02/16/23 Full Edition

Old Gold&Black “Covers the campus like the magnolias”

VOL 109 , NO. 12

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

WA K E F O R E S T ’ S S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 1 6

ASIA hosts Lunar New Year celebration ELI LEADHAM Contributing Writer

Manchester Quad. The fair featured organizations such as the World Tea Association and Athenas. Campus Life Committee Co-Chair Erica Carl (‘25) explained the significance of student organizations’ involvement in Mental Health Week.

“The messaging behind this event is to not only bring students together via food trucks but to also highlight various groups and organizations committed to wellness,” Carl said.

The scent of soy sauce, fried dumplings, sesame chicken, spring rolls and shrimp pad thai filled the Sutton Center as the Asian Student Interest Association (A.S.I.A.) hosted its annual Lunar New Year Celebration on Feb. 11.

Each year, A.S.I.A. organizes a Lunar New Year celebration in collaboration with the Korean American Students Association (K.A.S.A.), the World Tea Association (W.T.A.) and the Japanese Studies Club (J.S.C.). The event aims to connect Wake Forest’s Asian American community through a showcase of culture and food.

The Lunar New Year is a celebration of the lunisolar new year.

Each year on the lunisolar calendar is represented by an animal –– this year marking the year of the rabbit. This holiday is culturally significant in countries such as China, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.

“For me, the Lunar New Year is time to spend with loved ones to celebrate new beginnings and bring in the new year with good luck,” Vice President of A.S.I.A. Katie Zeng (‘24) said. “Even more so, it’s a reminder of my culture and the history that I grew up with and will continue to learn and be a part of as I grow up.

As attendees filled their plates with food, A.S.I.A.’s executive team introduced themselves and acknowledged the recent spike in anti-Asian violence.

President of A.S.I.A. Annie Phan (’24) recalled the AsianAmerican community’s recent loss from the Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay shootings.

See Mental Health, Page 3

See Lunar New Year, Page 4

Virginia Noone/Old Gold & Black

Each flag in Tribble Courtyard represents 100,000 individuals in the U.S. living with anxiety, depression or eating disorders. Each orange flag symbolizes 1,100 college students who die of suicide each year.

Student Government hosts Mental Health Week This week's events are designed to promote awareness for students' mental health ANITA DONGIEUX Staff Writer “Are you okay?” is a simple, poignant question that several student organizations are helping to ask during Wake Forest’s annual Mental Health Week.

This year’s programming started on Feb. 11 and will run through Feb. 17. The week is planned by Student Government’s Campus Life Committee.

Campus Life committee member Gialin Tran (‘26) shared the goal of this year’s events.

“The events for Mental Health Week are like a little breather for

students,” Tran said. “This spring semester hit the ground running, and it may be hard to get the pause we need.”

Wake Forest men’s basketball kicked off this week’s events on Feb. 11 — during which a short clip of students answering the question “are you okay?” was broadcast. More than 100 students participated in the video, which can be found on Student Government's social media and YouTube.

This week’s second event, the Student Care Fair took place Feb. 13 on

What's Inside NEWS Renowned economist talks taxes on campus Page Four

FEATURES It's a love story, baby, just answer 53 questions Page Seven

ENVIRONMENT Mycology and Magnolias: a world of fungi

Page Eight

OPINION A good celebrity is hard WR ¿QG Page Eleven

SPORTS Deacon Sportlight: Sydney Smith Page Fourteen

LIFE Life and Love: some lil love stories Page Twenty

Old Gold & Black “ Mental Health Week remains important This column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Committee

As February progresses, the blooms of spring fill the forest, casting a verdant spell across the Wake Forest campus. Under the gentle warmth of the sun‘s rays, students meander through the grounds, soaking up the beauty of the world around them.

In the midst of national headlines that can leave one feeling downtrodden, the picturesque forest provides a welcome reprieve, reminding us to cherish the simple things in life. The beauty of nature also coincides with Mental Health Week, a week that highlights the importance of self-care and emotional wellness.

According to the National College Health Assessment survey conducted in 2022, a staggering 53.6% of college students report feeling a high level of loneliness. This echoes the findings of a 2017 survey conducted here at Wake Forest, where 75% of students stated that they were unable to stop or control their worrying dur-

ing the previous two weeks. The results of a 2022 mental health survey conducted by the University Counseling Center are still, to our knowledge, unavailable.

In light of these alarming statistics, members of the Wake Forest Student Government have committed to providing friendly check-ins with students throughout the week’s events. The theme for this year’s mental health week is a simple question: "Are you okay?" A seemingly innocuous query, it's designed to start a conversation about mental health and destigmatize the struggles that so many of us face.

Let's be honest, “Work Forest” can be a bit of a pressure cooker. But just because we have rigorous academics doesn't mean we are immune to the stresses of daily life.

We know that college can be stressful, and sometimes we just need to blow off some steam. There's no shame in admitting that we need help — in fact, it takes a lot of

strength to do so.

The Old Gold & Black commends the Mental Health Week programming because it does the important work of promoting campus resources around mental health.

Some of the week’s programming, like the BIPOC lunch yesterday, underscores that the university must recognize the importance of mental health as a vital component of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. This recognition will go a long way in destigmatizing mental health issues and providing viable solutions to students.

Mental Health Week provides us with an opportunity to openly talk about anxiety, stress and loneliness, topics that are all too often brushed under the rug. However, this conversation must extend far beyond a single week. We encourage Wake Forest students to talk to their peers about their personal journey in overcoming common stressors, whether it's post-graduation anxi-

Old Gold&Black

Remember ... it's okay not to be okay, and we can work together to foster a caring community that prioritizes emotional well-being. ety, GPA woes or navigating social life.

In the meantime, let's not forget to stop and smell the roses (or wildflowers, as the case may be). Take a deep breath, and appreciate the crystal-clear sky after a deluge of rain and the sunsets that paint the sky with pink and purple hues. Remember that sometimes it's okay not to be okay, and we can work together to foster a caring community that prioritizes emotional wellbeing.

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SINCE 1916

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BREANNA LAWS

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>> NEWS Daniel Parolini, parodj20@wfu.edu

>> LIFE Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu

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Thursday, April 13, 2023 | Page 3

ZSR: Student leaders promote well-being Continued from Page 1 “I hope that it brings more consistency in temperature across the library,” said Library Specialist Peter Romanov.

“As students, you know that some areas can be either too hot or too cold.

I’m confident that the new HVAC will

create an even temperature, and students will feel comfortable wherever they choose to study.”

Romanov is also eagerly anticipating the installation of a new circulation desk designed to be more flexible and movable to replace the built-in old desk. Rather than being clustered at

Daniel Parolini /Old Gold & Black

The bill’s co-sponsors read “A Resolution in Support of Hindu Student Equity” aloud to the SG Senate.

the atrium side, staff will now face visitors as they enter through the ZSR Library’s front door, with student workers serving behind them.

“It makes us visually more approachable to people who are checking in and out — and a little more professional,” Romanov said.

Parker Beverly, president of ZSR Library Ambassadors, shares her excitement about the upcoming changes in the library.

“I feel like the big piece of furniture at the circulation desk is not very inviting,” Beverly said. “But with the new desk, students and patrons will enjoy the open layout much more.”

Another project scheduled for this summer is the complete replacement of the elevators on the eighth floor of the Reynolds wing. These elevators are among the oldest in the library and will be replaced immediately after graduation. The construction is scheduled to be completed before the fall semester.

Some of the library’s transformations are already underway, with updated desks, LED lighting and electrical outlets on the seventh and eighth floors.

Additionally, DVD viewing stations

have been placed near the media collection on the fourth floor of the Wilson Wing, and Room 403 has been converted into a reception and event space.

The urrent improvements at the library are part of a strategic plan that ran from 2012 to 2014 and aimed to position the library at the leading edge of the transformational changes occurring in higher education. With a focus such as Digital Scholarship Services and community building, ZSR Library has achieved tremendous progress towardtowards its objectives.

Pyatt believes that the ZSR Library’s renovation will improve upon its current strengths and promote its future vision while remaining faithful to its mission of supporting learning, knowledge and community.

“We are paying off the pledges made before to ensure that students will have the best experience,” Pyatt said. “It’s always with that mission: support students’ success and faculty success at the center.”

Contact Hope Zhu at stopmf21@wfu.edu

Student Government: This year’s internal changes, explained Continued from Page 1 One of the first structural shifts occurred in the Fall 2022 semester, when the Elections Commission became independent of the legislative branch.

Previously, the Elections Committee was made up of graduating seniors within Student Government, including members of the cabinet and executive branch. After the bill to create the Elections Commission was passed, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Student Engagement recommended a candidate for chair. By unanimous vote, the Senate passed a bill nominating Catherine Carpenter (‘23) as chair of the Elections Commission.

From there, Carpenter recruited commission members Claire Hopkins (‘24), Megan Waterston (‘23), Bre Witt (‘25) and Emily Hollander (‘26).

“I think creating an independent commission where it’s people that have little to no connection to Student Government and are independently able to review potential violations, the elections packet and think objectively about it without any personal connection is really important,” Carpenter said.

Despite the vision to create a separate body from Student Government, some obstacles remained.

“Once we established the Elections Commission, we realized there wasn’t

really a place for them to be housed,” Agudelo said. “There wasn’t a branch to house them.”

As a solution, the Senate voted unanimously on Jan. 31 to create the Student Organization Judicial Assembly (SOJA) — a judicial body separate from the legislature. Composed of four associate justices and Chief Justice Alondra Janicek (‘24), SOJA was created to hold Student Government accountable for their actions and constitution.

“Both Alondra and I have great hope for SOJA in the next academic year to expand its functions in a more clubfacing manner to play a greater role outside of the internal process of Student Government,” chief justice pro tempore Aman Khemlani said. “Our hope for the coming year is to expand our responsibilities to become a body that holds organizations accountable and handles inter-organizational conflicts.”

As Agudelo enters her last few weeks as Student Body President, she continues working to improve Student Government’s structure. A bill is in the works to create the Student Organizations Council (SOC) — which currently operates under the legislative branch — to become a sub-branch of the treasurer. Currently, SOC operates almost independently, without relying on legislation. The shift will allow SOC and the treasurer to provide student organiza-

tions with more resources and contacts.

“This change is a fantastic step forward and will greatly enhance our ability to fully support our student organizations throughout their life cycle,” Treasurer Tim Erday said. “Rather than needing to work with one group for chartering and another for funding, groups can now view the Student Organizations Branch of Student Government (comprising the Student Budget Advisory Committee and the Student Organizations Council) as their onestop shop for organizational support.

We hope that this restructuring will serve as a benchmark for future collaboration, and we look forward to continually building the most effective support system for student organizations that we can.”

Agudelo hopes that this bill will be passed before the end of the academic year.

In the middle of these structural changes, Agudelo and the executive branch also wanted to keep members of Student Government in mind. During the fall 2022 semester, Secretary Jess Schmidt and Chief of Staff Braden Strackman created Social and Professional Activities (SPA) — which organized many social and professional activities to engage student senators.

“Student Government has a high turnover rate,” Schmidt said. “We don’t have

a lot of junior or senior senators who are not in the cabinet and not on exec. How do we make sure that we are supporting senators throughout their time in Student Government and throughout their time at Wake Forest? And how are we getting first-year senators involved?”

Activities included networking nights, jeopardy and coffee chats, which is a buddy system that helps members of Student Government connect with one another. Schmidt also explained that committee report presentations during senate meetings have changed — instead of solely co-chairs giving the presentation, any committee member can now present the report.

“If people are passionate, they’re engaged,” Schmidt said. “They feel like they’re doing something right.”

As her term concludes, Agudelo expressed hope that the next executive team will continue the work she started and strive to make Student Government an organization where students can advocate both for others and themselves.

“The point of Student Government is that you’re engaging the student body — because if you’re not, then you’re not representative of it,” Agudelo said.

“I think that’s what’s most exciting and hopeful for me, is that this work won’t just get lost in translation.”

Contact Maddie Stopyra at stopmf21@wfu.edu

POLICE BEAT • • • • •

Unknown subject(s) entered an unsecured work truck and took an IPad, baseball cap and sunglasses. The report was filed at 4:33 p.m. on April 3.

An individual who was sleep walking entered another individual’s dorm room. Nothing was stolen. The report was filed at 6:00 p.m. on April 4.

Unknown subject(s) took an unsecured electric scooter from a bike rack on March 30. The report was filed at 10:22 p.m. on April 4.

A caller advised that someone attempted to pry open a vending machine. There is slight damage to the vending machine. A camera was not able to capture the event. The report was filed at 4:19 p.m. on April 6.

A student concealed a bottle of apple juice in his pocket. He later paid for the bottle when he was approached by a Subway staff member. The report was filed at 2:23 a.m. on April 9.

Page 4 | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | News

Lunar New Year: Students gather for a cultural celebration Continued from Page 1 “Three weeks ago, families and friends who were supposed to spend Sunday, Jan. 22 cooking food, going to family gatherings, celebrating just like me and you are, instead grieved the loss of their loved ones and the tragedy that struck their community –– and in turn, our community,” Phan said. “Tonight, we honor our past, present, and our future … we will live to love and carry on the legacies of those who have died while creating our own.”

Student performing groups such as Lost in Translation, Momentum Dance, the Chinese Ensemble, the Martial Arts Club and Deacon Dhamaal performed during the celebration. Lost in Translation dancer Wendy Wei (‘25) described the celebration’s welcoming atmosphere.

“Having a Lunar New Year celebration on campus, which is a space where Asian people gather to celebrate our culture, and seeing how welcoming the school and non-Asian students are to that is incredibly touching,” Wei said.

She continued: “At Wake Forest it can feel lonely to see my parents and their friends celebrate while I eat American food without nearly as much Asian company. But having a Lunar New Year Celebration on campus makes you feel like you have a little bubble of people who see, understand and appreciate you and your culture. That’s not an easy feeling to create without some sort of Asian-centered celebration.”

Freshman Lydia Anderson experienced her first Lunar New Year Festival this weekend, noting that celebrating as a campus community deepens students’ understanding of international cultures.

“The Lunar New Year festival showed the community that we all have different backgrounds, and we should learn more about others and their culture,” Anderson said.

More information about A.S.I.A. and its mission can be found on their Instagram page @wfu_asia.

Contact Eli Leadham at leadey22@wfu.edu

Eli Leadham/Old Gold & Black

Students and community members gather in the Sutton Center to celebrate the Lunar New Year on Feb. 11.

Renowned economist talks taxes on campus WFU’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter invites Dr. Arthur Laffer to campus BREANNA LAWS Print Managing Editor

Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and renowned economist Dr. Arthur Laffer was welcomed to the Wake Forest campus to deliver a lecture titled “Taxing the Rich Has Consequences,” which he argued by presenting an economic theory he popularized.

The Wake Forest Chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) — a subsidiary of the Young America’s Foundation — hosted the Feb. 8 event. The talk was open to members of the public and explained an economic theory made popular by Laffer — though he rejects the notion that he created it.

The Laffer Curve posits that there is some tax rate between zero and 100% that would maximize tax revenue collected by the government.

Laffer argued in his lecture that the current tax rate is far too high to achieve this.

To make his point, Laffer displayed several line graphs following taxation and revenue from 1913 — when the Constitution was amended to allow income tax — to the present. The graphs demonstrated how times of economic growth have occurred in tandem with periods of a lower tax percentage maximum.

Several audience members took photographs of the chart and whispered amongst themselves.

