Season three of HBO’s iconic series provided familiar stories while introducing new faces.
+ ARTS, PAGE 8
By Emma Schieffer STAFF WRITER
Civil rights activist Donzaleigh Abernathy spoke to Madison community members on Jan. 28 at the seventh annual MLK Symposium, calling on the youth and college students to make change and keep the memory of the Civil Rights Movement alive.
The Shannon Hall event, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Student Affairs and the Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement, featured Abernathy, an actress and author. Abernathy’s talk focused on the lives of her father Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy, co-founder of the American Civil Rights Movement and her godfather, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In her talk, Abernathy recounted moments of the Civil Rights Movement including the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington and
the moments before King’s assassination. She also witnessed the passage of landmark legislation including the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.
“Uncle Martin said there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression,” Abernathy said. “There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and are left standing in the piercing chill of an Alpine November.”
Abernathy talked about specific stories, such as her house and her father’s church being bombed. She brought new stories to light that have not been taught in education, including children protesting King’s arrest in Birmingham. She shared photos of children being sprayed with water by police.
Abernathy’s career has taken her on a variety of paths including writing books such as
“Partners to History: Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and the Civil Rights Movement” and acting in shows including “Don King-Only in America” and “Miss Evers Boys.”
Abernathy also spoke about white leaders and members of the community who were supportive of the movement, including Rev. Robert Graetz, who was the pastor of an all-Black congregation in Birmingham.
She called on the audience to make change and “make a better world,” which she noted was especially crucial given current events.
“Those young hippies and progressive young white students said, ‘You know what? We’re the future. We’re going to change America so that everybody in America counts.’ And that’s what they did,” Abernathy said. “And so come you college students, young people, you all are going into the future — they can take away some rights now, but you can reinstate it.”
By Kayla Dembiec SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Following a cancellation last year due to warm weather and thin ice, Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) will hold its annual Lily’s Classic hockey tournament and fundraiser as normal on Saturday, Feb. 15, according to a post from the fraternity’s Instagram page.
Hundreds of attendees typically gather on a frozen Lake Mendota during Lily’s Classic, raising money through a four-versus-four “boot hockey” tournament to benefit Lily’s Fund, which supports epilepsy research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Boot hockey is similar to traditional ice hockey, but it is played with boots instead of skates and a small ball rather than a puck.
This year, SAE event organizers are cautious but hopeful that Lily’s will go on.
“We’re planning for it to be back to normal as long as the weather is nice,” SAE philanthropy chair Alex Orman told The Daily Cardinal. “If we have to adjust last-minute, we will, but we’re hoping we don’t have to. If the ice is dangerous, we’ll never host it.”
Last year, unseasonably warm tempera-
tures and thin ice forced the fraternity to cancel the event, upsetting students.
“I was disappointed because as a freshman last year, I was really looking forward to it, and it’s a big tradition,” UW-Madison sophomore Abby Madonia said. “I’m just happy it’s going on this year.”
Lily’s Classic has grown into more than just a hockey tournament; it’s a reflection of Wisconsin culture and a celebration of winter, students said.
“The unofficial motto of UW-Madison is ‘work hard, play hard.’ To have something to look forward to and have something to actually really enjoy is always good to have,” said Peter Freye, a senior and previous Lily’s Classic attendee.
The weather within the next two weeks will determine whether the event goes forward as planned. And students still need to be cautious if they’re stepping foot on the ice even if Lily’s is able to go on, Assistant Wisconsin State Climatologist Edward J. Hopkins told the Cardinal, pointing to multiple incidents in which people have fallen through the ice in Madison this winter.
“Right along the [edge of the] lake, you have thinner ice because the sunlight can cause the water underneath to warm up a bit,” Hopkins said.
Last Wednesday, an individual fell into Lake Mendota after walking on the ice near Picnic Point. On Jan. 21, a woman fell through ice on Lake Monona after crossing into areas marked off with buoys to warn of warmer water temperatures. Both individuals were transported to local hospitals due to cold exposure concerns.
Hopkins also urged caution as temperatures are expected to fluctuate within the next few weeks.
“This week, we’re going to see above average temperatures, but sometime next week we could get back towards below average temperatures,” he said. “We may maintain the ice currently on Mendota, but you’ve got to be careful on it.”
As of Monday, user-reported data from the Lake Link Fishing Report measured 12 inches of ice on the lake.
Around this time last year, only seven inches of ice remained on the lake. Clean Lakes Alliance Marketing and Communications Director Adam Sodersten said the lakes should have around eight inches of ice to ensure safety, especially with the large crowds expected at events like Lily’s Classic.
“When you have 700 people in a tight area on the lake, then they start behaving like a vehicle because they are distributing their weights in a very small area,” Sodersten said.
While the return of Lily’s Classic is highly anticipated, last year’s cancellation demonstrates the effect of changing weather conditions on beloved events dependent on ice coverage.
Over the past few decades, ice coverage on Lake Mendota has changed dramatically, Hopkins said. Compared to 1971, the duration of ice on Lake Mendota is 26 days fewer, and the ice freezes 15 days later.
“Growing up in Wisconsin, I’ve had ice freeze every year, so having a year where they canceled it because ice wasn’t safe or it wasn’t frozen up was kind of shocking,” Madonia said.
Throughout her speech, Abernathy made connections to current events including diversity, equity and inclusion, affirmative action and climate change, often getting laughs or applause from the audience.
“Do not let anybody tell you all that diversity, equity and inclusion is wrong,” Abernathy said. “Because of our diversity, we’re great. Because we have included everybody, and we’re seeking equity for everybody.”
The event ended with a Q&A session led by UW-Madison senior Osose Inegbenoise where Abernathy stressed the importance of receiving higher education.
“Education is the dividing line. It’s the difference between the haves and the have nots. What are you going to be a laborer for the rest of your life?” Abernathy said. “If you have the opportunity to get an education, you need to do it.”
Legislators split on DEI crackdown
By Sreejita Patra SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A call on young people to ‘make a better world’ Lily’s Classic to return after last year’s cancellation
The University of WisconsinMadison’s removal of Dr. LaVar Charleston as chief of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement (DDEEA) Wednesday raised questions among state legislators about the future of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across Wisconsin.
