look to reach Final Four

Cooper scores lone goal of road trip

By Thomas Haines Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts field hockey team saw their 2016 season end on a Saturday afternoon in College Park, Maryland, in a heartbreaking 2-1 shootout loss to No. 2 ranked Maryland. Ten months later, their 2017 season is already underway and the team has high aspirations as they look to erase the memory of that loss.

“One of the team’s goals every single year is to win the Atlantic 10 championship, but moving forward they have a goal this season of going to the Final Four,” coach Barb Weinberg said.

“It’s definitely attainable.

Last season we were this close, lost in a shootout against Maryland, so they understand that the margin for them to go from the first round of the NCAA Tournament to the Elite Eight is very small, and they’ve been working every day since last February to get there.”

Optimism is running high around this UMass team (2-2), which returns last year’s leading scorer Sarah Hawkshaw and goalkeeper Emily Hazard while also introducing a crop of talented freshmen.

This is also the first season for coach Weinberg, who replaces interim coach Amy Robertson from 2016.

The returning players maintain that this year’s team is even stronger than last year’s.

UM drops pair on west coast

By Thomas Haines Collegian Staff

CHRIS O’KEEFE/COLLEGIAN

New head coach Barb Weinberg has UMass using last season as a lesson for the 2017 campaign.

“One of the team’s goals every single year is to win the Atlantic 10 championship, but moving forward they have a goal this season of going to the Final Four.

It’s definitely attainable.”

Barb Weinberg UMass coach “Our attack is on another level this year,” Hazard said. “We have a lot of forward power and a lot of depth on our forward line, so we’re expecting a lot of goals this year.”

Part of that increase in speed comes from the incoming freshmen, who have played several minutes already in the new season. Among those new freshmen is forward Lucy Cooper, who currently

leads the team with four goals through four games.

Asked about her early success, Cooper emphasized the need for sustained performance.

“I’ve gotten off to a better start than I expected, but I’ve got to keep it going,” Cooper said. “I can’t drop off after the four games.”

For all of the hype surrounding Cooper and the other forwards, the team

only managed two goals in two losses over the weekend. Weinberg pointed to the weak offensive output as an area to improve moving forward.

“I definitely think we need to work on converting, we had great stats against Stanford but we just couldn’t quite finish as much as we needed to in order to win that game,” Weinberg said. “But we’re getting the shots on goal, we’re getting the circle entries, now we just need to convert. It’s been different things we need to work on with different games, but as long as we continue to work on our scoring opportunities – we’ve been getting the opportunities, see

UMASS on page B1

The Massachusetts field hockey team lost twice over the weekend, losing to California and Stanford in its season-opening westcoast swing.

UMass (2-2) fell 3-1 to No. 13 Stanford (2-2) on Sunday despite leading in shots on goal (14-11) and shots on goal (10-7). Stanford tallied nine saves, not allowing a goal until the 64th minute.

The Minutewomen’s lone goal came from freshman Lucy Cooper, who now leads the team in scoring with four goals through four games. The Cardinals took the lead quickly, striking one minute and 58 seconds into the game, off a goal from Marissa Cicione.

Corinne Zanolli scored seven minutes later for Stanford, on its only penalty corner of the game, to up its lead to 2-0.

UMass’s defense settled down after a rough first 10 minutes, but allowed another goal in the 51st minute to trail 3-0.

Cooper’s goal in the 64th minute came too little, too late.

Head coach Barb Weinberg said it was a positive step for the team, despite the loss. “We had great stats against Stanford, we just couldn’t convert as much as we needed to win that game, but we’re getting

the shots on goal, we’re getting the circle entries. Now we just need to convert,” Weinberg said.Although the Minutewomen led the Cardinals 11-1 in penalty corners, they failed to convert a single one. Stanford, meanwhile, capitalized its only penalty corner for its second goal.

The loss came on the heels of a 2-1 defeat to the Golden Bears late Friday night, a loss that marked the team’s first defeat of the season. UMass dropped a low-scoring affair to California, who picked up its first win.

The game winning goal came just after the five-minute mark in the second half when Golden Bears freshman Megan Rodgers tapped in her second of the year.

The Minutewomen failed to answer and came away with the loss.

For the second straight game, UMass started off hot but failed to sustain the pressure.

Less than two minutes in, Cooper found the back of the net for her third goal of the season when she capitalized on a turnover by California’s Maddie Ashbrook. The Golden Bears responded less than six minutes later, tying the score when sophomore Katrina Carter took a pass from senior Mara Gutierrez and put it by Minutewomen goalkeeper Emily Hazard, who finished the day with five saves.

The two teams then see

STANFORD on page B1

N AT I O N A L F O O T BA L L L E AG U E

Pats open ‘17 Thursday Banner No. 5 will be unveiled vs. KC B y Sam F armer Los Angeles Times

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The last time they played a game that mattered, the New England Patriots pulled off the biggest and most improbable comeback in Super Bowl history.

So far be it for them to write off the underdog Kansas City Chiefs in Thursday night’s NFL season opener at Gillette Stadium.

(And even if the Patriots were supremely confident heading into the game _ which would be understandable in light of their history on this high-profile stage _ they wouldn’t

dream of saying so.)

“Opening day’s always a time where you have a lot of questions (and) butterflies,” New England coach Bill Belichick told reporters this week in comments far more colorful than his typical drab gray. “Lots of unknowns on our team.

Lots of unknowns on their team.

“Lots of unknowns when the two collide.”

And collide they will, as the nitro-burning Patriots offense meets a red-brick Kansas City defense in a nationally televised showdown. Belichick and the Chiefs’ Andy Reid are the only active head coaches with at least 10 victories on kickoff weekend.

The Patriots have won their last eight home open-

ers on kickoff weekend, and Brady is 4-2 against the Chiefs in the regular season, including 3-0 at home.

Even with star receiver Julian Edelman out for the season with a knee injury, Brady is in line for a landmark year. He’s one of four quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 450 touchdown passes. The top two are retired _ Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (508) _ and New Orleans’ Drew Brees is nine ahead of Brady with 465.

Brady is surrounded by some dangerous weapons, among them tight end Rob Gronkowski, finally healthy; receiver Chris Hogan, who led the NFL last season with an average of 17.9 yards per catch,

and newcomer Brandin Cooks, a scorching receiver acquired from the Saints who has the field-stretching speed to get behind a defense.

“I think that’s what makes a good offense _ having a lot of versatility,” Brady said recently. “I’ve said for a long time, I throw to where the guys are open.

If they double someone, everyone else is singled across the board, so you’ve just got to be careful who you double. If we’ve got the right play called against a certain defense, it’s tough to stop us.”

Kansas City has a seasoned defense that can crank up the pressure on a quarterback, which many people believe is the see

PATS on page B1

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS

Tom Brady will begin his quest to win a sixth Super Bowl Thursday night.

M A J O R L E AG U E BA S E BA L L

Yanks-Red Sox Apple Watch battle raises tech questions Rivalry reaches low with new scandal

or whatever,” Gardner said.

“But that’s the world we’re living in these days.”

Tuesday’s New York

By Pete Caldera Times report that the Red The Record Sox’ video replay staff had BA LT I M O R E — sent messages about the Yankees’ and other clubs’ Regarding the at-the-ready signs to their dugout via video information availApple Watch to replay to able in big-league dugouts, their players created a new Brett Gardner prefers the storm about the new techold school method of plain, nology in baseball. written scouting reports and Is it fair game to use whatcharts. ever electronic means avail “I’m not even a fan of able to gain an advantage? those iPads in the dugout The use of electronics is

not permitted in MLB dugouts, a point that Red Sox manager John Farrell conceded to Boston reporters Tuesday. But club president Dave Dombrowski basically laughed off any controversy, while both Farrell and Dombrowski said they had no knowledge of such espionage.

