Tag: Kerry Torpey ’20
PC Looks Ahead to First Homecoming Weekend: A Bittersweet Reminder that PC Will Always be Home
by The Cowl Editor on October 3, 2019
Editor's Column
by Kerry Torpey ’20
Editor-in-Chief
This weekend, Providence College will be filled with hundreds of families, friends, fans, and alumni as we gather together to celebrate Homecoming Weekend. Advertised as being for “the entire Friar Family,” the weekend is packed. Whether it be running in the Friar 5K or enjoying Late Night Madness, which for the first time ever will be at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Homecoming Weekend will surely be a one of hustle, bustle, and, most importantly, fun.
When thinking about the weekend ahead, however, what stands out most to me is the idea of coming back to PC as returning home. Even though the campus has gone through many changes, alumni especially will remember the feeling of walking down our brick paths or into Phillips Memorial Library, where they once spent hours studying and writing Civ papers. To have the chance to step into a classroom or interact with current students, whose shoes they used to be in, must resonate as both familiar and surreal.
I think the number of alumni who are returning to administrate activities or presentations is a huge testament to just how much PC continues to mean to people, even when their time here has come to an end. From guest lectures to comedy shows, PC alums will play a key role in participating in the weekend’s events.
Even though we have the school year ahead of us, as a senior, I remind myself every day that my time at PC is coming to an end. And next year, and many more to come, I will be one of many alumni reminiscing about hanging out on Slavin Lawn with my friends or living in McVinney my freshman year. Although it is a bittersweet thought, to know that I will always have PC as a place that I can call “home” is incredibly special and comforting.
Drawing Tattoos on PC’s Heart: Lessons from Father Gregory Boyle, S.J.
by The Cowl Editor on September 22, 2019
Editor's Column
by Kerry Torpey ’20
Editor-in-Chief
At the Providence College Academic Convocation this year, Father Gregory Boyle, S.J., spoke to attendees about his book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Ever since I read it in school and learned about Homeboy Industries, Fr. Boyle’s words have always been a source of wisdom and encouragement for me.
For those who may not know, Fr. Boyle founded Homeboy Industries in 1992 as a resource for former gang-affiliated men and women as well as the formerly incarcerated. They provide services such as counseling, education, career training, legal assistance, and job opportunities.
It is organizations like Homeboy Industries that teach others how to best foster what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would describe as beloved community, where we live in peace and justice.
In the book, Fr. Boyle says, “Close both eyes; see with the other one. Then we are no longer saddled by the burden of our persistent judgments, our ceaseless withholding, our constant exclusion. Our sphere has widened and we find ourselves quite unexpectedly in a new expansive location in a place of endless acceptance and infinite love.”
I think it is important for us to remember Fr. Boyle’s message of empathy and tolerance not only when we are off campus, but here in our community.
On campus, we have students, faculty, and staff who come from different backgrounds and cultures. It is our job as members of this community to “close both eyes” and build our campus up on a foundation of “endless acceptance and infinite love.”
When we work together towards a common goal, we are at our strongest. This school year, let’s make it a goal to widen our sphere—together.
The Future is Female: Female Executives Lead the Campus into the School Year
by The Cowl Editor on September 12, 2019
Features
by Kerry Torpey ’20 and Katherine Torok ’20
Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor-in-Chief
When Providence College first opened its doors in 1917, it was an all-male institution. It was not until 1971 that female students received admission and started making their mark on PC history.
In 2017, Phionna-Cayola Claude ’18, Elizabeth Jancsy ’18, Simran Madhani ’18, and Marcie Mai ’18 broke the glass ceiling by becoming the presidents of Student Congress, the Board of Programmers (BOP), Friars Club, and the Board of Multicultural Student Affairs (BMSA). After the elections of these four female leaders, Dr. Abigail Brooks, director of the women’s studies department, told The Cowl, “The more we see women, and importantly a diversity of women, inhabiting leadership roles, the more likely it is that other women can also imagine themselves in these roles.”
