Dean Emerson’s newest creation is a catchy song that will not only make you move, but also make you think.

It juxtaposes electronic instrumentals with  a beat you can’t help but bang your head to, along with lyrics questioning the meaning of life and how to find happiness.

Emerson is a sophomore jazz performance major who just released his newest single, “Epicureans,” on Oct. 5 under the stage name Todo Mas.

Emerson will be releasing his EP in early December, as well as debuting his live band. Joey Antico, a 20-year-old jazz performance and music education major and Noah Booz, a 22-year-old jazz performance major, will be performing with Emerson.

Todo Mas was established in April 2014.

Even though Todo Mas is a recent project, Emerson’s affinity for music is nothing new. His interest in music began at the age of nine when his brother began playing guitar.

“I like to create; I’ve always liked to create,” Emerson said.  “Music just happens to be the medium I create the most.  In simple terms, music to me is a form of meditation.”

The name Todo Mas was derived from Emerson’s middle name, Thomas.The literal translation from Spanish is  “all more.”

“I took a liking to Dean’s music because of the uniqueness and creative ideas that he brings into his [sound],” Antico, who will be playing the drums and running the backing tracks, said. “When I listen to Todo Mas, it makes me feel good.”

Lyrics such as, “So if tomorrow never comes, do I live for today or the epicurean I’ve become?” offer a unique take on life backed by a blend of electronic trip-hop and alternative rock with down beat influences.

“Lyricism for me really helps convey a message that I want to communicate while at the same time remaining abstract and kind of like veiling my message,” Emerson said.

“I like Dean’s music because it introduces more complex levels of musical understanding to a widely accessible electronic genre of music,” Booz said.

Emerson and his live band plan on playing gigs beginning in early December after their EP release.

“I [have] no doubt the music we [will] be creating live [will] be super enjoyable as a musician and as a general lover of music,” Antico said.

Emerson spent this past summer in Nashville working at 3rd & Lindsley, a live music bar, where he met his audio engineer Michael Frasinelli, 21, of Pittsburgh.

“He’s extremely dedicated to his music. He’s dedicated to the point where he was living on my studio floor and we went through a pound of coffee in about 12 hours,” Frasinelli said.

Emerson’s passion for his music is evident in his dedication to the production of high quality music.

“I am also a very passionate composer and I can definitely see what I experience in him as well,” Booz said.

Emerson admits to dedicating 40 hours a week to music, with Todo Mas taking up 30 of those hours.

“I’m inspired by things I observe,” Emerson said.  “I think that there are things that kind of need to be said that no one’s really saying because either they’re too afraid to or they don’t want people to think poorly of them.”

Emerson’s experience driven attitude has defined where he wants his music to take him.  Ultimately, he  hopes his music career will lead to collaborations and producing.

Look out for Emerson’s EP Goodnight and May Joy Be With You and check out his soundcloud.

Featured Photo Credit: Dean Emerson, sophomore jazz performance major, in his bedroom studio working on his latest piece for Todo Mas. (Cassie Osvatics/Writer’s Bloc Reporter)

Katie Ebel is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at katieebel@gmail.com.

On Regents Drive, humanities majors find themselves among a never-ending sea of STEM students who exude lack of sleep and different levels of learning.

And according to some, these humanities students can feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar with the terrain of science and engineering majors, and yearn to be around their peers who frequent the area around the Tawes building.

While humanities majors may have felt stranded in STEM territory in more than one way at the University of Maryland, they can now find themselves being welcomed into the arms of STEAM, (Science Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics,) because of a new collaboration.

The University of Maryland and the Phillips Collection announced a partnership Monday that is meant to transform the university from a “STEM” into a “STEAM” college.

The six-year collaboration with the first museum of modern art is part of an initiative to make the school more arts-oriented, providing students with access to the collection.

“[The partnership] brings a new vigor to our arts education and to the entire campus,” said University President Wallace Loh in a press release. “We are genuinely a STEAM university.”

The university originally planned to partner with the Corcoran Gallery of Art until it was “left at the altar” by the museum, according to The Washington Post. 

“[The partnership] rose from after the Corcoran effort failed,” said Bonnie Thornton Dill, the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and professor of Women’s Studies. “[After that,] the Phillips Collection came to us to see if we would be interested in partnering with them.”

Highlights from the collaboration include free staff and student access to the museum, new curricula, two or more postdoctoral fellowships, internship opportunities and–most notably–the opening of a gallery and arts storage facility in College Park by 2021, according to Dorothy Kosinski, the director of the Phillips Collection.

“I’m excited about the fact that we’re working with an institution of this caliber that can really raise our profile in the arts and humanities,” Dean Dill said.

Kosinski said the University of Maryland already has a strong STEM side of education and it must embrace the arts order to become a well-rounded STEAM school.

Assistant Vice President of University Marketing and Communications Brian Ullmann said the university can’t be known for only being great in one or two areas. He said that the partnership will ultimately inspire collaboration between the arts and STEM programs.

“Going from STEM to STEAM, we tend to think about arts and sciences as two different areas,” he said. “What we envision is not that at all; what we envision is a convergence of these disciplines.”

Ullmann talked about art and science collaboration in a futuristic museum where  instead of audio headphones, a student receives a pair of augmented “reality” goggles that deconstructs the artwork and depicts different scenarios of the artists themselves–although this was just an idea.

“Imagine what happens when experts in [STEM fields] get together with people in the art world,” Ullmann said. “Something really cool is going to come out of the convergence of disciplines. That’s what it means to be a truly STEAM university.”

This partnership means that both parties benefit from the collaboration. Kosinski said that the Phillips Collection will reserve internship spots at its “robust” internship program.

“Students will end up working very seriously side by side with curators and conservators and get a totally different perspective,” she said. Kosinski also said that staff at the museum are working with UMD staff to create and define courses.

The facility will increase the amount of people who view the museum’s collection of more than 4,000 works, most of which are in storage. The open storage gallery would expand visibility of those works to students, staff and other visitors.

“I think this is really a very bold, cooperative partnership that we’ve crafted together,” said Kosinski. “[It] will serve as a real model as to how a modern art museum can work with a research university.”

Featured Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of John Consoli. 

Alex Carolan is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at aaalex.carolan@gmail.com.

TerPoets partnered with TOTUS at the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House Tuesday for a diverse open mic event, featuring spoken word poetry on the topics of identity and social justice.

Performers were invited to share their spoken word poetry on other topics as well.

Accompanied by their instructor, Naliyah Kaya, who is also the coordinator for Multiracial and Multicultural Student Involvement and Community Advocacy, students of TOTUS shared their practicums at the event.

“I would say our goal is to get people to think critically about the power of language and to have dialogues about identity and social justice, while building community across difference,” Kaya said.

TerPoets and TOTUS share several similarities. 

Like performers of TerPoets, students of TOTUS have different backgrounds and fields of study.

“This is one of the things I love the most about TOTUS. We get students from all different majors and who have a wide array of life experiences, which makes the dialogues in class so rich,” Kaya said.

Another commonality between TerPoets and TOTUS is that prior experience in performing is not required.

One of the TOTUS students at TerPoets was Samariah Cooper, a government and politics major. Cooper was a first time performer at TerPoets; she decided to share a poem on cultural appropriation.

“Took my people away from our country, my heritage away from me, strip me of my civil rights, then borrowed my culture for a fashion show, it’s about time I take that back,” Cooper said, ending her poem.

The audience snapped and clicked their fingers in approval for her strong performance.

“I figured it was a sensitive topic and talking about it in such a large group would force me to step out of my comfort zone, which it did,” Cooper said.

“I wanted to educate people about something that affects minorities all over campus–though I made it specific to the black community, the concept of cultural appropriation is one that victimizes all minorities,” Cooper explained.

After her performance, she received a TOTUS notebook from Mandla “Kosi” Dunn, the host for the event.

Kosi is a film studies major who is also an individual studies program candidate for “transmedia storytelling.”

Organizations like TerPoets and TOTUS inspired Kosi to create “transmedia storytelling,” Kosi said.

Another first time performer at TerPoets was English major Antonio Parker. He shared a poem about rising above the peer pressures of skipping school and indulging in drugs to pursue higher education and creating a better life for himself.

“After getting through the first line, I felt relaxed enough to finish reading the rest of the poem with confidence–of course, having the poem on my phone made things a lot easier too,” Parker said.

Knowing that it was not his last performance at TerPoets, a loud mixture of snaps, claps and cheers came from the audience.

“I shared this poem as a way to get my foot in the door of spoken word poetry and to be a part of the TerPoets open mic session,” said Parker.

The open mic encouraged performers to express spoken word poetry in any form they desired.

Graham Kellner, a psychology student and past performer, decided to freestyle with music.

“I lean back on my heels – I can’t remember how it feels when my breath is stolen,” Kellner said during his freestyle.  The audience clapped to the beat of the music.

Kellner finds comfort performing in the open arms environment that is TerPoets.

