On Friday, Feb. 12, Five College Dance and Mount Holyoke College’s Division of Student Life hosted the final session of RACE AND...Dance, a six-session series that began in October 2020 and was designed to teach Five College students about a variety of forms of African diasporic dance and culture. RACE AND...Dance was curated by Five College Joint Lecturer of African Diasporic Dance Shakia Barron.
No Waste, No Problem
Reflecting on the Life of Feminist Scholar Jean Grossholtz
On Feb. 9, 2021, Professor Emeritus of Politics and Women Studies Thelma “Jean” Grossholtz died at the age of 91. But the impact her life had on Mount Holyoke and its community continues on. To commemorate Grossholtz, we at Mount Holyoke News have collected the stories of her life from Mount Holyoke community members.
Mount Holyoke College Introduces the Gates: A Virtual Platform for Community Members To Connect and Network
The Mount Holyoke College Career Development Center recently added a new resource for students to make online connections within the alumni network: The Gates.
Associate Director of Digital Engagement of the Alumnae Association Danielle Lund described The Gates as “an online platform … [and] a virtual common space where alums and students can come together and connect.” Within The Gates, students can search for alums to connect with and filter by industry, location, major and other categories, including campus involvement, primary reunion class, whether or not the alum is a first-generation college student and more.
Journalist Mary Mapes Visits Mount Holyoke To Discuss Movie ‘Truth’
Inspired by a viewing of James Vanderbilt’s 2015 film “Truth,” Visiting Senior Lecturer in English Todd Brewster’s Introduction to Journalism class welcomed a surprise guest: American journalist and producer Mary Mapes. The film, set in 2004, follows Mapes, producer of CBS News program “60 minutes,” and its anchor, Dan Rather, as they cover one of their biggest stories: an investigation of then-President George W. Bush’s history of military service and how he avoided being drafted into Vietnam using his father’s connections.
Fat Acceptance Now!: How Fat Acceptance Is Being Spread at Mount Holyoke College
As the struggle to diversify beauty standards continues, a new focus on body image has developed, drawing public attention to the societal struggles of plus-sized individuals.
Movements devoted to the acceptance of different body types have reached points of contention as their messages diverged, creating two entirely separate campaigns with different goals. According to Very Well Mind, the mainstream body image movement, known as “body positivity,” was meant to emphasize the self-acceptance of your body regardless of external influences like the media and public opinion. However, many, including Phoenix Georgiades ’22, feel that body positivity does not go far enough in advocating for plus-sized people and has veered away from helping individuals with diverse body types.
From the Archives: Campus Quarantines 103 Years Apart
Just as COVID-19 has changed how we attend college in 2021, the Spanish influenza changed the lives of Mount Holyoke students in 1918. The stories shared by those students may offer some wisdom and perspective to today’s Mount Holyoke community since they suffered from similar struggles and, at times, extreme sickness. The epidemic of 1918 was documented in the Mount Holyoke News, where students freely shared their experiences and opinions about the situation.
The Snowfall on Campus
Finally MoHome: Student Experiences Returning To Campus
Ten months after Mount Holyoke’s campus was forced closed due to COVID-19, many students have been able to return to the College.
Though a small number of students lived on campus during the fall of 2020, nearly 800 students are now physically at Mount Holyoke. For some new students, this is the first time they have ever seen the campus in person. For others, it is their final semester.
Students Report Lack of Accessible Sanitary Products During Initial Quarantine
Mount Holyoke has created strict quarantine procedures for students arriving on campus this semester. Students are required to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine until they receive a negative result. Still, after this test, students are expected to remain on campus for two full weeks. This isolation limits what students have access to, including necessary health products. With van trips to CVS and walks to the Village Commons prohibited, resources are limited to what students can find on campus. For menstruating students, access to sanitary products is essential to staying focused during classes and functioning normally.
Students Share Feelings About Spring 2021 — and What They’re Doing About It
Since March of this year, uncertainty about the future has become more inescapable than ever. However, in late October, Mount Holyoke students began to gain some clarity on what the spring 2021 semester could look like. On Oct. 28, Mount Holyoke College President Sonya Stephens announced in a letter to the community that up to 60 percent of the student body would be invited to return to campus — or arrive for the first time — for the spring semester, slated to begin in January 2021.
COVID-19 Safety for the Holiday Season
As the holiday season continues and classes end, COVID-19 safety is especially important. While the holidays often mean traveling and spending time with loved ones, limiting these actions as much as possible will save lives. It’s important to remember that these constraints are temporary and, if all goes well, this will be the only holiday season not spent around friends and family.
Meet Naomi Brown ’21, the Student Chef Behind ‘Platterstagram’
Under normal circumstances, Mount Holyoke students are required to purchase a full on-campus dining plan each year. So when the campus closed in March, students like Naomi Brown ’21 were unexpectedly left with extra household responsibilities and no ready-made meals. Without the options of running to the dining hall between classes or visiting Late Night, Brown has spent the past six months cooking for herself, her family and her roommates. Her dishes, often inspired by music and memories, have even made an appearance on social media. Brown’s self-titled “Platterstagram” (@platterstagram on Instagram) showcases her homemade meals, inventive recipes and themed plates from inside quarantine.
