DECISION Issue by ISSUES Magazine

WINTER ‘21

WASH U’S PREMIER JUSTICE & DESIGN MAG

DECISION ISSUE

SPECIAL ISSUE

ISSUES

In this ISSUE ISSUES Magazine seeks to raise awareness of the intrinsic link that exists between art, design, and social issues. The spaces we inhabit each day mold our experiences, both by fostering interaction and by building barrier. Using the city of St. Louis as our primary lens, ISSUES Magazine draws connections between both tangible and intangible aspects of the social environment. With both a print and an online version of the publication, ISSUES Magazine reachs out to a diverse readership, including students of Washington University and residents of the St. Louis region. By utilizing a wide spectrum of media, ISSUES hopes to inspire action as well as awareness about the intersection of design and social justice.

Emily Alpert Editor-in-Chief

Madhu Kandasamy Senior Editor

Lucy Chen Design Editor

Maddie Savitch PR Chair

ISSUES Magazine is a Washington University in St. Louis student group. Most imagery sourced from the British Library collection.

issues.mag.washu@gmail.com

ISSUU

issuu.com/issuesmagazinewashu

SOCIAL

@issues.mag.washu

LETTER from the EDITOR

ECLIPSE — Cameron Bryant

WALKS — Madhu Kandasamy

NEW PERSPECTIVES — Madhu Kandasamy

DEAR SENATOR HAWLEY — Emily Alpert

VOTING — Emily Alpert

GREEK LIFE — Maddie Savich

GHOST — Emily Alpert

LETTER from the EDITOR Dear thoughtful readers, Thank you for taking the time to read our fully digital Issue. This semester has been a strange one for ISSUES Magazine, and not simply because of COVID-19 and a hybrid semester at Wash. U. We have a brand new team of staff who are publishing for the first time with a few old names and faces mixed in. ISSUES also decided to transition to a fully online platform and are not printing any physical issues this semester. Lastly, we’ve taken the decision to revamp our social media content and hope to continue to do so. We hope that you see and appreciate the time and creativity our contributors have put in all semester to make these choices successful. All these choices meant there was but one clear option for a theme. Welcome to the DECISION Issue. November of 2020 was my first time voting in a General Presidential Election and the year that a President denounced the election results and refused to concede. It was also the year that Wash. U. decided to delay the first day of the semester by three weeks to accommodate a hybrid semester. This led to students needing to decide whether to say home or to travel to St. Louis anyway. Students that had their housing taken away thanks to the Pandemic, had to make the decision to find non-student housing in the St. Louis area, and those landlords had to make the decision as to whether or not to rent to college students. This year also showed a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside it, the decision on whether or not to participate, to educate oneself, and to grow. Individuals had to choose whether and how much they would support the Black Lives Matter movement and how that would affect how they lived their lives. With 2020 being an election year, with the Black Lives Matter movement, and with the hard choices many students had to make this summer and throughout the semester, acknowledging the difficulty of these decisions seemed pertinent. We explore the decisions individuals made, how they made their choices, and why. Individual choices should be reflected upon and we do that. We welcome you to explore DECISION with us. Come for the discussion on self-care and Greek Life, stay for the ghosts. We hope you enjoy the DECISION Issue. Emily Alpert

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ECLIPSE Cameron Bryant

WINTER 2020

Madhu Kandasamy

WALKS Whenever I get the chance, I like to walk around and take in the parts of the world I never knew I could find before. I try to get lost on purpose. Maybe it’s a way to make up for my apparent lack of geographical awareness, but it’s easier to justify spontaneous turns and side street adventures when it’s all in the name of exploring. My routes are never planned, just vaguely imagined as I try to recall street names as I near each intersection. The direction I end up turning down is decided on a whim; each choice is seemingly innate without the distraction of a GPS or map to instruct my journey. I’ve spotted numerous little treasures tucked away on the other side of sidewalks I wouldn’t have normally seen. Trees that grow nearly horizontal, stooped over the road, seem to point me in the right direction. Wise keepers of the neighborhood, their branches extend into the street, careful not to skim the roofs of passing cars. One of the best parts of my walks are the ever-present leaf piles. They get whipped up by the wind, fluttering and twirling in the air around me, sometimes landing on my jacket or in my hair, but eventually settle down again before the next breeze. The piles themselves shift and move around, but I know that they’ll still be there the next day, perhaps soggier and more worn, until they’re collected and disposed of by conscious neighborhood residents. The individual leaves are fascinating: some as big as my hand, and others much smaller. All are different shapes and colors. I like feeling them between my fingers as I walk,