Following in those footsteps this year, Kelsey Christianson ’20, Ariel Tavares ’20, Acklynn Byamugisha ’20, Bailey Zimmitti ’20, and Amanda Gaccione ’20 take on top leadership positions for Student Congress, Friars Club, BMSA, Campus Ministry, and BOP, respectively. Christianson, Tavares, Byamugisha, Zimmitti, and Gaccione sat down with The Cowl to discuss challenges they have faced as well as their goals for this upcoming academic year.
Who has been your biggest female role model on campus?
AT: To settle on one is impossible as I am inspired by most of the women I am surrounded by every day. But, I have succeeded two of the most well-rounded Presidents of Friars Club, Sabrina Morelli ’19 and Simran Madhani ’18. They have taught me that there are different ways to be a woman, to be a friend, and to be a leader. They have broken barriers in their own ways but both with a grace I can only hope to emulate.
KC: My biggest female role model from PC is Kelsie Laferriere ’17, my “Congress mom.” She was one of the strongest women I have ever met and taught me to always speak out and let your voice be heard. Even though I only had one year on campus with her, it was enough to realize how great of a person she was.
BZ: My biggest female role model on campus has been Sister Anne Frances, O.P. From the moment I stepped on campus, Sister Anne Frances has been a reflection of Christ’s light for me. As a religious sister, she is not only a symbol and reminder to the world of God’s reconciling the world to Himself through Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice, but she is also a spiritual mother to all of God’s children, beautifully imitating St. Dominic in her balance of gentle, tender compassion and zeal for souls.
What goals do you have for your organization this year?
AB: I want everyone in the organization to feel that there will always be a family supporting them at Providence College. More importantly I hope that the executive boards within each club and organization can work together, create events with one another, and move towards a bigger, more unifying narrative where all students involved on campus can feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves, and just create a stronger sense of Friar family for everyone.
AG: This year my goal for BOP is to truly go above and beyond in making inclusive, new events that make everyone feel welcome. Our theme this year is “Making PC feel like home.” As said on countless tours by the members of Friars Club, our goal is to keep people at the school, and we have been working tirelessly to brainstorm new and innovative events that will allow students to make new friends, branch out, and feel comfortable and happy every single day in Friartown.
KC: I have many goals for Student Congress this year, but my number one goal is to really connect with the student body. I want everyone on campus to realize that our organization is there to serve them and that we can be a resource to them. Another goal I have for Student Congress is to increase campus awareness of what Student Congress does. Most of the school doesn’t know what Congress does or how we can help them, and I want that to change.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at PC?
BZ: The biggest challenge I have faced at PC has been learning how to deal with feeling unsatisfied. There have been many moments in college when I thought I knew myself and what I wanted, but after having obtained what I wanted, I was left still not feeling satisfied. Last year as I read with a heavy heart from Ecclesiastes in our beautiful chapel at adoration one night, I was struck by this verse: “God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put [eternity] into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done” (Ecc. 3:11). We are temporary, finite beings with eternity in our hearts—nothing of this world could possibly ever satisfy us in a real, lasting way.
AG: One of the biggest challenges I faced was during my sophomore year. I am also on the swim team here, and I had to “redshirt” the entire year from swimming, which means I couldn’t compete due to an injury. However, that was also my first year on BOP, and provided me with the opportunity to dedicate all of my energy, effort, and love to BOP. It was a blessing in disguise that I was not able to compete that year because I had more time to go to more BOP events and make amazing memories with the club.
AB: Working with close-minded people. I find that I am very comfortable being myself in all spaces, but it hurts me that people cannot feel the same way or struggle with working with people that are not like themselves. But it’s okay, things happen and sometimes I have to expect that.
If you could tell your first-year self anything, what would you say?
KC: I would tell my first-year self to make yourself a priority. College is about learning who you are, and you need to take time to do that. Take the time to process and learn about yourself. Do things for you that are in your best interest because that is how you will figure yourself out and how you can help others.
AT: Do yourself a favor and get rid of all of your skirts, dance a lot more, and share more of yourself with those around you because people are not always what you expect.
