The News-Letter: Where are you from? Where do you call home?

Bryant Williams: I'm from Baltimore, Maryland. I call home Baltimore, and Woodbury. I was raised in Woodbury. Right across from Druid Hill Park. I spent my life in the woods, going after bamboo, walking in red clay, which we called quicksand because we had an active imagination. So we called it quicksand, and that was during the day. Then at night, we would go out front and play catchers or freeze tag or stuff like that. Also during the day, we would go enjoy the park and go hunting for crayfish in the ponds.

N-L: Were there deer in Druid Hill Park then?

BW: Not at that time. They started coming around like '97. At that time there were just owls and hawks and foxes and rabbits. And squirrels and chipmunks, snakes - a lot of snakes. Yeah, the snakes would come across the street and come onto your porch. And I would think they're going to come into the house because they were, like, hunting people. But they were just looking for more hunting grounds. They were trying to get into the woods, but the houses were in the way.

N-L: Would you see them in your house sometimes?

BW: Not me. Other people. Yeah, I was lucky. Didn't see any.

N-L: Did you work anywhere before Hopkins? If so, where?

BW: Let me see, I did some different jobs downtown and at other security companies. I was there back in '98.

N-L: That's when you started working with Hopkins?

BW: Well I was actually at the Eisenhower library with a different company called Master Security. We were at the library and I was watching the students studying, and I was like, I'm gonna try to go back to college. So I went, I tried to go back to Coppin to be a zoologist. But I could not get past algebra. Algebra made me sick. I got lightheaded, almost threw up, almost passed out. I cried. It was terrible. It as just basic algebra. I had a terrible algebra teacher. I was like, I can't become a zoologist because I can't do algebra, so I quit. I was sad.

N-L: What did you want to do with zoology?

BW: I just wanted to go out into the Serengeti and watch animals, film them, in different parts of the world. Film animals, talk about them, learn about them. But I couldn't do it. It was terrible.

N-L: Which animal would you have wanted to focus on?

BW: Cats. Lots of cats. I just wanted to do the cats. I wanted to do the lions and the servals, and the leopards and cheetahs. And this one called a pampas cat. He looks like a house cat and his face is kind of smudged in. And he has lots of fur. They give you a mean like: "get out of my face, I'll go kill you!" They'll get in your face, just rub out your face, rub out your Adam's apple and scratch out your eyes.

N-L: How did you get into working in security?

BW: I used to work at Blockbuster. You ever heard of Blockbuster? There's like one Blockbuster left someplace in the south. At first, Blockbusters used to have off-duty police officers as security. Then the security guards were like "we want a raise" and Blockbuster said, "nah, bro, you're not getting a raise." So the cops were like "all right, fine, we out." So they left and we had to do security.

Then somebody robbed the Blockbuster. I didn't know that we were being robbed. I saw the manager's face. He was red, and I was like why is Tom's face red? And this other dude was like, "you got a problem with this?" And I was like, "Oh he's not talking to me." So I turned around and he was leaving. But his gun was inside his pocket.

N-L: So you went from working at the Blockbuster to Master Security?

BW: Yes, at Eisenhower and also on Beaver Dam Road. It was a quarry. A rock quarry where they get sand and basically a lot of rocks for seamen. There were a lot of deer around there and groundhogs and lots of birds and geese. Yeah, I had a run-in with a goose. It was a female goose in her nest. I wanted to know how close I could get to her before she would zap out. So I got from here to where that carpet is and all of a sudden I saw her mate. His head just popped up from the water. I was like, uh oh. And the homie started running and flapping his wings. I just wanted to see so I jetted. Okay, alright I got to see how close I could get.

N-L: Where did you work after that?

BW: I went from there to Peabody. It was very pretty. I just liked walking around. I couldn't touch the books because they were so ancient. I would just walk around there and just look at the shelves and the floor and how sparkly the brass railings were. Very sparkly. At first I thought it was gold.

After working for Master Security, I didn't do security for a while. I was a bill collector. That was fun… no it wasn't. You hear sob stories. I was almost crying. It was stressful. I had to work this job but I was there too long. Then I went to Securitas Security. I was downtown at Harbor East, just walking around. I was a rover, walking around, visiting stores, making sure everything was cool.

N-L: What has been your experience with Hopkins and Hopkins students? How long have you been working in a space with Hopkins students?

BW: Well, later on this month it'll be a full two years. And I've just been at this library and Brody. Sometimes I will be at the different residence halls. Either Wolman or Scotts-Bates or McCoy. And Rogers House and Bradford House. Yeah, those right there are boring because I gotta sit up. Well, I'm able to move around here, but there, if you want to move, you have to call for a replacement. I felt like I'm more locked-in, on lockdown. I don't like that.

N-L: Have you noticed anything change in Hopkins students? Are they generally the same vibe?

BW: Yeah, about the same vibe. Yeah, locked in, locked in, locked in - 'Gotta study'. I'm like, wow. I look at what they study, and I'm like, 'oh my god, that looks so scary.' Anything dealing with chemistry and physics, and calculus. Calculus III freaked me out. I'm like, what is that? I mean, I saw a trident, then I saw a rectangle. No, no, not a rectangle. A triangle and a bowl. And I'm like, why? A trident! Aquaman and Poseidon, they use the trident. The only thing about organic chemistry I understand is photosynthesis. It's so hard. I mean, like if you can survive Hopkins, you're ready for that world.

N-L: What is your biggest piece of advice for a student that's really stressed out, has a ton of work?

BW: Sleep. Stay strong, and be blessed and just sleep. Yes, and pray. Pray a lot.

N-L: Why do you like talking to students? Why is it important to you?

BW: Oh, to keep them encouraged, to help them to relax, not to let that stress get to them. Just relax and get them to laugh a little bit.

N-L: What does a typical day in the life look like for you?

BW: A day off? Sleep. I try to run errands. Go get things I need to get. I need to get some boots, some more boots, and I need another book bag. I have to make time to go for a walk in the park. At either Druid or Lincoln Park. I live across the street from another park. It's part of Gwynns Falls, and it's also part of Lincoln Park. So I walk over there. They have deer there too, and foxes and groundhogs and hawks. There's a hawk around there, and I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it.

N-L: What is your favorite food, because your meals always look great. And what are some of your favorite movies?

BW: Oh yeah, I like science fiction, and I like action adventure, and I love Star Wars. The originals, Lucas. First three, yeah, the first three and the prequels. Nothing that Disney made. I like some westerns. I like Tombstone with Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell, Clint Eastwood: A Few Dollars More, Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

And my favorite food is spaghetti. Spaghetti with ground turkey and Prego sauce. I love Prego sauce.

N-L: What is your favorite song or album of all time?

BW: Favorite album of all time is 1999 by Prince. Also, Bob Marley Survival.

The Champions will be hunted

The Knicks went 16-3 through last year's playoffs, including 13 straight wins, the second-longest streak in playoff history. They beat the favorites, a dominant Spurs team, in five games, and Jalen Brunson took home Finals MVP.

However, oddsmakers still rank the Thunder and Spurs ahead of them when predicting who wins the title. It's clear that everyone going against the Knicks won't underestimate them; every opponent brings an extra effort against the champions. The Spurs in particular were and are a young and relatively inexperienced team, but losing a Finals teaches you things, and I expect them to be a lot sharper in high-pressure moments this time around.

History is also against New York. The league has had eight different champions in the last eight seasons, and the last repeat winners were the Warriors in 2017 and 2018. The Knicks are bringing back the exact same roster, and the odds still aren't with them. Then again, when were they ever?

The powerhouses in the East

In Philadelphia, LeBron James signed to begin what some call the final chapter of his career, joining stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. And if the 76ers didn't have enough talent, the franchise then landed Jaylen Brown from Boston for Paul George. Undoubtedly, the 76ers boast one of the most talented starting fives in the league, but only the season will speak to whether it fits together. LeBron turns 42 in December, and Embiid's health remains a worry. Several high-usage stars have to share one ball. The 76ers were also swept 4-0 by the Knicks in last year's conference semifinals, so they have something to prove from the first night.