“I feel almost transcendent, as if I’m channeling my thoughts and feelings in a way I couldn’t in a therapist’s office or to a close friend.”

A crucial commonality shared between TerPoets and TOTUS is the sense of community.

“Something about an audience of strangers gathered together like one community makes the truth come out of me in an almost, oddly mystical way,” Kellner said.

The event came to a close with a final performance from Kellner.

“We seek to highlight community over competition or ego and I believe the core of TOTUS centered on social justice, identity and community is what enables us to do this effectively,” Kellner said.

TerPoets holds open mic events bi-weekly.

Featured Photo Credit: Kosi Dunn, junior film major, warming up the crowd before the Terpoets open mic began. Kosi is the black student involvement intern in the MICA office as well as the president of Terpoets. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Jennifer Pham is a junior multiplatform journalism major and may be reached at jenaipham@gmail.com. 

Attendees crowded around vendor tables and pushed toward experts for their advice in the conference room of a hotel in downtown Washington, D.C.

However, this packed room was not full of middle-aged individuals in suits looking to expand their businesses.

It was full of fashionably dressed college women (and a few men) wearing chunky sweaters, faux fur vests and patterned pants in the rich colors of fall fashion, looking for makeup and nail samples, getting advice on proper eyebrow maintenance. 

This was the context of College Fashion Week, which came to Washington, D.C., for the first time Oct. 17. Held at The W Hotel, this fashion show was one for the masses. Complete with its own Snapchat geotag and multiple hashtags, it showcased real fashion, as opposed to high fashion.

Before the fashion show began, there were opportunities for women to try different makeup products, take pictures and get their nails and eyebrows done. During the actual fashion show, a fashionable woman strutted down the runway with a stoic expression until the song symbolically changed to Hailee Steinfield’s “Love Myself” and a smile crept across her face. 

The fashion week was split into four scenes and a grand finale. It demonstrated some of the best looks for fall, from feminine minimalism to a 70s throwback, to menswear inspired looks and a 90s grunge look. It had a diversity of both looks and models.

Earlier in the evening, the hosts announced they would be giving random women VIP access to the show based on their outfits. Bri’Anna Horne, a junior biology major at UMBC, was incredibly excited to receive the VIP treatment. 

Horne came to College Fashion week because she wanted something fun to do, she said.

“It was just a really different opportunity for a fun girls night,” Horne said. Getting VIP access while in the bathroom was “super cute and really really nice.”

The best part was the inclusivity, she said. “Being granted access just makes everyone feel like they’re important and like they’re actually a part of something.”

Later in the night, Horne was called onto the stage and given a gift for being the Best Dressed of the Night. It was yet another example of the inclusivity of the night.

To close the show, Windsor, founder of HerCampus and host for the evening, took the stage, hoping that all attendees had received their “awesome dose of girl power.”

She also brought her eight-week-old baby, Eleanor, on stage to thank HerCampus for giving her the opportunity to have a career and be a mother, a right she believed all companies should provide for its employees.

It appeared the audience viewed Windsor’s daughter as a symbol of the future of women, where she was greeted by a sea of welcoming faces and applause, women showing support for other women.

Featured Photo Credit: An attendee has her eyebrows touched up. European Wax Center had a number of brow artists at the event, giving out makeup advice and cards for free eyebrow and bikini waxes. (Julia Lerner/Bloc Reporter)

Courtney Steininger is a sophomore English major and may be reached at Courtneysteininger@gmail.com. 

Red picket signs flooded McKeldin Mall as far as the eye could see, encouraging students and staff to stand up to the many “–isms” that consume American society.

For many individuals, who feel their voices are marginalized, compensated and replaced with more prominent opinions, speaking out against racism, sexism, or heterosexism may seem like a lost cause.

Thursday evening, the Office of Diversity & Inclusion sponsored the third annual Driskell After Dark: Resistance, Hope & Justice in Art, Poetry & Song event at the David Driskell Center.

Here, students had the opportunity to express their experiences of oppression and discrimination and tell inspiring stories of hope and resilience to an intimate group of eager, like-minded individuals.

Surrounded by African-American art displayed on the walls of the gallery and in glass display cases around the room, a microphone stood yearning to be blessed with deliveries of readings, songs or original poetry.

For those receiving the stories, the event provided an interestingly enlightening portal into perspectives that they might not have been exposed to otherwise. The event provided a safe space for telling their stories, creating an accepting environment with a non-judgmental audience and an opportunity to raise awareness for their causes.

“I really enjoy spaces like this where I feel like everybody can talk about what’s important to them in a non-judgmental, non-offensive way. Everyone’s being themselves but no one’s being censored,” senior English major Pegah Maleki, said.

“I really find that that is so important because this is so different from a normal classroom. A lot of times, people don’t feel comfortable saying what they’re really feeling or what’s on their minds,” Maleki said.

Maleki, a proud Iranian-American, delivered two poems: one of which described an ally’s perspective regarding an issue and the other focused on Iranian women like herself.

Maleki explained that despite the oppression her people continually face in Iran, she is proud of the strength and resilience of her culture and she hopes that, from her performance, others will be inspired to take a stand with those who are oppressed, even if they may not come from the same background or race.

“As an Iranian-American, to think that an issue might not affect you because of your race or gender or sexuality, and then for you to not speak out about it, is disappointing to me. I really want people to take positions of allyship and not be afraid to speak out on things and be allies and advocate for other communities. You can be just as strong and support those people,” she said.

The event’s comfortable environment also brought a sense of individuality for other performers.

“Being in this space, I’m allowed to talk about my story and it’s not a ‘black’ story. It’s my story. I like that idea of when I’m around spaces of people of color, of artists of color, I get to say my story and it’s not just some cog in this big monolithic blackness that’s usually ascribed,” said junior film major Mandla “Kosi” Dunn, who is the Black Student Involvement Community Organizing student intern for the office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy and president of TerPoets.

Dunn’s first poem described his rise above the prejudices he was exposed to as a child that have followed him into his junior year of college.

“My poem was about me coming to hip hop and feeling estranged from hip hop. A lot of times, people think hip hop and think black, but me growing up I didn’t feel ‘black enough’ to hip hop. I grew up in a middle class [family]. My parents aren’t rich or loaded, but they are middle class teachers, educators, hard working individuals. I grew up in a space that afforded me a lot of comfortability. I didn’t know you could be hip hop and comfortable at the same time,” he said.

“A lot of times, navigating the University of Maryland as a person of color—specifically a black male, heterosexual person—there’s always kind of these reconciliations of my identity that I have to go through everyday.”

Each performance had a strong message, and that message was carried out with passion, eloquence, and maturity by the performers.

Senior English major Ashley Cadrian grabbed the audience’s attention with a gut wrenching monologue describing the bitter hardships she faced while transitioning.

“One [message I hope my audience took away] is that there are a lot more trans people around, alive, and present than you realize. And two, to be more cognizant of these people,” Cadrian said. “It’s not the job of trans people to educate you, but for you to be a good ally, you have to educate yourself.”

For all of these individuals, they remain proud of not only their cultures, races, or associations but also of their perseverance, determination, and resilience in representing these groups. These strong stands against the “-isms” were depicted in a group affirmation at the conclusion of the event.

“The incredible thing about black folk is we allow to find the funk out of everything. We manage to create spaces that are literally joyous and uninhibited. We are very belligerent with our energy, and that’s something I love, and something I don’t find often,” Dunn said.

“Before I transitioned, I wanted to give up a lot. I think that that’s a running theme with trans people. We get to this point where we realize we have to either live our truth out loud or be forever silenced,” Cadrian said. “To be able to do that and break out and realize that living your truth out loud for you, because it really is for no one else … I think that that’s a really amazing quality, that persistence.”

Above all, the individuals who expressed themselves strived for nothing more than respect, as the complimentary event t-shirts advocated in gold lettering. The concept of respect itself, however, resonates differently with every person.

For Dunn, respect is more than merely accepting an individual for who they are and disregarding their individuality. “A lot of times we feel respect and acceptance are the same word. To respect someone is not to accept them as they are. That creates this notion of blindness: ‘I respect you. I don’t care what color you are.’ No. I respect you because of what color you are and the experience you have. It’s me putting my love in practice,” he said.

Maleki believes that respect is not just understanding another’s culture, but fully embracing and cherishing it. “It’s easy to say that you ‘get’ another culture, but respect is really embracing and celebrating other cultures and diversity,” she said.

“I think everyone should put themselves in other cultures and get to know them, and not just like be like ‘Oh, okay, that’s their thing. They can figure it out.’ Real respect is engulfing yourself in that culture.”

Cadrian, rather, identifies respect with humility. “I think for me, the biggest thing about respect is being aware that everything is bigger than you and that it’s not always about you,” she explained. “You are always having to learn new things and you’re always having to become more aware of the constant struggle. In order to give respect—to show respect—we always have to be alert.”

Featured Photo Credit: Students had the opportunity to express their experiences of oppression and discrimination and tell inspiring stories of hope and resilience to an intimate group of eager, like-minded individuals. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Jordan Stovka is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at jstovka@icloud.com.

