NBN Magazine Spring 2020

Out of service.

After the pandemic struck, campus workers have struggled to remain financially whole. | pg. 47

PRINT

“Where can you donate to make positive change in the world?“ editorial

Print Managing Editor | Michael Korsh Senior Features Editors | Elise Hannum, Sylvia Goodman, Isaac Sultan

Minnesota Freedom Fund

Senior Section Editors | Gabrielle Rabon, Rachel Schonberger, Tara Wu

Associate Editors (Pregame) | Ethan Shanfeld,

managing

Editor-in-Chief | David Deloso Executive Editor | Maya Mojica Managing Editors | Amy Ouyang, Sophia Lo, Giovana Gelhoren

Assistant Managing Editors | Brennen Bariso, Joan Gwak, Eugenia Cardinale

Maggie Galloway

Associate Editor (Hangover) | Jenna Greenzaid Assistant Editors | Annie Cao, Wyatte Grantham-Phillips, Teresa Nowakowski, Nathan Ansell

Director of Fact-Checking | Jennifer Zhan

creative

United We Dream

Creative Director | Sakke Overlund Assistant Creative Director | Stephanie Zhu Photo Director | Nikita Amir Assistant Photo Director | Carly Menker Art Director | Cynthia Zhang Designers | Emily Cerf, Chloe Cohen, Alisa Gao,

Maren Kranking, Andrew Kwa, Agnes Lee, Luodan Rojas, Cynthia Zhang, Emma Kumer

freelance

Writers | Sarah Meadow, Rayna Song,

Christina van Waasbergen, Laurisa Sastoque, Yaakov Gottlieb,

Nathan Omprasadham, David Deloso, Grace Deng, Jordan Hickey, Gia Yetikyel, Christine Potermin, Emma Kumer, Linda Shi, Frederick Tippett, Erika Barrios, Yashwardhan Bairathi, Kubair Chuchra

Fact-Checkers | Allison Rhee, Christine Potermin,

Jo Scarletty, Rayna Song, Sarah Meadow, Tessa Paul, Lami Zhang

section editors

News Editor | Olivia Lloyd Assistant News Editor | Shannon Coan Features Editors | Cadence Quaranta, Ryan Kim Creative Writing Editor | Gia Yetikyel Assistant Creative Writing Editor | Ilana Arougheti Sports Editors | Shreyas Iyer, Jacob Munoz Fair Fight Assistant Sports Editor | Coop Daley Life and Style Editor | Melissa Santoyo Assistant L&S Editors | Teresa Nowakowski, Joshua Perry

Opinion Editor | Madison Smith Assistant Opinion Editor | Shruti Rathnavel Entertainment Editor | Bailey Richards Assistant Entertainment Editor | Linda Shi Audio Editor | Prabhav Jain Politics Editors | Grace Deng, Gaby Nadler Science and Tech Editor | Yahan Chen Assistant S&T Editor | Annie Cao Photo/Video Editors | Ika Qiao, Lami Zhang Graphics Editors | Kylie Lin, Stephanie Zhu Interactives Editor | Avriana Allen

corporate

social media

Publisher | Aaron Coates Fundraising and Ad Sales Chair | A.V. Vo Directors of Marketing | Madison McClellan, Jessie Chaiet, Tina Huang Events Chair | Olivia Demetriades Director of Recruitment and Development | Clarissa Wong Webmaster | Beck Dengler Identities Editors | Madison McClellan, Ika Qiao, Laurisa Sastoque

Social Media Manager | Jordan Hickey Social Media Editors | Jayna Kurlender,

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum

2 | Spring 2020

Feeding America

Changing Womxn Collective

Jacob Munoz

Social Media Contributors | Olivia Lloyd, Linda Shi, Bailey Richards

Graphics Coordinator | Kylie Lin TikTok Manager | Madison Smith

cover design and illustration | Sakke Overlund

contents 05

pregame 06 08 09 10 12 13 14

I dare me In love during lockdown Thrifted therapy In 300 words or less...

Tune in to tune out A world sans serif Evanston eats 17 20 22 24 26 28 31

35

features 35 39 43 47

16 dance floor Freedom of tweets Commitment day TikTok on the clock Home run Far from home Home for the holidays Racism unmasked

Remaking the grade Overlooked overseas Risk of return Out of service

56

51 photo story 51 Color coding

hangover 57 58 60 62 63

Board in the house Reopening the yearbook Shaken, not stir crazy What’s your corona persona?

The Chloe Ting effect

Spring 2020 | 3

Dear readers:

T

o say we didn’t know what this quarter would look like would be an understatement. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States and sent Northwestern students home for the entirety of spring quarter, the future of NBN immediately came into question. How would we report, write, edit, design, fundraise and produce a full-length print magazine — a medium with an already questionable future — with our staff scattered across the globe?

Family-friendly comfort food with a tw

A fast, healthy dining experience located just across have simply our spring JoinNot us only before orwe after yourproduced next Actors Gym show! magazine, but we have risen to the occasion and pushed ourselves to make something truly special.

Hours In Pregame, we’re helping our readers smile Monday: Closed through the pain by recreating Evanston recipes at Sunday, - Thursday: 11 AMPM and home orTuesday sharing how students are using9music movies to escape quarantine.

In Dance Floor, we’re Friday & Saturday: 11 AM - 10 PM

reporting on how the pandemic has affected life at Northwestern, from the students who remain on campus to Wildcats left without a season.

Join us for happy hour Tuesday - Friday: 4 - 6 PM In Features, we’re covering some of the most — including the move to the pass/fail system and the impact on Northwestern’s service workers — with a thoughtfulness that demonstrates how our generation of journalists is redefining what it means to tell stories with impact. And as scientists push potential treatments through trials, our quiz on your “corona persona” and snarky critique of the ever-present fitness craze in Hangover may just prove that laughter is still the best medicine.

824 Noyesissues St, Evanston, IL 60201 powerful of the pandemic

Family-friendly comfort food with a twist!

A fast, healthy dining experience located just across the street.

Join us before or after your next Actors Gym show!

Hours Monday: Closed Sunday, Tuesday - Thursday: 11 AM- 9 PM Friday & Saturday: 11 AM - 10 PM Join us for happy hour Tuesday - Friday: 4 - 6 PM 824 Noyes St, Evanston, IL 60201

4 | Spring 2020

What’s more— in every single section, we show that even as a pandemic fundamentally changes our world, there are still stories outside of COVID-19 to be told, from married undergraduates to marginalized students’ study abroad experiences. And as publishing in print became less and less feasible, our Creative team has revolutionized what our magazine looks like. While our traditional print mag is available via PDF, we’ve also revamped our digital magazine (complete with stunning web design and exclusive stories) available at northbynorthwestern.com.

With the walls crumbling all around us, we at NBN have done the impossible. But then again, it’s times like these that show why NBN exists in the first place: to make us smile, cry, think, laugh and care— all within 64 pages.

— Michael and Sakke

pregame 5

I dare me

8

In love during lockdown

9

Thrifted therapy

Laurisa Sastoque

Christina van Waasbergen

Sarah Meadow

10

In 300 words or less...

12

Tune in to tune out

13

A world sans Serif

14

Evanston eats

Rayna Song

Yaakov Gottlieb

Teresa Nowakowski

Nathan Omprasadham

PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARLY MENKER

Spring 2020 | 5

I DARE ME NBN followed three students who challenged themselves to achieve something new during isolation.

WRITTEN BY LAURISA SASTOQUE // DESIGNED BY MAREN KRANKING

H

as quarantine become an overachiever’s new best friend? As students face an altered reality, some have put themselves to the test. Three students shared their experiences trying newfound challenges in the time of confinement.

Note: Entries have been edited for clarity and length.

off my talents. For example, I filmed a time lapse of a self-portrait painting, and so far it is my most popular video, with 142 likes. I also dressed up for a TikTok about "Tiger King," and it got over 1,500 views. Likes, however, flopped at a sad 69.

Challenge: Become TikTok famous

B

efore quarantine, TikTok was a fun pastime and nothing more. But I’ve been spending increasing amounts of time on the app, and I have started to develop a passion for it. I’ve always wanted to be famous, and this app just makes it so easy! By the end of quarantine, I will be TikTok famous.

MARCH 25: Today, I noticed that I am the only one left on the third floor of Jones Hall. That makes me feel lonely, but it also means that I can use all this free space as my shooting studio! I have made a couple of (pretty funny, in my opinion) videos, which are each approaching 100 views now.

APRIL 7: I’ve been educating myself on how to be as viral as possible: “for you” page tags, trendy sounds and topics, etc. In terms of content, I’ve been showing

6 | Spring 2020

MAY 1: I recently found out that a lot of people measure TikTok success in terms of followers. That made me feel like a total failure, considering that I only have around 50. I upload at least twice a week, but my videos rarely get over 400 views. What am I doing wrong?

MAY 7: To make my videos more appealing, I’ve been stepping up my editing game by adding cool effects and green screens and by dueting viral videos. Two days ago, I filmed five videos in one day, but I will space out uploads so as not to mess with the algorithm.

MAY 15: I write to you from Guangzhou, China. Two days ago, I left Chicago. I’m very sad to tell you that my TikTok dream is over. Not only is my Wi-Fi currently in a terrible state, but I also realized that the app links your account to your phone number. Since I changed my SIM card, I have lost access to my account. I can either start all over again or let my account fall into oblivion.

Even though my TikTok adventure is over for now, this really helped me consolidate my love for audiovisual creative content! I’m sure my experience will help me in my long-term goals of working in media.

I dare me | PREGAME

Challenge: Learn Spanish

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ver since I got back home to Ahmedabad, India, my life got turned upside down. I’ve been drowning in boredom as I watch Netflix. So, I’ve been craving a new hobby that allows me to feel more productive. Since I am such a bad bilinguist (I speak English, and Hindi, barely), I decided it would be a good idea to challenge myself to learn a new language.

Challenge: Train for a 10K

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APRIL 15: I realized I have not practiced in three whole days. I’ve just been so anxious about the start of classes and spring quarter that it’s been making me falter on my goals. It makes me feel frustrated because I was progressing so much, but I will resume my practice soon.

s soon as I heard that classes would go remote, I booked my flight and prepared to return to my home in Los Angeles. I was actually pretty excited about the changes to my workload that the situation promised. I was so ready to commit myself to something bigger, like finishing "Game of Thrones" with my boyfriend! However, I soon realized that this was the perfect time to try out something entirely new, which is why I eventually challenged myself to train for a 10K.

MARCH 22: Today, after about a day of lounging around, bugging my sister and organizing my closet, I realized I needed some sort of breather. So I went on a light run, and it felt so liberating that I came back home and told my family, ‘I am going to train for a 10K.’ My mom almost choked on her chicken, and my sister responded that she was going to find a cure for COVID-19 — I don’t think they took me seriously.

APRIL 6: I have gone for a run every single day since committing myself to the 10K, and I'm slowly increasing my distance. I started at 2.7 miles a day and am currently up to about five miles, with a pace of about 8:45 per mile. I am hoping to keep experimenting with my speed and distance and just have fun with the process!

MAY 15: Today, as we near the end of spring quarter, I have started to consider enrolling in a Spanish course in the fall. I think a rigid schedule could really help my learning process and cure my chronic laziness.

Even though I’ll still have to figure out whether it works with my major requirements, I’m excited about the prospect!

MAY 15: Recently, I encountered an obstacle to my goal when the 4th of July 10K in the Palisades was canceled. This means that I will no longer be training for a 10K, but it does not mean that I will stop running!

I think I’ve found a new, very fulfilling hobby that has definitely helped me stay positive during this time.

MARCH 18: Today, I decided that I would learn Spanish.

I considered how many of my friends at Northwestern speak Spanish and the many good things that I have heard about Hispanic/Latinx writers. How cool would it be if I were fully able to understand these cultures?

MARCH 25: So far, I have been discovering various resources to help me with my goal. I downloaded Duolingo and started watching YouTubers from different Spanish-speaking countries. Of course, I still use subtitles, but it has helped me get acquainted with the language. Hell, I bet if someone asked me to crack a bad joke in Spanish, I would be able to muster up something.

MAY 1: I am still practicing and learning, but it is a biweekly affair now when it used to be daily. I think I’ve been making more progress in terms of learning about different cultures, because I’ve been talking to my Hispanic/Latinx friends about their backgrounds.

In terms of [learning] the language, I’ve been finding it very hard to stick to a set schedule.

APRIL 30: The process just keeps getting more exciting. In order to change things up, I have tried to explore different aspects of running by switching between hill runs and speed runs. Not only have I become a much better runner, with my endurance and speed improving every time, but my physical health is stellar! I feel so energized and ready to take on anything.

Spring 2020 | 7

In love during lockdown Absence makes the heart grow fonder… right?

WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA VAN WAASBERGEN // DESIGNED BY ANDREW KWA

ike almost every facet of life, romance has been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s how the relationships of two Northwestern students have been impacted by quarantine.

L Taking things to the next level

When Medill secondyear Gia Yetikyel first arrived at her partner’s apartment, she noticed how small it was and was afraid of imposing.

Her sorority house unexpectedly closed right before spring break, leaving her with no place to go. She couldn’t stay on campus, and it wasn’t safe to go back to her family in New York, the epicenter of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. “I felt a little homeless,” Yetikyel says. “I felt like a nomad for a bit.”

Yetikyel’s partner, Weinberg third-year David Isaacs, offered to let her live with him at his apartment. At this point, Yetikyel says they were mostly just friends with benefits. Isaacs even says he felt the relationship had gotten “a little rocky.”

Nevertheless, he invited Yetikyel to stay with him.

“I felt like, regardless, this is a person I care about,” Isaacs says. “I want to take care of this person.”

Originally, Yetikyel only planned to stay for spring break, after which the sorority house was supposed to reopen. When that didn’t happen, it quickly became clear that their living arrangement

8 | Spring 2020

was going to be longterm. While stuck in an apartment together, the two began to realize their relationship was deeper than they previously thought, and they decided to make it official.

Isaacs wanted to make Yetikyel feel comfortable during a difficult time.

For her birthday, he messaged her mother to help recreate her usual traditions. Isaacs surprised Yetikyel with balloons, just like her mother always did, and he prepared her favorite meals: french toast, like she would get with her friends in New York, and a Lebanese rice with chicken dish that her grandma often made. He also bought a red velvet cake — just like the one she had last year when her mother visited for her birthday.

While this is the first time Yetikyel has ever lived with a romantic partner, she says there have been few difficulties, thanks to the couple’s emphasis on carving out alone time and discussing issues as soon as they come up.

Yetikyel says this is the healthiest relationship she has ever been in and that her relationship serves as a reminder of all she has to be grateful for in this difficult time.

“I have a sense of home in him,” she says. “...As scary and hard everything is at the moment, I see him, and I’m content. I’m happy.”

Apart, but still together Since the quarantine began, Communication fourth-year Kendra Gujral sees her boyfriend about once every week when they go on a physical date.

On nice days, they’ll take a walk or ride bikes together.

They have to be careful to minimize touching, which is difficult for Gujral.

“I want to be all mushy, and I want to cuddle, but I’m trying to be safe and good about it all and not put people in danger,” she says.

When they don’t see each other in person, the couple copes by following a routine: He’ll text or call her in the morning, and they’ll text throughout the day.

At night, they’ll chat over Discord and play video games or watch anime together.

Gujral says they both enjoy gaming and have been playing games like “Overwatch” and “StarCraft II.” This consistency is comforting for Gujral.

“No matter what’s happening,” she says, “I

know that I’m going to get a good morning text, and I know I’m going to play games with him at night.”

When Gujral felt chest pains — which she feared could indicate COVID-19 — her boyfriend drove her to the hospital. It ended up just being some lung inflammation, but the whole affair frightened her. However, she felt very grateful her boyfriend was willing to go through challenging times with her.

“He was like ‘I’m not here for just the good days, I’m here for the bad days too, and I want to help you, and we’re a team,’” Gujral says.

* Yetikyel is a current contributor to NBN

Thrifted therapy | PREGAME

Thrifted therapy

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Students share their therapists’ best nuggets of wisdom.

WRITTEN BY SARAH MEADOW // DESIGNED BY CYNTHIA ZHANG

ccording to Active Minds, a nonprofit organization that aims to destigmatize mental health, nearly 40 percent of college students experience a significant mental health issue. Still — whether it’s due to stigma or lack of accessible resources — two-thirds of students with anxiety or depression don’t seek treatment. Here, six students share the best advice their therapists ever gave them.

Note: This article is not meant to replace therapy, and students’ responses have been edited for clarity and length.

“You can’t get through the pain just by understanding it. You have to feel it.”

There’s no other way to get out of pain than by accepting it’s there and feeling it. I had been going back and forth from book to book for some explanation — neurological, psychological, religious — of why I had suffered more than I could withstand. My therapist noticed I was looking for an explanation, so I could explain away the pain. She knew before I did that it just doesn’t go away like that.

Tristan Svoboda

“Life is like driving a car. You have to keep looking through the windshield to the present and future.”

You’re allowed to check the rear-view mirror, but if you look back too much, you’ll never be able to keep driving forward. My anxiety stems from worrying about things in the past or things I can’t control, so this metaphor is super helpful.

Julia Gaumond Weinberg third-year

McCormick second-year

Setting boundaries is hard, but you should never apologize for making your needs and limits known. It will save you the pain of dealing with transgressions of those boundaries later. I have a history of letting friends use me as a therapist, mother or tutor. This pattern kept repeating, and I was exhausted enough to actually take my therapist’s advice and have hard conversations to break some codependencies. I think it was worth it, but change is always uncomfortable.

Weinberg second-year

Grace Gay Weinberg third-year

Over the two years I’ve been working with my therapist, we’ve had conversations about various stressors in my life, whether it’s my extensive schoolwork, timeconsuming extracurriculars or complicated relationships with friends. I have learned that nothing is gained from keeping your feelings inside and trusting that you can deal with them on your own.

Andy Hartman Communication first-year

“Instead of looking at your body in the mirror and picking out flaws, see the body that has carried you through everything you’ve been through.” Your body is what you look like, but it’s also the

“Boundaries are uncomfortable, but necessary.”

Sarah Tani

“It is absolutely okay — in fact necessary — to talk about how you’re feeling with someone.”

manifestation of everything you are: everything you’ve overcome, learned, loved, believed and experienced. If you can learn to see your body — the parts you love and the parts you wish you could change — as a physical representation of everything you’ve done in your life, it can transform how you think and feel about yourself.

Julia Moore Medill first-year

“Life doesn’t get easier, and your trauma doesn’t go away.”

However, you learn that you can handle it, ride the waves of life, and recognize that your experiences have made you resilient and kind. It helped me recontextualize my trauma and experiences as something I could handle and grow with in realistic terms. It was really helpful for thinking about my depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as experiences I can use to be more kind to other people.

Spring 2020 | 9

IN WORDS OR LESS We collected data from 50 “Why Northwestern” essays; these are the words that got us in.

WRITTEN BY RAYNA SONG // DESIGNED BY SAKKE OVERLUND

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t one point in all of our lives, the same question loomed over us: “Why Northwestern?”

In 300 words or less, (almost) all of us had to prove to the admissions board why we deserved a spot at Chicago’s Big 10 school. To determine whether they all look relatively similar or if each essay is a unique work of art, NBN collected 50 anonymous “Why NU” essays from current students in all six undergraduate schools… for science.

With the mean word count at 291.74, each student used the word “Northwestern” 4.54 times on average. The longest essay maxed out at 300 words, while the shortest was a mere 218.

Out of the 50 students, 15 mentioned at least one academic field other than their major that they would like to pursue as a double major, minor or certificate. There’s the studentjournalist who fell in love with acting, the economics major who wanted to get the Civic Engagement Certificate and the chemical engineering student who was interested in a music composition minor.

Half (25) of the students used some form of the word “passion” or “passionate.”

NORTHWESTERN NORTHWESTERN NORTHWESTERN NORTHWESTERN ESTER RN 10 | Spring 2020

we

When fhit comes to school spirit, nine students used the word “purple,” and nine referred to “Wildcats.”

Two students wrote the exact phrase “Northwestern is my top choice.”

Longest essay length: 300 words

In 300 words or less... | PREGAME

Average essay length: 291.74 words Shortest essay length: 218 words

As for Northwestern’s surroundings, 11 students talked about the Lakefill or Lake Michigan, while 17 students talked about Chicago, mentioning features like art exhibits and job opportunities.

Although Northwestern is in the Big 10, only three students dedicated any words to Wildcat athletics.

Four students specifically dropped the slogan “AND is in our DNA,” a reference to how Northwestern’s interdisciplinary education encourages students to explore classes beyond their own academic focuses.