Miami went big too, with the Heat acquiring two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee, pairing him with Bam Adebayo. A physical, defense-first frontcourt suits the Heat's identity better than most superstar trades suit their teams. For Milwaukee, the deal ended a 13-season era and kicked off a rebuild.

Boston is the odd one out. The Celtics lost a recent Finals MVP in the Brown trade, but they should benefit from a full season of Jayson Tatum, who played only 16 games last year. Whether the deal was a smart reset or a mistake mostly comes down to Tatum's health.

Then there's Detroit. The Pistons were the East's top seed last year with a 60-win season, but they still lack scoring behind Cade Cunningham. They also traded Isaiah Stewart, one of the best rim protectors in the NBA, so that defense has something to prove.

The two-team rivalry in the West

The Oklahoma City Thunder had the league's best record at 64-18 and returns a core led by back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Last season, the team lost Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals to the Spurs while Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell were hurt, but it'll undoubtedly be a powerhouse again this season. As strong title contenders, the Spurs are still anchored by some of the league's best placers, De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and, of course, Victor Wembanyama. The NBA scheduled the rematch for the nightcap on opening night.

Elsewhere, the West is also busy. Minnesota made a win-now move for LaMelo Ball, and the Lakers, after losing LeBron, got Walker Kessler in a sign-and-trade. Denver still has the league's best player, placing Nikola Jokić and his team as the fifth most likely to win a title.

Upcoming dates and takeaways

• Oct. 20: A high-profile triple-header opens the season, with Celtics-Pistons at 3 p.m., Knicks-76ers at Madison Square Garden at 7 p.m. and Thunder-Spurs at 9:30 p.m.
• Christmas Day: LeBron faces his old team in Los Angeles, and the Spurs visit the Knicks in a Finals rematch.
• February: All-Star Weekend comes to Phoenix.

The West will be decided by whether Oklahoma City's depth or San Antonio's upside wins out in a long series. The East has more upheaval, and nobody knows how much of it will pay off. Philadelphia has the talent, but championships are rarely won by the most gifted roster on paper, so I'd count on the Knicks' cohesion over the Sixers' star power, at least in the regular season. Miami will be quite an intriguing wildcard.

Still, I'm not sure any of this matters as much as I think it does. 53 years is a long time to wait, and I'm still getting used to calling my team "Champions." The odds say the Knicks will be hunted this year, and they're probably right. But what I love about basketball is that odds never play the game. A 6'2 guard can outshine a 7'4 giant, a team nobody picked can win 13 in a row and a drought can end on one electric June night. I can't wait to see the surprises this season will hold.

Migration is the area I know best through my studies and work experience, so I will focus primarily on that part of the summit. Mamdani welcomed the mayors and set his message on migration. While leaders "both in the United States and overseas," as he put it, "demonize and terrorize immigrants," he argued that migration is quite fundamental to a city's success. Mamdani sent a message far beyond New York City, whereby mayors from around the world came to an agreement.

Mamdani also made a point I think is the key to everything else. When a city fails at providing basic rights like housing or transit, people look for someone to blame, and newcomers, namely migrants, are the easiest target. If that's true, the best way to protect migrants is to make sure basic needs are met, and that tells cities exactly where to put their money.

First, housing. Newcomers deserve real homes, not to remain in temporary emergency housing. At the height of the asylum surge in January 2024, New York City was caring for nearly 70,000 asylum seekers, many of them in emergency sites that kept people safe but gave them no path to a stable life. Now the city plans to close its last emergency migrant shelter by the end of this year, and that's the right move as long as what replaces it is better. The money should go toward turning vacant buildings into apartments and helping families move into permanent homes so the next people who arrive are met with a welcoming and established neighborhood community. Those apartments help longtime New Yorkers too, which shows that welcoming newcomers and caring for current residents aren't in competition.

Second, jobs. Many migrants arrive with real skills but get stuck when it comes to receiving validation on work permits (especially during the current administration) and possibly language barriers. Picture a trained nurse waiting months for a work permit, relying on city services when she could be paying taxes and working at a hospital that needs her. While waiting for approval, cities could offer funding for legal clinics that help people file applications thoroughly, offer some training or even help to partner employers with newcomers for an easier transition. So much can be done.

How the money is spent matters just as much as where. The people migrants trust most are usually community groups, religious organizations and neighbors from back home. Migrants are often rightfully skeptical of government buildings and offices due to fear of potential detention or questioning. Cities should give these groups steady, longer-term funding instead and should team up with employers so job training leads to taking on actual jobs. They should also keep working with each other, sharing costs and information so no city is left to handle a surge alone. Mamdani's summit was the start of exactly that.

Spending on migrants is a controversial subject because residents often cannot afford to pay rent or live in an area of high unemployment, which sometimes creates the stereotype that migrants are taking jobs from non-migrants. But that's the point of the summit: housing and jobs help everyone at once. If cities win the power and money the mayors asked for, the plan should be simple: homes before shelters, jobs that use people's skills and building partnerships among one another. That's how cities can prove the summit's core message: migration makes them stronger.

Sabrina Bet-Mansour is a senior from London, England, studying International Studies.

Friday

Flaunt: When Appearance Speaks Exhibition Preview Party, American Visionary Art Museum, 7:15 p.m.

The American Visionary Art Museum celebrates the opening of Flaunt: When Appearance Speaks, its 31st major thematic exhibition, with an evening of art, music and food. The exhibition features more than 60 works exploring self-expression through clothing, sculpture, photography and transformed everyday materials. Guests can enjoy remarks from the director, curator and featured artists, as well as light fare, a signature cocktail and music from DJ Carl of Collective DJs. Suggested attire is "Nowhere to wear this!" Tickets are $50, with free admission for Fan Club members.

Pieces of a Dream 50th Anniversary Celebration, Keystone Korner Baltimore, 1350 Lancaster St., Oct. 9 and 10, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Celebrate five decades of jazz fusion with Pieces of a Dream at Keystone Korner Baltimore on October 9 and 10. Known for their catchy riffs, infectious grooves and compelling vocals, the band has shared the stage with musical legends including Miles Davis, Count Basie and James Brown. The anniversary performances feature Curtis Harmon on drums, James Lloyd on keyboards, Tony Watson on saxophone, Elec Simon on percussion, Stacey Richardson on vocals, Carolyn Brewer on keyboards and vocals, and John Hall on bass. Tickets range from $20 to $75.

Saturday

Baltimore Taco Festival, Power Plant Live!, October 10-11, 2-8 p.m.

The Baltimore Taco Festival returns for its ninth annual celebration, bringing more than 30 food vendors to Power Plant Live! for a weekend of tacos, entertainment and family-friendly activities. Visitors can enjoy lucha libre wrestling, mariachi music, folkloric dance performances, giant margarita bars, a tequila expo, local artisan vendors and taco-eating contests. Families can also visit a free pumpkin patch, enjoy pumpkin painting and explore a kids' fun zone. General admission runs from 2-8 p.m., while VIP entry begins at noon and includes drink and food vouchers, access to a private area, and an unlimited nacho bar. Children 10 and under can attend for free. Tickets are required, and the event takes place rain or shine.

Baltimore Open Studio Tour Weekend, 7 St. Paul St., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Baltimore Open Studio Tour returns October 10-11, inviting art lovers, students and collectors to explore the creative process behind Baltimore's local art scene. The citywide event gives visitors the opportunity to meet professional artists, see works in progress, learn about different artistic practices and purchase original artwork directly from creators. The tour offers a chance to connect with the artists shaping Baltimore's creative community and discover new work in studios across the city.

Sunday

My Sunday Market at The Avenue, THE AVENUE at White Marsh, 8125 Honeygo Blvd., 11 a.m.

Spend Sunday browsing handmade goods and supporting local creators at My Sunday Market at The Avenue at White Marsh. The free community market features more than 50 local vendors, live music, themed crafts, face painting and food from nearby eateries. Visitors can bring a blanket for a picnic on the turf, enjoy the outdoor atmosphere and explore a variety of handmade products. The event welcomes all ages, and dogs are permitted in the outdoor common areas. This month's market also features an acoustic performance by Mudbugs Duo.

