Q&A: Punk band safety scissors cuts against the mainstream

By ESTHER LIM the daily northwestern @eshlim1213

Northwestern band safety scissors started with a simple question: “Do you want to start a band?”

The trio of musicians jokingly refer to themselves as Northwestern’s premier “lesbian indie rock basement grunge pop punk post-modern newera emo revival band” on Instagram, but there’s one characteristic that unites the band’s versatile sound: energy.

The three juniors — McCormick singer and rhythmic guitarist Maddie Farr, Communication lead guitarist Judy Lawrence and Weinberg bassist Hope McKnight — spoke to The Daily about their origin, Notes from the Newsroom performance and where they’re headed.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily: Tell me about the origin of safety scissors — how did you all come together?

McKnight: Me and Maddie have been besties since freshman year. Last year, we were sitting on a train and Maddie had just auditioned for something, right?

Farr: I auditioned for something and I didn’t get it. And Hope has played viola for many years. So I turned to her and I said, “Hey, do you want to start a band?”

McKnight: We got a bass and then we started messing around and playing music together late at night or when we had free time. And then we decided to actually get the band going.

Farr: We put up flyers around campus and Judy responded, and that was that.

The Daily: What’s the story behind the name “safety scissors?”

Farr: We’re all lesbians! It’s kind of a joke about that.

Lawrence: That’s crazy to me — it was pure chance. The first time we all got together, (Maddie) was like, “Oh we’re called safety scissors because me and Hope are lesbians,” and I was like, “Oh! I’m also lesbian!” How serendipitous.

The Daily: How do all those genres you described on Instagram come together to form safety scissors’ sound?

Farr: Our whole thing on Instagram was, “If we claim as many attributes as possible, we can be the premiere group.” It’s just a joke. But I guess I would describe our sound as energetic and also with that, we don’t really stick to one genre. We don’t try to limit ourselves when we’re playing covers, or especially when we’re writing originals. Because why would we?

The Daily: What is the band’s trajectory?

McKnight: We definitely want to play as many shows as possible. It’s so much fun.

Lawrence: I think playing as many shows, like Hope said, and seeing where that leads us is kind of a nice position to be in. We know we can do it, we’ve done it and we have more paths to go down.

Farr: I guess the next biggest step in our trajectory is actually recording some of our original music and getting that online.

The Daily: Tell me about your setlist for Notes from the Newsroom.

Farr: So the first one we (were) playing is a song called “Cold.” That is one I actually wrote way before safety scissors was ever even a thought. It’s a song that I’ve been playing since I was 14 or 13 years old, but it’s definitely been adapted and improved since the dawn of safety scissors, so I’m excited about that one. And then the other two were more joint efforts in terms of writing them. The second one is called “Shadow” and the third one is called “Meltdown.”

The Daily: If there’s one lyric that you guys have written that is representative of the band, what would it be?

Farr: “She said ‘Girl run away with me and I’ll show you things you won’t believe.’” It’s from a song titled “Twin XL.” Honestly, we try not to take ourselves too seriously, and this song is just a lot of fun for us to play! And of course, our songs are often about girls, so we feel like that’s representative. estherlim2025@u.northwestern.edu

arts & entertainment

Editor Selena Kuznikov

Assistant Editors

Jamie Kim

Tabi Parent

Design Editors

Valerie Chu

Kelly Rappaport

Anna Souter

From membership, including transgender people. He said that since the resources are in progress, he is unable to comment on whether barring nonbinary students would count as a barrier to entry.

Abtahi said they do not want to promote a fraternity if it may be a “hostile” environment. They added it is important for Greek life organizations to be transparent about their limitations associated with national chapters.

According to Associate Vice President of Communications Jon Yates, fraternities cannot change chapter policies on a local level but can still advocate for change through their national organizations.

While there has been work completed to improve accountability and culture in Greek life, cultural shifts take time, Abtahi wrote.

Nationally, Abtahi wrote that fraternity organizations tend to be “binary spaces,” even as certain organizations push for gender expansiveness. He also wrote in the email that NU data suggests dissatisfaction and harm in Greek life, though some students may need FSL organizations for personal and academic success.

Stava added there are multiple reasons to believe fraternities are not inclusive organizations and that because of those perceived barriers, IFC fraternities do not represent the University. But, he hopes the initiative will encourage people of any background to join Greek life.