“Pleas Help; Pleas.”

“Regulations require an e be at the end of any Pleas e before any national response can be taken.”

These lines appear in the University of Maryland’s First Year Book, Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney, in the poem “Left.”

Finney, author of four books poetry and winner of the 2011 National Book Award for poetry, visited campus Thursday and Friday to meet with students and faculty.

“Left” tells a harrowing tale about the forgotten victims of Hurricane Katrina. Finney said she saw the word “please” spelled without an e on one victim’s sign during the media coverage of the hurricane.

She decided to use this powerful image throughout her poem, which at one point compares the victims in poor areas of New Orleans with the victims of wildfires in rich California counties. It emphasizes the problems of class and race in this country.

“We always want the First Year Book to challenge students’ ideas,” said Lisa Kiely, the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, “to then help them have conversations.”

“We really want students to look at history and understand that two people can look at it the same way and have very different perspectives,” Kiely said.

Johnna Schmidt, the director of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, said she hoped students would take away the concept of fearlessness in reading Finney’s book.

“[She gives students] an ability to speak their own truth and wake up to the power and detonation of images from their own lives,” she said. “I hope that she inspires us all to get more intense with our own lives and written content.”

The topics of Finney’s poems range from Hurricane Katrina victims to musings on Condoleezza Rice on a treadmill at 4 a.m. One poem is written about Rosa Parks being a seamstress.

“I knew there was another story about Rosa Parks,” Finney said,  “that wasn’t the 18 words or less: ‘she sat on the bus and didn’t get up.’”

“So this language in my head started turning like the needle on a sewing machine, or the stitch,” she said about her poem, “Red Velvet.”

Finney said she receives inspiration for her poems from what she sees.

“My passion for communicating is in seeing it,” she said in a meeting with students and faculty. “My images have to be spot on, how I’m describing people or a scene or even the emotive quality of something, I bring a visual element in it.”

Finney said that on her plane ride to Maryland, the trees were changing colors.

“I wanted to say ‘Stop the plane,’” she said, “so I could just look out of the window and watch the trees.”

She continued to describe  the reds and golds she saw. Colors, she said, that you don’t see on the trees in South Carolina, where she lives.

The last poetry book to be chosen for First Year Book at the university was in 2001. The book was Blessing the Boats, by Lucille Clifton.

At beginning of Head Off & Split, Finney includes  a dedication to the late Clifton that reads, “dahomey woman of light, laughter, language.”

Lisa Kiely said that books of poetry like those by Finney and Clifton are important in providing a message to students. 

“I’m sort of amazed as to how students have responded to [Head Off & Split],” she said. “It’s always a little bit of a risk to do poetry.”

Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rachel Eliza Griffiths via the official press kit.

Alex Carolan is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at aaalex.carolan@gmail.com.

When poet Natalie Diaz sat down for a Q&A with students of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House Wednesday, the conversation inevitably turned to family.

This created a culture of intimate discussion, a break from the typical distance among individuals from different cultural backgrounds.  

The topic is central to her debut collection, When My Brother Was an Aztec, released in 2012.

Diaz’s collection is a public release of personal poems.

“Something that’s been very uncomfortable when I wrote this book is that my mother, I think, feels very guilty,” Diaz said. “But what I realized was happening was that everyone in my family was seeing that part of themselves that they have trouble coming to terms with.”

Diaz’s poetry draws heavily from her Mojave culture, weaving stories of broken bonds and love through the eyes of someone coping with a brother who has a drug addiction.

On stage, her nuanced tone and frequent pauses created a disjointed rhythm.

Halfway through her reading, Diaz played a snippet of  “Thunderstuck,” by AC/DC from her cell phone, acknowledging that her college-aged audience might not recognize it from the title.

“Now that you’ve heard that, we can continue,” she said before reading her poem “Mustang” in which the song is referenced.

Although a seemingly lighthearted interjection, the use of the song served a purpose.

Diaz took a personal memory and made it relatable. Similarly, although her poetry originates from an intensely personal place, readers can find a bit of themselves through her family narrative.

Christine Schutt, author of three novels and two collections of stories, took the stage next. She read two of her short stories, each offering insight into the dysfunction and confusion of human emotion. Schutt was once a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The first story, “Burst Pods, Gone-By, Tangled Aster,” followed a deteriorating marriage and the loss of a child causing a mother’s inner turmoil.

These themes and tones juxtaposed with Schutt’s style of writing created a flowing lyricism that read almost like poetry. Her passion for her craft shined through in the way she read, instilling life into her characters and creating conflict through dialogue.

“She was very personable,” said Clare Sarsony, a sophomore psychology major and member of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House.
“She put the idea of suffering into a new perspective,” Sarsony said. “She took tough issues and made them seem less intimidating to write about— like I could tackle them in my own writing.”

Featured Photo Credit: Natalie Diaz during a Q&A session before her Writers Here and Now reading at Tawes Recital Hall. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Jessica Cooper is a sophomore communication major. She can be reached atcooperjessica96@gmail.com.

On a false wall in room 2202 in the Art and Sociology building there is a neon arrow that points diagonally downward.

This is the work of Hasan Elahi, an interdisciplinary artist and professor at this university who, in part of an ongoing art project, tracks his location online after an unnecessary run-in with the FBI in 2002. He continues to update his whereabouts on his website and the neon green arrow is one of his newer works.

The Department of Art Faculty Exhibition celebrated an opening reception Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. where artists congregated with students and faculty to discuss their presented works.

The artists at the Department of Art Faculty Exhibit are members of the faculty who present their work about once every three years. Patrick Craig, an associate professor who specializes in painting, drawing and mixed media said that the purpose of the exhibition is so undergraduate students have a chance to see faculty work at some point in their career at Maryland.

Craig said that it’s important for students to realize that the faculty works in studios outside of teaching classes. He said that he has a 12,000 square foot studio, which he describes as the same size of “a small rambler home.”

“Students don’t understand what I do until they actually see it in the flesh,” he said. “You can see it online all you want, but it’s not the same.”

The Assistant Director of the UMD art gallery, Taras Matla, said Craig is known primarily as a painter. However, Craig has a plastic sculpture entitled Sisters at the exhibition in addition to a painting called Migration.

“For him to deviate and to tackle something so new and so outside of his comfort zone, and to come up with something so successful, for me is mind boggling,” Matla said on Craig’s sculpting.

Matla said that the exhibition is useful because it showcases “the diversity of different artistic materials that are available to artists.”

“It allows the students again to come and kind of be inspired by the work,” he said. “To hopefully send them back into their studios to create work.”

Madeline Gent, an art history graduate student and graduate assistant for the art gallery said that one of her favorite pieces at the Faculty Exhibition is an untitled video by Shannon Collis.

“I just find it very mesmerizing and meditative,” Gent said. “It’s almost like fingers reaching up through something and like, kind of pulling back, but just the fingertips.”

The types of works at the exhibition range from paintings, drawings and sculptures to video works and mixed media. When you first walk into the art gallery, a piece called French Cut Pork Chop by artist Steven Jones grabs your attention. It looks and acts like a kiddie ride that children use for 25 cents in front of supermarkets.

“It really varies,” Matla said. “That’s the great thing about this show, there’s something for everybody.”

Featured Photo Credit: Tyler Hilbrand’s “5:30 a.m.” (Courtesy of the University of Maryland Art Gallery)

Alex Carolan is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at aaalex.carolan@gmail.com.

Everyone loves a good a capella performance and everyone loves charity, so combining the two is a logical choice.

This is exactly what happened in Hoff Theater on Nov. 4 when the Beta Psi Omega professional biology fraternity held its second Annual American Cancer Society Benefit Concert.

The UMD Generics kicked off the night with upbeat renditions of “Don’t Ya” by Brett Eldredge and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt.

Before each group performed, a member would read out a fact about cancer.

“Twenty-five percent of cancers are due to infections,” read one member of the Treblemakers, the university’s only all-female a capella group, before their performances of “Walking on Broken Glass” and “10,000 Emerald Pools.”

Other a capella groups that performed were PandemoniUM, Anokha, and DaCadence. Dance teams Prima Dolls and Revolutions Dance Ensemble also performed at the concert.

Faux Paz, UMD’s first ever co-ed a cappella group, ended the night with renditions of “La La La” by Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith and “Our Own House” by the Misterwives. Faux Paz also performed “La La La” at the ICCA Finals, the a capella competition featured in Pitch Perfect.

All of the proceeds from the event went to the American Cancer Society, an organization that focuses on cancer research and bills itself as the “Official Sponsor of Birthdays.”

As of fall 2015, there are only two chapters of Beta Psi Omega in the whole nation: the alpha chapter at this university and the beta chapter at California State University, Fullerton. There are plans to start a third chapter at the University of Delaware.

The fraternity only has 46 members, according to Beta Psi Omega president Audrea Bose, a senior neurobiology and physiology major who double majors in psychology.

“We’ve really tried to keep it small,” Nicole Haggerty, the fraternity’s historian and a senior community health major, said.