UW-Madison demoted Charleston amid “concern about financial operations and fiscal judgments” under his leadership, according to a statement from UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin Wednesday. Mnookin said the decision wouldn’t directly impact students, staff and faculty served and affiliated with DDEEA programs.
Charleston’s demotion comes off a slew of DEI rollbacks across the nation and anticipation of a report into the DDEEA from Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau. In May, the Republicancontrolled Legislature struck a deal with UW System to unfreeze pay raises for 35,000 UW System employees in exchange for audits into DEI initiatives across the state. The decision was made after months of pressure from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to “eliminate cancerous DEI practices on UW campuses.”
Democrats have criticized the audit and accused Republicans of “weaponizing” the bipartisan Legislative Audit Bureau “to conduct purely ideological and politically driven exercises at the behest of GOP committees.” Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, told The Daily Cardinal she is worried efforts against DEI in Wisconsin will weaken the system with legal and financial issues.
“The consequences are going to be detrimental to every sector of our state,” Hong said. “Institutions who have to eliminate DEI departments are in danger of litigation and even lawsuits from employees.”
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
The Wienermobile caught in the wild outside Mosse Humanities.
AVA MENKES/THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison students embrace cannabis science course
By Wesley Hoy & Ella Hanley STAFF WRITER & ASSOCIATES NEWS EDITOR
Social media has been ablaze after Instagram account @badgerbarstool posted that the University of Wisconsin-Madison is “now offering” a course on the science of cannabis last Wednesday. But contrary to the framing of the post, the class has actually been offered at UW-Madison for years, professor Shelby Ellison told The Daily Cardinal in an interview last Thursday.
“I use cannabis as a hook to draw students in to learn more about plants,” Ellison said. “I think a lot of people go into the class super excited to learn about drugtype cannabis production. But [students] leave the class super excited about hemp and all the industrial applications of the plant.”
“The Science of Cannabis” is a one-credit course offered every spring semester by the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW-Madison. Ellison, assistant professor in the department, and researcher of alternative crops, created the course in spring of 2020 and has been teaching it since.
The course was originally titled “The Science of Hemp,” but the name was changed in the spring of 2023 when it officially became a class. The class name was changed because the word “hemp” is a legal definition while “cannabis” is a scientific name, Ellison said.
The class is primarily used as a tool to teach students more about the biology of plants using a crop many students are interested in learning more about.
“On day one, they will get seeds, and they’ll plant seeds of different types of hemp or cannabis,” Ellison said. “It might be CBD type, grain type or fiber type, which are all very different.”
Throughout the semester, students will check on the growth of their plant.
“We have activities throughout the semester looking at plant anatomy, to be able to see the differences between the types of cannabis, and we take cuttings from the plants,” Ellison said.
Students also engage with current news and innovations in the growing hemp industry, with stu-
dents presenting each week on something in current news relating to cannabis, Ellison said.
One point of emphasis in the course is social inequities relating to cannabis, and Ellison mentioned how the criminalization of cannabis has increased incarceration of Black people at a higher rate than white people, even rates of use of cannabis are similar for both groups.
The largest project in the class is a group presentation on a new hempderived product in the field, where students research a hemp-derived product and present it at the end of the course. Topics include current research, sustainability, how to grow hemp specifically for the product, feasibility of production and current availability of the product, according to a syllabus obtained by the Cardinal.
Ellison referenced many examples across the United States of unexpected ways in which hemp is being used. For example, a Wisconsinbased company is currently working to bring hemp-based batteries to market, providing a more sustainable material for battery production.
Hemp can also be used as a strong fabric in the textile industry. Patagonia is using hemp in a new clothing line, sourcing the hemp from farms across the United States, according to Ellison.
Hemp seeds are also extremely nutritious and can be used to feed animals, according to Ellison. Recently, the Association of American Feed Control Officials approved the use of a byproduct of hemp oil production to be fed to poultry across the U.S. However, it still needs final validation for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.
“I want people to know that it’s a really multifaceted crop,” Ellison said.
One of the learning objectives of the class is for students to learn about and assess the viability of at least 10 hemp-derived products in the U.S., according to the syllabus. Chloe Zimmer, a UW-Madison alum who took the class, told the Cardinal that one of the most interesting things she learned in the class was all the historical uses of hemp.
Due to the controversial nature of cannabis and hemp in the U.S., Ellison
takes care in discussing the current legal framework surrounding hemp with respect to its history and current shifts in the industry.
The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 made cannabis illegal federally under U.S. law. However, in recent years, states across the country have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational uses or reduced the penalties for the possession or use of marijuana. Earlier this month, Wisconsin Republicans introduced a bill to the state legislature to legalize medical marijuana.
In Wisconsin, cannabis is illegal for recreational use under state law. However, the federal 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the list of Controlled Substances, which the U.S. government uses to classify drugs based on their medical uses and potential for abuse.
Marijuana and hemp are two types of cannabis plants of the same species. Hemp is defined in the 2018 Farm Bill as cannabis (and derivatives of it) with less than 0.3% of THC, the psy-
choactive component that produces the “high” associated with marijuana. When cannabinoids are extracted from compliant hemp plants, they can be used legally in products.
In accordance with state and federal laws, all cannabis used during the course is legally hemp. The course also discusses the legal gray area that allows for THC products to be sold with little legal oversight in stores on State Street, Ellison said.
Students also have the opportunity to speak with hemp industry professionals, as various guest speakers will present on the state of hemp research and legalization in Wisconsin throughout the course of the semester. Additionally, students get to speak with a researcher on industrial hemp production from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University in Wisconsin on the developing tribal rules on hemp production.
“Cannabis is a fascinating subject area to study because it touches on every single department across campus,” Ellison said.
Community members share concerns at listening session after school shooting
By Drew Wesson STAFF WRITER
High school students, school staff, religious leaders, parents and other locals voiced their concerns Monday following the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in December to government, public safety and school officials during a packed listening session at Monona Public Library.
“I never thought, you know, as a parent, [that a school shooting] would happen here. But we’re far beyond that point,” one speaker said.
The session was hosted by Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, and Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison. Officials from the city of Madison, city of Monona and local school districts listened as residents
shared their experiences working in schools and the community, highlighting their own thoughts about how to best address gun violence in schools through solutions such as mental health intervention or metal detectors.
