The Cowl

September 18, 2025

Providence College's Student-Run Newspaper Since 1935

Photo courtesy of Hill Harper

Apr282023Hill Harper to Speak at PC Commencement 2023

Sarah McLaughlin ’23

Apr202023Writer vs. Writer: Is the required reading for DWC in need of a refresh?

NO Anna Fakhri ’24 The Development of Western Civilization class does not need to update the books required for the…

The Cowl Editor

Photo courtesy of Rosie Kelly ’24

Apr282023Treating the Land: A Weekend Reforesting the Australian Tablelands

“The right tree in the right place for the right reason” is the slogan for one of the most successful tree planting programs and community organizations on the Australian Tablelands. Providence College students who are studying abroad in Australia, along…

Rosie Kelly ’24

Nov102023Athlete of the Week: Brendan McSorley ’24

by Justin Bishop ’24 on November 10, 2023
Sports Co-Editor

     Providence College men’s soccer team is 7–4–3 overall this season, and an astounding 5–0–1 in their last six matches. This recent stretch can be attributed to this week’s recipient of Athlete of the Week, Brendan McSorley ’24. McSorley has hit his stride during these recent games, which includes the match on Oct. 14 where he had two shots against then No. 5 Georgetown University where the Friars upset the Hoyas 1–0 on Chapey Field. The senior forward’s playing was also stellar last week in matches against the University of Connecticut and Butler University. In those two games, McSorley from Randolph, NJ totaled three goals and one assist, and the Friars won both of those games.

     McSorley’s first goal of the three came in the match against UConn. During the 17th minute, Nathan Messer GS ’23 crossed the ball across the pitch to McSorley who then headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. This goal quickly put the Friars up 2–0 against the Huskies as Messer had previously tucked one in in the sixth minute of the game. The next goal that McSorley knocked in came later in the same game during the 70th minute. Pearse O’Brien ’27 had a corner kick that McSorley ran to the near side post and headed the ball into the goal past the goalkeeper. This second goal for McSorley extended the Friars’ lead over the Huskies to 3–0. The team would concede one goal late, but ended up winning the game 3–1. The Friars closed out their home game schedule with the win and ended with a 5–3 record overall in the comfort of Chapey Field.

    In the following game, McSorley and the team traveled to Indianapolis, IN to take on the Butler Bulldogs. The team took care of business winning the game 3–0 thanks to the one goal and one assist performance from No. 9. The last goal McSorley would score for the week occurred in the 65th minute. He two-touched a pass from Gevork Diarbian ’24 that snuck in at the near post. The goal put the Friars up 1–0, but the scoring did not stop there. McSorley dished a through-ball to Bruno Rosa ’26 and he put one past the Butler keeper, which expanded the Friar lead to 2–0. McSorley also had six shots and three shots on goal when the horn sounded at the end of the game, which were both the most on the team.

     The team has qualified for the Big East Tournament with their win against Butler and they will look to McSorley to lead them in scoring, as he evidently has found his game after explosive games to end the year and leads the team in points up with a total of nine goals and one assist for a total of 19 points. He also leads the team in shots with 38 and shots on goal with 19. It is clear that the offense starts with McSorely. Look for him to be the go-to guy when the Friars need a goal down the stretch.

The Friars finish up their regular season on Saturday, Oct. 28 in South Orange, NJ against Seton Hall University.

Nov72024SNL Season 50 Episode Five Recap

by Sarah McCall ’26 on November 7, 2024

Sarah McCall ’26

Hosted this week by John Mulaney and featuring musical guest Chappell Roan, episode five of Saturday Night Live’s 50th season was a hit. Airing mere days before a historic election, there was pressure to deliver great sketches and a memorable cold open following the political theme this season’s cold opens have maintained. Episode five had a surprise guest appearance from Vice President Kamala Harris to kick off the episode, where she gave a pep talk to Maya Rudolph’s depiction of Harris through a mirror. This tried and true approach, also used in episode three of season 50 by Ariana Grande for the Jennifer Coolidge “Maybelline” sketch, was key in introducing Harris. Rudolph’s strikingly accurate portrayal of Harris has created significant online discourse which created the grounds to include the self-talk mirror bit as an introduction. The wait until the end of the segment to introduce Harris allowed Andy Samberg, Jim Gaffigan, Dana Carvery, Bowen Yang, and James Austin Johnson to continue their political figure depictions without being overshadowed by the vice president’s appearance 

The best sketch of the night has to go to Mulaney’s “Port Authority Duane Read.” While nothing could ever top the original musical-themed sketch “Diner Lobster,” Mulaney knocked it out of the park with a fifth musical-themed sketch, featuring parodies of songs from The Lion King, Hamilton, and The Sound of Music. Pete Davidson is featured again as the catalyst customer, this time at a Duane Read in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Mulaney, as the cashier, is upset by Davidson’s choice to buy milk at a Duane Read in Port Authority. Playing on the experiences of New Yorkers in Port Authority, the situation becomes a musical production, featuring songs from multiple Broadway shows. Mulaney, now a six-time host, continues his legacy as an SNL writer from 2008–2012.