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appreciating the tiny grooves and the texture of the stem. At some point, I drop them and let them carry on in the wind, as I continue my own journey. Squirrels run up trees, darting back and forth across lawns to their homes. I deflect to them, a giant tromping through their world to momentarily escape my own. I once saw a home decorated for its inhabitant’s birthday. The lawn was ornamented with pastel handmade signs, and bright balloons and flags framed the porch. I wish I had carried some chalk with me, to scribble a quick birthday greeting on the sidewalk before I carried on. The joy of new beginnings and milestones seemed so far from me then, as my days usually blended together under the constant expectation of online courses. The scene I found was a reminder that life carries on; amid frustration and struggle, we’re still here. At the end of my walks, I test myself by keeping the Maps app closed. The decisions I made when turning on to obscure streets must be reversed to take me back home. I practice navigation this way, convincing myself that I’m actually learning about my surroundings. I don’t know if I’ve learned them until I go back to those neighborhoods and decide to turn right instead of left, to see what other gems I can find that day. Whatever instinct brought me in one direction surely guides me to my next location, as sure as the wind that tosses up leaves and ruffles my hair each day.

Whenever I get the chance, I like to walk around and take in the parts of the world I never knew I could find before. I try to get lost on purpose.

WINTER 2020

Madhu Kandasamy

NEW PERSPECTIVES

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I used to fill up so much of my time with activities and productive tasks, that I barely had time at the end of the day to take a breath without pulling up my next assignment. Having days without a series of tasks to do seemed like the most boring hellscape I could ever imagine. I needed stimulation, excitement, activities that I could devote my mental energy to. As my plans for this summer inevitably came crashing down, I eventually realized that I could try my best to fill those days with the creative pursuits I told myself I was too busy for during the year. It wasn’t an easy change by any means, and I felt like I had to rewire my brain to stop thinking about work as my only potential source of reward. Without explicit tasks to schedule my time around, my days felt like they dragged on until the next time I could go to sleep. Combined with how turbulent this summer was, the lack of structured time produced a complex state of being I had never felt before: I was primed with the motivation to do things and be involved in any way I could, but I had no way of doing them. Over time, I learned to channel this odd energy into writing, art, and reading books. My new way of thinking is a work in progress. A reflection of the larger, evolving society we exist in, my connections with myself and the people around me fluctuate each day as I compile a mental summation of my hopes and goals.

Now, I take a look at the world we inhabit today and break down my thoughts. I found myself becoming interested and open to things I never expected to involve myself with. Changing my outlook on the world meant that I have to consciously decide on some of my reactions now. I force myself to maintain clarity and composure as I address situations that would have previously infuriated me. The nature of my friendships have changed, as we’re scattered across St. Louis and beyond with little opportunity to interact safely in person. As frustrating as it is, my time all summer showed me that I still have control over myself, and how I choose to look at situations. I can decide not to get annoyed over inconsequential happenings that occur throughout the day, because in the end, I won’t remember those when I look back on my time here. Instead, I’ll remember the time I did spend with my friends and the ways we were able to connect in a time of such intense social isolation. Beyond close relationships, the impacts we have on strangers are nebulous and harder to pin down. This is why our role as students in this city must also incorporate an understanding of the community we live, shop, and work in.

These past few months have certainly been straining and tragic and managing their long-lasting effects on top of classes and responsibilities takes a lot of mental effort. At the same time, we are privileged enough to attend Washington University, a community that is at least in some part removed from the rest of the world. It may be easier to view our St. Louis community through a reductivist lens and detach oneself from the tough reality of systemic racism and inequality that we’ve been hearing about lately, but it is certainly more productive to set aside those biases and become active members of the city we claim in our school’s name. Let’s decide now to start paying more attention to the causes that affect our community members and doing what we can to help alleviate the detrimental effects that our university system has on the surrounding neighborhoods. Let’s stop ignoring the signs, and instead consider how we can grant our time and energy to causes that matter.

