March 16, 2022

The Emory Wheel Since 1919

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 103, Issue 5

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Printed every other wednesday

50 years later, former students reflect on gender quota

Student government election guide Student Government Association (SGA), College Council (CC) and BBA Council elections will be held from March 22 at 12 p.m. to March 25 at 12 p.m. If necessary, runoffs will be from March 28 at 12 p.m. to March 29 at 12 p.m.

Students, depending on their year and school, have the opportunity to vote on President and Vice President for SGA, President, Vice President and Fourth, Third and Second Year Legislators for CC and President, Vice President, SGA Representative and Fourth and Third Year Representatives for BBA Council.

The Emory Wheel will host a debate Wednesday, March 16, featuring candidates running for SGA President and Vice President, CC President and Vice President and BBA Council President.

The debate will take place in Room 303 of the Anthropology Building at 6:30 p.m. All are encouraged to attend.

The Wheel asked participating candidates to submit a 150-word platform.

See Page 4 for candidate introductions.

A nusha Kurapati/Contributing Illustrator

By Brammhi Balarajan and Matthew Chupack Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor

would not be one of the four students to embark on a journey to William & Mary.

So instead, Allen turned to Emory.

Carol Allen (74C) was excited about the prospect of the College of William & Mary after hearing about a family friend’s enriching experience there.

She had the grades, the accolades and a strong academic record, only to find herself “totally stunned” when she saw her rejection.

After Allen’s family friend talked to William & Mary faculty to help Allen, she learned there was nothing she could do. The school conceded that Allen had a great application, but they could only accept four out-of-state girls per year. They could put her on a waiting list for dorm students, but she

Banning of the sex quota While the Board of Trustees approved the regular admission of female students to Emory College in 1953, according to a Wheel article from January 1971, sex quotas on female acceptances persisted until the 197172 academic year. The quota stipulated that for every two males accepted into Emory College, one female could be accepted.

Staff Writer John Pallister (74C) reported that in January 1971, Emory College faculty voted to abolish the discriminatory quota, with the change

Professors report barriers to women in sciences

By Julia Laszcz Science and Research Desk From research into HIV cures to analyzing plants for medicinal purposes, women at Emory University have made significant contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

However, female professors continue to report barriers in advancing in the STEM field.

Professor of Chemistry Jennifer Heemstra has experienced this acutely, particularly in regards to motherhood.

Noting the historic discrimination women in STEM face from their male colleages, Heemstra said that mothers often receive a lack of adequate support from their workplace, in addition to stereotyping and implicit biases.

“I had a postdoc offer retracted because I was a woman and it was considered too risky to hire me because I might become pregnant,” Heemstra said. “I was actually terminated from

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another job because I became pregnant. These were the big events, but perhaps the bigger challenge has been the everyday things that happen that consistently erode one's dignity.”

While Heemstra’s employers ended up keeping her position, and she completed her postdoc at Harvard University (Mass.) in 2010, many women in STEM experience the struggle of balancing their duties as scholars and mothers.

Emily Burchfield, an assistant professor in environmental science, said that after she had her child, she noticed different expectations placed on men and women as both employees and parents. She added that female professors are often penalized for having babies by delaying their tenure by an additional year, which can often delay promotions as well.

“Don’t delay tenure, shift the expectations for those whose bodies create life for nine months, then get a tiny

See EMORY, Page 2

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affecting next year’s class, or those enrolling in Fall 1971.

Although Emory wouldn’t see equal enrollment of males and females until 1980, then Director of Admissions Bert Carroll used previous application trends to predict that abolishing the quota would result in the class entering in Fall 1971 being composed of 44.8% females and 55.2% males.

Then Dean John Stephens attributed the decision to financial factors, mentioning in the 1971 article that the University needed money in “this time of economic str[i]ngency.” To do so, he suggested increasing enrollment and admitting all qualified female applicants.

“We have been turning down admissible female students who are more than capable of meeting Emory’s

standards,” Stephens said. “I[f] we are to continue to enroll in the College the number of students that we have room for, and we want to enroll, even this practically dictates a change in the ratio.”

The Board of Trustees also used financial reasoning to justify eliminating the sex quota, Bence said. Along with universities nationwide, Emory experienced a dip in enrollment in the 1970s.

“They need many, and they can pay, so why would we exclude anyone who’s qualified?” Bence said. “I don’t know quite why the quota really persisted … could just be old habits die hard.”

However, University archives indicate that efforts to eliminate the quota began as early as the 1950s. In 1958, then

See MEET, Page 4 President Goodrich White issued a report noting the controlled admissions of a sex quota only hurt the University’s prestige and academics.

“It is clear that at this time academic quality in the College student body is being sacrificed in order to maintain the quota,” he said.

The quota was then “relaxed” in 1958, and other efforts by the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees pushed for the rule to be permanently rescinded. However, while the University did not want the ban to be in place, they also did not want to increase the amount of female admits by a dramatic amount. It would not be until 1971 when the sex quota would officially be rescinded.

See FEMALE, Page 4

Emory generations share their nonbinary experience

By Madi Olivier News Editor Queerness transcends age in Emory University classrooms, where first year students and longtime professors identify as LGBT+.

Isabella Monteleagre (21Ox, 23C), Julian Currents (22G) and Associate Professor of Religion Sara McClintock are three members of nonbinary community at Emory, and their stories embody the experiences of three major generations on campus.

Courtesy of Emory University

Students march in the 46th annual Atlanta Pride Festival in 2016.

When Montealegre sat down in Kaldi’s before spring break, they were wearing a mushroom t-shirt and mint green Crocs. They accessorized with earrings.

But that was only one day. Next, they might be more masculine.

Montealegre said they are comfortable not fitting in one box, but it took years to achieve it.

“I think that's kind of what nonbina-

ry is about, to be honest,” Montealegre said. “Just having the option to present however, and to have your existence validated by others and hopefully by institutions as well.”

When they were 14, they began to feel like they were genderqueer and dressed masculine. They tried embracing their femininity later, but Montealegre said it felt like they were doing it to please others.

“My parents were worried about me because I was changing my whole wardrobe,” Montealegre said. “They

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EMORY LIFE Author SPORTS Running On

Isabella Montealegre (Generation Z, 20 years old)

thought I was having a personality crisis.”

However, Montealegre said their family was supportive once they came out as bisexual, and then as a lesbian.

During fall 2021, Montealegre worked as an undergraduate office assistant for the Office of LGBT Life, and hosted a clothing drive for genderqueer people.

Still, they have also had negative experiences while at Emory, especially as a queer person of color. They

See NONBINARY, Page 3

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Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Emory Wheel

Nonbinary scholar, students reflect on gender identity

Continued from Page 1

were a member of a large LGBTQ+ GroupMe for students, where they sent messages saying they disagreed with Emory Pride’s decision to host the annual drag show at the Glenn Memorial Church, which they said does not allow gay marriage.

Montealegre received backlash for their messages along with the other students who were upset with the decision, who they said were mostly people of color. They added that the group broke out into several arguments, forcing many members to leave the chat.

“There was a very condescending nature to how they were speaking to POC folks and myself,” Montealegre said.

Montealegre said seeing racism at Emory was painful, especially because Atlanta has a large queer POC population. They decided to work with their friends to make a groupchat for queer students of color, which now has about 140 members.

“We built our own community out of it,” Montealegre said.

Julian Currents (Millennial, 32 years old) Rejection became a constant during Currents’ year-long Masters in Philosophy program in Dublin, Ireland.

They wrote their master’s thesis about three books focusing on Dublin-based lesbians in the 90’s, and the only person

Currents could find who would advise their project was Brian Cliff (01G).

Currents’ troubles were not isolated to the classroom. There were only two gay bars in Dublin at the time, both of which served communities of mainly white gay men, and one closed down while Currents was living there. A few times, the prejudice became physical.

“I definitely got assaulted on the street by young Dublin teens who grabbed me and my girlfriend at one point,” Currents said. “We've been yelled at.”

However, this was not new for Currents.

Growing up in Key West Florida — which they described as a conservative majority-white town — Currents did not realize they were queer until they moved 1500 miles away to attend Ithaca College (N.Y.) in 2007. They were in an “unhealthy” relationship with a high school boyfriend at the time.

“I was thinking, 'This isn't just long distance, this isn't just a high school relationship, or this isn't just XYZ, this isn't just whatever,’ Currents said.

For the next few years, Currents cycled through different labels — bisexual, lesbian, queer. However, nothing seemed to explain the disconnection they felt from their assigned gender. Currents said they knew of a lot of transgender people, but it was a binary label at the time, as they all identified as men or women. They did

not know of anybody else who felt like they were neither.

“As far as I could imagine, I was like, 'Oh, well, I'm not a man, I must just be an uncomfortable woman,’” Currents said. “So I just sort of put a pin in that and just ignored it for a very long time.”

It was not until about four years ago that they came out as nonbinary, Currents said. They were already a part of the Ph.D. program at Emory at the time. When they changed their name last year, Currents said it took them about six months to change their Emory accounts to not include their dead name.

“They gave me a secondary email address, but all my primary email contact is still my dead name,” Currents said. “They cannot change that or they will not change that.”

However, Currents said they have never had an issue with their students.

“I've even had students take classes of mine one semester and work with me knowing me under my dead name, and then the following semester, they got introduced to me with a new name,” Currents said. “And without batting an eyelash, they moved forward like business as usual.”

Sara McClintock (Baby Boomer, 59 years old) The words nonbinary and bisexual were not in McClintock’s vocabulary as they grew up on Long Island, New York in the 1960s and 70s. They said

Emory scholars cite mentorship as key to gender equity women

they knew they did not want to be a girl when they were a child, but they did not want to be a boy either, leaving them in a label-ess middle ground.

McClintock said the only time they were exposed to something that could explain their gender identity as a kid was when they read a magazine article about a family who raised their child genderless, giving them a gender neutral name and clothing.

“I kind of wished that my parents would have done that with me, but I grew and I went along, and I continued to be gendered by people as female,” McClintock said.

However, this was not an option for McClintock. They remember going to Provincetown with their middle school friend as a teenager, where they watched local kids taunt a gay man.

Homophobic slurs were tossed around their high school classrooms, and there were not a lot of openly gay kids.

Even though they did not identify as a woman, McClintock said they faced misogyny and saw the struggles women face. As they were perceived as a woman, they also experienced gendered violence when they were raped at 18. There was a trial, and the rapist was aquitted.

“I recently found some poetry that I wrote from my college years,” McClintock said. “One line in this one poem said something like, 'I never felt I was a woman until I was raped.’”

McClintock has been working at Emory since 2005. However, when they

Continued from Page 1 baby through the first year of life,” Burchfield said.

Although 59% of Emory students and 48% of the U.S. workforce are women, they only make up 27% of the STEM workforce nationwide. Many women in STEM have cited the lack of female mentors in the field as a key factor in their decision to leave STEM, especially in physical sciences, engineering and computing, which host the lowest percentage of women.

Assistant Computer Science Professor Joyce Ho experienced the weight of gender discrimination during her education in computer science. Ho said there was a lack of female professors during her time as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2003. Instead, she relied on female classmates for support.

“While I haven't had many official female mentors, my support network served as my unofficial mentors,” Ho said. “They gave me a sense of belonging and confidence that for me it didn't matter so much whether or not there

was diversity above me. I was comfortable enough to pursue what I loved.”

About two decades later, Ilakkia Anabayan (22C), a neuroscience and behavioral biology (NBB) major, said the female faculty at Emory played a major role in her decision to conduct research and apply to be a Churchill Scholar. With the award, Anabayan will pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Cambridge. Anabayan also credits her female professors with inspiring her to be a mentor to other female students in the chemistry department.

“Professor McGill is someone I really look up to,” Anabayan said. “As someone who is really interested in education and mentorship, her efforts to transform the chemistry curriculum at Emory have been inspirational. I also really look up to Dr. Roesch in the NBB department. She has been a strong source of support as I have navigated the challenges of research and coursework at Emory.”

Despite strides to increase women’s presence in STEM, such as the creation of e Women in Science at Emory, a group comprised of STEM

faculty, Ho said the scientific community has still not achieved gender equality. Women like Ho speak out to highlight long-ignored issues with the hopes of coming one step closer toward bridging gender discrepancies in STEM fields.

One of the first steps is building female-focused support networks in academia, Anabayan said. She believes it is important to build the foundation of academic and social support for the next generation of aspiring scientists, as many women in STEM have lacked female mentors in their fields of study.

“My interest in STEM, particularly research, really blossomed when I was surrounded by great mentors,” Anabayan said. “Part of this is empowering young women to understand the value that they bring to their labs, classrooms, or clinics. By being confident in the worth of your time and efforts, you can more effectively identify mentors who appreciate what you bring to the table.”

