news-features

Wrestling finishes in eighth at weekend tournament

By ESTHER HONG
December 5, 2018

The Hopkins wrestling team traveled up to York College this past weekend for the New Standard Corporation Invitational. The Blue Jays had the opportunity to see opponents from 16 different schools within the span of two intense days of competition.

COURTESY OF HOPKINSSPORTS.COM Sophomore Dominick Reyes fights through consolation bracket to take third overall in weight class.
HOPKINSSPORTS.COM Quarterback David Tammaro has led the Blue Jays to 11 straight wins.

Football beats RPI to advance to first semifinal in program history

By DANIEL LANDY | December 6, 2018

Win or lose, the Blue Jay football team’s game against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers last Saturday would be one for the record books. Hopkins was playing in its second-ever NCAA Division III Quarterfinal game, and its first on Homewood Field. However, the Jays were not going to settle, and they had their sights set on something even bigger: a spot in the semifinals.

Nurses call for union rights and better patient care

By RACHEL JUIENG | December 6, 2018

Nurses from the Hopkins Hospital and National Nurses United (NNU), a union of registered nurses, joined local politicians and community members for a town hall event on Saturday at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Nurses from the Hospital gave a presentation called “Reputation vs. Reality,” arguing that the institution does not live up to its worldwide reputation. 

Panelists discussed issues such as understaffing and turnover COURTESY OF NATIONAL NURSES UNITED
SSG Teddy Wade Roger Goodell and the NFL have mishandled domestic violence cases.

Kareem Hunt is another black eye for the NFL

By GREGORY MELICK | December 6, 2018

This past Friday a video from February came out of Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt shoving and kicking a woman in what appears to be a hotel hallway. The NFL immediately put Hunt on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, meaning he is not allowed to play in any games until a further investigation is completed. The Chiefs cut Hunt later in the day, saying they had asked Hunt about the incident when it first happened and he denied it happened.

M. Basketball beats Swarthmore at the buzzer

By GREGORY MELICK | December 6, 2018

In what has become one of the most intense rivalries in the Centennial Conference, last Thursday night, the Hopkins men’s basketball team took on the Swarthmore College Garnet in Goldfarb Gymnasium. The last time the two teams met, it was in the Conference Championship, where the Blue Jays took down the Garnet at Swarthmore to claim the Conference Championship. The last time the two teams met in Goldfarb, the game went to double overtime and was eventually decided by a three-pointer by now senior guard Michael Gardner with eight seconds left to win the game 93-91.

COURTESY OF HOPKINSSPORTS.COM Junior Harry O'Neil makes lay up with only 0.6 seconds left in game to lift Jays to win 59-57.
LambeauLeap80/CC-BY-SA-4.0 Dabo Swinney is looking to carry Clemson to another Championship.

Will Alabama take home another Championship?

By BRANDON WOLFE | December 6, 2018

The regular season is done, the Conference Championships have been decided and we’re one Army vs. Navy game away from officially entering the postseason of the college football season. Bowl Selection Sunday has concluded, and now 70 teams will prepare for their upcoming games.

How The Graduate influenced me to embrace the unknown

By SARINA REDZINSKI | December 6, 2018

It is incredibly easy to feel trapped when you're a senior in college. With graduation looming, family members curiously prodding and the huge anxious cloud of the future hanging over everything, the sense of being boxed in is almost impossible to avoid. This is especially true when you’ve already chosen your post-graduation life plan. 

 PUBLIC DOMAIN Dustin Hoffman starred as Ben Braddock in the 1967 film The Graduate.
 COURTESY OF ROLLIN HU Hu, age 9 in the photograph, never imagined that he would attend Hopkins.

Reflecting on my time here before I graduate

By ROLLIN HU | December 5, 2018

About a year and a half ago, I had a column in this newspaper called Irrelevant History where I wrote about weird individuals or events from the past. I graduate this semester, so I thought I might revisit this column as my final article for The News-Letter. Out of a delusional sense of self-grandeur or an in ill-advised attempt at closure, this week’s Irrelevant History topic is me.

Finding gratitude and peace in familiar spaces

By KATHERINE LOGAN | December 5, 2018

There are certain places that offer tranquility and repose. I was reminded of one such location recently when my mom sent me a photo of Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica decorated for Christmas. This church, first opened in 1926, is stationed mere blocks away from the home my grandfather currently lives in, which also happens to be where he and his two sisters were raised. 