Twenty-four students named a specific class, and 12 mentioned a specific professor.

Four students talked about the Rock (not to be confused with the Lakefill rocks that three people mentioned), while four students mentioned the Arch.

Northwestern University has study abroad programs in more than 50 countries, and 12 students indicated interest in these international programs. A math student discussed wanting to study in Hungary, and a Medill applicant wanted to do their Journalism Residency in Argentina.

Spring 2020 | 11

Tune in to tune out The music, movies and shows that will help you escape from quarantine.

WRITTEN BY YAAKOV GOTTLIEB // DESIGNED BY CYNTHIA ZHANG

scaping the house isn’t an option during quarantine, but escaping into a movie can be just as gratifying. Shelter-in-place orders have allowed us to discover new shows, revisit our favorite movies and listen to the latest music. NBN asked Northwestern students what media they’ve been using to help them get through these isolating times.

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Note: Students’ responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Felix McEnroy | Communication second-year Quarantining in: Phi Delta Theta house, Northwestern University Currently listening to: “Old Town” by Phil Lynott

It’s from 1989, and a couple years ago I was in the car with my dad and he told me it was his favorite song. So a few weeks ago, I had a playlist of God knows how many songs — 1,500 maybe. It came on shuffle, and I just broke out into the biggest smile.

I can’t be with him because if I leave Northwestern, there’s a chance they might not let me back into the country. So I’m using music to stay connected with people I can’t be with right now.

Other suggestions: “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd and the Irish film “The Commitments” Olivia Yarvis | Medill first-year Quarantining in: Round Rock, Texas

Grace Hochberg | McCormick first-year Quarantining in: Downtown Chicago Currently watching: “Ratatouille”

It’s very nostalgic from my childhood. I used to watch it a lot, to the point that I can quote it now.

It’s just a great, feel-good movie, and who doesn’t like rats that can cook, right? I never really had a ton of time during school to watch movies or TV. Now that I have so much free time, if I don’t do anything I’ll go crazy. So it’s nice to have a good old movie to put on.

Other suggestions: The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen on YouTube

Currently watching: “Too Hot to Handle” I watched all of it in one sitting, and I think it’s because I usually hate romance-type shows, but they’re actually forming meaningful connections on the show. Especially during quarantine, when I haven’t seen anyone besides my family in over a month, I was like, ‘Damn, I want meaningful connections right now.’ I think it’s just a good distraction from everything that’s so serious.

Other suggestions: The Strokes’ new album, “The New Abnormal” Shelby Schultz | Communication second-year Quarantining in: Dallas, Texas

Ben Moskow | Medill second-year Quarantining in: Westchester, New York Currently listening to: The Marías It’s calming, transportative stuff, sort of California lo-fi surfer rock type. I’m imagining that I’m in a different place. It’s very laid back and takes my mind off of things. The reality that we’re in is very frustrating and out of everyone’s control, so you can only sit back and try to find something to make you not think of how terrible everything is. Sometimes you just need some mind-numbing stuff to get yourself into a different reality.

Currently watching and discussing movies on Letterboxd

Other suggestions: Dig out the old Wii and play Mario games

Media is so centric to how I communicate with people, so just finding ways to stay in touch is great. There’s this app called Letterboxd where you can log movies. I can see what my friends are watching and if they left a review of what they thought about it. It’s a good way to see, ‘Oh, my friend just watched this, I can talk to them about it,’ and feel that even though we can’t go to the movie theater together, we can still talk about film, which is what we love doing.

Other suggestions: The show “Feel Good” on Netflix, music from The 1975 and the movie “Saint Frances,” which is set in Evanston

12 | Spring 2020

A world sans Serif | PREGAME

A world sans Serif The students behind Northwestern’s premier scheduling supplement. ou’ve got your class schedule all figured out: you’re knocking out that dreaded formal studies distro, you snagged the best professor in your major during pre-registration and you even have a class with that cute girl from BrewBike. It’s perfect… until you realize that somehow they all overlap. You have to start over, and this time, you need to visualize the schedule. Enter Serif.nu.

For nearly five years, Northwestern students have turned to Serif to stay organized during the chaos of registration. Using next quarter’s course data from the Office of the Registrar, the site allows users to avoid conflicting classes by visualizing their schedule on a color-coded weekly calendar. Unlike similar schedule-building websites, Serif was created solely by and for Northwestern students. While that makes it unique, it also makes the future of Serif uncertain.

In 2015, Joon Park was in his third year at Northwestern when he taught himself how to code by programming a scheduling assistant, which he named Serif.

The name was inspired by a 2014 rumor that Northwestern remade its logo with a serif-type font to emulate Ivy League schools, a sentiment Park disagreed with.

“To this day, we’ve never had a serif font on the entire site,” Park says.

Constructing Serif while juggling a physics and music composition dual degree and various extracurriculars meant many late nights, but Park remained dedicated. Before the end of fall quarter, Park showed the site to his friends, who encouraged him to publish it. So Park redesigned Serif with an audience in mind: all Northwestern students.

The second version went up in time for spring quarter registration in 2016. A year later, Serif won first place at the Institute of Electrical

Y

WRITTEN BY TERESA NOWAKOWSKI // DESIGNED BY EMILY CERF

“Not in a million years when I started working on this would I have thought this was how big it would get.”

JOON PARK, SERIF CREATOR and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Project Showcase. Bolstered in part by the win, Serif increased in popularity over the next year.

With graduation on the horizon, Park recruited current students to help manage the site in exchange for experience with professional software development.

“I didn’t want Serif to be something where I would just abandon it, and it would stop working,” Park says.

Five years later, Serif is more popular than ever. According to Kevin Lee, the current Serif student team leader, the site’s servers received over 50,000 requests for course data per day during Wildcat Welcome 2019. Much to Lee’s amazement, the servers partly crashed as a result.

“Not in a million years when I started working on this would I have thought this was how big it would get,” Park says.

Despite Serif’s success, its time may be running out. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the team to a standstill. With graduation this spring, Lee will be leaving Serif,

and Park will soon be moving from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area to take a job at Google. As both Lee and Park grow away from Northwestern, they’re looking for someone who’s willing to maintain Serif or use it as a foundation for something better.

This may not be easy. As Medill third-year Madison Dong, a Serif team member whom Park mentored, puts it, “It’s hard to find someone who is as dedicated to this specific project as Joon was when he was starting it.”

If Lee and Park can’t find someone to take over, the Serif development team will dissolve after spring quarter. According to a pop-up on the Serif website as of late May, this means that “Active development and maintenance of Serif.nu will cease unless a capable and dedicated developer takes over ownership of the project.”

Whatever the future holds, Park says Serif has had a good run.

“Maybe it’s my turn to kind of let that go and let other students fill that void,” Park says. “Maybe there will be other students who come in and make something even better to replace it.”

“I didn’t want Serif to be something where I would just abandon it, and it would stop working.”

JOON PARK, SERIF CREATOR Spring 2020 | 13

EVANSTON EVANST ON eats A taste of Evanston at home.

WRITTEN BY NATHAN OMPRASADHAM // DESIGNED BY MAREN KRANKING

f you’re mourning the loss of Andy’s (It’s still there, as long as you’re still in denial) or just craving a cozy latte from Unicorn Cafe, you’re in luck: some of Evanston’s eateries have shared how they’ve been holding up during lockdown, and we’ve developed some at-home recipes so you can recreate Evanston classics in your own kitchen.

The sudden exodus of Northwestern students from Evanston has left some of our favorite restaurants scrambling for ways to stay afloat. Some, like the beloved Tomate Fresh Kitchen, are closed temporarily and plan to reopen. Other locations, like 10Q Chicken and La Cocinita, are keeping business alive through

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delivery and carryout services. Graband-go locations like Bennison’s Bakery say they’ve managed the new restrictions particularly well.

In addition to running their own deliveries, some restaurants have also used third-party delivery services like Grubhub and Uber Eats to bring meals to customers.

In an attempt to help businesses that might be struggling financially during the pandemic, the Evanston City Council approved a resolution on April 27 to limit the amount these services can charge Evanston restaurants to no more than 15 percent of the online order price.

For some establishments that have yet to receive Small Business Administration loans, the resolution may help offset widespread layoffs.

“Because of the drop in sales, which has been 50 to 60 percent,

AREPAS from La Cocinita 1/2 TABLESPOON VEGETABLE OIL 2 CUPS WARM WATER 1/2 TABLESPOON SALT 1/2 POUND MASA, OR PRE-COOKED CORNMEAL

SCAN FOR LA COCINITA’S GOFUNDME PAGE

If you want to be authenti cally Venezuelea n and impress the owne rs, use Harina P. A.N.

we had to cut a lot of our part-timers,” says Johnny Park, general manager at 10Q Chicken.

Even as shelter-in-place orders impact business, many restaurants have committed to giving back to the local community and those on the front lines. For each “Charity Cookie” sold, Bennison’s donates $1.50 to the Evanston Community Rapid Response Fund, and La Cocinita has started a GoFundMe to feed local first responders.

If you’re in the Evanston area (and can afford to do so), ordering from your favorite small businesses can make a world of difference in keeping them afloat. For the many who are far away, though, give these adapted imitation recipes a try.

1. In a large bowl, mix oil and salt with warm water until the salt dissolves.

2. In small increments, add the masa to the water, kneading it until it becomes smooth and lump-free.

Continue until you’ve mixed in all the masa.

3. Form the masa dough into patties about 3/4 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter, ensuring that the edges are smooth and free of cracks.

4. Cook the patties on a griddle at medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes on each side, until light golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside.

5. Slice the arepas open about 2/3 of the way around to create a wide opening. Fill with desired stuffings, like meat, cheese, veggies or scrambled eggs.

6. Enjoy, while imagining you’re in a small Venezuelan kitchen with friends!

(Recipe courtesy of Rachel Angulo and the La Cocinita Staff)

Evanston eats | PREGAME

IMITATION LATTE from Unicorn Cafe 6 TEASPOONS GROUND COFFEE (SHOULD BE AROUND THE TEXTURE OF KOSHER SALT; THE FRESHER THE BETTER) 1 CUP BOILING WATER MILK OF CHOICE FRENCH PRESS

Note: This recipe is adapted to use a French press in place of an espresso machine. A European-style Moka pot or an Aeropress would both make even better faux-espressos. If you have an actual espresso machine, lucky you!

1. Measure 6 teaspoons of coffee into a small French press and fill with the cup of boiling water. Stir well.

2. Let sit for 4 minutes, then slowly plunge down on the French press. Fill your mug around a third of the way with coffee.

3. Wash out your French press and fill about half-full with milk.

4. Microwave for 30 seconds (if your French press is made of metal, use a separate container to heat the milk, then pour it back into the press). Put the top on and gently plunge up and down for 30 seconds.

5. Remove the top and swirl the milk around. Tap the press on the counter a few times to pop any large air bubbles.

6. Gently pour the milk over the coffee, and do some fancy latte art if the spirit moves you.

7. Enjoy with a café soundtrack in the background, while pretending to study.

VANILLA FROZEN CUSTARD from Andy’s

1. Beat the egg yolks, sugar and salt until fluffy and pale yellow.

8 EGG YOLKS

1 CUP WHITE SUGAR

2. Add the evaporated milk to a pot over medium heat and slowly bring to a low simmer (do not let boil).

A PINCH OF SALT

3. Ladle a spoonful of the milk into the egg and sugar mix while whisking to temper the mixture. Repeat two or three more times, then pour in the rest of the milk and vanilla.

2 1/2 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT

4. Let cool completely, then whip 1 cup of heavy cream until thick and fluffy and fold into the egg mixture until smooth.

5. Pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.

6. Add the frozen custard cubes and the remaining 1 cup of cream to a food processor. Process until soft and smooth, roughly 30 seconds. Aim for a soft-serve consistency.

7. Freeze for four more hours before serving.

1 (12 OZ) CAN EVAPORATED MILK 2 CUPS HEAVY CREAM

This recipe is adapted to be made without an ice-cream maker, because who has one of those?

8. Enjoy, while shedding a tear for Andy’s.

To make chocolate custard: Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder before step 3 and reduce the vanilla to 1 tsp.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARLY MENKER

Spring 2020 | 15

dance floor 17

Freedom of tweets

20

Commitment day

22

TikTok on the clock

24

Home run

26

Far from home

28

Home for the holidays

31

Racism unmasked

Gabrielle Rabon

Elise Hannum

Rachel Schonberger

Jordan Hickey

Isaac Sultan

Emily Cerf

David Deloso and Grace Deng

PHOTO COURTESY OF VANESSA STRENG

Freedom of tweets | DANCE FLOOR

Freedom of Tweets

Why has Twitter become a microcosm of the collegiate political atmosphere?

WRITTEN BY GABRIELLE RABON // DESIGNED BY AGNES LEE // ILLUSTRATED BY CYNTHIA ZHANG

“F

or organizing, Twitter is a necessary evil,” Eliza Gonring (@AzilApologist) says.

The third-year SESP student says many activists are frustrated with the hypervisibility that comes with the platform.

Gonring identifies as an abolitionist, a political affiliation she says entails the destruction of carceral systems, and “expanding quality of life so that we don’t need [police] and increasing people’s access to resources.” She uses Twitter frequently and estimates around 90 percent of her tweets are political in some form.

For many politically active Northwestern students — especially those of more left-leaning affiliations — Twitter serves as a platform to share their views and connect with other students who share their goals. While COVID-19 has prevented students from organizing in person, Twitter allows student activists to garner support for causes like decarceration and extending funding for graduate students.

Still, some students try to balance their activism on the platform with activism in the outside world.

Second-year Medill student Danny Vesurai* estimates 60 to 80 percent of their tweets (@IntemporalInk) are political. Still, Vesurai, who identifies as an anarchist, says online activism isn’t their primary focus.

“If I’m sharing something on

*Versurai is a former contributor to North By Northwestern.

Spring 2020 | 17

“

If I’m sharing something on Twitter , I better be living up to that and not just being behind the screen. ” - Danny Vesurai, Medill second-year

Twitter, I better be living up to that and not just being behind the screen,” Vesurai says. “I would much rather not tweet anything for a week and be doing real things with my time than tweet 300 things a week.”

Gonring says that sometimes students get caught up in performatively sharing their beliefs rather than working toward change, though she acknowledges online activism is necessary for accessibility.

“What really matters is how are the beliefs that you’re putting out onto Twitter translating into the real world?” Gonring says. “And I think that translation is not there most of the time.”

Gonring expressed frustration at students who shared graphic videos — like those circulating after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-yearold Black man murdered in February — in order to “raise awareness.” She says it’s not worth the risk of trauma for people who see them.

“I don’t follow people that circulate videos of brutality, especially nonBlack people. I’ve purged them completely from my news feed,” she says. “We all know Black people in this country are dying. We don’t need any more awareness, especially at the sake of people’s mental health.”

Beyond content shared by individual users on the app, some users have criticized Twitter itself for racial biases.

“Twitter is fine with Nazis being on their platform,” Gonring says.

“Twitter heavily punishes Black people for behavior that they let other people get away with.”

In fact, as of May 29, users can target ads using keyphrases such as “white supremacist,” which reaches 9.74 million users.

18 | Spring 2020

Additionally, a 2019 study from Cornell University found that artificial intelligence used to identify hate speech on social media was 2.2 times more likely to identify tweets written in what they called African-American English as “abusive” than Standard American English and 2.7 times more likely to identify them as “offensive.”

Race may be a point of interest within Northwestern’s Twitter environment because of the campus’s own racial and socioeconomic makeup.

Northwestern’s Class of 2023 is 57 percent white, and according to The New York Times, 66 percent of Northwestern students belong to the top fifth of median family income. Gonring says these students often don’t care as deeply about political issues as low income and Black students, for whom she says the personal is political. As a result, she says the amount of political content she sees on Twitter doesn’t accurately reflect the larger Northwestern environment.

“I don’t think rich people care that much, and if they do, it’s in a very performative [way],” Gonring says.

“Like, ‘Oh, I’ll share this post, I’ll retweet something, but I’m not going to make my own post or share my own original thoughts.”

According to Niche, Northwestern is the 10th-most liberal college in America, with 69 percent of students identifying as Democrats and 3 percent as Republicans.

Remaining students identified as Independent, apolitical or associated with a third party.

Medill second-year Gregory Svirnovskiy (@GSvirnovskiy), who identifies as a “fairly centrist” liberal, says this is also true of Northwestern’s Twitter atmosphere.

“[It’s] just a manifestation of who we have in our student body and where most colleges stand,” Svirnovskiy says.

Similarly, Vesurai says that at Northwestern, “the online discourse definitely leans more to the left.”

However, they acknowledge this may be influenced by the people they follow — many of whom Vesurai knows through activism on campus.

While Northwestern’s political atmosphere closely resembles Twitter’s in terms of Democratic populations, there’s less resemblance when it comes to the Republican makeup. A report by the Pew Research Center shows while 67 percent of political Tweeters identify as Democrats, 28 percent identify as Republican.

Part of the difference between Northwestern’s and Twitter’s political makeups could be explained by the age difference between users.

While people ages 18 to 29 make up 30 percent of Twitter users in the U.S., they only generate 4 percent of tweets about national politics; most political tweets are generated by users older than 29 years. According to a separate report from the Pew Research Center, older generations have been more approving of President Donald Trump and younger generations of President Barack Obama.

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, some Twitter users have taken to the internet to voice their opinions. When Illinois held its in-person primary despite the ongoing pandemic, Vesurai shared a tweet on March 17 condemning the decision as “voter suppression.”

According to Vesurai and Gonring, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only resulted in advocacy from politcally active students but also in previously apolitical

Freedom of tweets | DANCE FLOOR

students engaging more actively with political content. This is also true of experts, who Northwestern political science assistant professor Sarah Bouchat (@sarahbouchat) says have generated more focused and continuous commentary on Twitter during the pandemic.

“I think that previously, perhaps [political scientists, economists and data scientists] would have been posting once or twice a day or a few times a week with a little bit of side commentary,” Bouchat says. “Now it feels like the conversation is an incredibly dynamic and ongoing one.”

Vesurai says they are currently involved with activism to support graduate students and campus workers at Northwestern. While the pandemic has created uncertainty for these groups, it has also allowed them to recruit users who weren’t as vocal in their beliefs beforehand.

“Grads as workers are in a really precarious situation because of the pandemic, along with other undergraduates,” Vesurai says.

“Before the pandemic, I did not see that much activity either in real life or on Twitter. But I think the pandemic has provided an opportunity for people to mobilize other people and to form bonds that way.”

In fact, groups at Northwestern have been promoting virtual events advocating for graduate students, such as a virtual town hall on May 28 hosted by @gradcoalitionNU and a May 1 virtual sit-in rally hosted by @NorthwesternGW. Gonring and Vesurai have retweeted posts advocating for incarcerated people during COVID-19, sharing images that urge Twitter users to donate to commissary funds or voice their support for decarceration.

Some students — like Svirnovskiy,

who currently serves as a web editor for The Daily Northwestern — engage with political content without advocating for one side or another. Svirnovskiy says the vast majority of the content he engages with on Twitter is political, but because he is a journalist he generally doesn’t tweet, retweet or like any posts that criticize government officials.

“

[timeline] to see me knock this person down, so I’m gonna quotetweet it,’” Gonring says.

Despite the presence of political content on other platforms like TikTok, Vesurai believes Twitter is here to stay. They say many users will be unwilling to film and edit a video on TikTok. “I think that because it’s very easy for people to create and produce on

You could try as hard as you can with Twitter to get your point across, but, especially with text, there’s just so many different ways to interpret something.

“I think if you looked at my Twitter right now, you’d find just straight facts, and really no opinions one way or another,” Svirnovskiy says.

Vesurai believes Twitter is popular among Northwestern student activists partially because of the anonymity it provides.

This contributes to the “online disinhibition effect,” a phenomenon outlined in a 2009 study that causes people to act out online in ways they might not normally in real life. “[On Twitter,] your real life persona might never get involved into your profile, so you might be more willing to say things you actually believe. Or you might be willing to say things that you completely do not believe, just to get into arguments,” Vesurai says.

Gonring says Twitter’s popularity among student activists is in part because their families are less likely to be on Twitter than other platforms, as well as the ability to “quote tweet,” using the “retweet with comment” feature, to publicly humiliate those with whom you disagree.

“I feel like that adds a level of shadiness when you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m not gonna reply. I want my

- Eliza Gonring, SESP third-year Twitter, [it] will remain as a political social media platform,” Vesurai says.

Even so, Gonring says platforms like Twitter can create more conflict than real-life communication, in part because of how short each post is.