“I’m gonna go through [this] because it’s really, really important … it’s a matter of facts people; it’s not how you feel,” Laffer said, in reference to the graphics.

He continued: “These are the lessons for today … This is data talk-

ing, not an economist. It’s not leftwing or right-wing. It’s not liberal or conservative. It’s not Republican or Democrat. These are the facts, people … it’s not ideology.”

Grace Castaneda, a Wake Forest School of Business graduate student who created the student organization, Society of Economists in 2021, enjoyed the talk and appreciated that Laffer was willing to share his ideas with university students.

“It’s really refreshing to have [Laffer], who created such a huge economic theory, pass on that knowledge and g e t

For some members of the audience, however, Laffer’s claim of nonpartisanship did not resonate.

Sophomore Anna Dumont, a politics and international affairs student, felt that Laffer’s ideas and discussion were more conservative and did not address more liberal ideas.

“There’s that other side of the coin. I don’t think he talked about it because he knew his audience — all Republicans,” Dumont said, referring to the fact that Young Americans for Freedom is a right-wing group. “I like hearing different points of view …

o u t But also I there to stujust can’t dents,” Casdeny that it taneda said. was kind Dr. James of just “Jim” Wilreaffirmlis, a profesing what sor at the people alPhoto courtesy of Young America’s Foundation Wake Forready wanted est School to hear.” of Business, attested to the connecDumont did say, however, that tions between Laffer’s discussion Laffer’s expertise in the field was and his course material. Willis, who still something she could appreciate specializes in corporate and income — despite not completely agreeing tax, has used the Laffer Curve theo- with his ideas. ry when teaching his students. “[The talk] was really cool,” she “What he was talking about is said. “I mean, he’s an important rather relevant to what we talk about guy … not someone who I might in class,” Willis said. “To hear from necessarily admire, but I have to someone who has a background like respect him nonetheless because he Laffer is pretty impressive.” has done a lot.”

While the talk was geared toward people in the business field, Christina Elson, executive director of the Wake Forest Center for the Study of Capitalism, said that the event was for everyone.

“We try to make the content of the event … as accessible to everyone as possible,” Elson said.

When asked about what young people have the power to do in the economy, Laffer encouraged them to “take responsibility” and ensure that they “are always rewarding the things [they] want and not the things [they] don’t.”

Spyros Skoruas, a Wake Forest graduate and director of a corporate development team in Charlotte, N.C., agreed that it is important to pass these lessons on to younger generations.

“I wish more people would come and listen to it — especially college-age students — and realize the true costs of taxes and life and vote accordingly,” Skoruas said.

Junior and YAF President Pierce Sandlin thanked Laffer and the organizations that partnered with YAF to put on the event. Sandlin called it the “largest and most substantial event” YAF has hosted to date and expressed gratitude to the faculty and staff at Wake Forest for promoting diverse ideas on campus.

After the recent event’s success, YAF Events Coordinator Will Ezzell said the organization will discuss the potential of future big speaker events. If you are interested in getting involved with YAF, you can join their GroupMe or find them on Instagram at @yafwfu.

Contact Breanna Laws at lawsbn21@wfu.edu

FEATURES

Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu Isabella Romine, romiie21@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

PAGE 5 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

DEACON PROFILE Margaret Bender ISABELLA ROMINE Features Editor In the western region of North Carolina, just south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, live the officially recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The tribe is undertaking language revitalization efforts for the endangered Cherokee language — an initiative that Wake Forest anthropology professor Margaret Bender is assisting.

The Cherokee language (or Tsalagi, which is its name in Cherokee) is fundamentally distinct from English and other European languages and illustrates striking cultural differences. Time, space and relationships are understood differently, and many Western social concepts such as poverty, chattel slavery and patriarchal structures had no expressions in Cherokee before colonization. Many words and expressions that exist in Cherokee have no direct translation into English or any other languages — representing unique ways of conceptualizing and understanding the world. However, the diversity of knowledge found in the Cherokee language risks disappearing as the language itself confronts extinction.

A 2018 survey in Ethnologue, a language reference publication, found that only 1,520 Cherokee spoke the language fluently out of 376,000 registered Cherokee — largely a consequence of the historical ban on allowing Cherokee children to speak their language at school and the difficulty of learning the language for English speakers.

The Cherokee newspaper Tahlequah Daily Press estimates that eight fluent speakers die each month, and as of 2019, there were only five fluent speakers in their 30s and 40s.

Bender estimated that, of the 1,520 fluent speakers, only a couple hundred belong to the EBCI, making community revitalization efforts urgent.

The cultural differences that language reveals have long since fascinated Bender. Their desire to preserve this diversity combined with their interest in Cherokee, which emerged while they were pursuing their Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in the 1990s.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the relationship between language and culture, especially the way language encodes worldview and ways of conceptualizing things,” Bender said. “I didn’t go to that Ph.D. program planning to study Cherokee. It just happened that I developed this interest in it and that [Ray Fogelson], probably the greatest expert in cultural anthropology on Cherokee culture at the time, was also there. Everything came together.”

Bender’s specialty led her to North Carolina, where she assisted with creating a digital dictionary through the Eastern Cherokee Language Project. The database contained hyperlinks to audio pronunciation files and words contextualized within sentences. Today, iPhone users can access a Cherokee keyboard on their phones, but no such resources existed in the ’90s before the explosion of the Internet.

This meant that the dictionary was a cutting-edge and invaluable resource for those learning Cherokee — especially for those in the Eastern Band, who speak the Kituwah

Artwork courtesy of Madison Stafford

Photo Courtesy of the Department of Anthropology

dialect. Though this dialect is mutually intelligible with the Western dialect spoken by the larger Cherokee Nation tribe in Oklahoma, its distinctions are also preserved through such initiatives.

More recently, Bender’s language preservation work has centered on New Kituwah Academy Elementary (also known as Atse Kituwah Immersion Academy), an EBCI Cherokee language immersion school that the community founded in 2004. The school — like much of the Cherokee community — understands that the Cherokee language and its knowledge are intimately connected with indigenous identity. Within its belief statement, it notes that the Kituwah (Cherokee) people cease to exist without the Cherokee language. Running from kindergarten through sixth grade, the school seeks to revitalize the Cherokee language among young speakers and teach Cherokee children to embrace their heritage and traditions.

Creating an immersion school for a near extinct language posed significant challenges, one being that few learning materials were available in the target language — let alone to teach children subjects such as science or math. If a teacher wanted to implement a lesson plan about metamorphosis, someone had to create a worksheet in Cherokee

from scratch. Further, as the first class of students advanced through each grade, it was necessary to make an entire new year’s worth of material.

Volunteers such as Bender completed some of this work, enabling teachers to devote greater time to students. Bender’s specific project involved partnering with Cherokee authors to create Cherokee storybooks and gathering other content for use in the classroom—though she noted that her contributions were modest compared to those of many other Cherokee scholars and speakers.

Bender has also supervised and trained Wake Forest students in Cherokee to assist with preservation efforts.

Bender taught graduate Jacob Daunais (‘15) and several other students Cherokee in an independent study. Later, Daunais translated Cherokee texts into English and helped create a children’s book in Cherokee — work complicated by the many differences between Cherokee and English grammar, as well as the unique Cherokee syllabary, which has 85 characters. He also assisted for two summers at the Snowbird summer language camp, which takes place over six weeks in the isolated mountain town of Snowbird, NC. There, in addition to simple translation tasks, Daunais adjusted games like hot potato and duck-duck-goose so that the children could play in Cherokee.

After taking the same Cherokee independent study her freshman year, senior Madison Stafford began volunteering with New Kituwah Academy Elementary. Since then, she has created visuals to accompany the school’s pedagogical material, which usually take the form of illustrations of classical Cherokee mythology.

Both Daunais and Stafford cite Bender as a great mentor: “I loved working with Dr. Bender. I always looked forward to working with the Cherokee language, and a large part of that was just how excited [Bender] was to share it with others,” Daunais said.

“I really enjoyed working with Dr. Bender… This project really allowed me to realize how much I loved [illustration] and how important it was to me,” added Stafford, who now intends to pursue a master’s degree in illustration as a result of her work with Bender.

Though Bender’s translation work with New Kituwah Academy Elementary is largely on pause as she works on her latest book project — which examines the role language played in the 19th-century conversion of many Cherokee people to Christianity. She hopes to continue her work once the project is finished.

As for the future of the Cherokee language, Bender expressed cautious optimism, citing the trajectories of the Welsh and Hawaiian languages, both of which once faced extinction but have experienced significant growth in speakers over the past several decades.

“I’d say for the last generation, we’ve been in a moment of revitalization. How successful will that be long term?

We’ll just have to see what happens,” Bender said.

Contact Isabella Romine at romiie21@wfu.

Page 6 | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Features

Coffee date? If you Sayso.

A local coffee shop focuses on making “excellent” coffee DANIELLE PARKER Contributing Writer

It is a Saturday afternoon, and you need to get work done. You pull up to Louie & Honey’s Kitchen only to find that the line is out the door, and all the tables are taken.

Where do you go now? Let me introduce you to Sayso Coffee.

Sayso Coffee recently relocated to a permanent location in Winston-Salem this year. Previously, they shared a building near Carolina University, but now they are located off Brookstown Avenue, close to Old Salem. This new space has allowed the owners of Sayso Coffee to add creative touches to their business while also promoting their dedication to great-quality coffee.

With a magazine library, local art for sale and comfortable seating, Sayso Coffee provides an incredible space for people in Winston-Salem to gather, work or pass time.

The vibey music, plants, natural lighting and friendly staff all contribute to the creative and welcoming atmosphere of Sayso Coffee. But the most important aspect of the shop is its coffee.

“This is definitely the best coffee I have had in Winston[-Salem]. It’s like artisan coffee — they put care into it. It’s not too sweet, it’s not too strong — it’s quality,” junior Kate Upchurch said.

Sayso Coffee, compared to other Winston-Salem coffee shops, is coffee-centric. Kylan Reasoner, an owner of the coffee shop and a qualifier for the 2020 U.S. Barista Competition, explains that “Sayso Coffee was founded to make excellent coffee.” This mission stands in contrast to most Winston-Salem shops such as Bobby Boy, Louie & Honey’s Kitchen and Krankies, which promote baked goods and food first.

This is not to say that Sayso Coffee does not create delicious baked goods (because they do), but it is not The shop’s decor features abundant greenKylan Reasoner repairs the broken scale that their primary goal. Their mission is to serve excellent ery to add a sense of life to the space. coffee, create a welcoming, friendly environment and weighs the espresso machine coffee grounds. use high-quality local ingredients.

So, what makes their coffee the best?

According to Reasoner, Sayso Coffee’s baristas triple-weigh shots for each drink, ensuring that they are crafted perfectly and consistently. Sayso Coffee also uses Black & White Coffee Roasters — who are local to North Carolina— because the company emphasizes the unique qualities found in different coffees. By using Black & White Coffee Roasters as their source, Sayso’s coffee has a fruitier, distinguishable taste that is more craft and high-end. Lastly, Sayso Coffee handmakes all of its syrups, again highlighting the care they put into each cup of joe.

Though the location is particularly coffee-focused, Sayso does also serve some baked goods to compliment their drinks.

“One of the reasons we moved to this spot was because we could add a kitchen,” Reasoner said. “Our specialty is definitely cake…and so we are trying to make sure we use high-quality ingredients that create something that you won’t regret eating or make your stomach hurt.”

Even though the new Sayso Coffee space will not be finished until late spring, hop in your car (or steal…

I mean borrow…your friend’s car), drive to Sayso, order a cappuccino or cardamom latte and enjoy the creative environment. Sayso Coffee rejects the all-toocommon, sterile, industrial vibe by not being too curated of a space. Between the wooden pillars, colorful posters, large plants and fun rugs, the white interior is sprinkled with character.

Immerse yourself in coffee shop culture not only because it supports local businesses, but also because coffee shops cultivate community, collaboration and creativity. These seemingly unimportant spaces add value to society as they allow individuals to meet together and provide a “third home” for people to work, study or rest.

So, go. Meet a friend. And enjoy your coffee.

Natural light floods into Sayso Coffee through its large front windows, creating a natual ambience.

All photos by Danielle Parker/Old Gold & Black

Contact Danielle Parker at parkdg20@wfu.edu

Customers can read magazines containing local artwork while enjoying their drinks.

Features | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Page 7

It’s a love story, baby, just answer 53 questions The Marriage Pact is a compatibility test for Wake Forest students looking for love ( or at least a backup plan)

“This is just one more way to stay connected to Wake Forest junior Ted Bossong is currently abroad in London, England. One night, one campus and meet new of his roommates, who studies at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, found something people, which is always called Marriage Pact.

As per its website, Marriage Pact is an “unofficial yearly matching” process for college fun.” campuses. The goal? Find each student a “marriage backup plan,” or more accurately, -Ted Bossong someone who a student knows they’re compatible AINE PIERRE Online Managing Editor

with — just in case they need that information down the line. Marriage Pact measures compatibility with a multi-question survey, whose answers are run through an algorithm.

The algorithm spits out compatibility scores, which are used for matches. For example, a heterosexual female will be matched to the most compatible male who would date a woman, a pansexual person would be matched to the most compatible person willing to date someone of their gender.

Bossong, who is currently almost 4,000 miles from campus, saw Marriage Pact as a way to stay connected with Wake Forest.

“Especially being abroad, it’s hard to keep connections with a lot of Wake Forest people,” Bossong said. “And so this is just one more way to stay connected to campus and meet new people, which is always fun.”

Bossong is not alone. As of this publication, Marriage Pact has received 1,303 completed surveys using Wake Forest emails since submissions opened on Monday, according to its website. Marriage Pact Campus Ambassador Stephanie Glaser (‘25), who brought the service to campus alongside fellow sophomore Matthew Trosino, said that the form will stay open until the end of the week. If the first trial is a success, Marriage Pact will return to Wake Forest once a year.

Glaser first heard about Marriage Pact through TikTok. “I actually saw a TikTok about Marriage Pact

Photo Courtesy of Sophie Glaser

Sophomores Sophie Glaser and Matthew Trosino collabored to bring Marriage Pact to Wake Forest.

at University of Michigan. It was about these two friends, who were just platonic friends and matched with each other on Marriage Pact,” Glaser said. “And they said ‘Let’s give it a try: I guess we’re compatible with each other.’ They’ve ended up being long distance for a couple of years.”

Glaser said that the decision to launch Marriage Pact the week of Valentine’s Day was deliberate — and inspired by Wake Forest students.

“There was a [post on anonymous message board site] Fizz saying ‘Oh, petition for Wake Forest to have a compatibility test during Valentine’s Day week,’” Glaser said. “So we decided that it would be a really cool week to launch Marriage Pact. Last week, we did a bunch of meetings and discussed how we would market it — like what the questions should be.”

During my first attempt, the survey asked me 53 questions. Some questions asked for demographic information (major, class year, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality). Other questions probed deeper — one asked if I preferred to talk things out with a partner or to keep things to myself. Another asked me how important I found kinky sex in a relationship.

At the end of the survey, I was asked to pick three to five questions that mattered most to me.

Some questions are asked to ensure the safety of those marginalized for their race and sexuality, according to Marriage Pact. One question asks whether participants would like to date outside of their race. Marriage Pact claims that this is to protect people of color from racism.

“We agree that we generally shouldn’t empower people to discriminate,” the Marriage Pact website reads. “But some people (especially BIPOC women) have particularly valid reasons for holding racial preferences. In dating contexts, the male gaze — especially the white male gaze — has been considered the default for centuries. Empowering people to tell us they’d prefer to avoid these circumstances reduces the outsize burdens placed on them in racialized dating interactions.”