— Contact Julia Laszcz at julia.laszcz@emory.edu

— Contact Madi Olivier at madi.olivier@emory.edu

Students for Students demands $15 minimum wage

By Katie Bartlett Oxford Campus Desk

Ha-tien Nguyen/Staff

first started, they still did not have a word to describe how they felt about their gender.

After being perceived as a woman their whole life, McClintock said they ultimately accepted the discomfort.

“I was interested in feminism and I was very much in favor of women's rights, so I kind of just allowed that to be,” McClintock said. ”I accepted being gendered as female.”

However, when someone close to McClintock came out to them as transgender about five years ago, it pushed them to finally look at their own feelings surrounding gender, even if they had ignored it for over 50 years.

“I just realized that it wasn't really any kind of a question for me,” McClintock said. “I identify as nonbinary, and I really always have, I just really haven't had words for it.”

They have found acceptance among students and faculty, and said they “love” watching queer students express themselves in ways that were not available decades ago.

“I had a student who was actually in the process of coming out as trans, and in our class, they were asking us to use a new name and new pronouns and things like that,” McClintock said.

“What was great was to see that the other students were very supportive.”

E Emory Students for Students, an advocacy organization which aims to make Emory more equitable, issued an open letter on March 14 demanding for administration to “take concrete steps to enact an increase to a $15 an hour minimum wage for student workers on Atlanta and Oxford campuses.”

Currently, the letter is accompanied by a petition, which has over 700 signatures from students, faculty, staff, alumni and campus organizations.

According to the letter, over onefifth of Emory students are employed through the Federal Work-Study Program, which provides part-time jobs to cover the costs of college for low income students. Emory permits all work-study students to earn up to $2,500 per year, with a $8.50 to $9.50 on the Oxford Campus and a range of $9 to $11 wage on the Atlanta Campus . In conjunction with the weekly hour limits, this means work-study students may not always reach the cap. On average, work-study students nationwide earn $1,800 to $1,850 per year.

Reaghan Moore (23Ox) is one such student that experienced difficulty reaching the cap . For her work-study, she works 10 to 13 hours per week in the Oxford Biology Lab. However, because of the remote start to spring semester, Moore will not reach her allotted $2,500 by the end of the school year.

“Work-study money is deemed necessary by Emory and the federal government,” Moore said. “We should be able to earn it without having to sacrifice academic success to work more hours.”

In the letter, Students for Students argues that the current minimum wage is not sufficient in making a “substantial dent” in the expenses required to attend Emory. They list out all of these costs, including the rising tuition, required oncampus housing and the $2,063 meal

plan.

“I’m paying all my own expenses and bills, and $10 per hour for 15 hours is just not sustainable,” Student for Students member and work-study student Selma Hassan (24C) said. “[The low wages] are a huge burden on many students who struggle to afford basic necessities that the Emory students from a more privileged background can afford easily.”

The Students for Students letter also compares living costs at Emory to living in Atlanta, pointing to the $16.56 per hour minimum wage that is sufficient to support a single, childless adult in Atlanta.

“Even when students live on campus, they are still faced with the prices of gas, groceries, medication, and other basic necessities,” the letter states. “Every year, as the cost of living continues to skyrocket, Emory cannot expect us to accept a $9 minimum wage.”

Work-study students also noted that the current minimum wage can serve as a barrier from being able to participate in other extracurricular activities.

“Because of COVID, I only actually work in person every other week,” workstudy student Angela Chen (23Ox) said.

“During the weeks I’m working, I have no time to go to my extracurriculars.

Work is my life outside of my classes and studying, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I start having to work every week.”

Students for Students Founder Elizabet Ortiz (24C) emphasized how work-study students’ lack of time for other activities has affected the broader Emory community.

“In all of the other facets of the campus culture, low income voices aren’t always heard and their participation isn’t able to exist,” Ortiz said. “Part of having the diverse community that the university advocates for is making sure that everyone can participate in campus life while they’re here.”

— Contact Katie Bartlett at katie.bartlett@emory.edu

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Female alumni recall gender-based discrepencies in policies

Continued from Page 1 On-campus housing While women were admitted to Emory College prior to the 1950s, Emory was in an agreement with Agnes Scott College (Ga.) through a crossover program that prevented Emory from enrolling women as residential students.

However, in 1953, Emory ended that agreement to boost enrollment in light of the Korean War and raise the academic standards of the institution.

This marked the first time women were admitted as residential students.

Housing availability also played a role in Emory’s limitation of the further enrollment of women. There was no co-ed housing in the 1950s, and the vast majority of housing was dedicated for male students.

When Emory began accepting more women, the University built The Complex to house women. Former University historian Gary Hauk noted that the underlying reasoning may have been resistance to the equalization of male and female enrollment.

“The University could simply have designated one of the men’s dorms for women instead in order to balance the enrollment,” he said. “There had been some resistance to opening the doors so wide for the admission of women.”

Even as housing availability for female students began to increase, there were discrepancies between what was allowed of male students and female students. Female students had a curfew and had to sign in male visitors. They also had to leave the doors open when they had male visitors. No such rules existed for male students.

These discrepancies were also prominent in Greek life. Despite a barrade of fraternity houses, there were no sorority houses at the time, and Karyl Barron (73C) noted “they didn’t really have a home or recognition or place to call their own” Life before college Allen always knew she would attend college, aser mother received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Emory and taught at Agnes Scott College (Ga.) and Georgia State University.

“With a mother having a Ph.D. in math, the unfortunate part was that her expectations were extreme,” Allen said. “She expected me to go to medical school even though I had no inclination towards it. When I made my first C in my life at Emory in freshman biology — medical school was not in my future — she wanted to pull me out of school.”

Allen’s case was not a lone incident.

Pauline Albert (74C) came to Emory in 1971, after transferring from

Bates College (Maine). College had always been an inevitable for Albert.

As graduates of junior colleges, her parents recognized that higher education was necessary for their children’s socioeconomic mobility.

“It was not the general assumption in the environment that I grew up in,” Albert said. “I was considered a little bit of an exception to not be staying in my own environment.”

People in her Maine hometown questioned Albert’s decision to attend college, since they viewed her summer position as a bank teller as a great job.

Albert said her parents would respond by saying “she’s gonna go do other things,” which require a college degree.

Brenda Mooney (76C) applied to Emory because she knew the University accepted women, whereas some Ivy League universities at the time did not.

She noted that the late 1960s marked a cultural shift on society’s view of women’s place, with dramatic differences even between her older sisters’ experiences and her own. Compared to previous generations, it was the norm for women to attend a college to find a career and develop their interests, rather than be expected to merely find a man to marry.

“There was that kind of change where a growing number of women who went to Emory were really there to establish their careers and lead an independent life,” Mooney said.

At the same time, some female Emory students found the University refreshing compared to their hometowns. Lucy Ackerman (74C) noted that in her high school clubs, the president was always a man. She was the vice president of one club, so the president always called her with every problem for her to fix.

She remembered “thinking something is wrong in the system. But [she doesn’t] ever recall feeling that way at Emory.”

Academics and resources at Emory Former students also recalled a sense of genderization of majors, with STEM fields being almost exclusively for men and the languages

The Emory Wheel Volume 103, Issue 5 © 2022 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editor-in-Chief Brammhi Balarajan bbalara@emory.edu

Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.

The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration.

The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.

Matthew Chupack/Executive Editor

and psychology attracting more of the female population. Allen said that her first-year biology class was majority male, along with most other science classes that were predominantly Jewish men from New York on the pre-med track.

But the experience of being a woman in the sciences was isolating for many.

“Pre-med was pretty rough for the women,” Albert said. “I have sorority sisters who were pre-med and that was a rough, competitive environment. As Honor Council president, I saw a lot of science majors going through trauma, trying to cheat their way through.”

Former students also recalled a lack of mentorship at the time for women. Barron noted that professors in sciences sometimes would not take her at “full face.”

She recalled an instance where a professor commended her for her work in physics “because [he] didn’t really expect [a] female to do well in the class.” Barron said that since her twin brother was at school at the same time, she had to take advantage of the mentorship and resources he was provided.

While there were significantly fewer female professors, they tended to teach in departments aligning with this gendered major breakdown. Following her tribulation in freshman biology, Allen wound up majoring in psychology and minoring in French. Allen found these classes to have a more balanced male-tofemale ratio, which she attributed to these classes not falling following under science departments. Albert recalled that during her whole time at Emory, she only had three female professors — two in French and one in art history.

Allen also remembered having two female professors in French and two in English, and doesn’t recall ever having a female psychology professor.

Ackerman also recalled that the only female professors she could remember were both French professors.

Beyond academics, female students experienced gendered implications in their required athletic coursework.

During this time, all students were required to take a class to prove their proficiency at swimming. The student’s feet were tied together while they attempted to treat water and swim a few laps. Students did different iterations of this test with their hands, feet and both tied. As there weren’t many women, the men would always attempt to “rescue” women they thought were about to drown.

“I remember I was rescued a lot even though I didn’t feel I needed it,” Barron said. “Being a female in that class was difficult because you had to repeat the class over and over again because you were rescued when they didn’t really need to be rescued.”

While the University lacked femalefocused support at times in academics,

other faculty members provided beacons of advice. Albert recalled going to former Associate Emory College Dean Garland Richmond upon uncertainty on whether she wanted to be a teacher and what to do about graduate school. Richmond said that there were already many teachers, so it would be better for Albert to apply to business school or law school, which she didn’t previously consider.

Other than that, Emory made no efforts to support the female student population, such as women in STEM programs seen today, Albert said.

Women-designed programs and resources were few and far in between.

Organizations such as the Emory Women’s Cacucus and the Emory Women’s Alliance — which attracted a lot of lesbian students at the time — began to spring up. However, other gender-based issues were rarely addressed by the University.

While sexual harassment was present on campus, Allen said that it was never brought up, and rarely discussed by either students or the University. As many other gendered issues at the time, protecting oneself from sexual violence was an isolating experience for female students.

Female extracurricular involvement Throughout the 1970s, female leaders began to materialize in more and more organizations. However, the University still treated female leadership as an anomaly. Mooney recalled that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees invited her to meet him for lunch as she was Editor-in-Chief of the Wheel at the time. She remembered it was strongly recommended she bring her boyfriend along as it would not be considered appropriate for her to meet the Chairman alone.

As Mooney broke gender barriers at the Wheel, Albert was the first female president of the Honor Council, although she did not initially realize that.

“You think I would have put two and two together, like maybe there weren’t as many women before, but I really had not created that connection,” Albert said.

“I just thought, usually the guys are in charge, so times are changing.”

Albert added that sororities and choir were fulcrums for the female community. With so many women involved in a group together, however, it was almost deceptive of the actual percentage of women at Emory.

“When you’re hanging out with other women, you don’t have a sense [that] there aren’t many of us around,” Albert said.

At the time, gendered expectations were strife in sorority culture. Ackerman recalled that there was the expectation for sorority sisters to be “ladylike” in all aspects, such as reprimands to not smoke a cigarette in a public setting. “I can assure you, even though I don’t know it for a fact, that nobody was telling the boys how to behave like a gentleman,” she said. “But I

was very conscious of telling the girls how to behave like a lady.”

Diversity at Emory The banning of the sex quota paved the way for greater female presence on campus. However, it would take years for the same strides to be made for women of color. Several female students recalled few, if any, students of color at the time.

Describing Emory as a “privileged white environment,” Albert said there were very few people of color in her class.

The student body was rather “very heavy Jewish environment from New York, a lot of pre-med and very ecumenical.”

However, several former students referenced a quota on Jewish students.

Mooney said that many people in the Northeast who applied to Ivy League schools used Emory as a safety school, resulting in a growing Jewish population at Emory.

Mooney added that the Board of Trustees “was not dealing well with this issue,” prompting her to write a column about the situation.

“There ended up being an article about it … basically saying there was a bit of antisemitism in the constant effort by the board of Trustees to do things to define Emory as a Southern university,” Mooney said. “The Board of Trustees had proposed … quotas on how many people from outside of the South they would accept, and to me that led to be very directed against the growing Jewish population.”

Students also seemed hesitant to indicate whether they identified as LGBT+, as Albert only learned that two or three of her sorority sisters were lesbians in the last 10 years.

“Some of us suspected that they were likely lesbian, but in fact, we still remember one of them getting engaged [to a man] because that was the thing girls did,” Albert said. “It was very much in the closet and not discussed. This was the South, and although Emory is very cosmopolitan, it was not something that people were open about at all.”

Emory College began enrolling Black students in 1963, with the enrollment of Charles Dudley marking the desegregation of the University. However, Allen said that “hardly anyone” in her graduating class of 1974 was a person of color, potentially just the two Black girls across the hall and “a couple of other people.” It would be years before students of color would make up a sizable part of the student body, rather than a meager few accepts.

The banning of the sex quota paved the way for greater representation of women — but what it really meant in practice was white women. For women of color, queer women and others, representation on campus was still lax.