In Galiatsatos' eyes, medicine does not begin when a patient enters a hospital. It begins at the patients' schools, homes, neighborhoods and churches. Giving care and personalizing it starts at the places where people live long before they become patients.

Drawing from years of community work throughout Baltimore as well as his Baltimorean upbringing, he reflected on his experiences with community that pushed him to reconsider the traditional boundaries of a physician's role.

The idea for this book, he explained, came about years earlier when he was still completing his medical training. After hearing Galiatsatos describe his approach to community engagement, one of his mentors told him: "You should write a book."

At the time, Galiatsatos said, writing one seemed unrealistic while he was still trying to finish his medical training. Years later, however, the suggestion stayed with him as his work increasingly brought him outside the hospital and into Baltimore communities.

Eventually, the questions he received from others changed as well. People no longer only wanted to know what he was doing; they wanted to understand how they could do it themselves.

"What is your approach? How do you begin to do this?" Galiatsatos recalled people asking.

The resulting book is partly an answer to those questions. But Galiatsatos emphasized that he did not want it to function simply as an instruction manual. Instead, he described it as an "ode to Baltimore," with stories of community members who shaped his understanding of medicine and challenged assumptions he carried with him as a physician.

One story Galiatsatos shared involved his early work with Armistead Gardens, an East Baltimore community. It's considered an urban island, creating practical barriers to health care such as transportation, and the students in this community were frequently missing school because of asthma.

His first instinct was a medical one. Baltimore had pediatric pulmonologists, major hospitals and extensive healthcare resources. If asthma was keeping children home from school, he initially wondered why those resources were not solving the problem.

But going into the community changed the question.

A prescription could treat asthma, but it could not guarantee that a parent working long hours could reach a pharmacy. A specialist could recommend care, but that recommendation meant little if transportation made accessing it difficult. Health outcomes, he realized, were being shaped by factors that could not be understood from an exam room alone.

Those experiences forced Galiatsatos to confront the assumptions physicians can make when they encounter a patient's illness without encountering the conditions surrounding it.

The lesson became central to his broader argument: physicians cannot address health disparities exclusively through better treatment after someone becomes sick. They must also understand the social circumstances that repeatedly bring patients back into the healthcare system.

For Galiatsatos, that requires presence.

"Half the job that we'll do is just showing up, listening to them, standing in it and trying to find resources," Galiatsatos said.

Throughout the talk, Galiatsatos returned repeatedly to the idea of "showing up." Community engagement, in his telling, is not a one-time screening or outreach event. Physicians must spend enough time in communities to understand their priorities rather than arriving with predetermined solutions.

That distinction becomes especially important amid declining public trust in medicine.

Galiatsatos argued that healthcare institutions have traditionally expected patients to come to them. Hospitals and clinics remain essential, but they represent only one part of people's lives. Schools, churches, neighborhood organizations and other community spaces may hold relationships that stretch back years.

If medicine wants to regain trust, he argued, it must become present within the places people already trust.

Understanding these conditions, though, does not make medicine less scientific, Galiatsatos emphasized. It makes physicians better equipped to understand the circumstances in which disease develops.

Galiatsatos acknowledged that physicians cannot individually solve every social problem affecting their patients. But he rejected the idea that this limitation should keep them confined within hospital walls. Sometimes, he suggested, the first meaningful intervention is simpler: entering a community, listening to what people say they need and remaining present long enough to earn their trust.

Medicine for the Greater Good ultimately presents that philosophy not as an addition to medicine, but as part of medicine itself. Treating disease may begin with understanding the body. Caring for a person, however, requires understanding everything around it.

Three years after 9/11, To Catch a Predator premiered in 2004. Primetime places itself in 2006, near the end of the show's run. The film is a period piece situated in the mid-2000s with every accuracy accounted for: Fergie, flip-phones, Subway's Jared and constant coverage of the Iraq War.

Initially, the audience sees Dateline NBC news anchor Stone Phillips (Bill Heck) report the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Right after this clip, Hansen runs into Phillips in the NBC building, and Phillips condescendingly compliments Hansen, who begrudgingly thanks him. Once this moment passes, Phillips as a direct rivaling force also leaves the story, and the two never interact again.

His presence, and his wider coverage of the War on Terror, are never true motivators for Hansen's ambitions to be a surpassing force. However, Phillips and his reports of Hussein's trial return while Hansen does seek out bigger, more spectacular predators.

The images of Hussein are not the only repeated signs of the War on Terror. Osama bin Laden's face is seen as the target in the police practice room just before the climatic ending raid on the last predator of Hansen's show. This raid is also staged like the reports of SEAL Team Six's raid on bin Laden himself.

The most obvious callback to the War on Terror comes right out of Hansen's mouth. Before the last raid, there's a moment of hesitation from the decoy who needs to lure out Hansen's target. Hansen repeats George W. Bush's "you're either with us, or against us," which the former president used in his launch of his anti-terroism campaign. While the U.S. leader had specifically said "you're a terrorist if you weren't with 'us,'" Hansen says the decoy must be aligning himself with the predator if he refuses to do his part.

Terrorism and pedophilia are obviously distinct crimes; neither director Lance Oppenheim or screenwriter Ajon Singh argue otherwise. However, by positioning the War on Terror with reality television and associating the word "terrorists" with "predators," Primetime does convey a shared political fantasy between the two threats.

There's a fantasy that danger can be identified and eliminated before it reaches you without exploiting yourself or others in doing so. The sexual predator and the terrorist are both invisible but pre-existing enemies: an ever-present anonymous threat that commands surveillance and preemption in the name of prevention.

"In discipline, it is the subjects who have to be seen. Their visibility assures the hold of the power that is exercised over them. It is the fact of being constantly seen, of being able always to be seen, that maintains the disciplined individual in his subjection," says Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.

To Catch a Predator reifies Foucault's visibility as a trap into visibility as a punishment. Once identified, the threat of a predator cannot remain unseen; it presents itself as chatlogs, voice messages and finally, on video. The spectacle of the scaffold becomes the spectacle of the television, and Oppenheim's Hansen echoes this:

"There used to be a pillory in every civilized town. Now, there's television in every home."

The pillory and the television do not serve as vehicles of justice; guilt is pre-determined by the time whoever is guilty is on display. The display is entertainment, and the entertainment should capture the viewer.

"We need the spectacular, the best of the best," Hansen says when he realizes To Catch a Predator needs to increase viewership.

He starts looking for what he calls a "whale," a predator referred to as a creature he can catch and parade. Hansen becomes an Ishmael-type, cataloging the search for a true vessel to blame for the evils he's against. When this whale threatens to escape, Hansen is willing to manipulate everything around him to get it.

Like there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there's no perfect whale for Hansen to catch. Still, the paranoid search for an internal enemy remained. The PATRIOT Act and all its associates won; there's no discerning against the surveillance culture around us anymore. Most people don't even notice it.

Primetime depicts the apparatus of predator-baiting and hunting as public justice masquerading as voyeuristic pleasure. It asks us to look at the ugly truth of a moral crusade being based on some form of falsification. Hansen's predators or America's terrorists may have been threats, but the people who took them down were liars. The only American certainty is to push forward, believing in a mistaken sense of morality.

The event featured Nagaraja's Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America's World War II. The book adopts a bottom-up, multi-scalar approach, examining how World War II mobilization brought workers into overlapping struggles over labor, race, citizenship and broader political and societal change during and after the war.

Schrader opened the conversation by emphasizing the book's attention to ordinary people's ability to shape political change.

"World War II is thought of as a moment of political consensus, but when you look beneath the surface, there was a lot of contestation and conflict, [...] and a lot of that conflict was powered by workers who were trying to build more equal and racially integrated workplaces," Schrader commented.

Nagaraja teaches at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He began his presentation with photographs of actors and activists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. By drawing connections between their wartime experiences and their later activism, Nagaraja argued that World War II should not be understood solely as a period of national unity against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Instead, Nagaraja centered defence workers and military personnel who participated in strikes, civil-rights campaigns and protests over working conditions and racial discrimination while contributing to the war effort.