BZ: The best piece of advice that I have received and that I wish I could tell my freshman self came from someone you may have known as Daniel Arteaga ’19, but who is now Br. Raphael Mary. It is that you have to pray knowing that God will take care of everything. Sometimes we can feel like God does not hear our prayers because He is not answering in the way we want or expect Him to. But it’s important to remember that we cannot always see God weaving our stories day by day; rather, in hindsight, we can see in the small things how He has equipped us and carried us exactly where we should be.
What is the best piece of advice you have received at PC?
AG: Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.
AB: Meeckral “Meecky” Searight [from the Personal Counseling Center] told me that I cannot control what is not in my own control, so I should not stress over what I do not have the direct ability to change. Ever since then, I have been a lot less stressed.
AT: You are more respected being yourself than anyone else.
Advice for the Class of 2023: Taking Advantage of What PC Has to Offer
by The Cowl Editor on August 29, 2019
Editor's Column
As we step into the 2019-2020 academic school year, I am eager to kick off another year with The Cowl! This summer, I spent some time working with the Providence College Office of Admissions, where I gave tours and spoke with dozens of prospective students.
Now, having spent hundreds of hours talking about why PC means so much to me, I am excited to see the Class of 2023 stepping onto campus, beginning their first chapters of their own PC stories.
Although I still have another year of enjoying McPhail’s milkshakes and pizza on Wednesdays in The Cowl office, the period of reflection on my past three years at PC has commenced. The first thing that comes to mind: The Cowl office.
Hidden away down the back hall of Lower Slavin lies a windowless newsroom, filled with an energetic team of writers and editors, leftover pizza boxes, and hundreds of pages of edited and reedited content that we publish for our community weekly. It is the memories I have made here in this office that will last a lifetime and I am eternally grateful for not only the skills gained here, but each and every person I have met because of The Cowl.
To the class of 2023, I want to encourage you from the start to take advantage of everything PC has to offer you over the next four years. That cheesy quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that you have probably seen countless times on social media or senior yearbook pages says it best: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” As cliché as that may sound, your time hanging out on Slavin lawn or playing intramurals on the softball field will come to an end, so enjoy it!
I am looking forward to my final year at PC with The Cowl, where my wonderful team and I can make our latest mark on PC history.
Looking Forward to the Future of The Cowl: Preparing for the 2019-2020 School Year
by The Cowl Editor on May 2, 2019
Editor's Column
by Kerry Torpey ’20
Editor-in-Chief
As I look back at my experiences thus far on The Cowl, the two people that first come to mind are my former Arts & Entertainment editors, Patrick Lovett ’17 and Paige Calabrese ’18. If it was not for Pat and Paige, I would not have had the confidence to even think about stepping into an editorial position. So, thank you to Pat, Paige, as well as my former co-editors Abigail Czerniecki ’19 and Patrick Fuller ’21, for so much support. If you had told me during my freshman year writing for A&E that I would be Editor-in-Chief senior year, I would have never believed it.
I struggle to put into words just how deep-rooted and profound The Cowl is in Providence College history. For years, it has been a resource for students, faculty, alumni, and more to hear the news from us: the students. Through The Cowl, our perspectives and words find a platform in which they can be acknowledged and understood by others. To have the opportunity to lead an amazing, dedicated, and talented group of writers and editors in making our mark in this history is an honor that I will cherish forever.
Looking ahead to next school year, I remind myself of the legacy of the current Editor-in-Chief, Taylor Godfrey, and Associate Editor-in-Chief, Abigail Czerniecki ’19. As I step into this position, I look to Taylor and Abby as examples of what a strong and dependable leader in our community is. Their hours of hard work, dedication, and support for the entirety of The Cowl staff motivates my AEIC Katherine Torok ’20 and I to follow in their footsteps.
With that, I would like to thank Taylor and Abby for their incredible leadership and encouragement this year. You will be dearly missed! Going forward, Katie and I are excited for another amazing year on The Cowl!