— Contact Brammhi Balarajan at brammhi.balarajan@emory.edu and Matthew Chupack at matthew.chupack@emory.edu

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Meet the 2022 student government candidates SGA Presidential Candidates

Alyssa Stegall (21Ox, 23C) Hello!

I'm Alyssa Stegall (she/

her) - and I'm excited to run for

President of Emory's Student Government Association. I've served time in student government as SGA Speaker, College Council's Oxford Continuee Legislator, and Oxford SGA's Oxford-Atlanta Liaison.

I hope to serve our community next year alongside my running-mate Noah Marchuck.

We recognize that Emory isn’t perfect — that’s why our platform (Represent, Restructure, Reinvigorate) focuses on enhancing your student experience through three main points. First, we want to proactively ensure students from all backgrounds are represented in university-wide discussions through inclusive leadership. We also want to restructure the focus of student government away from elitism, and towards a culture of working together with various student organizations. Lastly, we want to emphasize reinvigorating school spirit by increasing Oxford inclusion as well as emphasizing the celebration of student arts and athletics. Please check out our platform and ask any questions at stegallmarchuck4sga.com.

Eleanor Liu (21Ox, 23B)

Hi Emory! My name is Eleanor Liu (she/her) and I’m campaigning to serve as your 56th Emory Student Government Association President.

During my time at Emory, I’ve had the privilege of working with diverse student, faculty, and administration groups to create real change in improving the student experiences. I have previously served as Oxford SGA President and currently serve as Emory SGA VP of Finance. With my campaign, I have chosen to take on fairly simple platforms without flashy promises. I believe in action items over lofty goals. With my passion, drive, and institutional knowledge, I hope to be more than just an advocate, but a problem solver who brings positive contributions to the Emory community. I hope you will follow me along at liu22.org to learn more about my who, what, and why.

Let's stand by what is good and make it better if we can, together!

BBA Council Presidential Candidates Dani Nakash (23B)

Hi, my name is Dani Nakash and I’m running for BBA Council President. I currently serve as one of two Junior Representatives on BBA Council and have represented Goizueta’s class of 2023 in meetings and events. As I look towards this next chapter, I am ready to continue representing the wide array of BBA students and the Goizueta education in its academic, extra-curricular, and community facets. In everything I do, I will lead with the following principles. Firstly, inclusion. With the recent admission of transfer students into Goizueta, there is a need now more than ever to focus on inclusion between transfer students, fall and spring admits, Oxford continuees, and international students. Next, transparency.

In both the direction of BBA council to Goizueta students, and also in the opposite direction from students to BBA council, I will work towards creating a Goizueta that all students are proud of.

SGA Vice Presidential Candidate

Noah Marchuck (24C)

Hey! I’m Noah Marchuck (he/ him) and I’m thrilled to announce that I am running for Emory’s Student Government Association Vice President! With two years of legislative experience and initiatives under my belt, I am prepared to hopefully serve Emory alongside Alyssa Stegall.

Emory has the potential to live up to the hype, and there’s certainly room for improvement. That’s why Alyssa and I are proposing a three-tiered platform to strengthen our time here. First, we will work tirelessly to ensure students of all backgrounds are better represented. It is our top priority that everyone can trust leadership to include its students in university-wide discourse. We plan to restructure how SGA communicates with students to establish a stronger connection between them. And we want to reinvigorate our spirit by improving advocacy for the arts and our peer’s works. Take a look at our platform and reach out with any questions!

Natalie Spitzer (23B)

Hello! My name is Natalie Spitzer, and I’m running for President of BBA Council! I have spent the past year serving on BBA Council as Junior Representative. While learning about all the responsibilities of council officers I’ve served as a resource to better the BBA experience through programing events and advocacy outlets. I hope to use my experience and dedication to BBA Council and Goizueta in implementing my key initiatives. My initiatives have stemmed from the Goizueta creed: Scholarship, Community, and Respect. I hope to embody these values through enhancing the BBA pursuit of academic curiosity and excellence, generating new opportunities to engage with the community while fostering a sense of belonging for all, and ensuring all community members are treated with equity. I hope to continue my service to Goizueta as your BBA Council President. I’m very excited to share my platform with you! (Learn more at: linktr.ee/NSforBBAPresident)

CC Vice Presidential Candidate

Neha Murthy (24C)

Hi everyone! My name is Neha Murthy (she/her). I am a secondyear who spent all of freshman year from home. As any first-year student, I wanted to belong to the Emory community. In using the HUB, I quickly realised the lack of standardisation and communication. My frustrations with the current systems only grew as I started my own club, Swara, last semester. In going through the chartering process, I discovered its dysfunctionality.

Hence, I joined College Council and am currently serving as your VP of Organization Management.

Thus far, one of the things I have accomplished is improving the onboarding course for new clubs. In speaking with you all, I have heard your complaints that as students and club leaders you lack adequate resources and support for creating that community at Emory. Join me as I work to increase student accessibility to resources and keep College Council accountable for our work.

Elisabet Ortiz (24C)

My name is Elisabet Ortiz and I’m running to be your SGA President. My biggest project while at Emory has been creating Students for Students (SFS) - a nonprofit focused on making college more equitable for minority and low-income students. I founded SFS because of my experience with homelessness, food insecurity, and a lack of healthcare on campus. I repeatedly appealed to Emory resources, yet the only way I was able to survive was through acts of kindness from students and their families. My story is the product of larger systemic issues in our university. Because of these very experiences, I am running to initiate change on the following platforms: Equity, Sustainability, Community, Academics, Accessibility, and Safety & Wellness. For long-term structural changes, we need reform. SGA is a part of that reform. As SGA President, I will continue the work I have started with ESFS and make an Emory for Everyone.

CC Presidential Candidate Akshat Toshniwal (23C)

Hi, I’m Akshat! I am a thirdyear student at Emory College from Bangalore, India. I am passionate about redefining the student experience at Emory through concrete, actionable steps to promote advocacy, connectivity, and accountability.

Over the last three years in College Council, I have listened to student concerns, needs, and ideas associated with our systems to gain a deeper understanding of how College Council can do better. This student feedback has formed the foundation of my platform. As President, I hope to leverage this institutional experience to enhance your time at Emory! The key tenets of my platform include addressing finance & budgeting, connectivity & collaboration, accountability & transparency, and diversity & inclusion. Further developing these areas as your President would ensure that I directly address larger issues within Emory University.

I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or suggestions on how I can serve you best at: https:// tinyurl.com/feedback4akshat.

Other Candidates SGA Presidential and SGA Vice Presidential Candidates: Ranjan Kesavan (24C) and Ben Arnoldsen Crawford (24C) Kesavan and Crawford withdrew their statements after the Elections Board notified the Wheel that their platform was not in accordance with election guidelines.

CC Sophomore Legislator Candidates: Abigail Dubinski (25C), Ada Demling (25C), Agha Haider (25C), Artem Linde (25C), Corinne Phillips (25C), Michelle Tucker (25C), Nidhi Ganta (25C) CC Junior Legislator Candidates: Cyprian Dumas (24C), Javier Trujillo (24C), Luxe Langmade (22Ox, 24C), Talya Bulut (24C) CC Senior Legislator Candidates: Jesus Palenzuela (23C), Solana Rivera (23C) BBA Council SGA Representative Candidates: Khegan Meyers (24B), Ruzan Khoja (23B)

The Emory Wheel

O������ W��������, M���� 16, 2022| Opinion Editors: Sophia Peyser (speyser@emory.edu) & Chaya Tong (ctong9@emory.edu)

DEI: 2022 demographics report DEI Task Force Last year, the Emory Wheel’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) task force sent out its first demographic survey in recent history to increase transparency and learn ways to improve our coverage. The DEI task force utilized this data to begin projects focused on expanding our representation throughout the organization, as well as our coverage of diverse stories.

For our second year, we are conducting a demographic survey of the Wheel’s contributors from the past year from spring 2021 to spring 2022.

While the Wheel is dedicated to improving our coverage, the Wheel is not pardoned from past injustices we have committed. We encourage members of the community to offer feedback into what stories they wish to see, and how we can continue to improve as an organization.

Race The Wheel is a majority white institution, with 58% of respondents being white. By comparison, according to data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Emory is 42% white.

The next largest group in the organization is Asian, with 20.9% of respondents identifying as East Asian and 13.4% of respondents identifying as South Asian. Data from IPEDS does not differentiate regions within Asia, but Emory’s population overall is 17% Asian.

Despite Atlanta being a majority Black city, only 12% of Emory is Black or African American, and only 6% of survey respondents were Black or African American. Some respondents noted both the lack of Black voices at the Wheel, as well as an absence of coverage on Black issues. Beyond Black issues, contributors also emphasized the need for the Wheel to incorporate more stories focused on Black culture within and beyond Atlanta.

Of the respondents, 9% were Hispanic or Latin American. This is congruent with data from the IPEDS, as 9% of Emory students identify as Hispanic or Latin American.

This year, the report included the gender demographic at the Wheel, with As one of the major barriers to being identification category Middle Eastern 66.7% of respondents being cisgender an editor for students who work is the and North African (MENA). We did women. After cisgender women, cis- immense time commitment, the DEI this in an attempt to highlight the gender men are the next highest task force implemented measures to different experiences of students from percentage with 27.3% of the organiza- make the Wheel more accessible. the MENA region, and better under- tion identifying as cisgender men. In Efforts to increase equity for low stand how we can increase representa- recent years, Emory has not released a income students at the Wheel has tion from this area. Despite this, Emory comprehensive report including differ- included increasing the low-income does not differentiate between white, ent gender identities of its undergradu- stipend for editors as well as offering a Middle Eastern and North African in ate population. smaller stipend to the entire editorial their data collection and therefore the Despite the lack of data from Emory, staff. exact number of students from the there is a clear lack of representation of MENA region is unknown. Of the gender minorities across the Wheel.

Wheel culture respondents, 3% were from this region.

Responses were generally mixed, The Wheel lacks representation Sexual orientation with some respondents pointing to an among Native Americans, Native The Wheel is primarily heterosex- inclusive and supportive environment Alaskans, Pacific Islanders, and Native ual, with 52.3% of respondents identi- while others noted a harsher work Hawaiians. These groups are not fying as such. The next largest cate- culture. One respondent stated “the represented in any of the respondents, gories were Queer and Bisexual, with culture is very welcoming and very a n d helpful to allowing people there is to grow as writers and dismal fulfill their love of jourcovernalism … at the same age on time, I think that there is issues a lot of toxicity and s u r elitism.” roundOthers noted the envii n g ronment was “isolating,” these “very accepting of many groups ideas,” “much better than as well. it used to be,” “slowly C u r improving,” “sometimes rently, toxic,” and more. Certain Emory respondents noted that it reports can be difficult to get 0% of involved if one does not students know someone at The G M O D W a r e The racial makeup of contributors at the Emory Wheel is preWheel or happens to N a t i v e dominantly white and Asian. attend an interest meetAmeriing at the beginning of the can, Native Alaskan, Pacific Islander, each having 20% of respondents year. or Native Hawaiian as the number is identifying as such. There was an What stories on campus do you extremely small. While the number of increase by 15% in queer respondents believe are missing?

Native and Pacific Islander students is and 7% in bisexual respondents from Several respondents indicated the low, these communities do exist across last year. need for more stories about people of Emory’s campus.

Income status color, particularly Black voices and The Emory Wheel lacks economic contributors. Others highlighted a need International students diversity. While 53% of all Emory for an increase in LGBTQ voices outThe Wheel primarily consists of students receive financial aid in the side of the opinion section. domestic students, with 9% of respon- form of grants or scholarships, only Students on both ends of the dents reporting that they are interna- 33.3% of respondents said they have ideological spectrum noted a need for tional. International students at Emory received need-based aid from Emory. more ideological diversity, with one make up around 17% of the student One of the major barriers to being an respondent wanting more “radical body, and are thus severely underrep- editor for working students is the time leftist, politics beyond liberalism.” resented at The Wheel. commitment. In order to lessen the Another respondent noted a need for barrier, the DEI task force imple- more conservative or moderate stories, Gender Identification mented low-income stipends for noting the Wheel currently felt very Cisgender women are the largest editors the past year. partisan.

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Methodology The survey was emailed to 160 contributors from spring 2021 to spring 2022. Of the 160 contributors contacted, 67 replied, for a response rate of 41.2%. The largest portion of respondents were editors, with editors making up 44% of the responses.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Wheel Since its establishment in Nov. 2020, the DEI task force has worked to increase coverage and representation at the Wheel. Part of these efforts have included training sessions for editors on how to cover sensitive topics and how to edit compassionately.

The DEI task force has arranged for memberships to affinity journalistic organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. We have been able to offer up to 10 in the past year to members of the Wheel community. This has offered an opportunity for students to participate in these organizations free of cost.

We are continually reflecting on our coverage and searching for ways to improve. As one respondent noted, “there are so many stories we are not telling because we haven't established a strong enough connection with the Emory community (from staff to professors to student leaders).” One way we are attempting to bridge the gap between the Wheel and various groups on campus is through the opinion podcast, Within the Margins.