"World War II is not just this nice prologue of unity." Nagaraja said, "Actually, the conflicts that happened in the early 1940s tell us a lot about the conflicts that would shape the 60s and the 2020s."

Schrader then asked why Nagaraja places defense-industry workers and soldiers within the same framework.

"The lines were blurred between the foreign and the domestic in this particular war," said Nagaraja, "tens of millions were serving in the armed forces and the defense industries in what I call a composite workforce, and that created blurred experiences and the possibilities for linked coalitions too."

Nagaraja also connected wartime racial politics to policing. He recounted the 1942 killing of Black servicemember Thomas Broadus by a Baltimore police officer while Broadus was on leave. The case became a rallying point for local civil-rights activists, labor organizers and students, who organized around demands such as police reform, housing rights and desegregation.

The conversation later widened beyond Baltimore to the immediate aftermath of the war. Nagaraja described 1945 and 1946 as an uncertain period between World War II and the emerging Cold War, when workers and service members across different countries organized strikes and protests while anti-colonial movements challenged European empires.

He pointed to American service members and merchant mariners who questioned support for European efforts to restore colonial control in places such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

"They actually made people-to-people connections in that moment," Nagaraja said, "and they envisioned another world."

Returning to the civil rights movement, Schrader asked how the organizing of the 1940s connected to the activism of the 1960s. Nagaraja pointed to wartime migration and military service as opportunities for Black workers to build coalitions across regions and national borders.

"And so that civil rights movement was a labor movement, and that civil rights movement was in tension with policing and incarceration, and that civil rights movement was a global struggle," Nagaraja said.

Eva Klaus, a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, recalled how the event offered an opportunity to explore activism and meet people with shared interests in an interview with The News-Letter.

"This is one of the events that I liked the most." Klaus continued, "I actually read part of his book while he was doing the talk, and while of course it's difficult to both absorb the information that I read and listen to his talk, I really liked the amount of depth he went into with his not only his book but his actual talks."

Baltimore resident Ryan Hardey, who works on global trade policy, said his interest came from the relationship between war and social movements in an interview with The News-Letter.

"Being present in a longer conversation with somebody, especially like Tej, who's such an expert," Hardey stated. "It just makes us smarter people."

"Chris Sale and Pray for Hail"

I am a Braves fan and couldn't resist writing about the Braves finally getting over the hump in the postseason against their always feisty division rival. The Phillies have been death for America's Team in the past decade but clutch hitting and unlikely big-time performances on the mound proved to be enough for the Braves to outlast the Phillies in 2026.

In the '50s, there was a catchphrase of "Spahn then Sain then pray for rain" when the Braves only had two good starting pitchers, but for the 2026 Braves, "Chris Sale and Pray for Hail" might be more accurate. Injuries have hampered the Braves' rotation, requiring Chris Sale to put the team on his back in this three-game set, pitching into the seventh inning in the Game 1 victory before getting the final four outs in Game 3 on only one day's rest. Journeyman Ray Kerr also had a huge performance in the deciding game of the series, but a beleaguered Braves team now stares down a Goliath in the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Divisional Round. Don't cross your fingers.

A Yankees three-Headed monster

Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. Schlittler, Fried and Cole. That could very well be the company for this trio of starters atop the Yankees rotation. Fried and Cole are well-established veterans who have been torturing big league hitters for a decade, while 25-year-old Cam Schlittler has burst onto the scene in his first full MLB season with a Cy Young-caliber season. The three are also already more than proven when October rolls around. Max Fried was part of the 2021 Braves World Series squad, while Gerrit Cole has pitched in two different World Series and owns a 2.77 ERA in 133.1 career postseason innings. Cam Schlitter has the shortest resume of the three but in his young career has been an outstanding big game performer. In his three career postseason appearances, he has only allowed two runs in 20.2 innings.

The Rays earned the top spot in the American League, but the Yankees have firepower in their rotation that perhaps only New York money can buy. This series will be the classic clash between a scrappy small market team and the bruising Bronx Bombers roster.

Is anyone hotter than the Padres?

The San Diego Padres finished the season scorching hot and parlayed that into a decisive sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card. Their success is in large part due to a plethora of backend bullpen arms highlighted by star closer Mason Miller. Miller has been unhittable this year. He sports a 1.67 ERA while leading the NL in saves and recording 129 strikeouts in only 70 innings. Adrian Morejon, Bradgley Rodriguez and Yuki Matsui have also been dominant in 2026, giving the Padres an arsenal of relief pitchers at their disposal.

Their lineup also packs some punch with star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. leading the charge. The Friars match up with the Milwaukee Brewers in the Divisional Round and will be heavy underdogs. However, history has shown that momentum and a bullpen can get you a long way in the MLB playoffs, so watch out for the Padres to potentially go on a run.

Rizk, who hails from Jezzine, a mountainous town in Lebanon (a country he emphasized is, in fact, not a desert), became interested in autonomous vehicles while pursuing his PhD at Georgia Tech.

"[I participated in] a competition for autonomous drones to fly from point A to point B, pick up an object, deliver it to point C and come back to point A."

His team became the first to conceptualize and build a quadcopter. This four-rotor design is very stable because two rotors spin clockwise and the other two spin counterclockwise, generating equal and opposite torques that keep it in the air. Rizk recounted demonstrating the design to a U.S. Navy captain, an encounter which suggested people can often not see immediate value in ingenious ideas.

"[The captain] looked at it and said 'That's a pretty cool toy, but what do I do with it?'"

However, they could only afford to carry one camera on board, given the bulky size of the computer that processed video in real time to aid in navigation.

"That's really when I realized that the world of AI, the world of autonomy, is not going to take off unless you solve the vision problem." Rizk said, alluding to his eureka moment.

Rizk corroborated the hypothesis that vision was the limiting factor in translating many technologies into real-world products while working in the aerospace industry and collaborating with the defense world, settings in which people still relied on the traditional camera and computer set-up to collect data and make decisions in real time.

Inspired by the human eye's ability to process visual information alongside the brain, detecting contrast, color and minute details, Rizk founded Oculi. Its technology centers on the sensing and processing unit (SPU) it created. The SPU is composed of pixels with individual logic and memory, allowing each pixel to process the visual data it captures and determine whether it is of interest before sending it to a downstream processing unit. This approach can minimize energy consumption by reducing the power required for data transfer.

Additionally, Oculi offers an enticing solution for data privacy, as its technology can make decisions without even generating an image of the scene. However, a trade-off remains between collecting more data - on the off-chance it is needed - and giving up data that might be useful.

"You can save up to $50 billion in energy every year if you make them smart," Rizk described.

Oculi's main focus is commercial applications of its SPU. Take sliding doors, for instance. Rizk believes that instead of going after superintelligence, current work in the field should stop and consider basic functions in the world that still aren't well automated, like why a sliding door opens even when walking past it or just waving a hand in front of it. With Oculi's SPU, this issue could be tackled by programming the door to open only when someone walks toward it with the intention of passing through.

Rizk explained these applications might not have the same allure as using an SPU in unmanned defense vehicles operating in off-grid terrain, but they could have an immediate impact. In Northern Japan, for example, black bears sometimes venture into urban environments in winter to find food. There have been instances where bears have gone into supermarkets simply because a sliding door opened for them, a calamity that could easily have been avoided with an SPU. Adding vision can also reduce pedestrian deaths, help the visually impaired community and cut energy and money wasted on heating, cooling and lighting.

Rizk is fueled by problems like these, which exemplify what it means to engineer solutions for humanity's greater good. He is quick to point out, however, that in startups - unlike in academia - he has to consider not just what he wants to do, but also what his investors want. When asked what advice he would give students grappling with different career options, he was clear: be honest with yourself and ask whether you're competent and self-motivated.

"[If you are,] you should go start your own company or join a startup or small company," Rizk remarked.

The future for physical AI is promising, particularly as startups like Oculi pave the way for dynamic solutions that can revolutionize everything from traffic management systems to electronic devices. Rizk firmly believes the vision problem is the Achilles' heel we need to tackle to engineer a safer, greener and more efficient future.