“Twitter is not the space for nuance at all. I think to actually understand what people are trying to say, nuance is so important because everything has it, especially political issues,” Gonring says. “You could try as hard as you can with Twitter to get your point across, but, especially with text, there’s just so many different ways to interpret something.”

Ultimately, Gonring hopes organizers and activists will find stronger ways to connect outside of social media.

“People were organizing [since] the abolition of slavery, since Native Americans were fighting back against their land getting taken,” she says. “From then until social media, people were communicating en masse just fine, so there’s a way to do it. I just think we need to reteach ourselves to not rely on social media.”

Spring 2020 | 19

”

COMMITMENT Day Students who put on a ring before a cap and gown.

WRITTEN BY ELISE HANNUM // DESIGNED BY LUODAN ROJAS

W

einberg fourth-year Sophia* planned her wedding from Jones Residential College during her first year at Northwestern. She crafted the decorations by hand and altered her dress in her dorm room. She even made her veil in the lounge on her floor, carefully pinning together tissue paper, lace and tulle.

Sophia met her husband, Alex, in high school.

They biked 12 miles each way to see each other outside of school. As they headed into adulthood and college, marriage felt like the logical next step in their relationship. When she got to college, though, she found that other students weren’t on the same page.

“It was honestly kind of hard to make friends at first,” she says. “It seemed like the kind of life event that ended up separating me from the place a lot of my peers were at in their lives.”

Popular culture often depicts college relationships as temporary flings

or hook-ups — stepping stones for the more “real” experiences to come. Despite this, some Northwestern undergraduates are challenging the narrative: walking down the aisle before they walk across the graduation stage.

“I would get very mixed reactions when I told other students that I was married,” Sophia says. “Sometimes students would react with huge surprise, especially when I was still 18, and then other times they were almost a little condescending.”

Medill fourth-year Ramenda Cyrus** met her husband, Raphael Frontan, 24, on Tinder fall quarter of her first year. She took trips on the train to visit him on the north side of Chicago. When Frontan decided to join the Navy after just under a year of dating, he asked her to marry him.

“At first, I was really freaked out by it — the whole idea of it,” she says.

“Marriage has gone from being a cornerstone to a capstone.”

- Dr. Alexandra Solomon

20 | Spring 2020

*Sophia’s last name has been omitted for privacy reasons. **Cyrus is a contributor to North by Northwestern.

Commitment day | DANCE FLOOR

“But I eventually came to the conclusion that it would be a really good thing for us.”

They married in 2017, when Cyrus was 19. Since then, their relationship has been long-distance, with Frontan stationed in California.

Cyrus says she can feel obligated to explain herself; people often think she’s crazy when they find out she’s married.

When she brought her husband to a party with other Northwestern students, the two received underwhelming responses when her classmates learned he was in the Navy.

“I felt odd about it because it was like, ‘Would it be better if he went here to you? Would you be more enthusiastic?’” Cyrus says.

“I feel like after that, they stopped trying to get to know him.”

To Cyrus, social class has also influenced that perception. She says she comes from a very poor background, and that her husband struggled financially when they were dating. For them, finances were a driving factor in deciding to marry.

Generally, Americans are getting married later: according to the U.S.

Census Bureau, the median age of first marriage has increased steadily over the last century, hovering around the late twenties and early thirties today.

Dr. Alexandra Solomon, a Northwestern professor known best for teaching “Building Loving and Lasting Relationships: Marriage 101,” offers a few reasons for that.

“Marriage has gone from being a cornerstone to a capstone,” she says.

“Marriage was the first thing you did when you [stepped] into adulthood.

Now there’s a shift towards getting all of your ducks in a row and then sort of settling down.”

Solomon has even observed the trend in her own teaching career.

Twenty years ago, she says it wasn’t unusual to have a few married or engaged students — now she sees them much less often.

According to Solomon, Northwestern’s culture may discourage students from getting married.

Students are generally expected to try to experience as many things as possible — clubs, internships, travel and more — instead of settling down.

Students may also have been raised in

families where education was emphasized over relationships.

These norms may not be conducive to dating, let alone marriage.

Weinberg fourth-year John Girmscheid agrees.

While he’s been with his fiancée, Lura Quandt, since their senior year of high school, he doesn’t know many Northwestern students in long-term relationships. Girmscheid and Quandt have known each other since they were in middle school and dated at a distance all through college: him in Evanston, her at nearby Wheaton College.

“We saw each other most weekends,” he says.

“We tried to make regular times that we would call each other just so we felt like we were a part of each other’s lives, and we had more than a texting relationship when we weren’t together.”

Girmscheid proposed to Quandt this past New Year’s Eve in Chicago.

He says both of their families were excited and supportive — after all, his parents married when they were young, too.

They planned on getting married in July, but COVID-19 forced them to

push their wedding back to August with a smaller guest list. He says his Northwestern friends were happy for him, too even if his choice was different than the typical.

“A lot of Northwestern students really focus on dating more after college,” he says. “It did feel a little bit weird, being in that situation. It’s also exciting because since I was one of the few people in that situation, people were excited for us.”

Like Cyrus, Sophia’s husband joined the service — the Air Force, specifically — after about a year of marriage.

Their relationship has been long-distance ever since. After graduation, she is planning on commissioning as an Air Force officer and hopes to be stationed with Alex sometime in the next year.

She acknowledges that marrying young isn’t for everyone, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“For us, we just knew, and we had so much that we wanted to give each other,” she says. “And we really blossomed with the opportunity to grow together and help each other through young adulthood.”

on the

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WRITTEN BY RACHEL SCHONBERGER // DESIGNED BY STEPHANIE ZHU WRITTEN BY AUTHOR

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12 || Spring 22 DESIGNED 2020

BY DESIGNER

classes at Northwestern. Scheck doesn’t think his content has gone viral in the way that some traditional videos have in the past.

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Zhang sees TikTok as a way that adolescents are killing time and avoiding “really deep social interactions.”

Headline | SECTION (only if story is multipage) TikTokNAME on the clock | DANCE FLOOR Still, the app helps facilitate some social interaction. Scheck engages with followers in his messages, establishing a bond with other users who have similar followings and interests.

“There’s a little bit of a camaraderie [between] relatively smaller creators,” Scheck says.

“It’s kind of like a we’re-all-in-thistogether mentality and we do what we can to support each other.”

Medill first-year Talia Schulhof (@taliasc) even fostered a virtual Northwestern community within the app. As high school seniors posted their college acceptances and decisions on TikTok, Schulhof reached out to incoming Northwestern students, following some Wildcats in the class of 2024.

While Schulhof boarded the TikTok train long before the quarantine (her first post dates back to June 2019), there’s one fact Scheck and Hoffman agree on: they wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for COVID-19.

Scheck and Hoffman both doubted TikTok at first, associating it with an audience much younger than them. After a brief time in quarantine, though, both gave in to downloading TikTok. Scheck finally surrendered to his younger brothers’ obsession with the app.

“I don’t know if I’m a millennial, or whether I’m considered the upper end of Gen Z, but I was like, ‘I’m never downloading this.’ This is crazy,” Scheck says. “And then after a couple of weeks in quarantine, I was just bored. I was like, ‘I’m gonna download this because this is the forefront of the internet now and, I don’t want to be left out.’”

Despite her early arrival to the app, Schulhof didn’t debut her first big-time video until this March in the stacks of Deering Library, relating the possibility of a virtual quarter to the early-2000s Education Connection television ads. Around

dining halls and in classes, saying some of these comments, students approached Schulhof to and they were like 12-year-old girls.” tell her they saw her video in their Aside from privacy concerns and group chats. Users she had never its tendency to discourage social met commented that their teachers interactions, Zhang says a primary posted her video to their Canvas ramification of the content-centric pages. When that video reached feed is the “filter bubble” it propels. over 800,000 views, Schulhof’s The app picks up on viewing perspective on the app shifted. history and develops a complex “Before, I was just making them model to infer future viewing as a joke. I really wouldn’t care habits. It also boosts impressions what I looked like,” Schulhof says. on videos with algorithm“Now, I think very carefully about detected popularity potential. what I post because I know that a “One potential downside of lot of people could see it. I have [TikTok] is that people are more the potential to make something and more narrow-minded by only almost viral, so I want it to be good.” seeing the things that entertain or Although she wanted her reach interest them, rather than exploring to extend beyond her close circles, other things that they might not Schulhof was concerned what that have thought about,” Zhang says. would mean for her privacy. Until Scheck recognizes this filter late April, Schulhof disguised bubble as it relates to the identities herself as @clubpenguin33, he holds. He gears his content // ILLUSTRATIONS initially only posting videos PHOTOS of her BY PHOTOGRAPHER toward similar users toBY ARTIST bolster a dogs and avoiding revealing her face. consistent brand, playing largely Now, she’s given up her anonymity, on his identities and depending approaching TikTok with full trust. on the algorithm to reach Hoffman encountered her own viewers with similar attributes.

“

Now, I think very carefully about what I post because I know that a lot of people can see it. I have the potential to make something almost viral, so I want it to be good.

- Talia Schulhof, Medill first-year

version of privacy issues when her audience went from laughing with her to laughing at her. While the majority of her posts get positive attention and feedback, she’s also been bullied for her appearance in the comment section and roped into a “rivalry” against another user.

“They were just ripping me apart, from my voice to my face, and it was horrible,” Hoffman says. “I started clicking on the accounts that were

”

“TikTok knows exactly who I am.

They know that I’m into theatre, they know that I’m gay, they know that I’m Jewish. It’s probably really, really awful for privacy. I can’t imagine what they’re doing with this data,” Scheck says.

“At the end of the day, I don’t know that it’s any worse than any of the other social media that I already use. So it’s just a choice I have decided to live with.”

Spring FALL2020 2019 || 23 13

With their seasons upended, student-athletes adapt to at-home training.

Second-year field hockey player Kayla Blas brushes up on her skills from the comfort of her own garage with the help of two four-legged teammates.

WRITTEN BY JORDAN HICKEY // DESIGNED BY MAREN KRANKING

“H

ey, got on court today.”

“Ran a mile today.”

Second-year tennis player Vanessa Streng receives texts like these on a daily basis from her teammates. Ever since they parted, training has become more than a means to stay in shape — these daily workout updates keep the team connected now that they’re scattered around the globe.

“It’s keeping the camaraderie of the team,” Streng says. “Just knowing that we’re there for each other, and that even though we’re not at Northwestern, we still [have] that trust that we’re working hard to the best of our abilities.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has canceled entire competitive seasons for Northwestern’s varsity and club sports. Whereas teams

24 | Spring 2020

would normally have access to Henry Crown Sports Pavilion (SPAC)’s extensive equipment selection and a team of trainers and coaches, they must now find ways to stay connected and in shape virtually. Despite the added hurdles, though, athletes haven’t lost their motivation to train or dedication to their teams.

Streng has had access to tennis courts in her neighborhood, unlike many of her teammates, whose local courts have been shut down. Northwestern Head Men’s Tennis Coach Arvid Swan says that this period of time — over two months — is by far the longest most of his players have gone without on-court practice.

“There’s nothing that replicates playing,” Swan says. “Whenever tennis is allowed to be played

again, it’s going to take some time to get back to the standards [the players] are used to.”

For first-year field hockey player Samantha Cho, spring quarter was essential.

Her coaches were going to implement a physical training regimen even more intense than during the actual competitive season to begin preparing her and her fellow new athletes for the fall. Now, Cho and her teammates must adjust to completing mandated drills while apart and without access to the same kind of equipment.

The university’s athletic department sent the field hockey athletes surveys to determine what equipment they already had at home. Following that, each player was sent a package of basic equipment (such as resistance

Home run | DANCE FLOOR bands) from Northwestern’s Sports teams’ busy practice and tennis. “[On our exec board alone], sports performance department. travel schedules mean athletes we have people in seven different Cho says she and her teammates and coaches usually see each time zones around the world.” use the provided equipment — other for multiple hours every Ferry adds that team bonding along with random accessories at day, especially during their has been harder, too, citing the home (like a patch of old carpet competitive seasons. The time difficulty of socializing in a larger in lieu of a field) — to complete spent together often creates a group through Zoom. their workouts. tight bond and a close-knit group, Like varsity sports, training for The team has been separated according to Swan. Travelling, club teams hasn’t halted despite into “accountability groups” to going to dinner and practicing separation and lack of equipment. ensure they’re each staying on every day builds unity and Two players on club tennis, for track with training. The groups also closeness within his team. example, host a weekly Zoom work together to complete video Swan has continued to call Tennis Academy to discuss challenges each week with the goal his players to check in, and strategy and future plans. of making workouts more “It shows how committed collaborative and enjoyable. some of our current and Per NCAA rules, past exec members are to Northwestern coaches can’t the club,” Ferry says. “It’s directly tell their athletes about as good of a job as they how to train while they’re could be doing at helping off-campus. But trainers in people improve and just be the Northwestern sports thinking strategically about performance department tennis when we’re not — who deal with physical able to play.” training more broadly as Club swimming holds two opposed to specific sports dryland sessions a week over coaching — can. Some Zoom, encouraging strength teams, such as field hockey, training and conditioning are taking advantage of this, that all swimmers can with the sports performance complete regardless of pool department recommending access. Normally, dryland specific regimens to athletes. sessions only occur once a Other teams, like tennis, week, but according to club Northwestern Head Women’s Tennis Coach are taking a more hands-off swimming president third-year CLAIRE POLLARD approach, allowing athletes Anna Derrick, virtual dryland to train as much or as little workouts might be the best as they can. available option. Still, she “I looked at it as maybe says they can’t recreate what a healthy break that every tennis the team has Zoom meetings that happens in person. player probably needs to take more the coach does his best to keep “We’re more efficient with often but won’t allow themselves to,” light and fun. Nonetheless, he dryland now because no one says Northwestern Head Women’s says virtual interaction doesn’t complains; we just do the work and Tennis Coach Claire Pollard. “The replicate the togetherness that socialize after,” Derrick says. “Doing whole world’s in this boat, so it’s exists on campus. dryland is going to help us stay in not like we’re at any more of a Since they’re entirely student- shape, but not necessarily swimming disadvantage or an advantage than run and don’t receive the same shape, which is unfortunate.” anyone else.” support from the athletic An early end to competing While coaches and athletes are department, Northwestern’s club and training may have thrown doing what they can to stay in touch sports are free from strict NCAA athletes and coaches for a loop, and in shape in the short run, long- regulations. With the end of the but they have nonetheless kept the term effects on performance are school year approaching, many are circumstances in perspective. still unknown. also electing and inaugurating new “We’ve tried to just keep an eye “It changes day by day,” says executive boards – all from home. on the big picture in the scheme of Pollard. “I think the intention and “The biggest challenge has just life,” Pollard says. “Losing a couple the hope is that we’ll get back to been getting everyone on a Zoom of months of tennis isn’t as big as college athletics as it was, maybe call,” says third-year Jack Ferry, the some of the other losses that people with a few modifications.” incoming president of men’s club have endured.”

“I think the intention and the hope is that we’ll get back to college athletics as it was, maybe with a few modifications.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAYLA BLAS

Spring 2020 | 25

FAR FROM HOME As campus cleared out, these students had to stay behind.

WRITTEN BY ISAAC SULTAN // DESIGNED BY NIKITA AMIR

I

n early March, James Jia had already made up his mind: he wouldn’t be leaving Northwestern’s campus to return to China. COVID-19 had killed thousands in his home country and with heavily restrictive travel measures in place, it would cost anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 to book one of a handful of available flights.

For many international students like Jia, returning home in the midst of a spreading pandemic was either difficult or impossible. Dozens of others faced the possibility of returning to situations of food and housing insecurity, financial instability and atrisk family members.

On March 10, Harvard University canceled in-person classes for the remainder of the semester and abruptly ordered all students to vacate their rooms within the week, a decision that was met with national scrutiny and outcry. Days later, Northwestern stepped up to the plate: what would the University tell students like Jia? After gathering data from a survey sent to all undergraduates, Northwestern went in a different direction, announcing its intentions to allow an approved group of students to stay on campus. “[It wasn’t just] a housing decision,” says Carlos Gonzalez, Northwestern’s executive director of Residential Services.

“It was housing-related, but I needed more perspectives in the room to make sure we got it right. What I took away from [Harvard] is that students needed a little more agency.”

Gonzalez assembled and co-chaired an impromptu COVID-19 housing review committee composed of physicians,

26 | Spring 2020

psychologists, social justice advocates, statisticians and other administrators tasked with vetting hundreds of student requests to remain on campus.

“We understood there were some students who couldn’t go home,” Gonzalez says. “It was heart-wrenching to review [some of] the cases.”

In a thoughtful and detailed review of student responses, Gonzalez made sure those who absolutely needed to remain in Evanston were allowed to do so, while also keeping the number of people on campus at a safe and responsible level.

Second-year Josif Bozovic was one of the approximately 200 students permitted to stay in Northwestern residence halls spring quarter. In early March, he watched as COVID-19 crippled Italy, which neighbors his home country of Montenegro. As Bozovic deliberated what to do over spring break, Montenegro’s borders and airports became closed or heavily restricted. Any possible return home would necessitate a travel plan carefully coordinated with the Montenegrin embassy, followed by mandated selfisolation and punitive curfew measures.

He decided to remain in Evanston.

In a time when most students are quarantined back home with their families, Jia and Bozovic are isolated alone in their dorm rooms nearly all day. There are no spirited student theater productions, raucous basketball games or sweaty fraternity parties to attend at Northwestern this quarter. There are no walks to class, no more goofy highfives and daps shared between friends.

No one guards the Rock these days or sells doughnuts on Sheridan. Instead, a campus typified by its fervent energy and

excitement has been rendered empty and deserted due to the spread of the coronavirus, like much of the nation.

It was only after a late-night BobbMcCulloch fire drill brought the residence hall’s inhabitants to shiver together outside that Bozovic became acquainted with some of the other students forced to stay on campus this quarter. Much of the social interaction that characterizes life in college is now frowned upon. Early on in quarantine, Bozovic watched a casual game of pick-up basketball outside Bobb only to discover a few days later that the rims and nets had been removed, deterring any would-be ballers from congregating on the court.

Northwestern’s other typical social locales — Mudd, Main and Deering Libraries, Norris University Center and gyms at Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Blomquist — have all closed their doors for the entirety of the quarter.

And while most of Northwestern’s community is together with their families, for those on campus, home couldn’t feel further away.

“We all want to be with our families,” Bozovic says. “It’s the most natural way to respond to a crisis like this. We are 20-year-olds.”

Instead, the Bozovic family finds itself split apart, quarantining on opposite sides of the globe: Josif in his Bobb dorm room in Evanston and his family 5,000 miles away and seven hours ahead in Bar, Montenegro.

Normally, checking in with parents while at college might seem like a chore, but the conversation is different now and the questions are more important than ever: “Are you safe?” “Are you

Far from home | DANCE FLOOR

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okay?” Bozovic asked to push back our interview an hour; it was his mother’s birthday and he wanted to connect with her before she went to sleep.

Amidst a pandemic, the inherently communal spaces of a college dormitory pose obvious health and safety risks.

In response, Gonzalez says cleaning protocols have been completely revamped. Advanced electrostatic disinfectant sprayer machines are used daily in every residence hall, targeting hot spots like doorknobs, stairwell handrails, bathrooms and laundry rooms. Face masks are available for pickup around campus and students can even request for one to be provided in their mailbox.

Director of Dining Stacey Brown has spearheaded an adapted approach to dining during the pandemic.

Foster-Walker Complex (Plex) is the only operating dining hall during the quarter – and it’s undergone a number of adjustments. Chairs and tables have been removed. Social distancing markers are taped down to the floor. Plexiglass

C I TY

barriers separate diners from the workers who usually swipe their Wildcards, and students are encouraged to simply swipe their own.

Dining in is prohibited. Instead, students must use provided to-go containers, forced to shuffle out of Plex clutching their meal, in search of another place to eat. Four distinct crews of workers rotate on- and off-duty to limit the chances of a potential outbreak infecting the entire staff.

In an effort to further limit any face-to-face interaction, Brown and her team partnered with Boost Mobile to set up a mobile ordering system for dining hall food, relying on the same digital infrastructure that supports Norris restaurants such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Patty Squared. Certain menu items can be prepared and packaged in advance for scheduled pickup times, and dining hall swipes function as a payment option. By offering the chance to request a hot breakfast before bed and pickup the following morning, Brown hopes

she can restore some comfort and normalcy for those still on campus.