Another question asks if a participant would be okay with their child coming out as gay — this is intended to root out queerphobia, per Marriage Pact.

For the most part, the questions are straightforward. Except for the demographic questions, participants are asked to rate their agreement with a given statement on a scale of one to seven, with seven being “strongly agree” and one being “strongly disagree.” However, some questions were better worded than others.

“Some of [the questions] were a little bit confusing, I will say, and some of the wording was a little bit confusing, especially with how we’re supposed to respond,” Bossong said. “But overall, I found the experience to be pretty user-

friendly and generally quite easy to do, except for those few instances.”

Sophomore Elise Lipezker said she found the questions engaging.

“I thought they were interesting,” she said.

“They’re very specific, which was interesting to take because I like personality tests. So I thought it was interesting to get to fill out the whole form and go through the whole process.”

She also enjoyed the information Marriage Pact sends you when you complete the form, which is based solely on personality metrics (I, for one, am in the 98th percentile at Wake Forest for couponing, the 52nd percentile for going hard and the seventh percentile for holding a grudge).

Glaser and Trosino meet with Marriage Pact staff nightly during launch week to discuss marketing and content strategies. The questions, however, do not change from day to day.

One security issue I found was that I was also able to complete the form on behalf of my roommate — with her consent — as there is no mechanism to verify that the email address you enter into the form is actually yours. There also appears to be no guard against repeated attempts, as I was able to complete the form twice.

When asked about these concerns, Glaser noted that the most recent submission will be counted if there are more than one from a single email address. She also said that those who notice that a Marriage Pact form has been filled out for them without consent can contact Marriage Pact’s support email through its website to have it taken down.

Additionally, Associate Dean for Student Conduct Jim Settle told the Old Gold & Black that students who fill out a Marriage Pact survey for someone else without their consent may face honor code violations related to deception if caught. Settle also noted that falsifying another student’s demographic information — such as race or sexuality — could violate Wake Forest’s anti-harassment policies for students.

As the week has gone on, Glaser, Trosino and the Marriage Pact team have added some information about safety to the draft text of matching emails. Glaser confirmed to the Old Gold & Black that Marriage Pact will send out information about safety around sexual consent in matching emails.

“It’s really no different than meeting up with someone from a dating app, like let’s say, Tinder…” Glaser said. “But I brought up that it would be important to make that note, and so [Marriage Pact] said that it is going to put out a statement in the matching emails about [consent].”

According to Glaser, participants may receive their matches next week, but it is not a guarantee. For example, if 1,000 heterosexual students fill out the survey, and 600 of those students are women, then 200 women will be without matches. In that case, Glaser says there will be a waitlist, while those with matches will find out next week. Glaser told the Old Gold & Black that there are no concrete plans yet around the waitlist.

“We’re trying to just get as many people to do it as possible so we can have more even numbers and a more even distribution of submissions between [class years] and gender,” Glaser said.

For now, though, many Wake Forest students anxiously await their perfect match.

Contact Aine Pierre at pierav20@wfu.edu

ENVIRONMENT OLD GOLD & BLACK

Addison Schmidt, schmac21@wfu.edu Bella Ortley-Guthrie, ortlbs21@wfu.edu

PAGE 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Mycology & Magnolias: A world of fungi An undergraduate mycology lab studies the fungi living in Wake Forest’s magnolia trees the disk onto the petri dish plate. Once grown, the fungi alities between people.” can then be identified.

Wilson took her biology studies internationally this So far, students have identified many different types past summer. In Puerto Maldonado, Peru, Wilson The magnolia tree, Wake Forest’s staple, offers a home of fungi on identical neighboring leaves. Some of these extracted soil samples from gold-mined areas to see to diverse fungi. A research lab in the biology department, include Colletotrichum, Alternaria, Xylaria and Clado- if there were mycorrhizal fungi present. Mycorrhizal fungi reside on the roots of a plant below the topsoil however, discovered that some of these fungi are poten- sporium.

“It seems to me that every leaf is a new, random assemand enhance the nutrient uptake of a plant. Her soil tially pathogenic. bly of a community, and in ecology, it’s hard to replicate samples are still being held at Customs, but once they Dr. Brian Tague, a biology professor at Wake Forest things,” Tague said.

“I can find 25 different species in one are back in her hands, she will be able to draw a conwho specializes in plant and cell biology, has integrated leaf…the problem is disentangling who’s doing what in clusion from her hypothesis. If there are mycorrhizae the study of fungi into every one of his classrooms. In there.” present, this would be a key indicator that his four-credit hour biology class, Mycology: Biology of For example, Colletotrichum is a fungus that these areas have hope of being reforFungi, BIO 327, Tague aids students in exploring the lives in symbiosis with plant leaves and could act ested and nutrients restored to the taxonomy and evolution of fungi, as well as their interac- as an endophyte or a pathogen. plants, according to Wilson. tions with other organisms.

So, how did the fungi get here?

“Trees rely on one Mycology is the study of fungi, the natural decompos“My hypothesis would be, because I always a n - other more than ers of our world. Fungi act as decomposers by recycling find this [fungi] in a leaf,” Tague said. “Maybe we can see,” Wilson said. nutrients from dead organisms back into the environ- this [Diaporthe fungi] has multiple “Beneath the forest floor, ment, and they provide plants with phosphorus, carbon ways of getting around, through fungi are associated with and nitrogen. These elements are used in DNA replica- spores or the fungi have other tree roots, and they do this tion for the plant, as well as in building and stabilizing its tricks as it can move through the between trees of different specell wall — the plant’s support and defense system. vascular system of the plant.” cies. Every tree in a forest can be Some fungi, such as mycorrhizal fungi, communicate Both Tague and his mycolconnected by one single fungus.” through underground pathways and signals, sending ogy class will continue to anaMycorrhizae’s complex netthese nutrients to trees of different species. Others, such lyze these fungi samples to see works can be difficult to comprehend, as endophytic fungi, are found in the leaves of trees. These what kinds of fungi live on the but they can be seen as similar to a neufungi can either be beneficial or parasitic to the plant. magnolia leaves. They will also rological pathway.

The lab portion of Tague’s mycology course focuses on continue to hypothesize how the “Think of it like a brain — we send the latter type — the fungi living on the magnolia trees’ fungi appeared, and why some leaves neurons like the trees send chemical sigleaves. have different kinds/amounts of the nals,” Wilson said. “There are hundreds In the lab, students collect leaves from magnolias and fungi than others. of miles of trees all interconnected with identify the different endophytic fungi present. The lab Una Wilson, a junior biology maone another. Carbon, nitrogen, phosphohas found that the one recurring fungus is Diaporthe. jor, took Tague’s lab sophomore year Addison Schmidt/Old Gold Black rus and lignin can be sent to each other This fungus is commonly found in magnolia leaves and and is now taking her studies abroad. through the fungal network.” acts as a pathogen, a disease-causing bacteria or virus.

Wilson initially discovered her passion for studying fungi Mycorrhizae fungi’s extent of communication is still In the experiment, students collect leaves from the through a podcast named “From Tree to Shining Tree,” in the research phase as a working hypothesis. Tague magnolia trees behind Winston Hall, making sure the which discusses how fungi are the known chemical liai- sees trees “communicating” being a stretch, and that leaves are from the same branch, size and age. Once col- son of our world, sending chemical signals and nutrients they share resources, not information as the term to lected, a 0.5 cm leaf disk is made with a hole puncher and through their underground networks. which communication may allude to. treated with bleach and ethanol. After this, the sterilized “One big reason I was interested in being in the lab is However, Tague and his students are all learning todisk is placed on a petri dish that has the appropriate fun- how fungi represent interconnectivity,” Wilson explained. gether, and every week they set out to collect more data gal media, such as agar, dextrose and potato starch. After “If we examine this concept, it stretches beyond the field to draw hypotheses. a few days or weeks, students watch the fungi grow from of science. We can see common threads and common“I picked to study fungi because they are interesting,” Tague said. “They come in a variety of shapes, colors, smells and sizes…animals are more closely related to fungi than plants.”

Fungi and animals are both heterotrophs, meaning they obtain their nutrients from a source. While animals get nutrients from eating, fungi receive subsistence from absorbing nutrients through their mycelial networks and subsequently by decomposing organisms.

We, as humans, are more closely related to fungi than fungi are to plants. Students in Tague’s lab will continue to work on gathering data and forming hypotheses on our close relatives.

In the future, Tague said he might integrate the mushroom “coincap” into his lab. The magnolia coincap, scientific genus Strobilus, lives on the magnolia conifers. Integrating the coincap would open new doors of exploration for him and his students since they have never focused on the cones before, just the leaves.

Although he is unsure of whether these fungi will be a successful experiment, Tague says he wants his experiments to be “fun, successful and interesting” activities that will continue to educate Wake Forest undergraduates.

Evan Harris/Old Gold & Black Dr. Brian Tague instructs student members of his mycology lab near Contact Mia Springer at spriml21@wfu.edu a magnolia tree outside of Winston Hall as they search for fungi .

MIA SPRINGER Contributing Writer

Page 9 | Thursday, March 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Environment

Gateway Nature Preserve seeks to mend the environment Located 12 minutes from campus, the preserve is open for exploration and rest year-round MIA SPRINGER Staff Writer

A 12-minute drive off campus down University Drive and Marshall Street leads to a nature sanctuary called Gateway Nature Preserve. The preserve is a 19-acre site located near Old Salem and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Several trails, a pollinator garden and a Story Circle are a few of the opportunities for visitors. Whether splashing or skipping rocks on the sandy beach near Salem Creek or sitting on the wooden stumps of the Story Circle with friends and family, the preserve serves as a place to take a breath and escape the busy world.

According to its website, Gateway Nature Preserve’s goal is to create environmental and climate change awareness while working toward a more sustainable future through programming and events. Its many community education programs, such as hosting a booth at the Piedmont Earth Day fair during Forsyth Creek Week, display a connection between humans and nature.

Gateway Nature Preserve’s Executive Director Dianna Costello highlighted the importance of nature conservation to both the environment and our souls.

“When we immerse ourselves in the natural world, our worries and concerns seem small and insignificant, and we learn how to soothe our soul with the stillness surrounding us,” Costello said.

Open year-round during daylight hours, the preserve has multiple nature exhibits. One of these is the pollinator garden on the meadow side across from South Broad Street.

In the pollinator garden, multiple food sources and native plant species such as various shrubs and perennials (plants that live for more than two years) are grown

Photo courtesy of the Gateway Nature Preserve

Visitors stand on tree stumps at the Gateway Nature Preserve’s outdoor story circle and classroom which borders the section of the Salem Creek Greenway.

complish is for the pollinator garden to evolve from a place that pollinators visit to becoming a catalyst toward the rebound of native pollinators and creating a haven for them in the heart of the city.”

These efforts are critical, as urbanization and the introduction of non-native species to the environment puts pollinator populations at risk. Non-native species can harm an ecosystem by competing with native organisms for resources, causing native species to face extinction.

“Our long-term goal has been to complement the canopy trees — and replace the invasives — with native understory trees and native wildflowers that provide visual interest and benefits for wildlife,” Costello said.

In addition to the pollinator garden, Gateway Nature Preserve is home to many educational nature trails. On the trails and around the preserve, there are signs highlighting what tree species are present and how they add to the thriving forest. Signs throughout the trails point Photo Courtesy of the Gateway Nature Preserve to how a healthy forest is essential for the many species Gateway Nature Preserve is home to a pollina- that live within the nature preserve, providing informator garden that habitats bees and caterpillars. tion about animals like box turtles and barred owls.

The preserve’s history comes from a place of conserfor pollinators. Pollinators, like bees and butterflies, are vation, as the nature preserve was initially meant to critical in maintaining the health of an ecosystem — be turned into commercial development over Salem Creek Greenway in 2005-2006. The commercial dehelping aid the reproduction of native plants.

“Adding the pollinator hotels will allow us to create a velopment was overturned, and in 2007, the Gateway symbiotic relationship, where the pollinators help keep Environmental Initiative was born.

This same year, the initiative reached out to city ofour garden healthy and beautiful,” Costello said. “The native ecosystem we’ve created in our garden will help ficials to analyze how this land could be preserved, and pollinators thrive and hopefully increase their popula- it later raised $409,000 from community donations to protect the land. Finally, in 2014, the initiative was tions beyond our footprint.”

Costello continued: “The next step we want to ac- able to purchase the land and protect the 19 acres from

being commercially developed. The Gateway Environmental Initiative now has a public-private partnership with Winston-Salem’s Parks & Recreation Department.

Eight years later, this well-preserved land holds many opportunities for student involvement and volunteering. Wake Forest students can work in the pollinator garden to lay mulch, pick weeds, prune and pick up litter.

Rebekah Lassiter, a Wake Forest freshman, works at Gateway Nature Preserve as a secretary. She became interested in working here after seeing an advertisement online. “[Gateway Nature Preserve is a] great outlet to help with environmentalism and connect with the community,” Lassiter said.

Lassiter, also a part of Gateway’s diversity, equity and inclusion team, has worked to install an accessible boardwalk around the garden.

If not volunteering, anyone and everyone is welcome to walk around the nature preserve and settle back into their roots in this urban oasis.

“Nature has a way of putting your life in perspective when you contemplate the beauty and magnificence of the natural world,” Costello said. “It happens when you watch clouds drift aimlessly in the sky or hear birds chirp gleefully in the trees, when you smell the sweet scent of damp earth or admire the brilliant color of wildflowers.”

Interested students can sign up as a volunteer on their website:https://gatewaynaturepreserve.org/sup port/ volunteer

Contact Mia Springer spriml21@wfu.edu

Environment | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Page 10

ϐ The Sustainability Leadership Group works to foster community on campus NERIAH OLIVIER Contributing Writer

Behind the walls of the Wake Forest Office of Sustainability, the Sustainability Leadership Group is bringing new ideas to raise environmental awareness to fruition.

The leadership group, created in 2019 by the Office of Sustainability, provides leadership experience for first-year students who are passionate about the environment and sustainability. At its weekly meeting, the cohort works to foster a more sustainable community on campus through discussions, workshops and projects.

Group members are currently collaborating on projects designed to improve awareness and dedication to sustainability on campus. Each of the five projects focuses on a sustainability issue that the group has noticed at Wake Forest.

One project is focused on connecting Wake Forest’s environmental community with the greater Winston-Salem environmental community. Ella Klein, a first-year student in the cohort and a Winston-Salem native, chose this topic because she believes that forging this connection will make sustainability efforts more successful both on and off campus.

“I think it’s important for any move-

ment to be unified and connected,” Klein said. “This project is giving me a chance to bridge that gap between Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem community, which I appreciate.”

Klein’s project emphasizes the impor-

consumption in the mail room and encouraging Wake Forest students to donate items that would otherwise end up in the trash. These projects are ways for students to demonstrate their leadership and make changes on campus that could

benefits for first-year students who join the program.

“SLG gives you the perfect opportunity to get involved in leadership from a really early point in your experience on campus, and it gives you a lot of resources to reach out and find things you’re passionate about,” Eldridge said.

Projects like these are also a chance for group members to work together on issues they are passionate about. For students like Sidney White and Reagan Smith, this collaboration and community are some of the best things about the group.

“My favorite part of SLG is that I get to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds who all share a common interest in sustainability,” White said.