“We [the community] also need to hold each other accountable,” said one speaker. “Check up on [kids]. Don’t just throw a telephone or laptop in front of them and expect them to know better.”
Other community members said the lack of mental health support and education negatively affects kids.
“[There is] a stigma that it’s somewhat wrong to ask for help,” said Madison Metropolitan School District School Board candidate Bret Wagner. “We need to normal-
ize help seeking.”
The rise in school shootings in the United States has prompted many communities around the nation, including Dane County, to ready themselves for a possible school shooting in their own neighborhoods. For Dane County, that became a reality just a few weeks ago, when a teenage student shot and killed two people, and injured six, at Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16.
“We know that this can’t happen again,” Madison Deputy Mayor Reuben Sanon said.
In an opening statement, Stubbs highlighted the recent work of the Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers attempting to curb gun violence.
In the month following the
Abundant Life Christian School shooting, Evers announced an executive order establishing the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, criticized the creation of the new office.
In his State of the State address, Evers also announced plans to introduce two gun control policies, but Republican lawmakers said on Jan. 22 all of the gun control measures would be dismissed.
Wisconsin Republicans have proposed their own ideas for curbing gun violence in schools, including arming teachers and safety grants. When the GOP proposed arming teachers in 2023, Evers rejected the proposal, saying he would veto the bill.
ISABELLA BAJARAS/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Full speed ahead for Amtrak’s Borealis line
By Ty Javier TRAIN CORRESPONDENT
Amtrak’s Borealis line connecting Milwaukee to the Twin Cities and Chicago has maintained a steady ridership and boasts one of the highest load factors of any train service in the region, according to an analysis conducted by The Daily Cardinal.
The route, which debuted on May 21, 2024, is a 13-stop service between Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota, with eight stops in Wisconsin (see map). Daily northbound and southbound trains operate along the route, with service beginning from St. Paul at midday and from Chicago in the late morning. The complete route, running on the same tracks as Amtrak’s Empire Builder, takes about seven and a half hours.
When the route debuted, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) estimated that 232,000 people were projected to ride the new trains in their first full year of service. In October, the line surpassed the 100,000 rider mark and has averaged 20,300 riders per full operating month.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the excitement and ridership that the new service has created and couldn’t be prouder of our partnership,” Amtrak
President Roger Harris said in an October statement. “The number of full trains, even at mid-week on the Twin Cities-MilwaukeeChicago corridor, is leading Amtrak and our state partners to look at how we can add capacity.”
Unfortunately for many University of Wisconsin-Madison students, the nearest station on the Borealis line is more than 30 miles from campus in Columbus (see map). There are no current plans to reroute to Madison, but the success of this line may help Madison gain passenger rail access in the future, officials said.
“Strong ridership from day one demonstrates the interest in passenger rail in Wisconsin and is a product of the partnership between Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Amtrak to provide this service to riders,” Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Kristina Boardman said in an October statement. “We will continue to work with our federal and state partners to explore addi-
tional passenger rail opportunities.”
One way to measure the success of a train line is a statistic known as the load factor. Load factor measures how long seats are filled for along the service, calculated as a percentage of total passenger miles over total seat miles traveled. A 100% load factor would mean the train was completely full from its origin to its destination.
In reality, passengers get on and off at stops along the route. For the full months of service Amtrak has released data for, the Borealis line has averaged a high 63% load factor, according to an analysis conducted by The Daily Cardinal (see chart).
The seven-and-a-half-hour route averages a speed of 54 miles per hour, taking longer than most routes by car. The existing locomotive used by Amtrak Midwest, the Siemens Charger, can operate at over 100 miles per hour. However, Amtrak rarely runs their trains this fast because the freight-owned track they operate on cannot support higher speeds. Upgrading the current track and grade crossings could allow for higher speeds down the line.
ANALYSIS
Former UW-La Crosse chancellor files lawsuit against UW System news
By Gavin Escott CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR
Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor
Joe Gow filed a federal lawsuit against the UW System Monday night, seeking reinstatement to the faculty position he was stripped from in September after his continued creation of pornographic films.
The lawsuit, launched in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, alleges the UW System violated his constitutional freedom of speech rights and seeks a court order reinstating Gow as a professor, as well as unspecified lost wages and other damages.
“The First Amendment protects Dr. Gow’s speech, even if it may be unpopular or contrary to the majority of public sentiment,” the lawsuit said. “Indeed, the First Amendment is most important when the danger of stifling controversial speech is at its highest.”
The UW System Board of Regents removed Gow as chancellor in December 2023 for appearing in adult film videos across multiple pornographic websites and placed him on paid administrative leave as he remained a tenured faculty member. After a UW-La Crosse faculty committee recommended the removal of his tenure, the Board of Regents unanimously revoked it “with cause” in September.
Gow told reporters after his firing in September he planned to sue because the board’s decision “violates their own commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression.”
The lawsuit names UW System President Jay Rothman as well as former interim and current UW-La Crosse Chancellors Betsy Morgan and James Beeby. Multiple regents were also named.
The lawsuit alleges Gow’s termination contradicts the UW System’s stated commitment to freedom of
expression, highlighting UW Policy Document 4-21, which grants the “right to speak and write as a member of the university community or as a private citizen without institutional discipline or restraint, on scholarly matters, or on matters of public concern.”
Gow’s lawyer, Mark Leitmer, similarly argued in September that Gow’s actions were constitutionally protected as they occurred outside the workplace and were unrelated to Gow’s position.
Leitner, who was provided by the free-speech nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), filed the lawsuit on the first day of spring semester classes at UW-La Crosse, which would have been Gow’s first day in the classroom after nearly 17 years as chancellor. In August, Gow announced retirement plans with plans to transition to a faculty position after the 2023-2024 school year.
When deciding on Gow’s tenure in June, the UW-La Crosse faculty committee argued Gow’s private conduct was “entangled” in his professional role as a UW-La Crosse faculty member, saying Gow “exploited his role as a faculty member and Chancellor to generate interest and revenue from his pornographic content for his own benefit.”
Gow expressed optimism that the lawsuit could her-
ald an important decision for freedom of speech, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the lawsuit could also get people to “rethink pornography.”