1. The bag itself: This navy Longchamp Le Pliage Original Tote bag has been around longer than I have, always faithfully draped over my mom's shoulder on every errand, vacation and doctor's appointment. Using that very bag now for college feels almost surreal; I spent my childhood watching it follow my mom through so much of her adult life, and now it follows me as I begin mine. The frayed corners and the worn leather straps make me feel as though she's right here with me. Carrying my mom's bag each day has become a way of keeping her close while she's more than 3,000 miles away.

2. HeyTea laptop sleeve: I never used a laptop sleeve before, but apparently all it took was a free one to change that. Over the summer, my best friend and I woke up at six in the morning and drove 30 minutes to the grand opening of the HeyTea in my hometown. The result? This free white puffy laptop sleeve, which now houses my Mac.

3. My iPad: a non-negotiable for notes and schoolwork. My 30-hour GoodNotes screen time each week can probably speak for itself.

4. My Owala: an investment made by my 10th-grade self. The scratches and dents are evidence of all the highs and lows we've been through together. It's become my emotional support water bottle, even though it's gotten a little wobbly on its feet after all these years.

5. My Sony headphones: a gift from my dad from one of his many business trips abroad. These headphones have accompanied me on every plane ride, workout and study session since. I am the student I am today because of noise-cancelling. Thank you, Dad.

6. Mentholatum Melty Cream Lip Balm: basically Japanese Aquaphor.

7. A banana clip: a hair accessory I recently discovered that has quickly become my favorite. It's not quite a claw clip, but it works perfectly with my thin hair. It lets me put my hair up and out of my face while I'm working without the headache-inducing tightness of a ponytail.

8. Blue-light glasses: spoiler alert: I have 20/20 vision, but I like wearing glasses, so it's me and my $12 blue-light glasses from Amazon against the world. After all, I need to protect my eyes somehow from the absurd amount of time I spend on GoodNotes every week.

9. Mini portable fan: the most recent addition to my bag. Baltimore's end-of-summer humidity has been a rude awakening for me. I'm never taking Cali weather for granted again.

10. An Omamori: a protective amulet from my senior trip to Tokyo. Knowing this little amulet is in my bag feels like I'm carrying a bit of good luck wherever I go. It reminds me to trust that everything will work out, even when I'm far from home and still figuring things out for myself.

Reflecting on the long-term residents of my bag left me feeling oddly nostalgic and homesick and, in a way, gave me a better understanding of myself. I never really gave much thought to why I carry these things beyond what they're designed to do, but I've realized that each one has its own story and is, in some way, uniquely meaningful to me. Together, they represent the people, places and moments that have shaped who I am. Of course, I have been warned about using a shoulder bag for college, but I'll check back at the end of the semester, hopefully still with symmetrical shoulders and no back problems.

This week's meeting began with a presentation from The Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) and Vice Provost Rachel Hernandez about sexual misconduct policies at Hopkins and reporting to OIE. She emphasized that the meeting would be one of several conversations with student organizations and leadership groups throughout the month.

Representatives from the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) outlined how the office receives reports and conducts intake and risk assessments. Reports can come directly from individuals, through responsible employees or through online submissions, including anonymous reports.

Administrators spoke on how outreaches center on giving information about a survivor's options, confidential resources and supportive measures. Further, reporters or victims are not required to speak with OIE or press formal charges to get any form of desired assistance. Supportive measures mentioned by OIE in their presentation included academic accommodations, such as assignment extensions or excused absences, alongside adjustments intended to help students feel safer on campus.

Following OIE's presentation, representatives from Public Safety and the Johns Hopkins Police Department spoke about their roles in supporting survivors of sexual crimes. They emphasized the importance of minimizing further trauma, protecting privacy and clarifying available options without pressuring individuals towards a certain path.

Multiple attendees raised questions and concerns for administrators. One student asked whether recent news of alleged sexual misconduct at Cornell University would lead to changes in OIE's procedure for supporting victims and pursuing investigation in cases of sexual violence. Administrators responded that they always reflect on and update policies to reflect legal attitudes, lessons from other investigations and evolving student needs. A member of the public raised his hand to express frustration about the early mention of Blue Jay Safety Month before other resources in Friday's University broadcast message about sexual assault resources, stating that he felt the placement was dismissive of the reality of sexual violence. Vice Provost Hernandez explained that the month's programming included important prevention training and education while assuring the student that the placement was not meant to be facetious.

Following the departure of the University administration from the room, the discussion between SGA concerning campus safety and prevention of sexual violence continued. Many members of SGA stated frustration at the fact that the measures taken by the University had failed to consider the issue of accountability and the culture among the students in Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) and Athletics.

Secretary Honora Muratori argued that online prevention training is rarely taken seriously by students and is not effective in curbing sexual violence in college campuses. She urged SGA to advocate for in-person training, particularly for students in athletics or FSL. Civic Engagement Chair Jackson Morris encouraged senators to gather student feedback before returning to administrators. He further argued that SGA must ask difficult questions about cultural and organizational norms that promote sexual violence, such as hazing rituals and fraternity culture.

Following this, there was a swearing-in ceremony of newly elected members of the Class of 2030 as well as an SGA Advisor. For cabinet reports, Student Body President Jason identified three objectives of the year: engagement, student experience and school spirit.

Lastly, senators discussed funding bills related to nutrition education, sexual assault education and a photo shoot/networking event for Black students. Black Caucus Senator Oluwanifemi Ajayi proposed an initiative aiming to bring Black students together and launch an Instagram page to highlight the achievements of Black students, organizations and faculty at Hopkins. The SGA deferred the selection of the Senator of the Month for next week.

Despite the common critiques of enrollment numbers and culture war topics, one undeniable but often ignored piece of evidence of this separation between such institutions and the communities they claim to serve is the practice of career funneling.

Career funneling describes the limited range of job choices chosen by university students after they exit higher education. It has been a largely silent but undeniable trend over the past two decades. At top institutions, the rate of undergraduates being employed in newer sectors such as consulting and technology has almost doubled from 2008 to 2019. Since 2020, over half of graduates from most Ivy-Plus schools (a loosely defined group of the top 15 to 20 universities in the U.S.) have been entering the technology, finance or consulting sectors year after year.

Living within the university ecosystem, one rarely realizes how many seek jobs in these sectors. After all, these jobs carry an air of prestige. Internships or job offers at major corporations carry social value within such elite institutions, where one is expected to see a degree pay off in rich returns, both monetarily and in terms of status among peers. Furthermore, employment in these sectors often comes with rich salaries; few can fault students for wanting a stable income, especially with the rapid rise in tuition and living costs.

However, this constantly reinforced narrative of social prestige and high salaries, along with a lack of presentation of pathways to alternative careers, has 'poisoned the well' of career discussions in such institutions. They not only reinforce the idea that only these jobs have elevated standing and impact compared to less-explored and public sector work, but also convince students that these jobs are the only path to wealth and security. A student enters an environment where these job sectors are already exalted by their more senior classmates and is dragged into the same way of thinking by way of social dynamics and reinforcement.

Even universities are complicit in this trend. Elite universities, admitting elite and capable applicants, are composed of a rich pool of potential high-value employees for high-paying sectors to throw money and prestige at to hook prospective employees. Wall Street and Silicon Valley have often paid money for career centers to prominently feature them during career fairs, while universities, with great incentives to cultivate connections for future partnerships and build their reputation and prestige for prospective students, are more than willing to invite these firms to campus. Hopkins is no exception, with the Integrative Learning and Life Design office having a page that expressly encourages outside organizations to 'hire Hopkins talent' from undergraduates to PhD students, and events like Future Fest advertising with special sections on 'Industry Connections' with Amazon, Wells Fargo, and biotechnology firms.

It does not mean that every student who chooses to pursue employment in such sectors arrives there due to their peers or the university ecosystem, nor are people who find such employment gainful as a result of such an ecosystem wrong. To many people, these roles can feel extremely rewarding, or at least on par with employment in various other sectors. Furthermore, elite universities have numerous valid reasons to seek such connections, and students obviously benefit when more opportunities are available. Despite the excuses, the core issue remains that with such a system in place, employment in these sectors often feels like the only choice for many students, or the only 'right' choice for their future.