Smith echoed these sentiments: “I love getting to work with and be around other people with the same passions and interests as me — people I might not have Photo courtesy of Sophie Eldridge Members of the Sustainability Leadership Group pose crossed paths with otherwise.” alongside student leader Sophie Eldridge in the fall of 2022. First-year Beza Zelalem has found the group to be a great way to be active on tance of community, one of the “Three have a lasting positive impact on the way campus.

Pillars of SLG,” alongside leadership and sustainability is approached and imple“SLG allows us to implement outreach, mented at Wake Forest. education. activism, community service and so many The group also provides students with other amazing ways of getting involved,” The other projects focus on educating students about overconsumption and the resources and connections they need Zelalem said. waste. These projects include initiatives to facilitate these changes on campus. Stufor more sustainable dining, eco-friendly dent coordinator and sophomore Sophie Contact Neriah Olivier at modes of transportation, reducing over- Eldridge says this is one of the greatest olivns22@wfu.edu

The program seeks to gauge student interest in composting on campus ANNA BEIM Staff Writer

The three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are commonly used when dealing with the issue of managing waste. However, while these three methods are more beneficial for the environment than throwing trash into a landfill, they still generate a significant amount of waste. In the face of increasing waste in landfills, environmentalists turn to a more efficient method of reduction: composting.

To increase students’ engagement with composting, Wake Forest University’s Office of Sustainability launched a pilot composting program in the fall of 2019 at the North Campus Apartment complex (NCA), offering residents the opportunity to compost their waste. The program is the first composting service offered for a student dormitory on Wake Forest’s campus.

According to the Office of Sustainability’s Waste Reduction & Recycling site, “composting is the biological decomposition of organic waste (e.g. food or plant matter) by bacteria, fungi, worms and other organisms under controlled conditions.”

The primary purpose of composting is to redirect organic waste from the fated destination of all garbage — the landfill.

The resulting compost is often added in soil to provide nutrients for crops. Redirecting organic waste reduces the overall accumulation of trash in the environment while providing eco-friendly, practical uses for farming and agriculture.

At Wake Forest, the Office of Sustainability has worked throughout the years to expand composting facilities on campus. In 2018, the department launched the Office Organics Collection Program to provide access to composting bins and facilities around campus. As advertised on the Office of Sustainability’s website, the Pit, North Campus Dining Hall, Camino Bakery and Zick’s all have composting facilities for pre-consumer food waste.

North Campus Dining Hall also provides composting facilities for post-consumer food waste.

Sophomore Aidan Norris is the Athletics Waste Reduction and Diversion Intern at the Office of Sustainability. In the fall of 2022, Norris helped organize the NCA composting program to get it started for the school year.

According to Norris, the Office of Sustainability is continuously working to expand composting services, including at Wake Forest football games and athletic events. At the end of the process, “[most of the compost] goes to Gallin’s Family Farms — that’s who we partner with for composting.”

Junior Brighid Biehl is a resident at NCA and an avid user of the composting program.

“I definitely think it’s a great program because it’s super easy to do,” Biehl said.

“In NCA, you’re in charge of taking out your own trash and recycling, and they already have you separate your recycling by paper and plastic. I think it’s a super easy step to compost alongside that.”

Biehl explained that students can find

more information about composting online, including what can or cannot be composted. In her residence, Biehl composts food waste like egg shells and scraps of fruits and vegetables, as well as biodegradable paper towels and tissues.

Biehl utilizes her own in-apartment composting bin, but Norris explained that those living in NCA can sign up for the program to receive bins for their rooms that are provided for free. Residents can use the bins to collect organic and compostable waste, which can then be disposed of in larger compost bins outside of the buildings. To get started with the program, NCA residents can submit a Google form to receive a bin and find additional information.

For the Office of Sustainability, the NCA composting program serves to gauge students’ interest in composting.

“If we can show that there’s enough student interest in composting, we can justify expanding composting to other dorms,” Norris said.

In terms of student engagement, Biehl has noticed meager participation during her experience composting.

“Every time we go out and compost … there’s almost nothing in [the bin], which is really sad because it’s an easy thing to make sure you’re giving back to the environment,” she said.

Biehl believes that many students on campus do not have a complete understanding or awareness of composting, which may lower student participation.

When describing her experience, Biehl

shared her initial hesitation to participate.

“At the beginning of the semester when my roommate brought up composting, I was like, ‘Composting? That’s too much work.’ But in reality, it’s super easy and simple.”

Wake Forest students may have a similar outlook. Without proper education on the subject, many people might perceive the concept of composting to be complex and unattainable. This myth regarding composting’s complexity may inhibit student interest and participation.

“I’m hopeful because I think that times are changing and people are becoming more and more interested in composting and being sustainable,” Norris said, “But I think there needs to be more work done on creating a sustainable culture on campus.”

As a university, Wake Forest has made great strides in increasing its sustainability both on and off campus. However, Norris says that more work could be done to increase student involvement on campus.

“I think what we need alongside this program is a change in the culture of the university that promotes more sustainability and promotes more responsible waste management,” Norris said.

With the combination of administrative efforts and active student participation in initiatives such as composting, Wake Forest could continue to achieve new levels of sustainability, keeping the Forest green.

Contact Anna Beim at beimal21@wfu.edu

OPINION

Sophie Guymon, guymsm20@wfu.edu Shaila Prasad, prassp21@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

PAGE 11 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Asst: Lauren Carpenter, carple21@wfu.edu

The views expressed in all opinion columns represent those of the article’s author, not the opinions of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board

ϐ The black-and-white nature of cancel culture is not conducive to real accountability and change ADAM COIL Life Editor

I watched Andrew Callaghan’s HBO special “This Place Rules” more out of excitement to see Callaghan’s work on the big screen than any curiosity regarding the events of Jan. 6, 2021. If you are one of the millions of people who have watched his videos on his YouTube channel “All Gas, No Breaks” or his latest project, “Channel 5,” then you know that Callaghan is a revelation in American journalism. Callaghan’s low-budget, minimal-editing style compliments his ability to infiltrate spaces and conduct interviews without the weight or tension that a typical news broadcast carries. His meteoric rise to fame is symptomatic of the mainstream media’s total failure to give anything genuine to the American public, but lately, his own integrity has been called into question.

On the surface, Callaghan’s work is a hilariously entertaining exposé of some of the strangest niches in the United States today. He visits places like flat-earth conferences and the Talladega Superspeedway, and the people featured are often conservative or libertarian-leaning, extremely wild and flamboyantly outspoken. It’s funny stuff. But the real power underlying Callaghan’s recent content is the crucial reminder that the people that our echo chambers teach us to hate, pity or avoid altogether are often filled with the same good intentions that we are, however misinformed or misguided they might appear to be.

It is a beautiful, radical attempt at empathy, and it seems to me like the only viable path toward an America that feels less divisive.

Before we can begin to take one another’s ideas seriously again, we must first (re)learn to take each other seriously. If you dodge the sort of metaphysical/hyperreality questions that arise within all works of a documentary, Callaghan gives you a practically unfiltered glimpse into the lives of people you would never otherwise k n o w, and the result is oftentimes surprisingly endearing.

I have to admit that when I heard about the sexual assault allegations against Callaghan, I felt pierced in a unique way. Normally, whenever I hear about someone getting canceled, the person is someone that I already don’t believe in. Either I’m not surprised, or I don’t care because they’re not my problem, anyway.

Our generation has been thoroughly trained on how to deal with these cancellations. We talk about them all the time because celebrity culture has a knack for making us feel less alone and more important than we really are. When we find out that J.K. Rowling isn’t too keen on trans folks or Mark Wahlberg is sort of unfriendly toward Black people, we know exactly how to pause for a moment and regain our composure before laughing at their expense on the Internet. The only material change witnessed is that we may not log “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on our Goodreads whenever we finish it.

But I think that the Callaghan situation could be different — at least in the leftleaning social circles that drive our national conversations surrounding consent, sexual abuse and coercion. Callaghan’s case lacks the simplicity that most “Me Too” scenarios have going for them. Callaghan is not a filthy rich executive or a bigot — he’s not even all that famous or powerful. He’s not only someone that people have been rooting for, but he’s also a figure that has personally resonated with fans. Furthermore, his actions don’t come across as vile and cruel in the same way that high-profile rape cases have. He is accused of

being a “sex pest” — of coercing women and breaking them down until they finally “give” him “consent” — and multiple women have reported him as being creepy, with some accounts of him following and stalking women who were trying to evade him. While his actions are still morally reprehensible, it’s much easier to find the humanity in someone like Callaghan than in someone like Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein.

Herein lies the true test of the “believe all women” mantra that we’ve grown accustomed to hearing, because these nuanced cases cause problems when they are processed with the same black-andwhite perspective that we normally employ.

What I’m asking is, what does it mean when we say that we believe Callaghan’s accusers? Right now, there seems to be only two responses to events such as these — either you uniformly condemn the perpetrator, or you stand by them, sometimes claiming that the allegations are false. What emerges is this weird phenomenon in which morally ambiguous to morally depraved characters are demonized on the surface but still accepted and even celebrated at a micro, personal level.

What’s troubling about this dynamic is that these people — because they are still financially lucrative — never need to take accountability for their actions or change as people.

So not only is cancel culture often non compos mentis, but it also doesn’t work. It didn’t stop Donald Trump from lying, and it didn’t stop Kanye West from spreading antisemitism. While the “Me Too” movement was crucial in galvanizing discourse nationwide, the strain of cancel culture that emerged from it doesn’t have the capacity to withstand the test of time — for a couple of reasons.

As celebrity cancellations continue, they lose their emotional effect in the same way mass shootings have become just another news segment in our American minds — one that’s not about the victims but the politics surrounding it. Also, as time goes on, more and more accusations turn out to be false. Rex Orange County is only the latest in an ever-growing list of high-profile individuals to be accused and then vindicated of sexual assault. We’re getting to a point where we are spending more time reflecting on the anxieties of males who fear being falsely accused of sexual assault than we are spending time educating young people on the right and wrong ways to go about sexual encounters.

Maybe with Callaghan we can start to look at these seemingly infinitely complex situations in a new light. My hope is that people can look at the large number of allegations

levied against Callaghan and decide that we should believe those women and that we should recognize his behavior as a widespread, serious issue. I also hope that people can look at the situation and recognize that unilateral demonization might not be the best route.

That relegating someone with a significant platform into a sphere in which they are encouraged to amplify the most troubling aspects of themself is reckless and harmful. That there’s something wrong with a culture that doesn’t subscribe to redemption or the idea that deep down all people have this beautiful, amazing capability to be good.

I don’t see why we can’t hold all of these axioms in our minds at the same time and truly believe them.

But perhaps the question that we need to be asking ourselves is one that we’ve ignored precisely because of how unpleasant it is. That is, do many celebrities and cultural icons turn out to be repugnant in some way because that is a prerequisite for fame, or because it is a prerequisite for being a real human? There is some truth to the fact that celebrities are under more surveillance, and therefore more likely to get caught for their wrongdoings, but they are also cognizant of this scrutiny. They should be more cautious than the rest of us — they’re the ones who have something to lose.

This transformation of celebrities from real people into symbolic placeholders is a discouraging one. Just look at what it’s done to the political climate of the U.S. If you’re someone who has decided to opt out of voting because no candidates ever seem worth supporting, you may find it fruitful to stop and ask yourself if we could be to blame for an onslaught of airbrushed, humanoid candidates. Maybe the prevalence of government leaders who are so vanilla and polished that they don’t even seem real is a reaction to our obsession with finding dirt on the people placed on a pedestal.

I claim that we love watching celebrity content because we are all secretly anticipating the moment in which the people on the big screen are disgraced before our very eyes. It’s similar to how we get excited when a bench-clearing brawl breaks out in Major League Baseball. Sure, we love it because it’s a fun spectacle, but also because shaming celebrities makes us feel better about our own flaws, and it doesn’t feel like it’s impacting real people, anyway. We give movie stars and influencers this power over us because we know that at any point, we can take it back. It’s all just a game.

We’re situated in a strange time when it comes to celebrity culture.

Every day, it seems like we watch real people transform into symbolic placeholders before our very eyes. Political candidates feel airbrushed and humanoid, and movie stars seem so distant that you wonder whether they’ve ever stepped outside of Beverly Hills.

This makes celebrity scandals all the more entertaining and attractive when they do break. It’s gratifying to see those we have put on pedestals fall to our level and be reminded of their humanity.

Spectators find themselves spewing inconsequential hate because they have been allowed to misrecognize a fellow human as a piece of narrative.

Of course, this isn’t healthy. For anyone. So it might be worthwhile to recognize just how much power we hold when it comes to giving people a platform and a following.

Sometimes the most valiant thing we can do is look away because people do, after all, tend to act differently in the limelight.

Contact Adam Coil at coilat21@wfu.edu Sophie Guymon/Old Gold & Black

Callaghan uploaded an apology video titled “In Response,” on a new channel and it received mixed reactions.

Page 12 | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Opinion

ϐ The embattled representative is the latest actor in America's dishonest politics DEV CHOJAR Contributing Columnist

School and Baruch College, the high school and college where Santos claims to be an alumnus, could not verify his attendance at Newly elected U.S. Rep. George Santos their institutions. Representatives from Gold(R-N.Y.) “temporarily” stepped down on Jan. man Sachs and Citigroup also had no record 31 from his House Committee assignments that Santos worked for either company. Addue to the negative attention he has received ditional lies include his religious heritage, infor reportedly fabricating his background. come source and campaign cash — as well as Santos made several false s t a t e - a series of stories that no one can corroborate. ments about his edSantos has made people, including Senaucation, family histor Mitt Romney (R-Utah), especially angry, tory, professional both at him and at a Republican party that life and even how largely refuses to call for his resignation. he financed his “You don’t belong here,” Romney told Sancampaign tos during the State of the Union address on for the House.

Tuesday night. But for Romney to say that to Spokespeople Santos and not to anyone else —- in a room from both Horace full of several other politicians who have M a n n behaved unethically — doesn’t make much sense.

While the scale of Santos’ lies is unlike anything I have ever seen before, Santos is not the first politician to lie in order to be elected. Lying is bad, and the more you do a bad thing, the greater that impact is. But Santos is under more scrutiny for lying repeatedly than for lying at all, and that scrutiny is a little misplaced. Santos’ fabrications are Photo courtesy of the Associated Press extreme evidence of a commonplace polit-

ical practice that should not be tolerated.

From promises that they never intend to keep, to embellished — or fabricated — backgrounds, politicians lie all the time to try to win their elections. For instance, President Joe Biden never got arrested for trying to meet with Nelson Mandela in South Africa, no matter how many times he says he was. Other people’s conduct does not change the weight of Santos’, but the level of scrutiny Santos is under now should be the normal level of scrutiny for politicians who lie. With that being said, lying to voters is not grounds for throwing somebody out of office. If Santos continues to refuse to resign, he will still have to answer to his constituency when his term ends.

While it would be fairer for him to resign now and face potential voters in a new, special election, that decision is ultimately his to make.

It turns out that Santos also allegedly broke several campaign finance laws, which is a different issue. If he is found responsible for any illegal activity, getting thrown out of office would likely be the least of his concerns. The amount of evidence establishing his behavior as habitual would likely be difficult to mitigate in a court of law.

The bigger problem with the Santos controversy is that it took a case as extreme as his to get people to seriously question the culture of dishonesty in politics. This culture has only

festered because, typically, a politician caught in a lie is allowed to move on with minimal consequences. Removing Santos from his committees while he continues to collect his annual $174k salary will do little to dissuade future politicians from lying to get ahead.