“I don’t think anyone who wants to join Greek life should be inhibited by an identity that they have,” Stava said.

Weinberg and Bienen freshman William Lewis said larger fraternities on campus tend to be run by straight, white men.

“I wouldn’t say there’s strict discrimination,” Lewis said. “However, I will say there is a certain target that frats are looking for … A lot of the time, that happens to be straight white men.”

IFC is also developing a men’s mental health training program, according to the Council’s

Sleep

From page 1 health factor in June 2022.

While not getting enough sleep for four years won’t necessarily lead to severe health consequences, college is a critical time to set healthy habits, Knutson said.

“Similar to diet and exercise, I want people to start thinking of healthy sleep as part of a healthy lifestyle,” Knutson said. “We may not always reach those goals on every single day, but that is the lifestyle.”

On Mondays, Weinberg freshman Jessica Guo is given computer science assignments that are due Fridays, she said. As a result, she’s adjusted her sleep schedule since Fall Quarter, when she slept about eight to 10 hours a night.

Now, she wakes up at about 10 a.m., attends her

Classified Ads

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

It is the policy of The Daily Northwestern to accept housing advertising only from those whose housing is available without discrimination with respect to sexual orientation, race, creed or national origin. The presumption is therefore, that any housing listing appearing here is non-discriminatory.

president and Weinberg sophomore Shaafi Flener.

The Council currently has multiple educational programs and trainings, required either by the national IFC or by the University. The national training, involving alcohol abuse and sexual harassment, is mandatory to join a fraternity, according to Stava.

Flener said the mental health training will fill some holes in IFC’s current modules.

“New member education is just making sure that people realize that we’re trying to build a culture that’s different,” Flener said, referring to previous incidents of hazing and sexual assault.

While he said the conversation on mental health is difficult, he emphasized its importance.

Flener said trainings are a preventative measure regarding sexual assault and hazing.

More than 2,000 students protested outside the AEPi fraternity house in September 2021 after multiple individuals reported they were drugged at an AEPi house event. An individual also reported being drugged at a Sigma Alpha Epsilon house event that same month.

The NU investigation into the alleged nonconsensual druggings closed in May 2022.

Students are punished when they do not attend trainings without valid reasoning, according to IFC Vice President of Standards Javier Fernandez-Ambite. He said social bans are an example of punishment.

Flener said he is trying to show that IFC is working on these problems and trying to open the fraternity community to conversations with the larger NU community

“We’re a different organization than we were last year, we’re a different organization than the year before that, and before that,” Flener said. “We’re really trying to change and grow into a better organization that can be really reflective of the Northwestern student body and reflective of our individual fraternities.” kaavyabutaney2026@u.northwestern.edu classes, eats an early dinner at 5 p.m. and naps from about 6 to 7:30 p.m. before starting her homework, which will last until anytime between 1 to 3 a.m.

Abolish Greek Life did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

For Communication junior Maelea Tan, their day is ruined if they don’t get enough sleep, they said. They can’t focus and might even fall asleep at inappropriate times, as was the case during a date their senior year of high school.

Tan recalled the incident: One moment they were eating a chicken nugget at McDonald’s, and the next they were dozing off, they said.

As a theater student, Tan has tried to balance rehearsal and schoolwork. After having rehearsals until 10 p.m. for a production last academic year, they’ve since avoided similar late time commitments.

“I would have to do all my homework after 10 (p.m.), and that was not good at all,” Tan said. “I was

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

HELP WANTED ADS are accepted only from advertisers who are equal opportunity employers. The presumption, therefore, is that all positions offered here are available to qualified persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, handicap, or veteran status.

Ryan Field

From page 1 primarily serves young people of color. His request was turned down, he said.

He also said he thinks the University has been trying to pit the Black community against 7th Ward residents in Evanston by marketing the rebuild as beneficial for the Black community.

“Marshaling Black ministers … to attempt to promote this narrative that this (project) is somehow going to save Black Evanston is really disingenuous,” Brown said. “It’s really kind of disgusting.”

The panelists emphasized the importance of obtaining a written community benefit agreement from NU guaranteeing the project would focus on contracting local businesses, use fair labor practices and minimize traffic, noise and pollution impacts to surrounding neighborhoods.

To negotiate such an agreement, panelist and NUGW co-Chair Emilie Lozier said community members need to create a coalition to pressure the University and City Council.