“Gow’s suit isn’t just seeking to vindicate his own rights,” FIRE said. “It’s seeking to protect the rights of faculty everywhere to engage in protected expression that their administrations may dislike.”
Independent student art exhibit draws printmakers from across Midwest
By Kayla Northway STAFF WRITER
When trying to submit his work to opencall art shows, University of WisconsinMadison junior Bryce Dailey often faces financial barriers. Shows typically require artists to pay a whole host of fees — from entry fees to shipping fees — making these opportunities inaccessible to young upand-coming artists like himself.
“A lot of shows will require you to pay a fee of $40, $30 just to submit to it,” Dailey told The Daily Cardinal Sunday. “People don’t talk about how hard it is for artists to be profitable.”
Determined to give artists more opportunities, Dailey decided to organize his own independent exhibit: the Midwest Print Showcase. As an open-call showcase, any established or emerging Midwest printmaking artists were welcome to apply so long as they resided in the Midwest or within 500 miles of Madison.
The showcase opens at the Commonwealth Gallery on Feb. 26 and will feature printmaking artists from across the Midwest. Dailey heard about the Commonwealth gallery from other artists he knew and said the gallery’s flexibility and willingness to rent directly to artists makes it the perfect place to host.
“[It] kind of ties into the DIY aspect of it,” Dailey said. “I can set up the exhibit however I want without any real rules.”
To apply to the showcase, artists only needed to pay a $10 entry fee which went strictly toward gallery rental costs, and
any profits made will go directly to the artists. Having experienced firsthand how large galleries take significant commissions or cuts from sales — making them unprofitable for artists — Dailey said he’s just looking to bring people together, not turn a profit.
In total, the show includes 17 Midwest printmaking artists specializing in screen print, etching, woodcut and cyanotype. Most of the artwork displayed in the showcase will be up for sale at artists’ discretion with a print sale on opening night that Dailey hopes will help the artists generate profit.
At 15, Dailey started experimenting with printmaking in his garage at home. Now, he mainly works with different photographs using a printing technique called “cyanotype” which creates blue-colored prints.
“Everything is such a different process with printmaking. If you talk about printmaking to a random person, they probably might not even know what it is,” Dailey said.
Through the showcase, Dailey hopes he can change that, bringing attention to a medium that isn’t often talked about and giving printmaking artists like himself an opportunity to display their work.
As a smaller showcase, Dailey believed it would be easier to attract local interest from the Madison area or around Wisconsin, but he ended up titling the exhibit “Midwest Print Showcase” with the hope of reaching artists around the wider region.
“I never thought I was actually gonna get people from other states, but I did, and it was really surprising to me,” Dailey said.
Of the 17 artists, around 10 are UW-Madison students or affiliated with the university. Many others are from outof-state, coming from states like Iowa and Nebraska, with some even driving six hours to drop off an artwork.
Dailey began planning the showcase back in October 2024.
“The biggest challenge was probably finding ways to promote it, to get the word out to artists,” he said.
To spread the word, Dailey put up flyers, sent emails to all fine arts majors and masters students he could find through the UW directory and posted it all over the internet. He even reached out to his
Intro to Serigraphy classmates. That’s where Nora Murphy, a junior fine arts major at UW-Madison, heard about the opportunity to showcase her art.
Murphy has two pieces in the showcase from a series of prints titled “Skelly’s Dream.” She created both pieces through her printmaking class in response to the prompt, “interference.” She said she was inspired by “life” and “death” and how those concepts interfere with each other.
“I drew the dandelions and the vines, because it’s kind of like life, and even the moth is sort of representing life. And then there’s the skeleton, which is death,” Murphy said.
To create the prints, Murphy scanned pictures of a skeleton and moth and used Photoshop to pixelate the images, eventually using a light table to burn the images into the screen in a process known as bitmap printing.
In total, Murphy created about 13 prints and experimented with each one, adding glitter, vines and even a cocktail umbrella. The red and blue prints she submitted to the showcase were some of her favorites.
“I just wanted to submit two different versions of it because some of them look way more similar,” she said.
Murphy’s classmate, Jordan Hogg, an art education major at UW-Madison, also has three pieces in the showcase, including a relief print titled “Two Headed Fawn” and two screenprints, “Eye of the Tiger” and “Girlhood.” Her inspiration for “Girlhood” came from an old 1960’s magazine with advertisements about women and their lifestyles. The ads discussed topics like
cleaning, clothing styles and maintaining an ideal body type.
“I really wanted to embrace that in that piece and add different elements that represented girlhood to me,” she said.
The Midwest Print show is a unique experience for all involved.
“Any other show that I’ve had has really been through [the] university, so to have one through a peer at a gallery is really cool,” Hogg said.
For Murphy, the showcase reminded her how cool Madison’s student art community is, and she is glad to have the opportunity to showcase her work.
“I think it’s just exciting for the students. It gets them excited to show their work and to keep making stuff,” she said.
As the student organizer, Dailey hopes the showcase will inspire visitors to gain a greater appreciation of printmaking and art in general.
“It just seems to me like the general public isn’t really as interested in art, and I want to inspire people to find a passion for it like I have,” he said.
The Midwest Print Showcase runs from Feb. 26 to March 4 with opening night on Feb. 28. Admission is free.
NOE GOLDHABER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
COURTESY OF JORDAN HOGG
COURTESY OF NORA MURPHY
COURTESY OF HAILEY JOHNSON
How to make your New Year’s resolutions work for you
By Emily Nordhaus STAFF WRITER
How are your New Year’s resolutions doing as the first month of the year comes to a close? Perhaps they are a memory long forgotten by Jan. 2. Maybe you’re beginning to lose the motivation to keep up with them, or perhaps you didn’t even set them because you have a history of failed attempts.
Many people begin the year with a determination to become the very best version of themselves by setting lofty, unattainable goals. But 88% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by the second week of January, according to Baylor College of Medicine. Make this year different by identifying the problem with your resolutions and editing them to be more personalized and attainable.
Why resolutions fail
Resolutions fail for several reasons, but people tend to lose motivation the quickest when they set goals that are too unrealistic to keep up with their lifestyle. Deciding to drastically change your life on New Year’s Eve likely won’t result in success because this insurmountable resolution will feel so daunting that you might not even start.