Santos might not have a political future ahead of him, but the damage his election has caused to democracy and American institutions is already done.

If we, as voters, truly want to challenge a political culture of dishonesty, it is our responsibility to demand honesty from our elected officials. While some politicians may display qualities that are compelling despite their untrustworthiness, I am willing to prioritize genuineness over policy if the cost of doing so is not too high. Research has shown that one of the strongest deterrents from corrupt behavior is a high likelihood of detection and punishment. That punishment often comes in the form of criminal charges, but it could also manifest as electoral defeat. While Congress can limit the damage Santos can do with his ill-gotten seat, our best remedy is using our ballot to vote for fair, honest politicians.

Contact Dev Chojar at chojdm20@wfu.edu

Dr. Arthur Laffer's lecture for Young Americans for Freedom promotes classist ideas ANNA DUMOND Contributing Columnist Welcome to Ronald Reagan’s America: where trade is free, income tax is low and patriotism is strong.

At least, that is the version of America that economist Dr. Arthur Laffer passionately endorsed Feb. 8 during his lecture titled, “Taxing the Rich has its Consequences,” sponsored by Wake Forest University’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).

Standing beside a large red, white and blue YAF banner, Laffer spoke of his glory days working under former President Ronald Reagan to an audience of students and faculty. What initially seemed like a lecture merely describing economic trends throughout history soon turned into a conservative sermon that left me wondering whether or not I had accidentally stumbled into a Trump rally.

“Look at it this way. If you tax people who work and pay people who don’t work…” Laffer said with a knowing smile, gesturing to the audience who all nodded in agreement. “Well, you see what I’m saying here.”

Laffer went on to condemn the redistribution of income from those who make an excess of the average income to those who make less than average, saying that in his model, this would create a “net zero” income across America.

It doesn’t take a background in economics to read between the lines: Laffer was calling the working class a bunch of freeloaders.

Unlike former President Donald Trump, however, Laffer didn’t need to make an appeal to workingclass Americans to earn their approval. After all, he was in a room full of mostly affluent and well-off individuals, many of which he knew already shared his perspective.

Trump, whose administration is known for giving massive tax cuts to the rich in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, was advised by Laffer and incorporated his approach to taxation into U.S. policy. Laffer, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump in 2019 and

advised him on the COVID-19 economic crisis response, gave a clear nod to Trump’s 2024 campaign by criticizing the current administration’s approach to taxes as stated in the latest State of the Union address. After having listened to Laffer speak, it is clear the influence he had on Trump’s economic plans during his campaign.

“I wish Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, even Joe Biden were here tonight. If they were, I’d tell them, ‘it’s not about feelings,’” Laffer said at one point during the evening, a statement eerily similar to the rhetoric of Trump.

Young America’s Foundation, the organization that charters college chapters of YAF, has Laffer as one of its many speakers from which chapters can choose to give lectures. Other potential speakers from the list include former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and other prominent conservative figures.

YAF proclaims its ties to Reagan; however, its ties to Trump are just as evident.

A student asked Laffer a question during the Q&A portion of the lecture concerning his thoughts on students' initiative in today’s polarized political climate. Laffer redirected the question to showcase his research on economic trends, choosing to take this opportunity to comment on trade policies in the United States.

“This might be controversial, but we need to start trading with Russia, China and Iran,” Laffer said, receiving head nods and thumbs-ups from the older members of the audience.

I couldn’t help but shake my head — a timely comment, considering that Russia is actively committing atrocities against Ukraine, to whom the United States has sent billions in aid. Other countries that are part of NATO have done the same but have hesitated to supply heavy-duty military aid out of fear to escalate the war further. Laffer’s suggestion completely undermines the efforts the United States and NATO countries have made to support Ukraine and would weaken the unity that the NATO countries have demonstrated since last February. Additionally, following the four Chinese spy balloons that were sent to collect military data

from the United States and were shot down as The models Laffer used have been criticized and well as the canceled diplomatic meeting that was debunked by other experts, while his rhetoric dursupposed to take place in Beijing, tensions with ing the talk implied that what he was saying was all China are increasing by the day. Still, his sugges- factual. I can appreciate hearing a viewpoint differtions seemed to appeal to the audience, making me ent from mine on a topic that I don’t have much wonder whether anyone pays attention to world knowledge about. What I have learned to be wary of is disinformation, and doing some fact-checking events.

Clearly, I was not the intended audience for Laf- following Laffer’s talk confirmed my suspicions, fer’s talk. If I had been, this would have likely been which were that his models were not as sound as a positive review instead of a criticism. One thing he made them out to be. Most of all, I think we that is worth noting is that as adults we are con- all need to become more politically literate so we stantly receiving new information that shapes our can discern for ourselves what is fact, rather than opinions and beliefs. As a politics and international simply accepting the words we hear from figures affairs major, I have formed my opinions about like Laffer. matters and issues that the world is Contact Anna DuMond facing today — there at dumoag21@wfu.edu was very little that I found myself agreeing with during Laffer’s talk.

I think there is value in hearing different perspectives, particularly when it’s coming from someone like Laffer who has experience in his field. However, I also think that understanding his biases and background is necessary so as to not Photo courtesy of Young America's Foundation take his Dr. Arthur Laffer, who worked under Reagan, lecresearch at face value. tures at a Young Americans for Freedom event.

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Page 13

Maintaining a comfort zone is vital In the midst of a high-achieving "Work Forest" culture, we must take time to smell the roses JIMENA ELMUFDI Contributing Columnist

“Step out of your comfort zone” is arguably the single most overused phrase in every motivational speech. Life coaches and leadership gurus market it as the key to success. I cannot deny that it’s an effective motto that advocates for constant growth and prevents you from feeling stagnant. But what does being outside of your comfort zone 24/7 do to your mental and physical health?

Like many ideas in our overly stimulated lives, the concept of working until you drop can be blown exaggeratedly out of proportion.

Yes, challenging yourself is crucial to personal development. However, as a society, we have slowly created the notion that being in a zone of comfort is an absolute sin.

The “hustle” is now a glamorized mandate — an unforgiving obsession. Modern society has negatively labeled the comfort zone as an unproductive state drilling in us a constant need for disturbance in order to feel like we’re progressing toward something. We have satanized the healthy state of being at ease as if

being at peace invariably means we are slacking or engulfed in mediocrity. Our discomfort zone becomes our comfort zone, and this can quickly turn into a falsely balanced life.

We have made it seem as if we must swiftly move on to the next big thing after pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and reaching a set goal. This mindset encourages us to make choices that are challenging without considering their benefits. We choose to do things that don’t necessarily push us forward and are based solely on the need for external validation. Many of us have become so used to tolerating the state of burnout for the sake of victory that we have intuitively welcomed extreme discomfort in our day-to-day lives and blindly accepted it as part of the “no pain, no gain” mentality.

Being surrounded by an environment that lives off of academic validation can be quite intimidating at times. The crown atop the Wake Forest School of Business is oftentimes more toxic than supportive. The number of internships you did or organizations you lead is flaunted around campus left and right, and this applies universal pressure to those who

are already doubting their academic performance.

I argue that this makes us feel safe in our discomfort so that, when we do step into our comfort zones, it is too good to be true; therefore we guilt-trip ourselves into finding a way out of comfort once again.

Overstaying your welcome in that zone of discomfort can ultimately lead to perpetual demotivation since everything you do feels like it requires so much from you.

Proof of productivity doesn’t always have to involve extreme hardship. On some occasions, leaving your comfort zone does more harm than good. Maintaining a comfort zone allows us to seek safety when our rapidly changing lives bring us too much uncertainty.

Your comfort zone should be safe and reliable. We’re often so caught up in our journeys that we forget to take a breather and enjoy the

simple pleasures, or as Lady Gaga wisely sings …“ain’t it hard keeping it so hardcore?”

Let’s remind ourselves that while working hard to achieve important life goals, we must simultaneously strive for serenity. As cheesy as it sounds, we must stop and smell the roses. Professional and personal growth shouldn’t be divorced from one another. One shouldn’t sacrifice for the other. The road on which we are racing is pierced with flashy signs advertising success as a constant climb without any pit stops. But it takes courage to stop, refuel and accept that perfection is not a feature that belongs to us.

Photo courtesy of Science of People

Contact Jimena Elfmufdi at elmujm20@wfu.edu

It's time to fail the College Board The organization can't even score a three on its own exams ADDISON SCHMIDT Environment Editor

If you’ve ever taken a College Board exam, you know that the memes afterward are hardly sufficient entertainment to make up for the torment that is the high school student’s academic equivalent of an Ironman.

Still, my own arduous experience of taking more than 15 College Board exams is hardly where my qualms with the organization end.

In the wake of the recent decision to change curricular requirements in the newly minted Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course in order to appease the Florida Department of Education’s ban, influenced

by Gov. Ron DeSantis, I believe it is time for Americans to consider the role that a privatelyheld, tax-exempt and non-profit organization plays in the education of our nation’s children, especially in public schools.

As many college students are all too familiar with, it is almost impossible to attend a contemporary American public school and not take an AP course if one hopes to gain admission into a top university. At my public high school in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District, it was apparent to me from my freshman year that the key to college admissions was enrollment and success in AP courses and a strong score on the SAT. Wake Forest led the way for other top universities when it stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores in 2009, and the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically shifted the college admissions landscape by relegating standardized testing to many universities’ lowest priority, but the future of standardized testing remains unclear.

In January 2022, the College Board announced that the SAT will be conducted exclusively online beginning in spring 2024, indicat-

ing that perhaps even the organization itself has begun to acknowledge the exam’s failed efficacy.

While the value of the SAT dwindles, the popularity of the AP program shows no indication of slowing down. According to the College Board, nearly 35% of United States public high school graduates in the class of 2021 had taken at least one AP exam upon their graduation.

Given that the cost of AP exams is currently $97 per exam ($88 per exam for public school students), the financial burden of these courses can be significant for some low-income students, though state policies on payment vary widely.

While the College Board provides a $35 reduction fee for qualifying students, the cost remains a significant $53 per exam in states like Missouri that do not supplement the cost of AP exams for students at all. This means that a student in Missouri taking four AP courses in one

year would be required to pay around $212 —or the equivalent of around 18 hours worth of work under Missouri’s $12 hourly minimum wage — in order to afford to take AP exams and gain any potential college credit. This is a significant sacPhoto courtesy of Tideline rifice for any

low-income student’s family to make without even considering the fact that multiple children in the family may be taking exams in the same year.

If American society truly touts public education as “the great equalizer” — an already questionable statement given our history and the variance of education in different states and schools — is it fair to place such an undue burden upon those students who already face an uphill battle to college enrollment as a result of their income?

With the legality of affirmative action at the forefront of this year’s Supreme Court docket, many students of color may be set back even farther in the coming years if the policy is overturned as expected. Coupled with the reality that Black and Latino Americans are more likely than other groups to be impoverished, cost barriers to AP courses present yet another barrier for students of color when it comes to receiving a higher education.

As Americans, we cannot pretend to provide equal opportunity to all children given our current system, let alone an equitable one.

While cost is one significant factor in my distaste for the College Board, the near monopoly that the organization has on college-level education for high school students is another issue. Because there is virtually no competition for the organization on a national level aside from the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which is less popular and more intensive, both cost and curricular requirements are virtually unregulated.

Take, for example, the Florida situation. If, as many may argue, the point of a private organization creating set curriculums for collegelevel classes for high schoolers is uniformity and depoliticization, how can the College Board be reasonably defended for removing keystone concepts like intersectionality, the Black Lives Matter movement and reparations within the course after continuous correspondence with Florida education officials throughout the course creation process?

Each of the concepts mentioned above is controversial, but they are also salient in our increasingly divisive and polarized political

environment. Additionally, according to the New York Times, the vast majority of college African American Studies courses offer education on these topics. If the point of AP courses is to be the equivalent of an entry-level college course, it is evident that political and monetary motivations have stymied that goal in the case of African American studies.

When it comes to the introduction of courses, it is also important to note that the College Board is solely responsible for deciding which courses it offers. In the case of AP African American Studies, the course was only created following pressure after protests over the death of George Floyd in 2020. If the goal of course offerings is to make money, scholarship and education are put on the back burner.

As a private company where the CEO made more than $2.5 million in 2020 despite financial turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is evident that the College Board’s primary goal is financial gain. The existence of AP courses is to make profit, not to educate students.

Like many people, I struggle to conceptualize a viable solution to the issue of the College Board. I directly benefited from my involvement in the AP program, a fact that I readily admit, but my situation would likely be much different if I had been born into a low-income family, was a person of color or did not live in a state that pays for all students to take AP exams.

As Americans, we must acknowledge that the structure of our public education system is inherently inequitable, especially when it comes to providing opportunities for high school students to earn college credit.

Whether the answer to the College Board problem is increased oversight via non-partisan regulation by the federal Department of Education or an increase in access to dualenrollment community college courses, something must be done to ensure that those who want it can access high-quality, college-level courses in schools.

Contact Addison Schmidt at schmac21@wfu.edu

SPORTS

PAGE 14 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Follow us on Twitter @wfuogbsports OLD GOLD & BLACK

Ian Steffensen stefip21@wfu.edu Aaron Nataline nataae21@wfu.edu Asst: Sean Kennedy kennsm21@wfu.edu

Deacon Sportlight: Sydney Smith Sydney Smith sheds light on the challenges posed by the NCCA not recognizing cheerleading as a sport LUCY ROBERTS Staff Writer

Five feet off the ground, Sydney Smith is a blur of gold and black as she drops into the waiting arms of her teammates.

The crowd is cheering wildly, but when she looks up, no one is watching her.

This is cheerleading — a side spectacle to the main show. The pretty faces on the sidelines with bright red smiles visible from the spectator stands.

Pom-poms and sparkly uniforms, ribbons and bows.

But this is also cheerleading. Death-defying flips that must be executed perfectly by every person involved in the stunt. A split with each leg extended onto the shoulder of a teammate who is on the shoulders of another. Techniques that are honed through hours of practice each week because a mistake made in mid-air can have catastrophic consequences.

“People don’t view us as athletes, they view us as entertainment — disposable entertainment,” Smith said.

The question of whether cheerleading can be considered a sport divides spectators and athletes alike, even those within cheer itself.

“I’m still in that weird transitional stage where I feel uncomfortable with calling the sport intense because I know how it’s viewed at the games,” Smith said. “But if I’m being honest, yeah, it’s an intense, aggressive sport.”

The Wake Forest University cheer team practices for about three hours, three times a week — not including weights twice a week for an hour. During the football season, game days will typically be anywhere from 8-11 hours.

“They put in quite an amount of work,” Wake Forest Spirit Program coach Christy Creson said of her cheerleaders. “They also, in addition to that, will have appearances in the community, do community service and do different community events as well.”

Outside of her cheer commitments, Smith’s schedule is filled with a variety of extracurriculars. Smith is a member of the club gymnastics team, host of a Wake Radio show, a tour guide, a resident advisor for first-years, a communication specialist for the engineering department and works a minimum of 10 hours per week in the Z. Smith R e y n o l d s Library, some of which are the closing shifts from midnight to 1 a.m.

It’s a wonder she can find the time to sleep.

“Almost anyone else on the football team, basketball team…you don’t need, necessarily, extracurriculars. Your extracurricular is what you are here to do,” Smith said. “Cheer and dance — we don’t get paid to be here…we do it because we love the sport, but you still have to add on all these extra things to your schedule because it’s not real enough.”