“Our recent campaign and election win this winter are through organized collective action,” Lozier said. “We can make Northwestern say yes to things that it doesn’t necessarily want to say yes to.”

David DeCarlo, who represented Most Liveable City, said community coalitions should ask City Council to demand more monetary contributions

Bookends

From page 1 landlords and established businesses.

For employees of the store, community support hasn’t freed the transition from stress. After closing the Bookman’s Alley location on Jan. 28, the store had to move roughly 40,000 books to the new store, according to Barrett.

Brooke Williams, the children’s section manager, said that though the experience exhausted her, it was ultimately worth the effort.

“To open the doors and see our regulars come extremely depressed and my life kind of fell apart a little bit.”

They said they once pulled an all-nighter to study for an exam, which was positive for their grade but negative for their mental health.

Sleeping at least a little before an exam or in between studying sessions can be beneficial, Knutson said.

“Ideally, you’re not cramming,” she said. “But if you have to compromise, I would definitely make sure you get some sleep in the middle there to consolidate those memories.”

Weinberg junior Jacob Jarding has mostly managed to get enough sleep in college, he said. However, he recently learned he could improve his mood by shifting his eight hours of sleep to an earlier time frame.

Before Fall Quarter, Jarding’s sleep schedule from the University before approving zoning changes for Ryan Field.

In general, panelists said they want the councilmembers to be more vocal in holding the University accountable for the rebuild’s potential impact on affordability and residential life.

“I don’t think we’re seeing any leadership from the mayor,” Brown said.

Two councilmembers, Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) and Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd) attended the meeting. Darlene Cannon and Kathy Hayes, who are running for 2nd and 9th Ward councilmember respectively, also attended.

Kelly said the event informed her on how residents want City Council to act.

“This is what Evanston is made of — people who roll up their sleeves, put in the hard work so we make decisions based on community needs and interests,” Kelly said.

Moving forward, panel moderator and CABG President Lesley Williams said advocacy groups will contact individual councilmembers with their concerns and demands around Ryan Field.

“We hope they understand how passionate people are about the project and the need for them to negotiate aggressively with Northwestern,” Williams said. “It’s simple. Respect Evanston.” williamtong2026@u.northwestern.edu zhizhongxu2026@u.northwestern.edu in — it was like, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s why we did this,’” she said.

Williams added that she feels like she’s grown up with some of the children who frequent the store, first recommending them kids’ books and now offering young adult novels. She said the new location will let Bookends grow.

The new look didn’t change much for Biss, who said he often brought his kids to the old Bookends.

“Ultimately, I’m attracted to the books and the people more than the address,” Biss said. colereynolds2026@u.northwestern.edu involved going to bed around 1 a.m. and waking up eight hours later. But, when he studied abroad this fall on Carleton College’s Buddhist Studies in Bodh Gaya, India program, he’d consistently wake at 5 a.m., meditate, have classes until 12 p.m. and sleep as early as 8 p.m. taliawiniarsky2026@u.northwestern.edu

After returning to Evanston for Winter Quarter, he decided he would go to bed at 11 p.m. and wake up around 6 or 7 a.m. most days to maximize his hours of sunlight.

He said he feels more motivated and is in a better mood when the sun is up.

“I don’t consider myself Buddhist, but (I’m) trying to import some of that conscientiousness and mindfulness into my life,” he said.

Daily Crossword

FIRE PROTECTION INSPECTOR Entry Level or Lateral Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services Naval Support Activity Crane $62,176 to $100,102/year. Minimum of accredited Fire Inspector II, HazMat Awareness required for lateral. Excellent Federal benefits, plus Tuition Assistance, career path & promotion potential. AFGE union shop.

Email DirectHireFire@navy.mil and put “Crane Fire Inspector” in subject line for benefits information and assistance in creating a resume for Federal employment. Equal Opportunity Employer.

FIREFIGHTER-EMT (Lateral) $55,565 to $89,422

FIREFIGHTER-PARAMEDIC (Lateral)

$55,565 to $109,388

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services Naval Support Activity Crane Minimum of accredited Firefighter II, HazMat Operations, and EMT or Paramedic. Salary dependent on credentials and qualifications. Excellent Federal benefits, plus Tuition Assistance. AFGE union shop. Recruitment and Relocation Incentives available for well-qualified candidates.

Email DirectHireFire@navy.mil and put “Crane Firefighter” in subject line for benefits information and assistance in creating a resume for Federal employment. Equal Opportunity Employer.