Despite these efforts, some students are finding other ways to feed themselves. Ben Geduld, a firstyear from Miami, petitioned to stay in Evanston because his father is immunocompromised. Quarantining in Slivka Residential College on North Campus, he says the trek from the residence hall to Plex is too inconvenient. Instead, Geduld shops for groceries once a week at Target and cooks most of his meals alone in the dormitory kitchen. It’s not how he envisioned the end of his freshman year at Northwestern.

For Jia, the status of his internship in Chicago this summer is up in the air, and it’s unclear if or when he will return home to China. As spring quarter winds down, the fate of the University in the upcoming school year is similarly ambiguous.

“I guess the not knowing is the scariest part,” Jia says.

Spring 2020 | 27

HOME for the holidays How students of faith are adapting to virtual worship.

M

WRITTEN BY EMILY CERF // DESIGNED AND ILLUSTRATED BY CHLOE COHEN

T

his year on Eid al-Fitr, Communication thirdyear Rahma Almajid threw a celebration for her five siblings and parents in the backyard of her Chicago home. It followed a royal color theme, replete with gold “Eid Mubarak” banners and a homemade brunch for their first breakfast or lunch in thirty days.

Also known as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast,” Eid marks the end of Ramadan — which, beyond scripture and ritual fasting, is an important time for community relationships. While Almajid usually celebrates with her entire mosque, this year her family sequestered the party to their own backyard. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the joyous, physical gatherings that normally accompany this holiday — and those of other religious observances — on Northwestern’s campus and around the world.

28 | Spring 2020

Each of the world’s five mostpracticed religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism) celebrate holidays in the spring, and festivities have been inevitably changed by stay-at-home orders that prevent people from physically attending worship services and celebrating in community. Northwestern students are certainly among those impacted: there are 33 religious student organizations listed on the Northwestern Religious and Spiritual Life website, and in the 2019 Northwestern Enrolled Student survey, 19 percent of 2,570 student respondents said they actively participated in a religious or spiritual group.

Tahera Ahmad, a Muslim scholar-practitioner who serves as Associate Chaplain and Northwestern Director of Interfaith Engagement, says college is an important time for students to find their meaning and purpose.

Religion — both in practice

E I D

U

B A R A

K

and in concept — can play a large role in that. “[Students are] exploring their own practice, both ritual, which is associated often with the idea of religion, but then also this idea of spirituality,” Ahmad says. “What does it mean to even be a person of any kind of religious practice, or just, who am I? What am I doing here? What is the purpose of my life?”

During this unprecedented year, spring holidays may offer students time to reflect on how to carry principles of their faith into their own quarantine routines, as well as to their communities.

“Religious observance and religious holidays, at their best, have us thinking beyond ourselves and thinking about people who are suffering.

How do we make the world suffer less?

How do we repair the broken pieces?”

Michael Simon, Executive Director of Northwestern Hillel, says.

Home for the holidays | DANCE FLOOR

“

Religious observance and religious holidays, at their best, have us thinking beyond ourselves and thinking about people who are suffering.”

– Michael Simon

For many religious leaders today, the challenge becomes how to build community virtually. During the 30 days of Ramadan, for example, the recitation of the 6,236 verses of the Quran and the Iftar (the breaking of the fast each night after sundown) normally occur in large gatherings.

This year, Zoom services worldwide include Halaqah (prayer readings) every Friday at 5 p.m. and daily at-home group and individual Quran recitations at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively.

Faith-based organizations at Northwestern have also had to adapt the ways in which students connect to religious resources — from supporting students in celebrating holidays to offering services and resources for regular spiritual practice.

This includes the University Christian Ministry (UCM), whose members normally gather every Easter morning at Clark Street Beach to watch the sun rise above the shores of Lake Michigan and remember the resurrection of Christ.

This year, students instead messaged each other with pictures of the sunrise wherever they happened to be in the country or the world.

OM at Northwestern, a Hindu religious group, and Hillel have also made transitions into the digital realm. OM may co-host a virtual speaker event in place of their regular Holi celebration, which typically involves students throwing brightly colored powders at each other and dancing to festive music on Deering Meadow.

At Hillel’s virtual Shabbat dinners, one student reads the

blessing over grape juice to his peers across the country, allowing Jewish families at Northwestern to meet when they might never have been able to before.

But online worship services leave much to be desired for many. More observant Jewish families may have abstained from technology as part of Passover worship, making it potentially impossible to integrate Zoom into their observance this year.

The receiving of Communion — the representation of the body and blood of Christ through bread and wine — typically occurs at Christian services. Now, some Christians debate whether it’s necessary to be physically present to receive Communion or if it can be practiced at home — say, with a tortilla and coffee. Other physical and congregational aspects of religious ceremonies, such as singing during services, lighting candles and eating meals, together can be difficult or impossible to replicate remotely.

One of the most significant challenges felt by students is the barrier to physical closeness that the pandemic poses.

“I think for me, practicing religion on campus is all about the community aspect of it,” Sarah Kollender, a Weinberg third-year student on the Hillel Executive Board, says. “I like the traditions and I like the meaning of it, but it’s all about kind of feeling at home in a community, at least for me. That aspect is really hard to replicate when you’re not in the same room as other people and all feeling the same environment and creating the environment together.”

Stay-at-home orders can also present particular challenges in accessing resources this year for Northwestern students who celebrate Ramadan and still live in the Chicagoland area. The Illinois Department for Public Health (IDPH) has found that Devon Avenue in Chicago — where many members of the Hasidic Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths live — is considered to have one of the highest concentrations of COVID-19 cases in all of greater Illinois. According to

Ahmad, many Ramadan-practicing students rely on Devon Avenue for groceries and halal meat to make food for the holiday. As a result, Northwestern Religious and Spiritual Life, in partnership with dining services and Compass Group, is making sure that students who are still on campus have at least one halal entrée every day on FosterWalker’s dining hall menu.

Outside of holidays, many other opportunities offer Northwestern students ways to stay connected to faith-based communities. Ahmad mentioned an interfaith dialogue series from Northwestern Religious and Spiritual Life and check-in hours with different faith leaders.

Hillel, for example, is offering virtual coffee chats, weekly Shabbat gatherings and “Hillel at Home” programming. OM at Northwestern is now holding weekly Shravan sessions in which they read and discuss chapters of “Self-Unfoldment”

by Swami Chinmayananda over Zoom. The Muslim-Cultural Students Association (McSA) started a pen pal system for students to stay in touch through hand-written letters.

Sunday night worship — sans the normal Sunday night dinner — occurs for UCM students over Zoom, and weekly Bible study has moved to Zoom for students in Epic, Cru’s community for Asian and Asian American students. “[Some students] are just feeling sad or lonely or isolated,” Julie

“

And I’ve always tried to remind [students] that they are not alone.

And that even though we’re not physically together as a Christian community, we are still bonded together in spirit, and nothing can take that away.”

– Julie Windsor Mitchell

Spring 2020 | 29

Windsor Mitchell, Campus Minister and Executive Director of UCM, says. “And I’ve always tried to remind them that they are not alone. And that even though we’re not physically together as a Christian community, we are still bonded together in spirit, and nothing can take that away.”

Weekly meetings and checkins can remind students that their community is still there to support them — even if they are not in their usual on-campus meeting place, like OM’s gatherings in Parkes Hall.

“OM at Northwestern teaches spirituality, but it also teaches you about the strength of togetherness,” Weinberg second-year Mirage Modi says. “Even though it’s over Zoom, we still get to see each other’s faces and that brings a little joy in life during these times.”

Ahmad is holding pastoral care hours specifically for Muslim students in hopes of providing a healing space for students particularly impacted by the pandemic. Ahmad explains that Muslim students may be uniquely affected. In September of 2012, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found 20 percent of American physicians and 33 percent of all hospital resident trainees were international medical graduates, many of whom were practicing Muslims. Only 1.1 percent of total Americans are Muslim according to Pew Research Center, making it more likely that they have a healthcare professional who may be on the front lines in their families.

Crisis and trauma are subjects Ahmad focuses on in her pastoral care hours in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Faith-based communities often gather together for vigils and to mourn the deaths of loved ones. Ahmad has been working to create virtual vigils

for students who have lost family members or friends, which, in the Muslim tradition, involves reciting parts of the Quran.

Many students are also reaching out to their faith community to grieve other losses in their life — a class they wanted to take, internship plans or dreams for the future. But even as some feel lonely and isolated, their faiths bond them with their communities in spirit.

“This is collective grief, collective loss,” Ahmad says. “There’s an element of some form of loss for people at different levels ... As people of faith, the resilience [is what] I see of our students and of our community around this — checking in with each other, being there for each other, listening to each other.”

Religious practice can also give insight into how to deal with the struggles that come with isolation and living through a pandemic.

Ahmad mentions that some Muslim practitioners have said that quarantine is a unique opportunity for one to reconnect with the self.

The slower pace of life that comes with sheltering in place has enabled some to spend more time focused on faith than in normal times. Weinberg third-year Kathryne Tao, Epic’s Bible study leader, has been trying to fill out a daily devotional each night with her two roommates as she shelters in Evanston.

“I think quarantine has been nice because I do have more time to work on my faith and read my Bible and spend time with God,” Tao says. “I think that’s obviously one of the upsides of quarantine — is just having more time to focus on those things.”

For students who have been able to return home, many tune in to the services of their local places of worship over Facebook or YouTube Live. For Weinberg first-year John McDermott, for example, weekly discussions from UCM supplement attending his Chicago church’s streamed services, offering new perspectives on how to understand faith in the current circumstances.

And, depending on a student’s home situation, practicing their faith at home is enabling time to reconnect with their families in ways they haven’t been able to before. Almajid spends several hours each night baking special Ramadan desserts while her parents prepare other aspects of Iftar. Kollender bakes Challah bread for her family for Shabbat dinner each Friday, which she couldn’t have done otherwise.

“It’s been kind of interesting how this has also been a source of reconnecting,” Ahmad says. “[It’s] accelerated something that people have been wanting to think about for some time — and I’ve actually seen more of an uptick on, if not a full practice of faith. The inquiry of faith has increased...Bigger questions [are] being asked about what is my purpose of living on this planet.”

Racism unmasked | DANCE FLOOR

Racism

Unmasked masked WRITTEN BY DAVID DELOSO AND GRACE DENG // DESIGNED BY ALISA GAO

As historical patterns of anti-Asian racism resurface, Asian and Asian American students at Northwestern search for community.

O

n March 7, Jonyca Jiao was supposed to see a show at the Windy City Playhouse. Jiao, a first-year theatre major from Xi’an, China, got in a Lyft — but the car didn’t start. Jiao looked up from her phone and noticed the driver looking at her in the mirror. The driver asked Jiao a question: “Are you sick?”

Jiao tried to explain that the mask was a preventative measure. A little while after COVID-19 started spreading in the U.S., she had begun wearing masks her parents sent from China.

But the driver didn’t trust Jiao and told her she had to get out of the car.

“I froze,” Jiao says. “I didn’t know how to react because it never happened to me before. I wanted to argue with her after that. I explained to her that this is something I do to protect myself, not that I have diseases. I understand why she did that, but it was discrimination.”

Racism towards Chinese people, such as Jiao’s exchange, became a pervasive reaction to the pandemic’s spread. While studies say flights from Europe carried COVID-19 to New York, President Donald Trump was slow to enact a travel ban on Europe, instead focusing travel restrictions on China. Political leaders (including Trump) called COVID-19 the “Chinese virus,” against the advice of the World Health Organization. Locally, The Daily Northwestern reported “Chinese virus” was spray-painted over a Chinese character on a Lakefill rock, and graffiti reading “Make China Pay” surfaced in an Evanston bus shelter in late March.

While the coronavirus is novel, subsequent anti-Chinese sentiment is not. Rather, the COVID-19 pandemic has incited a re-emergence of centuries-old stereotypes and tropes of anti-Asian discrimination.

Asians in America have been accused of carrying diseases since their initial immigration to the U.S. in

Spring 2020 | 31

the 19th century, according to Asian American Studies Professor JiYeon Yuh. American public health authorities in the 1800s believed Asians — particularly Chinese people — carried the bubonic plague. Yuh says the stereotype of the “dirty, diseased Asian” continues today; she believes the media has often targeted Chinatowns for public health violations.

“[Anti-Asian racism] always existed, and it’s being publicly expressed in harassment and violence,” Yuh says. “There are these peaks where it’s noticeably worse. This happens to be one of those peaks.”

Historically, when racism targets specific groups of Asians in America, the broader Asian American community suffers from discrimination. In 1982, outrage regarding the death of Vincent Chin sparked an Asian American civil rights movement. AntiJapanese sentiment permeated Chin’s home city of Detroit due to the perceived loss of auto industry jobs to Japan. Although Chin was Chinese American, two white men murdered him with a baseball bat while shouting racial slurs, assuming Chin was Japanese. The two men never went to jail for their actions.

Today, generalization of Asian nationalities puts Asian Americans at large at risk for discrimination.

32 | Spring 2020

“I feel like my identity, my nationality, was especially targeted,” Jiao says. “I think Asian American communities were an extension of that.”

The Hill reported anti-Asian hate crimes skyrocketed as the pandemic hit the U.S., reaching 100 per day in March. In one of the most severe cases, a Texas man stabbed two Burmese American children and their father thinking

they were Chinese and spreading the coronavirus. The children were 2 and 6 years old.

Abbey Zhu, the president of Northwestern’s Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC), believes the language connecting Asian Americans with COVID-19 plays a part in these violent acts.

“Your words affect the lived experiences of Asian Americans, and they affect the way you think of Asian Americans ... and that can justify stabbing a 2-year-old Burmese child,” Zhu says.

Amid COVID-19, Zhu has provided emotional support to APAC members and connected them with ways to enact change such as calling members of Congress to create a stimulus bill that includes undocumented immigrants. However, she says she has felt helpless to change the political reality at times.

“The U.S. has many systems that are blatantly being shown that they’re failing right now, and it’s hard to feel like you can change those systems,” she says.

Zhu fears her father could become a target of harassment,

especially because he wears a mask when shopping for her family’s groceries. She isn’t alone.

Many Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) students at Northwestern express a sense of discomfort stemming from anti-Asian racism’s increased national visibility.

Weinberg first-year Angela Liu believes her Asian identity has always been one of the first things people notice about her. But now, during the pandemic, she thinks people put her race before any other aspect of her identity.

“It’s the most prominent thing, and everything else sort of comes after that,” she says. “I have to go out of my way to prove I’m not sickly.

It’s just making extra steps so other people can feel more comfortable, which is really unfortunate.”

Medill first-year Anushuya Thapa, a Nepali international student, says while she hasn’t felt directly targeted by anti-Asian racism, attitudes in Evanston appeared to change during her last few days on campus.

“If I saw someone who was more looking the part of an East Asian American or a Southeast Asian American, I could feel them getting stared at,” Thapa says.

“That would always make me feel uncomfortable.”

As president of Asian-interest sorority Sigma Psi Zeta, third-year Minna Ito says she sees herself as less East Asian-passing. Ito, who identifies as Filipino and Japanese, feels this makes her less vulnerable to harassment than some other members of the APIDA community, which allows her to support more directly targeted groups.

“In contexts where people see me as more Southeast Asian or Filipino, I may have the privilege of not having to be as hyper-aware of how I look,” Ito says. “It puts me in a position where I could show up more for my communities compared to people who may be more vulnerable during this time.”

Ito does not believe showing up for her community means changing her behavior to appease

other Americans. In April, The Washington Post published an op-ed from former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang that argued Asian Americans should demonstrate their “American-ness” to the world through acts such as wearing red, white and blue.

“A lot of my friends realized how messed up that was,” Ito says. “We don’t have to go out of our way to prove our humanity by any means, but we should feel empowered to support each other.”

Since social distancing has prevented APIDA groups from gathering in person, support has often taken the form of virtual meetings. Shortly after the pandemic began to spread in the U.S., SESP second-year Sydney Gil attended a Zoom call facilitated by the Korean American Grassroots Conference, a civic engagement organization.

“They asked, ‘Have any of you guys felt uncomfortable being in public or unsafe?’ And almost everyone — if not everybody — raised their hands. Of course we feel uncomfortable,” Gil said.

Asian-interest organizations at Northwestern are also grappling with how to support their members. One of the largest Asianinterest organizations on campus, the Chinese Students Association (CSA), held a virtual dialogue in April among its members about COVID-19 and racism.

While CSA doesn’t typically host events discussing social issues, its members appreciated the opportunity to discuss how they felt in a safe environment.

“It was honestly really well done because everyone is so comfortable with each other,” says Liu. “Personally speaking, if that comfort level wasn’t there, it’d be harder to speak up.”

Isabell Liu, who facilitated the event as CSA’s cultural chair, says the increase in overt anti-Asian racism also amplifies the impact of microaggressions toward Asian Americans and Asians in America.

“People have always been racist.

I don’t mean that makes it okay,

but I think the context matters a lot too,” Isabell says. “You could have made a Sinophobic joke two months before COVID-19 got to the U.S. and it would have a different impact than if you made it now. It’s volumes louder.”

To Yuh, many Asian Americans “excuse the racism that they see and experience around them, or [don’t] even see it at all” because of two tropes: the “perpetual foreigner” and the “honorary white.”

The myth of the perpetual foreigner frames Asian Americans as outsiders in the U.S. who will never truly belong in the country.

Paradoxically, Asian Americans are also portrayed as “honorary whites” because they are falsely perceived as being higher-achieving than

Racism unmasked | DANCE FLOOR

“The APIDA community at Northwestern feels very fragmented,” Ito says. “I hope in the future, we find a way to more actively build coalition in the way that we’re not just throwing the label around, but actually showing up for each other.”

A number of APIDA students have also connected their own experiences during this pandemic to those of other minority groups on an everyday basis.

“I was thinking about how people — who they are, their skin color or where they came from — they probably get that kind of treatment every single day of their lives,” Jiao says. “This is just a small proportion of what they go through. [The Lyft refusal] kind of taught me a lesson.”

Many Asian American activists hope Asian Americans will not just feel anger at the racism directed towards them, but at systemic racism against all minorities.

“What is happening to the Asian American community right now is a reality most of the time for Black and brown communities,” Zhu says. “Let this moment be a recognition: We are all affected by and in different ways complicit in maintaining a system that arranges people in racial hierarchy

It’s terrible. But it is a good time to use our oppression and how we experienced oppression to think about other groups in their oppression and how we can help.

- Isabell Liu, CSA cultural chair other minorities in America. These two myths, according to Yuh, create an “ambiguous racial location” that allows Asian Americans to see antiAsian racism as “not as bad as what some other people get.”

“What COVID-19 and the rise in anti-Asian harassment and violence has done is, it makes it more difficult to engage in those kinds of denial,” Yuh adds. “It’s much harder to say ‘We don’t experience racism, it’s not a big deal.’”

Watching the pandemic unfold, many APIDA students wished for more solidarity within Northwestern’s APIDA community.

that justifies violence against nonwhite communities. So don’t be selectively mad.”

While Isabell Liu says there’s nothing good about the current situation, she hopes it will create solidarity between the APIDA community and other marginalized groups in the U.S. “This whole thing sucks. It’s terrible,” Isabell says. “But it is a good time to use our oppression and how we experienced oppression to think about other groups in their oppression and how we can help.”

Spring 2020 | 33

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remaking the grade How the University’s adoption of universal pass/fail grading polarized its student body.

WRITTEN BY SYLVIA GOODMAN // DESIGNED BY LUODAN ROJAS

Spring 2020 | 35

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his was not the quarter LaTesha Harris expected.

She planned to spend her final quarter at Northwestern with the Medill Investigative Lab in Washington, D.C. After the program went remote, she remained in Evanston and enrolled in classes she hadn’t intended to take. At the same time, her mother was hospitalized for blood clots in her heart and lungs, adding another layer of anxiety to a stressful and constantly evolving situation.

“I don’t even feel like I’m in school right now. Anything I muster up to give to my classes is just the maximum effort I can provide,” Harris says.

Of the 30 top-ranked universities

by US News and World Report, all but one (Georgia Institute of Technology) made noticeable changes to their grading policies in response to COVID-19. Nineteen of those schools shifted to an essentially opt-in grading policy; students choose between a letter grade or pass/fail grading for most or all of their classes.

On March 31, Northwestern announced its decision: like eight other schools, it would adopt a universal pass/fail model (or “pass/no pass” as the University labels it) in which letter grades are not offered at all for the thenupcoming spring quarter.

The rationale behind the new policy was simple: this model would account for the added stress and uncertainties of living through a pandemic and protect and support those directly impacted by it. But while the pass/fail policy may be universal, its endorsement is not.

While many students, parents and faculty lauded the University’s decision, others have petitioned, complained and protested.

