The complaint that the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is not much more than a commuter school is as least as old as its water main problems — which is to say at least 40 years old.
“I didn’t want to go to UMBC,” Mehrshad Devin, a sophomore Student Government Association Senator, told The Retriever.
Yet, in spite of his initial reluctance, Devin, who studies biology and physics, has made it his senatorial initiative to make going to UMBC a fuller experience.
Devin came to UMBC as part of the First Year Ambassador program, in which students learn about student government, often sitting in on SGA public sessions. Through this, he learned that there is not much to do around campus. “Not a lot of people know about Arbutus,” Devin said. “It’s not more than a 20-minute walk away and UMBC transit [stops through there], so I asked myself: ‘What are things that I can do to bring people to go out to Arbutus?’”
His answer? Going around town and asking businesses for discounts for UMBC students. Of the 60 businesses that Devin spoke to, 25 of them agreed to offer discounts to students. The list of these businesses can be found here, on the SGA’s website. There are barbershops, pizza places, a theater, massage parlors and liquor shops — all you have to do is flash your student ID card and collect the offer.
“We’re working on getting the word out,” Devin explained. “Next semester we want to blow up the discount lists everywhere on campus.” Devin plans to work with myUMBC’s administrators to get a permanent link up, distributing pamphlets and brochures, and also printing the discount list in highly visible areas, especially on bus stops. “We’re working on a huge social media push.”
Devin also explained that he’s been working closely with the Greater Arbutus Business Association to expand the initiative, and that he is “hoping to work more with them to take this to the next level.”
As part of his commitment to advertising these new student discounts, Devin runs a weekly vlog on Youtube, where he takes a student to spotlight a business on the discount list. So far, he has showcased Pizza 786, Taste Tea, Dollar General, Universal Comics and OCA Mocha. “It’s nothing official,” he said. “I try to make them relatable — check the videos out and let me know if they’re actually informative, any feedback would be great, positive or negative.”
“The businesses are doing the best they can, now it’s time to do our part.”
]]>The audience sits patiently ten minutes before the show starts. Chattering and laughing fill the air as the clock ticks closer to 8 o’clock when the show is scheduled to begin. Suddenly, the room turns pitch black. The audience is left in complete silence, and three hooded figures move out from the shadows, laying themselves across the staged dirt pile in the center of the room as a dim light fades in from above.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s theatre department’s latest performance, “Girls on a Dirt Pile,” is an original play written by UMBC’s own Susan McCully, a professor and playwright of feminist theatre. “Girls on a Dirt Pile” explores the world of Greek gods — a world that is chillingly similar to our own with its themes of female oppression and sexual assault.
From the beginning of the show, the audience is quickly introduced to the three original Graeae and their “children” — the gods Demeter, Zeus, Hades and Hecate. The plot follows the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, who was taken to the underworld by Hades so that she could be part of the twirlers, a group of dancers in skin-tight clothing. More and more evil is revealed as the show goes on, and it becomes clear how much Persephone is suffering at the hands of Hades. And nobody is able to help her.
In the second act of the play, the world is at its end because Demeter, trying to protect her daughter, destroyed everything necessary for survival. The gods and goddesses must find a way to cohabitate; otherwise, they might fade out of existence.
First to note in the performance is the students’ acting. “Girls on a Dirt Pile” is a complicated mix of modern and ancient language, complete with the intricacy of hypocritical, all-powerful characters and the much needed comedic relief. Even McCully acknowledges, “It’s a very, very difficult script, because it is so epic and because they have to go bounce back and forth between being broad and doing this poetic language and creating worlds just with words and then, in the next scene they have to do a highly realistic relationship type theme…”
Despite the difficulties in language and the somewhat stilted delivery of it, each actor was able to bring their character to life. Ronnita Freeman, playing the role of Demeter, skillfully characterized motherhood. Hades became despised on stage as a gaslighting abuser through the acting of Lloyd Ekpe.
The set, on the other hand, is relatively simple. A well with a wooden cover stands center stage, surrounded by a pile of dirt and puzzle pieces. Two wooden doors stand behind it. A smaller set complete with a stone table and a curved stone seat is off to the side. This set did not actually reveal the time period nor was it able to be changed dramatically to fit each scene. It was with costumes, pantomiming from the actors and flawless changes in lighting that the audience is able to imagine where the characters are and what they are seeing.
This stability of the set definitely forced the audience to focus more on the characters and the story, rather than simply being impressed by multiple scene changes as is common for modern productions. Thus, it provides a solid base for the audience to realize the real purpose of the play.