When the UMD chapter held the benefit concert last year, they did not require tickets and relied solely on donations to make a profit. Several members of the executive board agreed this was a poor decision, which is why this year all who attended paid $5 to get in.

Bose has been involved in the fraternity since her freshman year. She held the positions of pledge master and secretary before becoming president. In the four years she’s been with the fraternity, she said she has seen it grow tremendously.

“A lot of people didn’t know about it,” Bose said. “A lot of people are starting to know who we are [and] what we stand for.”

She cited the fraternity’s Five Pillars of Excellence (Intellect, Service, Unity, Diversity, and Proactivity) as the main source of their growth.

“Our dedication to all of those aspects have definitely strengthened us,” Bose said.

The benefit concert was the third of five events the fraternity hosts each semester in accordance with the five pillars. The two held earlier in the year were a trivia night and yoga out on the mall.

Featured Photo Credit: Featured is an a capella performance inside of Hoff Theater to support breast cancer. (Josh Loock/Bloc Reporter)

Rosie Brown is a junior journalism major and can be reached at rosie.a.brown@gmail.com.

You may have seen him flying through the streets of College Park on his longboard, with his headphones in, and a mustard-colored cardigan flowing behind him like a cape.

Or you may have caught him on stage at The Clarice, Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville or on the Library of Congress National Book Festival performing his slam poetry, tangling the audience’s hearts around his tongue, leaving a sense of awe after he steps away from the microphone.

Kosi Dunn has transformed this university in so many ways. One of them being the is the founder of TerPoets UMD Spoken Word Collective and is currently the Black Student Involvement COSI (Community Organizing Student Intern) at MICA.

Q: What’s your name?

“My name is Mandla Dunn, but most people call me Kosi. I’m a junior and I major in Transmedia Storytelling and minoring in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It just got passed yesterday.”

Congrats dude!

“I’ve been basically trying to create my own major for the past like 3 semesters. I finally got the idea and it was just a matter of time of putting things together.”

Q: Were you in another regular major before that?

“I was in a ton. I went all around the university. I was a College Park Art Scholars drop-out unfortunately. I was an engineering major, pre-material science engineering because I like had a serious heart for calculus and physics. And then I was like, ‘I’m an artist man.’ I like poems and shit, I don’t care about the real world as much so I switched to a double major in computer science and studio art and I was like, that’s kind of cool. I switched to film. One day I was just like fuck it, I’m going to combine them all.”

Q: Do you always feel like nothing ever defines you?

“I think I am defined by a lot of things. I used to be very concerned with people labeling me but then my mom always says that ‘it’s not what you’re called, it’s what you answer to.’

Q: How did you start this journey of being interested in art, creating art, just being involved–you do a lot of community service–what’s the origin of it all?

“Oh okay, creation stories. I started writing poetry to impress cute girls on Facebook my freshman year of high school, I was that guy, right.”

That doesn’t happen anymore!

“I had a Facebook page and writing these cheesy-love poems. Luckily, no one really fucked with them so I kept writing. One day, this dude Eric was like, ‘Yo, you should go to this open mic, you should go to the slam,’ so I went with my two little shitty poems with DC Youth Slam team. I think slam poetry really made me the kind of character I am today because I was usually that kid in the back of the room reading  Artemis Fowl. I was not very outspoken. Slam poetry forced me to go on stage. I kind of brought that to the University of Maryland because there was no slam community here. So I was in this really tight poetic performance community and I was thrown into this giant field of everything. I was like,‘Okay, I should be a real person, I should do engineering, I should do a marketable skill.’ But I realized that it’s embarrassing to lie to yourself, to everyone around you.”

Q: So, hip-hop is really integrated into who you are. Who’s an artist who has really impacted you or who you want to imitate?

“The first person that made me think that I was allowed to hip-hop was this poem that’s called How I Got Over and it’s based on The Roots song. I was this suburban, middle-class black boy in Largo, MD. There were so many different kinds of black identities and perspectives. Watch Blackish and you’ll get it. But, Lupe Fiasco was the first person to be like, ‘Yo, it’s cool to skateboard and read manga, and be black and into hip-hop’ and at the same time I learned to rap from Food & Liquor. I would say now the rappers that I am looking at are the Chance the Rapper’s, the Kendrick Lamar’s, that space between poetry and hip-hop, that’s what I am trying to occupy.”

Q: What’s your favorite style of poetry?

“Spoken word, ‘slam’ poetry. It’s a very fervent art form. You get up on stage, people aren’t going to remember that entire piece for that three minutes that you’re allowed on stage so you just come hard and have people feel it, right. Split This Rock! would sponsor the DC Youth Slam team, so we would always have to do social justice related shows, so my poems were about me being black in America and trying to take on this whole monolithe of racism and prejudice. I’m in the Writer’s House so I’ve been forced to like do “academic” poetry. This is the first time I’ve even considered the type of styles, and qualities I want in my poetry. I’ve been looking at publishing and getting my work out there. I would like to do science-fiction-y elements, I don’t think we do that a lot in black communities.”

Q: What do you want to see more of in your writings–certain themes, topics, other people’s writings?

“In my writing, lately, I find myself tiptoeing along with what I might think is embarrassing or what I might be afraid to write about. I want to be ugly, you know. Definitely be more raw and how to raise the stakes of poetry. I want to get into comic book writing, screenwriting and fiction. I’m really interested in writing science fiction with my background with engineering. Creating these very raw types of situations and elements.

Oh I’m sorry, I am rapping.”

No, you’re awesome, I was like “We need a profile of Kosi.” 

“Man, lately I’ve been thinking about fame and money and how they are not mutually exclusive or whatever. I’m trying to be the black Walt Disney.”

Q: What has been your most fun performance? You’ve performed at the Library of Congress National Book Festival, Busboys & Poets, and so on.

“Nothing’s better than the youth open mics I used to host in Busboys & Poets. Sometimes I like hosting more than I like doing poetry because you just get to kick it. They were lit because I was hella nervous, right, and I still get nervous doing every show but I was hella nervous so I was just rambling. It was really a tight-knit community, it was fam so you were kicking poems and I try to find that vibe when I’m doing all the other types of gigs I do.”

Q: So you’re a junior, next year you’re going to be a senior, what are some ways this university can present more opportunities for poetry?

“Dr. James McShay was saying that the role, the flagship institution at any state is to advance the research, the intellectual kind of agenda of the state. I never felt that the government values poetry, it’s the art of making language beautiful. I don’t think they value poetry and I’m kind of exhausted with trying to make people who don’t value poetry, value poetry. I’m now more concerned about creating a space for people who do and allowing them to breathe. So creating a stronger literary community, that knows each other. I have no one to write with–I’ve done a thousand workshops here and no one to write with, it’s wack. I would like to say, ‘Yo let’s all vibe, let’s go get coffee and write and listen to each other.’”

Q: I need to constantly be covered or surrounded by words. Are you like that?

“I’m a horrible writer in a sense of diligence. Poetry is a really sonic thing for me. The page is just that I can’t carry the sounds with me. It’s funny because I kind of grew up in a deaf household, silence is something that I’m very used to. What’s beautiful to me about poetry is when I can hear it. Language to me is like a conjuring of things, so like spells, even when I tweet a lot, I have a really unhealthy thing with Twitter.”

Q: Why do you use “…” in your tweets? It’s okay if you don’t want to say.

“I’ll tell you after. Twitter is my notebook in a lot of things. I need to get better at it. I like it when language is snappy. The effect of it, it’s like another line in consciousness, another excerpt.”

Q: Finally, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

“Cookies and cream, I’m a classic man in that sense.”

Feature Photo Credit: Featured is Kosi Dunn. (Josh Loock/Bloc Reporter)

Karla Casique is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at karlacasique@hotmail.com.

“A lot of us have heard the narrative of hip-hop, but we also have to think about the context for hip-hop and how it was created,” said African American Studies lecturer Dr. Jason Nichols.

Nichols is not only a lecturer at the University of Maryland, but also a hip-hop artist who raps under the moniker, Haysoos.

At an event hosted by the Justice for Juniors program at the Stamp Student Union, Nichols and several other panelists addressed the idea that there is a growing lack of trust between the police and the hip-hop community.

By the 1980s and ‘90s, about four out of five youth detained in the justice system were of color, Nichols said.

“Mobb Deep were about 16, 17-years-old when they released their first album,” said Nichols. “They talked about the things they were facing in the streets including encounters with the police.”

“All of a sudden in the industry you started to get the image of a super gangster that went along with the narrative that mainstream media was giving us off black men,” Nichols said. “There was ‘gangster rap’ without a conscience where there wasn’t any social commentary about what was going on in the community.”

Some rappers have ditched the traditional narrative of rapping, which expresses personal experiences, and transitioned into rapping about violence, drugs and sex.

This transition, Nichols said, has negatively influenced the hip-hop community.

Junior broadcast journalism major Tessa Trach agrees with Nichols.