Proponents of different grading models clashed in online debates and group chats.

Beyond the policy itself, students like Harris noted that some professors d i d n’ t

completely accept the shift, grading the same way they would have during a regular quarter and holding a passing grade over students’ heads.

At the same time, Northwestern has yet to announce the grading scale for the upcoming fall quarter, complicating student concerns around equity and their GPA.

The Rationale In complaints lodged with the University and multiple other platforms, objections poured in; students sought to boost their GPAs while professors expressed concern about the level of classroom rigor. A number of universities are already facing class action lawsuits due to their policy changes. One suit against Drexel University claims both online classes and pass/fail grades lower the worth of their diploma, therefore tuition should be adjusted accordingly.

So, why did Northwestern, despite opening itself up to these potential consequences, move to a universal pass/fail model?

According to Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Miriam Sherin, Northwestern’s administration knew that any decision they made would invite controversy.

“There were so many uncertainties about how people’s lives were going to move forward that we thought that this was the most equitable decision,” Sherin says. “No grading scenario was going to be perfect. No decision was going to be the preferred decision for all students.”

For many students, like Campbell Schafer, the Associated Student Government (ASG) chair of academics, the desire to make an equitable decision — one that didn’t favor one student above another — called for a universal pass/fail policy.

“I think there’s a huge disconnect between students who are really concerned about their GPA and other students who genuinely need pass/fail, because every

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student on this campus is in a different situation,” Schafer says.

“Not everyone has access to great Wi-Fi or has a quiet place to work.

People [might] have family to take care of if someone gets sick. That is something that plays into whether or not you could do your work.”

Harris, who is co-president of Northwestern’s QuestBridge Scholars Network, a student organization which strives to create a community and resources for first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students, says some critics of alternative grading systems during the pandemic insist that students who aren’t able to do their best during a remote quarter should just take a leave of absence. This, Harris says, is extremely inequitable and unfair to many FGLI students.

“People do come to Northwestern, as any elite institution, to have an in-person education and to learn amongst their peers and as a collective,” Harris says. “Taking that experience away from them is obviously going to deplete their motivations, but that doesn’t mean that their whole educational path or career should be put on hold.”

Because the COVID-19 crisis evolved so rapidly, Schafer notes that the University decided on a new grading policy swiftly and with little student input. “[The policy] really came down to the faculty and the administration making that decision with a couple of nudges here and there from students. Our [ASG] president, Izzy Dobbel, played an enormous role in that,” Schafer says.

According to Schafer, limiting student feedback isn’t an unusual practice for the administration, though a quickly-developing case such as COVID-19 may have warranted it. “[Dobbel] serve[d] [on the committee that discussed spring quarter grading] as the only student representative, which I think is a big problem with Northwestern,” Schafer says. “They love to say, ‘Oh, yeah, we take student voices,’ but then they only talk to one person.”

Remaking the grade | FEATURES

Swartz says she created the petition to start a conversation around the grading system. She felt her voice had not been heard when the final decision came down, and that universal pass/fail didn’t serve her and The day after the University announced its spring others well. Even as controversy continued, she believes grading system, second-year Miranda Swartz published she accomplished her goal — so she closed the petition. a Change.org petition directed at President Morton “A lot of students reached out to me and told Schapiro. It called for a “post-grade opt-in Pass/No me that they had been inspired to reach out to the Pass” grading system. administration. And at that point, I was working with “Where I was coming from when I made the petition some other students on campus just to come to a better was not necessarily a place of being against universal conclusion. So I didn’t want there to continue to be all pass/fail, but a place of feeling like there was a possibility of this arguing over that petition in particular,” Swartz for a better solution that could serve all students, says. “That’s why I shut down the petition.” rather than leaving a few feeling like they weren’t being Swartz’s petition did indeed create controversy, benefited by the system,” Swartz says. especially in the Northwestern Only one other of the top 30 schools University - Class of 2022 Facebook previously mentioned, Notre Dame, group, one of the places she posted has adopted this system. Other schools it in to gain traction. Many students like Swarthmore College have enacted felt that the call for opt-in grading a similar “uncover policy” that allows reflected an inability to relate to those students to “uncover” the letter grades on an unfair playing field, especially behind the pass/fail and let it stand on during the epidemic. their transcript.

Second-year Sarah FernandezThe petition garnered 623 signatures Tabet says calling for opt-in grading just days after its publication. In the and being so focused on grades during comments, students expressed their a time of international emergency is reasons for signing. One wrote: “As a “selfish and self-centered.” senior, this would have been my last “The response made clear to me chance to improve my GPA and complete not only how privileged you are, required courses. Now, I’m not sure but also that they are completely I’ll be able to graduate.” Another, more unaware of the circumstances that simply: “The required P/F system is LESS some of their classmates are facing,” equitable.”

Fernandez-Tabet says. “It speaks to While the petition clearly accumulated a lot of the fragmentation of social approval, many students also responded groups on campus based on sociowith anger and frustration in private economic [status] specifically.”

Northwestern group chats. After creating Some universities held out against the petition, Swartz began researching universal pass/fail in attempts to - Sarah Fernandez-Tabet, second-year alternative grading methods for which remain committed to academic rigor. students from other universities were advocating.

The University of Chicago Law School made headlines One of the petitions called for a 4.0-Pass/No Pass as the only “Top 6” law school that refused to change system. Students who received a passing grade were their grading policy during the pandemic, citing a awarded an “A,” which counts towards their GPA. desire to “continue to deliver excellent education.” After Petitions originating at Harvard University popularized continued deliberation and pressure from students, this system, along with Double A grading, which the school finally decided to transition to a universal ensures an A or A minus for the semester or quarter. “Emergency Pass/Emergency Fail” system.

After exploring all of these options and discussing Many other arguments against universal pass/fail the policies with different groups of campus, Swartz reflected students’ hopes of boosting their GPA during says she’s no longer sure opt-in grading is the most spring quarter. Some students suffered a mental health equitable after all. crisis early-on in their college careers. Others relied Even with vocal support from numerous on GPA-based scholarships. Some fourth-year students Northwestern petitions, administration was quick to were concerned they wouldn’t be able to graduate. reject these options: “You know, Harvard didn’t actually Even with these reasons, opt-in systems would only do that,” Sherin says. benefit those who are in a situation that allows them to In fact, an NBN analysis found that no university actively choose letter grades. actually instituted either of these two systems, Fernandez-Tabet is a supporter of a “universal pass” despite calls for them at Harvard, Rice University, system, which goes a step beyond traditional pass/fail University of Texas at Austin, Georgetown University models. As its name implies, universal pass ensures that and Emory University. all students receive a passing grade and course credit.

The Arguments

“The response made clear to me not only how privileged you are, but also that they are completely unaware of the circumstances that some of their classmates are facing.”

Spring 2020 | 37

be able to choose letter grades, employers and graduate schools would judge them negatively for choosing the “easier route.” Like Swartz, hearing from different sides of the argument convinced Buckner that a system other than opt-in grading was necessary.

“I think in a perfect world, students would be able to choose whether they want to have pass/ fail grading or not, but the debate really helped me understand why universal [pass/fail] was preferable and why it’s more equitable,” Buckner says.

Still, Buckner says the true ideal would be for all universities to adopt universal pass/fail, as Northwestern students will be compared to students from many different colleges after they graduate. And many of them are maintaining letter grades during COVID-19.

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“What is anyone gaining out of failing a student right now?”

Fernandez-Tabet says. “I feel like it’s reasonable that people aren’t able to do as much coursework or even be able to concentrate or have the motivation to.”

In response to the University’s unilateral decision-making and growing student antagonism in petitions and on social media, Northwestern University Political Union held a virtual debate: “Should Northwestern Not Have Implemented Pass/Fail Grading?”

Political Union Co-President Ellie Buckner says she leaned in favor of opt-in pass/fail grading going into the debate. She says she was frustrated by a lack of communication with students and felt the new policy didn’t benefit her.

During the debate, Buckner heard from students who would have suffered under an opt-in grading system. They were afraid that, since they would technically

When the Office of the Provost informed the student body of the impending change, they assured that Northwestern “maintains its high academic expectations and commitment to rigor.” The statement left students wondering what this means exactly and what guidance professors received from administration.

To Fernandez-Tabet, some professors are not fully recognizing the difficult circumstances many students are in. She feels that the University should have made more substantial guidelines for instructors.

“I think aside from grading, it’s also important that the work that’s being done and the amount of work that’s being done or required of students is also adjusted accordingly,” Fernandez-Tabet says.

“It’s not any better to just not be getting grades on things, but still have so much work that you are required to do just to get the pass.”

Numerous students, including Harris and Fernandez-Tabet, reported a higher standard to get a coveted “Pass” stamp on

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“I think in a perfect world, students would be able to choose whether they want to have pass/fail grading The Result or not.“

their transcript — higher than for a regular pass/fail class during the academic year.

“Professors are treating it like it’s A or fail, but it’s not; it’s A through D or fail. And they’re requiring more from students ... and being more punitive than they would be in any other situation,” Harris says.

While both agree that the current system is flawed, both FernandezTabet and Harris say universal pass/fail is a superior option to optin pass/fail models and the usual letter grading system. However, as a growing number of universities begin planning for a remote fall quarter/ semester, the longevity of universal pass/fail comes into question.

Sherin says that Northwestern has made no announcements regarding its fall grading system, but the University is returning to standard grading practices for the summer remote quarter.

Fernandez-Tabet says this reversion is too soon.

“Nothing has changed, right?”

Fernandez-Tabet says. “If we’re remote, it indicates that this pandemic is still having such a stronghold on our society and how we are functioning.”

Harris says if the traditional grading policy were applied to a remote fall quarter, it would be harsh on not only returning students, but particularly incoming first-year students, who are unfamiliar with campus resources and haven’t established support systems.

“If I [a graduating fourth-year] will really, really benefit from pass/ fail, imagine a freshman STEM student who doesn’t really know who to reach out to for confusing questions, where to get resources,” Harris says. “Jesus Christ, that’s so inhumane.”

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Before her friend created a petition to adopt universal pass at Northwestern, Fernandez-Tabet had never heard of it, saying it was even “outside the realm of [her] imagination.” She and many other students feel these extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary adjustments to the status quo.

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The quintessential college experience can leave marginalized students disconnected from their peers.

WRITTEN BY CYNTHIA ZHANG // DESIGNED BY SAKKE OVERLUND

When I first opened my study abroad application, I could barely contain my excitement as I scrolled through the seemingly endless program options.

Coming into Northwestern, I had a romanticized image of traveling abroad. Hearing story after story of a life-changing quarter of fun and adventure led me to believe the experience would be perfect and stressfree. Meeting new people. Visiting new places. Monuments and beaches to not-so-subtly flaunt on Instagram.

A few days later, I found myself on my laptop late at night, staring at a list of countries’ views on China. My heart sank.

Some of the places I’d been most excited to see, like Japan or the Netherlands, were ranked high for anti-Chinese sentiment.

In another tab, my unfinished application lay blank, waiting for me to return.

In the past, I had mostly traveled domestically with my family. But even then, I’d felt unsafe in the most unassuming places. A sidewalk in Pittsburgh, where teenagers yelled “Ching Chong! ” at me from their truck as they

sped by. A cruise ship in Toledo, Ohio, where a drunk stranger at least a decade my senior waited until I was alone to hit on me, telling me he was “surprised I even spoke English” after I told him I wasn’t interested.

If that was my experience in the U.S., what could I possibly encounter overseas?

Where could I go that would guarantee a safe and discrimination-free quarter abroad? Was that even possible?

It had never occurred to me that I had to be so wary of my identities and how I might be perceived because of them while studying abroad. No one I’d talked to had warned me, either.

As I began to research different countries, I found article after article seemingly written by and for affluent, white students. They certainly didn’t help address any of my fears. “Don’t be afraid to take some crazy risks,” reads a Buzzfeed compilation of study abroad advice.

“Those make the best stories, after all.”

But for many Northwestern students who hold marginalized identities, simply existing in these countries can be the biggest risk of all.

consulting jobs while taking challenging courses in France.

When Medill third-year Amar Then, one night, Lin and her Shabeeb went abroad to Berlin roommate were riding their last summer, she was eager to scooter back to their host mom’s learn more about the country’s apartment when a passing car politics. However, as a Muslim swerved towards the two as if to hit Syrian American, Shabeeb was them. Frightened, both girls fell also concerned about being off their scooter. The car drove off; targeted because of her religious those inside jeered “Ni hao! ” and ethnic identity. That worry, “We were both just shaken combined with the recent rise afterward and tried to get home as of several far-right parties in quickly as possible,” Lin says. “Even the country, pushed Shabeeb to in America, I’d never experience research more. such blatant racism, so it was a big “Unless you're of a marginalized wake-up call. It definitely made me identity, you don't have to think more scared to go out at night.” about [xenophobia],” Shabeeb says.

In the context of race and “It's not a consideration for you, ethnicity, “passing” describes when or whether or not you're studying a person of one racial group or abroad, especially in Europe. ethnicity is frequently perceived to But for me, it was the first thing I be another, most commonly due to thought about.” variation in skin tone. Sociologists Weinberg third-year Stella Lin’s consider passing advantageous; if quarter abroad was stressful from a person of color (POC) is whitethe start. As a first-generation passing, they are less likely to be and low-income student, she was discriminated against on account worried about the cost of traveling of their race. to Europe for the global health When my high school class program she’d applied for. traveled to Paris for the summer, In addition, Lin my teacher told us to follow switched career French fashion so we were less paths and had to likely to be recognized as tourists. apply for For me, a visibly Asian person, it only took a look in the mirror to doubt that anyone would see me as a French citizen, regardless of my outfit.

When studying abroad, someone who is white or a wh i t e - p a s s i n g POC will likely Unless you're of a marginalized find it easier identity. you don't have to to blend in when visiting a think about [xenophobia]. predominantly It's not a consideration for white country. you, or whether or not you're Shabeeb, on the other studying abroad, especially in hand, had Europe. But for me, it was the little ability to hide her first thing I thought about. religious identity - Amar Shabeeb, in public.

“I’m Syrian, so I’m pretty pale,” Medill third-year Shabeeb says. “But because I wear a hijab, that identifies me as someone who’s not stereotypically German.”

The visa of visibility

40 | Spring 2020

Shabeeb said she endured hostile encounters in more conservative areas. As she entered a restaurant in the city of Weimar, a couple exiting loudly shushed her — despite her not making any noise.

In Prague, a stranger approached her at a train station, told her that the Czech Republic was a Christian country and handed her pamphlets about why Christianity was the superior religion.

McCormick second-year Kenya Alexander, who also studied in Berlin that summer, was with Shabeeb at the train station.

The two had also been together in Prague, standing outside of a museum, when a stranger came up behind Alexander and, without warning, grabbed her hair. Before either of them could even react, the man ran off.

“I was just very startled,” Alexander says. “I sometimes forget that I'm visibly POC in these places that may not have as many POC people. But I think that was the moment I just felt kind of othered because I don't know why you would do that to a regular person standing on the street.”

Linguistic liabilities Being ethnically Chinese but born and raised in the United States, I often walk a fine line between two cultures. I feel at home in the United States, but I’ve grown up seen and treated as a foreigner. I look at home in China, but I feel awkward navigating a culture I know little about and speaking a language I have a thirdgrade vocabulary in.

Understanding a country’s native language can make one's experience abroad much easier.

It’s especially crucial when that language is used to discriminate.

While in Germany, Shabeeb witnessed some friends (who were also POCs) being called “ausländers” — “foreigners” in English — and told to go back to their own countries.

Not having a full grasp on the local tongue left her particularly exposed to verbal attacks.

“Something that we actually had to articulate to a few people on the trip is, ‘If you guys see something happening, you have white privilege. Say something. Especially if you're fluent in German,’” Shabeeb says. “It's really hard to defend yourself against racism and Islamophobia in a language that's not your native tongue.”

When Medill fourth-year Nefertari Bilal studied in Jordan, she saw a stark difference in how people of the country would treat her classmates. White students who spoke Arabic would be surrounded by crowds on the street. Students of color speaking the same language rarely had the same response.

“I felt kind of invisible,” Bilal says.

“Nobody really cared to talk to me. To be honest, I really felt a depression because I'm trying so hard to connect with people and get outside of my bubble. But I'm finding that I'm being prejudged just by virtue of my appearance alone.”

Spending time, spending money For first-generation and lowincome students, thinking about the cost of travel can greatly impact their overseas experience.

While Lin did face discrimination because of her race, she says feeling unsafe wasn’t the biggest issue she encountered in France. Instead, she struggled more with managing her budget throughout the course of the quarter. Her provided meal plan covered breakfast and dinner during the weekdays, but everything else was up to students.

“For most of those other meals, I would just eat toast or buy really cheap bread from the bakery, or things like that,” Lin says. “Whereas I would see a lot of my classmates go and eat at nicer places and go to fancy restaurants.”

Bilal also took affordability into account overseas. She’s spent a significant amount of her time at Northwestern abroad, traveling to countries like Panama and Vietnam. Before each trip, Bilal would not only plan out finances, but also consider the potential

impact of her identity as a Black woman in every new country.

Those hours of preparation helped Bilal feel better equipped in every new location she visited.

“I was never in fear,” Bilal says.

“I was also really excited, and I did my homework, I did research on the culture and all the political situations of the places I went.”

While for many, socializing can be central to studying abroad, Bilal found she couldn’t spend time with as many people as she wanted to — most of their plans involved spending money.

In Jordan, she saw some students fly to Germany to celebrate Oktoberfest, then head to Lebanon the next weekend.

“I found [myself] throughout my experience sometimes feeling sad, and sometimes just a little bit resentful,” Bilal says. “Some people... came from such a privileged background that they're like, ‘We're going to go to this expensive, chic club,’ and not thinking, ‘Hey, maybe some people can’t afford to spend all this money like that.’”

Toxicity in tradition

SESP fourth-years Ayana Davis and Gabriella Johansson were ecstatic when they found out they were both going to Granada, Spain fall of their junior year. The two were already good friends, and even though their Northwestern-affiliated program encouraged rooming with someone from a different school, they quickly decided to be roommates.

When visiting a different country, students often expect to experience a degree of “culture shock”: a period of adapting to the array of different traditions, trends and experiences. In some places, however, cultural mores with deeper roots hamper that adjustment.

Underseen overseas | FEATURES

In Spain, Columbus Day, known as “Fiesta Nacional de España,” includes a military parade in Madrid and smaller festivities throughout the country. On this day, Granada celebrated Columbus, known for his colonization, enslavement and brutal treatment of indigenous Americans.

For Johansson, who has Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, it was unbearable to watch. She left the city for the day.

When she returned that evening, Johnasson remembers feeling nervous when she asked her host mom about her day; she expected to hear about the festivities she missed. Her host mother said she’d done nothing; to her, too, it wasn’t a special day.

“I was like, ‘Oh, thank goodness, we'll be okay here,’” Johansson says.

Local citizens’ harmful turns of phrase also bothered the two. Corner stores, often run by East Asian immigrants, were casually referred

Spring 2020 | 41

to as “los chinos” — “the Chinese” — regardless of the owner's ethnicity.

One professor even used a slur during one of their classes, which Johansson reported to their program director.

“He was like, ‘I understand that it hurts you, but I'm not really gonna do anything to fix it,’” Johansson says. “[The professor] wrote an apology to the class and cried. But I didn't feel like I was leaving that program knowing that the things that I had talked to my professor about were not gonna happen again.”

There were struggles outside the classroom, too. Whenever she went out with friends, Davis sometimes felt afraid because of how she and other Black women were targeted by clubgoers because of their appearance.

“Going to the club could be like a nightmare,” Davis says. “We were preyed on because they could tell we were foreign. I just have so many memories of being very much surrounded by European men.”

While in Spain, Davis and Johnansson spent most of their time with a group of friends consisting mostly of POC and LGBTQ+ students.

One night, Johansson went out with a group of mostly white people to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The ease and comfort left her surprised.

“We had some tall men in our groups, so we were left alone,” Johnasson says. “We were approached before we even got in [to the club] to get free tickets to go in. It was just a less worrisome experience.”

The next stop

For Davis and Johansson, living together in Spain provided essential support.

“A lot of the stuff that happened to us could have been a lot worse if we didn't have someone to go and talk to about it when we came home,” Davis says. “Having [Johansson] as my roommate was amazing because I could come home and be like, ‘Guess what happened today?’ and she's like, ‘No way, something similar happened to me.’”

While Shabeeb and Alexander were in Germany, a program

42 | Spring 2020

director set up a debrief session to allow There needs to be a much students to more candid conversation share their about how study abroad has thoughts.