Kerry Me To London: The Imperial War Museum
by The Cowl Editor on January 31, 2019
Arts & Entertainment
A British Perspective Memorializing World War I
by Kerry Torpey ’20 A&E Co-Editor
When one pictures London, the first images that come to mind are major tourist attractions, such as Big Ben, the London Eye, and Tower Bridge. Although these are all worth seeing, London’s numerous museums must be on one’s itinerary. They hold millions of artifacts from all over the world and different periods of history. One such place is the Imperial War Museum (IWM), found in the Central London district of Lambeth.
Like most museums in London, the IWM offers free admission. Founded in 1917 and opened to the public in 1920, the museum’s creators sought to preserve Britain’s efforts during the First World War (WWI). Because of the nation’s deep involvement in the war, dozens of commemorative statues and plaques can be found throughout Britain—the IWM has over 1,300 artifacts in this collection alone.
Museum-goers from other countries have a unique opportunity to experience how those living in Britain understand the war. From uniforms to pistols to exclusive government documents, the WWI galleries are highly detailed and provide information many may not have been aware of before.
A notable part of the exhibit memorializes the women who had the chance to leave forced domestic life and work in factories, production, and on the battlefield. Spectators can read about and see the uniforms of “munitionettes,” British women who made ammunition.
The IWM website states, “Each object on display gives a voice to the people who created them, used them or cared for them, and reveals stories not only of destruction, suffering, and loss, but also endurance and innovation, duty and devotion, comradeship and love.” Like other museums in the city, the IWM seeks not only to educate its visitors on the history of WWI, but also to honor the nation’s heroes who experienced the trauma of the war.
Native America: Professor Ben Sweeney Details New PBS Series
by The Cowl Editor on November 1, 2018
Arts & Entertainment
by: Kerry Torpey ’20 A&E Co-Editor
Since 1967, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has produced and created hundreds of hours of educational content for the American public. Most recently, PBS premiered the first two episodes of a four-part series called Native America, which “challenges everything we thought we knew about the Americas before and since contact with Europe.”
The first episode, called “From Cave to Cosmos,” goes back 15,000 years to analyze some of the earliest evidence of Native communities. The episode begins at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, a Hopi keeper of knowledge, describes going on a pilgrimage through the canyon as “a way of connecting back to our ancestral places.” In the episode, Kuwanwisiwma takes fellow tribe members to a “sacred cave shrine above the ruins of Chaco.” The group allowed for PBS to film the private ceremony for the first time ever.
Ben Sweeney ’00 is a Providence College film professor who played a key role in the production of the series. As a coordinating producer for the local production company Providence Pictures, Sweeney has produced multiple films for The History Channel and NOVA. Native America is the first collaboration between PBS and Providence Pictures.
According to Sweeney, the series “began as an offshoot of a film produced by Providence Pictures for NOVA in 2001 called Lost King of the Maya.” It was not until 2015, however, that Providence Pictures made a successful pitch for the series to PBS.
In terms of how much time the series took to produce, this project took longer than others. Sweeney explains that, alongside routine research, “we also needed to make sure we had the blessing and input of the Native communities that we were working with. These are groups that have long been denied the chance to tell their stories in their own words and it was imperative that we work very closely with them to let them tell their own stories and to make sure we got it right.” Filming, therefore, did not begin until 2016 when a crew was sent to Peru.
As coordinating producer, Sweeney’s role was, “to oversee almost all aspects of production and post-production,” but his main focuses were, “working with the crews, [shooting] logistics and planning, media management, and working closely with the composer and 2D and 3D animators.”
Sweeney says that some of his biggest challenges came from “juggling the logistics of shoots happening simultaneously on two continents, often in remote locations.” The final shoot for the series took place at a remote cave in the Amazon that holds some of the earliest cave paintings in the Americas. “Getting there,” he said, “involved four flights, a ferry and a speedboat ride up the Amazon River, and a several mile trek into the jungle with the crew and all their gear.” The shoot was also delayed when the crew’s gear was sent to the incorrect city in Brazil and their drone flew into a cliff face and broke on the first day.
The real challenge, however, was earning the trust of the Native communities featured in the series. Sweeney says that they were reluctant to trust “outsiders” after hundreds of years of being “silenced and ignored.” It was essential, therefore, to make sure their story was told “in their own words…in order to make sure [the series creators] got it right” and “weren’t sharing anything that they didn’t feel comfortable sharing with the world.”