But it gets real when Smith and her teammates are faced with the injuries that are so prevalent within the sport. Injuries that, for the most part, go unnoticed by those outside of it.

Based on annual data from 1982 to 2018, the number of female cheerleaders’ direct catastrophic injuries for both high school and college athletes was ranked second among other school-sponsored sports.

The first? Football.

“I think there’s a stigma about cheerleaders being stupid or not real athletes, and [that] it’s not a real sport,” Johnson said.

Many factors that affect how people view cheer. Classic stereotypes often portray cheerleaders as ditzy girls whose sole purpose is to decorate the edge of the field or court while the real athletes display their impressive athleticism on center stage.

“I get it, okay — technically under NCAA standards, we’re not considered a sport,” Smith said.

But she wants recognition for the athleticism that is such a big part of cheer. It is when the skills required of these cheerleaders are underappreciated that they are denied the funding and amenities that are granted to other sports teams at the university.

A go-getter in all aspects of her life, Smith has tried to meet with John Currie, the Director of Athletics for Wake Forest, about the lack of funding for the Spirit Program.

“His assistant explained how the program doesn’t meet all the marks for the NCAA athlete standards,” Smith said. “If we did hit the mark to be considered NCAA-sponsored athletes, then you also need…a whole extra bucket of funding…the funding is, I don’t know where. Could they make it up somewhere? I’m sure they could. For whatever reason, it’s not being made.”

When asked for a response to Smith’s statement, Currie expressed that the funding allocated to Wake Forest cheer has only grown since he began his role as athletic director.

“We have significantly increased funding Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics and staffing for Wake Forest Cheer since I arrived in 2019, including additional sports mediYet, the safety measures implemented and the concern cine support,” Currie said. surrounding football players stand in stark contrast to that But in many cases, it is still necessary for the cheer team which is afforded to cheerleaders. itself to come up with its funds.

“We just got a trainer for the first time ever this year…it’s Before the beginning of this academic year, the team about time,” Smith said. went to the National Cheerleaders Association and National Without an athletic trainer, significant injuries, such as Dance Alliance camp to learn routines and new skills for two concussions, can go overlooked for weeks. Then, when the days before competing against other students on the third negative effects of the injury become impossible to ignore, day. the recovery process is delayed and more difficult.

“If you win, then you get a gold or silver bid,” Smith exBut the addition to the coaching staff has not been with- plained. “That gold or silver bid is equivalent to money, and out its challenges, too. money can send you to a competition in the spring…Wake During this season, the cheer team athletic trainer Forest cheer got a silver bid, which is pretty cool.” switched with the field hockey trainer, who then left the uniIn Smith’s view, this competition is a chance for Wake versity, leaving the cheer team without a designated trainer Forest cheer to display their athleticism and raise awareness once again. about the work that goes into their stunts.

Another teammate, Lily Robinson, said, “I think that…

“We’ve been having a very random rotation of other sports teams’ trainers being at our practices when they can people overlook the athleticism that goes into it because sometimes they may think…they’re just there to entertain be,” Smith said.

Despite the high-risk nature of their stunts, cheer has us, and they don’t exactly realize how much time, effort, once again been placed on the back burner in terms of their athleticism, training — how much skill really goes into the priority level within the Wake Forest Athletic Department. sport itself.”

Smith is focused on changing the perceptions surroundIn fact, when cheerleaders go to the athletic building for ing cheer, and not just for her own sake. a physical therapy appointment, they must wait to be let in “There have been professors…maybe their daughter is a by a staff member or a “real athlete” who has card access to cheerleader or dancer in grade school, you know, and they’ll the building. say ‘I see how hard the big girls work.’”

“So in addition to having an actual lack of resources, it’s People are watching Smith from the stands after all. also a social dynamic where you’re not real athletes,” Smith said.

Contact Lucy Roberts at robels20@wfu.edu Smith’s teammate, Mason Johnson, agreed.

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Page 15

All eyes on Omaha as Demon Deacons return to the diamond Wake Forest baseball looks to live up to its preseason honors

SEAN KENNEDY Asst. Sports Editor

Ahead of the Demon Deacons’ first weekend of games at David F. Couch Ballpark, enormous expectations fill the air around a squad that features a top-rate pitching staff and a highly touted lineup that is ranked in the preseason top ten by multiple outlets including Perfect Game (No. 5), D1Baseball (No. 6) and Baseball America (No. 9).

Along with those honors, the Demon Deacons were bestowed the honor of preseason ACC favorite along with Atlantic Division rival Louisville in the annual ACC Coaches Poll. They face the Cardinals in a three-game weekend series in Louisville in mid-April.

The Demon Deacon offense retains a majority of its lineup from last season, in which they scored in the double digits on more than 20 occasions, including four outings with 20 runs or more. Together with a pitching rotation that features names that are gaining national accolades, the team seems to be set for a run to Omaha, assuming all goes to plan.

PITCHING Simply put, junior Rhett Lowder is on fire. After a record year that saw him earn ACC Pitcher of the Year honors, Lowder enters this season as not only the presumed favorite for the award again, but it can be argued that he is the best pitcher in all of college baseball. He also received preseason All-American honors.

Lowder, who was ranked second in wins last year with 11, also had a 3.08 ERA through 99 innings pitched. His elite changeup and mid-90-mph fastball allowed him to strike out 105 batters last year. The MLB has ranked him Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics No. 14 on their overall prospect rankings list for the 2023 The Demon Deacons take the field during last year's ACC tournament. Nick Kurtz (No. 8) was named MLB draft. a Freshman All-American last year, and junior Brock Wilken (No. 25) set a career high in hits with 69.

Despite the heralded success of Lowder, the rest of the pitching staff has also seen recent success within the Kurtz achieved the honor of Freshman All-American drafted shortstop Michael Turconi last summer. Turconi, past year. Both Lowder and right-handed junior Teddy status from five different outlets last season (Perfect Game, who started every game last season in addition to being McGraw spent last summer with Team USA’s Collegiate D1Baseball, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and the named team captain, had a .314 batting average to go National Team, and McGraw has been receiving national NCBWA). After appearing 53 times at first base last seaalong with 15 home runs and a team-leading five triples. acclaim, as well. son, he is expected to remain a mainstay on the right corMultiple people will fight to replace Turconi, including McGraw, who contains an arsenal of pitches including a ner of the infield. incoming Lafayette transfer and graduate student Justin slider and an off-speed changeup, finished last season with Wilken will seek to improve upon an astounding Johnson and incoming freshman Marek Houston. Johnthe lowest opposing batting average (.203) of anyone in performance last season in which he had 23 home runs head coach Tom Walter’s rotation, including Lowder. He (second in single-season program history), 77 RBIs and a son, who didn’t see any action last season with the Leopalso placed No. 32 on D1Baseball’s Top Prospects for the career-high of 69 hits. Wilken sits at No. 21 on D1Base- ards, had a promising 1.010 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) last summer with the High Point-Thomasville upcoming MLB draft. ball’s Top Prospects list for this upcoming draft, and Perfect HiToms. Meanwhile, Houston has a chip on his shoulder The Demon Deacons also have a load of talented arms Game and Collegiate Baseball have also selected him for in their bullpen, not the least of whom is junior Camden Preseason All-American teams. He will man the hot corner this season after going undrafted out of high school. It Minacci, who also received preseason All-American honors just as he did last season, and it appears he will be batting seems as though Walters is high on Houston and will seek production from him this season.

by D1Baseball and Perfect Game. cleanup.

Another name to watch out for is sophomore utilMinacci became a key arm out of the bullpen last seaAnother impact player this year will be Tulane transity man Tommy Hawke, who can spread his defense all son, making the most relief appearances for the Demon fer and junior catcher Bennett Lee, who will replace the around the diamond (and in the outfield). The speedy, Deacons with 30. Six of those appearances resulted in recently drafted Brendan Tinsman (Los Angeles Angels) multi-faceted Hawke led the team last year in both OBP saves, and his 59 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched proved behind the plate. Lee, who earned American Athletic Conand stolen bases as a freshman. After being named a Freshcrucial in late game situations. ference Newcomer of the Year honors in his freshman year, man All-American

by Baseball America for last season’s Despite the accolades that each of those arms is bring- appeared in every game for the Green Wave last season. performance, he’ll be an integral piece to maintaining a ing to the table, there are multiple other names that will According to D1Baseball, Lee is also one of the highestprovide valuable minutes out on the mound, including touted transfers going into the season, ranking No. 30 on strong lineup throughout the scorecard.

Other names to pay attention to the starting lineup sophomore Josh Hartle, junior Tulane transfer Michael their Impact Transfers list.

Massey, junior Seth Keener and senior Reed Mascolo, just As for the interior of the infield, the Demon Deacons include senior Adam Cecere, junior Jake Reinisch, sophto name a few. return good production at second base with Brooklyn, omore Chris Katz and sophomore Gio Cueto, each of N.Y. native sophomore Danny Corona. Last season, Co- whom played a significant role in last year’s success that BATTING rona made 48 starts at second base, with a .355 on-base brought the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament. percentage (OBP) and 39 RBIs. He can get hot, as he went The Demon Deacons start their season at David F. Lowder was not the only player on the team to be select- on a seven-game hit streak last season, including five RBIs Couch Ballpark this weekend, playing Youngstown State ed as a 2023 Preseason All-American by Baseball America. over that span. on Friday, Feb. 17 and Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Hype surrounds the two corners of the infield with both If there is one spot that will be toughest to fill for the junior first baseman Nick Kurtz and junior third baseman Demon Deacons this season, it is both the leadership and Contact Sean Kennedy at Brock Wilken also being named to the prestigious list. production that were lost when the Toronto Blue Jays kennsm21@wfu.edu

Page 16 | Thursday, February 16th, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Sports

ǯ Ǧϐ 7KH 'HPRQ 'HDFRQV JHW WKHLU WKLUG VWUDLJKW ZLQ ZLWK D RQH SRLQW YLFWRU\ RYHU WKH <HOORZ -DFNHWV Notre Dame — to begin the game against the Yellow Jackets. The initial start for Wake Forest looked promising, as the Demon Deacons began the game Coming off two big conference wins, with a 13-2 scoring run over the first the Demon Deacons (17-9, 9-6) added five and a half minutes. Defensively, the to their win streak this past Saturday, Demon Deacons looked sharp as well, Feb. 11, against a competitive Georgia making it difficult for Georgia Tech to Tech team (9-16, 2-13) with a 71-70 make their shots during Wake Forest’s victory. Just five games remain in the hot start to the game. The Yellow JackDemon Deacons regular season schedets had shot just two for 11 with a little ule, so every game is a crucial opportumore than 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Down by 11 with seven minutes to go in the first half, Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner called a crucial timeout to slow down Wake Forest’s offense, and the pause paid dividends for Pastner’s squad. Georgia Tech came out of the timeout flying, going on a dominant 13-3 scoring run, holding the Demon Deacons to a 12.5% shooting percentage for more than three and a half minutes following the timeout.

Going into the half, Georgia Tech held a 38-34 lead as it continued to surge offensively, causing problems for the Demon Deacons on both ends of the court. A crucial factor going into halftime was Georgia Tech’s ability to grab offensive rebounds and create second chances for themselves — the Yellow Jackets had hauled in an impressive seven offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Coming out of the halftime break, both teams were playing at a relatively slow pace with little-to-no offense.

Georgia Tech continued to secure rebounds, with senior forward Ja’von Franklin (14 PTS, 15 REBS) leading the Evan Harris/Old Gold & Black Sophomore center Matthew Marsh slams it over the Geor- way and directing the Yellow Jackets to gia Tech defender in the Demon Deacons narrow win at home. their largest lead of the night when they AVIKAR KHAKH &RQWULEXWLQJ :ULWHU

nity for the team to boost their resume come NCAA tournament time.

“Every game is a must-win for us,” said sophomore guard Cameron Hildreth after the game. “We can’t afford any slip-ups.”

Head Coach Steve Forbes sent out his small ball lineup of Tyree Appleby, Cameron Hildreth, Daivien Williamson, Andrew Carr and Damari Monsanto — which he also used against

went up 50-43 at the 13-minute mark of the second half.

Ultimately, Wake Forest adjusted its game plan and began to attack the basket rather than just shooting from longdistance, as the latter had not favored them all night (6/22 3-PT). Hildreth, who finished with 19 points, was an essential part of Wake Forest coming back by fighting in the paint.

During the game’s tight finish, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest traded baskets from guard Deivon Smith for the Yellow Jackets (15 PTS) and Appleby (16 PTS) for the Demon Deacons With mere seconds left on the game clock, Wake Forest was down one point when Appleby drew a foul, which he converted into two made free-throws to put his team up 71-70. Georgia Tech, with no timeouts left, attempted a late, fullcourt inbound pass, but Appleby was able to pick it off, allowing the Demon Deacons to escape with the win. Hildreth and Appleby combined for 35 of the team’s 71 points.

The Demon Deacons’ third-straight win puts them at nine on the year within conference play, good for sixth in the ACC. After the game, Forbes summed the performance up with a single quote.

“We just didn’t have the juice,” Forbes said. “Halftime was motivational, but we found a way to win.”

The Demon Deacons now look forward to having a week off, allowing them to prepare for a significant matchup against No. 15 University of Miami (21-5, 12-4) on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in Coral Gables, Fla. Contact Avikar Khakh at khakas22@wfu.edu

Women’s basketball falls to NC State 'HVSLWH D VWURQJ GHIHQVLYH VKRZLQJ WKH 'HPRQ 'HDFRQV IHOO WR WKH :ROISDFN DW KRPH

IAN STEFFENSEN 6SRUWV (GLWRU

left wing. The Wolfpack used their size to their advantage and attacked the paint for their baskets. Spear continued to do what she does best, creating space from her defenders with her dribbling and nailing the pull-up jump shots. The Demon Deacons’ weak interior defense allowed NC State to score easy baskets and stay in

the contest. After one quarter of play, the two teams were tied at nine.

Senior Niyah Becker got the scoring On Thursday night, the Demon Deastarted in the second, driving hard to the cons looked to continue their winning basket and converting on the reverse laways at home, facing off against No. 22 yup. Wake Forest’s ability to extend posNC State. Williams put Wake Forest on sessions with offensive rebounds was key the board with a contested triple from the to their success. Harrison came up with the board and dished it to sophomore Alyssa Andrews for a wide-open three at the top of the key. The Wolfpack continued to attack the paint and capitalized on the Demon Deacons’ sloppy offensive play to go on a 8-0 scoring run to take the lead 21-16. Scruggs put an end to their run, backing down on her defender and finishing with a nice spin move to the basket. Harrison got her first points of the night, crossing up her defender and finishing with a nice layup. Spear connected on a deep two-pointer to send Wake Forest into the locker room trailing by one, 22-23.

The Demon Deacons have continued to come out flat from halftime, and the Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Wolfpack capitalized by going on another Senior guard Alexandria Scruggs goes up for the put- 8-0 scoring run. Scruggs continued to atback layup in team’s loss on Thursday night to the Wolfpack. tack the paint and finished strong at the

basket to end the scoring run and cut the deficit to nine. NC State capitalized on offensive rebounds and got secondchance points to maintain their lead.

Spear hit a deep three from the logo to finish the quarter down six, 38-32.

Spear continued where she left off in the third, driving to the basket and finishing strong to keep Wake Forest in it.

However, NC State continued to control the offensive glass and convert on easy put-back attempts. The Wolfpack maintained their 10-point lead with less than a minute left, and a comeback was unlikely. The Demon Deacons continued to battle, but it was too little too late as they fell to NC State 42-51.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump offensively — especially in the second half,” Gebbia added. “The bye is coming at the right time, and we need to take full advantage of it to make the most out of the remaining games this regular season.”

