BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
Since Feb. 11, the history department has attempted to address the protests in which students covered the boards of Skinner Hall with flyers demanding more faculty of color in the History Department. Like many responses to protests demanding more faculty of color, the history department claimed they were in support of the students’ demands, yet did not provide plans to implement change in the future.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Mandatory reporting laws exist with the best interests of sexual assault survivors in mind, but they often end up perpetuating trauma, especially for young victims. The government places minimal trust in young adults and complicates their situation without consideration of their personal requests and needs.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
Scrolling through The New York Times website, I frequently see think pieces of a similar style about millennials. Although the specific topic varies, each of these articles seek to achieve one thing: to figure out who millennials are. Baby boomers and Generation X are obsessed with trying to define millennials. Whether it’s telling us we are the coddled and triggered generation, the technologically codependent generation or the generation with the most bizarre sense of humor, we have to be defined as a monolith, and more often than not, a negative one. Baby boomers and people in Generation X are also obsessed with asking what this means for them, and more dramatically, what this means for the planet.
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
On my first day in the dishroom, I was prepared to be completely destroyed by the work I was about to do. I’d heard people were dropping shifts because the work was non-stop. I’ve worked as a cashier and a dishwasher, so I’m not unfamiliar with fast-paced work environments that can drive someone insane if unprepared. I filled up my water bottle, put my phone in my back pocket in case I needed to take an emergency “bathroom break” and headed to SuperBlanch.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
On Feb. 13, President Donald Trump proposed a new bill to enact major change on SNAP, the United States’ Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, otherwise commonly known as food stamps. In addition to a 10 billion dollar budget decrease, this bill will also provide families with pre-selected “Harvest Boxes.” If the bill passes, “Harvest Boxes” will give qualifying families a box of fresh, “100% American grown food” for half of their monthly food assistance, leaving families with only half of their original cash allowance, according to TIME.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, outrage over loose gun control policies has spread over social media. Thousands of people have shared calls for policy changes, pictures of the victims and the personal background of the shooter The online reaction resembles that following the Sandy Hook and Pulse Nightclub shootings — loud and unapologetic. But, this collective fury was missing during the 17 other American school shootings that have happened in 2018 alone, according to CNN. As a nation, we have become numb to gun violence.
Mount Holyoke has a diversity problem. While we score above the national average in terms of racial and ethnic diversity in our student body, students of color do not see this diversity reflected in our classrooms, and rarely see ourselves represented in the faculty that teach our classes. This problem is particularly apparent in the history department, where there is not a single black professor in the faculty of nine.
BY EMILY BLOMQUIST ’18
Applying for college is an experience that most wouldn’t care to repeat. The paperwork, exams, self-doubt and uncertainty of the future — all combine to create a memorable, yet by no means desirable, experience. But for some college students this painful process is worth revisiting.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
“Fifty Shades Freed” was released in theaters on Friday, Feb. 9 and, according to Forbes Magazine, earned $137 million globally on its opening weekend. The movie is the long-awaited end to the story of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey: a drawn-out, out-of-tricks, thinly-veiled abusive relationship.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
When the dining expansion was first announced, many students were worried about how community members with sensory processing disorders would find places to sit, eat and cope. Thankfully, the College administration announced that there would be a tranquility room — a room without blaring music, students screaming about their hook-ups and the sound of dining workers yelling over the crashing plates and silverware. A room where students could dine in peace. Although the Tranquility Room in SuperBlanch is quiet, it does not functionally serve its place as a designated peaceful environment.
BY APRIL KEPLER ’21
Mount Holyoke was my top choice, so when I initially received my acceptance email from Mount Holyoke, I was ecstatic. Mount Holyoke was everything I wanted in a college. But when the physical acceptance letter came in the mail, my excitement quickly turned to fear. I was accepted for spring admission, instead of the fall.
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
When I was single, all I wanted to do was find someone with whom I could cuddle and go on cute dates. So I did what any desperate college student would do: I downloaded Tinder. While I’m bisexual, I figured I’d end up matching with more women than men since women’s colleges are notorious for being a hub for queer people.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
When I was a senior in high school, a teacher asked me what sort of person I thought I’d be in college. I was confused by the question — she knew me and had for years. She’d written a college reference for me. Now, halfway through my first year, I am a completely different person and her question has more meaning for me. It’s impossible to avoid reinvention in college, because your personality is continuously being shaped by your environment.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
As the nation with the highest incarceration rate in the world according to the Population Reference Bureau, the United States is no stranger to the mistreatment of prisoners. With the United States’ problem with incarceration comes another issue: the lack of information that prisoners receive. At the end of last year, several states including Texas and New York began banning books in their prisons. Although these laws have operated in several states for many years, Texas’ recent bill received special attention for banning more than 10,000 books. New York’s bill was even more extreme: the state now is only allowing books from five vendors, which greatly limits the number of books prisoners can read and the knowledge they can acquire, according to Newsweek.
In the political landscape, it’s now common to rail against Washington elite; having spent little to no time in the nation’s capital and assuming the label of “outsider” is considered a mark of relative political purity. Disdaining Washington D.C. is, ironically, an essential tactic to be elected into a shiny new office downtown. As a Bethesda, Maryland native with my house five minutes from the district line, I always found it fascinating how people’s conceptions of the city vary so widely.
Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for decades of sexual assault, as well as 60 years for possession of child pornography, on Jan. 24. The ruling was long overdue. Because mandatory reporters and the institutions employing Nassar ignored abuse accusations and repeatedly delayed investigations, he was able to assault over 150 women and girls. According to NBC, eight different people accused Nassar of sexual assault between 1997 and 2015, but were discredited each time, despite mandatory reporting laws. The culture of doubting victims is the main reason many sexual assaults take place.
Among the academic world today, the concept of introverted and extroverted personalities in the classroom and in the work force is common. They were first introduced by psychologist Carl G. Jung in 1920. In simple terms, being an introvert suggests that one’s internal energy batteries (emotional and mental ones) are best recharged in quiet surroundings, whereas extroverts are stimulated by social interactions and tend to be more outgoing. People often assume that extroverts are naturally better workers for the labor force. However, with their ability to analyze social situations (even if they do not want to be a part of them) and to think quickly, introverts also have an important role to play in today’s world.
To begin, we would like to say that we denounce any notions that we find student tobacco users repulsive or undesirable, as we respect every student at Mount Holyoke -— but we cannot condone addictions that negatively impact the health and wellbeing of other students. From the beginning of our advocacy in the fall semester, people have made assumptions about the work we are doing, and we want to set the record straight. Having both experienced our loved ones suffer and die due to tobacco addition, this issue is close to our hearts, and one we take very seriously.