Additionally, it can be tempting to use this as a time to completely rebrand yourself and start fresh. Doing a 180-degree spin on your lifestyle likely won’t work in the long run because when the stress of life picks up, the motivation to stick to these resolutions will wane as they are slowly bumped down the priority list.
Typically, when people set huge goals for themselves, they forget that breaking them into smaller chunks will make them easier to complete. By believing these goals will magically happen when the intention
is set, they never turn into reality because there isn’t a clearly defined path to get there.
Making your resolutions a reality
We get that resolutions can be hard to keep up with, but what can we do to make our aspirations for the new year more attainable? First, try reframing how you think about setting a resolution. Instead of setting a year-long goal, try setting a goal that only lasts a month or even a week.
This year, I decided to run one mile every day in January, and the shorter window has made me more committed since I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. By splitting up the year into smaller chunks, not only are you more likely to stick to the goals you set, but you will also have more diversity in your routine, allowing you to decide what you want to continue past the window of your goal.
Start small by changing only a single part of your routine throughout the start of the year. For example, if you hope to eat healthier this year, set a goal to eat one healthy meal per day or even per week. By starting small with goals, you are setting yourself up for success, which will give you the confidence to try a bigger goal next time.
Lastly, when setting your resolutions, make sure to talk about it. Not only are you hashing out your ideas with others, but you are also building accountability. And if you’re lucky, maybe your roommate will want to join you on your morning runs!
Let this be the year that your New Year’s resolution becomes reality. By reframing your goals, starting small, and talking about your resolutions with friends and family, you are setting yourself up for success in knocking down your goals one at a time. Go make 2025 your year!
The lore behind that Oscar Mayer Wienermobile you’ve seen on campus
By Madison Moris LIFE & STYLE EDITOR
The below-freezing weather on the University of WisconsinMadison campus didn’t stop the appearance of familiar hot dogs on wheels last week.
From honking at strangers on the street to making them smile and posing for pictures, being a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer does not always have to be serious. The offi-
cial spokespeople for the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile — called “Hotdoggers” — cherish moments of levity while on the job.
“It’s like our little PR firm on wheels,” UW-Madison alum Bridget Berens and current Hotdogger told The Daily Cardinal. “You could be having a tough day, but somebody comes up to you and they’ve never seen the Wienermobile before, and you get to share that moment with
them so it’s really special.”
As I rode along with the Hotdoggers, students across campus laughed and FaceTimed their friends to show them a glimpse of the Wienermobile.
Hotdoggers drive the Wienermobiles and promote the company by talking with the media, attending events in big cities and small towns all while “spreading smiles along the way” in a 27-foot-long vehicle that trav-
els across the country.
Berens works with fellow Hotdogger Cooper Albert, known by his hot-dogging name Coop Dog, who wants this experience to help in his future endeavors.
“My focus, hopefully in grad school and beyond, will be more in brand and marketing management, and this has a lot of translatable skills,” he said.
Berens has similar aspirations for her future career. After graduating from the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications with a strategic communication degree, she wants to go into brand development.
“You learn so many soft skills in this job, whether you’re talking to 10 or 10,000 people a day,” Berens said. “We’re reaching out to media on our own, and we are going on air. You name it, it’s part of the job.”
Albert and Berens are just two of 12 Hotdoggers who were selected out of thousands of applicants to work across the country. Hotdoggers work for one-year contracts and are assigned to two regions of the country with a new partner for each rotation.
“The nice part about this job is you are in a new city every week,” Berens said.
A day as a Hotdogger could entail going to grocery stores, driving for Meals on Wheels or attending the funeral of someone who worked at Oscar Mayer for over four decades.
In addition to learning skills applicable to their future careers, both Albert and Berens have fond memories of their experiences so far as Hotdoggers.
“I have driven a kid around for his birthday before, and I actually took the Wienermobile caroling in Portland, Maine,” Berens said. “We got to go around singing the Wienermobile jingles while also going door to door to see if people wanted to donate to Meals on Wheels.”
Albert recalled his time at the horse racing track Colonial Downs to watch the first annual wiener dog races.
“They had hundreds of wiener dogs racing, and we were there in the middle of all it. There were probably 30,000 people there in total and the stadium ran out of hot dogs,” Albert said.
If you did not get to see the Wienermobile, do not worry. It will be making its way back to Madison between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30.
COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
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opinion
TikTok
good Trump’s political disruption creates more uncertainty than ever
By Maya Morvis GRAPHICS EDITOR
President Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in 2025 has been nothing short of dramatic. From his inaugural address to a flurry of executive actions in his first weeks, the tone of his administration is clear: aggressive, uncompromising and relentlessly catering to his core supporters.
By framing himself as the champion of the “forgotten American,” Trump has cemented his role as a disruptor of the political establishment. His rhetoric has fueled distrust in the media, cast doubt on election integrity and empowered a brand of politics that prioritizes loyalty over governance, leaving lasting damage to the stability of American democracy.
The message is clear: Trump’s America in 2025 is focused on unilateralism, prioritizing national interests over global cooperation. While this approach appeals to his base, it risks alienating allies and further isolating the U.S. on the world stage — a risky gamble for a country still navigating economic and geopolitical challenges.
His initial moves also reveal a presidency that risks deepening divisions at a time when the country is already struggling with polarization. One of Trump’s earliest moves was issuing a series of executive orders aimed at fulfilling his long-standing promises to tighten immigration controls. Among these actions was a directive to resume and accelerate construction of the southern border wall, a policy centerpiece of his 2016 campaign. Additionally, the administration reinstated “Remain in Mexico” -style policies for asylum seekers, requiring them to wait outside the United States while their claims are processed.
While Trump’s supporters have praised these moves as decisive and necessary for securing the nation’s borders, sanctuary cities and immigration advocacy groups have already pledged legal challenges, arguing they perpetuate a climate of fear and exclusion.
True to his campaign pledge to “unleash American energy,” Trump has rolled back environmental regulations with a renewed focus on fossil fuels. On his third day in office, he signed an executive order opening up federal lands for new oil and gas drilling, aiming to lower energy costs and reduce dependency on foreign sources. The administration has also signaled a reversal of Biden-era climate initiatives, withdrawing the U.S. from international climate commitments and slashing funding for renewable energy programs.