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DEAR SENATOR HAWLEY Dear Senator Hawley: I am ashamed that you are my senator. You are a power hungry and delusional man with little regard for the Constitution and for what is right for this country. You have chosen to attempt to further your own political career in a miscalculated step to support white supremacists and domestic terrorists. You are choosing to feed into the baseless conspiracies surrounding the supposed “stolen” election rather than accept fact and defeat and move forward to actually making this country a great place. You are refusing to do right by your constituents. Stop supporting Donald Trump. Now is not the time to feed into unfounded claims of election fraud. Now is not the time to support the domestic terrorists who put your colleagues in danger. Now is not the time to further your own political career. Now is the time for unity. Condemn your previous actions. Condemn these rioters. Further, you are in denial of the extent of your actions. You stood next to a Congresswoman who openly praised Adolf Hitler. You enabled and encouraged white supremacists and neo-Nazis in their attempts to storm the Capitol. You are not condemning their beliefs and actions but rather are supporting the steps they have taken. Simply put, you are a Nazi. I would like to remind you of the oath that you took when you took office: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

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I am ashamed that you are my senator. This oath is from the United States Senate website. This oath is the one you took in front of the rest of your colleagues. You have broken it. You have not defended the Constitution of the United States against all enemies. Instead, you supported our domestic enemies’ attempts to attack the Constitution. You have not borne true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. You laughed in its face when you supported baseless claims of election fraud and encouraged Mike Pence to not certify the election results. Instead of supporting our democracy, you chose to support a coup and attempt at tyranny. If you truly believe that what you have done is right, then I believe you have also broken the third tenet of the oath: “without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.” If you truly believe that a temper-tantrum coup by Donald Trump is truly the best course of action, then you do not believe in our Constitution. As thus, you have mental reservation of your purpose in the Senate. You have broken your oath. Senator Hawley, I urge you to resign. Remove yourself from the office of the Senator peacefully with dignity before you are removed. You will never be known as President Hawley, but would you rather be known as the Senator that realized that they were wrong or as the Senator thrown out of office for their shameful actions? Article I, Section 5 of Constitution states that “Each House [of Congress] may […] with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.” It appears as if this is your future on the Senate. Expulsion. You have certainly angered enough Senators in your own party when you endangered their lives. Resign or be expelled. The choice is yours. I urge you to do what is right and resign. Your concerned constituent, Emily Alpert

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Emily Alpert

VOTING

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I would like to start this piece by saying that I collected this data using the ISSUES Magazine Instagram Account. The account has minimal reach and the people who participated in the polls are the ones that care. While I would like to say this was a random sampling, it was probably not. However, the data I believe is still relevant. Election day also already happened, but I believe it is still important to look through the data I collected.

This election is big. Huge. Probably the most important one in a lot of people’s lives. A year ago, we had premonitions that this election was this important, but it wasn’t until June that we truly realized how much our democracy rested on this election. Watching George Floyd murdered on video, watching Donald Trump’s lack of response, and seeing his decision to send military troops to arrest peaceful protesters was a call to action for many individuals in the United States. Watching Donald Trump incite violence — something that he has done in the past to a lesser degree — caused many to realize and begin to understand the true dangers of him staying in power. Many who would not vote normally decided to vote. Individuals who were going to vote third party realized that it was more important to vote Donald Trump out of office than to vote on the principle of being against the two party system. As such, I decided to see what (a limited sample) of WashU students thought about voting: how they are voting, if they have already voted, and why.

question and 61 people participated in the poll. 22 individuals said yes and 39 said no. I’m personally not surprised by how many people said yes. Yes, we are in the middle of a pandemic, but President Trump has shown no remorse for attempting to defund the Post Office. Further, in Missouri (and several other states), individuals voting absentee and mailing in their ballot are required to get their ballots notarized. It becomes a hassle to mail in your ballot or to drop it off because of the extra steps people need to take to get there. There are still individuals choosing to not vote in person. Some of these people are voting in their college state and some are voting at home.