Pandemica
Have you been listening to the same playlist or album over and over? Watching and rewatching the same TV show? Playing the same video game you’ve beaten before? We’re all kind of stuck. The tangible stuckness of being in our homes with the same people all day may be impacting the types of media we are interested in consuming. When life is unclear, we tend to lean toward and stick to what makes us comfortable. Even though listening to Mitski every night is making me sad, I do it because I still know all the words, and it’s familiar to me. When we end up stuck, we can start to feel helpless and depressed.
December graduates reflect on their decision to graduate early
“One day, I’m going to just log off of Zoom and be in my bedroom and be alone,” Claire Glover ’21 said. “There's nothing to mark it being over at all.”
Glover is one of a handful of students graduating early from Mount Holyoke College this December rather than finishing their college experience after the traditional spring term. Students can apply to graduate in the fall if they have completed their major and distribution requirements and have enough credits by the end of the term. According to the Office of the Registrar, there are 78 undergraduate students and one graduate student scheduled to complete degree requirements midyear, a 2 percent uptick from previous years.
MHC Literary Magazine Launches Publication
The newest literary magazine at Mount Holyoke, the Mount Holyoke Review, published its first issue on Nov. 12. In celebration, the organization held a publishing party on the same day, during which the editors and founders of the Review spoke and some students read their work aloud.
“We are a place for Mount Holyoke students to submit their writing,” Morgan Sammut ’22, one of the fiction editors of the Review, said. “We mostly do creative works, so a lot of poetry, prose, and we have discussed if we would take essays. We haven’t gotten any of those yet, but we now have things to look forward to.”
MoHome Sickness 4: In-Person Classes
I’m writing this week’s edition with a bit of caution — it may be too emotional, too nostalgic. If, like me, you perform better in structures and routines, online classes aren’t ideal. Joining Zoom meetings or Discord channels for office hours just doesn’t cut it for the conversations that happen in professors’ actual offices flooded with books.
Skylar Hou: Artist, Photographer and Mount Holyoke Student
Art has been a feature of Skylar Hou ’22’s life since they were a child.
“Drawing has been such an important part of my life since I could remember,” Hou said. “I got my first digital camera when I was 8.”
For Hou, art has personal meaning. “Mostly, I draw and take pictures just to make memories last,” they said. “I have a sketchbook with me all the time so that I [can] draw things whenever I want. Sometimes it is a scene that makes me feel happy, sometimes it’s just a tiny random object, like a soda can. In the past two years at Mount Holyoke, I [have taken] so many pictures and I created a scrapbook and lots of art projects of the memories.”
Professor Naomi Darling Awarded for Work on the Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library
By Ansley Keane ’23
Staff Writer
Naomi Darling, a Five College associate professor of sustainable architecture who teaches at Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently won the 2020 AIA New England Merit Award for Design Excellence titled “More with Less.” Darling received the “More with Less” Merit Award for her project, the Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library. Darling converted an unfinished walk-out basement into a bright and updated one-bedroom apartment and a two-car garage into a workspace for the Takahashi-Harb couple, complete with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Darling attended Princeton University for her Bachelor of Science in Engineering in structural engineering and architectural design, Monash University for her Master of Fine Arts in sculpture and the Yale School of Architecture for her Master of Architecture. In addition to teaching, Darling has her own architecture and design practice, Naomi Darling Architecture, LLC.
Darling became interested in architecture from a young age. “The first time I thought about [architecture] — I think I was seven or eight — I was home from school because I was sick,” she said. “My mom gave me these Victorian houses to cut out and put together, and I really liked the process of making.”
Her first year of college, Darling took an architecture class she “really loved.” In an interview with the online publication Madame Architect, Darling also explained that she “loved how the [architecture] course expanded [her] way of thinking demanding thoughtful reasons for the myriad decisions that go into design.”
After she graduated from college, Darling didn’t jump right into the world of architecture. Instead, she explored pottery, sculpture and even worked as a scientist for the Sea Education Association before working at an architecture firm in Seattle in 2000. She has taught at Mount Holyoke since 2012.
“I love interacting with the students,” she said. “The dynamic between students [at Mount Holyoke] is always really positive.” She explained that, in her perspective, “the built environment is one place where we can make a difference.” By showing students the fundamental principles of design, Darling said she “can make a bigger impact teaching.”
The Takahashi-Harb project itself spanned from 2015 to 2018. One of the challenges Darling faced in completing the project was to make the space “not feel like a basement,” she said. She and her team put two large windows into the loft to take advantage of the property’s beautiful views and to “bring the outside in,” she explained.
“Any project that you do is very much a collaboration between the architect, the site and the clients,” she noted.