First, the tablets used in MLB dugouts contain only “downloaded video that MLB gives you,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who would like to further see

electronics in the game _ via headset communication _ to prevent theft of signs.

“Let’s make it easier,” Girardi said, “so we don’t have to do things like this.”

So now it’s up to commissioner Rob Manfred to dole out punishment (probably in the form of fines) to the Red Sox, while also examining Boston’s counterclaim that the Yanks had done similar spy work via a YES Network camera.

The Yanks deny any wrongdoing; the Sox already

admitted to MLB investigators that they were guilty as charged by Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

As Gardner mentioned, “I guess the use of electronics takes it a little too far,” in this particular case of sign stealing. But that practice, in one form or another, predates the ancient YankeesRed Sox rivalry.

And some players might not even want the info, Gardner said.

Plus, “Just because you know what pitch is coming,

it’s still kind of hard to put the barrel on the baseball,” said Gardner, who admitted that he tried and failed on a sign-stealing mission in the old school way.

“I’ve never been good at it,” Gardner said. “I got picked off one time (at first base) while I was looking in, trying to get signs from the catcher.

“To be honest, I haven’t really done it since.”

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

UMASS

STANFORD

continued from page A6

now we just need to capitalize and put it in the back of the net.”

Despite the stumbles over the weekend, the team is 2-2 and has put forth a strong showing in all four games. This early in the season, performance holds almost equal weight to wins and losses and the early returns have been promising.

“It was great to have a good matchup against Stanford, but I think the biggest thing coming out of that game is the team realized that we can play with teams ranked in the top fifteen,” coach Weinberg

said. “We had better stats with our goal opportunities and our penalty corner opportunities, so the team knows now that they can play with teams like that and beat teams like that.”

Inevitably, last year’s season-ending loss to Maryland hangs over this team, even with a new coach and a number of new players. Rather than avoiding it, the team is looking at it as a launching point for a better 2017.

“We lost in the first round of the tournament, but our performance outweighed anything else,” Hawkshaw said. “We really put it up to

the second-ranked team in the country. We can’t really look at the loss, we need to look at how we played, and I think if we did that again, the scores will take care of themselves.”

“They definitely were upset by that first-round loss against Maryland last year and I’ve used that as fueling the fire,” Weinberg added. “Reminding them every day that, yeah, that loss hurt, but they’re this close to getting to that next step.”

played scoreless field hockey for more than 30 minutes, but California dominated the time of attack. In the end, the Golden Bears would finish with a 20-9 shot advantage and an 8-1 penalty corner advantage.

Weinberg cited the statistical improvements over the two games as a reason for optimism moving forward.

“Against Cal Berkeley we gave up more penalty corners than we would have

Thursday, September 7, 2017

B1

continued from page A6

liked to, but we improved on that on Sunday, and we only gave up one DPC against Stanford,” Weinberg said. “Our circle defense and defense inside our 25 was much improved for Sunday’s game.”

Despite the losses, Weinberg continued to emphasize the strides that the team has made.

“Although we’re 2-2, the games in California were a great opportunity to say, ‘yes, we didn’t win, but we

played really good hockey,’ particularly against Stanford,” Weinberg said.

“We’re trying to take the positive away from those games moving forward.”

UMass has a five-day rest coming off the two losses before returning home for another Friday and Sunday homestand against Sacred Heart and Boston University, respectively, at Gladchuk Sports Complex.

Thomas Haines can be reached at thaines@umass.edu.

Thomas Haines can be reached at thaines@umass.edu.

N AT I O N A L F O O T BA L L L E AG U E

Hawk’s Bennett says he is profiling victim Star DE was held on ground in Vegas

By Bob Condotta The Seattle Times

Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett said he was a victim of excessive force and racial profiling by Las Vegas police during an incident Aug. 27, adding that he was held on the ground with a gun to his head.

“It was a traumatic experience for me and my family,” Bennett said Wednesday before practice at the Seahawks’ facility in Renton, Wash. “It sucks that the country we are living in now sometimes you get profiled for the color of your skin.”

Bennett was in Las Vegas to attend the Floyd MayweatherConor McGregor fight on Aug. 26.

On Wednesday morning Be nnett released a statement on the incident via Twitter, alleging excessive force.

Bennett has retained Oakland civil-rights attorney John Burris and is considering legal options, including filing a federal civil-rights lawsuit, according to a separate press release Wednesday.

Bennett also called on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to release the names of the officers involved as well as “body camera videos of the incident.”

During a news conference Wednesday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department undersheriff Kevin McMahill said race was not a factor in the incident.

“I see no evidence that race played any role in this incident,” McMahill said.

McMahill said the incident began when officers responded to reports of a possible active shooter at the Cromwell Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 27.

In the statement he released Wednesday, Bennett wrote that after watching the fight he was walking back to his hotel when he heard what sounded like gun shots and ran away from the sound.

Bennett wrote he was then singled out for “simply being a black man” and ordered to the ground. He wrote that one officer held a gun to his head and told him he would “blow my (expletive) head off.” Another officer, Bennett wrote, jammed his knee into Bennett’s back so hard “it was difficult for me to breathe.”

Bennett said he was released only when officers recognized who he was but added that he was not given a reason for having been apprehended.

“I was ultimately released without any legitimate justification for the Officers’ abusive conduct,” Bennett wrote.

During his news conference McMahill said Bennett was spotted “crouched down behind a gaming machine as

the officers approached. Once Bennett was in the officers’ view he quickly ran out of the south doors, jumped over a wall onto Flamingo Road East of Las Vegas Boulevard into traffic. Due to Bennett’s actions and the information officers had at the time they believed Bennett may have been involved in the shooting, and they gave chase.”

McMahill said two officers with guns apprehended Bennett, placed him in handcuffs and detained him for 10 minutes while officers determined if he was involved in the incident. After it was determined Bennett was not involved, he was released, McMahill said. McMahill added that Bennett had the incident explained to him by a supervisor and that “he understood and said he had no problem with what the officers did, just the one that he claimed the officer had pointed a gun at his head.”

It was later determined that there had been no shooting, McMahill said, and the source of the sound has not been identified.

McMahill showed about a five-minute video of the incident but it was inconclusive as to what occurred with Bennett.

There are 126 pieces of video of the incident that the LVMPD will go through, McMahill said, and he asked the public to submit any other videos they might have of the incident. He said the officer who apprehended Bennett did not have his body camera turned on.

McMahill said he learned of Bennett’s complaints about the incident Wednesday and added that the department will begin an internal investigation. He said the officers involved had not yet been interviewed. He also said he is asking for Bennett to submit a statement to the department.

After saying race was not a factor in the incident, McMahill noted that officers helped safely evacuate many people of all races out of the casino and Drai’s nightclub and added that the two officers that apprehended Bennett are Hispanic.

During his media session Wednesday, Bennett answered questions about the incident for about seven minutes but said he could not go into details. The media session ended suddenly when Bennett became emotional while discussing the incident’s impact on his three daughters.

“I think I try to tell my daughters every single day that they matter,” Bennett said before pausing and then walking away from the podium and out a side door.

Bennett said he was glad to have survived, and that he has a public platform to bring such incidents to light. He said the incident shows that people of color are at risk of being profiled no matter their social or professional status.

“There are a lot of people who experience what I experience at that moment and they are not here to live to tell their story,” Bennett said before naming notable victims of police shootings such as Travyon Martin, Charleena Lyles and Philando Castile.

“So many people have had the experience that I had, and they are not here to tell the story.”

Bennett said he had not heard anything from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department since the incident.