Our first question was if people were voting. 146 individuals saw the poll and 68 voted. All 68 individuals said that yes, they were voting. 100% of the individuals said yes. That is huge. In the US, we are not obligated to vote and in fact we have a large history of a lot of people not voting. The fact that 100% of individuals surveyed said that yes they are voting shows a large shift in individual’s feelings on their civic duty.

Our next poll was seen by 128 people. Of those 128 people, only 38 voted. But, this question applied to less individuals. In this question we asked if people are voting absentee or mail in. One of the confounding variables for this question is that not all states differentiate between absentee and mail in. Not all states require a “reason” (outside of Covid) for absentee voting. Thus, there may have been some confusion in answering this question. Of the 38 that voted in this poll, 24 voted absentee and 14 voted mail in.

The next question was if people are voting in person this election. 135 people saw the

People are making the active decision to vote and making a plan to vote.

The next poll was seen by 122 people. Of those 122 people, 62 individuals voted. We asked people if they voted in their home state or college state. We also clarified that if people go to college in their home state to vote for their home state. In this poll, 48 individuals said that they are voting in their home state. 14 said their college state. While there is some overlap between the two as some individuals do attend college in their home state, I do think it is telling that so many people are voting in their home state. Lastly, we asked people why they are voting in this election and why they are not voting in this election. We received four responses out of the 115 people that viewed the question. Someone wrote “because I can.” Another individual is voting because “Democracy is on the ballot!” Yet another because “it feels like my civic duty” and yet a fourth wrote that “it’s the first time I can and I want to do my part!”. These four answers at their core have the same argument: It is my right and privilege to decide what happens in this country and I am choosing to use that right and privilege, especially in a tumultuous time. Overall, people are choosing to take part in democracy this election. People are making the active decision to vote and making a plan to vote. This (not so random) sampling of individuals are deciding to step up and participate in their civic duty during a remarkably important election.

WINTER 2020

Maddie Savich

GREEK LIFE

** Preface: as a former member of WPA, I chose to focus this article specifically on current and former members of WPA. ** Disclaimer: I am a white, cis, able-bodied woman who deeply benefits from white supremacy. I cannot and do not speak from OR for the experience of marginalized individuals. This piece seeks to make space for a wide collection of community voices from a neutral standpoint. All voices and opinions, not just the loudest, are valid and deserve to be heard.

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Around 35% of Washington University in St. Louis’ undergraduate student population are members of a sorority or fraternity, a tradition over 100 years old. But in July 2020, a survey released to the general population cited that over half (65.13%) of students were in favor of Greek Life’s abolition (2). How did we get here? We can trace this shift in thinking to the re-sparking of the Black Lives Matter movement, which began when police murdered George Floyd in the beginning of June. This sparked a nationwide awakening to the harsh reality of racism in America. Caught in isolation, reflecting on systematic oppression, college students examined and confronted how systems of inequality play out on their individual university campuses. One common denominator: Greek Life. There is no denying the empirical fact that both the Interfraternity Council and Women’s Panhellenic Association are built on a history of racism, sexism, classicism, elitism, ableism. Members of WashU’s WPA took to Zoom to discuss their organizations’ next steps. There is no option to simply continue willfully, ignorant of wrongs done so the decision was boiled down to a few options: reform, disaffiliation, abolition. The discussion boiled down to one fundamental (but not so clear cut) question: can you fix a broken system? It was clear that each member who shared their opinion was driven to create the same outcome: a diverse, inclusive, and safe environment for all. In such emotionally-charged conversations, it is easy to lose sight of this fact. Driven by the same goal, the decision to

take a different path has no indication of one’s moral integrity. So, in contrast to mainstream rhetoric, it must be understood that the decision to stay in a sorority or drop does not necessarily translate to right or wrong. Voices from all ends of the spectrum share their equally valid decisions: “I decided to stay because if I didn’t try to reform my sorority, I knew that no one else would. It seems that abolition isn’t a choice right now, so until that happens, somebody has to make sure that Greek life changes their ways and I want to be that person.” “I decided to drop because after hearing from others and doing some personal reflection, I concluded that Greek life as a whole brought more harm than good to WashU’s campus. I no longer wanted to be a part of an organization that I felt was exclusionary, racist, classist, and overall felt very anti-progressive.”