 COURTESY OF RON CORBO. The alter at Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Buffalo decorated for Christmas.

Why I'm vowing to support my female peers

By SANIYA RAMCHANDANI | December 5, 2018

We’ve all watched Mean Girls, and while it’s understandable that we would like to relate most to Cady Heron, even she did some pretty catty and immature things. In high school, for most of us girls, “gossip” was synonymous with “hanging out.” Seemingly harmless yet vindictive and downright bitchy comments were ubiquitous.

Students gathered to celebrate their different cultures.

OMA hosts first annual celebration of diversity

By JOHN FRYE | December 6, 2018

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) hosted its first annual Cultural Festival on Saturday. The event featured numerous student groups and offered food, games, music and a glimpse into diverse cultures. 

The 1975’s new album: emotionally honest and musically mature

By EVELYN YEH | December 5, 2018

The most fitting word that represents The 1975’s new album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, is one that the band explicitly uses in a song title: sincerity. Put simply, the record is sincerity in the form of a vast assortment of sounds that fit together peculiarly well. A Brief Inquiry distinctly shows The 1975’s maturation: It is the band’s first major release after frontman Matty Healy’s stint in rehab for heroin addiction.

Batiste Safont/CC-BY-SA.20 The 1975’s new album release A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships propels them forward.

Documentary Kiki highlights the ballroom scene in Baltimore

By COLE DOUGLASS | December 5, 2018

When Pose began airing earlier this year, it brought the ballroom culture — an underground pageant system for members of the LGBTQ community — into the mainstream consciousness like never before. For many, including myself, the show serves as an introduction to the history of the ballroom scene and the LGBTQ community that brought it to life.

Travis Wise/cc by 2.0 Peabody Ballroom Experience’s event showed Kiki, which first premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

Winner of Cannes Film Festival reaches Netflix

By KATY OH | December 5, 2018

Happy as Lazzaro, translated from the Italian title, Lazzaro Felice, won Best Screenplay at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. On Friday, Nov. 30, seven months after its European debut, the film, directed by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, finally came to Netflix. The film was not only listed as a critic’s pick in the New York Times but was also the topic of conversation for Vox’s weekly Cinemastream column. 

Hip-Hop artist J.I.D.’s new album Dicaprio 2 sounds effortless

By SAMUEL FARRAR | December 5, 2018

When talking about the fastest rising stars in the hip-hop scene, most people go straight to trap artists in Atlanta, such as Playboi Carti and Lil Yachty, or the SoundCloud phenomenons of South Florida, like Lil Pump and Kodak Black. These figures have dominated hip hop recently, with mantras of prescription drug use, face tattoos and general teenage angst. New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica called it hip hop’s punk movement — a sort of rebellion against traditional rap culture.

The Come Up Show/CC BY 2.0 JID’s sophomore album Dicaprio 2 leaves him with room for improvement.
Courtesy of Kanak Gupta “A Wonder in My Soul” touches upon the reality of gentrification and its effect on communities.

A Wonder in My Soul focuses on life in Baltimore

By KANAK GUPTA | December 5, 2018

Marcus Gardley’s A Wonder in My Soul, which is showing at Baltimore Center Stage from Nov. 29 to Dec. 23, is the story of the strength of two black women and their unbreakable friendship. The friendship has survived six decades of hardships and is now faced with the trial of surviving Baltimore’s gentrification.

Educating the public on drug use and overdoses

By MICHAEL TRAUTMANN RODRIGUEZ | December 6, 2018

The Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition (BHRC), a public health organization, held a workshop on opioid overdoses and Naloxone on Friday. The event took place in the SPARC Women’s Center in Baltimore and was lead by speaker Harriet Smith, the executive director of the BHRC.

COURTESY OF TAL LINZEN Tal Linzen, an assistant professor in the Cognitive Science Department, studies cognitive processes involved in AI.

Lab Spotlight: Professor Tal Linzen

By JAEMIE BENNETT | December 6, 2018

Yes, the machines might take over one day – but that’s (probably) still a long way away. In reality, human intelligence may be the key to developing artificial intelligence (AI).