“It seems like these songs are more repetitive as opposed to older hip-hop where it was very much a personal story, more of a narrative,” Trach said. “[The music industry cares] less about issues people are facing today and personal issues and more about what they think the audience wants to hear.”

Nichols said the idea that only sex and violence sells is a lie and is causing many to negatively perceive the hip-hop community.

“I think that ‘gangster rap’ has the ability to influence youth to be more reckless and violent towards police, and I think that the police is drawing that connection,” said freshman business major Tae Kim.

The president and first lady, as well as other Americans, are connecting this recklessness to hip-hop, an ideology that frustrates Nichols.

Senior Pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church Dr. Sheridan Todd Yeary said the message behind hip-hop began to change when it started to become co-opted by record labels and media influences.

Nichols referenced the four core elements of hip-hop: MCing, DJing, b-boying and graffiti. However, Nichols stated that hip-hop has an essential fifth element: knowledge.

“Why can’t you be a rapping doctor, or a rapping surgeon or lawyer? You can still express yourself through your music and still do other things with your life,” Nichols said.

It is important that we listen to the lyricism of hip-hop songs because the message it sends can have a lasting effect on listeners.

“I don’t think that hip-hop is shifting towards ‘gangster rap,’ because not all rap is ‘gangster rap,’’ said sophomore government and politics major Nicole Valentine. “However, I do think that hip-hop can influence police brutality because the lyrics that people choose to include in their music can influence the police to perceive their industry in a negative way. ”

“I think that hip-hop a lot of times is a microcosm of a larger society and it’s people just expressing what it is that they are experiencing,” said Nichols.

“I think with the development of trap-rap like Fetty Wap, that [hip-hop] is definitely pushing away from original rap, but I still think you can see original stories from other artists, such as Kanye,” said sophomore community health major Katie Dolan.

Nichols would like to see the hip-hop community transition away from this form of “gangster rap” and fall back on the fundamentals, because juveniles have become the scapegoat for urban crime and other events that are going on in communities, he said.

“I have rappers in Chicago talking about the streets of Chicago and what needs to be done and what they feel is being neglected,” Nichols said. “I would like the next rappers from Baltimore to talk about what is going on in Baltimore.”

Featured Photo Credit: Police during the spring Baltimore riots. (Aiyah Sibay/For The Bloc)

Joel Valley is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at joel.valley@gmail.com.

Everyone celebrates the new year differently. Some of us clean our rooms. Others make a resolution with the full intent of of keeping it.

For her new year, which occurs every autumn, freshman mechanical engineering major Shruti Bhatt puts on her favorite punjabi, grabs a plate of pani puri, and celebrates a festival of light and prayer, which is shared with hundreds of millions of people each year.

This university’s chapter of BAPS (BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha) hosted a Diwali celebration in the Grand Ballroom of Stamp Nov. 5. The event broke the previous record for a BAPS college event’s attendance with more than an estimated 500 people who attended.

Diwali (pronounced “dee-vah-lee”), the festival of lights, is the start of the Hindu new year and the most important event on the Hindu calendar. According to Ameek Patel, the MC for the event and a BAPS member from Johns Hopkins University, Diwali is a time to, “celebrate the transcendence of darkness and the victory of light.”

Of the many traditions associated with Diwali, perhaps the most famous is the lighting of the candles. The holiday is also a time for people to reflect on the past year and prepare for the year ahead.

“It’s through celebrations like these we remember Hinduism not as a relic of the past but a rich tradition and culture we have the joy of carrying on,” said Patel.

The first speaker of the night was Kush Patel, a graduate of this university and CEO of Relative Dynamics Inc., an aerospace engineering firm. He spoke about the active choices everyone must make each day to combat the light and dark sides within us all.

Throughout his presentation, Kush would often refer to pop culture such as Disney and Star Wars to get this point across. He also tied in his own personal experiences with his wife.

“I didn’t even know what TOMS were before I got married,” Kush joked during one part of his talk about compromising with others.

The next speaker, Saint Pujya Ghanshyamsevadas Swami, a highly esteemed member of BAPS who is responsible for more than 10 temples, spoke about forgiveness and what it means to truly work for the betterment of other people.

“That’s what we must do – understanding every person we meet in our lives [and] the potential they had for greatness,” Saint Pujya Ghanshyamsevadas Swami said during his speech.

There were also presentations on the real meaning of Diwali and songs and prayers led by a live group of musicians.

On the stage behind the speakers was a red altar filled with  several dozen different dishes. This is called the annakut, which literally translates to “mountain of food,” and is meant as an offering to God.

After the speakers, the food was given out to the hundreds of attendees. Before receiving their meals, womentied red and gold bracelet known as “Nada Chadi” around the wrists of female attendees as a sign of good luck. They also gave out the book Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji, a book by the 11th President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam about what he learned from the current spiritual leader and inspirer of BAPS, Param Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

According to its website, BAPS is a “spiritual, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to improving society through individual growth by fostering the Hindu ideals of faith, unity and selfless service.”

Being a part of BAPS means very different things to each of its members.

Rohini Brahmbhatt, a BAPS member from George Washington University and a double biology and anthropology major, works with younger girls to teach them about Hinduism while they’re going through a transitional period in their lives.  She’s been involved since she was very young.

Haley Patel, a freshman chemistry major at this university, has had a different relationship with her religion. When she was younger, she didn’t understand what her parents were trying to teach her.

“At first I didn’t like it,” Haley said. “What kid wants to spend their Sunday at temple?”

However, as she got older, Hayley started to gain a new appreciation for her faith. She now works closely with the chapter here on campus by organizing blood drives and other humanitarian efforts.  

Though she said being a part of BAPS has limited her in some ways socially, she said that her religion has shaped a very positive path for her life.

“It’s such a universal common experience that can be enjoyed by so many different people,” Haley Patel said.

This university’s chapter of BAPS spent more than two months preparing for the Diwali event. According to Havya Patel, the president of the UMD BAPS chapter, the event ended up, “bigger and better than [they] could’ve imagined.”  

Havya, a sophomore aerospace engineering major, is from Kenya. He moved to the U.S. last year for his studies and said thanks to BAPS, he has never felt homesick due to having a built-in family as soon as he arrived.

“It’s a family, not an organization,” Havya said. “ … our goal is to make other people happy.”

Though the UMD celebration happened on Nov. 5, the actual day of Diwali is Dec. 11. This university’s chapter of BAPS will be going to the larger BAPS Swaminaryan Sanstha Temple in Beltsville to join and aid in those celebrations.  

Until then, the group will continue to meet on Tuesdays, all meetings are open to anyone who would wish to join. Like the MC said to a family of 500 strong that night,

“Peace, peace, and peace be everywhere.”

Feature Photo Credit: Speaker Kush Patel addresses the audience using pop culture references, including references to Disney and Star Wars, as he discussed the choices we have to make as individuals. He discussed the dark and light within each person, while also tying in his personal life. (Julia Lerner/Bloc Reporter)

Rosie Brown is a junior journalism major and can be reached at rosie.a.brown@gmail.com.

“A lot of times as college students we feel as though there isn’t much we can do to give back, but UMR is a real example of college students that made a change,” said junior neurobiology and physiology major Mahwish Askari.

Askari is also president of the United Muslim Relief’s chapter at the University of Maryland.

At an event hosted by the United Muslim Relief at the Stamp Student Union, Askari and several other attendees addressed a plethora of social tensions occurring around the world.

One hundred percent of the proceeds made at the event will be donated toward refugee relief, said United Muslim Relief advocacy coordinator and junior government and politics major Saarah Javed.

“Our motto ‘better together’ bears a testament to our belief that we must unite our resources and expertise to have a greater impact,” said Askari. “Together we can make a difference.”

Although it may be a noble cause to donate time, money or energy to charities, it is vital to “identify and unite with people advocating for different issues of social justice,” said sophomore electrical engineering major Abe Darwish.

Darwish stated that people often fail to empathize or identify with victims of tragedies, if they do not personally identify with a particular tragedy.

“As a board we are inspired to host this event because we realize there are so many untold stories out there,” said Askari. “A lot of times many issues go unheard of because of lack of media coverage, but we want to bring these issues to life and discuss how we can make a difference, because indifference in itself is an issue and information is power. “

The various acts ranged mainly between spoken-word, musical performances and presentations.

In her poem, “Say Her Name,” freshman business major Sadiyah Bashir highlights black women’s inability to fully escape sexism. Snapping ensued and echoed throughout the Colony Ballroom as Bashir voiced “black women are still today our own species.”

Bashir stated that sexism transcends far past the idea of men versus women. Instead, many women are vulnerable to falling victim to stereotypes.

“One thing that I see a lot, especially with us [women] in a Muslim community is stereotypes,” said Bashir. “I receive the stereotypes of being the loud, angry black girl who’s always speaking about something.”

It’s important to acknowledge and dismantle stereotypes, because a single or even a group of people do not characterize the whole population,  Bashir said. 

Bashir’s was inspired and felt empowered to participate in this program because there are so many people who don’t have a voice, she said.