But in July 2020, a survey released to the general population cited that over half (65.13%) of students were in favor of Greek Life’s abolition. How did we get here?

“I chose to stay because I felt that deactivating would not solve the immediate issues. Greek Life is obviously here to stay at this time and I felt by leaving I would be silent to the problems that remain. I have decided to take a leadership role and remain with the only other Black member in our chapter to create change.”

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“I decided to drop because I realized that my thoughts around policing had changedthe policing system in the country is founded in white supremacy and can’t be changed so we need to create new systems founded in inclusion. The same is true for greek life and it would have been hypocritical of me to stay in a system that I was electing to be a part of and not call for its abolition the same way I call for the abolition of the current policing system.” “I decided to stay because I believe that sororities are essential for providing a safe space for women. I can’t tell you the number of times people I know have been saved by sisters. That being said, sororities do not provide a space that is 100% safe. There are certainly issues regarding the exclusion of certain types of people, poor representation of varied demographics, and issues with implicit biases, but those things can be fixed. I see disbanding as giving up rather than trying to fix the problem. This is why there is no progress, because people just give up rather than trying to teach others how to be aware of their biases. I think that people should stay in their sororities and work through this together to make changes both in the group and the individual. Leaving or disbanding will not make a change.”

“I decided to drop because I did not want to pay to be part of the sorority anymore, and I had low hopes for meaningful reform. There was also a lot of social pressure, as many black students (both affiliated and non-affiliated) were asking sorority members to drop. I chose to listen to those students because I am a white woman who has not listened before.” “I decided to stay because honestly I feel like leaving doesn’t solve any of the inherent issues with greek life as long as sororities still exist at this school - until all sororities are abolished I want to work towards change within my organization.” “I decided to drop because I saw a survey in which the majority of the school voted that they would like to abolish Greek life because it was elitist and exclusive and I didn’t want to be apart of an organization that so many people felt uncomfortable with.” “I decided to stay because I believe more effective change can be made from within an organization.” “I decided to drop because I didn’t want to be a part of an institution that has continued to systemically work against minorities.” As you can see, there are a variety of reasons for staying or leaving. The overall goal is to create a more equitable social system where marginalized voices are heard.

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CITATIONS https://students.wustl.edu/sorority-fraternity-life/ “Sororities and fraternities have played an important role for undergraduate students at Washington University in St. Louis for more than 100 years.” (1) “About 2,400 students are members of a sorority or fraternity, making up approximately 35 percent of the undergraduate student population. We currently have 26 recognized chapters: the Alpha Psi Lambda co-ed Latinx Fraternity, 12 Interfraternity Council (IFC) Chapters, one campus-based and three city-wide National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) chapters, and nine Women’s Panhellenic Association (WPA) Chapters.” (1) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkQIOeJ36goxBKo-ATWm0b12TpUOhQTPDVU-VAs3LTE/ edit The survey received 1672 responses (n=1672)Overall, 65.13% of students were in favor of abolition and 30.26% were in favor of reform. 2.03 % were in favor of no changes, and 2.57% did not have an opinion one way or the other.

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GHOST

Emily Alpert

ISSUES — DECISION

I live in a duplex less than a 10 minute walk from WashU. The duplex was recently renovated, so it shouldn’t really have a lot of creaks from wooden floors or random window panes shaking or doors randomly opening unless they’re pulled shut. But it does. Of course, there are perfectly reasonable explanations for why those noises are made — the construction workers didn’t change flooring, windy days and badly fitted frames cause windows to shake, old doors and changing weather lead to doors creaking and opening without cause. However, I still choose to believe that there is a ghost in the apartment, specifically a ghost that assists in the creaking of the floor and in the shaking of the windows. The downstairs apartment also has a ghost, but she’s a different ghost. The downstairs apartment has interacted enough with their ghost to empathize and understand their ghost. Their ghost has been identified as old, grumpy, and angry. She shakes the panes in front of the fireplace and attracts the attention of the cat. She will also make parts of the house cold and make noise during storms. Occasionally she may even kill a plant or two. While there are perfectly good explanations for why these things happen — the flue is not closed properly, allowing wind to flow in, terrible and old ventilation systems lead to cold spots, our house doesn’t get much sunlight — we still choose to believe that the angry ghost causes all the problems. Unlike the downstairs ghost, the ghost in my apartment is more benign, but when I mentioned to my roommate that the downstairs ghost was old and angry, she told me that

she thought the ghost sometimes came to her bedroom and hung out there. The old, angry ghost would come to the upstairs apartment and cause floors to creak and windows to shake. According to my roommate, our benign ghost would never cause such outright fright.