These moves have delighted industry leaders and conservative lawmakers, but have done little to address the immediate financial pressures faced by average Americans, along with drawing sharp criticism from environmentalists who warn of the long-term consequences for the planet.
In another bold move, Trump has hinted at imposing tariffs on foreign imports, particularly from China, in an effort to protect American manufacturing jobs. While this approach is consistent with his “America First” doctrine, economists warn that such measures could provoke trade wars and raise prices for consumers, ultimately undermining Trump’s claims of prioritizing affordability and economic relief.
In a surprising shift, Trump has also emphasized the development of artificial intelligence and technological innovation, promising significant federal investment to
is back. Let’s bury it for
By Blake Martin OPINION EDITOR
There have been talks of a TikTok ban on the basis of national security for months. To most, it seemed like an empty threat.
But by the morning of January 18th, TikTok users were preparing for the worst. Some jumped ship to Xiaohongshu, otherwise known as RedNote, a popular Chinese app similar to TikTok and Instagram, in protest. Others spent the night downloading their favorite videos, posting farewells and avoiding the inevitable. At around 9:30 p.m. CDT, the app went dark, seemingly indefinitely.
Until the next morning.
ensure the U.S. remains competitive globally. However, the administration’s simultaneous dismantling of diversity and equity initiatives have drawn backlash from corporate leaders and social justice advocates, who argue that inclusion is vital for innovation and workforce development.
Trump’s foreign policy, as expected, has been unorthodox and unpredictable. In his first week, he announced the U.S. withdrawal from a series of multilateral agreements, including the re-entry into the Paris Climate Agreement that the Biden administration had championed. Trump’s interactions with foreign leaders have also raised eyebrows, as he publicly criticized NATO allies while signaling a willingness to strengthen ties with leaders of authoritarian regimes.
Trump’s approach to communication remains as fiery as ever. He has leveraged social media and public rallies to speak directly to his supporters, bypassing traditional media outlets that he continues to label as “fake news.” His administration has embraced a combative tone, doubling down on culture war issues that energize his base but polarize the electorate.
The tone Trump has set in his opening weeks suggests a presidency defined by confrontation — whether with the media, political opponents or international allies. But his failure to address the economic concerns he campaigned on — including inflation and the rising cost of everyday essentials — raises questions about the true priorities of his administration, and whether this approach will galvanize his base enough to sustain his agenda or whether it will stress the divides that have plagued the country in recent years.
Less than 24 hours after U.S. servers went dark, TikTok crawled out of a shallow grave, leaving users with mixed emotions. While some have celebrated TikTok’s unexpected return, others have noticed that something about the app seems different. Users have claimed TikTok’s algorithm has changed since the ban, suppressing content speaking out against the Trump administration and in some cases forcing users to unfollow left-leaning politicians without their knowledge. But representatives from TikTok have insisted this is merely the result of a glitch brought on by the app shutting down and returning services on a wide scale.
While it’s too early since TikTok’s return to confirm if a censorship conspiracy is afoot, one thing is clear: we’ve arrived at a new era of even deeper mistrust with social media as a way to stay informed. If young Americans — 4 in 10 of which use TikTok to “regularly get news” — want to imagine a world where they can stay informed without reliance on social media, censored or not, it’s time to bury TikTok for good.
How did we get here?
Months prior, the TikTok ban, more formally known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” made its way through Congress with bipartisan support. The “ban” forced the sale of TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
In January, the “ban” was challenged in the Supreme Court on the basis of violating the First Amendment rights of “two TikTok operating entities and a group of U.S. TikTok users”, but in a matter of days, the new law prevailed. With the Jan. 18 deadline approaching, a scramble to save the app ensued. In the days before taking office, Trump publicly considered executive action to save the app. This came as a surprise, given that during his first term, his support for the TikTok ban was clear. With the upcoming inauguration, some believed the Biden administration would push back the deadline — to no avail. Due to a lack of clarity about the app’s status, TikTok ended service to American users on Jan. 18.
So, where did concerns of state censorship on an app once known for viral dances and lipsync videos come from?
On Jan 19., American users were welcomed back with a message reading: “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!,” leading to concerns of a new collaboration with the Trump administration. Shortly thereafter, some users took to X, sharing that searches for content relating to “fascism” and Trump’s “anti-trans political agenda” led to dead ends — and in the case of @Karlmaxxed on X, gaining the support of nearly 200,000 users.
In response to the Trump administration’s calls for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, videos tagged “cute winter boots” have gone viral, sharing tips on how to protect yourself while interacting with ICE agents and general pushback against recent executive action.
Whether or not TikTok has started to censor users since its return, one thing’s for sure: TikTok may be back, but the trust users once had in the platform is gone. If we really are approaching a new era of digital censorship, it’s time for young Americans to rethink about where and how they get their information. TikTok may have made it easier than ever to stay in the loop, but having confidence in the information you consume is worth more energy than the scroll of a thumb.
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Fire and ice: The duo taking over Wisconsin men’s basketball sports
By Josh Murphy STAFF WRITER
Expectations were low for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team heading into the 2024-25 season.
After losing AJ Storr, Chucky Hepburn and Connor Essegian to the transfer portal and Tyler Wahl to graduation, analysts picked the Badgers to finish 12th in the Big Ten standings in the preseason poll. To end its 2023-24 season, Wisconsin was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and it appeared that returning to the dance would be an uphill battle.
Fast forward to January, and the Badgers are riding high. Sitting at 16-4 and fourth in Big Ten standings, Wisconsin has already surpassed preseason expectations. So, how did this happen?
An unlikely hero in John Tonje
Coach Greg Gard and the Badgers announced John Tonje’s signing in May 2024. Tonje, a graduate student, spent the 2023-24 season with the Missouri Tigers. But, he only played eight games with Mizzou after an injury cut his season short.
Wisconsin started its season 3-0 before a match-up with No. 9 Arizona. An offensive masterclass ensued that saw Tonje score 41 points, nearly breaking Wisconsin legend Frank Kaminsky’s single-
game scoring record. The Kohl Center erupted in pandemonium after the 103-88 victory over the Wildcats, and Ab Nicholas Court was covered by the fans and bedlam. Tonje and the Badgers put the rest of the Big Ten on notice.