The podcast focuses on underrepresented groups throughout Emory’s campus, and is designed to offer a platform for historically marginalized groups.

Beyond the podcast, we have also attempted to build a stronger Wheel community by implementing monthly general body meetings (GBMs). The GBMs are an attempt for contributors across sections to mingle and build community within the organization.

Despite our efforts, the Wheel has not done enough. We will use this report to examine how our coverage needs to be improved and more needs to be done.

The Emory Wheel Volume 103 | Number 5

B������ B�������� EDITOR-IN-CHIEF M������ C������ EXECUTIVE EDITOR, NEWS S����� L��� EXECUTIVE EDITOR, OPINION AND EB R����� B���� DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION EDITOR S���� D���� MANAGING EDITOR, EMORY LIFE AND A&E G�������� L���� MANAGING EDITOR, MULTIMEDIA AND PODCAST M������ M����� MANAGING EDITOR, SPORTS M��� O������ News Editor

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Business/Advertising Email wheelbusinessmanager@gmail.com

The Emory Wheel welcomes letters and op-ed submissions from the Emory community. Letters should be limited to 300 words and op-eds should be at least 500. Those selected may be shortened to fit allotted space or edited for grammar, punctuation and libelous content. Submissions reflect the opinions of individual writers and not of the Wheel’s Editorial Board or Emory University. Send emails to emorywheelexec@gmail.com or postal mail to The Emory Wheel, Drawer W, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322.

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Submit here: emorywheel.com/op-edsubmissions/

The Emory Wheel WHEEL DEBATES

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Transforming “bimbos” from ditzy to dominant Dani Parra del Riego Valencia and Chaya Tong “A bimbo isn’t dumb. Well, she kind of is, but she isn’t that dumb!”

TikTok’s pioneer bimbo, Chrissy Chlapecka, said. “She’s actually a radical leftist, who’s pro sex work, pro Black Lives Matter, pro LGBTQ+, pro choice, and will always be there for her girlies, gays and theys.”

Though once considered offensive, Gen Z has officially reclaimed the term “bimbo,” using it as a rallying cry to defy misogynistic standards. Though the idea of bimbofication may seem disrespectful to the strides made for equal rights for women, it helps reclaim derogatory stereotypes and provides valuable social commentary on gender equality.

Unlike girlboss feminism or earlier waves of feminism which focus on individual empowerment, bimbofication is inclusive by not setting any standards for women to aspire to beyond embracing themselves and their appearance.

In the past, the term “bimbo” referred to someone with looks but not smarts. Later, the term evolved to primarily apply to women. A bimbo was obsessed with shopping and boys. She was ultrafeminine and ditzy, like the Plastics from “Mean Girls” or Cher Horowitz from “Clueless.” Most importantly, bimbos were viewed as inferior due to their hyperfeminine presentation.

Thanks to Gen Z's commitment to inclusivity, the Bimbofication TikTok trend has taken over the internet, with young people creating videos embracing hyperfemininity and rejecting the male gaze. Modern-day bimbos don’t care what other people think.

They wear what they want to wear, say what they want to say and are sexy on their own terms. Most importantly, they love themselves for being empowered and beautiful.

The bimbos of TikTok defy patriarchal standards of success that pressure women to prove themselves by equaling men in the workforce.

These women emphasize that t h e i r intellect u a l capability has no part in their self worth.

Inclusivity defines the modern day bimbo movement, and sets it apart from other waves of feminism, such as girlboss feminism, that narrowly define success.

Under girlboss feminism, women are pressured to prove themselves.

Girlbosses hustle to become CEOs and managers; they become “bosses'' despite being “girls.” Bimbos couldn’t care less about workplace status.

In a viral 2020 TikTok, creator Griffin Maxwell Brooks emphasized that the bimbo “has no gender, no class, no race or ability.” According to Brooks, anyone can be a bimbo as long as they radically love themselves and their bodies. The bimbo demands respect for their own self worth, unlimited by capitalist standards that require intellectual achievements or merit.

But bimbos do more than reclaim hyperfemininity; they also comment on social issues, and take to social media to share their views.

Response: Bimbofication, a performativeaesthetic Sophia Ling Chaya Tong (25C) and Dani Parra del Riego Valencia (25C) wrote an article lauding the creation of “bimbofication,” a TikTok trend led by Chrissy Chlapecka to reclaim the word “bimbo.” But this new fad flooding the Internet is nothing more than a white-washed, performative aesthetic pretending to solve systemic problems like sexism and racism.

A self-proclaimed pioneer of

women’s rights. Women fought for empowerment because suffrage and individual rights for women were nonexistent in the 1800s. Tong and Valencia criticize “former waves of feminism as individual empowerment,” but without historical figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott or modern contemporaries like bell hooks and Malala Yousafzai arguing and writing about female rights, it would be impossible for bimbos today to reject society all together.

Further, bimboism is highly con-

EMORY WHEEL/HA-TIEN NGUYEN

The bimbofication TikTok trend has taken over the internet, with young people creating videos embracing femininity and rejecting the male gaze.

Unlike earlier waves of feminism, bimbofication also encompasses the gender specturm, rather than focusing on the gender binary. For instance, Brooks used their platform to take a stand in favor of Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania’s female swim team.

Brooks, a diver for the Princeton Men’s diving team, developed a fanbase through their shameless selfexpression as they navigated their gender expression while competing in a sport where they were categorized by gender.

A nonbinary, fulltime stud e n t , Brooks has repeatedly used their large platform to spread their views to almost a million followers.

And just like that, “bimbos” have gone from a stereotype to a rebellion.

Step aside girlbosses; the bimbos are here.

The bimbos of TikTok defy patriarchal standards of success that pressure women to prove themselves by equaling men in the workforce.

Dani Parra del Riego Valencia (25C) is from Miami, Florida . Chaya Tong (25C) is from the Bay Area, California.

6

bimboism, Chlapecka defines herself as a “pro-choice, pro-sex work, pro-Black Lives Matter” woman who can be whoever she wants to be. To even call her a pioneer or a leader is giving far too much credit: her definition of bimboism encapsulates the political characteristics of a majority of liberal-leaning millennials and Gen Z teenagers who already subscribe to these political beliefs.

They don’t need some trend to tell them they’re doing it right.

For the most part, college students today are socially aware and trying their best to be politically engaged. But anticapitalism isn’t new, and lack of representation for people of color and queer groups won’t be remedied by a supposedly “inclusive” internet fad. Educating people while wearing heavy makeup and ranting about the inequities of this world with neatly manicured nails is not progressive and doesn’t make you a better person.

As the case with most social media activism, bimbofication will die down, and Chlapecka will have achieved what most other faux woke influencers have: nothing. Like many other young social media users, Tong and Valencia wrongly praise Chlapecka’s efforts. Her brand of “bimbo babes” only banishes historical waves of feminism to the background. Condemning previous waves of feminism is reductive and unproductive in the discourse surrounding

tradictory. Not caring what others think is a privilege I can only afford when my sexuality and ethnicity are not furthering my marginalization as a woman. Denying current social ideals with bimbofication is rather ironic, since the whole concept of identifying as a bimbo is just a recreation of a new social stereotype.

One of the major tenets of bimboism is to not care what others think.

other obsessively extreme leftists, touting faux wokeness with a predominantly white, stereotypical girly aesthetic that matches perfectly with TV characters like Elle Woods and Sharpay Evans.

Wielding bimbofication as a weapon against social constructs is bold and admirable. But once it becomes a tacky social media trend, every ounce of dignity that once lied in reclaiming an identity is lost.

Trends like bimbofication launch people into a frenzy of copying influencers and adapting themselves to the newest aesthetic. Supposedly meant to encourage different identities, social media trends about identity have the opposite effect – they fuel our desire to please the people around us and to belong with the crowd. I’m not against people wanting to be bimbos, but turning it into a trend defeats the purpose of reclaiming who you are.

But hey, in the rampant age of cancel culture, hopping on the bandwagon could be your next marketable LinkedIn skill. Prospective job applicants can add the following blurb: Knowledgeable about performative activist trends, and can curate a personality to prevent cancellation.

To be clear, I’m not against embracing who you are – whether that be unintelligent attractiveness, or ditzy femme-ness – I’m against the necessity of forming a trend. It fails to acknowledge those who fought for the same political beliefs that Chlapecka is touting now and asks women of color to potentially reclaim themselves with a word predominantly associated with and often used to define skinny, white women.

Some may misconstrue my argument as being anti-bimbofication and resisting the unity of all different types of women. This cannot be further from the truth. Rather, I understand the desire to reject societal norms and to embrace unintelligent attractiveness but doing so doesn’t simply come from slapping on a name tag that says, “Hi, my name is Bimbo.”

On social media, the line between performative and non-performative activism is heavily blurred. But if posting on Instagram or TikTok is the only piece of action that you take, nothing will change. If sharing stories about your decision to become a bimbo will empower you to stand up to those demeaning your identity in real life, do so. But don’t pretend to be better than other people when all you’ve done is press a button.

Bimbofication is idealistic in a world where identity is both the individual and the collective; it’s about who you are internally, but also how external history, cultural roots and society have shaped you today. Balancing what everyone else thinks while being your own person is difficult, as is battling deep-rooted patriarchal norms. But at least when I’m trying to define myself, I’m searching beyond the latest hashtag.

Once it becomes a tacky

social media trend, every ounce of dignity that

once lied in reclaiming an identity is lost.

Chlapecka’s words come straight out of the many self-help and self-care books that tell you to ignore the rest of society because – say it with me folks – you are perfect. In fact, hooks’ feminist theory recognizes that intersectionality of gender and other social classifications like race and sexuality affect women and their experience with sexism. Marginalized communities can’t just forget the racial and social implications lobbed at them. But Chlapecka wouldn’t know any better; she’s among all the

Sophia Ling (24C) is from Carmel, Indiana.

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The Emory Wheel

A��� E������������ W��������, M���� 16, 2022 | Arts & Entertainment Editors: Jackson Schneider (jdschn3@emory.edu) & Eythen Anthony (eaantho@emory.edu)

‘Fresh’ won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth

BY EYTHEN ANTHONY

Arts & Entertainment Editor

COURTESY OF TREVOR CHUN

Concerto Competition winners impress at EUSO concert

BY SAM SHAFIRO

Contributing Writer At the Emory University Symphony Orchestra’s (EUSO) concerto competition concert Mar. 3, an anticipatory air hung over the stage as the audience crowded into the relatively packed hall. The performance was years in the making, and several student spectators let out excited hoots and hollers as their friends took to the stage.

Before the concert began, EUSO conductor and director of orchestral studies Paul Bhasin took to the stage to explain the concert’s unusual circumstances. Not only did COVID-19 cancellations force the orchestra to feature winners from both 2020 and 2021, but the online start to the semester meant they only had half the usual time to prepare.

Despite these challenges, the student musicians’ impressive chops were on display from the first note of the concert’s opening piece, Joaquin Turina’s “La Procesion del Rocio.”

The composition celebrates a festival in Spain and is often used to demonstrate the range of musical textures in an orchestra. The piece features everything from fast and dynamic sections to comparatively slow and melodic ones.

EUSO was able to take advantage of this opportunity spectacularly, showcasing soft strings, booming brass and everything in between. The famous flute solo from the second movement deserves special recognition for its gentle but firm notes that were almost palpable as they danced through the air.

Still, the premier piece was not without its faults. A few times, one section of the ensemble would race past another, with the orchestra wobbling to regain a balanced tempo.

However, these mistakes were understandable considering the short time the orchestra had to prepare, and the redeeming qualities of the performance more than made up for them.

An especially impressive aspect of “La Procesion” was the orchestra’s ability to generate commanding

silences that hung over the auditorium. So stunning were these pauses that when the piece reached its conclusion, the audience momentarily forgot to clap. A sidelong glance from conductor Bhasin jolted the hall back to life, leading the audience into thundering applause and eventually a standing ovation. The silence came from adoration, not disapproval.

The concert then transitioned to performances from the three concerto competition winners from 2020 and 2021: Caleb Park (23C) on cello, Kaito Mimura (23C) on violin and Jason Lin (22C) on piano.

Displaying a depth of styles, each musician was able to convey a unique set of strengths to the audience.

The student musicians’ impressive chops were on display from the first note of the concert’s opening piece.

Park has an impressive resume for a young musician, including experience soloing with the Columbia Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Peabody Youth Orchestra, as well as performing at the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland.

This performance was not Park’s first time performing his chosen piece, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme,.” as he had played it previously with the Concert Artists of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in 2016. Perhaps for this reason, Park’s performance displayed an awesome level of dexterity. The measured flurries of notes were complemented by his dark tone in the lower ranges, mixing excellently with the accompanying orchestra. The audience’s ferocious cheering after he had finished made it clear they were impressed.