Weekend Update, hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che, is the best segment for memorable one-liners and this episode was full of them. There was a primary focus on the election, as there consistently has been throughout this season. Che decided not to engage with a headline mentioning the New York Yankees’ loss in the World Series, but did make some controversial jokes, noting he was going to “get a lot of letters tonight.” Heidi Gardner made an appearance at the Weekend Update desk as Reba McEntire giving her endorsement, or lack thereof, for president. Gardner, always a consistent cast member, had a solid portrayal of McEntire and delivered as well as always. Marcello Hernandez and Jane Wickline were the next feature at the desk, portraying the “Couple You Can’t Believe Are Together.” Wickline, a new featured cast member, took this sketch and ran with it. After a shaky first appearance on Weekend Update, her second feature gave her the opportunity  to show more of her range while staying true to her consistent monotone delivery. Hernandez, who has created a lot of public attention with his recent SNL sketches, has become a fan favorite, and this sketch with Wickline emphasized both of their comedic abilities.

Roan’s performance of “Pink Pony Club” was one for the books. Her engagement with the audience and the crowd’s singing along made this a stellar performance. After her breakout year as an artist, Roan’s SNL debut was just what she needed. Episode five was a fairly solid episode, with hard hitting sketches and a great outlook for cast members like Wickline as well as musical guest Roan. On Nov. 9, Bill Burr will host with musical guest Mk.gee, followed by Charli XCX, who will host and perform Nov. 16.

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“Darty Season” Spells Impending Disaster: Off-Campus Parties Anger Many Members of PC Community

Sports

2022 College Football Season Preview

Why the To-Go Boxes Shouldn’t Be Seen as an Inconvenience

In spring 2022, PC Dining announced its plans for Eco To-Go, a program that allows students to use reusable to-go boxes in Ray instead of wasteful single-use containers. While the initiative is supported by many students, others complained that it is inconvenient. Considering the significant environmental impact of paper and plastic, which these containers are made of, this is an ignorant complaint given our current ecological state. 

While some may argue that these boxes aren’t environmentally harmful because they can be recycled, this is not the case. It is important to reduce our consumption before recycling, which is why the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” is in this order. First, we’re supposed to reduce, then reuse, and finally recycle, meaning that recycling is not the solution. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018 only 8.7 of plastic was recycled, leaving plastic in landfills and oceans. There is a significant impact of plastic pollution on our marine ecosystems. It’s estimated that every year, eight to 10 million metric tons of plastic enter our oceans. The effects of this are devastating, as plastic breaks down to form microplastics, which many small organisms mistake for food. This is also an issue in terms of biomagnification, as organisms who consume these organisms indirectly ingest this plastic. This is one of the reasons why scientists have recently discovered microplastics in human blood for the first time. 

Read More

Dec82022A Totally Unnecessary Rant About Hallmark Movies 

by David Salzillo Jr. ’24 on December 8, 2022
Opinion Staff

This article might be upsetting both to regular viewers of Hallmark movies (if such people really do exist) and to children who still believe in Santa Claus. To the latter group, I offer my sincerest apologies.  

Ah, Christmastime—the season for caroling, hot cocoa, and…bad Hallmark movies. Why humanity must suffer through that last one is a mystery. Yet here we are: the filmmakers (one uses that term VERY loosely) behind these cinematic travesties are at it again.  

Technically, they were at it again long before now. Hallmark’s chief executives seem to believe that Halloween marks the first day of the Christmas season. Forget waiting until after Thanksgiving; forget about waiting until the first of November. These people have managed to outdo those infamous radio stations that play Christmas music 24/7 from November to January. Ugh. Doesn’t Hallmark have any sense of shame?  

Now, if the movies were halfway decent, maybe some of this shove-it-down-your-throat-until-you-die-in-a-Christmas-induced-coma consumerism could be forgiven. But alas, trying to find a halfway decent Hallmark movie is like trying to catch Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Where does one even begin? How about with the filmmakers’ complete lack of effort? Seriously, do they care about what they are doing, insofar as it is not bringing them a paycheck? Don’t they understand that snow on someone’s clothes will melt after a few minutes, as opposed to staying there for an entire scene? And don’t they understand that people generally swallow after drinking coffee? If you ever have the displeasure of watching some of these movies, you will be able to find countless other egregious errors like these. It does not take a Francis Ford Coppola or a Martin Scorsese to get these things right.  

Then there’s the incessant presence of hot chocolate, cookies, and bake-offs. The bake-offs in particular irk me: I have never seen nor been to a bake-off in my life, yet somehow they always manage to be a central plot point of Hallmark’s Christmas programming. They would make you think that bake-offs are a fixture of the average American’s life. They have to keep up that small-town aesthetic.  

This brings up another falsely represented aspect of Hallmark movies: their inane platitudes about small-town life. To be sure, I don’t hate small towns, nor do I hate people who like small towns. Living in a big city is not paradise on Earth. Yes, big cities have pollution, traffic, and, worst of all, people. But must their messaging be so clumsy and obvious? By the way, where are the homeless people in these small towns? Where is the trash? Most people have been to enough small towns in their lives to know that they have not eradicated poverty and garbage. 

And don’t get me started on those corny love stories or that stupid derivative rom-com music that plays whenever the main love interests of the stupid plot first meet in the stupid way that they always do. Couldn’t these writers come up with a better way for the true loves to meet, without the clumsily concocted pratfalls? Hallmark characters appear more accident-prone than even the worst of klutzes.  

But why bother getting so upset about this? Because I am upset for you, dear reader. I am upset that you must be subjected to this for the next three months or more. As the great writer Ralph Ellison said, “who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?”  

Or maybe not. In that case, try to develop better taste in movies.