“Girls on a Dirt Pile” is a tale of modern politics. The setting of the play, which is most likely set sometime around 600 B.C., matters very little; the characters’ firm stance on political issues, sexual assault, gender inequality and climate change is what the play begs the audience to pay attention to.
And the performance does not halt its presentation of these issues for even a second.
Because of this, the entire play is extremely frustrating. There are constant jeering remarks made by multiple characters throughout the play. “Women. We are all too much alike,” says one of the Graeae. There were the unbearable sexual assault scenes where Persephone, the innocent, pure and good-hearted daughter, endures something she should never have.
Yet it is the unbearable discomfort of those sexual assault scenes that brings us closer to the depths of the meaning in the play. “I have really big feelings about showing that scene … Part of the ‘Me Too’ movement is that it’s really important for women to raise their hand and say ‘this really happened’ and to be believed. So sort of the whole entire play, we witness it all,” says McCully.
The audience can clearly see what is wrong with the way all the women are treated, their fates held in the hands of men that do not deserve that authority. Demeter and Persephone’s helplessness tears into the hearts of the audience members because these two women have so much power, yet their status in life as women hinders them.
Act two demonstrates the cyclical nature of the patriarchal system in which women, even after striving for freedom and change, can fall back into the same roles as before. The characters are shot forward 2500 years to the end of the world and, still, Hades controls Persephone and, still, Demeter cannot save her own daughter. It is an agonizing wait until the end of the play when a half resolution is made.
Even with its flaws in execution and with its frustrating nature, this play is one that should be seen by as many as possible. It retells the story of sexism and patriarchal societies during the ancient Greeks’ reign. It welcomes a new generation of plays where female protagonists, antagonists and the female experience in general are showcased. It even manages to grab a few laughs. Most of all, “Girls on a Dirt Pile” digs its hands into some of the crucial debates that afflict our modern society and comes out with biting responses to them all.
“Girls on a Dirt Pile” will be performed at the Black Box Theatre from Dec. 6 to 8. Tickets are available online. A limited number of free tickets will be available to students for the Sunday matinee performance.
]]>The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
Ever since I was young, I watched how I treat people. My parents taught me that being empathetic was important. You didn’t have to be friends with everyone, but you have to recognize their right to exist. Growing up with this teaching has allowed me to talk to people and build a sense of trust with them. I enjoy building these bonds because I love to help others.
As I grew up, I started to realize some flaws in my own system. Yes, I was getting close to people and making them feel better, but what was I getting out of it? This seems like a selfish question, but I started to think about it after I realized that I didn’t feel nearly as good as those around me. While I was investing my time in others and putting effort into relationships, I found that they were not nearly as interested in me. When I was struggling and looking for someone to turn to, it felt as if all of these friends I had made no longer existed. In the end, I would turn back to the family who taught me that kindness is key.
Am I saying that you shouldn’t care about others? No, not at all. In fact, I still stand by my belief that empathy is valuable. However, I encourage people to surround themselves with people who are good for them. This sounds very cliché, but it’s key to living a happy life. If you go around with an open heart for just anyone, you will get torn to pieces. While you may have someone else’s best interest in mind, they aren’t even thinking about you. I’ve learned that this can lead to loneliness and fear that you’re doing everything wrong. The truth is that sometimes our hearts are too big. People will begin to take advantage of those who put themselves on the line for others. It doesn’t seem very fair, but we’ve all grown up being taught that life is hardly fair.
Sometimes I feared that having all these people turn their backs on me or use me as a tool would turn me bitter. Of course, I was frustrated, and I was definitely hurt and confused. Even with the mess of emotions that some people made me feel, I didn’t want them to change who I was as a person. I encourage you to do the same if you’re struggling with this. Rather than allowing someone to step all over you and flatten you into a person who you don’t recognize, take that pain and allow it to shape you into a better version of yourself. Recognize that maybe you made a mistake by trusting someone who didn’t care, but never allow them to turn you cold. You are your own person and the people around you don’t define you.
Even if we go through life regretting every mistake we’ve ever made, we know we can learn from them. When I had people that would throw my feelings aside and show me who they truly were, I learned that not everyone is like me. People don’t always grow up being taught about kindness. Some people may have even turned cold as a result of their kindness. Despite what it may be, I learned that I can’t always expect people to share my same view on the world. I can’t expect them to put their hearts on the line for me as I may do for them. Instead, I can find people who would show the same amount of care for me as I would them. I can surround myself with individuals who make me happy and care about how I feel. On the other hand, I can recognize that everyone else has a right to exist and be their own person. I don’t necessarily have to put my heart on the line for them, but I can offer a hand when it’s needed.
