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As a child, my mother instilled in me a love of reading, as well as its importance. I had consistently been captivated by stories that kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the plot. With time, I also developed an appreciation for cinematography, and I too wanted the ability to give life to those stories for which I only had my imagination.
About three years ago, my mother asked if we should get flood insurance for the house, and my father laughed in her face. Yet, over the break, our house was nearly at risk of flood damage.
Dear readers,
Dear Editor,
Editors Note: Jaiden Wolfman contributed research.
The Nov. 19 Joseph’s Transportation crash , which resulted in dozens of injuries and the tragic loss of Brandeis student Vanessa Mark, has brought the safety of University transportation operations into question. On Nov. 30, the Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Andrea Dine notified Brandeis students via email that the Boston/Cambridge shuttle would be suspended for the rest of the semester “while we investigate alternatives for this route.” Joseph’s is still being used for the Waltham shuttle.
It has been more than two weeks since the tragic shuttle accident, and the Justice editorial board continues to send our deepest condolences to all parties impacted by this event. While the University has held events to bring students together during these difficult times, it is important to remember that each member of Brandeis will handle these emotions differently. There are no words we can use to express the devastation this incident has caused. As an editorial board, we want to let the campus community know that we are listening to them. We also want to address the difficulty of balancing school work in the wake of these incidents.
In light of the recent tragic shuttle accident on Saturday night, the Justice editorial board would like to offer our deepest condolences to the students, friends, families, and others who have been impacted by this event. We especially want to express our sadness and condolences to the friends and family of Vanessa Mark. Our hearts go out to those who were on the bus, and we hope that everyone injured in the crash makes a speedy recovery.
Upon 17 year- old Mahsa Amini’s death, after being held in police custody on Sept. 16, women’s rights protests broke out across Iran. Western coverage of Iranian revolutions have historically minimized women’s influence over the movements. This continues today. The focus of media coverage is rapidly shifting as international reporters compete for eye-catching headlines.
For the past several years, the University has attempted to develop new housing around campus. Post pandemic, the University has seemingly made no further progress in new housing developments yet continues to admit growing numbers of students. Previously, the board critiqued this issue in a Sept. 20 editorial, specifically calling out the University’s lack of housing resources for an increased student demographic. In fact, this year’s freshman class is the largest yet, with 1,007 students.
If you were to skim across the channels of late-night television shows, you’d only find older white men hosting shows, but that’s not the case for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” and they have Trevor Noah to thank for that. Noah, the South African comedian and television personality, is anything but the norm. He is a young, biracial immigrant whose career in comedy and television is only just beginning. Born to parents that were never supposed to be together, a Xhosa African mother and a white father, Noah grew up in South Africa after the apartheid. Since his parents had an interracial relationship, Noah seldom saw his father and spent much of his childhood living with his mother and grandparents. The cities and neighborhoods in South Africa were divided by color, and the Black neighborhood he lived in was a dangerous one to be seen in. As Noah explained in an interview with Terri Gross on NPR, , “My grandmother kept me locked in the house when I was staying with the family in Soweto ... if the police did show up ... it was a constant game of hide-and-seek.”
Content warning: this editorial discusses instances of sexual assault.
It’s been a hard couple of months for fans in parasocial relationships. As we’ve seen, fans of the Try Guys and Kanye West continue to be let down time and time again by their favorite creators. I think now is a perfect opportunity to examine parasocial relationships that have led to a staggering amount of young people defending someone like Kanye West, despite his his antisemitic comments on Twitter . This is also an opportunity to talk about pop culture and how the celebrity system rewards parasocial relationships and fans interacting with celebrities’ opinions and content uncritically.
As we near the end of the semester, this editorial board would like to thank our professors for all of their hard work. We appreciate all you have done in persevering through the unusual educational environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, working hard to give individualized attention to your students, and showing up to each class with enthusiasm and energy. It is especially important to note that faculty of color face even more challenges than their co-workers, such as racism and providing unpaid labor in the form of sitting on Diversity Equity and Inclusion committees, hosting events and panels on topics such as anti-racism and diversity, and supporting students of color who face similar issues.
The window between late October and Thanksgiving is now upon us, and although midterms are nearly over, students remain prone to burnout. This past month, students rarely had a full week of classes due to various holidays, but from here on until Thanksgiving, students do not have any extra days off from their classes. This period of time is one where students often start to feel burnt out, whether it’s due to a second wave of midterms, multitudes of homework, or just simply not having any time to themselves. This board would like to offer advice to students on how to stay sane and take care of themselves until our next break.
The University campus is in dire need of increased accessibility across many aspects of campus life. Thanks to the Student Union, however, a step has been taken in the right direction. On Thursday, Oct. 13, under the directive of Hana Klempnauer Miller ’25, the director of accessibility for the Student Union, the Union launched a new initiative to make prescription medications more accessible via a medication delivery service through the e-pharmacy Capsule. Capsule provides prescriptions in the same way any normal pharmacy does, but instead of having to pick them up in-person at a store, students can have their prescriptions delivered directly to campus in a private manner and free of charge for delivery, per an Oct. 4 Justice article.
On Sept 7, the University’s new dining provider Harvest Table abruptly fired Kevintz Merisier, a longtime catering lead, with no warning. In the wake of Merisier’s yet-unexplained dismissal, the Brandeis Leftist Union created a petition demanding his reinstatement and organized a joint student-worker delegation on Sept. 22 to deliver the letter, which garnered over 600 signatures. When the students attempted to deliver the petition to Director of Hospitality Clayton Hargrove, he evaded the group and called Brandeis Police for “police assistance.” Hargrove declined to rehire Merisier on Sept. 27, and Harvest Table representatives have refused to provide statements or interviews to the Justice.
Growing up, my Mama was always the one who styled my hair. She would do the difficult labor of washing, conditioning, and combing my strong curls. As a young brown girl, I don’t believe I ever realized how much work it took to style natural hair, but I would always cry because I was so tender-headed. I loved the way my Mama did my hair, but I hated being in the “hair chair.” The hair chair, a traditional wooden chair with a pillow in the seat, was pulled into the living room whenever Mama was going to do my hair. I’d sit there for what felt like hours. Then when I was done, I would rush to the mirror to examine my beautiful braids. Recently, I went down memory lane — I looked at old polaroid pictures and flipped through them fondly. I was amazed as I looked at myself, realizing that when I was younger, my hair was always natural. I realized that, back then, I was free. I was so happy and I never really seemed to think about beauty or question if my hair was an obstacle to that definition.
Writing a memoir, selling my art, and making a podcast have all been on my list of things to do in my life. I am happy to announce that I am really, really close to completing my list. I sold some of my art for the first time last semester at the Create@Brandeis Craft Market, and now this October I am releasing my very first podcast. After taking Prof. Adriana Lacy’s (JOUR) class on social journalism, my interest in different forms of journalism flourished. I grew up listening to NPR, the “Moth Radio Hour” and a variety of podcasts, but I realized that storytelling is the thread to everything I am passionate about. Film, animation, art, and now journalism all incorporate storytelling. I decided to make a podcast not only because it has been on my list, but because podcasting allows an audience to relate and listen. I learned that through a podcast, you can turn research and numbers into human stories.
To our Friends at The Justice,