“Just let my legal team and my group of reps take care of it,” he said. “I’m just trying to come in and focus on the game (the Seahawks’ season opener Sunday at Green Bay) and focus on the task at hand, let everything take care of itself.”

Bennett said if he had made a wrong move during the time he was being held on the ground, “the Seahawks would be wearing a patch with number 72 (his jersey number) on it. So I’m just lucky to be able to be here now.”

Adding that he has heard people say he brought the incident on himself, Bennett said, “I didn’t ask for this moment.

It just happened to be me.”

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, when asked about the incident Wednesday, read a statement that he later released (though condensed and with slightly different wording) on Twitter.

In his statement Carroll wrote that the incident is “a classic illustration of the reality of inequality demonstrated daily. May this incident inspire all of us to respond with compassion when inequalities are brought to light, and allow us to have the courage to stand for change. We can do better.”

Bennett’s teammate and good friend, Cliff Avril, was with Bennett at the fight but not during the incident.

He said Bennett called him about an hour later, and Avril at first thought Bennett was joking.

“But when I walked up and he opened the door it was, ‘Oh, they really did get at you. They really did rough you up a little bit,’ “ Avril said. “And then just talked to him for a few hours to calm him down mostly.”

Avril said Bennett remains shaken by the incident saying, “It still weighs heavily on him.

My objective as a friend is to make sure he’s all right, trying to stay calm and enjoy his days. I try not to bring it up.

He will bring it up from time to time, but I try to keep him at ease.”

Carroll said Bennett told him about the incident shortly after it happened, and other teammates said Bennett told them about it once the team was back. Seattle had that weekend off after playing against the Vikings on Aug. 25.

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

The Minutewomen fell twice this weekend out in California to Cal Berkeley and Stanford, dropping their record to 2-2.

N AT I O N A L F O O T BA L L L E AG U E

League postpones ‘Phins Bucs with Hurricane Irma B y C hris Perkins Sun Sentinel

Hurricane Irma has forced the Miami Dolphins’ season opener against Tampa Bay to be postponed until Nov. 19, the bye week for both teams.

The game will be played at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Dolphins were originally scheduled to play at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. That option was scratched Tuesday when the NFL announced the game wouldn’t be played at that time and location.

There also was consideration of playing the game at a neutral site on Sunday, but the league decided to move the game to Week 11 instead.

Coach Adam Gase canceled practice for the rest of the week, presumably so players and their families can get prepared for Hurricane Irma.

The Dolphins have even taken the precautionary step of deflating their indoor practice bubble, something they didn’t do last year in the face of the threat of Hurricane Matthew. The Dolphins have also removed the tarp that kept fans shaded at practices during training camp.

The postponement

PATS

allows the Dolphins to preserve their seven home games at Hard Rock Stadium this season. The Dolphins have seven home games instead of eight because they agreed to move their Oct. 1 home game against New Orleans to London as part of a requirement for securing Super Bowl LIV in 2020.

That resolution, passed in 2014, states Super Bowl hosts must host an international game within five years of being awarded the Super Bowl.

The postponement also means the Dolphins now must play 16 consecutive games without a bye week, an idea that caused some players to bristle Tuesday.

“Sixteen straight?” wide receiver Jarvis Landry said. “It’s a long season. Let’s be honest about it, the stretch after our bye week is one of the toughest, if you want to be real about it, it’s probably the toughest in the NFL. That bye week could give us an opportunity to get guys healthy.

“In this league you’re going to get banged up week in and week out, so that bye week for us comes at an appropriate time.

To keep it there would be huge, but I know this is an unfortunate situation and

it’s out of our hands.”

Linebacker Kiko Alonso agreed with Landry but was a bit more diplomatic.

Dolphins and Buccaneers are put at competitive disadvantage without a bye week “Obviously that would be unfavorable,” Alonso said, “but we’re here to play and whenever they say we’re going to play, we’ll be ready.”

Tampa Bay defensive tackle Chris Baker tweeted his displeasure Wednesday morning, saying: “Dear [at]NFL [at] NFLPA the players are not interested in playing 16 straight weeks [hashtag] PLAYERSAFETY THIS IS CRAZY” The Dolphins have shifted their Hurricane Harvey relief efforts into a Hurricane Irma relief drive.

The Dolphins have offered Hard Rock Stadium as a staging area, if necessary, for Miami-Dade County for distribution of relief supplies. Details will be provided by MiamiDade County when they become available.

As part of the Hurricane Irma focus, Hard Rock Stadium will be closed to the public and won’t accept drop-off donations for Hurricane Harvey.

continued from page A6

recipe to beat Brady. The Chiefs have a host of defensive playmakers in Derrick Johnson, Eric Berry, Marcus Peters and Justin Houston.

“They’ve got all the intangibles, especially defensively,” Patriots receiver Danny Amendola said. “They’ve got good cornerbacks that can cover, they’ve got safeties that can tackle, they have linebackers that can run, D-linemen that can rush, so everybody’s going to be tested, and it’s right out of the gate. So we’ve got to jump in.

We can’t just dip our toe in the water.”

On offense, Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith has

a star tight end of his own in Travis Kelce, who led all players at his position last season with 1,125 yards receiving. He was ranked third in the league among all players in yards after the catch.

Kelce and Gronkowski are arguably the two best in the business.

“I just try and go out there and be myself,” Kelce told reporters. “Rob’s a heck of a player. Everyone is always comparing the two (of us) and saying, ‘Well, if he stays healthy, if this, if that.’ I just hope he stays healthy and goes out there and plays to the best of his

ability because I love the competition.”

In Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs have an offensive and special-teams threat who sends chills down the collective spine of coordinators around the league.

Still, the Patriots are in their comfort zone _ at home, in the spotlight, opening the season. The Chiefs will have to beat the odds to emerge victorious.

The Patriots know that can be done, of course.

They just have to think back to February.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Ground Truth talks

it ’ s game night at umass

Journalism in a divided America

News@DailyCollegian.com

UM grad joins APD Cadet returns as full-time officer

B y Alvin B uyinza

B y R ebecca D uke W iesenberg

Staff Writer

The University of Massachusetts collaborated with New England Public Radio, WGBH and The GroundTruth Project to host a community panel called “Crossing the Divide: The Pioneer Valley in Today’s America” Wednesday evening in the Old Chapel.

The panel was moderated by Charles Sennott, the founder and executive director of The GroundTruth Project which is a nonprofit news organization that focuses on training young journalists in the field of international media reporting.

Sennott started off the event by introducing The GroundTruth Project’s Crossing the Divide fellows: videographer Mahlia Posey, photojournalist Brittany Greeson, data journalist Eric Bosco, writer and reporter Gabriel Sanchez and audio reporter Rachel Cramer. The group will travel across the country to report on its deep social, political and economic divisions.

Sennott went on to interview Ray Suarez, a former journalist for Al Jazeera America and a visiting professor at Amherst College.

He asked Suarez about the state of the political division in our country. Suarez responded by saying that we are at the peak of crisis.

He talked about the state of journalism in the 1950s when most Americans got their news from only three major networks. Shifting 60 years later, he said that journalism now has been catered toward “discrete audiences,” for those either on the left or the right of the political aisle.

Sennott also asked Suarez about the peril journalists face daily in their line of work, to which Suarez responded rhetorically by asking, “Whose benefit is it to kill a journalist?”Suarez said leaders kill or incite violence to journalists as a way for them to keep power.

In terms of political leaders who attack the press, Suarez simply says he wants to tell a story without anybody saying, “yeah, but wait a minute.”

In doing so, they create the beginning of the end of democracy.

When asked how journalism can recover from its current state, Suarez said he believes that technology can save journalism. He gave a hypothetical situation as an example. While someone can’t send a video they edited to a cable company and then ask if it can be published, they can do this on the internet.