This idea of stereotypes appeared from act to act.

In his poem, “We Must Be Free” senior sociology major Rhys Hall emphasized that one can’t judge a whole population based on the actions of just one.

“I thank the officers for their sacrifice,” said Hall. “My uncle was a policeman, as was his wife. I would never dare to lump the whole people together for the misgivings of one.”

Hall also spoke on the social issue of gun violence in his poem, “Trigger.” He opened his poem with the phrase, “they ask me why I drop when I hear balloons pop.”

The line captures the mental and emotional trauma he has experienced with gun violence, Hall said.

“The inspiration for that piece came when I was at a birthday party when a friend of mine’s balloon popped and I shook,” said Hall. “I lost a former football teammate and friend of mine three weeks ago due to gun violence right outside of my old house.”

Hall stressed that people need to search for alternatives to violence, because so many youth die from what could have been an avoidable death.

Naim Owens, a sophomore business major, also alluded to the world’s abundance of violence in his song, “We’re Human Too.” Owens song was written about the Chapel Hill shooting and states that many times nations are often “one bullet away from a hashtag.”

“Each of us in here have a voice and that does not have to be used with your vocal chords. Through your writing, through your teaching, through your structure, through your friendships, you have the ability to talk,” said Hall.

However, those on stage were there to possibly inspire and give “a voice to those without a mic,” said sophomore math major Sarah Eshera. The performers aimed at “restoring hope in causes that we feel strongly about but may have forgotten or given up on.”

Featured Photo Credit: Freshman individual studies of individualization, Sana Shah performing excerpts from Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” and The Scripts’ “Super Heroes.” Sana wanted “to create a shared emotional experience” with the audience before talking about the importance of empathy. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Joel Valley is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at joel.valley@gmail.com.

Acoustic melodies and poetry from the soul silenced a crowd of attentive listeners and created a safe space for a marginalized group of students.

The event, which was for musicians, poets and singers who are part of the LGBTQA+ community, attracted performers from several universities and garnered attention from listeners and passers-by in Stamp’s North Atrium Nov. 12.

“The feedback I’ve heard from the [LGBTQA+] students is that they feel kind of silenced on this campus,” said Shaina Destine, MICA’s graduate coordinator for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Student Involvement area. “There’s like 60,000 straight people, so their experiences and who they are and who they love is kind of silenced in the greater narrative with what’s going on on campus.”

Student in the LGBTQA+ community previously felt the events aimed toward them were too formal, often including discussions, panels and documentaries.  Destine wanted to create a social space in order to build a community.  

“I just wanted to give them a space where they can express themselves, even if it’s just in a song or for three minutes, just to make sure their voices are heard,” she said.

Kosi Dunn, a junior transmedia storytelling major, kicked off the event and kept the audience’s energy levels high throughout the open mic with poetry readings from a variety of writers.

The open mic’s first performer, Sam Sauter, performed her rendition of “Silver and Gold” by City and Colour.

“It’s important for us to have an outlet and to be heard,” said Sauter, president of Pride Alliance and MICA’s community organizing student intern.

The atrium and those sitting upstairs who could see and hear the acts from over the balcony were silenced by the emotion-fueled lyrics and poetry.  After each performer took their final bow, the audience in the atrium and those upstairs erupted in applause.

“It provides an opportunity for representation and for queer voices to be heard,” said Danae Rupp, a sophomore architecture major. “It also gives a sense of community through passion, which is really important in any marginalized group.”

Rupp performed “Lover I Don’t Have to Love,” by Bright Eyes on her ukelele.

“After witnessing a lot of the people that [performed], I saw the love and outreach for the community,” said Dre Hawkins, a junior business major at American University.

At times, students passing by the Atrium stopped at the event to add their name to the lineup and perform original pieces or popular covers the audience was able to groove to.

The Queer Open Mic was just a preview for the Queer Monologues that  MICA will be hosting this spring.

Featured Photo Credit: Sam Sauter sings a song in front of the Co-op in Stamp during the Queer Open Mic. (Josh Loock/Bloc Reporter)

Katie Ebel is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at katieebel@gmail.com.

Concerned Student 1950 (opted to stay anonymous)

I’m sick and tired of professors trying to shut me up. Who the hell do you think you are? You want me to choke on my freedom of speech? You want to seize my right to life? Where they have my on my back, begging with my very last breath. I don’t need your permission to live, though. Times have changed. We are no longer your slaves, we are your teachers. Here to educate you on things your light blue eyes refuse to teach us. Might as well get comfortable. You won’t be dismissed until freedom rings. Now sit. Let’s talk about how you have the nerve to teach me about civility when you barely believe in my right to civil liberties. You make me sick, the kind those doctorate degrees never taught you how to fix. But I have no fear.

Today I am your professor and I will be heard with actions louder than words. I profess my oppression. I profess your privilege. Shine light on your sins, make you beg for forgiveness, but even Jesus sees the horns on your heart. November 9th, 2015, Supreme Court says “shoot first, think later.”

You spent decades excusing yourself from indecent conversation, as if my desire to live disgusts you. Today you will listen. So long as my heart beats, and my blood is red, I have the right to life that the Ku Klux Klan will never take from me without a fight. Because of you, my grandmother is scared shitless all from concern for my wellbeing and praying to god that I make it home for christmas. All because I have a love for fitness. I like to exercise my constitutional rights. If your constitution will not protect me, my bare arms will. And if you think you’re going to shoot first, go on and write your will.

Rosie Brown – junior journalism major

How Superman taught me to fear the dark.

Do you remember the see-saw across from your house? How it always used to go up down up down up down? Do you remember how it felt to sit on that see-saw, with your long, spindly, no longer a boy, but still not a man, legs, anchored to the ground, so I wouldn’t fly away when you pushed up down up down up down up down? Me, just a tantalizing few weeks away from the big one oh, double digits. A whole decade on the planet, and the baby teeth and the scraped up knees to show for it. Me, the prodigal child come home, the blood of the Americas mixed with grim and grit of home, I didn’t know.

I met superman that summer, flying the streets. You were the wind at my back. You were the forgotten, the lost, the one who couldn’t get out, dreaming of beat up Cadillacs and.. to ignore the fact that poverty was average. Maybe that’s why that night happened. Why that night, you became the sodom hand of God, and I, Icarus. I flew too high. I was too small to push it off. I let it happen, because superman would never hurt little slaves, right? You bled my blood. You, my hero, violator, instigator, liar. You, you, you up down. Up down. Up down.  

I still think of you whenever a cadillac drives by, or when a 50 Cent song plays.

Your mother sold that house years ago, and Facebook says you’re doing okay. But whenever I remember that night, superman’s cape like a burial shroud, my mind will always go up down up down up down up down

Javon Goard – video gaming research student

This is how college loves us back.

He is 6-foot-1 with a shaped up afro, top of his class, not allowing his environment to hold him back. Back on the ground if you do not dodge that stray bullet. He walks out of the gym, as now his T-shirt is a second skin, sweat glistening down his body with voices screaming “are those abs real?” Working out men stare along with a beastly hunger, no longer a student of color, but a bronze Adonis. Brains and intelligence are still cherished, just as long as that 6 pack comes with it, and this is how college loves us back.

Next is a young woman who strives for excellence. Excellence within her own academic space, though her body tells a different story. Her body endowed with curves that others deem “unkindly.” Unkindly for her waist is that of a plastic barbie doll. A doll who’s identity is shaped by male egoism and capitalism. She looks into a mirror, suppresses her anger, she looks in the mirror of self-ridicule, of hate and shame, though she knows she can’t cry. Her crying brings an echolocation for more ridicule from her so-called friends, and this is how college loves us back.

And across campus, walks a student, drenched in their own privilege, only wondering where they should shop next: louis vuitton, or coach? Only wondering where they should eat next: Ramsey’s, or Wolfgangs? But, for them, they’re only wondering why they have no friends of color. For them, it only means italian, asian restaurants are being built across the street. Their own privilege suppresses what they believe, where “ALL lives matter” is the number one answer and survey says, oooh, one point. O’ Malley must have been part of the survey. Contemplating their existence in the grand scheme of it all. Contemplating why other lives are harder than theirs, and wondering if they are part of the problem?

But now, we go back to the brother, who has several potential baby momma’s, gazing with lustful eyes. But he is quite used to it. He just wants the madness to stop. Tired of the poking and prodding of his hair, instead of the reinforcement of knowledge. No matter the grief or accomplishments, there is always work to be done. Work in building self-esteem and self-confidence is cast aside for skinny waistlines, thigh gaps, and struggle. America features and struggle. Beauty and struggle. Love thyself and struggle. Wondering if they will ever love me, if I do not change this about myself, and struggle? And struggle, and struggle, and struggle, and struggle. But this is how it goes here in academic spaces, now that we know the system twists our sensibilities. This is how it feels, this is how it smells, this is how it tastes. This is how college loves us back.

Trey – sophomore

I wish I was white.