Rather than thinking of and accepting the more “reasonable” explanations, we choose to blame the two ghosts that live in our duplex. Again, there are perfectly good explanations as to why all the creaks and groans and shaking happens. And yet, we are choosing to believe over and over in the supernatural instead. Yes, the wind is causing the windows to shake, but the ghost is helping. The ghost is the one choosing to shake the panes over the fireplace, not the lack of a proper flue. The ghost is making the house cold, not the fact that our ventilation and heating systems are inefficient. Our floors creak and groan not because they’re old but because the ghost is walking over them. Our plants die not because we get no sun, but because the ghost kills them. The cat tracks what appears to be the ghost not because of bad ventilation

causing weird cold and warm spots and windows causing interesting light patterns, but because the ghost is choosing to play with the cat. Rather than thinking of and accepting the more “reasonable” explanations, we choose to blame the two ghosts that live in our duplex. We as humans choose to believe over and over in the supernatural and occult. It’s more exciting to think that a ghost is behind all the house noises and that a crystal will make the ghost angry at the world but not at us rather than to admit that our landlord didn’t actually renovate the place and simply listed it as such on their website. But belief in the occult and the supernatural extends past this. Especially belief in house ghosts. In fact, I think I have a ghost in my house back home on the East Coast. Around one in the morning, the ghost is always taking a stroll in our hallway on the second floor and pausing to bounce on one particular floorboard, making it squeak and groan. Yes, we have a program set up on our heat and AC to change the temperature around that time so that we don’t waste money or energy overnight. And yes, our floorboards are old and wood does expand and contract based on temperature and if the floorboard isn’t secured properly it makes sense that it would make noise. But, why can’t that be true and it also be true that we have a ghost that likes to jump up and down at one in the morning? Especially when it’s one in the morning and you’re laying awake at night and hearing croaking. A ghost jumping up and down on a floorboard at one in the morning makes much more sense than WINTER 2020

And yet, we are the ones that decided these noises and phenomena are because of the supernatural. We are the ones that bestowed life into the inanimate.

a loose floorboard that expands and contracts with changing temperature. We choose to blame the ghost. Choosing to feel the presence of a ghost, one that is benevolent, benign, or malicious, rather than accept a more “reasonable” scientific explanation shows a need for us as humans to feel connection to everything happening around us, to do away with science, which feels impersonal and to focus on that which is more personable. Rather than maintaining an internal locus of control, we are able to shift the locus to an external one. Instead of allowing ourselves to understand that we can make the changes that we need to make to fix our living situations, we shift the focus to the ghosts and to what they are doing and how we can connect with them. If we say that the ghost is the one that plays with the fireplace, then we have a human connection to why the fireplace is opening and closing. It’s no longer an impersonal explanation of the flue not being properly shut.

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Now, the explanation is that the old, angry, grumpy ghost wants to get our attention for some reason. She wants us to know what she is trying to communicate. And so we listen because we have found a ghost, a connection to a simple fireplace panel moving. At one in the morning, lying in bed and hearing the ghost dancing on the floorboard now brings us the joy of a familiar person rather than fear of the unknown. The doors in my apartment don’t simply open because the doors are old and don’t fit into the frame well. They open because a ghost wants to sit and take classes with us. She wants to hear and learn and participate. Because we have decided the ghost is jumping up and down, opening doors, shaking panes, and have heard the ghost, we know that it is a benign force that simply wants to enjoy it’s version of life. And yet, we are the ones that decided these noises and phenomena are because of the supernatural. We are the ones that bestowed life into the inanimate.

WINTER 2020