This led to struggled to really diversify conversations the students that they're about ways the program bringing to these countries. could be more - Nefertari Bilal inclusive in the Medill fourth-year future, like taking out the trip to Weimar, where Shabeeb says many students of color had negative experiences.

On an institutional level, Northwestern’s Global Learning Office (GLO) includes a section on their website titled “Identity Eventually, Abroad,” featuring resources I finished my study inside and outside the school. abroad application and Blogs and videos feature students chose a Northwesternof diverse backgrounds’ travel affiliated program in Vienna. The experiences, ranging from gender classes intrigued me and the city discrimination to accessibility. A itself looked beautiful. But even now, country-specific directory details I still find that anxiety reappearing. what students of different identities After all, part of the GLO’s may encounter. report on Austria reads: “Racism “Students of color may experience in Austria is at its highest level stares, people wanting to take pictures, [in] years according to a 2016 overly curious or what may be ZARA Racism Report. Incidents of perceived as inappropriate questions, everyday racism and hate speech or even blatantly racist statements,” directed towards minorities are reads one report on China. “Disturbing frequently reported.” as they are, such experiences should This, combined with an increase be considered in relation to the in anti-Chinese sentiment around considerable probability that any the globe, makes me afraid and offense was unintended.” unsure of how I might be treated It’s a depressing read, but the abroad. But at the end of the day, advice and warnings each report I don’t want my life to be limited provides can be crucial for ensuring by the prejudice of others. And the safety of marginalized students no matter what I may encounter, going abroad to countries they’re I might still gain something from otherwise unfamiliar with. the experience. To Shabeeb, the Even with these resources, challenges she faced in Germany however, Bilal says there’s room for made her more resilient. improvement to make study abroad a “It was very eye-opening,” more accessible and safe experience. Shabeeb says. “I got to see that “There needs to be a much xenophobia will follow me more candid conversation about everywhere, unfortunately, but I'm how study abroad has struggled able to handle it... the xenophobia to really diversify the students I experience here [in the United that they're bringing to these States] is the same ignorance. The countries,” Bilal says. “In both of more I've been able to encounter my programs, I learned that they it, the better I've been able to had just started a couple months manage and handle it mentally. ago even talking about race as part Which is kind of sad, but it is what of their [orientation] lectures.” it is.”

Risk of return | FEATURES

Risk of return While governments issue “safer at home” orders, for some students, home is no safe haven.

WRITTEN BY JENNA GREENZAID // DESIGNED AND ILLUSTRATED BY EMILY CERF

CONTENT WARNING: This story discusses experiences and topics relating to sexual assault and domestic abuse. hen Northwestern notified students they should plan to depart campus following winter’s final exams, Jane* knew she couldn’t go home.

Home for Jane is a small town. And earlier this year, she was sexually assaulted there. She says her community makes her attacker’s presence more noticeable; its size makes it more likely she could run into him.

But by the end of winter quarter, Jane had few alternatives. The reality of returning home to a place she dreaded loomed closer.

“It’s already a struggle being home doing classes because your family is there, and it might not be the most accommodating situation,” Jane says. “But when you add in the stress of anything similar to what I’m going through, it’s just a million times worse.”

She, along with over a dozen other girls, hoped to stay in her sorority house during what, at the time, was only an extended spring break. It was unclear how long the house would stay open — or if it would remain open at all. Jane says improper communciation from her sorority’s housing board made the process even more stressful.

Just a week before the girls had to leave campus, they got their answer: The house would be closed indefinitely.

As an alternative, Jane’s sorority gave them the option of staying with local Evanston families, but Jane was uncomfortable with the idea. Still, she knew she wouldn’t be able to complete any schoolwork in her hometown, so Jane reached out to the sorority’s housing board and asked if Northwestern would help her. They said no.

It was her last resort. She packed everything and braced herself for the return home.

W

The day she was moving out, she received an email from her housing board that the Title IX office was now involved, and they would help her find a place to stay. It didn’t specify any further details.

Hours later with no follow-up, Jane knew she couldn’t sit around to wait. She left campus, only to receive a response once she’d left.

“I spent spring break at home, and it was pretty awful,” Jane says.

“I was getting maybe three hours of sleep a night. I just couldn’t imagine doing school there.”

Jane sent hurried emails back and forth with the office to coordinate a plan for her return.

With a rule in place that prevented those who had already left campus from returning, Jane was afraid she wouldn’t be allowed back. Due to her circumstances, though, the school made an exception. She’d be allowed to stay in Engelhart Hall, an apartment complex for graduate students.

Affordability quickly became a concern. Fifty dollars a night, or $1,500 a month, gave her a kitchenette, a small bathroom and a bedroom. She turned her focus to applying for financial aid. Three different forms later, she still had to pay for the housing on her own.

But while Engelhart was overpriced, it was a refuge from the place where she had spent two weeks of sleepless nights. Jane accepted the housing and packed her things to make the journey back to Evanston.

The repercussions of a solution While Jane was able to find a place to stay in Evanston away from

44 | Spring 2020

the difficult situation home created for her, other students didn’t have the same option.

On April 30, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker re-issued multiple executive orders, including an extension of stayat-home restrictions until May 30.

In response, Northwestern sent almost all of its students home for the rest of the quarter. While stay-athome orders became the default, for some students returning home was more of a problem than a solution.

According to research collected by the National Domestic Hotline (usually referred to as The Hotline), from March 16 to May 17, in cases of physical or domestic abuse, some perpetrators have manipulated stayat-home orders to further control.

Some domestic violence survivors have told them abusers have used COVID-19 as a scare tactic to keep them away from their kids or prevent them from visiting family.

For Avery**, a respondent to NBN’s anonymous form, home poses threats to mental health and safety.

“I’m subject to the same emotional/psychological abuse I experienced growing up. Except this time, there’s no end date,” Avery writes. “Now, not only am I unexpectedly back here for an indefinite amount of time and with no resources to go back to Evanston, but I’m isolated in my house with abusive family members.”

In New York, a hotspot of the pandemic, calls to the state’s domestic violence hotline have risen by 30 percent this past April compared to April 2019. Other police departments throughout the country have also reported recent spikes in domestic violence calls.

In instances of physical, emotional or psychological abuse, stay-at-home limitations have placed a new burden on victims.

With usual places of escape — from school and work to mere visibility in public — eliminated, doors closed to shield against disease may also shield violence and abuse from outside eyes.

“Whereas in high school I’d spend a lot of time at the library or with friends, due to the pandemic, my connections to the outside world are limited to digital interactions,” Avery writes.

Dr. Stewart Shankman, the chief of psychology at Northwestern Medicine, says that avoidance of

harmful situations may be adaptive.

If someone has nowhere to evade trauma, staying in one’s room or hiding in a certain area may become new forms of escape. Of course, Shankman says, avoidance sometimes isn’t possible.

Despite expected increases in abuse during these times, earlier in the pandemic, The Hotline didn’t report an increase in contact. Closer proximity to abusers, they say, have made it more dangerous to reach out for help.

As stay-at-home orders are being lifted in some areas, the National Domestic Hotline is beginning to see a small increase in contact volume. In recent weeks, their contact averages have increased by 12 percent, though they anticipate an even greater spike as more orders are lifted.

The burden of decision-making For some, deciding where to go during stay-at-home orders involves settling for the lesser of two evils. According to Shankman, it can be extremely stressful or even psychologically damaging to live in a context without acceptance or that has a history of abuse or trauma.

“If you quarantine with people who you have traumatic history with, that might be worse than being alone,” Shankman says. “On the other hand, being alone you’re socially isolated, so it’s going to force people to have to weigh the pros and cons.”

Jane had to choose between paying $1,500 a month for an apartment or being in a community that is a source of trauma, a decision that included both financial and psychological factors.

While Jane says it was the best option for her, living in Engelhart has also brought new and unanticipated obstacles.

“I live completely alone. I don’t talk to anyone. I’m inside most of the time. My room’s pretty small. So there are new challenges,” Jane says.

“But I feel a lot more isolated than I would if I was with my family.”

Alex**, another respondent to NBN’s anonymous form, knew that living at home for a long period of time would be harmful for their mental health, but couldn’t express that to their family. In the end, they had to make the decision to not go back home.

“It was difficult for [my family] to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be going to visit for spring break out of fear of not being able to return to Evanston,” Alex writes.

Alex’s apprehension reflects the larger uncertainties that surround COVID-19. No one knows how to combat it, when it will end, or what it means for the future of human interaction.

“We know that uncertainty is the biggest inducer of stress and anxiety, and this pandemic is filled with uncertainty,” Shankman says. “And that uncertainty just exacerbates any stressful contexts that we already happen to be in.”

In a new context After adjusting to the often stressful school environment, Northwestern’s student body suddenly had to pack up and leave.

For many, the added requirement of schoolwork in what may be an unsafe or difficult environment hasn’t abated this anxiety; some students have felt they must prioritize family over academics.

One respondent to NBN’s anonymous form wrote that they have to care for their two much younger half brothers and navigate a difficult relationship with their stepmother and father.

Communication second-year Julianna Lee says her home life was chaotic up until a few months ago.

She lived in a three-bedroom house with five other people: her dad, her stepmom, her sister and her two stepbrothers. Sharing a queensized bed with her sister limited personal space and added another layer of interpersonal tension.

Lee says that before this past summer, she and her stepmom were not able to speak to each other without a verbal fight breaking out, which she partly blames on a lack of communication. While her relationship with her stepmom isn’t toxic, there was potential for re-escalation.

In early April, Lee and her younger sister moved from Nashville, Tenn. to Dayton, Ohio to live with her stepmom and dad while her stepbrothers stayed in Tennessee. She says things are much better now, especially because her relationship with her stepmom has improved and she

no longer has to share a room with her sister.

“I was slightly nervous though, when corona[virus] happened,” Lee says. “I was like, ‘What if it reverts back to the explosiveness?’ But luckily, it hasn’t.”

However, others remain in strained relationships with family members or places of residence that aren’t big enough. Some students who indicated difficulty at home in NBN’s anonymous form cited family issues as a major contributor, which they would have to deal with without much outside support.

Shifting support Beyond leaving a safe and comfortable place, students returning home have also lost the inperson support of their Northwestern community, including peers, educators and campus services.

Just as Northwestern’s educational model adapted for spring quarter, so, too, did its student services.

Senior Associate Dean of Students Mona Dugo, who oversees Student Assistance and Support Services (SASS), says her office had about 48 hours to figure out what going remote would mean for them. She says she’s proud of how quickly SASS adapted and leveraged technology, including shifting to Zoom meetings and implementing “language lines” in order to interpret for nonEnglish-speaking parents whose children remained on campus.

Since the beginning of spring quarter, SASS has worked with 215 individual students (169 of them undergraduates) to assist them with adapting to situational changes.

“We’re talking to a lot of students who, as they’ve gone home, have resumed a lot of responsibility in their houses,” Dugo says. “[When] you come to college, you get to be a college student and focus on yourself. But if you’re particularly a [first-generation], low-income student, and you typically had a lot of responsibility in the home. Going back to the home means that those responsibilities are there again.”

SASS consists of a team of four (including Dugo) plus additional administrative support. Since they tend to work with the students who have the highest need levels, Dugo says her focus at Northwestern

Risk of return | FEATURES

“I’m subject to the same emotional/ psychological abuse I experienced growing up, except this time, there’s no end date.”

- Avery**

“The care and support of our community has been really sustaining.”

- Mona Dugo is often on the students who experience systematic barriers to success — often lacking resources and support systems other students may have.

“I think one of the things that this pandemic is doing is it’s showing some great cracks that we as a world have in terms of global inequality,” Dugo says. “What we’re seeing is really showing up in some of our more vulnerable students: some of our highest-need students financially, or if it’s not finances, it’s more complicated.”

During the pandemic, however, SASS has also responded to more rapid changes.

“In the past two weeks, we’ve heard from about 10 students who

46 | Spring 2020

are facing homelessness due to COVID-19 because their families have lost enough income that they’re facing eviction,” Dugo says.

“And that’s not usually typical for us, to have families experiencing homelessness so rapidly.”

For students who are facing homelessness, SASS offered ways to come back to campus and provide them with basic necessities such as housing and food. Still, there are some problems where SASS’s support is more limited. If a student has to care for their younger siblings, for example, SASS may discuss realistic course loads with them but is unable to do much else.

Dugo says when it comes to a student who may be re-triggered by being placed back in a toxic environment, SASS is severly limited.

Shankman says that many support systems, including mental health counselors and support groups, have shifted to alternative methods such as telehealth opportunities and Zoom meetings.

“It’s better than nothing,” Shankman says. “The studies showing the effect of telehealth versus in-person therapy [show] the effects are pretty comparable. So talking with a counselor over Zoom is as effective as sitting in the room with them face-to-face.”

When students were on campus, SASS had the ability to intervene and help in a more direct way. In the past, if a student was experiencing distress and lived in a residential hall, a member of SASS could ask a residential director to personally check in on them. Now, Dugo says, being remote diminishes that effectiveness. Still, SASS continues to persist with the resources they have.

“I think one of the things that heartens me right now is every conversation I start with anybody right now — with students, with staff, with faculty — I kind of feel this sense of ‘We are Northwestern strong,’ and that’s been helpful to me,” Dugo says.

Other support services, like the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), are also continuing to work toward keeping students safe. On April 22, Marc Smith, the acting director of the Illinois DCFS, sent an email to Illinois educators to address the dramatic decrease of hotline calls since the closure of schools in

March. In it, he asked educators to continue checking on students and reporting as necessary, noting that educators “report abuse and neglect more than any other group of mandated reporters.”

At Northwestern, Dugo says professors and academic advisors have continued to do their part in supporting students during distance learning and remain in constant conversation with SASS. “The level of concern and care that I’m getting from faculty members all over the place when they have students they’re worried about is extraordinary,” Dugo says. “The care and support of our community has been really sustaining.”

Dugo says that SASS — and Northwestern as a whole — will continue to support students during this time while looking at how to improve student experiences until remote learning comes to an end.

To her, with the problems students are currently facing, typical issues at Northwestern hardly compare.

“There’s this buzzword around resiliency, and I think I see it a lot,” Dugo says. “I talk to students, and I see what they’re enduring during this time, and they’re still showing up to class. It kind of amazes me. I think that our students are demonstrating a lot of character right now in what they’re dealing with. And you can’t really measure that.”

It remains uncertain whether in-person instruction will return in the fall. Despite the uncertainties, however, Dugo and Shankman are both hopeful.

“Even though there is uncertainty regarding when this will end, it will end at some point. There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Shankman says. “We’re not sure when that’s going to be, but there will be an end, and I think it’s important for people to remember.”

If you or someone you know is in need of support, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800422-4453 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. * Names have been changed to preserve anonymity. ** NBN created an anonymous form for students to discuss their home lives. Avery and Alex were two of those respondents.

“H

Headline | SECTION NAME (only if story is multipage)

What’s going to happen to me?

What should I do?

I’m being used.

Out of

service

i, how’re you doing?”

Mack Chapman smiles and waves at a student entering the doors of Chapin Hall. It’s 2 a.m., and as usual, he is at the security guard’s desk in the small lobby of the dorm.

Having started his shift a few hours ago, he’s seated in a black swivel chair, which the Chapin residents have affectionately deemed “Mack’s Chair.”

It is where he’ll remain for most of the night. Chapman is not a small man, and he fills both his seat and the lobby with his easygoing presence.

It’s Chapman’s habit to ask anyone who walks into Chapin how they are, and frequently there’s someone standing in the lobby chatting with him about their day. He knows the names of nearly all of Chapin’s 62 residents and is Facebook friends with those who use the platform.

That way, he can message them with well wishes on their birthdays and tell everyone to stay safe over BY breaks.

PHOTOS

BY PHOTOGRAPHER // ILLUSTRATIONS ARTIST Some of his favorite memories of Chapin include attending shows and political rallies to support the residents.

“I began to vibe with Chapin, and Chapin began to vibe with me,” Chapman says. “I don’t know, it was just a match made in heaven ... It was kind of hard to describe: [Chapin] became like family to me, like my second family or something.”

By the end of March, however, there were signs that Chapman would not be able to remain as Chapin’s security guard for long. The number of residents in Chapin dwindled as the campus began to shut down due to the coronavirus; even the campus Burger King (known for its long hours) was beginning to close early.

Chapman and his coworkers foresaw that it was only a matter of time until their services would no longer be needed.

But as circumstances kept changing, they weren’t sure which day would be their last.

After the pandemic struck, campus workers have struggled to remain financially whole.

WRITTEN BY TARA WU // DESIGNED BY STEPHANIE ZHU

FALL 2019

| 13

Spring 2020 | 47

On April 12, that date finally arrived. After working at Northwestern for 10 years, Chapman was laid off.

community President Schapiro areas, from security to housekeeping. expressed that the University The definition of “financially administration believes “we have whole” also remains ambiguous. an obligation to help vulnerable Thus far, the University has “They don’t treat us with members of our academic extended these benefits to dining community and our larger workers through June 30. As of respect” community,” referring in part to mid-April, the University also Chapman is one of hundreds of Northwestern’s dining workers. began to provide the approximately Dek font (Assistant: light, 14 pt) Northwestern service workers who This email reinforced a 35 dining workers still employed have lost their jobs since the start commitment made in a March on campus with premium pay: a WRITTEN BY AUTHOR of the pandemic. Service workers 30 University statement entitled few dollars more per hour than make up the majority of the staff “Supporting Dining Workers.” The the normal rate. According to e do a drop cap like this in our first paragraph. The drop cap that help the campus function email stated that Northwestern had Yates, when combined with state should be in Noto Serif KR Medium and should not have an in a non-academic context, partnered with Compass Group unemployment benefits and funding indent. Drop cap size is 3. including dining, housekeeping, (the dining workers’ employer) to from the federal coronavirus relief maintenance and security. use the federal relief package to bill, the compensation will more Most of these workers are not ensure that all hourly food service than equal what most Compass

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Tiliquo id qui res et es destem presero culpa voluptae minveri vit quatem am verferum quod estimates to be about $90 year in June,” Craig Johnson, checks or other compensation doluptatem dolupitatios re bernam aliquame ipsusaped quis et fugit que de a perum nusdam million for the 2020 fiscal year. Senior Vice President for Business methods. As of May 18, UNITE volorem porepel estotat uritatur dolorem possit auda dus, a iliquat rate es dolorio nectur re nonsedi Additionally, on May 11, an email and Finance, wrote in the email. HERE Local 1 and the workers it aut omnist, cusdaepudam, imus iumquia doluptatia quas expla re nitatiaectum labori odis from University President Morton Problems have arisen, however, represents say they have yet to see as es nossi to illest, cuptaquis dolorum re nestrum quis eum est et molenis simporum velis Schapiro announced that the from what these emails left unsaid. this gap closed for some workers. ipic toribus am sedit ent enis aut quia con res quident lam, et maxim enis alibere mporum University decided to furlough 249 While University spokesman Jon Most dining workers were laid conecab orroresto modiant etur ad que enda dersperspero tem ex veni omnihic tet, nusandus off in mid-March; months sume voluptat doles dolutet que eos ex eate cus ad quam quunt lit di nos es ent officiu rehendis have elapsed since their last dolesse niae aut maio volupta lam reperspis eum la nonserspisit aut rem dolestiur sunt ut int. paycheck. For many workers, comnissunt, ommoluptas a maximagnit, si optate repellore Temod mod maionserum unemployment checks have been non corem ut ipsant lamus. cum ex explam quos solorep renihil icimperrore, sectota slow to arrive or have yet to arrive Nus, voluptus erum eni adis tatemqui alis alit a dellenda tionsequam nim es molorro at all. Others do not even qualify enditio cum invelib ustiis quod inimust undanditate ipitatur? repratur resto omnit et, quis aut for unemployment benefits. quo es accatur mi, coris nossed Ugiatum quam volum fuga. Ut ipsum voloraepel in reriant, int UNITE HERE Local 1 lead quae mo que occum quiam et ium sanda is excest officium et dolorerovid modis dendita research analyst Noah Carsonadipitas pa suntia que volorio. lant utem ut alit que volo tempore struptatium volupta Nelson says dining workers earned Ferspel et idem et atempor dolore quideribea consequis tiosapi tatures explabo. Sed about $15.64 per hour on average.