Next up was Mimura, performing the first movement of Johannes Brahms’ “Violin Concerto in D Major.” While still impressive, this movement is the least technically intense of the three that make up the

symphony. Instead, “Violin Concerto in D Major” focuses on introducing the themes of the work and gives the performer the ability to interpret music of rich emotional character.

Mimura used the concerto to demonstrate his expressive talent and perfectly captured the rich drama of Brahms’ themes as he chased them up and down his violin.

The double stops in the second half of the movement were especially saturated and attention-grabbing.

In what proved to be the most impressive performance of the night, Lin concluded with his rendition of the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor.”

Likely for similar reasons as the tempo problems in “La Procesion,” the hand-off between the domineering orchestral melody and the roaring piano theme at the beginning of the work did not transition smoothly.

Coordination mishaps reared their head a few other times, such as during the interplay between the piano and flute about halfway through the piece.

These problems were relatively minor, however. Any memory of them quickly faded as Lin sent bar after bar of the emotionally charged and technically impressive concerto careening off the stage and to the audience. While Lin successfully conveyed the popular themes throughout the work, he excelled the most at the fast and tender motifs near the movement’s end. The piece also allowed the orchestra to revisit some of the impressive colors from the beginning of the night.

With the musicians’ last notes still hanging in the air, the crowd erupted into ecstatic applause, and it seemed like there wasn’t a single person in that hall left sitting. Though Park, Mimura and Lin were the winners of their concerto competitions, there is no doubt that the true winners were the audience members.

- Contact Sam Shafiro at sam.shafiro@emory.edu

Since the mid-’90s, online dating has had a complicated presence in cinema. While films like “You’ve Got Mail” (1998) show the beauty that can be found in these relationships, more often than not, there’s an emphasis on the dangers and repercussions of virtual romances. From movies like “Bad Match” (2017) to documentaries like “Catfish” (2010) and “The Tinder Swindler” (2022), the internet is depicted as a hellish landscape where those seeking love online can trust no one. The latest film to build upon this theme and highlight this cynicism in the real world is Mimi Cave’s directorial debut “Fresh.”

“Fresh,” which was released March 4 on Hulu, follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman who’s grown tired of the pretentious men and the unsolicited dick pics that

embody online dating. Taking the advice of her best friend Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs), Noa asks out a man she met at the supermarket named Steve (Sebastian Stan). After a few dates, Steve invites her over to his house, where Noa finds out about his entrepreneurial work: selling human flesh. Now imprisoned by Steve, Noa has to escape from the clutches of her captor as she learns that no one can be trusted online or offline.

The film is a solid example of a slow-burn horror, with the first act feeling like it was taken out of a romance movie. Noa running into “Mr. Perfect” in the produce section feels reminiscent of Hallmark movies, and Steve’s charisma only continues to strengthen that connection. It’s this same inviting personality that draws Noa into his middle-ofnowhere home — Steve spiking her drink when they get there catalyzes

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ERIKA PARISE / HULU

‘Pam & Tommy’ reveals sexist double-standards

BY PAOLA ACOCAL Contributing Writer

Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy” explores the whirlwind romance between actress and model Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and musician Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan), detailing the 1995 controversy of their stolen sex tape.

While Pam and Tommy’s tape stirred up unprecedented turmoil, theirs was not the first celebrity sex tape, and the show reminds us that other celebrities such as Rob Lowe and Sylvester Stallone dabbled in porn. Yet, “Pam & Tommy” positions the unintentional release of the Anderson-Lee tape as a watershed moment in celebrity culture because it reshaped the public’s consumption of sex entertainment.

Anderson and Lee strongly embodied their archetypes: she was the hypersexualized vixen and he was the bad-boy rocker. Anderson got her start modeling for Playboy before graduating to television, although both works profited off the display of her body. “Pam & Tommy” accentuates the magnified gaze of the modelactress during her time on “Bay-

watch.” The third episode, “Jane Fonda,” includes a thirty-second scene of crew members dictating the coverage of Anderson’s bathing suit to gain the maximum exposure while complying with TV ratings.

But the show also highlights Anderson’s awareness of misogyny and the small battles she fights to combat it. In one scene, she approaches her director to request that he include a monologue that showcases her acting talent, although to no avail.

“Pam & Tommy” sympathetically displays Anderson’s desire to be respected and appreciated for something other than her physicality.

Stan portrays Lee as an uninhibited rebel who marries Anderson only four days after meeting her. The drummer of Mötley Crüe struggles with his fading fame as the grunge scene of the 1990s replaces the heavy metal rock of the 1980s. Lee was clearly the initiator behind the tape, as he wanted to capture the possible conception of a child. The audience receives a reminder of the power of recording devices and their variety of uses in the season finale when Lee

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the shift from romantic drama to horror. The title displays on-screen as Steve drags her body to the basement, and one begins to reconsider some of his questions and comments, including statements about how he doesn’t use social media and questions about how close she is with her family.

The cast as a whole provide phenomenal performances that highlight the desperation of their characters. Edgar-Jones offers a range of emotions such as distress, anger and curiosity as Noa’s desire to escape forces her into Steve’s catand-mouse games. Gibbs embodies the cunningness and dedication of a detective as Mollie searches for Noa. Charlotte Le Bon, who plays Steve’s wife Ann, uses silence and a compliant tone to highlight her character’s anguish toward being her husband’s accomplice.

While the entire cast was excellent, one of the strongest performances was Stan. With his soft tone and spurts of anger interspersed throughout, Steve is a character that could charm his way out of anything.

Even after he told Noa that he drugged her, she laughed it off as if it was a joke, only to stop when

noticing the chain going from the wall to her wrist. Stan also provides some of the more comedic moments in the film, with absurd scenes of him dancing around the kitchen while cooking human flesh and dry humor about cannibalism over dinner. We’re only in March, but with “Fresh” and “Pam and Tommy” (2022), this is shaping out to be a good year for Sebastian Stan performances.

There's a common theme in movies related to kidnapping when it comes to setting. Films like “Don’t Breathe” (2016) and “Hounds of Love” (2016) reflect the depravity of the kidnappers in the griminess of the prisons they create. However, “Fresh” eschews these tropes by taking place in a refined home. Sleek countertops and walls lined with paintings feel fitting for a wealthy charmer like Steve. The classiness continues as one enters his basement prison, with steel bars replaced by a wooden railing and cells adorned with vibrant wallpaper. The set design breaks away from previous kidnapping movies and offers a glimpse into the mind of the antagonist.

For me, one essential element of a

fun movie is a good soundtrack, and “Fresh” delivers. Not only are there bops throughout, but each one pairs so well with its respective scene.

Steve dances to “Obsession” by Animotion while chopping up a leg for delivery, highlighting his passion.

Ann struggles to get in the shower while Steve goes on a run listening to Duran Duran’s cover of “Perfect Day.” Although the song emphasizes Steve’s freedom, its use on Ann explores the confinement of her marriage.

However, one of my favorites is Cindy Fee’s cover of “Thank You for Being a Friend.” While searching for clues, Mollie calls Noa’s phone and hears this ringtone, leading her closer to her missing friend. With so many other excellent songs, “Fresh” has a soundtrack that will draw the viewer into the world of the film.

Rarely do I run into a horror film that is so bizarrely original, charming and, dare I say, fresh. Powered by an engaging narrative and an extraordinary cast, “Fresh” is a movie I recommend to anyone hungry for a good time.

- Contact Eythen Anthony at eaantho@emory.edu

tapes the home birth of his firstborn with Anderson.

“Pam & Tommy” shares the perspective of Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen), a carpenter, ex-porn actor and robber of the tape who hoped, yet failed, to profit from its release.

Seeking revenge on Lee for mistreatment, he creates a website in the primitive days of the internet to sell copies without facing the consequences.

Deemed warm-hearted but dysfunctional by his ex-wife (Taylor Schilling), he realizes too late that the person suffering the most is not his bully but his bully’s wife. An unfortunate consequence of Gauthier’s actions is Anderson’s unwarranted public scrutiny.

Although titled “Pam & Tommy,” James steals the show with her spoton depiction of Anderson as a tragic hero. Donning a prosthetic forehead and chest, she captures the inflections and mannerisms that made Anderson a bombshell hit but also dives into her character’s nuances as the scandal unfolds.

The drama builds itself upon the hypocritical perspective of sex in the 1990s. The tape was scandalous, but each participant felt the fallout differently.

Anderson mentions throughout the series that the public will shame her while congratulating Lee. Episode seven, “Destroyer of Worlds,” details the social reality of the situation. In a legal battle to prevent the magazine Penthouse from sharing private photos of Anderson and Lee, a judge ruled that the newsworthiness of the tape

allowed for its publication. Anderson vocalized that the decision is rooted in restricting the bodily autonomy of “sluts,” or women who have openly displayed their sexuality.

The extensive media display of her body, such as donning the iconic one-piece suit in “Baywatch,” weakens Anderson’s control over what can or cannot be seen by the public.

Her work in media teetered on soft-core porn, and the intimate videos of Anderson and Lee affirmed the public’s perception of her as a sex object.

Explicit clips of Anderson was a progression on the expectations of her as a sex symbol. Anderson is not afforded respectability because she is deemed to have had very little in the first place, and the decision overrides her consent in the tape’s release.

Society’s double standards leave Lee untouched as fans praise his expression of virility with one of the hottest women in Hollywood. Sexism still ran deep in the decade that gave us the “Girl Power” movement and the Year of the Woman.

Just two years after the robbery of the Anderson-Lee tape, the media would find a new target in Monica Lewinsky following the revelation of her affair with President Bill Clinton.

In our present day, where individuals can either gain network deals or humiliation from their leaked sex tapes, “Pam & Tommy” subverts the cautionary tale as a re-examination of intolerance toward “provocative” women.

- Contact Paula Acocal at paula.acocal@emory.edu

‘And I Must Scream’ calls foraction against environmental and social destruction

BY SERENA YE

Contributing Writer As you enter the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s spring exhibit, dim lights cast protruding shadows across the mounted paintings, warping them into grotesque and ominous forms.

“And I Must Scream” unapologetically highlights the monstrous, yet humanoid, figures that confront the inconceivable crises we face today.

“We’ve been thinking about monsters for almost as long as we’ve been alive,” said new student guide Ananya Mohan (24C). “It’s a question that we haven’t ever answered because we’re still asking it. You look at this artwork, and it turns out there’s as many answers as there are people.” The exhibit features ten artists whose works are interconnected by five themes: corruption; human rights violations and displacement; environmental destruction; the pandemic and renewal. As you traverse through the gallery, these messy depictions of the natural and human worlds call for pensive reflection and an urgent plea for collective action.

‘The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters’ Right as you enter the space, you are faced with an eerily tall piece that features a man fast asleep on his desk as puppet-like owls and flying mammals envelop the background. Artist Yinka Shonibare grapples with the bridge between dreams and reality, inviting a conversation about the role of monsters in the human imagination.

“This exhibition especially

describes our history of fear,” Mohan said. “It’s the things that people before us were scared of, but then we’re layering it with our own fears.”

The rich, vibrant hues of the batik fabric, which has falsely become associated with African art, are eye-catching and symbolize lasting European colonialism.

In reality, the fabric was created by a Dutch company emulating Indonesian batik clothing and has nothing to do with the continent. By exposing this stereotype through art, Shonibare calls into question the symbols that we associate with African culture and the interconnected effects of globalization.

‘Prophecy’ One of the most outstanding pieces of this exhibit is a series of six photographs created by film producer Fabrice Monteiro in collaboration with fashion designer Doulsy. In these stunning works, Monteiro depicts the horrifying destruction that humans wreck on the ecosystem through pollution.

Wearing an oil slick dress made of garbage bags, a figure donning a scarf of seagull feathers and braids of shells emerges from the bay.

A warrior, wielding a turtle-shell shield, drags the webbing of fishermen's nets as debris and animal caracasses cascade into the foreground. A solemn human heaves a burning torch of electronic cables amid an ashen field of discarded e-waste, ribbons from VHS tapes floating in the wind. Monteiro cap-

tures the ways in which capitalistic opportunism can pose irreversible havoc on our humanity. Through these monstrous and zombie-esque humanoids, the film producer and fashion designer combine their ingenious storytelling to depict the

reds and lemon yellows seem to have no place in the dingy cellar. The artists draw the creature’s wings as a metaphor for the weighing impact that African colonialism has on the continent and as a cry for panAfricanism. Malaïka is determined to escape, and by crumbling the walls with the power of her wings, she tastes her first lick of individualism. In the final piece, she stands confidently like a bird with its neck craned back, looking back at the past to move forward.

‘The Buddhist Bug’ Wandering deep into the exhibition, you’ll come across a ginormous spiraling coral chute. ReminisSERENA YE / THE EMORY WHEEL cent of those IKEA tunnels consequences of environmental or a playground slide, “The Buddhist damage caused by humans.