Another goal of the project tied into the theme of “More with Less.” “We had a pretty tight budget for that project and we were working with just a basement. The goal was to make it into something pretty special with this tight constraint,” Darling said. She noted that it was important to “keep as much as possible, while we were adding.” In order to accomplish that, Darling explained that she and her team kept many of the existing features such as the structural posts in the former basement and garage.
According to her website, Darling dressed up the existing stairway and used preexisting electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. By not removing the features already in place, Darling was able to put more money and effort into nice finishes and windows. Additionally, this style of design allowed Darling to maintain her focus on sustainability, and she said, “by keeping what’s there, there wasn’t as much waste.”
As a professor of sustainable architecture, sustainability is an important aspect of Darling’s designs and projects. However, for Darling, sustainability expands beyond just environmental. “I try to look at sustainability very holistically,” she said. She focuses on social and cultural sustainability as well.
In a class Darling teaches, she emphasizes working with the natural environment. “Being attuned to where you are [is important], so you don’t need to use a lot of energy,” she explained. Additionally, Darling explained that “for a project to work, it needs to be embraced by the people in that place.”
CAs Continue To Create Community Through Virtual Cohorts
By Rebecca Gagnon ’23
Staff Writer
Throughout the fall semester, Mount Holyoke created an array of virtual events in an effort to bring its community together online. One of the College’s new ways of creating community has been the formation of the Virtual Cohorts.
“Our Virtual Cohorts were really just intended to bring students together in virtual ways so they still felt that sense of community,” Associate Director of Students and Director of Residential Life Rachel Allidis said. “We do have data that shows students feel a greater sense of community in the Living Learning Communities than when they live in a residence hall.”
Some of the Virtual Cohorts’ themes are based on past LLCs, like transfer, first-year, art, outdoors and more. These are made to foster a greater sense of community in a time of need. There are also Virtual Cohorts based on students’ current geographical regions.
Lexy Lee ’23, the Virtual Community Ambassador for the arts cohort, shared the story of “someone who said, ‘What if we had pen pals but with artwork?’”
“Because there are people who are interested in all different types of artwork,” Lee explained, “we kind of just want to create a place where we can just make … a lot of different types of art and share.”
A Virtual Community Ambassador is similar to a Community Advisor in residential halls, in that they are the leaders of the different Virtual Cohorts. The VCAs were chosen out of the students who were already hired in the spring of 2020 to work for ResLife as CAs in the fall.
“They are able to do a lot of things your CA would do,” Alldis said. “They are having one-on-one conversations with the students, they are trying to bring together these smaller groups that are based on either what our LLCs are based on or regional ones. … I think it is off to a good start.”
Helen Roane ’23, the VCA of the Transfer Cohort, said, “I really wanted to be a part of trying to make the [Mount Holyoke] community still exist in the virtual setting, because it is a lot harder.”
“I know that it is really, really hard for people to find a community right now, especially for the people who are living at home,” Delaney Fowler ’21, the VCA of the Outdoor Adventure Cohort, said. “I know a lot of people are living either with friends in an apartment or some people on campus … and there is a community in both of those things in a way that there really isn’t when you are at home, so I really wanted to reach out to those people and try to help them feel some sense of community because it is such a big part of Mount Holyoke.”
Because of the transition to remote learning during the CA hiring process, there were a lot of uncertainties about the outcome of the application timeline. In the process of becoming a CA, one has to submit an application and complete both a group and individual interview. Normally, results would appear around February or March, but with the pandemic, the results took longer.
“We [went] through [the CA hiring process] and then the pandemic happened,” Alldis stated. “Then everyone left campus and we were a little delayed on letting people know who we wanted to hire and who we didn’t, but we sat down and we figured it out. We were then ready to make offers to people and then we were like, ‘Well, we want to offer you this position but we don’t know really what is going to happen.’”
“It was kind of stressful not knowing what was going on,” Lee said. “There was a period of time when I wasn’t really sure if I had the job anymore and it was a little hard. I understand that the people who were working in the offices, of course, had a lot of stress they were dealing with trying to figure out probably as well if we all had jobs still,” Lee added.
Even with all of the struggles, jobs were given and received and there is now a new community available to students if they so choose.
“I feel like the virtual community is really fun anyways but they will be more fun as more people want to join,” Roane said.
“I think that if people are interested in joining a cohort they absolutely should,” Fowler said. “None of it is mandatory — it is all sort of like you opted in. Even if you join it and you choose not to come that is fine, but I think that people shouldn’t be afraid to join just because they think they don’t have time because when you do have time, you can join. I think it might feel a little less isolating.”
The deadline for joining the Virtual Cohorts was Friday, Nov. 6, but there are other ways to stay involved in the campus community.
“We want the students to stay as connected as they want to stay,” Allidis said. “I really hope that they realize that Mount Holyoke is in their corner all the time. I know it doesn’t always feel that way but I wish that some people could sit in on some meetings that we have been to so they would know how much we talk about how this would impact the students and how hard it is to give them this positive experience. I just want them to know that we really are trying to do everything we can to make their lives easier and to provide the support [and the] resources that they need, and we miss them — so much.”