I wish I was white so I could comb my hair every morning that I wake. I wish I was white so I could grab my bagged lunch as I ran for the school bus every morning. I wish I was white so that my only problem in school would be being bullied by a freckle-faced kid. I wish I was white so that I could tell my father “I want to be like you when I grow up.”

I wish I was white so I could have a father. I wish, I wish, I wish I was white so that sweat wouldn’t smudge the ink on my pages as I wrote on 90 degree days. I wish I was white so my reality would be the fantasies that I wrote, and my current reality would be the fantasy. I wish I was white so I could get credit for what I’ve done, or what I will do. I wish I was white so I could protest and not be called a savage. I wish I was white so the TSA didn’t have to double check my baggage.

I wish I was white so that I could wear hoodies and not be considered a suspect. I wish I was white so holding a weapon to the neighbor across from me would be to protect and not to murder. I wish I was white so once again, I would get credit for what I’ve done and what I will do. But, I’m happy that wishes don’t come true because if they did, I would be 12 feet tall with rockets in my shoes and apricot skin and eyes bright blue. And then I would ask myself, who are you? Because no stories would be told in my apricot skin and in my eyes bright blue.

No memories would swim with them and my burns wouldn’t be shown through straight blond hair and my narrow shoulders wouldn’t show the struggle that I bear. I am the darkness that soothes a baby to sleep. I am the coal from which diamonds are made. I am the fertile soil from which all life begins. I am what you see 15,360 times a day when you blink. I am the ink that brings a paper to life. I am steel, melted by the african sun, molded by slavery and forged by oppression. I am black.

Featured Photo Credit: Javon Goard, a video gaming research student. (Julia Lerner/Bloc Reporter)

Julia Lerner is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at julia.lerner.96@gmail.com.

I’m somewhat of a Shakespearean.

Years ago, I read Hamlet while my all-too impressionable mind was absorbing the absurdist ethos expounded by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus.

“To be or not to be … To die, to sleep – To sleep, perchance to dream: Ay, there’s the rub.” Resonated all too closely with “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

The times changed, and my attitudes changed with them. I eschewed absurdism for Platonism and ontology, though I still think Hamlet is probably the best play I’ve ever read. I registered for two Shakespeare courses at this university and I esteem the Bard maybe as much as Descartes.

So when Bloc photographer Cassie Osvatics said she was looking for a reporter to accompany her to an on-campus performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I volunteered to go and write a review. 

By this point, the storyline was hazy to me, as I expect may be the case for many of you, so here’s a refresher.

Theseus, Duke of Athens, is preparing to celebrate his wedding with Hippolyta. Meanwhile, Hermia, daughter of Egeus, has been betrothed to marry Demetrius, but only has eyes for Lysander. Theseus tells Hermia that if she doesn’t submit to her father’s will by the following day, she will either be put to death or forced to become a nun devoted to the moon goddess Diana.

Another Athenian noblewoman, Helena, strives to earn the affection of Demetrius, only to be mercilessly rebuked. She learns of Hermia and Lysander’s plan to elope into the woods that same night, and tells Demetrius of their scheme in the hopes of earning his love. They go into the woods after Hermia and Lysander.

Oberon, King of the Fairies, learns of the animosity between these lovers, and orders his ward, Puck, to use love potions on them in order to quell the unrest. Puck uses his potion on the wrong pair of lovers, and the ensuing events involve Oberon’s striving to fix his mistake, as well as exact revenge upon his wife Titania for denying him the use of her changeling.

In the end, the Athenians wake up the next morning believing the previous night’s mishaps to have been a dream, and Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding ceremony is capped off with an awful theatrical rendition of Pyramus and Thisbe.

The Maryland Shakespeare Players hosted the production on Nov. 19 in the small Cafritz Foundation Theatre at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Admission was free.

Director Ben Kleymeyer, a senior theatre major, noted he intended to take a stab at a queer version of Midsummer. In the Director’s Note from the play’s program, he wrote:

“In Queer Theory we define queer as anything at odds with the socially agreed upon understanding of sex, gender and sexuality. Shakespeare, who wrote female roles to inherently be played by male actors, is queer.”

Eight actors from the Maryland Shakespeare Players took on multiple roles in order to give the audience a distinct and vivacious rendition of this play. The major twist here is that Hermia was played by a male actor and Demetrius was played by an actress.

Jonathan Wiechecki, a freshman letters and sciences major, delivered a saucy, brazen performance as Hermia. His rendition made me think both of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust days and of The Cure’s brooding lead singer, Robert Smith. He also took on the role of Fairy Queen, Titania’s henchman and Mustardseed and Flute, from the itinerant acting troupe, the Mechanicals.

Anders Tighe, a junior theatre major, played a spirited Lysander and with a shrewd Nick Bottom that, as Falstaff would say in Henry IV, Part One, was full of “quips and quiddities.”

As an ass-headed Bottom who was being fawned over as “handsome and wise” by Titania, he deftly replied, “No. Neither.” Tighe’s mercurial acting brought to mind Robert De Niro’s role as Johnny from Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets.

Genna Godley, a senior English major, played a spritely Puck, who all throughout was simply fun to watch. With enigmatic hand gestures, she would manipulate other characters onstage into falling asleep, waking up or simply going where she wanted them to. During the play within a play at the end, she also provided some welcome roasts of the Pyramus and Thisbe performance.

My Shakespeare professor in both courses I’ve taken here, Ted Leinwand, has likened Shakespeare to a big plastic dummy who stands upright and can be smacked around, but will always find a way to return to its original posture.

Last night’s performance seems ample proof of this theory. The Maryland Shakespeare Players’ rendition proved plenty fresh, even if at one point, both stage left and stage right collapsed. Sorry, you should’ve been there to see it.

Their soundtrack was more contemporary, with my colleague, Osvatics, noting Tegan and Sara. The stage, though minimalistic, certainly sufficed to accommodate all the action. The dialogue, as far as my hazy recollection of the original text goes, was true to Shakespeare.

And most importantly, the performances were both respectable and fun. One walks away knowing the Maryland Shakespeare Players worked hard to prepare for this performance, but had a good time doing so. The two hours’ traffic of this stage felt like a walk in the enchanted woods.

Two more performances will be staged on Nov. 20 and 22. As an amateur Shakespearean, I highly recommend you go. It’s free, so don’t pretend to be too poor to take in this lush reworking of one of Shakespeare’s most playful works.

“The lunatic, the lover and the poet, are of imagination all compact.”

Yes, indeed.

Featured Photo Credit: Freshman Jonathan Wiechecki (left), and Becky Remsberg (right), a freshman agribusiness major, performed in a Maryland Shakespeare Players adaption of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Cafritz Foundation Theatre of The Clarice. The play was performed in the style of Glasgow Citizen Theatre’s Queer Shakespeare. Jonathan played Hermia, Mustardseed, and Flute and Becky portrayed Demetrius, Cobweb, and Snout. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Horus Alas is senior philosophy major and can be reached at heliocentricnonchalance@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note: This article features explicit language.

“I’ve got a question for you, Princess Anonymous – What exactly does ‘a Hispanic’ look like,” asked Carlos Andrés Gómez in his poem “Juan Valdez.”

Gómez, 33, is an award-winning spoken word poet and stars in the HBO series “Def Poetry.”

Gomez and others gathered at Hoff Theater in the Stamp Student Union to express a variety of personal and social experiences through poetry.

The poem “Juan Valdez” references a moment in Gomez’s life when a woman asked if the name he was given at birth was his stage name or his real name. The woman said: “I’ve never met a Hispanic who looks like you. So, what’s your real name,” according to Gomez.

Gomez emphasized that one should not judge a person’s cultural identity based on preconceived conceptions. A person’s attire, career and language proficiency should not factor into cultural identity, he added.

“I have met Latinos who look like Juan Valdez and can’t speak a word of Spanish,” said Gomez. “Others who look like Hilary Duff with a mother who looks like Hillary Clinton that are from Paraguay and teach Spanish grammar in Puerto Rico.”

Sophomore government and politics major Cristy Negón understood Gomez’s message, but said she’s never been offended by questions regarding her cultural identity.

“A lot of the time people will say that I don’t look to be Hispanic,” said Negón. “However, I’ve never been personally offended by their judgments.”

The event also featured world-renowned poet George Masao Yamazawa, Jr., 24, who simply goes by “G.”

Yamazawa is a National Poetry Slam champion, two-time Individual World Poetry Slam finalist and has toured throughout more than 50 countries.

Yamazawa also referenced cultural identity in one of his poems that he wrote as a guidebook for Japanese-American youth.

He noted Asian-American youth are sometimes referred to as Bruce Lee, Jet Lee or Jackie Chan. However, Yamazawa suggested for one to “laugh along with their ignorance,” because “it will give you strength.”

“When you smile, they’ll try to ridicule your eyes for being smaller than usual,” said Yamazawa. “Remind yourself it’s only because America has a tendency of wanting to see through you.”