Sweeney explains that series producer, Julianna Brannum, is a Comanche filmmaker who worked closely with the Native communities at large. The producers also hired Native American musicians to create the soundtrack and storytellers to “narrate the animated sections of the film in the languages of the peoples whose stories were being illustrated.”
In terms of what he wants viewers to take away from the series, Sweeney said, “I hope that people will come away from the series with a new understanding of what the Americas were like before 1492…Before contact, there were over 100 million people living here in massive cities that rivaled those of Europe and were connected by social networks that spanned both continents.” Furthermore, Sweeney hopes that viewers remember that although Native communities are often talked about in the past tense, and despite the fact that “these people and their cultures have survived some of the worst culture devastation and genocide the world has seen,” they are still thriving cultural groups. The series gives a voice to Native communities who have been forced into silence for so long.
Native America airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on PBS. For those interested, the first two episodes are available for streaming on www.pbs.org/show/native-america/episodes.
Poet Phillip B. Williams Speaks at Providence College
by The Cowl Editor on October 18, 2018
Arts & Entertainment
by: Kerry Torpey ’20 A&E Co-Editor
Last week, the Providence College Poetry and Fiction series welcomed award-winning poet Phillip B. Williams. Sponsored by the Department of English and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Williams read poems from his most recent publication, Thief in the Interior.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Williams is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he completed a MFA in creative writing. He is the winner of the 2017 Kate Tufts Discovery Award for his collection, Thief in the Interior.
Kate Tufts, the wife of writer and businessman Kingsley Tufts, established the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award of $50,000 in 1991. In 1993, she created the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, which was $5,000. Today, winners of the Kate Tufts Poetry Award, like Williams, receive $10,000 and are awarded “to give a poet a little breathing room and a little recognition.”
Also in 2017, Williams received the Whiting Award for poetry. The Whiting Award is given annually to 10 up-and-coming writers. A jury of writers and scholars select the winners each year. Furthermore, he has also received the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry.
Speaking to faculty, staff, and students in the Fiondella Great Room in the Ruane Center for the Humanities, Williams exhibited his mastery of the craft by sharing a selection of new and published poems. His particular attention to the discrimination of people of color & sexualities within the LGBTQ+ community made his poems deeply personal and emotional.
After his reading, he answered questions and did a book signing for Thief in the Interior. More information on Williams and his publications can be found on his website, www.phillipbwilliams.com.
“These people aren’t just rich, they’re crazy rich.”
by The Cowl Editor on August 30, 2018
Arts & Entertainment
Crazy Rich Asians: A Triumph For Asian Actors
by Kerry Torpey ’20
A&E Co-Editor
Since the 1993 release of the blockbuster The Joy Luck Club, there has not been a Hollywood film with a majority Asian cast, until now. The film adaptation of the best-selling novel, Crazy Rich Asians, proves that the industry can release a successful, number one film with talented Asian actors, leading the way for greater roles and opportunities.
Directed by Jon Chu, Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), a New York University economics professor who finds out that her boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), comes from a very wealthy family. As she accompanies him on a trip to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding, Rachel faces harassment and judgement from Nick’s family for her lower socioeconomic status.
Historically, Hollywood created media rules and restrictions, such as the Motion Picture Production Code (The Hays Code), that favored white actors in leading roles over people of color. Rather than cast the appropriate actors for roles written for Asians, Hollywood tends to put white actors in “yellowface.”
Yellowface is a cinematic technique in which actors of non-Asian descent wear makeup to appear as if they were Asian. A prime example of this is Warner Oland, an American-Swedish actor who, during the early 20th century, played multiple roles depicting Chinese characters.
Viewers likely recognize Wu from her breakout role as Jessica Huang in the hit ABC series Fresh Off the Boat, which is “the second Asian American family sitcom ever produced,” according to Julia Carrie Wong of The Guardian. In an interview with Wong, Wu discusses her struggle to become a “spokeswoman for Asian American frustration.”