This presents a moral dilemma for students who feel pressure from peers or from the public that they are 'selling out' by not contributing to more socially conscious fields, justifying their choices through the points they gained from their peers and their time in elite institutions. In the end, this paradox and attempt to reconcile such cognitive dissonance leads to poorer occupational longevity and post-graduating life satisfaction among students. The lack of talent in desperately needed fields such as journalism, local and national government, and civic advocacy contributes to the ongoing erosion of democracy, as does the felt impact of elite institutions on the general population.

None of this should be blamed on the student body, who seek the best outcomes and self-worth from the limited wealth of information they know and opportunities they are presented with. Neither should the public be dismissed as 'not understanding academia' for pointing out this incongruity of elite institutions that promise to serve the community but have most of their student body employed by massive corporations. Even elite universities may not be to blame for such a system, which reflects a culture that values corporate profit over all else. Regardless, the universities must shoulder the burden for their own reputation and the well-being of their student body, and are the only party capable of systemic change in this echo chamber of career funneling.

So what can be done? The ultimate goal is a drastic cultural shift in elite universities back to their original conception of primarily serving the public good within the public, the student body and the university structure itself. More immediate, achievable actions include emphasizing alternative, public-facing career pathways with robust institutional support to compete with established funnels, encouraging students to explore different career paths, and publicly identifying the systemic pressure facing students to go into technology, finance and consulting sectors.

At Hopkins, the SNF Agora Institute is at the forefront of engaging the student body in civic-forward thinking, though not without its fair share of controversy and backlash. Nationwide, like-minded students are also waking up to the status quo and beginning to resist. Sociology Professor Amy Binder, who pioneered the term 'career funneling', is part of a nationwide network called Class Action that hopes to illuminate this issue across all elite universities and drive effectual change from the faculty and student level.

Of course, the ultimate dream of students finding comfort and gainful employment in any sector they desire may be out of reach through these or many future solutions. This is by no means to say that any of these solutions are perfect in every - or any - way. But it is an issue that cannot be ignored, not least by elite institutions facing populist attacks and growing discontent. Only through action can we begin to shift the wave of distrust, improve university and student culture and mend the gap that has widened between the public world and the insular world of such elite institutions. The question, then, is if not when, why not act now?

Chris Zhang is a sophomore from Atlanta, Ga. studying Political Science.

"It was reported that the individual may be in possession of a weapon. JHPD and Public Safety conducted multiple searches of the area and did not locate the individual. JHPD and Public Safety will immediately be increasing presence in the area," the email from Public Safety stated.

The email also included a description of the suspect. Public Safety specified that the suspect was a man in his late 30s who was approximately six feet tall, and wearing a grey sweatshirt, grey sweatpants and black slippers.

Public Safety did not explicitly confirm whether or not the suspect was actually armed, nor did the office specify a weapon. When The News-Letter reached out to the University for official comment, it also did not confirm whether or not the individual possessed a weapon.

"While there was a report that the person appeared to have a weapon, Public Safety has not confirmed they were armed," a University spokesperson wrote.

The spokesperson also clarified that Public Safety included information about a possible weapon for the purposes of caution, but neither Public Safety nor the University's police department were able to track down the suspect. Because of this, Public Safety took steps to increase security presence around campus.

"The Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD) and Public Safety conducted multiple searches of the surrounding area but did not locate the individual and have since increased security and continue to investigate. Out of an abundance of caution, JHPD and Public Safety issued a public safety advisory and are coordinating with local law enforcement," the University spokesperson added.

Neither Public Safety nor JHPD have publicized updates on the case in the days since.

Sophomore Lazina Miah, a resident at The Academy, was informed by security about the suspect when leaving the building. The security guard told her that the suspect was in possession of a firearm about four hours before Public Safety sent out an email. Miah recalled her account in an email to The News-Letter.

"Around 2:40-ish, I was about to leave The Academy for a club interview at Brody. I waved goodbye to the security guard at the front desk when her smile quickly turned to a frown, and she warned me about a man with a gun outside. She told me to wait as she went to the windows, and all I could think was, 'God, my interview's at 3:00. I don't want to be late.' She then turned to me and said she couldn't see him, but if I were to see a man with a grey sweater and grey sweatpants, 'go to the other side of the street immediately,'" Miah wrote.

After Miah had left the building, she confirmed to The News-Letter that she was able to see the suspect, and that she may have seen him with a firearm, but was not certain.

"Trying to be as vigilant as possible, I went outside towards the direction of the main campus, and I saw him on the steps leading up to the academy, dressed in all grey. I think I saw him holding a black handgun near his chest, but in hindsight, I'm not sure if my mind made that up because it was shaken by the information I received [from the security guard]. I didn't look too closely, and I kept walking, being conscious to keep a far distance," wrote Miah.

After Miah recounted her experience to The News-Letter, she offered some reflections on the incident, and the broader societal implications they may have.

Miah expressed her opinion that violence is an issue that the entire country faces, and that students should focus on community safety everywhere, instead of solely focusing on the University.

"I think this incident shows that we're never as far away from violence as we may believe we are. I hope it provokes broader conversations surrounding the political and social realities in this country, and reminds us that we have a civic responsibility to advocate for safe communities, not just for the Hopkins community, but for the Baltimore community and the entire country as a whole," Miah added.

Additionally, the University spokesperson also emphasized students' role in keeping the University community safe and highlighted safe practices for students to follow when entering the residence halls.

"As a reminder, we all play a role in keeping ourselves and others safe. For the safety and security of our residential communities, residents should scan their J-Card-physical or electronic-every time they enter their residence hall," the spokesperson said.

Myra Saeed contributed to the reporting of this article.

Nate Brown, senior lecturer in the University Writing Program and administrator of the Common Question, introduced the event by emphasizing the value of gathering in person to create something that could not simply be reproduced online.

"In the age of Zoom learning and remote working and AI, it's particularly cool to get together and get to do something sort of analog," Brown said. "Something that we necessarily can't replicate again."

Petty's writing series grew out of her own questions about storytelling in the age of AI. She said she believes deeply in storytelling as "a very human core art form" and wanted to explore what happens when people write together rather than treating writing as an entirely solitary activity.

"If everybody can write and everybody wants to write, what does that feel like to write together?" Petty asked.

The workshop, which took place in the Archaeological Museum, began with participants sitting on chairs in the middle of the room. They were given a letter and drew a corresponding object - for example, a cupcake for "C", or a bathtub for "B." Then, they were brought to a fictional world. Petty narrated a fairy tale about scholars visiting the cabinet of a wealthy "cajillionaire," where they encounter an octopus trapped inside an aquarium. The octopus, once a sea witch, has spent years trying to escape and ultimately discovers that the scholars may be able to help her through the power of storytelling.

Participants were gradually incorporated into the story, writing on their note cards about their families, their own experiences with stealing, and creating fairy tales involving their assigned objects. The prompts moved from personal reflection to imaginative storytelling, asking participants to invent characters, desires, monsters and enchanted objects.

The unusual, private format was designed to make writing feel less intimidating.

"I just want to reassure you that there's no way that you can do this wrong," Petty said. "Whatever you write down is going to be great, and you will not have to share what you write."

For some participants, the personal prompts helped make the creative writing process easier. Alex Herz, who also graduated in the spring, had done some writing on his own and decided to come to the event on a whim.

"Why not come to this?" Herz said.

Herz thought the event reminded him of "being on field trips to museums when [he] was a kid."

Petty said that encouraging people to write without the pressure of producing something polished is one of the goals of the series. She has led similar events at readings and other venues, experimenting with different formats, objects and spaces.

"Often people think that they shouldn't write or they can't write," Petty said. "It's really fun to see people be like, 'Oh, I can just do this.'"

By the end of the workshop, participants returned their objects to their original owners and shared aloud the stories they had created with the owner. They then wrote a final version of their stories, deciding whether to preserve or change the meaning they had developed.

For Petty, the event was also an experiment. The Hopkins workshop was the first time she had presented this particular version of the story, meaning the participants were the first audience to experience it.