It allows access for every potential audience.

After the interview, Sennott introduced the six panelists: Republican candidate for Springfield city council Kency Gilet, student at Holyoke Community College Angelica Merino, teacher and blogger at Rational Urbanism Steve Shultis, Director of the Museum of Industrial Heritage; James Terapone and UMass professor Eve Weinbaum.

Each member of the see

PANEL on page B3

Staff Writer

JESSICA PICARD/COLLEGIAN

Sophomores Seth Dintzer, front, and Jonah Neugeboren play a video game at Arcade Night on the Haigis Mall, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017.

UMass researchers advance cancer and chronic infection research Study may improve immunotherapy B y C aeli C hesin Staff Writer

While many were away vacationing in the summer, a team of University of Massachusetts molecular biologists were busy making groundbreaking medical discoveries in the lab.

The team, led by Leonid Pobezinsky and research c o l l ab o r at o r Elena Pobezinskaya, who is also his wife, published their research on July 24 in ELife. Their findings show a significant advance in understanding the body’s own immune defenses mediated by T-Cells, which play a major role in an organism’s defense and activate an immune response.

These discoveries can further be implemented to enhance current immunotherapy and the treatment of diseases with substances that stimulate the immune response. It may more effectively attack disease-causing agents such as invasive cancers and virally infected cells during chronic infections like HIV. According to Pobezinsky, when people have cancer or chronic infection disorders like HIV, they need to enhance their immune systems. If someone has an immune disorder, where their immune system attacks their own body, they need to inhibit that faulty immune system.

Pobezinsky’s lab looks into ways to regulate the process by looking into immune system responses as well as the body’s use of T-cells.

When an organism is healthy, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD8 T-cells) are not active. But once they are activated—by an antigen, like a virus or another foreign substance—these CD8 T-cells can proliferate and evolve into cytotoxic cells. These cells have the effective function of killing target

pathogenic cells, either infected or cancer cells.

The lab’s research shows how a small microRNA molecule, known as Lethal-7 (Let7) serves as a molecular control hub, directing the cytotoxic function of CD8 T-cells. Let-7 does this by putting the brakes on the CD8 T-cells’ cell-killing activities.

Hence, the Let-7 microRNA—only 20 to 30 nucleotides long—acts as a switch that inhibits immune activity of CD8 T-cells and their tumorkilling ability. The levels of Let-7 molecules in CD8 T-Cells determine how effective T-cells can be in attacking a disease.

“If you think about it, it’s very simple,” said Pobe zinsky.

“T-cells, which are not active, they have a lot of this molecule [Let-7]. T-Cells, which become active and ready to kill target cells, don’t have much of this molecule.”

The team tested their hypothesis using genetically-modified mice. Some mice were manipulated to have a lot of the Let-7 molecule; some, very little. What they found was the CD8 T-cells in mice modified to have less Let-7 functioned better.

“We found our hypothesis was quite correct.

Cells that lack Let-7 become very effective killers, and cells that maintain very high levels of Let-7 are unable to officiate into cytotoxic T lymphocytes and fail to kill target cells,” Pobezinsky said.

The team’s project started basically from scratch in 2014, according to Pobezinsky. It began after Pobezinsky did his post-doctoral research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researching CD8 T-cells. He was curious as to why these cells spread very high levels of the Let-7 microRNA molecule.

According to a University press release, “The research group led by the Pobezinskys includes his Ph.D. student and first

author Alexandria Wells, UMass Amherst molecular biologist Michele Markstein, who provided the computational analysis to identify Let-7 targets and how Let-7 regulates the genome, and UMass Medical School immunologist Raymond Welsh, a specialist in cytotoxic CD8 T-cells who provided a viral model for testing differentiation in the presence of virus.”

Pobezinsky praised Wells for her effort, in particular, saying that without graduate student effort and interest, it would be very difficult to move the project forward.

“It’s very rewarding. There are definitely nights where you’ve been in lab for 12, 13 hours and you’re frustrated. You don’t know why this stuff isn’t working, but then you have that one experiment and you get results that makes it all worth it,” Wells said.

“Then taking what you’ve done in the lab and taking it to a mouse model, for instance, and get to see it actually cure cancer is pretty exciting.

It reminds you why you do the work we do,” she said.

As for the future, Pobezinsky said the lab continues to look at how further differentiation of CD8 T-cells are led by the microRNA molecule Let-7.

One project the lab is taking on currently is how during an infection or tumor, pathogen specific CD8 T-cells generate memory T cells. After a pathogen, either a bacteria or virus, is cleared, a majority of killer T-cells die. Very few of these cells survive and form immunological memory, which would help conquer secondary reinfection of an organism.

He compared the process to vaccinations, in which vaccinations trigger an initial immune response, but memory cells that survived remember that antigen encounter. Pobezinsky’s team is looking to address if Let-7 molecules also play a role in this process by

generating immunological memory, or the ability of the immune system to respond more rapidly and effectively to a pathogen that has been previously encountered.

Another team in his lab is focusing on how Let-7 can be modulated to develop new kinds of therapies.

Pobezinsky said genetic manipulations could completely remove Let-7 microRNA molecules from CD8 T-cells that become vicious killers called “super killers,” which kill 50 times more effectively than just regular T-killers.

“We’re thinking how we can actually lower the level of these molecules in order to make super killers in cancer patients and help them eliminate the cancer,” Pobezinsky said. “We think that it can really play nicely with existing therapies against cancer.”

Peter Chien, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and the director of the Models to Medicine Center in the Institute for Applied Life Sciences, said that Pobezinsky’s work led to the award of a $3.75 million grant from the Nonpareil miRNA Accelerator. The grant will allow Pobezinsky to translate his basic research toward enhancing efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

“Dr. Pobezinsky’s work is a wonderful example of how basic curiosity driven research is critical for new insight into fundamental biology and human health,” Chien said.

The research was supported by a grant from the Multiple Sclerosis Society and UMass start-up funds.

More on the published research can be found on the open access journal ELife, according to the UMass press release.

Caeli Chesin can be reached at mchesin@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @caeli_chesin.

The University of Massachusetts welcomes back a familiar face to the area. Lindsay Carroll, a 2016 graduate of biology and sociology at the Commonwealth Honors College, has returned to Amherst as a patrol officer for the Amherst Police Department.

During her tenure, Officer Carroll worked as a cadet at the University’s Police Department. As a cadet, she worked primarily on campus, executing foot and parking patrols.

She developed rapport with the community as well as an understanding of the area.

The UMass Police Department Deputy Chief, Patrick Archbald, remembers her for her maturity and consistency, describing her as “someone you could count on.”

As a student at the Reading Regional Police Academy, Carroll did not feel as if she was in unfamiliar territory. Her experience as a cadet made her more comfortable on the radio during patrols, and her assurance caught the attention of her teachers and peers.

“She did a great job in the academy,” said Amherst Chief of Police, Scott Livingstone. “She was elected class president by her peers.”

Car roll’s skills were noticed by Chief Livingstone, who hires those he believes are the best fit for the Amherst community.

“She came from an excellent background,” Livingstone said. Now in Amherst, the prior experience of serving locally as a cadet is even more applicable.

“Feeling comfortable knowing my way around the streets, dealing with people here and the vigilance of being prepared of your surroundings, the UMass Police Department definitely helped prepare me,” Carroll reflected.

Additionally, Carroll has an edge of relatability.

As a former student and recent graduate, she, in her own words, “relate to students [in the community], since I was one.”

Working in a town in the center of a college consortium, “the relatability factor will be key,” she noted.

Although UMass cadets have matriculated to police departments all over Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and even Nevada, Carroll chose to return to Amherst.