The Demon Deacons next face Georgia Tech on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Contact Ian Steffensen at VWH¿S #ZIX HGX

PAGE 17 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

LIFE OLD GOLD & BLACK

Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu James Watson, watsjc22@wfu.edu

Analyzing the rise in comedians taking on serious roles What makes our funniest celebrities so ripe for dramatic portrayals?

Middle.” Cranston would be on screen every week taking some new hobby or interest to the absolute extreme while viewers at home would laugh in their seats.

You can imagine their surprise when a few years after “Malcolm in the Middle” ended, they saw their favorite suburban dad dealing meth from the back of an RV. Cranston transitioned from a lovable goof to a fearful criminal. Critics and audiences alike raved about the transformation, but it also made them wonder how a person could seamlessly transition between two opposing roles.

This was not the first time American audiences saw this, however. Robin Williams was an early example of how an actor can cross the line from comedy to drama. Even today, if you were to ask Wake Forest students who Robin Williams was, many would recognize him from “Good Will Hunting” (1997) or “Dead Poets Society” (1989), two movies that saw Williams take on the role of a loving, father-type figure. However, Williams was also known for his performances in “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993) and “Flubber” (1997) — as well as his over-the-top stand-up comedy routines.

There is no better example of Williams’ range than in 1987’s “Good Morning, Vietnam,” where Williams showcased as a loud and comedic radio personality grappling with the horrors of the Vietnam War. So how does one play in these two worlds?

My leading theory is that in order to grasp that aura of a “funny person,” there has to be an inherent darkness within you that makes the comedy necessary. Comedy is a wall of defense against sadness, and no one has built that wall better than

CONOR METZGER Staff Writer

If you’ve been tuning into the hit new HBO series “The Last of Us,” you may have seen a familiar face in the third episode. Nick Offerman — known for his portrayal of Ron Swanson on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation”— took to the screen playing Bill, a survivalist who carved out his own corner of a post-apocalyptic world where fungi have mutated humans into monsters.

In the episode, the audience finds Bill running into another survivor, Frank, and the two end up creating a life together. The story has many emotional highs and lows, and critics have lauded it as a powerhouse performance from Offerman, who was previously only known as the outrageously funny and insanely libertarian Swanson from “Parks and Recreation.”

The choice of Offerman to play Bill came from showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s desire to cast a comedic actor. “Funny people have soul,” said Mazin in an interview with TV Insider.

This is something I also noticed in recent years, with some of my favorite dramatic performances coming from actors and actresses whom I usually have known for their work in comedy. I could list many examples, but three of the best examples are Bryan Cranston, Robin Williams and Adam Sandler.

If you are in my generation, chances are you’re familiar with Bryan Cranston’s role in “Breaking Bad,” but you may not know that he first became known for his amusing performance in “Malcolm in the

those who make a career out of joke-making. Robin Williams himself was known to suffer from depression and ultimately took his own life. Many were surprised that the same mind who came up with a bit about a committee that designed our reproductive organs could have even considered suicide, but what if the two are just part of a correlated relationship?

I think sadness breeds darkness, which leads people to search for any way out, and this creates some of the funniest moments in our popular culture. To give another example, you could look at Adam Sandler’s recent turn to dramas. No one in the early 2000s thought that the mind behind “Happy Gilmore” (1996) and “Billy Madison” (1995) could ever produce the man they saw in “Uncut Gems” (2019).

This was almost proven after the absurdity of “Grown-Ups” (2010) and the even more perplexing “Grown-Ups 2” (2013). Yet, in 2019, audiences saw the “Sandman” take the screen playing a hard-pressed gambling addict whose performance kept the audience on the edge of their seat in “Uncut Gems.” Did this come about merely because underneath the guy who played golf like a hockey player was a hard inner layer of anxiety and loneliness?

I think it’s a marker of truly great acting when an actor can transition from comedic to dramatic roles. And we need both.

We need dramas to speak to the human condition and to showcase the highs and lows of existence. We then need comedies to remind us that it’s not all bad and if we choose to not take things so seriously all the time, we would be better off for it.

Since humans need both of these emo-

tions, it makes sense why a good actor, who is meant to embody the human experience, would be able to express the whole range. They know that life is full of pain, anxiety and depression, but they also know that laughter is the best way to continue through all this.

We are at a weird moment in our cultural zeitgeist where people are taking themselves too seriously. Even when you look at the comedies coming out, most of them are just dramas with a couple of jokes. We’ve lost those wacky films that are not meant to make sense.

While you could argue this subject has shifted to television, I think the entertainment industry needs to cool it with the sad talk and recognize that we need both absurdity and melancholy. We need more actors like Offerman and Sandler to remind us that, just as we need to take things seriously sometimes, we also need to make fun of what’s around us to remind ourselves that life is too short to be without laughter.

As Wake Forest students, there is a real danger of getting caught up in the drama of school and parties and the future. But we can’t let ourselves get bogged down by that. Right now, “The Last of Us” is one of the most popular shows. Maybe after watching the new episode of this, though, turn on an episode of “Parks and Recreation” or an old Will Ferrell movie. Students should try to get some laughs out instead of wallowing in how the world sucks. It does, but it doesn’t mean we have to think about it all the time.

Contact Conor Metzger at metzcr19@wfu.edu

Don't answer the door to see 'Knock at the Cabin' 0 1LJKW 6K\DPDODQ V ODWHVW ¿OP ÀRSV IRU D SOHWKRUD RI UHDVRQV ALLY WERSTLER Staff Writer

Marketed as a psychological thriller, “Knock at the Cabin” is anything but.

With constant religious references and predictable plot points, this mess of a film turns into an accidental comedy.

This newest film from the controversial M. Night Shyamalan focuses on the fateful encounter between a family and a doomsday group, the latter of which believes that the death of one of the husbands or their daughter will save humanity from extinction.

The cast, which includes Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn and Rupert Grint, try their best to bring this wannabe classic to life, but the predictable, awfully-written script and questionable directing mark this as one of the most peculiar movie-going experiences I have ever encountered.

First off, I want to establish that my friend and I were the only people in

the movie theater, so we were able to laugh, cheer and talk about how stupid the film’s plot was in real-time.

That being said, we both agreed that Bautista’s depiction of the charismatic doomsday group leader was good and demonstrated his acting range, along with average performances by the other cast members. However, the positive aspects of this joke of a film end here, as Shyamalan’s script is excruciatingly terrible.

One of my biggest pet peeves while watching a film is the script not trusting the audience to understand the plot, thus the screenwriters take it upon themselves to explicitly state everything that is happening. Essentially, instead of showing and not telling, the script of “Knock at the Cabin” tells and does not show.

A perfect example of this phenomenon is demonstrated at the end of the film when one of the characters spells out word-for-word the big-yet-unsurprising twist. Shyamalan, you made it

clear throughout the movie that God is causing the apocalypse for us to die for our sins. I do not need that to be explained to me in a dull three-minutelong monologue. On the topic of this overly-religious plot, the script bangs you over the head with this ham-fisted thematic delivery, which was not what I signed up for when buying my ticket.

The worst character of this movie, a woman named Adriane, played by Quinn, combines this dull script with horrible directorial decisions and some of the worst acting I have seen in recent years. I am not sure if Adriane was supposed to sound as whiny as she did, but wow, this woman was more annoying than Annoying Orange. I have no idea why Shyamalan told her to act like she was on speed, but oh boy, Adriane reminded me of the crack-addicted drug dealer Tuco from “Breaking Bad” — but for all the wrong reasons.

The atrocious script comes into play when the mother begs for her life, saying that she had a son named Char-

lie who liked pancakes. Maybe it’s just me, but if I were on the verge of being killed and trying to convince someone I had a son, I would make a stronger argument for myself other than saying that my kid had a name and liked the most generic food item.

While the marketing team missed the mark on this one, I can safely say that they are not the only ones to blame, as this script and directing job are on the same level as a show on The CW. The shots are sometimes pretty to look at, but most moments are frequent headacheinducing camera angles. Overall, “Knock at the Cabin” is definitely not the worst movie I have ever seen, but it sure is up there. For your sanity and mine, please don’t answer the door to see “Knock at the Cabin.”

Film Score: 4/10 Contact Ally Werstler at wersaj21@wfu.edu

Page 18 | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Life

Snail Mail jumpstarts The Ramkat renaissance The indie rock artist is the biggest name to hit Winston-Salem in a long, long time MARYAM KHANUM Multimedia Managing Editor

Anyone who has spent an extended time living in Winston-Salem would probably share a similar sentiment toward the quirky little North Carolina city — it doesn’t feel real. It seems to be made up of giant parking lots, remnants of the R.J. Reynolds tobacco glory days, a downtown that feels bustling yet also abandoned and an artsy Fourth Street with stores as niche as a tattoo museum.

To give the city its due credit, there is a wealth of arts and culture beneath the surface of excessive fried chicken chain restaurants and strip malls. The Trade Street area boasts a plethora of art galleries, antiques and vintage stores that exhibit the true artistic potential of the city. It also has places like the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, venues for live performances and incredible displays of musical and theatrical talent, including the UNC School of the Arts. Yet, these spaces fall short of creating a strong art scene in the city.

Following this vein, the music scene in Winston-Salem is no different — on the precipice of being legitimate and actually cool but somehow lacking.

Any college student living in WinstonSalem is familiar with this. I don’t mean to paint the city as being devoid of any musical presence whatsoever.

Local bars and breweries such as the ones on Fourth Street, Earl’s, Fiddlin’ Fish or Last Resort often invite bands and musicians from all over North Carolina to perform, and we all know and love Underdog Records that’s right by the boba place that usually has most of your favorite artists in stock.

For more consistent live music, you can always go to Monstercade or The Ramkat, but unless you’re interested

Photo courtesy of The Ramkat

Located at 170 W. 9th Street, The Ramkat is a two-level, 11,670-square-foot, 1,000-person-capacity live music venue that has curated energizing concerts and community-oriented events since it first opened in 1843. in the underground alcoves of electropunk or neo-rock genres of music, you shouldn’t expect to be able to see artists you actually know.

This is why it was such a shock to discover that Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail would be coming to perform in Winston-Salem. Not at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, not at The Ritz in Raleigh — not even Rabbit Rabbit in Asheville.

She was coming to Winston-Salem’s Ramkat, and we wouldn’t have to drive four hours to see her.

For those unfamiliar, Lindsey Jordan, or Snail Mail, is an indie rock artist well known among epicures of the acclaimed “sad girl” genre of music (think Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Soccer Mommy and the like).

After developing her first EP, “Sticki,” at the young age of 14, her music quickly gained traction, resulting in the release of her second EP, “Habit.”

This was the project that cemented

Snail Mail into the indie rock genre, with Pitchfork featuring the EP's opening track, “Thinning,” in their “Best New Track” series. Today, she has amassed almost 800,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and her most popular songs each hold a minimum of 7 million streams.

I love Snail Mail’s music. I believe that “Thinning” is one of the greatest songs to have ever been produced.

Once I collected my thoughts after realizing that I would see her perform live, I questioned why it was so surprising that she would come to Winston-Salem in the first place.

Ultimately, it is one of the largest cities in North Carolina, and as already mentioned, it isn’t like music, arts and culture don’t exist here. However, artists never seem to come here. The last big music-related event was Paul McCartney performing at the Truist Field stadium in May 2022.

Graphic courtesy of Adam Coil

You’d probably be hard-pressed to think of a musical artist from WinstonSalem. Asheville has a solid reputation for producing indie groups such as Wednesday, Backyard Tire Fire and Elvis Depressedly; and solo artists such as Indigo De Souza. Even Charlotte is the hometown of rapper DaBaby, but it seems like no acclaimed artist has come from Winston-Salem in the contemporary music era.

However, a quick Google search shows that this has not always been the case. Applauded and nationallyknown artists used to perform in Winston-Salem all the time, including artists such as Weezer, Young Thug, Misfits, Third Eye Blind, Plain White T’s, Smash Mouth and more. What each of these artists had in common was that they’d come to perform at a place known as Ziggy’s — a music venue in Winston-Salem that shut down for good in 2016.

“I went to school at Appalachian State, and it seems like every weekend I was driving to Ziggy's (or Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill) to catch a show,” one Reddit user said. “There was a nationally known band playing at Ziggy's at least once a month.

Seems like when Ziggy's closed, Winston-Salem never recovered.”

Though the music scene in Winston-Salem is more underground and subtle now, there are still many pockets of the arts in the city to appreciate. You can find tons of bars on street corners that have live music on weeknights or that will host a weekly open-mic night for the locals to showcase their homemade talent. The fact that these spaces always have a good turnout indicates that the people of Winston-Salem appreciate music and would attend more events and concerts if given the opportunity. I sincerely hope more artists like Snail Mail will see the potential in this city and contribute to restoring its musical atmosphere.

Contact Maryam Khanum at khanmg20@wfu.edu

Old Gold & Black | Life

Page 19 | Thursday, February 16, 2022

Shrugging at the absurd Revisiting the world through the eyes of Lars Tunbjörk ADAM COIL Life Editor

Lars Tunbjörk was born in Borås, Sweden in 1956, and he was one of the most talented and powerful photographers in the world when he died in 2015. He captured the madness of the American campaign trail, the eerie loneliness of the office cubicle, the quiet oddity of the suburban neighborhood and the joie de vivre bursting through the cracks of it all. In a mini-documentary, “Lars Tunbjörk, Beyond Backstage,” you can see how unimposing his craft was — how he could blend into a scene and capture life as it really happened.

Surprisingly, the result was often something that appeared more like fiction than the reality. In this lies the genius of Tunbjörk’s work:the idea that the standard mode of life is either comedy or tragedy — it’s rarely something to digest at face value.

Photography is tied to a certain time and place perhaps more strictly than any other art form. A novel, for example, can be written over the span of a lifetime, but the flash of a camera captures a fraction of a second. It’s fair to wonder, then, why it would be fruitful to revisit a photographer who has been gone for nearly a decade. The truth is, I think Tunbjörk’s photographs are only getting more accurate and relevant. He belongs to a rare, distinguished class of artists, as he truly impacted people with his work, even though he was way ahead of his time. In short, he led his followers into a brave, new world.

Despite knowing little about photography, I have always had a preternatural understanding of Tjunbörk’s photos from the moment I first saw them. I believe most people feel the same. Like a Virginia Woolf novel or a David Lynch film, you can feel something in your nerve endings that’s

completely unique and new when you see a great Tjunbörk photo. Great artists seem to have this ability, to be able to package a universal emotion in a form or style that is so radically personal that the viewer has no choice but to view life anew. You don’t need a degree or years of analytical experience to see what Tunbjörk saw — you just have to look.

Aggressive flash and boisterous colors characterize most of his images, but it’s much more than that. His style is defined just as much by how it makes you feel as by how it actually looks.

If you scroll or flip through a collection of Tunbjörk’s images, you start to get this feeling that you’re observing humans — and the home they inhabit — for the very first time. Everything is defamiliarized and viewed in a different light. It’s like a curtain has been pulled away and you’re seeing the world how you should have seen it all along.

My favorite collection by Tunbjörk is his “Office” series.