Ultimately, Petty said, she hopes participants leave with a simple feeling.

"I hope that people are just like, 'Oh, that was fun,'" Petty said. "Like just to have a little bit of play in your day is so valuable."

This was a tour highly anticipated by fans, as it had been four years since the last time she performed live independently (not counting the smaller shows she did prior to the release of Lost Weekend), and it was the first time she had released an album since 2020.

Her concerts on this run have been unique from her previous tours and many other performing artists by implementing a no-phone policy. Upon entering the arena, phones were locked into small pouches and could not be unlocked until you exited the arena (save for designated areas in case of emergencies).

There was some controversy surrounding this choice, sparked by fans' desire to capture photos and videos of the show to remember it. While this is a downside of not having your device, the policy created an extremely unique and immersive concert that made up for not being able to record it. Without having to worry about taking good photos or recording the best part of your favorite song, you are able to be fully immersed in the experience of seeing the live performance. Additionally, it created a much better sense of togetherness and connection in the crowd.

Two things that really stick out about the show, not counting the music itself, are the lighting and visuals. The show is divided into two stages: Stage A is located at the front of the stadium, while Stage B is placed in the center of the pit. Bridgers moved between the two stages throughout the performance. The visuals were very celestial and generally space-themed. It made it not only a great concert to hear, but a great one to watch as well.

The show opened with "The Outside," the opening track of Lost Weekend. The almost robotic sound plays as the staging slowly moves and the lights begin to change, creating a sense of extreme anticipation. Then, the dome above Stage A rises, revealing Bridgers as she begins to play "Motion Sickness," one of the most popular songs in her discography. It is a fantastic beginning to the show.

This was followed by "Kill Me," the intense ending of which translated extremely well to being live, especially accompanied by the flashing lights. "The Governor's Waltz" was played after, with celestial visuals, and then "Lost Boys," the upbeat nature of the track making it a great live performance. An especially notable moment was towards the end of the track, when the stadium went dark and the crowd shouted the "1, 2, 3, 4" before the stage lit up again. "Garden Song" and "Moon Song" were played back to back, and the slower songs sounded beautiful and very touching live.

She wrapped this segment of the show up with "Liberty Tree," a very fun song to see performed. Then, she moved stages, appearing on Stage B in lighting that resembled that of a UFO, which was very in line with the space theme of the rest of the visuals. In this new space, she began to perform the title track of Lost Weekend, another song that was very touching to hear performed, and the no-vocal segment at the end was accompanied by a huge array of flashing lights that were incredibly captivating. This was followed by "Funeral," another extremely popular song from Stranger in the Alps. The sad nature of this song made it very emotional to hear, and was immediately followed up by another emotional track: "Graceland Too" from Punisher.

These sadder songs were contrasted after by "Haunted," one of the more upbeat songs in her discography, accompanied by a rotating stage. After "Haunted" was an interlude where Bridgers gave a moving speech regarding her father and the current political state of America.

Then, she played "Still Standing" in a UFO-esque beam. "As Above" was played after, and the intense part of it was paired with confetti falling from the ceiling, truly emphasizing the magic themes of the song.

Bridgers moved back to Stage A to finish off the show, playing the upbeat love song "Bobby," one of the only truly happy songs in her discography. This was contrasted by "Georgia," which she plays every other show, switching out with "Waiting Room." While not getting to hear the latter was personally disappointing, "Georgia" was an incredible song to hear performed. During "I Can't Wait," she brought out her brother to sing a verse toward the end, a very special moment considering this is not consistent in every tour stop.

Speaking of uniqueness, in every show she plays a "surprise song," which in D.C. happened to be "Chinese Satellite": a fairly popular track off of Punisher that sounded incredible live. She finished off the set with "On Video," a song recently released for the film Primetime that sounded great live, "Kyoto," another fairly popular song off Punisher that was very fun live and, of course, "I Know The End." "I Know the End" was particularly compelling live; the audience screamed at the end in line with the song, with the entire arena bathed in the red colors of the album cover.

This wasn't quite the end, however, because a few minutes after the end of the song, Bridgers returned onto Stage B for an encore. She played "Lost Weekend (Reprise)," once again in the beam of light that had the effect of her glowing, followed by "Scott Street." "Scott Street" was a particular impactful performance, with the entire stadium waving their hands under the arena lights. It truly emphasized the sense of community at the show, brought on by the absence of phones.

The concert was, overall, an incredibly immersive experience, with fantastic visuals, vocals and performance and is an unique experience in the digital age. Bridgers is a wonderful performer whose songs were all very impactful to hear live. Even her slower, sadder songs, which you may not think would translate well to a stadium performance, were very moving to hear. All in all, it was an immensely well-done concert.

Jain's curiosity and interest in scientific research started early. He credited his upbringing in a college town - an environment full of people who made careers as researchers and professors - as the root of his interest in the practice. For his undergraduate studies, Jain attended Georgia Tech, where he studied biomedical engineering and started conducting his own research developing T cell therapies.

"I reached out [to the lab] because I originally wanted to work on stem cell research. And then the person that I ended up working with was doing T cell therapy research, and they were specifically working on something called (CAR) T therapy… so I got really into immunology from working in that lab, even though that wasn't really something that I'd expected to do."

During his time at Georgia Tech, Jain also interned at Amgen and Genentech, two major biotechnology companies. These experiences deepened his interest in the field and exposed him to the industry side of biomedical research. When Jain decided to apply to graduate school, he had plans to return to biotech after completing his degree. However, his experiences at Hopkins, especially in mentorship, have shifted his plans toward academia.

"Over the course of grad school, I realized that I really actually like mentoring undergrads… Some of the undergrads that I've worked with are some of the smartest people ever… Getting to see when undergrads go from being sheep to becoming fully grad-level thinkers is really cool to see... I liked the aspects involved with being in an academic setting… so I think I want to be a professor."

Reflecting on his experience, Jain highlighted one of the most important skills that he learned early in his graduate studies: that of reading and synthesizing papers.

"The more you read, the faster it gets... I think the process of reading a bunch of papers, synthesizing all the information that you got and then drawing new findings… is really helpful… Writing a review paper in the second year of my PhD helped me to think broadly about certain thematic areas that I wanted to look at during my PhD." Jain advised.

Incorporating these skills and learnings, Jain carries out research focused on developing mRNA lipid nanoparticles capable of entering the body and efficiently editing T cells to combat B cell-based diseases. In the past, T cells had been traditionally edited by drawing blood and editing the cells ex vivo. This approach faces challenges, including the steep monetary cost of the therapy and the fact that patients must have their immune systems depleted prior to reintroduction of the edited T cells. More recently, scientists have used viral vectors to deliver gene therapies to T cells. However, these viral vectors are limited to one dose per patient, and they have the possibility of inciting unwanted immune responses.

Therefore, Jain turned to mRNA lipid nanoparticles as a cost-effective, efficient and safe method for T cell editing. Specifically, antibodies that can be recognized by T cells are conjugated to the outer surface of the nanoparticle, which allows T cells to recognize and take up these particles. Once inside the cell, the lipid nanoparticle dissolves, releasing the mRNA encoding the CAR. Since mRNA is relatively unstable, the CAR is only expressed transiently. This transient expression serves as an advantage of the system, as Jain described.

"Let's say you have cancer or an autoimmune disease... You want to kill off all the bad B cells and then eventually want the healthy B cells to come back. If you have a CAR T cell that expresses the CAR forever… that's a lot of B cell-killing cells inside your body, and that means your B cells will never come back."

Additional advantages of Jain's developed system are that the nanoparticle can be stored indefinitely at -80°C and can be administered in multiple doses. As a result of this research, Jain was named as a Siebel Scholar.

"Siebel Scholars recognizes the most talented students at the world's leading graduate schools of business, computer science, bioengineering, and energy science," the foundation's website states. "Each year, more than 90 exceptional students are selected as Siebel Scholars based on academic excellence and leadership potential. Each receives a $35,000 award toward their final year of graduate studies."