“It’s nice to be back. I love being here [and] trying to make it my home— again,” Carroll said.

Besides Amherst, Carroll also loves the familial atmosphere of the police department itself.

“They really stress community,” Carroll said.

Fellow Officer Jerry Miller remarked how nice it is to have former UMass students back in town as a member of the police department.

As the newest addition to the department, Carroll wants to give her team and community a positive first impression.

Utilizing the skills and vigilance attained through the UMPD cadets program, Carroll said she is “worksee

CADET on page B3

B3

Thursday, September 7, 2017

THE RU N D OW N ON THIS DAY...

In 1976, Soviet pilot lands Russian MIG fighter plane in Japan. The incident was a serious embarrassment for the Soviets, and also provided a bit of a surprise for U.S. officials.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Historical horse barn relocated to the ALC

DACA fix needs to include border security measures By lindsay mcpherson CQ-Roll Call

QUOTE OF T H E D AY “Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years they could just say, so what.”

Andy Warhol

CADET

JUDITH GIBSON-OKUNIEFF/COLLEGIAN

The new horse barn will keep some of the old barn’s architecture and will be used by the Student Farming Enterprise program.

Historical barn to be renovated

By Caeli Chesin Collegian Staff

Long before the University of Massachusetts was nicknamed “ZooMass,” the former Massachusetts Agricultural College was known as “Mass Aggie.”

As the years rolled by, the campus transformed and multiplied. Yet a vacant blue horse barn remained.

The historical Grinnell Way horse barn will be moved to the Agricultural Learning Center at 911 North Pleasant Street. The 1894 property has a lot of historical value because it was home to some of the first students who studied agriculture, when the University was an agricultural college.

Yet the barn has not been used for over a decade, closing after UMass police stopped using it for mounted patrol.

The restored barn will now be used as a wash and pack station for the UMass student farm, and will also have storage facilities. According to Amanda Brown, director of the Student Farming Enterprise, the benefits to its relocation include

allowing students exposure to industry standard equipment, increased capacity of the harvest at the student farm and a new facility right on campus, “which is huge,” Brown said.

“We’ll be able to bring more produce more efficiently to the campus community each fall,” she said.

According to Brown, the old building was left in rough shape. The relocation process has not yet started, but the building will be moved in pieces over the fall semester.

The Stockbridge School of Agriculture is working with the Amherst Historical Society and engineers to determine what components can and should be saved. The project is anticipated to be finished by the end of 2017.

The idea originated from Dr. Stephen Herbert, a professor in Stockbridge, who put together fundraising efforts from 2009 to 2013 to get the project recognized and running. He noticed that in the University’s original master plan, the horse barn could have possibly been demolished and covered up by new infrastructure.

Knowing its relevance and importance to the original campus, he believed the barn could be moved to the Agricultural Learning

Center and replicated in a design that was useful and demonstrated the history of the original location.

The Agricultural Learning center is a yearlong program set up as a hands-on, living classroom for students to learn about farming.

“I wanted students to go back to the days where Levi Stockbridge said, ‘We learn by doing,” Herbert said.

According to a UMass press release, the university will keep as much as possible of the original postand-beam structure of the barn as well as some horse stalls, but residue from lead paint makes the wood clapboards unsalvageable.

To retain the same look of the original barn, windows and doors will be replicated to original measurements.

Like the original barn, the new roof will be metal.

“It was a beautiful barn.

Downstairs, there were horse stalls, and they were pretty, and upstairs, there was a hay loft,” Herbert said, remembering the first time he entered the unused barn.

continued from page B2

ing hard to succeed,” and continuing to develop.

Her ef for t has already been recognized. “Lindsay’s going to fit in quite well here.

We’re looking forward to

PANEL

AROUND THE WORLD

WASHINGTON _ Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Wednesday that a legislative solution to replace an Obama-era program designed to protect children of undocumented immigrants from deportation will need to include border security measures and have the support of President Donald Trump.

The Wisconsin Republican said the dilemma that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provided work permits and social security numbers for roughly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, sought to alleviate was a symptom of a larger border security problem.

“It’s only reasonable and fitting that we also address the root cause of the problem, which is borders that are not sufficiently controlled while we address this very real and very human problem that’s right in front of us,” Ryan said.

Ryan said President Barack Obama “overstepped his constitutional bounds” in creating DACA via execute order in 2012 and for that reason Trump was right to end the program.

“He made the right call,” Ryan said. “I’m also encouraged by the fact that he gave us time to work out a consensus, to find a compromise because these kids for the most part don’t know any other home than the United States.”

Congress will spend the next few months finding out where that compromise exists, Ryan said, but emphasized that it’s got to a be solution that Trump and the GOP conference will support.

Without attaching border security measures _ and perhaps funding for Trump’s proposed border wall _ an immigration bill would likely not have support from a majority of Republicans.

When Ryan became speaker in 2015, he promised conservatives he would not bring an immigration bill to the House floor if it did not have the support from a majority of the GOP conference.

Asked Wednesday if he still stands by that position, Ryan said, “We will not be advancing legislation that does not have the support of President Trump because we’re going to work with the president on how to do this legislation. And if we have legislation coming through here that is worked with and supported by the president, I’m very confident that our members will support that.”

DailyCollegian.com

having her on the team,” Livingstone said.

Rebecca Duke Wiesenberg can be reached at rdukewiesenb@umass.edu.

continued from page B2

panel spoke on a specific perspective on the division in America, relaying their own experiences to the crowd. As a former labor organizer, Weinbaum spoke on the internal division of labor workers across racial and economic lines.

Terapone spoke on the lack of media coverage of industrial workers. Merino, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, spoke on the importance of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals. Gilet, a first generation HaitianAmerican, talked about her plan to work together with both Democrats and Republicans in Springfield to see where common ground could be found.

At the end of the event, audience members could ask questions and give comments. One came from journalist Susan Wozniak, who spoke about the fact that in her 40 years of teaching, she has never come across a student who was taught about government in school. She then asked how we should teach youth to think critically.

At the end of the event there was a reception downstairs in the Old

Chapel.

“I think this panel was good in starting conversations that desperately need to be had in newsrooms,” said GroundTruth fellow Mahlia Posey. “Like, what are we going to do with the journalism versus advertising model or with the rise of fake news? How are we going to promote literacy media in schools now? I think it’s good to get the ball rolling because these are issues that we need to address sooner than later.”

According to GroundTruth fellow and UMass graduate Eric Bosco, there’s often a public misconception of journalists sitting in cubicles making up stories in their heads.

“We heard a lot of that in the audience and the concern of fake news and the state of the journalism industry and so I hope we can do some parsing of that,” Bosco said.

Alvin Buyinza can be reached at abuyinza@umass.edu.

Caeli Chesin can be reached at mchesin@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @caeli_chesin.

Four deaths reported as Hurricane Irma rakes Carribean, with Florida likely in crosshairs

By Les Neuhaus and Laura King Los Angeles Times

FORT MYERS, Fla. _ Floridians hit the highways, scrambled for scarce supplies and hammered plywood over windows as a monster hurricane made landfall in the Caribbean, where it was blamed for at least four deaths.

Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes, set a wild, windchurned course toward Puerto Rico, with the U.S. mainland in its sights, probably over the weekend.

Amid an overnight assault of battering waves and 185mph winds, two deaths were reported in French island territories, a third in Anguilla, a British territory, and a fourth in Barbuda, part of a tiny independent nation.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott implored constituents to obey calls to flee the storm’s path when the time came.

“I cannot stress this enough _ do not ignore evacuation orders,” Scott said at a news briefing as the storm began lashing Puerto Rico with rain, still on track for the U.S. mainland. “If you’re told to evacuate, don’t wait _ get out quickly.”