Tonje’s hot shooting has been instrumental to Wisconsin’s success this season. He leads the team with 18.0 points per game and has proven to be a hot hand behind the 3-point line, hitting on 39.4% of his attempts. It’s safe to say the Badgers have compensated for the loss of AJ Storr, who only averages 6.6 points per game with the Kansas Jayhawks this season.
Tonje has been on fire this season, but he isn’t the only John who has shown up big-time for the Badgers.
The emergence of John Blackwell
John Blackwell earned a bigger role for the team as a freshman last year as the season progressed. He won Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. As a sophomore, Blackwell has become a standout player on this Badgers team, averaging 16.3 points per game at a high level offensively. He has also been a strong performer defensively, averaging 4.7 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game.
Another great aspect of Blackwell’s game is his shooting ability. Blackwell has hit 48.5% of
his field goals this season, including 34.8% of his 3-point attempts. He has also made 82.6% of his free throws, contributing to Wisconsin’s status as the top free-throw shooting team in the nation thus far. Blackwell’s poise as a shooter and in clutch situations has made him one of Wisconsin’s brightest young stars.
Fire and ice
The Badgers’ success this season is no fluke — they truly have found something special, particularly with the duo of Tonje and Blackwell. The tandem has been so special that they deserve a nickname, and “fire and ice” is the perfect fit.
Tonje embodies “fire” due to his explosive shooting ability and the energy he has brought to this team as a transfer. He has scored over 20 points in six games this season, including two games where he scored over 30. Tonje has provided a spark to this Badgers team that desperately needed it following the departure of several key players this past offseason.
Blackwell represents “ice” thanks to his composure and smooth shooting. He is only a sophomore, but he has taken on a bigger role for the team than multiple older players. His maturity as a player and ability to perform under pressure will make him a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten for years to come.
Tonje and Blackwell have been standout performers, but they are not a two-man show. As a whole, this Badgers team is playing phenomenally. They currently average 82.5 points per game and 15.3 assists per game, and they shoot 47.2% from the field and hit on 36.2% of their 3-point
attempts. For comparison, the 201415 team that played in the National Championship averaged 71.9 points per game, 12.7 assists per game, shot 48% from the field and hit on 35.7% of their 3-pointers.
The hype is real, and it’s time to buy into the Badgers.
Men’s hockey finds mixed results in series against Michigan to start Big Ten run
By Abigail Bures STAFF WRITER
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team (11-12-3) began their five-series run of Big Ten matchups this past weekend against Michigan (record), winning the first game and tying the second at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin found similar results the last time they competed against the Wolverines in December, when they won the first game and lost the second in overtime in Ann Arbor. In their second match-up of the season, Badgers fans showed up for Wisconsin.
Saturday night was the highest-attended game of the season with over 13,000 fans filling the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin went into these games on a four-game win streak, the highest they’ve had this season. While the Badgers faced deficits both nights, they managed to keep the crowd excited with a few comeback scores.
Down 4-2 in the second period of Friday night’s game, Wisconsin made a threegoal run to win the game. Saturday night, the Badgers were down at two significant times, once at 3-1 and once, toward the end, at 4-3. They came back to tie the score 4-4.
Game one
The Wolverines started the game off strong on Friday night with a goal from former Badger William Whitelaw only a minute and a half into the first period.
During a power play halfway through the period, Wisconsin forward Christian Fitzgerald responded to Michigan’s lead with a goal of his own.
Junior forward Simon Tassy received a pass from freshman forward Gavin Morrissey and looked to shoot close to the net before dumping the puck back out to Fitzgerald. For his fourth goal of the season, Fitzgerald sunk a shot from the right circle to tie the game 1-1.
The rest of the first period remained electric as two more goals were scored, one by Wisconsin and the other by Michigan, to keep the game tied 2-2.
Badgers freshman defender Logan Hensler scored his second goal of the season, his first during the previous week’s games against Long Island University. But Michigan tied the game heading into the second period with a goal from freshman defender Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen.
The Badgers had five power play opportunities in the first and second periods, capitalizing on two. Michigan only got one chance for a power-play goal Friday night, and junior forward T. J. Hughes used the advantage to increase Michigan’s lead to two.
The Wolverines’ Ethan Edwards made the next score of the game, followed up by Wisconsin sophomore forward Owen Mehlenbacher. This was the second power-play goal of the night for the Badgers and Mehlenbacher’s first power-play goal of his career.
Down 4-3 in the third period, Tassy
scored his third goal of the season for the Badgers to tie the game. Junior defenseman Ben Dexheimer shot first, and, through a scramble of Michigan defenders around the net, the puck found Tassy’s stick and shortly after, the back of the net.
With just over three minutes to go, the Kohl Center energy peaked over the tied score. No penalties were called during the final period, and Wisconsin dominated offensively. Before the winning goal, Wisconsin won five faceoffs and made two shots on goal while Michigan recorded no moves.
At 3:09 on the clock, Fitzgerald scored his second goal of the night to put the Badgers into the lead, 5-4. Credited with the assist, Badgers forward Tyson Dyck intercepted a desperate pass from Michigan and made a quick slide to Fitzgerald who shot from the left side and banked the puck off of the post past the Wolverines goalie.
Head coach Mike Hastings said there hasn’t been a lack of effort in Fitzgerald’s game, and the success seen tonight is due to his hard work.
“It’s great to see him have some success tonight and have the game reward him for all the work that he’s been doing,” Hastings said after the game. “Hopefully, this fuels that fire.”
This game ended similarly to the last time Wisconsin met Michigan at the Kohl Center. The Badgers were down 4-2 by the middle of the second period. They scored on a power play just before the second ended and managed to wring out two more goals in the last five minutes of the third period to win 5-4.
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arts
‘The
Brutalist’: An ode to dispossession in America
By Joseph Panzer SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Content warning: “The Brutalist” contains heavy referencestotheHolocaust,drug abuse and sexual assault.
Dispossession and pain are the words most apt to describe “The Brutalist,” the decadespanning epic from actorturned-director Brady Corbet.
László Tóth, a HungarianJewish architect who survived the Dachau concentration camp, is the film’s protagonist. A man already broken by the horrors of the Holocaust and physically separated from his wife Erszébet and niece Szófia, he fights a heroin addiction that one suspects is intended to drown out the hell of the camps.