Bug” tracks a new horizon of spiritual ‘Malaïka Dotou Sankofa’ and social interpretation among As you walk into the cave of the everyday life.

Taylor Room, a sense of isolation and Cambodian artist Anida Yoeu Ali solitude will wash over you. In a took inspiration from the orangemixture of literary prose, photogra- colored robes of Buddhist monks as phy and narration displayed through well as the Muslim hijab to portray seven installations, artists Laeïla her emotional turmoil between Adjovi and Loïc Hoquet tell the story Buddhism and Islam. She explores of their character, Malaïka, in her how religion can extend to the body journey from captivity to freedom. and exaggerate our interactions with Malaïka is trapped in a dark cellar people. Through its abstract absurwith no chance of escape, crowded by dity and alien form, Ali aims to the overbearing boredom of assign- initiate conversations on multireliments. Dressed in a bland, Western- gious countries, highlighting their styled suit, Malaïka’s beautiful wings overlaps and differences. are cramped and unstretched. Her Ali wore this 100-foot-long instalwings are a pretty patchwork of lation, with her head popping out of historical and contemporary styles; the top as well as another perthese lively cerulean blues, bloody former’s legs popping out of the

bottom, during her trek through Cambodia. The artist ventured across classrooms, marketplaces and food stalls to gauge how people would react to this whimsical piece. The Carlos Museum will host Ali this Sunday for a performance with her piece.

As you exit, you’re left with a bonechilling reflection of the integrated crises that humanity faces today.

“Renewal — you’re supposed to feel fear and horror and pity, but at the end of it, they don’t just leave you in that headspace,” Mohan said. “It’s very clearly laid out what we need to do as a collective; it’s a warning, but a warning means that it’s not too late.” Monsters appear in all shapes and sizes, but one woven similarity is monsters’ ability to consume until nothing is left. Before we know it, our lungs will turn into leaden, chemicalheavy stones,our skin will burn from the toxins flooding through the ocean and our faces will numb toward the carbon dioxide expanse and cluttered deserts of permanent garbage.

“Monsters are symptoms of structural issues,” Metzger said. “You can’t point it back to one individual — it’s all of us polluting, consuming and being complacent.” As humans, we are innately selfish and selfcentered. Yet, we have the agency to make decisions for ourselves. Should we utilize these monsters for further destruction, or should we reframe these monsters as vehicles for collective compassion? The choice is up to us.

- Contact Serena Ye at serena.ye@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | Emory Life Editors: Oli Turner (omturne@emory.edu) and Xavier Stevens (xsteven@emory.edu)

Poritz talks resilience, reflects on time at the Wheel

By Oli Turner Emory Life Editor The Emory Wheel’s outgoing editorin-chief (EIC) Isaiah Poritz (21C) is moving on after four years writing for the student newspaper. His time as editor-in-chief (EIC) was shaped — but not defined — by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Poritz graduated with a degree in political science from Emory College of Arts and Sciences in December 2021, which allowed him to start a job in journalism this spring. He now reports on intellectual property litigation for Bloomberg Law’s legal reporting team.

Poritz assumed his role as EIC in March 2021. Like many editors at the Wheel, he started out as a contributing writer for the news section as a freshman. He then worked on the social media team, served as assistant news editor, news editor and executive editor before being elected EIC. While at Emory, Poritz interned at Salt Lake City Weekly in his hometown of Salt Lake City, CBS News, Georgia News Lab, Atlanta JournalConstitution and Open Secrets.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Emory Wheel: What would you say is the most valuable thing the Wheel has given you?

Isaiah Poritz: Resilience and developing a thick skin. You’re going to be put in these very uncomfortable positions where you’re going to be writing about issues where even though you know you’re writing the truth and you were doing the correct journalism, people will get mad at what you’re writing about. You need to be able to discern what the fair

Courtesy of Isaiah Poritz

Outgoing editor-in-chief Isaiah Poritz worked to hold powerful organizations accountable through investigative reporting while writing for the Wheel. criticisms are from what the bad actor criticisms are. That is a very important skill, regardless of what you’re going to do.

EW: Which of your Wheel articles are you the most proud of?

IP: I’m most proud of an article I wrote about Emory’s Campus Services Department and alleged workplace malpractice and abuse that happened there. That required a huge amount of reporting. It took many, many months, and I had to go meet sources in weird

places because they were afraid of our conversation being overheard or that we’d be seen together.

But, there were a lot of people who were willing to tell me their stories and who were in very, very vulnerable positions. We got a full fledged response from the University. The head of Emory’s Business Administration had to submit a letter response to the Wheel, which we almost never get, and I think that kind of shows the power that those types of stories can have in

holding power to account.

EW: What’s your favorite Emory memory?

IP: Some of my best memories were just hanging out in the office during production. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone there, and everyone’s going through hell together, and parts of it suck, but you’re really doing the same thing with a bunch of other people.

EW: What inspires you?

IP: I think that one of the most important parts of journalism is holding power to account, as in using the tools of journalism, which is very intensive research and fact finding, getting accounts from people who have experienced things firsthand and shaping that into a narrative.

People in high places can do pretty horrible things. That, in my mind, is one of the best ways that you can keep any type of powerful institution or powerful person accountable to what they say or what they should be doing: through telling stories that are very fact-oriented and very detailed.

EW: What are you reading, watching or listening to right now?

IP: Right now, I’m working my way through “The Unwinding” by George Packer. He’s a New Yorker writer who wrote this really amazing book in 2012 that detailed how American large social institutions have been collapsing and have been reshaping the American political and cultural landscape. That’s actually a perfect example of the type of writing that I think is the best. Individual stories are telling this broader picture.

EW: What was your favorite class or professor at Emory?

IP: I recommend anyone who is

interested in journalism or is part of the Wheel take a class with our adviser, Professor Hank Klibanoff. He is the most experienced and knowledgeable professor on journalism that we have at Emory. I took a creative nonfiction writing class with him that was really amazing. He really pushed me to make my stories really detailed, which I think is very important.

I took another class on the history of southern politics with Joseph Crespino that put a lot of southern history, and especially in the context of us being in Atlanta, into context, to a racial, cultural, political lens.

EW: What is your favorite thing to do in Atlanta?

IP: We’d go every weekend with some of my friends to hike somewhere, and we hit a bunch of waterfalls and some other classic trails in northern Georgia. Definitely exploring the nature that’s around Georgia because I think there’s actually quite a lot.

Atlanta is really beautiful, especially during the summer.

EW: What advice would you give to future EICs or people who currently write for the Wheel?

IP: For editors-in-chief, it’s important to be confident in the decisions you make. You need to recognize where you’ve gone wrong.

But once you make a decision, commit yourself to it, and you’ve got to stay the course, even if you’re going to get some tough feedback on it.

For anybody who’s part of the organization, just have fun with it.

Cover the things that you’re most interested in, and it’s going to turn out very well for you.

— Contact Oli Turner at oli.turner@emory.edu.

Playwright’s thesis reading explores womanhood, history

By Alison Barlow Contributing Writer In room 205 of the Schwartz Center, five actors illuminated in the golden glow of a few stage lights sat in a row and waited patiently to begin the Feb. 26 live reading of “Lizzie,” a thesis play

by Anneka Rose (22C).

“Lizzie” is an original work inspired by an art history class Rose took in the fall 0f 2021. Rose was drawn to the pre-Raphaelite paintings and became enthralled by the subject of their works: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal, a beautiful model and artist.

“We started going over the preRaphaelites and I became mesmerized by their work,” Rose said. “I wanted to learn more about this woman that was in their work and that’s basically where it all started. I started researching more about Lizzie Siddal, and I just thought, ‘There’s a play there.’”

The play follows “Lizzie,” read

by Sophia LiBrandi (22C), whose aspirations lay at the mercy of her male counterparts, a group of men self-titled “the pre-Raphaelites.”

Rose’s depiction of Lizzie is one of a woman who strains against the painted lines of society; she is thoughtful, articulate and a bright soul, endlessly dampened by the men in her life. “‘Lizzie’ felt like a play about the female condition, exploring what it is like to be defined in a man’s world,” LiBrandi said.

In an hour and a half, the audience was whisked through a large swath of Siddal’s life. The crowd watched

Siddal emerge as the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoods’ muse, fall in love, experience sickness of both body and mind and become an artist in her own right.

“Lizzie” is heart-wrenching and woven with threads of history, irony and a mindful consideration of what it means to be a woman. She is isolated on stage, while the other readers play the founding fathers of the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood movement, a series of men that have various intentions and thoughts about her, all of them oppressive in some way or another.

The persistence and discipline that shines within Lizzie Siddal is also clear to see in Rose, who began the fall of 2021 with an entirely different play in front of her.

“I was having issues with my adviser and I didn’t agree with the way he was handling situations, which made me hate the piece I was working on,” Rose said. “So, I put that aside and decided to work on something new.”

In mid-October, she began anew with a different advisor and a fresh idea. Rose set a deadline of 20 pages every two weeks and Visiting Fellow Kimberly Belflower worked with her to produce a full first draft by the end of fall semester.

“I left a lot of our meetings with my original adviser feeling like a failure, really doubting myself, feeling like I shouldn’t be in the honors program, shouldn’t be writing a thesis, I shouldn’t even be a playwright,” Rose said. “My new adviser Kimberley

Belflower was amazing and never once let those thoughts get in my way.

Despite having a fully-formed draft, Rose was frustrated by the lack of connecting threads in the piece and found answers while watching “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” a 2019 French film by Céline Sciamma. She has since done several rewrites and edits and plans to do more before she freezes the script for her thesis defense.

During the live reading, Rose realized that a lot of scenes reach their climax earlier than expected and that the piece needs another female character to act as a supportive guide for Lizzie, but she plans to wait until after her thesis defense to add a new character.

Alfred Tenneyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” holds a prominent voice in Rose’s current reading of the play. The poem, which depicts the tragedy of a young woman trapped in a tower who is cursed to weave images of the outside world based only on what she sees through a mirror’s reflections, contains the line “she left the loom .../ She saw the water lily bloom.” Rose thinks that this line will be the title of the play when she defends it but said that naming a play is her least favorite task; it changes with every reading based on what she thinks the current draft’s main takeaway is.

LiBrandi’s reading was full of compelling tension, and it was clear to see she was living Lizzie as she read. “[Rose] did a beautiful job writing a truly complex female character,

Courtesy of A nneka Rose

Anneka Rose (22C) wrote an original play titled, “Lizzie,” inspired by Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal, a subject of 19th-century paintings.

one that contains nuances that male writers tend to miss,” LiBrandi said.

Despite many hurdles, Rose produced a beautiful verbal portrait of Lizzie Siddal that lives long after the lights dim. In the final moments of the piece, a young girl in a modern-day museum sits on the floor and begins to scribble in her coloring book. The

conclusion fits into a macro view of the play as a whole; here begins the posteducation creative life of playwright Anneka Rose, rooted in mentorship and the women who came before her.

— Contact Alison Barlow at ali.barlow@emory.edu.

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EMORY LIFE

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Emory Wheel

Marilyn Chin examines Asian American identity, history in poetry reading

By Serena Ye Contributing Writer “Oh, bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots! / The further west we go, we’ll hit east; / the deeper down we dig, we’ll find China,” Marilyn Chin exclaimed.

Hands on her hips, head tilted forward and a deep-seated smirk on her face, Chin revived the 20-yearold poem with new fire. The essay portrays the tug-and-pull war of assimilation on immigrant families, a struggle that begins with the passing down of an English name.

Chin strode into the spotlight at The Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library wearing a silk fuchsia jacket printed with floral embroidery in commemoration of the Lunar New Year. The award-winning writer greeted the audience on March 13 with a reading of her poem “How I Got That Name.”

The event was part of the library’s Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series. In celebration of Women’s History Month, Chin featured a series of her poems that explored the political, historical and personal self.

Library Director Jennifer King started the reading with an introduction of the library’s mission to enhance literary and prose education.

King praised the multifaceted talents of Chin as an anthologist, translator, educator, poet and novelist.

“We are so excited to have [Chin] with us and to hear her read her poems, bringing ancient Chinese poetry and literature into conversation with contemporary and critical conversation of identity,” King said.

Peggy Li, postdoctoral scholar at the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, took the podium after King to deliver a heartfelt and powerful message on the impact of Chin’s work in her own life.

“Today we are so lucky to be graced by the presence of a bonafide bad***,” Li said.

The scholar described Chin as a skilled time traveler, traversing through multiple languages and eras of history. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Portland, Oregon, Chin’s story resonates with the children of Asian immigrants. Her journey from the page to the stage is a magical brew of neverending compassion, uncompromising rage and iridate commitment, Li said.

“Her bad-girl haikus, immigrant anthems, sissy-sassy limericks, renegade quatrains, laugh-out-loud hijinks, all assert a voice both wild, and inventive, and familiar with memory,” Li continued.

The Emory Wheel The Emory Life section is seeking new writers to cover campus features and profiles!