In warning of the dan-

gers, the governor invoked Hurricane Andrew, which devastated Florida a quarter of a century ago, causing massive destruction and killing nearly 50 people in the state.

“I want everybody to understand the importance of this _ this is bigger than Andrew,” Scott told ABC News.

President Donald Trump declared states of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Florida began activating its National Guard, with 7,000 members told to report for duty Friday.

In Fort Myers, in coastal southwestern Florida, Stephanie Matteson waited in line at a gas station, where she said she had been for 25 minutes.

“I swear, it’s like everyone is in a hurry to get this thing over with _ like, ‘Just come on, Irma, and then leave us alone,’ “ said Matteson, 47. She experienced Hurricane Wilma in 2005, “but Irma’s got more punch, from what they’re saying.”

There was a run on supplies, including bananas and batteries. Anthony Bonner, a bread company distributor, predicted that the 28 racks of bread he was delivering to a picked-over Walmart in Coral Cove, outside Fort Myers, would go fast.

“It’s kind of like I’m the candy man wherever I show up,” he said. “Bread and water are always the first to go. Stand here for 15 minutes _ all of this will be gone.”

A state of emergency was declared earlier for all 67 Florida counties; on Wednesday, South Carolina followed suit, with Gov. Henry McMaster urging the public to not leave storm preparations to the last moment.

As he did while Hurricane Harvey pounded Texas late last month, Trump unleashed tweets about the storm’s strength. “Hurricane looks like the largest ever recorded in the Atlantic!” he wrote Wednesday morning on Twitter.

The president also said his “team” was ready in Florida, adding: “No rest for the weary!” Later, heading into a meeting with congressional leaders, he described the storm as “something that could be not good _ believe me, not good.”

The National Hurricane Center said the storm was one of the five most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in the last 80 years and the strongest Atlantic storm on record outside the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Satellite imagery of the

enormous storm inspired fear and awe. The hurricane center in Miami described a vast swirling mass, with hurricane-force winds extending 50 miles from the storm’s center.

The hurricane’s force was such that it was detected by earthquake-measuring equipment on islands it passed, said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at Britain’s University of Southampton.

Before dawn Wednesday, the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda was pummeled by wind and rain as the Category 5 storm passed almost directly above the islands, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and triggering floods. Many people sought safety in government shelters as the winds turned stormborne debris into missiles.

At first, Prime Minister Gaston Browne tweeted thanks that his nation had been spared the worst. But then came grim word of almost all houses on Barbuda destroyed, and a death.

Irma also roared through the French island territories of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, battering them with wind and water that smashed buildings and toppled trees. It was there that two deaths were reported by the French overseas ter-

ritories minister, Annick Girardin. She also said two people were seriously injured.

Dutch authorities were keeping an anxious eye on St. Maarten, Netherlands territory that shares an island with St. Martin, after the storm disrupted communications and caused heavy damage.

In the early afternoon, the eye passed over the British Virgin Islands with winds gusting at 110 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. Celebrity tycoon Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, owns a small private island in the chain, and blogged beforehand that he and a group of friends would be seeking shelter in a concrete wine cellar.

Six southern islands in the Bahamas were under evacuation orders, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said, with people being flown to the capital, Nassau.

In Puerto Rico, lashed by the storm’s leading edge, people hunkered down as the hurricane menaced the U.S. territory, with the height of winds and rain expected later Wednesday. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said the storm’s danger was “like nothing we’ve ever seen.”

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” - Walt Disney

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

Monuments to the past reflecting the present My parents took a trip to Maryland this Because while we are discussing the spring, staying in the city of Annapolis. morality of statues—from Stonewall While sightseeing, they climbed the hill Jackson to Thomas Jefferson—the crux of the problem is lost. Removing the Tess Halpern statue of Lee only became an issue when people began protesting to protect it, and to the Maryland State House where they that issue only became national when that were confronted by an unavoidable statue protest turned violent. that, from its lofty position, looks over So what exactly are people fighting the entire city. The statue was of for- over? What about this statue is worth mer Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger injuring and killing other people in order Taney; my father, a history teacher, was to protect? shocked.

To those in favor of keeping the statue Taney was the man who authored the of Lee standing, Supreme Court’s decision in the case of that statue repreDred Scott v. Sanford, a landmark case sents more than a that not only upheld the laws that pro- man; it represents tected slavery, but also stated that a for- a way of life. It repmer slave, even if they were now free, was resents a deeply still not considered a citizen of the United rooted history that States. is synonymous In the wake of the events in with their sense Charlottesville, Va. that were prompted of nationalism and by the proposed removal of a statue of pride.

Robert E. Lee, my family began discuss- And I would ing the statue of Taney and whether or agree that Lee’s statue is more than a repnot he deserved to be honored as well. resentation of a man. It is even more than But our discussion quickly became a representation of a treasonous man. obsolete, after the city of Annapolis But I see that statue as a representation removed the statue of Taney on Aug. 18 at of the hatred and the racism that was not 2:00 a.m., less than a week after the events defeated in the Civil War, the Civil Rights in Charlottesville.

Movement or with the election of our Was the statue removed because the nation’s first Black president. To me, and city of Annapolis suddenly remembered to many other Americans, it represents what Taney’s most notable action as Chief the continued persecution of Black people Justice was? No, the statue was removed— in a country that is blinded by its own under the cover of night, no less—“as a hateful hypocrisy. matter of public safety.”

The statue of Lee, and the over 700 other

statues and monuments in the United States commemorating Confederate soldiers and leaders, honor what they fought for, which was to uphold the institution of slavery. The statue of Taney honored his time as Chief Justice, made notable—even notorious—by his decision in the Dred Scott case.

But even more importantly, these statues speak to the mindset of Americans during the time period in which they were built.

The statue of Roger Taney was built in 1872, placed in front of the Maryland State House during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was lynching Black people in the South without consequence. The statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville was built in 1924, the same year that the Racial Integrity Laws were passed in Virginia, prohibiting interracial marriages.

Statues say more than what is written on their plaques. A statue or a monument says something about the people who built it. It represents the values of the people that chose this person, out of all others in its rich history, to celebrate. But to celebrate the individuals that are known for the part they played in oppressing Black Americans is nothing more than a way

“To me, and to many other Americans, it represents the continued persecution of Black people in a country that is blinded by its own hateful hypocrisy.”

in which we continue to oppress Black Americans.

Taney was not treasonous. He was a well-respected man who made a decision based on the time that he lived in, but does that make him someone to be celebrated? With his figure prominently in front of the Maryland State House, did he truly represent the values of that state?

Did he represent the founding principles that this nation was built on and that we still ascribe to today?

Based on the violence and hatred that was demonstrated in Charlottesville, it’s clear that Taney and Lee might be more accurate representations of present-day America than many of us want to admit.

The riots in Charlottesville, the harmful rhetoric and Confederate flags and swastikas being proudly waved do not represent an America that has learnt from its past.

To argue that Charlottesville was about a statue, or to argue that it was anything less than America reliving some of its darkest history, is delusional and only takes away from the actual issue: the racism and prejudice that has been embedded in our country since the very beginning.

The race relations in this country will not change unless we actively try to change them. We will never see an undivided America until we stop honoring those who played crucial roles in dividing it.

Tess Halpern is the Opinion/Editorial editor and can be reached at tjhalpern@umass.edu.

We believe in solar eclipses, so why not climate change?