“When they call you Chinese, correct them,” Yamazawa said. “Upon correcting them, tell them your full name in your native dialect. Remind them of your parents’ birthplace. Remind them of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until the conversation feels nuclear.”

Sophomore public health science major Richard Lee could relate to Yamazawa’s pieces.

“My parents are also Asian-American immigrants so I fully understood the messages behind his poems,” Lee said. “The concept behind his poems were creative, relatable and socially necessary. It was very encouraging to see someone represent a group of people that are practically absent in this art form.”

Yamazawa has written various poems throughout his career. However, one poem in particular is the most sentimental, Yamazawa said. This poem was dedicated to his grandmother. In it, he praised his grandmother for all the hard work she put into supporting her family.

“In the poem to his grandma, I really liked the part when he said that his grandma held him and said that she was afraid to die but knew that it wasn’t her time,” said sophomore public health science Stephanie Choi. “The entire poem just made me realize how much I love and appreciate my grandma for how much she’s been through.”

Yamazawa believes his ability to see through “the artistic lens of the world” allows him to easily express himself through poetry and spoken word. He is able to see through this “artistic lens” because he was “born with two tongues,” he added.

“Every single person in this room and in this world, in fact, defy ignorant preconceptions and stereotypes people have about us every single day,” Gomez said. 

Feature Photo Credit: Carlos Andrés Gómez performing at TerpSlam in the Hoff Theatre of Stamp. Carlos is an award-winning poet, actor, speaker, and writer from New York City and a former social worker and public school teacher. He noted that, “53.2% columbiano and 35% go fuck yourself” is his prefered response when asked what “percentage” he is. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Joel Valley is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at joel.valley@gmail.com.

Dimmed lights, a relaxed crowd and live music of all genres dominated the Baltimore Room of Stamp March 24 for Student Entertainment Events’ Battle of the Bands.

SEE hosted the second round of the competition, deciding which band would perform at this year’s Art Attack! The finalists included The Radiographers, the Tomato Dodgers and The Hip-Hop Orchestra. Each band brought a different sound and energy to the crowd.

The Radiographers opened the night with melodies about love and mental illness. Lead singer Devin Ganey brought up stigmas associated with mental illness and called for change. He said society needs to start treating mental illnesses with the same importance as physical ailments. The crowd applauded in response.

Songs like “Smooth” and “Hurricane” pumped the audience up as the sun set, casting a golden hue on the band. Ganey jumped off stage in a fit of passion during the band’s final song, lifting the crowd to their feet.

“It’s a chance to hear live music, and everyone was as awesome as I thought they would be,” said freshman public relations major Sarah Joseph. “It’s very chill, lights off. Everyone is here to hear the same bands I am.”

Tomato Dodgers took the stage next, funking up the atmosphere with their strong stage presence and rock instrumentals. Jokes were flying between the band members among guitar solos and hair flips. Tomato Dodgers left the stage with a standing ovation.

The Hip-Hop Orchestra concluded the night with rapping, vocals, violins, pianos and clarinets. The five rappers rallied and danced together, supporting each other’s solos. During their last song, a dancer sprung from the audience and performed on stage, executing hip-hop dance moves to the beat of the instruments.

To engage the audience with the performance, the members of the orchestra encouraged snapping, clapping and call and responses. The audience yelled “O” in response to the band’s “H H.”

A woman vocalist harmonized with the band members in the final few songs. Lyrics like, “I need you, but I need me more. I want to live forever, but I can’t behind that broken door,” silenced the crowd.

The Hip-Hop Orchestra left the stage with the the audience on their feet, whooping and clapping in appreciation for the band’s creativity, energy and raw talent.

“The Hip-Hop Orchestra put on a big sound,” said senior economics major Nelson Remetz. “They also touched that soul vibe. They went everywhere. They had so many instruments.”

After deliberation, the judges announced The Hip-Hop Orchestra as the winner of Battle of the Bands.

The Hip-Hop Orchestra will be performing at Art Attack! this year at the Xfinity Center.

Featured Photo Credit: Devin “Keyz” Pearsall of Hip Hop Orchestra kept the energy flowing at Battle of the Bands in the Baltimore room of Stamp. (Cassie Osvatics/Bloc Reporter)

Katie Ebel is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at katieebel@gmail.com.

The Edible Book Festival held at Hornbake Library hosted over a dozen edible creations inspired by various pieces of literature created by graduate students, undergraduates students, library associates, and more.

Held on April Fool’s Day every year, the festival encourages its contestants to use their wit to create puns on famous book titles such as “The Lady of the Cake,” or “The Communist Manipesto.” Other contestants used scenes or concepts from books as inspiration to create edible scenes from the literature.

During the festival, votes were cast to determine which creation was the most appetizing, wittiest, and other categories. After the judging was complete, anyone in attendance got to dig into any of the edible creations around them.

Jack Angelo is a senior broadcast journalism major and can be reached at JackMAngelo@gmail.com.

At The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center this past Saturday, the relationship between race and theatre was the topic of discussion.

Audience members probed questions of stereotypes, societal pressures and diversity, while bringing suppressed feelings to the surface.

The third annual Black Theatre Symposium, hosted by the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, provided a healthy environment for attendees to embrace their race and culture while pursuing theatre, a profession notorious for a deliberate lack of diversity.

The event encouraged discussion with the aid of knowledgeable, empathetic mentors and peers.

As attendees filed into the Clarice in the morning., they were welcomed to the Gildenhorn Recital Hall with a presentation from Johnetta Boone, a stylist and designer in film, television, commercial and photography. She has over 20 years of experience, and was a student at the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts, as well as the Fashion Institute of Technology.

After the kick-off, the rest of the day consisted of three Break Out sessions, as well as a Chat ‘N Chew catered lunch featuring a panel discussing diversity in production. The symposium concluded with Ghetto Symphony, a performance that brought the life of black urban youth in Baltimore to the stage.

The air in the room was heavy with silence except for the occasional sound of soft footsteps, forceful outbreath and the faint scrawling of pens on paper. The palpability of thoughts, however, made a distinct presence in the room.

At noon, the Black Theatre Symposium featured a workshop titled “Racial Battle Fatigue,” a segment where individuals were encouraged to write freely without borders, censorship or restrictions, answering prompts such as:

I am a soldier in the racial battle because I …

I am so weary of having to …

I must fight on because I …

Workshop leader, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, encouraged writers to rise between each prompt, walk around, breathe and stretch to reset their brains before proceeding to the next question.

Some prompts resonated with participants more than others, evoking a response the writer didn’t expect. Such was the case was for 15-year-old Lauren Miller, a sophomore at Suitland High School, who said the prompt “I was left bruised and scarred by … ” spoke to her most.

“It was very touching. When I did the prompt, I first tried not to think about what I was going to write and just let my hand do the talking,” Miller said. “When I write, I always think ‘Oh, I don’t want to write this’ or ‘No, they’re not ready for that’ so it was surprising because I didn’t have to think about anything. When I just let my hand do the talking, it was like ‘that was not supposed to come out’ and it was really beautiful.”

Senior theater major at Howard University, Ryan Swain, acts, directs and produces. During the workshop, he read aloud poignant lines about race in the arts. “I want racial harmony so that there is no need to be a competition with other communities for artistic expression but to try making art for the betterment of the human condition and healing.”

Swain said the first play that he  is currently writing is about black men being objectified by American society.

He said that black individuals are objectified in the arts scene. By objectified he means  black individuals are “cash cows or the entertainment” and continued to describe that the United States proliferates the mindset of “not understanding what [they] have to say about the human condition as far as [their] breath is concerned.”

Participants read their work in front of one another, creating poems and sound collages with their work, giving all a sense of release, closure and expression.

Senior theater major Adanna Nnawuba was volunteering at the event. She said when she is on stage, the faces in the audience disappear and she feels  she wholly embodies the character she is portraying.

“On one hand I want to entertain, then I also want to make a difference and teach people. Like when people see the performances they learn about a whole new aspect of a new culture or things going on in the world,” Nnawuba said.

In the middle of the day, more than 100 participants gathered with a panel of professors and professionals in the theater world to talk about the intersection of race with theater. Keith Hamilton Cobb stood at the side of the room, resplendent in a muted gray suit.

Cobb is a playwright and actor. He wrote a play titled American Moor,  based off of Shakespeare’s Othello, which he is the only actor. He says he did not become an actor, he was born one. “It feels correct like I’m doing what I was put here to do,” Cobb said.

Cobb spoke about racial inequities he has come across in the theater business. “You’re still in America and the overarching ideas that govern the country govern the American theater as well.”

The event buzzed with a hopeful energy. Participants presumably left with more questions than answers.

Featured Photo Credit: The Writer’s Bloc staff reporter Raye Weigel (right) interviewing Ryan S. (Senior, Theater Arts major at Howard University) following the “Racial Battle Fatigue” creative expression workshop. (Joe Duffy/Bloc Reporter)

Raye Weigel is a sophomore multiplatform journalism and English major and may be reached at rayanneweigel@gmail.com. 

Jordan Stovka is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at jstovka@icloud.com.