Contact Emory Life Editors Xavier Stevens (xsteven@emory.edu) and Oli Turner (oli.turner@emory.edu) to get involved.

MIRANDA’S BOOKSHELF

‘The School for Good Mothers’: 2022’s mustread dystopia

By Miranda Wilson Staff Writer

courtesy of emory university

Writer Marilyn Chin performed a selection of poems at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library on March 13.

The poet’s experimental and joyful style both resound with and shape future generations of writers. Chin is a force in contemporary American poetry, having recently won the 2020 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and playing an influential part in shaping San Diego State University’s Creative Writing program.

Chin continued to read a selection of poems that criticized the rarelyexplored intersection between patriarchal structure and the Asian American “model minority” myth.

From “Blues on Yellows,” to “Chinese Quatrains (The Woman in Tomb 44),” to “Fruit Etudes,” Chin took the audience on a journey of subversive and disruptive literature that evoked a double-sided coin of humor and introspection.

Chin strays away from the classic Shakespearan sonnet with untraditional variations. She most often utilizes ‘Sonnetnese,’ a portmanteau of “sonnet” and “Chinese,” while employing explosive hand gestures and expressive intonation to deliver her carefully crafted rhymes and puns.

“My dear, we are staring at the void, at the edge of Americanness,” Chin recited.

‘Sonnetnese’ is a personal reflection that also serves as an archival study of her ancestral past.

She derived inspiration for this poem by analyzing the usage of literature to call out oppressive governments, a practice that can be traced all the way back to the Tang Dynasty through poets like Su Dong Po. Masked in intimate anecdotes and non-political description, a poet can code an entirely different meaning in parallels

and idioms.

In addition to her poems, Chin closed the reading with a selection of works from other authors, such as an English translation of “Snow Falls On China’s Land” by Ai Ching. She teased several lines from unreleased poems, such as “If,” set to be published in her new book. Finally, she ended the event with an audience-picked poem titled “The Floral Apron,” an ode to how immigrant families carry their traditions across the sea and raise them on new soil.

“And although we have traveled far / we would never forget that primal lesson / —on patience, courage, forbearance, / on how to love squid despite squid, / how to honor the village, the tribe, / that floral apron,” Chin said.

The poet conjured up the aroma of soft ginger and spice contrasted by the aggressive beheading of an animal — the paradoxical love of an Asian mother.

Jam-packed in one hour, Chin shared lessons on the feminine soul and the Asian American plight. It’s one thing to read her poetry online, but it’s an entire full-body experience to hear the slight tweaks and drops of her voice that she uses like an instrument.

Swinging in grandiose gestures up to the sky, as if conducting an orchestra, Chin speaks like she is singing melodious, rhythmic jazz. Her narration examines her own identity as well as a community larger than the individual.

— Contact Serena Ye at serena.ye@emory.edu.

Mental Health Research at Emory The Mental Health and Development Program at Emory is enrolling participants between the ages of 12 and 30, for an NIMH project on factors that contribute to risk for mental illness.

Individuals who are experiencing a decline in functioning and other symptoms (e.g., social isolation, unusual thoughts/perceptions, suspiciousness) may be eligible for an assessment that includes diagnostic and neuropsychological evaluations, all conducted at Emory.

Participants are compensated for their time, and if requested, test results can be provided to treatment providers.

For further information, contact the Mental Health and Development Program at mentalhealth.research@emory.edu or (404) 727-7547 or Elaine Walker, Ph.D. at psyefw@ emory.edu.

“A mother is always patient. A mother is always kind. A mother is always giving. A mother never falls apart. A mother is the buffer between her child and the cruel world.”

In Jessamine Chan’s “The School for Good Mothers,” she weaves a chilling commentary on what it means to be a good parent. Chan pulls her readers into an unsettling world, which, like any good dystopia, feels a little too close to reality.

The book’s premise is similar to that of the novel “1984,” except the evil government entity is Child Protective Services (CPS) instead of “Big Brother.” In the novel, CPS takes on an authoritarian nature, and reported “bad parents” are taken to a year-long parenting boot camp. The curriculum of the training program consists of different parenting fundamentals, including care, play, safety and moral authority. The story follows one “bad mother” named Frida, who left her toddler alone at home for two hours after needing an escape to get coffee and work papers.

The dystopian genre is one of the best ways to understand potentially catastrophic downturns in society, and “The School for Good Mothers” does not disappoint in this respect.

The idea of the government program is that by “fixing” parenting, the government can fix society. Chan asks readers to consider the truth of this statement in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Can children grow up to be better than their parents? How much weight do negative childhood experiences carry in a child’s future development?

For her first novel, Chan demonstrates immense promise as a science fiction writer, and the world she builds is instantly believable. From the abandoned college campus used to host the camp to the lifelike childrobots used for training, she covers every base in creating a holistic picture.

The characters are wide-ranging and feature a teen mom accused of physical abuse and a middle-aged white woman accused of coddling her teenage son, among others. Chan considers the dynamics of such a scenario from multiple angles, challenging readers to imagine what kinds of issues would arise in a school of heartbroken “bad” mothers and exploring conflicts concerning race, sexuality, child endangerment, family and mental health.

Chan’s explorations of race are particularly poignant. Frida’s daughter is biracial, with a white father and a Chinese mother, so Frida worries that losing the chance to raise her child risks her daughter’s understanding of her Chinese heritage. In one training session, the instructors hardwire the robots (referred to as “dolls”) to call each other racial slurs so the mothers can correct their behavior and teach equality and “community values.” The potential problems of such a reductive solution to societal racism are not lost on readers.

Ultimately, “The School for Good Mothers” is a critique of the stigmas surrounding parenting, as well as a recognition of the hard work parenting entails. The novel is fast-paced, clever and disturbing and will have you pondering its themes for days.

— Contact Miranda Wilson at miranda.wilson@emory.edu.

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel NCAAM

11

Buzzer beaters in the Big Easy: 2022 March Madness

The NCAA Men’s Division I College Basketball Tournament began on Mar. 15, kicking off another year of unpredictable and entertaining March Madness games. As always, the 2022 tournament promises its fair share of Cinderella stories, historic playoff runs and outstanding individual performances. The Longwood University (Va.) Lancers earned their first tournament berth in program history after smoking Winthrop University (S.C.) to win the Big South Conference.

Legendary Duke University (N.C.) head coach Mike Krzyzewski is in his last season at the helm of a powerhouse program, hoping to cap off his career with a sixth championship ring. The father-son duo of head

coach and four-time NBA all-star Penny Hardaway and junior guard Jayden Hardaway will look to lead N0. 9 seed University of Memphis (Tenn.) to its first national title.

Wheel staff filled out their brackets and defended their picks for which team they believe will bring home the hardware.

Gonzaga University (Wash.)

Bulldogs Jenna Daly: Over many years of mindlessly listening to ESPN debates on my TV, I have always heard Gonzaga’s name thrown around during March Madness. I know that Gonzaga is a powerhouse on the court with the potential to dominate each postseason, but they have continu-

ously gotten crossed up. Regardless of their habitual choking, I believe this could be the year that Gonzaga climbs the ladder to cut down the nets in New Orleans.

University of Kentucky Wildcats Claire Fenton: Betting on a team that couldn’t even win their conference may seem like a risky move, but I’m counting on one player to pull it off: junior forward and national player of the year frontrunner Oscar Tshiebwe.

I’m not particularly a fan of Kentucky or their head coach John Calipari. But Tshiebwe? Now that’s someone worth rooting for.

thing about basketball or March Madness, so I’ll be shooting out of thin air. Spiders are blessed with nimble limbs, multiple eyes and poison in their glands. Spiders also have eyes everywhere and a couple more legs up on their competition. The Spiders might also be friends with Spider Man, and who knows, he could make an appearance.

University of Richmond Spiders Sophia Ling: I do not know any-

University of Arizona Wildcats Michael Mariam: The Wildcats are one of the hottest teams in the country, and they could not be peaking at a more perfect time. Arizona finished the regular season with only three losses and claimed both the PAC-12 regular season and tournament titles. They just beat the University of

the Eagles.

Additionally, Hingtgen, Ryan and Schwarz, along with junior Grant Drogosch and sophomore Logan Lowery, were all on the squad that finished sixth at the 2021 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships.

Sjoberg said that his players are constantly battling to capture a starting position, which has ultimately improved both the individual skill of each and the consistency of the entire team.

“This is probably the deepest, most talented group we’ve had,” Sjoberg said. “We’ve had seven different guys playing in the fall, and week-to-week, any of those seven guys can lead us. It’s been really good day to day at practice too, probably more so than anything.

The competition, the drive to get better — you have to bring it day in and day out, week in and week out.

Qualifying just to make the lineup, that makes us better.”

Despite being the clear favorites against No. 20 ranked NYU, every bit of the team’s talent was needed at the UAA Championship, where Li, Rosenbloom and Ryan earned points for the Eagles and were named to the All-Tournament team. Ryan said that their success in the fall semester made them a bit overconfident head-

ing into the Savannah Collegiate, a mistake they focused on remedying before the championship match.

“We held onto the number one rank in the country for the entire first semester, so we came out expecting to be able to do the same thing in the second semester and I think we got punched in the face [at the Savannah Collegiate],” Ryan said. “Our mindset going into the tournament was that we needed to win this one, especially after the performance we had just a few days beforehand.”

This was the first year Ryan and the other seniors had played in the UAA tournament since their freshman season, and Ryan said returning to that environment for the last time was bittersweet.

“You kind of see the conference tournament as your prize tournament every year, and the fact that we didn’t even have it for three years, or even the ability to play in it, was pretty wild,” Ryan said. “It’s exciting to finally be playing in these big tournaments again, especially with every other school also having their full rosters back. Everything being more competitive makes it more exciting.”

As the Eagles set their eyes on a national title, they will certainly have a target on their backs. Even with plenty of talent to draw upon for

California, Los Angeles, who advanced to the Final Four in 2021, for the second time this season, and have beaten numerous other tournament-qualifying teams as well.

Colorado State University Rams Madi Olivier: I have a guaranteed win with Colorado State, and I did it without crunching numbers and comparing athletes (or whatever it is that sports-minded people do in their free time). My method? Googling photos of every team’s mascot and choosing the cutest. After about 20 minutes of painstaking research, the clear winner was Colorado State’s ram named Cam. I have a boxer at home named Campbell, so it was meant to be.

Eagles earn All-Tournament honors at championship

Continued from Back Page

Courtesy of Ellen Dong

Despite all the accolades the Eagles have accumulated thus far, Futcher said that she encourages her players to focus on beating their seventh-place finish at last year’s NCAA Division III Championships, which requires refining smaller details.

“My focus as a coach is always [to] come back to talking to all my players about the process, things we can control,” Futcher said.

“What we can control are our attitude, our attention to detail, how we train, how we work in a practice round, how focused we are, the energy that we’re bringing to our teammates, our negative or positive comments. All of these things add up over time.

Men’s Golf The men’s golf team is also in the midst of their first full season since 2019, and have displayed promising performances thus far. The team finished first in all but one of their fall tournaments and were ranked first in the nation prior to the start of spring play, garnering a whopping 17 first-place votes out of a possible 20.

While some teams prefer to ignore national rankings, men’s golf head coach John Sjoberg said that his players have done the opposite, gaining confidence from their placement at the top of the pack.

“They definitely take pride in it for sure,” Sjoberg said. “When they finished the fall ranked number one, I think that that’s a big deal to the guys. It shows their efforts are paying off and they have the ability to beat anyone anywhere, which is nice to know.”

The team’s depth is likely the primary reason the Eagles have established themselves as the team to beat. Six different players – fifth year Davis Hingtgen, junior Jackson Klutznick, freshman Tony Li, sophomore Michael Rosenbloom, senior Logan Ryan and senior Max Schwarz – have taken turns being the top scorer for

the remainder of the season, Ryan said that the experienced players’ leadership will be essential to preparing the team to live up to the high expectations.

“It’s going to require a lot of practice these next few weeks, a lot of patience, too,” Ryan said. “I think we’ve got the right guys in place,” Ryan said. “It’s just making sure we’re clicking at the right time and making sure all the guys are staying on top of their stuff . . . just making sure golf’s their top priority when it comes to the national championship in the beginning of May.” From Sjoberg’s perspective, an important part of preparing for nationals is learning to mentally handle how “fickle” golf can be. He said that mastering the fundamentals will give his players a reliable skill set even when they are struggling, helping them achieve the consistency that is a hallmark of a championship-caliber squad.

“We just want to be able to play in that last group on the final day,” Sjoberg said. “When you do that, you get a chance to win, which is a great position to be in.”

— Contact Claire Fenton at claire.fenton@emory.edu

UAA play to begin Mar. 25 for baseball SWOOP’S

Continued from Back Page

The team has been living up to Wacker’s high expectations so far.