Describing herself as “very impulsive and reactive,” Wu explains that she does not have “a model” to look to in carrying “the weight of expectations from an entire generation of Asian Americans yearning to be seen.” With generations of white A-list actors, from Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell and Matt Damon in The Great Wall, Asian American audiences have had proper representation within the industry taken away.
Nancy Yuen, author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, discusses the irony in the lack of opportunity for Asian actors. She notices the industry’s interest in things like manga and other Asian media, but explains, “It’s like they want our look and our stories and our martial arts, but they don’t want Asians.”
According to Vox, Crazy Rich Asians, which has spent the past two weeks at number one at the box office, has made a total of $76.8 million. Between the first two weekends, it dropped under six percent following initial release, which is impressive compared to a film like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which dropped 69 percent.
In terms of financial and critical success, Crazy Rich Asians is triumphant. More importantly, the film is evidence that Hollywood should not underestimate the abilities and skills of Asian and Asian American actors. “We shouldn’t be fighting over scraps,” says Yuen ”We should be fighting for the system to expand, so that all of us can get access to roles.”
Trinity Rep Takes Modern Twist on Othello
by Kerry Torpey on March 2, 2018
Arts & Entertainment
by Kerry Torpey ’20
A&E Co-Editor
The words of legendary playwright William Shakespeare continue to influence the world of theatre with directors modernizing his works to reach contemporary audiences. Although Trinity Repertory Theater’s production of Othello offer a visually contemporary update, it stays true to themes of envy, love, and betrayal, while highlighting issues of gender and race still present today.
Othello is a Shakespearian tragedy that follows the downfall of the titular military general, played by Jude Sandy, as he is deceived and betrayed by the villainous Iago (Stephen Thorne), who is upset Othello promoted Cassio (Charlie Thurston) to lieutenant and not him. Othello struggles to withstand the manipulation, which ultimately destroys his marriage and wife, Desdemona (Rebecca Gibel).
Director Whitney White received her MFA in acting from Brown/Trinity Rep and has starred in Trinity Rep’s productions of Oliver and A Christmas Carol. On Feb. 12, she visited Providence College to speak at Dr. Dana Dillon and Dr. Jennifer Illuzzi’s DWC colloquium Race, Marginality, and Theologies of Liberation about her production of Othello.
Describing many elements of the show as “trippy,” White discussed her process in modernizing Shakespeare’s great tragedy. For example, she chose to dress the soldiers and generals in the play in U.S. military attire. This not only brings the text into a modern political context, but also one that addresses of culture of aggressive masculinity.
A scene in which the effects of toxic masculinity plays a significant role is when Iago plots to get Cassio drunk in order to ruin his reputation. The actors drink from a mixed bucket of various alcohols and funnel drinks down Cassio’s throat. They also manifest stereotypes as they wear shirts that refer to tweeting and Bud Light. A subsequent fight reveals the harmful effects enforced masculinity has on men.
A standout scene which White explained as one her of favorites to direct is when the three women of the play sing “A Willow Song.” She explained that working with Gibel, Angela Brazil (Emilia), and L’Oreal Lampley (Bianca) was a great experience that highlighted the importance of female relationships.
Often referred to as “the Moor,” Othello experiences a significant amount of race-related comments and issues. Most notably are those from Iago and Desdemona’s father, Brabantio (Brian McEleney). Despite being an army general and having authority over his comrades, Othello still experiences racism at the hands of his soldiers, which brings into question the influence of race in military affairs.
When asked about his character, Sandy explained that Othello, despite embracing “codes of warrior conduct,” is “an outsider, a social aberration who is reminded at every turn of his otherness, with almost no one he can truly trust to guide him” through Venetian life. For his role, he was most interested in exploring, “the price that other-ed persons of all kinds pay for success in the face of ostracism, how precarious that well-being can be, how easily it can fall apart.”
A play of complicated race and gender dynamics, Othello remains relevant for a society in the midst of a tense social and political climate. Trinity Rep’s production of Othello will continue its run until March 18. For more information on tickets and show times, visit www.trinityrep.com/show/othello.