I do encourage everyone to try to be an empathetic person. It’s important to be able to see life from another person’s perspective and try to put yourself into their shoes. However, don’t expect the world to give back what you put in. Being nice isn’t going to bring your happiness. You have to put effort into finding those people who care for you and make sure to stick close to them. When it comes to others, don’t let them take advantage of your kindness. Recognize when a relationship isn’t good for you and learn to walk away. You can still offer help, but it’s important that you don’t give yourself to everyone. Your feelings are just as important as those around you. Don’t let anyone make you forget that.
]]>On Nov. 18, 2019, signatories — including students, professors and administrators — from over 50 U.S. academic institutions issued a statement urging Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, to cease the siege of two of Hong Kong’s universities, and petitioning the current United States congress and presidential administration to take action against the government of Hong Kong until the situation is resolved. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Evan Hansen was one of those signatories.
“I have a lot of friends and family in Hong Kong,” he said wearing a shirt with the protesters’ slogan, “Five Demands, Not One Less,” written in Chinese (which Hansen translated for The Retriever). “That’s the reason I’ve been following what’s going on.”
Hansen has been learning Cantonese (a variety of Chinese that is spoken by nearly 68 million people, and is the predominant language of Hong Kong) for more than a year now, and studies Mandarin (the variety of Chinese endorsed and standardized by the state, spoken by nearly 70% of the population of China) at UMBC.
According to Hansen, the Hong Kong police force cannot legally infiltrate the campuses, but have done so under the pretense of detaining protesters who had committed crimes in the course of the conflict. “The purpose of the statement was to show solidarity between people in the academic world, and show their support,” Hansen explained. “After all, they’re universities which are being besieged … I’ve contacted several political clubs [to see if they could weigh in on the situation], like the College Democrats and Republicans, but so far it’s been mostly unfruitful,” he said.
Hansen is involved with a closed group of pro-Hong Kong activists in the United States connected to the drafting of the statement, which includes Columbia University’s “Liberty4HongKong” and UC Davis’s “Davis4HK.” The joint statement was even picked up by a local Hong Kong radio personality, Xiaotao Pan, who shouted-out the statement on his Facebook page. Although Hansen’s attitude toward the statement’s effects are measured, he said that, “it’s about creating awareness, applying pressure to public figures, legislators, and most importantly, show the world the support that already exists.”
The statement was published ten days before Congress passed the Human Rights and Democracy Act, which allows the US to reconsider its special economic privileges granted to Hong Kong if it finds, via annual review, that China has broken international laws that guarantee Hong Kong’s autonomy. The passage of the bill was sharply criticized by the Chinese government, but was welcomed by pro-democracy protestors, including Joshua Wong, who was nominated by US lawmakers for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
Furthermore, Hansen emphasized the importance of freedom of speech and popular sovereignty. “If the Hong Kongers can do these things facing persecution, I don’t see why I can’t be passionate also,” he said. “I think it’s important that I have the right to [freedom of expression], because I can use it to support the things I care about, which to other people is oftentimes only a privilege.”
“You should be passionate about others having their voices heard,” he said.
]]>The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s AOK Library is frequented by masses of students as the fall semester comes to an end and final exams approach. Time is a precious resource during these last few weeks of studying for final exams and perfecting final papers. It can be difficult to find time for hobbies, but one group of students has been taking time to sit back and have fun as they have all semester. They meet every other week in the RLC seminar room to discuss a shared interest: books.
The Book Club was founded two years ago during the spring semester by a small group of students who all enjoy reading. Club President Everest Brooks, a senior computer science major, says that the idea was simple; the students just wanted a place to “meet and talk about books,” and he describes the atmosphere of the meetings as “super relaxed.” Originally, the group collectively chose one book to read for each time period between meetings and would then discuss it, but decided to change things up this year. Now, attendees are free to talk about their reading experiences old and new, making for more varied conversation and, as Brooks notes, allowing members “to grow [their] book lists.”
Both Brooks and club Public Relations Manager Jeanette Richardson, a senior history major, agree that their participation in the club encourages them to read. Brooks admits that, during his freshman and sophomore years of college, he read “maybe two books” that were not assigned for class despite his love for reading; he just felt too busy with classwork. Now, he makes time to read and shares his experiences with the group. Richardson observes that “people don’t read as much now unless it’s mandatory for class,” so she looks forward to attending meetings to be in an environment where she finds “people who genuinely enjoy books.” She has over 1,500 books on her list of books that she wants to read, as she regularly adds suggestions from others, and has read 55 books so far this year, something she says she has not done in a long time.