He completed it in the early 2000s after years of traveling across the world to photograph corporate office spaces in cities like New York and Tokyo. Oftentimes, the subjects of these photos are engulfed by the landscape surrounding them. Except, instead of being swallowed up by a sublime waterfall or a towering mountain, the subjects are surrounded by wires, computers, cubicle walls, paperwork and fluorescent lights. It’s a nightmare, and it’s funny, but it’s sad, too. Humanity has created the technology that subverts itself, and in one way or another, we chose this isolation and inferiority. Or at least some of us did.

The bleak and dreary nine-to-five workday is a common trope in the media today, but I’m impressed at how Tunbjörk found something unique to say about it back in the 2000s. He understood that the tragedy of the cubicle is not the long hours or the unfulfilling work but the alienation one feels when they’re cooped up for at least five days a

week. Not only is it spooky, but it’s maddening, too. The disorientation of staring at a computer screen all day has the power to destabilize someone’s perception of reality — making them question their life altogether.

With the presidential primaries coming up, it seems especially appropriate to discuss Tunbjörk’s work covering the 2012 Republican primaries. On his assignment, he captured moments like Rick Santorum praying before a massive plate of nachos, a man covering his son’s ears at a Mitt Romney event in Des Moines, Iowa, and a town hall meeting with Newt Gingrich that was mostly attended by Caterpillar Inc. excavators. Tunbjörk described American politics as a circus, and who, in 2023, could disagree?

What I love about this series, though, is the disconnect between the politicians — or the image that they actively project — and the supporters who diligently follow them.

The supporters, gathered around their heroes, often look so serious and concerned while the politicians seem relaxed to a saccharine degree. Here, Tunbjörk is highlighting the fact that politics in America is often nothing more than an amusing game for those already in power, one in which we, the people, get to play the part of the loser — and it’s fun.

Tunbjörk didn’t have the opportunity to photograph the 2016 election cycle, the COVID-19 pandemic or the global climate crisis as it has unfolded recently, but he left us with all of the tools to interpret it. When confronting the modern world, it is best to remember that things are never as dull or serious as they appear. There are ripples of hilarity, tragedy, absurdity and vitality wrapped up in everything you see, as long as you actively remind yourself that you are living — you’re living a life.

Contact Adam Coil at coilat21@wfu.edu

Photo courtesy of americansuburbx

Photo courtesy of ARTPIL

Photo courtesy of Time

Photo courtesy of ARTPIL

Page 20 | Thursday, February 16, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Life

FROM ADAM COIL, GRANDMA’S COAT

I

FROM SELINNA TRAN, YOU TOLD ME

Y

ou told me that i was beautiful. you said it as you tucked the small strand of hair that fell in front of my face behind my ear. you said it as I was crying. you said it as I cooked dinner. you said it when we first woke up. you said it before we fell asleep. you said it when i laughed and i crinkled my nose back at you. you said it as we dozed off in front of the tv. you said it in the park. you said it. and yet, you still left.

PIECE OF PAPER

T

he other day I found a folded, tattered and nearly disintegrated piece of paper tucked (not so very neatly) in the deepest crevice of my backpack. I don’t quite remember when it got there.

I slowly unfolded the paper to find a simple note from you that reminded me that I would do well on my exam. I ran my fingers along the ridges of the paper and the ever so slight feeling of the pen on paper. I ripped it up and hoped to never think of it again.

OLIVE THEORY

T

he olive theory, popularized by the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” is Ted Mosby’s theory on finding the love of your life. The simple theory that is referenced frequently in the show is that Lily loves olives and Marshall hates them so he always gives her his olives. Simple, two halves of a whole meant for each other. However, at the end of the show, it is revealed that Marshall had always liked olives–he just chose to give his olives to Lily to bring her happiness. And that is the olive theory.

do not know why my grandma wears that coat — to say that it belongs to another age is a euphemism. It is ragged and terribly worn, and there is a hole in the pocket where her keys should be. I do not know why she wears it all fall, and sometimes in the summer, and certainly when it snows. It is green and yellow and ugly, and it doesn’t match her clothes. Mom buys her black and navy blue coats that are stylish and sleek, and all grandma does is ask for the receipt.

One day she invited me over, wanting to give away some suits that have been perfect for dust collection. As I was trying them on in the mirror, she walked up next to me, smiling at our reflection.

Why does she wear that coat? I had to ask her.

“It was the first gift your grandfather ever gave me,” she swore.

And when you’re older you’ll learn, I hope, how love keeps us warm.”

“

FROM CAROLINE THOMPSON, OLD SOULS RECOLLECT

G

rampa Ru’s recollection of his years dating his wife fills the room with that same golden brown glow, that sort of glow that a child feels when falling asleep, hearing adults laughing with friends over a table of warm brownies, beer and playing cards in the kitchen below. He told me that Flic was the kind of beautiful where when she looked at you over her shoulder he felt that someone needed to take a picture of her in black and white with an old camera to capture her timelessness, her old soul, her class, her graininess and artistic grit. Reading aloud, sitting on the floor overhearing a stranger playing piano, and racing across parking lots shaped the two of them in that most joyful of circumstances– a delight for intimacy. So they built themselves a little life on a little sheep farm that they adored oh so deeply.

A TENDER HUE

H

e sat on the third bed, the third of three twin beds in that hazy beach house room.

We sat together in that dark room, my dearest one and I, lit solely by that portable lantern light gleaming slightly on his face. He played a gentle guitar under our breath, and I watched my siblings fall in lovewith him. The chords danced with imag es of a green-eyed girl, a Father who met him on the floor in his pain and a hope that soared through the bridge’s melody. The awed eyes of the young ones watched the timid lantern light radiate with a richness only found when music meets light meets tenderness meets love.

MUNDANE BILLS They climbed trees together on their third date.

He tackled her, and they rolled down a hill when their relationship found a title. Smoking cigarettes and eating scones, they watched black-and-white movies. When they’d just met, they parked on the side of the road so dancing would not get inthe way of driving. He stayed in rooms until she left, told her he loved her and kissed her in bookstores.

Y

SELINNA TRAN Senior Writer

ou’re the only one who believes in true love,” my mom would say to me as I’d tell her of yet another silly little crush that I developed. This wasn’t the first time she told me that, and it wouldn’t

be the last.

I used to tell people that I learned the word “divorce” before “dad,” simply because of the tumultuous nature of my parent’s relationship and the constant overcast threat of the forbidden “d-word.” Despite the (nearly) excessive amount of times I heard divorce being tossed around, I knew that the intolerable and completely self-imposed sense of shame that would be placed on my family if the separation ever occurred prevented such an act. There is an entire cultural layer to this sentiment that I will not delve into today, but I will note its presence.

There is a point to the anecdote, however, and that’s to say that I never really grew up around love. If my parents were any indication of a lack of love, every single other relationship I witnessed growing up around me reverberated that love is not real. Real life meant finding someone that is just as compatible and bearable as you in order to not want to suffocate the other person in your eternal vows of marriage. Love is an afterthought and should not be an expected facet to your future relationship.

Yet, I ended up as a hopeless (almost to a fault) romantic who can’t help herself but to love love. What is a hopeless romantic? The first Google response comes from Brides.com and says, “A hopeless romantic is someone who continues to believe in love, no matter the struggles they might have experienced in the past.”

I’d say that’s a fairly accurate summation of my feelings.

There is so much in life to romanticize about, and for me, I just want to share a little bit about the beauty I see in love and falling in love.

Falling in Love This is one of the most exciting aspects of love, in my eyes, and before you’re even falling in love with someone—you’re crushing. I do want to preface before diving in deeper that these feelings are not blanket statements and do not capture the way everyone feels, experiences and gives love—it is simply some ramblings from a hopeless romantic.

A crush. When I develop a crush, I feel like the world is saturated with a layer of nervousness and excitement that permeates into almost all of my thoughts.

Thinking of the other person—-your heart skipping a beat at such simple things, like receiving a little notification that they messaged you or finding yourself distracted in class remembering the little interactions between you. That feeling that sort of bubbles up and manifests itself to be a little tense but excited—your hand almost touching theirs and the space between yourselves that is occupied by all of the potential that has yet to happen. And then they grab your hand, and the world stops for a second.

The nervousness that is associated with this other person manifests itself into a deeper sense of connection as you get closer with them, and before you know it, you’re falling. For me, this timeline is skewed because I like to protect my little ol’ heart. Like I’ve told my best friend, my heart is guarded like Bloons Tower Defense (enough to beat round 63), and it takes a lot to chip away at the defenses. But once the cracks start to form, I know that I am in deep because I love with all of my heart.

“Don’t ever give anyone 100% of your heart, reserve some so you don’t feel pain,” another wise lesson from my mom that I actively choose to ignore.

Being in Love I can’t be a self-titled hopeless romantic if I don’t hopelessly love someone. Love is fetishized and twisted around us, puppeteered into capitalistic consumption whether that be in the form of gratifying reality TV, (college) hookup culture and the constant consumption of toxic relationships on TikTok or other media avenues. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the fast-paced fetishization of sex and relationships—being in love just trumps these feelings scription for the feeling of being in love but for me, it feels like home. Yes, there exists that intense and almost crushing feeling of love that pervades all of your senses, thoughts and emotions with the overwhelming

Contact Selinna Tran at transl19@wfu.edu

Page 20 | Thursday, March 2, 2023

Old Gold & Black | Life

Believing in the dragon An ode to the person I used to be and an album I have played 228 times JAMES WATSON Life Editor

I remember where I was when the first missiles came screaming down at Kyiv, Ukraine. The days and weeks leading up to Feb. 24, 2022 were strange — uneven. Russia had amassed a sizable military presence along the border of Ukraine, and common speculation suggested war was knocking on their door.

Thanks to a robust western intelligence apparatus, the apparent occupation force was thoroughly documented by satellite photography. The satellites captured the pre-war buildup as a series of maps and grids, full of tiny black squares and little green men. For months, the world could only interpret the world through lines and dots — for a lot of people, it probably didn’t feel real.

Nevertheless, the prospect of a European land war was deeply frightening to the world.

I’m deeply haunted by this time in ways I don’t fully understand yet. A particularly vivid memory is a dinner between my friend Max and me. We discussed the intelligence community assessments and the prospect of a new European land war. Neither of us was the expert we would like to have been — at least not yet — but it was our understanding that this conflict was arriving within the next week. A violent, inescapable change was swirling, and we could sense it.

Adding to this anxiety and tumult was the social upheaval I would soon confront as a high school senior three months out from graduation. The simple, domestic notion of graduation is nothing compared to the brutal and illegal occupation of a peaceful country, but this is simply to say that everything felt weird and generally bad. Then, American indie rock outfit Big Thief’s 2022 album “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You” arrived just a little more than a week before the tanks rolled across the border.

A year later, the Ukraninans have put up a surprising counteroffensive. I am now a reasonably well-adjusted freshman at Wake Forest, and I confidently say the album was one of the most life changing and life-affirming pieces of art I’ve ever known — it found me when I most needed it.

The American folk-rock group Big Thief has been a big name in indie music for the last five years. A particular favorite among both critics and festival goers alike, the Brooklyn musicians carved out a near-perfect four-album run prior to 2022’s double album. Bandmates Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik and James Krivchenia have a tight, familial dynamic that radiates through their music. It’s rare that a band sounds so interpersonally harmonious.

Their music is the music of warm smiles, hugs, friendsgivings, self-love and intricately-curated playlists. But it’s also heartbreak, trauma and reconciliation. Their sonic and thematic versatility is a weapon, and they know how to use it. Songs like “Mythological Beauty” off their excellent 2017 LP “Capacity” emphasize their emotional resonance and melodic, moody excellence.

Their reinvention of the folk-rock tradition has established them as one of the most important, preeminent American music groups of the late 2010s.

Music critic Steven Hyden famously employs a five-album test to measure the greatness of a band. That is, if the band is able to produce five great albums consecutively, they prove themselves to be in a whole new tier of greatness. While not a perfect test — notably Bob Dylan does not pass the Hyden test despite his on-record love for Dylan’s work — it is particularly helpful in analyzing modern output in (relative) real-time.

For Big Thief, who put out five, full-length albums in six years (not to mention lead singer Adrianne Lenker’s own solo efforts) this test is especially revealing. The arrival of “Dragon,” album number five, was a big deal. Pitchfork awarded it a coveted “Best New Music” stamp alongside a sweet, sweet 9.0. Hyden gave it a gushing review in which he gave it the five-album stamp of approval. Big Thief was already great, but now they were unquestionably and cosmically great.

The singles fell into my lap sometime in January. But as someone who treasures the “album experience,” I was weary to give them my full attention until the full sprawl was available.

As soon as the first words floated out of Adrianne Lenker — “Change, like the wind, like the water, like skin” — I knew I had been seen. As the tracklist slowly opened up and let me in,

the full tapestry of noise and poetry came into focus. Then there was the cacophonic jangle of “Flower of Blood” — a song that ended up being the most played of the year.

The ominous electronic crunch of “Blurred View,” the earnest twang of “Spud Infinity,” the anthemic buzz of “Little Things,” the lo-fi, compressed drone of “Wake Me Up to Drive,” it was all there — a grand canonization of genre, sound and tradition. Every song was just as idiosyncratic and affecting as the next.

In creating this project, Big Thief had recalled echoes of great double albums of the past: Pavement’s quirky sonic smorgasbord “Wowee Zowee” or The Beatles’ colloquially titled “White Album,” for instance. Just as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had done in 1968 — stretching the “album” into a self-reflexive, postmodern sandbox with which to experiment and play — Big Thief had done it again 54 years later.

I was in love with music in a way I hadn’t felt since letting the needle drop for the first time on my worn-out copy of Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks.” Or perhaps not since hearing “The Lion King” soundtrack when I was four. Just as the critical response had suggested, they were indeed unquestionably and cosmically great.

This music was tender and evocative. It felt passed down — like I had inherited a sacred text. Emotionally, something latched onto me. To me, the title track “Change” serves as the thesis for the rest of the text. While not a clearly thematically cohesive work, “Change” underscored both the message of the entire record and the very thing I needed to hear — it was going to be okay.

I gravitated toward a particular line on the seemingly outof-place hoedown “Spud Infinity.” Lenker proclaims, “When I say infinity I mean now, kiss the one you are right now, kiss your body up and down except your elbows…” The message of recognizing the person you currently are and loving yourself for it resounded deeply. It echoed a profound, elemental love. Love for yourself, the warmth of others’ love and a love for life itself.

Indeed, that spring brought many changes both at home and abroad. The war swirled in Europe and the death toll mounted in Ukraine. Additionally, one of my best friends lost her dad, a compassionate bastion of the community who was loved by all who knew him. Exactly a month later, I graduated high school — formally closing that chapter of my life.

I spent my final weeks and months at home spending time with many people who wouldn’t follow me into this current chapter of my life — we were saying goodbye and I didn’t even know it. I’m still grieving and working through this. When I consider the emotional cost of this transition, I find myself turning back to “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You” for comfort and wisdom like it’s scripture. It recenters me, assuring me that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I’m not often comfortable doing this type of heart-on-sleeve writing, and perhaps I should work on that given I’m partly responsible for the section that publishes essays like this. But as the title of the album suggests, I find more and more that I need to believe in the dragon. I need to be content with how life’s river flows and how love fluctuates and bends. How it hurts and how it triumphs — all of it. And above all, being content with sharing and embracing it. I’m proud of the person I have become only in the nine months since graduation.

I’m a better person for believing in the dragon.

“I believe in you Even when you need to Recoil When the topsoil Is kicking up into the storm And the dust goes dancing And a billion planets are born I believe in you”

Selinna Tran / Old Gold & Black

Contact James Watson at watsjc22@wfu.edu