On Aug. 21, 2017, people all er than they have been in over the United States, includ- hundreds of thousands of ing me, stared at the sun (with years. This is backed up by increasing land and sea temJoe Frank peratures since the Industrial Revolution, as shown by data eye protection). Why? Because from the National Oceanic and there was a solar eclipse, an Atmospheric Administration. event that had not happened In their press release from 2013, across the entire contiguous the Intergovernmental Panel United States since 1979 and on Climate Change noted, “It will not happen again until is extremely likely that human 2024, when an eclipse passes influence has been the domfrom Texas to Maine. It was a inant cause of the observed spectacular occasion. But as warming since the mid-20th Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted century.” The evidence sugon August 10, “Odd. No one is gests that the Earth’s climate in denial of America’s Aug. is changing, and that humans 21 total solar eclipse. Like are causing the problem.

Climate Change, methods & Still, many Americans do tools of science predict it.”

So why does everybody buy into the eclipse, but not climate change?

If people deny that the climate is changing due to human factors, it should not be because of a lack of data to support climate change. not buy into the data. In the For example, data taken from United States, only 48 percent ice cores drilled from Lake of Americans believe the cliVostok in Antarctica shows mate is changing due to human that carbon dioxide, methane, activity, while another 31 perand global temperature levels cent believe it is changing but all trend together, suggesting due to natural climate patterns, a correlation between green- according to a Pew study from house gases and temperature. 2016. Other data from the same The ice core data stretches study is even more concerning, from over 450,000 years ago up showing that only 33 percent until the present, and past fluc- of Americans believe climate tuations in global temperature scientists understand “very are present in the data. Before well” whether climate change the Industrial Revolution, is occurring, and 28 percent Earth’s global temperature feel climate scientists underwas near its warmest, mean- stand the causes of climate ing that its global temperature change. Only 39 percent trust should slowly begin to fall over climate scientists. And yet, over 97 percent of published time.

However, the opposite is climate scientists have come true. Last year was the warm- to believe that climate change est year on record, and car- is caused by human activities, bon dioxide levels are high- as shown in a 2016 study led

“So why does everybody buy into the eclipse, but not climate change?”

by John Cook, and published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. There is a disconnect between what many Americans believe about climate change and the conclusions reached by the experts.

Many Americans do not trust climate scientists.

So why do so many people feel they know more than scientists? There are a few reasons.

First, many people who do not believe in climate change cite that they do not notice any change in the weather around them. In fact, 33 percent of deniers make this argument, as a study from 2014 by the Public Religion Research Institute and the American Academy of Religion found. The next most popular answer from that study was that the “temperature varies naturally,” and after that was the claim that there is conflicting scientific evidence.

Potentially surprising is that that same study also found that education level did not influence whether someone supports or denies climate change.

The evidence points to the conclusion that climate change is real and human-caused. A slight majority of Americans believe otherwise, not necessarily because people reject science as a whole, but because they disregard the research of climate scientists. If they do not believe in climate change for that reason, it is most likely because of a lack of understanding of the scientific evidence. Still, that does not mean that the problem is any less real than a solar eclipse.

Joe Frank is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at jrfrank@umass.edu.

t h e m a s s a c h u s e t t s D a i ly C o l l e g i a n BUSINESS

EDITOR IN CHIEF - Devyn Giannetti MANAGING EDITOR - Hayley Johnson MANAGING EDITOR/DAILYCOLLEGIAN.COM - Daniel Mahoney WEB PRODUCER - Philip Sanzo | Jake Calkins

Business Manager - John McDonald Advertising Manager - Rachel Stephens Distribution Manager - Yoav Barkai Advertising Production - Tim Gerstel

NEWS

OPINION & EDITORIAL

NEWS ASSISTANTS

News Editor - Jackson Cote

Abigail Charpentier Caeli Chesin Rebecca Duke-Wiesenberg Will Soltero

ARTS & LIVING

SPORTS

GRAPHICS

Production Manager - Maxwell Zaleski

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media Coordinator - Serena McMahon

PHOTOGRAPHY

COMICS

Op/Ed Editor - Tess Halpern

Arts Editor - Gina Lopez

Sports Editor - Philip Sanzo

Photo Editor - Jessica Picard

Comics Editor - Andrew Esten

O p /E d ASSISTANTS

ARTS ASSISTANTS

SPORTS ASSISTANTS

PHOTO ASSISTANTS

GRAPHICS ASSISTANTS

Emilia Beuger Bradley Polumbo Jessica Primavera

Nicholas Remillard Ariya Sonethary Nate Taskin

Ryan Ames Thomas Johnston Amin Touri

Erica Lowenkron Katherine Mayo Caroline O’Connor Katherine Mitchell

Zahra Fatehi

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian is published Monday through Thursday during the University of Massachusetts calendar semester. The Collegian is independently funded, operating on advertising revenue. Founded in 1890, the paper began as Aggie Life, became the College Signal in 1901, the Weekly Collegian in 1914 and the Tri–Weekly Collegian in 1956. Published daily from 1967 to 2014, The Collegian has been broadsheet since January 1994. For advertising rates and information, call 413-545-3500.

PRODUCTION CREW on staff for this issue NIGHT EDITOR - Devyn Giannetti

COPY EDITOR - Jessica Primavera NEWS DESK EDITOR - Caeli Chesin O p /E d DESK EDITOR - Tess Halpern ARTS DESK EDITOR - Nate Taskin SPORTS DESK EDITOR - Kyle DaLuz GRAPHICS DESK EDITOR - Maxwell Zaleski COMICS DESK EDITOR - Andrew Esten WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER - Daniel Mahoney

SOCIAL MEDIA - Chloe Trepanier PHOTO EDITOR- Katherine Mitchell

Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“I... want to change my style.” - Kurt Cobain

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

FILM REVIEW

‘Ingrid Goes West’ a skin-crawling dark comedy Aubrey Plaza heads to the Golden State

By Nate Taskin Collegian Staff

Billed as a dark comedy, “Ingrid Goes West” presents a uniquely 21st century horror. It is a film that coincides perfectly with present day events while still managing to capture the abstract horror that junk post-YouTube gimmick films “Unfriended” and “Smiley” failed to catch—the discordance between one’s online persona and one’s real self.

Our titular protagonist (Aubrey Plaza) is, needless to say, a touch unhinged.

The film’s opening moments show her crashing a friend’s wedding and getting maced in the face. After a stay in a mental hospital, we discover that Ingrid was never friends with this person at all. The extent of their relationship was simply a liked comment on Instagram that inspired Ingrid to pursue a one-sided, obsessive relationship with her.

Ingrid’s intense desire to feel cherished and adored draws her to “social media influencer” (i.e. one whose timeline has become immaculate) Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). Taylor’s posts imply a utopian lifestyle that no real human being could attain. She posts her finest meals (#nofilter), glistening images of her lumbersexual husband (#thebigtomylittle) amongst her literary tastes which are curated to only the hippest audience (#joandidionsaiditbest).

Anyone with an Instagram account knows (I hope) that a profile only shows the best possible version of some-

one. There’s a reason why we post only the best selfie from the pre-game rather than the 6-8 (or 22) runners up. (And there’s definitely a reason why we don’t post the results when we drink too much at the pre-game.)

But the artificiality captivates Ingrid. Friendless and alone, Taylor’s perfect teeth and perfect taste mesmerize her. Inspired by a throwaway comment where Taylor recommends some Bay Area hipster cafe to her, Ingrid visits the bank to cash the $62,000 inheritance left by her recently deceased mother and heads out west to L.A. From Taylor’s perspective, her comment was an inconsequential post to one of her amorphous followers. From Ingrid’s perspective, it was a sign that the two are destined to be best friends for life (or #BFFLs, if you will).

Although Plaza’s comedic presence on shows like “Parks and Recreation” has always been well-respected, her talent at drawing upon deep-seated pain and pathos seems strangely underrated. After the release of this movie, hopefully the extent of her emotional range will be fully appreciated. If you thought her droopy-eyed expression led to some great deadpan humor, wait until you see how Plaza applies those Kubrick lamps when Ingrid has a nervous breakdown.