Jain described the application process for the award as being quite straightforward: a short biography, a CV and 1-2 letters of recommendation. Since the recognition is given in the final year of graduate study, the award serves less as a motivation for a student's current graduate research, but more as a springboard for one's future endeavors. As such, Jain considered possible future directions for his research.

"Now the question is: How much smarter can these particles get? Something that I'm really interested in… is the question of if we can create tools that can non-invasively detect certain diseases or cancers… and combine those diagnostics with mRNA nanoparticles. You could have a nanoprobe that would only react in a certain disease situation… conjugated to a nanoparticle [that] could release a therapy," Jain concluded.

Bill 26-0174, sponsored by Phylicia Porter and six other council members, proposes to make data centers a conditional use by ordinance and require a Health Equity Assessment for a data center conditional use. The proposal would put a planned data center through an individual approval process with a health equity review. The bill's purpose statement does not establish what the assessment must measure or whether it could stop a project.

Despite the lack of progress, many locals showed up to the hearing to tune in to legislator proposals and shared their concerns about data center construction in Baltimore with The News-Letter.

Musician Black Assets said, "I'm just here to support Baltimore black and brown communities. My stance is simple. We need more resources allotted into the community, poured into our rec centers, our schools, our neighborhood. We need assistance with our energy bills with all the prices that increase. Our communities have always needed more from our government. Unfortunately, these data centers aren't coming through alongside us, in support of us. In a community first mindset, [they] would be taking more from a community that is already in a sort of deprivation."

Dustin Branch, a Baltimore Regional Coordinator of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, an organization focusing on preventing climate change, spoke about his concerns with the The News-Letter.

"Seeing incredible grassroots, average everyday working class people coming together and speaking out. People all over Maryland and all over the country are struggling. We are in a cost of living crisis that is created by the very same companies that are trying to move into our neighborhoods... I live in Mount Vernon. I'm close by to several data centers here in the city...This AI speculation, every single person that runs these AI companies was at the [presidental] inauguration."

A social worker in Baltimore named Mars commented, "Data centers are really bad and there are really very few upsides to them... We should recognize that this bill does nothing because data centers are very unhealthy for the world. My purpose in coming here is to oppose the bill on the principle that having a health equity angle on data centers would only create the impression that there is such a thing as a healthy data center."

The News-Letter had the opportunity to speak to electricians who shared their perspectives on how data centers would harm Baltimore residents.

Babatunde Salaam, a local electrician, shared his thoughts about the bill in an interview with The News-Letter.

"The grid that we are all reliant on is strained as is. Maryland imports 40% of its energy. That is not sustainable. The bill that's proposed would allow for further drainage of 25, 30, 50 mega Wattor even larger. Those [data center projects] would further erode our grid infrastructure, while providing absolutely no benefit to the city and the benefits, as well as being tax-exempt."

Tewodoros Desta El added, "Many [minority based contractors] are [supporting data center construction] because they believe they just want to be in front of whatever technological advancements data centers bring... They feel themselves to be a stepping stool for helping uplift black communities, especially in Baltimore City... On the workforce level and on the company level, there may be a need for workers because they need money now and there may be a hope for contractors who would like to make money off the data centers. But at the end of the day, you can't rush to hope to be the savior for the Black community right now when its a still long term effort for this because you still have to protect the community itself and also respect the wisdom of the community who are not the contractors, who are not the current workers, but also for the neighbors who have to walk one block up and all of a sudden they deal with pollution," he continued.

Desta El's comments highlight a tension between minority communities who could benefit from the jobs added by data center constructions and the potential marginalization those same communities could face from pollution and energy usage brought by the centers.

Salaam and Desta El spoke about their advocacy to city council members to spur other types of development projects that could increase employment in the black community. They shared project ideas like sustainable energy and mass transit that could help alleviate Baltimore city congestion problems and provide work to thousands of residents. They hope that city legislators would pursue projects that benefitted community residents and promoted public spaces instead of benefitting private contractors.

The next step is for the Land and Transportation Committee to continue considering the bill and decide whether to amend it and vote. There is reason to believe that the bill will undergo significant changes before being brought to a vote. The Planning Commission recommended disapproval and encouraged city council members to pause deliberations until the release of a city study of data centers, which is expected in March 2027. The Law Department raised further issues about conflicts between the bill and the city's current data center moratorium as well as concerns about giving the Health Department the power to block a zoning approval.

Women's Volleyball: (3-2), (3-0)

Coming off a couple of successful fixtures in last weekend's Hopkins Invitational, the Blue Jays Women's Volleyball team looked to continue its strong form against its out-of-conference opponent, fifth-ranked Juniata Eagles. The Jays were able to climb to an early one-set lead against their feathered foes in what was a closely fought opening to the event. However, the Eagles would not back down as they stormed back to take the next two sets in relatively comfortable fashion, 25-19 and 25-23.

Hopkins was not to be deterred, staging a somewhat unlikely comeback against its strong opponent, first with a thrilling 25-19 fourth-set victory before sealing the upset with a decisive eight-point margin in the final set. Senior outside hitter Ivy Swafford led the Jays with an impressive 21 kills, while freshman middle blocker Bethany Sherwood managed the most blocks in the game with seven!

Moving into Centennial Conference play, Hopkins opened against Bryn Mawr in what was a swift and convincing victory for the Jays. With momentum on its side, Hopkins made quick work of its opposition in what was a well-rounded team performance. Sherwood once again held down the defense with a team-leading three blocks, while sophomore opposite Emily Overtoom registered 11 kills.

Field Hockey

Ranked as the eighth best team in the country, the Hopkins field hockey team is perched in a strong position as it enters conference play. Over the weekend, it would be challenged by the 12th-ranked Ursinus Bears in what was a tightly fought affair between two of the best squads that the Centennial Conference has to offer.

Despite a low scoring affair, the match was controlled for large stretches by the Blue Jays. The first period saw them take seven shots to the Bears' zero, the first of which almost put Hopkins on the scoreboard within the opening seconds of the contest.

Moving into the back half of the game, it proved to be a much more even affair, with the two sides only managing six combined shots in the final three periods. Despite surrendering a couple of penalty corners in the third quarter, the Hopkins defense remained stout, allowing for it to keep the victory within reaching distance. With just three minutes left in the game, the Blue Jays won a penalty corner that would help to put them on top, thanks to a last-minute winner from senior midfielder Caeli Robinson, who was assisted by senior forward Sophia Albano.

The team will continue its home stand this Wednesday against Swarthmore College at 4:00 p.m.!

Men's Tennis

Hopkins tennis was coming off a massively successful weekend at the ITA's Southeast Women's Singles Championship. Junior Sahana Madala took home the championship as the fourth Blue Jay to ever do so in the women's division, and now it was the men's turn at the same contest!

Traveling to Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Blue Jays entered with the No. 2 seed in the competition, graduate student Adam Stavrakas. To take home the title, Stavrakas would have to face six different competitors, including the top-seeded player in the championship round.

Clinical would be an understatement to describe how Stavrakas performed, as he dropped a total of ten games en route to the Blue Jays sixth all-time title at this event. The closest competition came in the championship match, in which Stavrakas went to a tie breaker to decide the first set. Coming out on top, he then cruised to victory in comprehensive fashion, winning the second set, and championship, in six games to one.

With this achievement, Stavrakas earned All-American honors and has advanced to the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia which will be held Oct. 15-18.

Men's Soccer

After a slow start to the year, the Men's Soccer team has found itself in a winning groove, stitching together five consecutive victories coming into the game against Gettysburg. Conference play is never easy, and this match was certainly no exception, but the resiliency shown by the team should go a long way to forging an identity of grit and toughness.

The Jays were struck early by a ninth-minute goal from Gettysburg after a deflection off a Hopkins defender sent the ball into the box. This scoreline would remain for much of the contest until a 62nd-minute equalizer from sophomore forward Connor Wilkes would draw the teams level. It was a tale of two halves as the Blue Jays outshot Gettysburg 11-3 in the second, allowing them to wrestle back control and manage a draw from a game that could have gone awry.

The Jays will travel to Salisbury on Wednesday to take on the Sea Gulls in what should be an exciting match!