Currently, the Book Club has a small membership. Richardson stumbled upon the club at Involvement Fest and now directs communications by reaching out to potential members on their myUMBC and Facebook pages. Recently, the group has collaborated with two other organizations on campus in events that both Brooks and Richardson enjoyed. In October, there was an event called Spooky Books in the library’s Special Collections. In November, members of the Hot Beverage Club brought teas representing famous authors to sample and share.
The Book Club’s goal is to encourage students who like reading — even if life has been too busy for them to read in some time — to come out and talk about books. Richardson notes that she was wary when she first joined because science fiction is a popular genre among members and it’s not her favorite, but everyone listened to her and chimed in. She was excited to hear about all types of books being discussed, and she has even expanded her reading horizons. To all interested students, she says simply, “join us.”
]]>Anjali DasSarma is currently studying abroad in England. The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
As many of you may have heard, there was a terrorist attack on the London Bridge. Without going into too many excruciating details, a man with a fake bomb, who was later killed by the police, stabbed five people, killing two. It’s true that around Christmas time here security is heightened, but it’s also close to the Dec. 12 special elections. So many many people checked in and I got so many updates about the frightening events going on not so far away from where I was. I had forgotten what it was like to live in a place with crime, as London’s violent crime rate is far below that of most cities in the United States.
All of that comfortable forgetfulness changed yesterday afternoon. Yes, it was terrifying, though King’s College was luckily about 15 minutes away from London Bridge, and my friends and I were safe. Yesterday’s event got me thinking about how many more homicides I hear about in Baltimore on a daily basis — and how many attacks there are — so many of which are barely mentioned in regional news. When the terrorist incident was first mentioned, I was shocked, because in all the frenzy it was first reported as a shooting. That’s practically unheard of here. Of course I assumed at first that the perpetrator was the shooter. It later came out that the only shots fired were by the police. And I just kept thinking about how many more could have died if the attacker had a gun.
The amount of vetting and effort that has to be put in to just get a license for a handgun here is incredible. There are only five guns per 100 people, compared to 120 in the US. It makes me feel so much safer. Though violent crime still exists here in the form of knife attacks, it’s rare and a very different scene. This is not to say that knife crime isn’t terrifying, but the number of people who can be killed is smaller compared to a gun. The number of people killed in the US using automatic rifles in a short period of time in a word, horrific.
Getting all the alerts reminded me of the school shootings and attacks on places of worship that have occurred. And many of us, I’m sure, know someone who has lost loved ones to gun attacks. It includes even people in my high school in Howard County. But knowing that here in London very few people can own firearms and no one can own automatic weapons makes me feel so much safer. Though as a caveat, clearly London is also the victim of global terrorism issues.
As a student journalist, the first thing I wanted to do was to jump up and go to the scene and take photos and interview people there. However, as a study abroad student, I have certain limitations. This is not my country, and to a certain extent, I cannot put myself in harm’s way because my visa is for studying. The UK laws also limits exposure and publicity of terrorists and violent criminals. One of the most reassuring things about yesterday was that the terrorist was stopped by some brave citizens, without whom more people would have been hurt. This may also have been possible because he was using a knife rather than a firearm.
One of the things that struck me the most was the national mobility surrounding the event in London. There was no panic, and the city’s contingency plans went smoothly into effect. There can be some desensitizing that inadvertently occurs because we have so much gun violence in the United States. But the routine violence in Baltimore and the lives senselessly lost there make us numb. Lives everywhere matter, just as much as they do here in London. It is so difficult to fight becoming desensitized, but even frightening events and lives lost deserve to be remembered and fought for, not just forgotten. We need to find a way to make people safer.
]]>Winter Break Closing Information
Eight-month communities close for Winter Break on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 8:00 PM and reopen on Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 9AM.
Students in 8-month communities are expected to vacate and complete the below checklist to help ensure the overall health & safety of your room and personal belongings:
RAs will conduct an inspection in each 8-month community. Failure to properly prepare your space and vacate by the deadline may result in student conduct action. For more information about break closing please contact your RA or Community Director.
Late Stay Requests
Residents may be eligible to apply for late stay if their permanent address is more than 50 miles (Distance D) from UMBC and they are:
Residents approved for late stay will be expected to depart by Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 10AM.
If you meet the requirements, please contact Residential Life to be issued the late stay application. Late stay applications are due by Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 11:59PM.
Dining Hours
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