Wacker is putting up the best numbers of his career, having recorded a hit in every game thus far and a .355 batting average, while junior outfielder Henry Pelinski is not far behind at .333. On the mound, Mishoulam boasts a 2.16 earned runs average (ERA), while junior pitcher Mike Golob has posted an ERA of 2.25.

While the team is optimistic, no one is immune to bad days and rough games. Wacker explained that relying on their practice and team experiences help prepare them mentally when entering tough games.

“It’s always tough because some days you’ll hit the ball well and it just goes to people, and sometimes you don’t have the number in the hit column,” Wacker said. “I just try to show up everyday . . . Beyond that, it is just about having fun, because you can put all the pressure on yourself in the world, but in the end what’s going to happen is going to happen.”

Similarly, Mishoulam said that he trusts his preparation to relieve his anxiety and calm his nerves.

“I know we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and that’s something we kind of want to stray away from,” Mishoulam said. “Win or lose, it just comes down to trusting the preparation, because we have done so much in the off-season.”

The team not only works hard, but promotes a positive team culture, which Wacker said is part of what makes them so cohesive and successful.

“We’re all really good friends,” Wacker said. “From the oldest senior to the youngest freshman, everyone could go and get lunch with someone because they know each other well enough.”

Both Mishoulam and Wacker praised the senior class for being great teammates and role models who have contributed greatly to the team’s success so far this season, displaying leadership qualities which Mishoulam said he hopes to emulate.

“I’d say an individual goal is to be

able to help the team on and off the field as a leader,” Mishoulam said.

“I want to be a good influence and mentor to some of the younger guys, especially if I can’t always be on the mound pitching. I just want to be a good role model.”

While the entire team is driven to have an amazing season, Wacker said that he and his fellow seniors especially feel the pressure to do well in their final year wearing an Emory uniform.

“The seniors, as a whole, really feel this is our last chance,” Wacker said.

“We want to do this our way. We want to win and make up for the past two years.”

The Eagles take on Oglethorpe University (Ga.) in a triple-header on Mar. 19 to 20. The Eagles kick off UAA play with a four-game home series against Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) on Mar. 25 to 27.

— Contact Nicole Kassabian at nicole.kassabian@emory.edu

SCOOP Sport

Wednesday Swim & Dive March 16

Opponent

Time

@ NCAA DIII Championships

All Day

Thursday March 17

Swim & Dive @ NCAA DIII Championships

All Day

Friday March 18

Swim & Dive @ NCAA DIII Championships M Tennis @ Stag Hen Invitational Softball Webster W Tennis Texas-Dallas Track & Field Spring Break Classic M Golf @ Jekyll Island Collegiate W Golf @ Jekyll Island Collegiate

All Day 12 p.m.

3 p.m.

3 p.m.

3 p.m.

TBA TBA

Saturday March 19

Swim & Dive @ NCAA DIII Championships All Day Track & Field Spring Break Classic All Day Baseball Oglethorpe 12, 3 p.m.

Softball Webster 12 p.m.

M Golf @ Jekyll Island Collegiate TBA W Golf @ Jekyll Island Collegiate TBA M Tennis @ Stag Hen Invitational TBA

Sunday March 20

Baseball W Tennis M Golf

@ Oglethorpe Columbus St. @ Jekyll Island Collegiate

1 p.m.

1 p.m.

TBA

*Home Games in Bold

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | Sports Editors: Jenna Daly (jenna.daly@emory.edu) & Claire Fenton (claire.fenton@emory.edu)

Running on empty: runners feel pressure to slim down to speed up

By Jenna Daly Sports Editor This is the second of a series of articles for Women’s History Month spotlighting female empowerment through sports. This article contains discussion of eating disorders and suicide.

Until my freshman year of high school, I played five different sports and encountered different stereotypes associated with each. The one constant, however, was an ever-present expectation of how I should look as a female athlete: tall, toned and thin.

I felt I must meet these standards even more throughout my high school running career and it is still part of my experience as a cross country and track and field student-athlete.

Since I had a healthy relationship with physical activity and sports for the majority of my life, I did not realize how many female athletes experience body dysmorphia until I arrived at Emory. I quickly discovered that there are many athletes who had already fought body dysmorphia or are struggling with it. I also see student-athletes who have eating disorder tendencies, encouraged by societal expectations to have toned abs and a thigh gap.

It is concerning to see so many talented and beautiful athletes struggle with a mental issue that spirals beyond their control. Mainstream media promotes an image of perfectly fit women without excess fat and a size-zero waist. As a track runner, these narratives are frustrating as equally successful runners have vastly different body types, yet non-runners ascribe a specific, sometimes unrealistic

Jenna Daly/Sports Editor

Female runners often experience body dysmorphia and insecurities, which are perpetuated by societal expectations of how a runner should look.

mold, to runners.

Even worse, authority figures, such as coaches and parents, can contribute to these expectations, a phenomenon which freshman track and field sprinter Maura Dianno said added to her insecurities.

“I think coaches feed into that without realizing it,” Dianno said. “I’ve been told that since I’m smaller or stockier I need to really focus on my form. I realize that I’m smaller or stockier, but it’s comments like, ‘you have those huge legs you need to use them’ [that affect me]. It’s nothing that felt super personal, but it’s always in the back of your mind.”

I have been fortunate not to experience persistent negative thoughts about my body image, but preventing them has not come easily. Growing up, I was constantly told that I was “skinny” and asked if I was eating enough.

BASEBALL

While I understand that people are looking out for my best interests, I am tired of being called “skinny.”

People consider the word “skinny” to be a compliment, but in my life, it has symbolized the stress I put my body through daily as an athlete.

The question ‘are you eating enough?’ is surely a caring one, but it perpetuates calorie counting or hyperawareness of one’s diet. Commenting on women’s bodies, regardless of the intent, is never acceptable. Runners already deal with a stereotype that equates success with thinness, and when they are constantly told how to look, body dysmorphia arises.

The mainstream idea that being thin equates to being healthy pressures female athletes to look emaciated while excelling athletically. Yet, women are perpetually told they should not have body fat, but need to build muscle.

This duality is physically impossible, yet many female athletes struggle with accepting an additional few pounds to become stronger because they fear scrutiny of their changing body.

“When I started lifting and getting that ‘more ideal build,’ that’s when I really started spiraling because I was working for that ideal look,” Dianno said.

While eating disorder diagnoses have doubled in the past 20 years, they have always been an issue in women’s sports. In 1982, Mary Wazeter was one of the best distance runners in the world at age 17. She had a promising career at Georgetown University (D.C.) ahead of her, but it never came to fruition. Wazeter gave in to “an obsessive desire to control her weight, believing that being thin would help her run faster” and attempted to end her life by jumping off of a bridge.

Wazeter survived the jump, but she was permanently disabled and can no longer run. Her suicide attempt was fueled by years of comments made about her appearance and an anxiety of wanting to impress coaches.

Before one recruiting visit, Wazeter “was told about weekly weigh-ins and a pound-penalty system for violators” and felt she needed to be “super thin” to “impress the coach.”

As a runner, I often wonder why this issue has not yet been tackled given that eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness in the United States. Eating disorders and body dysmorphia are more prevalent in all athletes, than in the general population. Despite the need for education in sports culture, there are little to no resources about nutrition or taking care of their health outside of practice and competition.

Proper education about fueling one’s body based on its individual needs could be one preventative measure needed to address body dysmorphia issues.

Dianno added that expanding her nutritional knowledge helped her recover from body image issues and led to more comfortability with her body.

“I think I got educated about the issues and how to treat my body,” Dianno said. “Ever since it was pointed out to me, like the negative stereotypes and the backhanded compliments, I’ve been able to deal with that portion of it and convince myself that what I need for my body and what I’m supposed to look like is going to look very different [than other runners].”

— Contact Jenna Daly at jenna.daly@emory.edu

GOLF

Baseball team looking Men’s and women’s golf crowned UAA champions to have ‘no regrets’

By Claire Fenton Sports Editor

By Nicole Kassabian Contributing Writer Emory University’s baseball team is preparing for their first full season since the pandemic, as the 2020 season was cut short and the team only played 12 games last spring.

This year, the Eagles have a full 40-game non-conference and University Athletic Association (UAA) season lined up. They currently have an 11-7 record.

The road back to playing consistently has been a rocky one. The team found their stride in 2020, accumulating an 11-4 record before Emory shut down all varsity sports.Last year, the Eagles were hopeful that a full regular season would be possible, but being unable to practice in the fall and starting the season late greatly reduced the amount of games they could play. They ended spring 2021 with a 7-5 record.

Due to the unorthodox past few years, the team’s typical training schedule is new to players who have not yet experienced a full college baseball season. Despite the learning curve for younger players, senior infielder Robby Wacker described the team as being excited to demonstrate their skills in games.

“For a lot of people, it is the first time having a full fall of practices, 40 hours a week, and then spring

[games] and the whole preparation,” Wacker said. “I am just really excited to get back to normal as best we can and have that chance to show [the Emory community] what we can do.”

Junior pitcher Aaron Mishoulam said the team is especially motivated to work hard and win their UAA conference this season given how irregular the last couple years have been.

“Our team’s goals are definitely to win our conference and get a chance to make a playoff appearance since we haven’t been able to do that for the past few years.” Mishoulam said.

Despite the hurdles faced due to the pandemic, the team has trained hard throughout the year. They have spent a lot of time focusing on their strength and weight training to increase their endurance and overall athleticism. Efforts are currently centered on practicing plays, reviewing game details and getting used to being back on the field.

Wacker said that, more than anything, he and his teammates do not want their excitement at finally being able to play to distract them from playing at a high level.

“For me, I just want to leave the season with no regrets.” Wacker said.

“The biggest thing is just to win games and leave every game knowing there is nothing left out there.”

See UAA, Page 11

Th The Emory University men’s and women’s golf teams won the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship on March 12 to 13. The men defeated New York University (NYU) 3-2 to bring home their fifth consecutive title, while the women beat No. 1 Carnegie Mellon University (Penn.) 3-2 and earned the program’s first ever championship trophy.

Women’s Golf Women’s golf head coach Katie Futcher had a lot on her plate when building Emory’s first women’s golf program from scratch in fall 2019.

Still, she managed to fill the roster with seven promising freshmen, coach them to middle-of-the-pack finishes in their fall tournaments and prepare them to compete in the UAA Championship in March 2020. Then the pandemic hit, obliterating the team structure and causing all but one of the players to quit the team.

Although the Eagles on Futcher’s current roster are well-versed in playing junior and amateur tournaments, they have virtually no collegiate experience with three freshmen, three sophomores and only one junior on the seven-player roster.

Given that five players are needed for a match, the mental and physical well-being of Futcher’s athletes is one of her top priorities. However,

Futcher said that coaching a smaller roster is beneficial in that it allows her to fine-tune each player’s skill set and help them navigate their academics.

“Because we have a smaller team, we can be so much more individually focused on the needs of each player,” Futcher said. “Myself and my assistant are doing really well addressing and staying on top of each player’s tendencies and what they fall into in terms of pitfalls. [We are] really on top of managing their game and helping them understand what they need to pay attention to throughout the semester.”

Against all odds, the Eagles are excelling in their first full season. They placed first in three out of four of their fall tournaments, and are currently ranked second in Division III. Freshmen Ellen Dong and Sharon Mun and sophomore Irene Wang each won a fall tournament, and freshman Heejo Hyun was the top scorer for the Eagles at the Savannah Collegiate on March 7 to 8. Their sweetest victory came at the UAA Championship when they upset Carnegie Mellon, to whom they lost at the Savannah Collegiate. Dong, Mun and Wang all earned points for the Eagles and were named to the All-Tournament team.

Although it was difficult for Dong to dispel her nerves before tee off, she said that her coaches drove the team through the course the day before the Championship and advised them where to hit the ball. Relying on their

guidance was key to remaining confident on such a big stage, Dong said.

“Definitely you’re nervous at first, but then I was thinking, ‘We [are] prepared for sure,’” Dong said. “I just told myself that we prepared, we know what we are doing and then we just have to focus on each shot. Then just [being] patient, and then just waiting for it, and then at the end I think, ‘Yeah, we got it.’”

Given that the Eagles lost to Carnegie Mellon by just four strokes a few days prior, Dong said she felt as though she and her teammates were up to the challenge presented to them at the Championship.

“Both Carnegie Mellon and Emory, we are right there [as equals],” Dong said. “You cannot say that Carnegie Mellon is better than Emory. I feel like we’re the same, so after last week’s loss, I felt like, it’s one tournament, right? It doesn’t really say anything. We just have to really work hard and then be prepared for the next one.”

Dong was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, an award which she said validated all her efforts this season and at the Championship.

“It [was] a surprise,” Dong said.

“It’s definitely a confirmation for my hard work in the past, and it’s also motivation for me to keep doing well both academic and athletic-wise and just do my best and then also contribute more for the team.”

See EAGLES, Page 11