Eliza Browning
Eliza Browning ’22 is the Wire’s current Arts and Culture Editor. She’s an English and Art History double major and is a Collections Assistant as well as Access Services Assistant in the Library. She’s also an editor for Rushlight, the literary magazine, and Babe Lincoln, the politics and culture magazine. Outside of Wheaton, she is an intern at the Attleboro Museum and she is a writing fellow with the COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective.
David Palombo ’21 says of Browning, “She possesses a remarkable drive in regards to personal betterment. I’ve yet to meet someone who strives towards an individual zenith more doggedly, someone more deserving of the bright path she’s set to work constructing for herself. But the singular thing about Eliza, more so than any other quality, is that her tenacious push towards a shining future does not end within herself. Rather, Eliza is a person who will travel to the ends of the Earth to help you, and push you, towards improvement. Her remarkable insight into the best way to achieve one’s ends is inspiring, and this is just one quality among an array of positivities. To remark briefly upon another, Eliza is unflinchingly humble — I can guarantee that she’ll hate reading this.”
Browning described an interest in bringing together different disciplines of the arts, and a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. She explained that her position and work with Babe Lincoln is motivated not only by her interest in exploring art and literary criticism outside of the classroom, but is also informed by her desire to “talk about things people [at Wheaton] care about.” She went on to talk a little more about her work with Counterclock, a literary journal for which she reads submissions. She explained that as well as publishing three times a year, they also have online workshops that are targeted to a young adult and college audience. Browning described a collaboration that Emily Gray ’22 and Caroline Chaffiote ’22 are working on, where they plan to combine film and poetry, yet again bringing up her personal passion for projects that cross borders.
Ben Cohen
Ben Cohen ’22 is the Wire’s current Opinions Editor, as well as frequently contributing articles to the Politics and Economics section. He is a Political Science and English double major, one of the Social Media Managers for the Wheaton Leftist Union, a Model United Nations team member, and a producer for Professor Drout’s hybrid class. Cohen has also established a regular column reporting each Student Government Association Senate meeting.
Alyssa Myers ’23, a Wire Opinions writer, described Cohen as “super supportive and funny.” Mae Flibotte ’22, Head Delegate of Wheaton’s Model United Nations team, said, “Ben has been a part of the Model United Nations team since freshman year when we joined together. He brings a strong passion for debate and collaboration and utilizes his creativity to write comprehensive, intense, and wacky directives. His ability to think on his feet and his in-depth knowledge of politics and government structures allows him to be a persuasive speaker and a strong delegate.” Cohen reminisced about his favorite MUN, during which he represented a fundamentalist preacher during the witch trials.
Amy Glover ’21, who works with Cohen on social media, said of Cohen, “Working with Ben has been not only one of the most fun experiences, but he is very on top of his passions. We are able to work around our own schedules and he keeps me in the loop whenever my schedule conflicts for meetings, he is very flexible. We have our own strengths and we have been able to incorporate all of that into the social media posts.”
Cohen spoke of the time he spent working with Ben Sigel and Michelle Wu’s campaigns.
“To me, they both come across as very true to their word, very genuine, which can be such a rarity in politics,” said Cohen. “Sigel visited every town in the district and has all these pragmatic, progressive, human-focused plans. Wu pays her fellows, which is something I’ve never heard of a campaign doing before, and her devotion and empathy come across really clearly, whether she is speaking to a crowd or to her volunteers.”
Cohen described many of his projects and positions as stemming from his belief in tightly intertwined politics and history, explaining that he sees no successful political campaigns without the media and politically invested people. As well as his work with the aforementioned campaigns, he is also currently an intern for YesOn2 Ranked Choice Voting in MA, recruiting volunteers and training them to phone bank, as well as assorted administrative work like creating spreadsheets and organizing contact information.
“I want to remind people to vote, even and especially for local politics,” said Cohen. “Even if someone is making a decision for you at the national level, you might have all these other representatives willing to fight for you.”