–Elijah fourth-year erciis autBeal, dem.SESP Et litam quo aliquia consequas exeror aut esti ut fugiatem natio eos arunt “If you’re not living paycheck commodit, idenimi ncitate a volupta erfereh enemporest, lam, sit omnima nobistem to paycheck, you’re living debistet doluptatem rem ipidund et laut veliquid et verum faces restius dem voluptaspis voloris pretty close to it,” Carsonelique quatur?Ture percilit qui eriandeles es es magniet vit pa essitae modipsamus autatus se Nelson says. “Workers can’t to maior sum eos moluptas dolor alibus, quatiiscia nos corae dolupta quae. Ut inture aliae. afford to stay home and follow nestrum ipsam accum aspic tem res et preium, aut fugia dio et Et estemporatia nobitat liquam staff members who are unable to Yates wrote that the University is orders without being able to pay solut quae dolore num harci qui tecaborro et re, quaturem el ius, qui volor alibus re venis “substantially perform their duties working on a case-by-case basis to rent, feed families and all the as doluptatem quo maio ea facessi millab il et doluptiurest ut volorrum quidi coria nis remotely or who support areas with minimize the impact for contracted things that come with an income.” aut peria non pra voluptature, hiliquam nulparum eos que alibusda conseque id explati cum significantly reduced workloads workers from different vendors, Valentina Espinosa, a former odipiet, cus adi cuptam quatem comnia dolenis dolestem. Ut in the wake of the pandemic.” Northwestern’s public statements housekeeper at Kellogg School volor moluptam volorpore dit pa fugitaturi temperf ereperum Despite fiscal pressures, in an have only explicitly mentioned of Management’s James L. Allen posa vere voluptatibus doloria voluptaspel ipis et parchilliqui te April 16 email to the Northwestern dining workers, excluding other Center, was laid off on March 20.

Hed (Roboto: Black)

Headlines are capitalized like this

W

“These people are on the front lines keeping this campus safe and clean, and feeding people at work, but then they struggle to feed their own families.”

48 2020 12 || Spring DESIGNED

BY DESIGNER

Out of service Headline | SECTION NAME (only if story is| FEATURES multipage) As a union shop steward — elected by fellow workers to represent them in dealings with management — Espinosa says she’s received calls from coworkers saying they haven’t received unemployment benefits.

“For now, it’s very simple for [the University and Compass Group]. They say ‘Oh, you are making money from the unemployment benefits, and it’s not true because some of us are not making money,” Espinosa says.

Compass Group Director of Marketing Georgene Sardis says Compass Group has been working with workers whose unemployment applications were declined, and they have been aware of statewide delays. She also says Compass Group provided a grocery box of at least two weeks’ worth of groceries to each Compass Group worker laid off and established a grocery relief program that lasts through spring quarter.

Espinosa says she’s dissatisfied with how communication with Compass Group and the University has been.

Carson-Nelson says the union did not receive any communication about the University’s commitments other than public statements. And while Compass Group has been in talks with the union about how to compensate workers, weeks have passed without the gap in income bridged.

“I feel really happy with my students … I feel very happy to serve them,” Espinosa says.

“But I don’t feel happy with the company; I don’t feel happy with the University because all the time they look [at] us like we are nothing. They don’t treat us with respect. They [are] just using us.”

A national struggle

Service workers’ plight at Northwestern reflects some issues plaguing the country

since the pandemic’s onset. gonna happen in my future.”

The sudden influx of unemployment insurance claims Standing up have swamped state offices, delaying unemployment checks in numerous states. Industries such Incensed after hearing about as food services are among those Chapman’s furlough, Chapin residents hit hardest by the pandemic. came together to advocate for his In April, the U.S. unemployment rehiring in the fall. The student rate hit 14.7 percent, the highest executive board put together level since the Great Depression. A an email campaign directed at report from the Bureau of Labor University administrators, calling Statistics revealed that by race Chapman a “dear friend” and urging and ethnicity, Blacks and Hispanic for a commitment to rehire him and Americans saw the highest percent other furloughed service workers. unemployment rates. According Every year, the board emails to Carson-Nelson, 36 percent of the administration to ask for Compass Group workers identify Chapman’s continued stay. Their as black, while 45 percent of most recent email emphasized workers identify as Latino. Chapman’s constant friendly “I think it’s clear that people who presence, which made Chapin “like are already at higher risk for poverty home” to many residents. He handand sickness are being affected by wrote and photocopied a playlist this pandemic disproportionately, naming more than 40 of his favorite PHOTOS BY PHOTOGRAPHER // ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTIST particularly in Chicago and the songs, entitled “Mack’s Music surrounding area,” Carson-Nelson Selection,” to give residents. When says. “Given the demographics of the pandemic gained traction in the Compass Northwestern workers, Illinois, he reminded residents to be we have to pay special attention careful, showing them the yellow to those in our community who utility gloves he’d been wearing. need the most help right now.” “Mack is just part of Chapin,” Espinosa started receiving says Chapin President first-year compensation from her state Kendall Clark. “He’s a part of our unemployment office on April family. Regardless of what [the 8, about two and a half weeks executive board] had to say, people after she was laid off. While it’s were gonna advocate for him.” enough for her and her daughter While other Northwestern to get by, she is unable to send service workers may not have as much money as she used to such a personal community to her relatives in Colombia, of student support, they’re who are in a similar situation: backed by a similarly dedicated out of work and stuck at home. organization: Students Organizing “The unemployment office for Labor Rights (SOLR). [says] until July 25 we have extra On March 13, just two days money,” Espinosa says. “But after after the University announced it that, I don’t know [what’s] going would hold at least part of spring to happen with me. I don’t know quarter remotely, SOLR started if the unemployment benefits an emergency fund for service [are] going to support me until workers. Since then, the fund has next year because I don’t have amassed over $20,000. They’ve sent a lot. So probably, [I’m] going four rounds of profit distributions to spend all my money now, in to workers who have indicated this time, because I need to [pay] need and are planning to continue my lease. So I don’t know what’s fundraising and distributing.

Spring FALL2020 2019 || 49 13

SOLR also partnered with UNITE HERE Local 1 to hold virtual rallies on Facebook Live and call-ins to University administrators to raise awareness of workers’ situations and demand that the University provide workers with compensation.

“The biggest thing ... that got me to get seriously involved [in SOLR] this year was the irony of this whole situation,” SESP fourth-year Elijah Beal says. “Not just the pandemic, but just overall Northwestern’s treatment of workers. These people are on the front lines keeping this campus safe and clean and feeding people at work, but then they struggle to feed their own families.”

SOLR has also used social media to raise awareness about workers’ situations. An April 29 Instagram post calling on students to tag Northwestern and urge the University to do right garnered more than 400 comments and over 800 likes — 650 more than their previous most-liked post.

“More and more people are sharing our content on social media. More and more people are participating in our fundraisers.

So I feel really good right now about the momentum that we’re building,” Beal says. “It’s just a matter of ‘Can we get these people to continue working with us, and can we get enough students to put a significant amount of pressure on the administration?’ … I’m still worried, but I’m very optimistic that we will garner enough support to make some serious changes.”

Carson-Nelson of UNITE HERE Local 1 emphasizes student involvement as a critical source of support: “I think it’s really important that students get involved with this ... we can’t win progress for service workers without student allies and student support.”

In addition to students, faculty have

50 | Spring 2020

also been working to promote the welfare of Northwestern’s service workers. On April 18, African American Studies and History Professor Martha Biondi penned an open letter to the University with support from almost 90 faculty members. Biondi wrote in an email that in the letter, she asked the administration “to make good on their pledge to make all food service workers ‘whole’ through the end of Spring Quarter.”

Lois Hedman, the president of Northwestern’s Faculty Senate, says she is “continuing to engage with the administration” about service workers’ compensation.

“I believe that the faculty who wrote the letter were heartened to hear that Northwestern seeks to take care of its employees during this difficult time,” Hedman says.

“However, these faculty’s current concern is whether continuation of benefits and comparable compensation actually happened ... The faculty strongly feel that all food service workers, not just most of them, deserve full pay and benefits for spring quarter.”

But what will happen after the end of spring quarter — and after July 25, the current date that the federal coronavirus relief bill ends for Illinois’ unemployed workers — remains uncertain.

Espinosa says even if she can return to work at some point, she fears business will be close to nonexistent. The Allen Center, where she worked as a housekeeper, typically hosts many guests who are visiting from other countries.

But right now, the United States has one of the most severe COVID-19 situations worldwide.

Even if she were to go back to work, Espinosa worries about whether Compass Group would offer her and other workers proper protection.

“The last day that I work, we don’t have mask to [wear],” Espinosa

says. “Around two or three days before [I] finish my job, we don’t have mask, we don’t have hand sanitizer, we don’t have protective gloves for cleaning. So we are put in risk when [we] are going back.”

Chapman, too, was concerned about his safety during his last few weeks of work at Northwestern.

“I’m an essential worker, I guess, but here I am transporting myself to work via public transit and everybody else is gone,” Chapman says. “That, and watching the news reports and everything, was just frightening. Every time I went out, I was scared; I was just nervous. I had my mask on, I had my gloves on and everything, hand sanitizer and alcohol. But it’s just the thought that that virus could be anywhere, and that in and of itself is scary.”

Chapman’s employer, Allied Universal, was able to find him a job at another site: the Jewel-Osco main warehouse distribution and shipping center in Melrose Park, IL. The warehouse, immense and mechanical, seems worlds away from the cozy lobby of Chapin.

Oversized trucks come in and out, day and night, their flow second only to the hundreds of people crossing in and out of the complex. He’s been working there for several weeks, but it’s a temporary gig until his employer finds him another position in June.

Chapman is optimistic that a semblance of normalcy will return by fall. Once restrictions are lifted, he wants to travel, head back to New York City or Miami. A selfproclaimed Marvel fan, he also plans to watch “Black Widow” in theaters.

He hopes that by September, he can return to his seat at the security desk in Chapin’s lobby.

“Hopefully, if things get back to normal and classes resume and things like that, whenever that may be, hopefully we’ll be able to get back to normal,” Chapman says.

“And I’ll be able to come back.”

Color coding | PHOTO STORY

FOR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS, EXPRESSIVE HAIRSTYLES ARE MORE THAN JUST A TRIM. WRITTEN BY NIKITA AMIR // DESIGNED BY ANDREW KWA

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n a 1996 essay, seminal queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz wrote: “Queerness is often transmitted covertly.” In the ‘70s, gay men used colored bandanas in their back pockets to represent a particular sexual position or fetish. Today, lesbian haircuts and bisexual bobs fill the streets.

Historically, queer people have lived in secrecy and innuedos, with maybe a glance or touch here and there. Queer and trans folx have developed signals out of necessity; just like creating physical spaces for the community to gather, aesthetic choices in hair, fashion and jewelry serve as subtler acknowledgements of one another.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JESS COLLINS

But what makes a certain hairstyle queer? What is it about bleached hair or undercuts that can scream “gay”?

Perhaps it’s the word queer itself.

Queer ways of being have always subverted the norm. If normal is black or brown or blonde hair, then queer is blue or green or pink.

While these are more easily recognizable choices in certain contexts, queerness by nature takes on fluid forms. As Northwestern students’ stories illustrate, the pull and push between queer choices and hair choices is one of creative tension — both exploratory and productive.

Spring 2020 | 51

Molly Glick* stood in front of the mirror with a small pair of scissors meant for her eyebrows. She thought to herself, ‘This is extremely lowstakes. What would happen if I just cut off this piece of hair?’

The rush felt so good that she kept going for an hour.

Trading in her DevaCurl haircuts for a quick DIY bathroom fix was

PHOTO COURTESY OF RORY TSAPAYI

Winter quarter of his first year of high school, Rory Tsapayi decided to take the plunge and join legions of gay men with bleached-blonde

52 | Spring 2020

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOLLY GLICK

more rewarding than expected.

Glick’s brown ringlets rest just below her shoulders now, a drastic change from the long hair she had in high school, where she says she tried desperately to blend in. Now, she prefers a little bit of androgyny.

“Sometimes getting a haircut is kind of manifesting your ideal version of yourself. You’re seeing

it out in the world. And I definitely do think that seeing my hair dramatically shorter did confirm inner feelings,” Glick says. “I think I had already confirmed my [sexual] identity before then, but it helped me take a step forward.”

hair. He originally set out to dye a patch of his hair blond and put it into cornrows. A few glasses of wine later, he decided to bleach it all.

“I really loved it at the time,” Tsapayi says. “I feel like that one was more along the lines of, when the gays get a little manic and depressed, they bleach their hair. In reflection, I hate looking at photos of that time.”

Still, Tsapayi decided to give the bleach-blonde boy experience another shot this fall quarter.

He cut his hair short and got a bleached fade.

“I felt really good about it. When it started growing out, it had this

early 2000s frosted tips vibe going on,” he says. “That felt like a growth moment for me.”

For Tsapayi, aesthetic choices were also a way to reckon with his sexuality. He echoed the notion of “compulsory heterosexuality” Adrienne Rich theorized in 1980, where heterosexuality is assumed and adopted regardless of any other desires.

“I think I was just mixing up my look quite a lot at that time,” Tsapayi says. “Which is probably tied to me realizing aspects of my identity or feeling very comfortable to lean into different aspects of my identity.”

* Glick is a former contributor to North by Northwestern.

But changing his hair wasn’t as simple as walking down to CVS with half of his hair covered in bleach. To find a barber who would cater to his Black hair ­— which often requires products that aren’t available in areas without a sizable Black population — Tsapayi had to walk 25 minutes to Dodge Avenue. He always leaves the bleach in longer than necessary to avoid having it come out “a

Shanida Younvanich loves her Nintendo Switch. So much so, that one day she took two medium-length sections of her black hair and dyed one a light blue tinged with silver and the other a pale green to match the colors of her game controllers.

“In an ideal world, I would have liked to bleach my whole head and dye it pink. I think it expresses me pretty well,” says Younvanich.

Though she struggles to explain why exactly pink is the color for her, she says it brings out how she feels inside. For Younavich, it is a way of dealing with an internal reckoning.

weird shade of beige.” These extra considerations may play a role in the perception of queer aesthetics.

“I would say that if I ever see a Black guy with bleach-blond hair, I’m 99 percent sure that he’s gay. Versus if I saw a white man with bleach-blond hair, I’d probably assume, but I would have less certainty,” adds Tsapayi.

Still, queer signals are by no means universal. Tsapayi finds it hard to

Younvanich is a hardcore “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” fan. But for her, it’s more than a good way to kill a few hours a day. Unlike older versions of the game, in “New Horizons” avatars have no enforced female-specific hairstyle or clothing.

As she’s been questioning her own gender identity, Younvanich has found her “Animal Crossing” character to be a way to explore these questions.

“You can present as any way you want to, which I think is really nice,” Younvanich says. “I guess it’s kind of symbolic.”

Color coding | PHOTO STORY

think about his hair in a queer context when he is home in Zimbabwe, since the country’s cultural climate is more homophobic. There, the historic covertness of queer signaling becomes more apparent to him.

“I don’t even know if, say, I had peach hair, people would even read that as gay,” Tsapayi says.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANIDA YOUNVANICH

Younvanich also explains that these coded signals depend on context. In her classes, it serves as a talking point that avoids the awkwardness of flat-out asking about someone’s sexuality. When it comes to her family, though, her dual-toned hair isn’t recognized as a symbol of queerness.

“They’re a traditional Asian family. They’re not going to see my hair like that — like, ‘Oh, she did that because she’s gay and she loves Animal Crossing,’” she says.

Spring 2020 | 53

Ever since she was four, Sophia Simon’s mom would drag her to the salon every two weeks to turn her kinky curls into straight, “nice hair.”

For Simon’s family, “nice hair” was tied to femininity; the pressure to look a certain way brought years of heat damage and resentment. By the time she started high school, Simon’s hair was breaking all the time. It wasn’t until Simon began to untangle herself from those expectations that she stopped worrying about what she did with her hair and how it was perceived. She finally decided to take control, growing out her natural hair into an afro throughout the rest of high school.

“Having more agency over [growing my hair] made me feel like I had agency in other parts of my life,” Simon says.

By December 2018, Simon had cut her hair into a shorter afro, yet she still felt she had too much hair.

54 | Spring 2020

By January, she shaved her head and started to dye her hair. She’s been bleached-blonde, bright red, purple and even rose gold. Simon says that red was a clear favorite.

“It was the brightest my hair has ever been. It was like a fire red! It felt fitting to my personality. And I feel like it made me kind of stand out in a way, whereas before, I think my hair was just always so boring,” Simon says.

Simon’s newfound love of experimenting with hair is about more than just standing out. It’s about rejecting people’s perceptions of her, from her mother’s thoughts on femininity to others’ on her sexuality. Contradictorily, as Simon has grown more comfortable with her sexuality, her hair has become both more and less important to her.

“I’ve started caring less about my physical appearance and how it’s perceived by other people. I think my hair has also been a way

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIA SIMON

for me to define myself,” Simon explains. “I think the development of my sexuality also paralleled me shaving and dyeing [my hair].”

While she doesn’t think that hair is necessarily representative of homosexuality, Simon does believe it’s one of many physical ways of expressing sexuality.

“My hair has been a statement of my uniqueness in a way. And I think queerness is uniqueness,” Simon says.

Seeing her hair as a true expression of herself, rather than a way to conform to expectations of traditional views on Black aesthetics, has given Simon the power to accept her hair as it is.

“Just realizing that at whatever stage, my hair is beautiful — whether it’s a full afro, whether it’s like a little baby afro, whether I have no hair at all — it’s made me appreciate what my hair looks like in all of its stages,” she says.

Pictured on page 51 Jess Collins can’t remember whether the street festival she attended the summer after her second year at Northwestern was in Wicker Park or West Logan. She does, however, remember the barber advertising free haircuts. Drunk and in need of a trim, Collins didn’t exactly give the barber any clear instructions. And so she walked out with a pixie cut reminiscent of soccer star (and gay icon) Megan Rapinoe.

Like many other queer people, Collins’ hair became a statement.

Sitting outside his family home in North Carolina, Amos Pomp drags his fingers through his increasingly shaggy brown hair.

In the light, you can see its purple tinge. Pomp holds a strong belief that gay men bleaching their hair is stupid.

This one was much more revelatory than she first expected.

“My first girlfriend thought I was queer because of my haircut. And I had no concept of that myself,” Collins says. “And so I think it almost told other people something I hadn’t realised myself, which was quite funny.”

She returned to the same barbershop later because their website advertised a cheap deal on a color and trim job. It wasn’t until after she asked her barber if he was going to color her hair that he informed her that the deal was only for beards.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMOS POMP

“Zac Efron dyed his hair silver or whatever,” he says. “All the ‘Instagays’ look like that. They look exactly the same. And anyway, Zac Efron is not gay.”

Pomp’s opposition is centered on the co-opting of queer aesthetics, as he says these styles

Color coding | PHOTO STORY

Collins, who has since graduated and moved to London, tends to go to men’s barbers because it makes more sense for her short crop. But this experience isn’t always the most straightforward. Her new 70-yearold Greek barber gives her a very typical “bro haircut”: closely shaved sides and long on top.

Despite this, she’s sometimes charged a more expensive women’s haircut price for the same style that most other men receive.

“It’s interesting to me. I wish there was a barber for women or non-binary people,” Collins says.

are becoming more mainstream.

As nose rings, cuffed jeans and bad-at-math jokes sprout like weeds across the internet, there seems to be growing frustration with distinguishing between queer folx and Kristen Stewart fans.

“One dangly earring worn by a dude ... radio people at Northwestern do that. It doesn’t mean queerness anymore,” Pomp says. “Signaling to me is like, ‘Oh, I’m coding my behaviour so that you might think that I’m queer.’ But if everyone knows that bleaching your hair means you’re gay, then does it mean anything anymore?”

This is often done under the guise of normalizing queer ways of being, but can set a dangerous precedent. Growing popularity means traditonal queer ways of being aren’t as radical as they once were. But these practices are more than just aesthetic choices: they have been a means of protection and survival.

“For as long as there are people who are scared to come out, for as long as there are people who face immediate punishment from friends, family or the legal system for coming out — as long as those folks still exist, then there needs to be some sort of marking of difference, signaling and secrecy that they can tap into if they’re not comfortable going mainstream,” Pomp says.

Spring 2020 | 55

hangover 57

Board in the house

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Reopening the yearbook

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Shaken, not stir crazy

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What's your corona persona?

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The Chloe Ting effect

Ethan Shanfeld

Andrew Kwa

Gia Yetikyel

Emma Kumer

Christine Potermin

PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAKKE OVERLUND

Board in the house | HANGOVER

Board in the house

Spicing up family game night — NBN style.

WRITTEN BY ETHAN SHANFELD // DESIGNED BY ALISA GAO

amily game night is like eating raw cookie dough — it sounds like fun, but you’ll probably regret it later.