As soon as Tóth makes his way to Pennsylvania to meet his immigrated kin, he is met with reminders of his outsider status: his cousin Attila has changed his last name to Miller and converted to Catholicism upon marrying his wife, with whom he runs a furniture store. When he is contracted by wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren to design and construct a community center, the central conflict of the film begins.
While his motivation for becoming an architect is hinted to be without reason, it is heavily implied that it is connected to the lack of belonging he feels as a Jewish person.
Tóth’s relation to Judaism and his society’s prevailing antisemitism are the most
gripping parts of the film. We see him not only grimacing in pain attending synagogue, but being continually derided by Van Buren as a “leech” on WASP society, an outcast from the nation of immigrants.
This same internalized pain that Tóth feels is off-screen expressed by the looming specter of Zionism and the prospect of immigration to Israel as some escape. It is in these moments that Corbet makes one of the film’s most divisive political statements: that Zionism is a philosophy born out of suffering and dispossession in an attempt to carve out a place in the world for a long-persecuted people.
This is contrasted with Tóth’s disillusionment of the American Dream, where Corbet offers a glimpse into how arrival in a supposed promised land can quickly turn sour. This moral grayness toward Zionism has stirred controversy among critics seeking to place the film into a neat political box.
Instead, Corbet explores reasons why Zionism was able to spread across Jewish communities after the Holocaust, letting the audience draw their own conclusions. Viewing the unique pain of immigration and discrimination makes the film’s colossal runtime fly away and lets us ruminate on the long-lasting repercussions of the 20th century’s atrocities. The film premiered during Israel’s war in Gaza, and Corbet has used its press tour
‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ season three: We are the fifth roommate
By Cameron Schneider PHOTO EDITOR
Spoiler alert: This article will discussspoilersforseasonthreeof “TheSexLivesofCollegeGirls.”
Many feared “The Sex Lives of College Girls” would struggle to find its footing following the departure of Renée Rapp’s beloved character Leighton. But in its third season, the titular girls close out the start of sophomore year with no loose ends while introducing new characters and storylines to fill the Leighton-sized hole in the show’s heart.
The HBO series follows roommates Bela (Amrit Kaur), Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) as they navigate their college years at Essex University, a fictional Ivy League school. The show’s conflict is driven by the melodrama one might experience in their own college career, making its comedy even more relatable.
The show struggled for a moment with Reneé Rapp’s departure in the second episode. Leighton transfers to pursue math at MIT while also following her girlfriend to stay together. The show has to take more time to introduce new characters in her absence. The new status quo is not cemented until halfway through the season, leaving a bad taste with those who adore the old relationships between characters.
to urge distributors to secure a U.S. release for “No Other Land,” a documentary by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers on the illegal occupation of the West Bank.
“The Brutalist” would be nothing without the performances of the lead cast with Adrien Brody masterfully mumbling, chain smoking and wincing his way through his role as Tóth, communicating an unbearable sadness with his eyes through all three-and-ahalf hours. Guy Pearce so utterly embodies the sinister nature of mid-century capitalists in his speech and movements as Van Buren that it’s easy to forget this is only an actor.
In mentioning the performances, it is important to note the AI tool Respeecher was used to correct the sound of vowels in scenes where Brody and Felicity Jones speak Hungarian. It is hard to assess if the tool had a significant impact on the authenticity of the acting itself, but it is ultimately lamentable and opposed to the theme of creation that a digital crutch was used to imitate an accent that could otherwise be done with dialect coaching.
“The Brutalist” is a moving work of art that captures the deep pain of dispossession and the long-lasting mental scars of the Holocaust on the Western world in increasingly subtle ways until a final denouement provides a coda sure to haunt the audience for a long time to come.
The show replaces Leighton’s departure with another roommate Kacey (Gracie Lawrence) and new “freshthem” Taylor (Mia Rodgers).
In the simplest terms, the two fill in for Leighton’s superficial taste and queer experience, respectively. These archetypes are not turned into fully fledged characters until episode five, already halfway into the 10-episode season.
Kacey is introduced as a passiveaggressive roommate replacement who is obsessed with her long-term boyfriend, whom she is saving herself for. Her mother’s arrival for the parent’s day episode at the season’s midpoint provides background information that expands her character, as the influence of her mother is revealed to be the reason why she places such high importance on appearance and presentation.
Taylor, an outspoken British student who struggles with alcoholism, starts out as a member of Bela’s social circle when Bela becomes a resident assistant. Taylor mostly
interacts with the other roommates because Bela lets her hang around their suite due to roommate conflicts. Taylor feels like a one-for-one swap for Leighton until the audience is shown glimpses of poignant storylines of her own in the back half of the season.
After the midpoint of the season, both Taylor and Kacey become beloved parts of the group and lead stories of their own. Taylor finds a queer relationship worth her time and makes progress fighting her alcoholism thanks to Bela’s guidance. Kacey navigates what it means to develop meaningful romantic and platonic relationships.
The messaging of the final episode is so clear that a single quote from each character could summarize their season long character arcs. Whether that be understanding that superficial validation doesn’t determine your worth as a person or that you do not need to “hustle” at the expense of your mental health, the finale brings about a satisfying end to the season.
The season finale ends with Kacey performing a beautiful rendition of “Never Enough” from “The Greatest Showman” during the university’s musical. The scene not only shows Kacey admitting the struggle she felt about feeling ready to lose her virginity, but it also serves as a backdrop for other key moments.
Bela comes out to her mother as bisexual, Whitney faces the Essex athletic board about mental health, Taylor calls her estranged mother and Kimberly reconnects with a past love interest. Although scenes are cut together a little too quickly in order to fit in so many resolutions, it is welcome for a show to not drag out too many storylines.
With every character resolving all their conflicts, what happens now? Showrunner Justin Noble provided hope for a future season when he told TV Insider the crew “didn’t build [season three] to be the final season.”
The show stays true to the college experience. It provides a comedic reflection of what students go through while growing social and professional relationships. It also does not shy away from the very real difficult parts of being on your own as a young adult. Here’s to hoping a fourth season of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” will be added to the pantheon of great television comedies.