Those with a low tolerance for cringe comedy will be in agony throughout this film. Ingrid’s attempts to win over Taylor’s affection, like when they “accidentally” run into each other at a bookstore, are painful to sit through. Ingrid clings to the idea that human connections can be mustered from shared likes and mutual followers, and her inability to

PHOTO COURTESY OF ‘INGRID GOES WEST’ OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE

A timeless tale of human anguish adapted to a modern millenial context, this 21st century dramedy captures the perils of being Extremely Online. relate to people on a deeper level out of her fear of being “found out” as a fake leads her down some particularly squirmy roads.

Of course, while most of us would never have the audacity to kidnap someone’s dog just as an excuse to hang out with that person (once again, I HOPE), there is something painfully relatable about Ingrid’s plight.

Call me neurotic, but I know I spend far too much time on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram carefully curating my content so that everyone sees only the best possible version of me.

The biggest aspiration

is for people to know the “real me,” and the biggest fear is what happens when they find out what the actual “real me” looks like. There is always that nagging fear that we may be discovered as the frauds that we feel we are. There’s a reason why top Instagram accounts show only lovely servings of Eggs Benedict posted through Matisse-themed filters. There’s a reason why we don’t see live-feeds of Gigi Hadid ugly-crying on the toilet.

The Online Persona is one of inherent contradictions. It exists outside the Authentic Self as a separate entity, and

everyone follows an unspoken agreement that these two Selves should be seen as one, even when it’s clear that that alleged harmonization of two halves is a total lie.

Nobody’s life can be as perfect as their profiles suggest.

Part of Ingrid’s problem is that she is not clued in on that agreement Some Luddites out there might say that this affliction is a uniquely 21st century sickness—that classic “dang millennials and their iPhones” line of attack—but I think it’s just a new manifestation of old human foibles. We all want acceptance and love from respected

people we’ve never met—the kindness of strangers that Blanche Dubois memorably called for—but once confronted with the opportunity for real intimacy and human connection, we shirk away, fearful of what we may find and what others might find in us. “Ingrid Goes West” gives a modern update on an ancient pathology.

Nate Taskin can be reached at ntaskin@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @nate_taskin.

ALBUM REVIEW

Billie Eilish’s debut EP is vivid and exquisite, clever and sophisticated lyrics bring excitement

A stunning debut marks pop’s new age

By Ariya Sonethavy Collegian Staff

The new age of pop seems to be around the corner as emerging artist Billie Eilish, a fifteenyear-old Los Angeles based singer-songwriter, breaks the scene with her debut EP, “dont smile at me.” If you haven’t heard her yet, you’ve most likely heard her single “Ocean Eyes” —a soft electronic ballad that made the singer an overnight Soundcloud sensation.

What makes Eilish an anomaly, like all other teen prodigies, is her onset precociousness that seems to closely parallel the same wave of hysteria that Lorde caused when she released “Royals.”

Her cool-girl style is evident on her Instagram and through carefully cryptic tweets which exude a carefree and effortless attitude of the teenage experience through a rather poetic lens.

beats that can keep a crowd excited. Eilish, on the other hand, sticks to her own guns as she dips her crystalline voice between tracks to show off the complexity of being a teenager.

Her clever and sophisticated lyrics blur the line between a lullaby-laced haze and the cutting edge of a switchblade.

The songs “my boy” and “bellyache” contain the aura of any misunderstood manic pixie dream girl you’ve seen on TV with an evil plan in mind, while “idontwannabeyouanymore” is coated with Sinatra-esque melodies that channel a sound that’s equal parts 60s and early 2000s R&B. Eilish even gets acoustic with “party favor,” a track that emanates the sound of a voicemail to your ex-boyfriend.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ‘BILLIE EILISH’ FACEBOOK PAGE The EP’s final track, “hostage,” sounds like a The “Ocean Eyes” singer paves her own path with a darker perspective of teenage youth on her debut EP. love song dosed with someAcclaimed as the new “it ing vocals paired with an ing opener that sets the thing a little more trougirl” in pop, Billie Eilish is irresistible production tone for her no-nonsense bling. A running theme in essentially genre-less once that emulates the wicked- attitude.

Eilish’s music is a seemyou listen to the entire ness of a femme fatale. She In the face of pop music ingly psychotic edge that scope of the EP. The open- sticks her middle finger to there’s always a pressure juxtaposes the softness of ing track “COPYCAT” is those who mimic her origi- to stick a particular image her voice, from channeling lush with smooth, brood- nality, and delivers a chill- or a set of manufactured a murderer-on-the-run in

“bellyache” (“My friends aren’t far, in the back of my car lay their bodies…”) to the dynamic between love and obsession in “hostage.”

“I wanna steal your soul and hide you in my treasure chest,” she whispers, harmonizing with minimal guitar chords as she uses her voice as the main instrument. The singer’s ability to flip a switch between sweet lovesickness and terrifying possession is both alarming and awe-inducing, especially for someone who’s still in the middle of their teens.

As “dont smile at me” delivers a refined and multi-faceted palate, t h e w o rl d aw a i t s Billie E i l i s h’ s n e x t s t o r y t e l l i n g e n de avors. Be st sai d i n “ COPYCAT,” “ I don’t b e l o n g t o a n yo n e, b u t e ve r yb o d y k n o w s m y n ame.” Wi th i n th e comi n g ye ars, you de f i n i te ly will.

Ariya Sonethavy can be reached at asonethavy@umass.edu.

B6

Thursday, September 19, 2013

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Comics

DailyCollegian.com

WE WANT YOUR COMICS! Put your comics in front of thousands of readers.

Questions? Comments? Email us: comics@dailycollegian.com

In Memorium

Q uote

of the

D ay

“Unforgettable, that’s what you are.

Unforgettable, though near or far” - Nat King Cole D inosuar C omics

B y R yan N orth

M ilo A nd S tella

B y J ack B rady

Only The Good Die Young

XKCD

A dequate C omics

W ondermark

B y D avid M alki

B y R andall M unroe

B y S hen

aquarius

HOROSCOPES Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

I foresee a most excellent adventure in your future. Get ready for your day to be, like, totally bodacious, dude.

pisces

Feb. 19 - Mar. 20

Why is Antonio’s so small and cramped? This is western Massachusetts. There is literally nothing but empty space here.

aries

Mar. 21 - Apr. 19

taurus

Apr. 20 - May. 20

gemini

May. 21 - Jun. 21

Save money on your meal plan by only eating dead animals you find, like the noble buzzard or the courageous turkey vulture.

Celebrate finishing another day of classes by burning all of your notes from the day. You probably won’t need them later.

Make a good first impression with all of your professors. That way, it’ll be easier to casually skip twelve or so of their classes later on.

cancer

Jun. 22 - Jul. 22

Before you transcend to a new plane of existence, make sure you’ve checked all your luggage, and try to snag a window seat!

leo

Jul. 23 - Aug. 22

Line too long at the dining hall? Start a riot!

Don’t want to buy that expensive textbook for class? Start a riot! Need friends? Start a riot!

virgo

Aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Instead of continuously inventing new dance moves, we should just recycle old ones.

Let’s bring back the Charleston!

libra

Sept. 23 - Oct. 22

scorpio

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

Why do people hate clowns so much? They bring nothing but pure joy, and we make them into bad horror movies for no reason.

Giving blood is an important civic duty, and it also makes a great gift! Give blood to your friends, family, professors or coworkers!

sagittarius

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

capricorn

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

Don’t ever let the library printers know you’re in a hurry to print something. They can smell fear.

Improv is an underappreciated art form.

Some people spend their entire lives just improvising and never get any credit.