Your dad insists you read the directions front to back, your mom is entirely uninterested and your brother is way, way too amped to win. Still, competition can also be a fun and exciting way to strengthen your family’s bond. Since game night is unpredictable, here’s an informative guide to help you navigate your options, each complete with a “suggested rule” to ease the pain.

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Wii Sports

Scattergories

While Scattergories sounds like harmless family fun, you may find yourself in a heated debate over whether “Adam and Eve” qualify as “Fictional Characters” or if “Nipples” counts for “Things That Bounce.” (After all, is it the nipples or the breasts… or both?) Ultimately, if you can deal with the occasional argument, Scattergories is fun for the whole family and has no time commitment — you can call it after one list or go on for hours. Plus, you don’t even really need the game to play — all you need is a pen, paper, iPhone timer and the lists, which are all available online.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time you refuse to struggle through the letter X or Q.

Codenames

Codenames is perfect for big families, but you can also play with a meager group of four. Break up into two teams and race to uncover your team’s agents first while avoiding the “assassin” card. Winning is all about understanding your audience, so Codenames is perfect for discovering you know nothing about the people who raised you since birth.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time you foolishly trust another family member.

Dust off that old white brick, replace the batteries in your sticky controllers and fire up Wii Sports.

Whether it’s boxing, bowling or tennis, everyone can play and creating Mii characters for the whole family will keep it personal. If you’re itching to get active (but not too active), rally the family for some living room Olympics. Overall, Wii Sports can help you burn some calories without burning any bridges, unless you’re one of those cheaters who sits on the couch and lazily flicks their wrist. You might even convince yourself you’re good at real bowling after scoring a few virtual strikes.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time your mom insists you wear the wrist strap.

Anomia

Have you ever wanted to feel utterly hopeless and incapacitated? Try Anomia, the game that will make you unable to name a four-letter word. It’s a chaotic free-for-all named after a disorder that causes people to forget the names of everyday objects. Each player flips over a card adorned with a symbol and a category — be it a musician, boy’s name or (if you’re playing the X-rated version) porn star. If the symbols on two players’ cards match up, they race to name an item that belongs to the opponent’s category. Prepare to yell, slam your fist on the table and feel like you have a memory disorder.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time someone screams helplessly.

Catan

The most strategic game on this list, Catan is just as nerdy as it looks. With limited rules on ingame resource trading and plenty of opportunities to ruthlessly screw over your younger sister, the sky’s the limit on just how intense Catan can get.

When the family gets bored of the board, invest in a Seafarers or Cities & Knights expansion.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time someone threatens, “I’m never talking to you again.”

Hidden role games

Don’t have enough trust issues already? Play Secret Hitler, Mafia or The Resistance for an exhilarating game of deceit. All those years promising your parents you’ve never smoked weed have finally paid off. In any hidden role game, there are good guys and bad guys, typically assigned at random. It’s usually the bad guys’ objective to stay hidden and complete some type of mission, while the good guys try to figure out who they are and stop them before it’s too late.

Rules vary depending on the game, but that lingering feeling of betrayal is a constant.

Make it a drinking game: Take a shot every time someone dies.

Spring 2020 | 57

Reopening the yearbook It’s like “High School Musical,” but with less singing and half your former classmates have already peaked.

WRITTEN BY ANDREW KWA // DESIGNED BY AGNES LEE

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Is it even worth it?

Peep the ‘Gram You know how they say that the eyes are the window to the soul?

I’m no opthalmologist, but that seems pretty stupid. Clearly, whoever coined this expression did not have access to Instagram.

In middle school English, you probably learned the difference between direct characterization — i.e. “The boy is stupid” — and indirect characterization — i.e.

“The boy spent good money on a Supreme Oreo.”

Instagram is a treasure trove for indirect characterization. It allows us to discover the kinds of people that our friends have become since we parted in high school. For instance, a former quiet girl’s profile may be filled with tailgate photos.

Or maybe that guy who went on “Jeopardy!” is now an e-boy. Life comes at you fast.

Monitor the speech I never really understood the concept of jargon. Yes, regional slang exists, but surely it would never reach the point of being incomprehensible to others speaking the same language?

Then I returned home after a quarter at Northwestern.

Rebridging such a gap in communication, I found, was a Herculean task. How could others understand the layers of complex irony of “Medildo” and

58 | Spring 2020

he transition from high school to college is often a drastic one. We’re living on our own. We’re choosing our own class schedules. We’re ordering for ourselves at Burger King. But perhaps the most significant change is to our social lives, with college forcing us to make completely new friends for perhaps the first time in years.

Then a pandemic happens and says, “Just kidding! Back to the South with you, Florida boy!”

Now that we’re back home, you might be wondering whether you should reach out to your high school friends. Before you do, there are important considerations to be made. How do you know if a friendship is even worth picking back up? How do you reach out? How do you cope with the fact that they are now a viral TikTok influencer?

Let this be your guide.

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the pathos evoked with a single utterance of “Morty”? Or the disgust and revolt that follows “Bobb” escaping my lips?

Inside jokes are a key part of any friendship. Are your conversations filled with one too many references that the other person doesn’t get?

Then you might not be quite as close as you used to be.

Snap streaks?

Snapchat streaks are perhaps the greatest lie since my parents told me they’re proud of me.

Presumably, that little fire symbol represents the flames of friendship, burning passionately and fueled by constant communication.

In reality? It’s just a goddamn emoji acknowledging that two people have remembered to send each other a mass-produced shot of their chins once a day.

Thus, when you’re considering whether to reconnect with a friend, ask yourself if the extent of your relationship goes beyond a Snap streak. If it doesn’t? Sorry, buddy.

Ew, Bobb.

Who’s Bob?

...Bobb-McCulloch

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The Icebreakers

Cite the ‘Gram If you’ve ever taken a foreign language class, you know that improvising on oral assessments rarely works out. As such, you inevitably discover the value of canned conversation pieces. For instance: What’s your favorite food? Carne asada. Where do you want to go this summer? A restaurant where they serve carne asada. What do you want to be when you grow up? A man who cooks a mean carne asada.

Similarly, when reaching back out to your friend, you can pull canned conversation pieces from their Instagram. Maybe they’ve studied abroad in Spain. Maybe they’ve joined a frat. Maybe they’ve been arrested. They don’t know that you know, you know? Ever so innocently lead the conversation to such topics and let the conversation flow.

Don’t mention the quarter system Don’t mention the quarter system Don’t mention the quarter system Listen, I get it. The quarter system is rough. The classes are fast. We start in September. We end in June. Our breaks don’t align with anybody else’s. We call it the quarter system even though it’s really more like a trimester system.

But I’ll let you in on a secret: nobody cares.

Pretend you’re normal, goddammit.

Reopening the yearbook | HANGOVER High School Acquaintance

High School Friend #1

Spain

Tap to View

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300 Likes High School Acquaintance Yes, I’m abroad! #studyabroad

Bond over your shared dislike of [X] majors College is a mystifying place.

It encourages us to recognize differences and value diversity, while fostering an environment where every major has a specific negative connotation.

Journalism major? Annoying.

Philosophy major? Extra. Voice major? Just why ?

This phenomenon is not unique to any one college. All college students intuitively discover, for example, that theater majors have a propensity for screaming in situations that don’t require screaming.

Shared experiences — especially shared hatreds — are the foundation upon which friendships are strengthened. Use them.

The Activities

FaceTime Since a nice, casual-but-stillwith-hints-of-structure brunch isn’t really an option right now, you’re left with either Zoom or FaceTime (or HouseParty, if you’re zesty like that).

Believe it or not, there’s a lot of strategy that goes into optimizing a FaceTime call. Typically, 1 a.m. is the best time to FaceTime your friends as the giddy, exhaustioninduced high that’s great for conversation finally kicks in.

Perhaps the most important element of any good FaceTime call, however, is planning “the Out.” Every conversation will inevitably reach a lull. In real life, this generally results in an awkward shot at restarting the conversation.

However, in virtual calls, you can simply make up an excuse to end the call, i.e. you’re tired, your cat died, you’re tired because your cat died, etc.

Take a lesson from the “Star Wars” franchise. Sometimes, the best way to ensure that something stays enjoyable is to end it before it ends itself.

Reminisce on the good (or not so good) ol’ days Do you remember when you were told in high school that those would be the greatest years of your life?

Ah, the blissful ignorance of youth.

What’s wonderful about reminiscing with friends is that it can be done regardless of the quality of your high school experience.

Did you have a wonderful time in high school, experiencing the epic highs and lows of varsity football?

Or perhaps you had a miserable time, because you were not experiencing the epic highs and lows of varsity football?

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Everyone loves a throwback, and having a good throwback session with a friend is a great way to rekindle the flame. Even reminiscing about cringeworthy or miserable times lets us appreciate how far we’ve come — like finally moving on from that edgy, nobodyunderstands-me-except-ImagineDragons phase of our lives.

Video games Okay, I know what you’re thinking.

“Ew, Andrew, I can’t play video games. I have a life. What am I, some sort of loser?”

First of all, hurtful. Second of all, hear me out.

Given that we’re all currently social distancing, it’s not exactly as if you could get up to your old, less-than-6-feet-apart antics.

Plus, you don’t need to sink $300 on a new Nintendo Switch to play video games with your friends; try returning to the nostalgic classics of youth. Club Penguin is back (unofficial revival versions, at least). Webkinz now offers a free limited version that doesn’t require you to buy a stuffed animal.

Minecraft still slaps.

People are still starting romantic relationships during these uncertain™ and unprecedented™ times. It’s not a stretch to think that you could revive a friendship using video games, too.

Congratulations! Through this guide, you have now completely overanalyzed every aspect of what should otherwise be a relatively intuitive part of your life. Isn’t it just invigorating?

So what’re you waiting for?

Go get ‘em, tiger.

Or don’t get ‘em. Depends on what you made of this guide.

Spring 2020 | 59

Shaken, not stir crazy We’re not saying you should go to Zoom school drunk … unless?

WRITTEN BY GIA YETIKYEL // DESIGNED BY CARLY MENKER // PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAKKE OVERLUND

When classes went remote, students had to leave their sweaty frat party days or their let-me-just-pretend-I-don’thave-work-due wine and movie nights behind them. Now that we can’t leave our homes, it’s time to upgrade our drinks of choice from lukewarm beer and $5 Target rosé. These corona cocktails will impress your friends over Zoom — and don’t require putting on pants.

Paloma

“No Text Required For Consumption”

*Please drink responsibly and if you’re 21+

When the motivation to do anything is at an all-time low, treat yourself with a delicious and easy-to-make cocktail that’ll match the stuck-at-home vibe. The drink itself is sweet and sour as the grapefruit soda mixes with the tequila. Unlike Tequila Tuesdays in the frat quad, you won’t need a text or to endure sticky floors to drink this cocktail.

Steps: Add all ingredients except the wine into a shaker with ice and shake.

Strain into glass over fresh ice.

Slowly pour wine into the glass over the back of a spoon.

Ingredients: 2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon 1 ounce lemon juice 3/4 ounce simple syrup 1 egg white (optional) 1/2 ounce red wine

Dark ‘n Stormy

“Evanston in the Springtime”

60 | Spring 2020

Steps: Pour some kosher salt on a plate.

Rub half the rim of tall glass with grapefruit or lime wedge; dip glass rim in salt.

Combine grapefruit soda, lime juice and tequila and shake over ice; pour into the tall glass.

Garnish with grapefruit wedge.

Ingredients: 4 ounces grapefruit soda, like Jarritos or Squirt 2 ounces tequila 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice Grapefruit wedge, to garnish Kosher salt, to garnish

In honor of how places like New York are going through hell right now, this drink will leave fruity notes on your tongue and leave you ready for the brighter days and allergies of spring — if you’re in a place that experiences sunlight, that is. The New York Sour will remind you that there are better times ahead, which we all need.

New York Sour

“Jaywalking Across Sheridan” In spite of its gloomy name, the rum’s funky notes and a splash of lime adds brightness to this brew, while the refreshing taste of ginger will leave you taken aback, much like a classic Chicago snowstorm in April.

Steps: Fill a tall glass with ice.

Add ginger beer and (optional) lime juice.

Top with rum.

Garnish with a lime wedge.

Ingredients: 2 ounces of rum 3 ounces ginger beer 1/2 ounce lime juice (optional) Lime wedge, to garnish

Shaken, not stir crazy | HANGOVER Steps: Combine coffee, syrup, whiskey and cream in an ice-filled shaker.

Shake vigorously for 30 seconds until very cold.

Strain into an ice-filled glass.

Ingredients: 4 ounces chilled, strong coffee 1 tablespoon simple syrup 1 1/4 ounces Irish whiskey 1 ounce heavy cream

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

Rich, smooth, boozy and perfect for when you wake up and remember we’re in a pandemic. Nothing says good morning like going to bed at 5 a.m. because you fell down a rabbit hole of the Northwestern Confessions Twitter and waking up at 3 p.m. to alcoholic coffee, because, why not? It’ll get you going for that Zoom class you don’t want to attend.

Even though traveling for summer vacation may be out, this drink will always be in. It screams beach resort, which is where we’ll be pretending to be during finals week on Zoom. Set your virtual background to a tropical island and sip on this cunningly sweet drink.

Iced Irish Coffee

“Good Morning, It’s 3 p.m.”

Steps: Combine the frozen strawberries, rum, lime juice and sugar in a blender.

Blend until smooth and divide among 6 tall glasses.

Garnish each glass with a strawberry slice.

Ingredients: 1 12-ounce bag of frozen strawberries 6 ounces light rum 4 ounces lime juice 5 tablespoons sugar 6 fresh strawberry slices, to garnish

“Darty, but Make it Over Zoom” Steps: Shake ingredients in an ice-filled shaker.

Strain into a tall glass with ice.

Garnish with an orange slice and cherry.

Ingredients: 2 ounces rum 1/2 ounce lime juice 1 ounce grenadine syrup 1/2 egg yolk Orange slice, to garnish Cherry, to garnish

Painkiller “Finals Supplement”

To remember the essential workers carrying the country on their backs, the Fireman’s Sour is a rare rum sour that’s also smooth and sweet. This drink is welcoming after a long day, with its sour notes contrasted by the creaminess from the egg.

There are a lot of ups and downs right now, but this drink will emphasize that we can handle whatever may come.

We’re going to need something to dull the pain of finishing this quarter (especially since Reading Week is canceled) and this cocktail will definitely get you through.

This fruity drink practically screams that summer is around the corner, and although that doesn’t mean much, at least you won’t have to deal with Zoom University anymore.

Fireman’s Sour

“The Essential Drink”

Steps: Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and vigorously shake.

Strain into a glass over crushed ice.

Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Ingredients: 2 ounces rum 4 ounces pineapple juice 1 ounce orange juice 1 ounce cream of coconut Grated nutmeg, to garnish

Spring 2020 | 61

W H A T ’ S

Y O U R

corona persona?

Incrementally disappointed with the news that spring quarter would be happening remotely, we all dealt with our newfound pandemic isolation in our own way. Our daily routines were replaced with new habits — Sheridan walking for “Animal Crossing,” zoning out for Zooming in, half-assed SPAC workouts for half-assed home workouts. How did you adapt to this new life? Take this quiz to find out.

WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY EMMA KUMER

The Social (Distance) Chair Not being able to wreak havoc on Evanston is driving you nuts. You’ve been making TikTok videos. Going outside to scream. Frantically running around the house. Burning pieces of paper for fun. If your friends thought you were chaotic before quarantine, they should see you now. Oh wait, they can. You’ve gone on Instagram Live three times already today.

The Loafer

Anyone who’s watched your Instagram story over the past few months has seen more bread than a Hillel kid in need of service hours. Focaccia, rye, sourdough — name any bread, you’ve made it. You complained about the yeast shortage, circulated a sourdough starter among your friends and spent the better half of this pandemic with flour up to your elbows.

The 5 O’Clock Somewhere

There is no sense of time in quarantine, you say, pouring yourself some bourbon at 11 a.m. It’s called an Old Fashioned because, when you’re drinking it, you can pretend like it’s not 2020!

Don’t call it a pandemic — it’s just a pregame for normal life!

62 | Spring 2020

Biggest accomplishment these days?

Waking up when it was still the a.m.

Doing a singular Chloe Ting workout

Finishing The Family Puzzle™

How far are you willing to take it with your Zoom crush?

I pin their screen so I can stare at them the full 90 minutes

I Facebook messaged them to ask what the homework was

I stopped caring about other human beings on March 30

What’s your excuse to get off a group FaceTime?

I have to go knead my starter…

I gotta go, my parents are making gin and tonics…

*Just freeze and hope they think your Wi-Fi stopped working*

When did you know you’d officially gone crazy?

I started scrolling through Venmo like social media

I saw a cycler with a baby wagon and thought it was BrewBike

I started genuinely caring about Charli D’Amelio

How’s the job hunt going?

I have secured a profitable side hustle knitting tiny llamas

I emailed my internship coordinator ten times asking if the position was still happening

Saddest part about missing spring quarter?

No Wildcat GeoGame

The unresolved ending to senior caps

I have given up on employment until there is a reason to live

Fitness level?

I feel winded going to the mailbox

I go on ten walks per day

The Hustler

While most people have been bingewatching Netflix, you have been waking up at 6 a.m. for a full day of crossing things off a to-do list. You start with a morning run, maybe a quick yoga sesh. You write three cover letters and finish reading a novel before noon, then complete a problem set before making a lovely dinner from the New York Times recipe column.

Gosh, crazy what happens when you get a little bit of free time!

The Nihilist

Quarantine has given you permission to be even more of a chiller than you were this winter.

For most of your Zooms, you’re lying in bed with the camera turned off.

You don’t remember how to apply makeup, and your jeans are acquiring a layer of dust.

You wore the same t-shirt to all eight of your lectures this week, but no one noticed because all you said was, “Yes, I can hear you,” and “Thank you, bye.”

During quarantine, everything’s a home gym if you try hard enough. But why bother?

THE CHLOE TING EFFECT

WRITTEN BY CHRISTINE POTERMIN // DESIGNED BY CHLOE COHEN // PHOTOGRAPHED BY CARLY MENKER

A

h — there go my seven alarms set for 2 p.m. I groggily roll out of bed to begin another day of doing my civic duty of lounging around. My grandpa had to fight in Vietnam, and I’m lucky enough to serve my country by just staying inside? Honestly, I’ll take it.

I shuffle out of my room and run into my mom clad head-to-toe in biking gear.

She nags me to go outside and water the garden, or, even worse, join her on a bike ride.

Good thing the government is on my side with that shelter-in-place order, so I’ll be bingeing Netflix all day.

But wait — apparently, now they’re encouraging us to get out and exercise? People are supposed to be active and healthy? Science needs to stop siding with my mom.

I happen to be rather fond of my healthy quarantine lifestyle of snacking on the couch and watching season after season of The Bachelor and Too Hot to Handle.

The fact that anyone has motivation to leave their house during a pandemic is honestly impressive.

Every jogger that runs past my window has me wondering if they’re some kind of superhuman that

actually copes with stress productively. Sure, I’d love to get #fit too, but right now, the only walks I can muster up the energy for are the ones from my couch to my fridge.

Where do you all get the optimism to train for marathons that aren’t going to happen anytime soon?

You’re probably the same kind of people that turn your Zoom video on and still try in your classes despite pass/fail grading. All the respect, but you’re ruining my excuse to do nothing all day, and your motivation to self-improve is making me feel guilty.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are discovering the outdoors.

Many studies point to the positive impacts of sunlight and Vitamin D formation on stress, mental health and cancer prevention. The combination of nice weather and pandemic-fueled boredom has prompted everyone to flood to the forests as if greenery alone could cure COVID-19.

But let’s be clear: 23 people crowded together in a forest preserve still isn’t OK. The presence of trees does not, in fact, eliminate the spread of coronavirus. Gathering on a public trail is still

gathering. Sure, your notsocially-distanced herd that makes the outdoors unsafe justifies my indoor, isolated couch potato existence, but increased contact increases transmission rates and contributes to a global pandemic. Please don’t.

But if you can give up your divine right to jog, keep the workout to your living room and join the masses of newfound Chloe Ting fanatics. Your screams as you struggle to stay upright just three minutes into the first video will entertain your fellow housemates. A hundred squats a day will earn you some extra quarantine snacks, right?

Still, in my own selfisolation, I can’t fathom putting on anything besides sweatpants. And to my fellow couch potatoes, thank you for your service to public health. Self-care in quarantine, whatever that looks like for you, is more important than any Instagram trend. We might come out of quarantine with less than rock-hard 16-pack abs, and that’s okay. Even if you come out of quarantine with a tummy, sport it with pride. It helped save lives.

Spring 2020 | 63

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