The Reveille 2-01-24

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JUST WRIGHT Jordan Wright emerges as LSU’s leader.

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B-16 Hodges Hall Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, La. 70803

Baton Rouge-bred: From high school legend to LSU leader

BY JASON WILLIS @JasonWillis4 Most athletes wouldn’t make fundamental changes to their game in their fifth year of college.

Most athletes, though, aren’t Jordan Wright.

In this, his final year of collegiate eligibility, Wright is still adding to his repertoire as he tries to help boost an LSU team in the midst of a rebuild.

He’s slimmed down from last season, allowing him to move with more speed and force, which is most noticeable in his highlight reel dunks and blocks in transition.

He’s also taken the next step as a 3-point shooter, having hit 36.3% of his shots from deep so far this season on a healthy 5.1 attempts per game. In his prior season, Wright made 31.3% of his 3-pointers.

“Credit to him, I think he’s put a lot of work in,” LSU head coach Matt McMahon said early in the season. “He’s just relentless in his approach to improving his consistency beyond the arc.”

Though it’s become a cliché, Wright is a first-in, last-out player and often beats McMahon to the gym in the morning. Going the extra mile is just the norm for him.

It’s that work ethic that made Wright a great player going back to his prep days at the Dunham School in Baton Rouge, and it’s why Dunham officially retired his jersey on Monday night.

‘He put us on the map’ The Dunham School’s gymnasium was standing room only, with Wright’s teammates, both past and present, gathered among the many to see his No. 32 jersey hung on the arena’s walls.

Wright looked gleeful as he waved to old friends in the stands and hugged his former coaches, Jonathan Pixley and Chad Myers. “[Without Jordan], the players that were here don’t work like they worked,” Pixley, who stepped down as head coach in 2021 to make way for Myers, said during the ceremony. “The standard would not be what it was.”

“I never thought this would even be possible,” Wright said after the jersey was unveiled, making him the first Dunham basketball player to have his number retired. “This is something that I couldn’t even have dreamt of as a kid.”

Wright’s resume at Dunham speaks for itself: He’s the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, and he kick-started the most successful run in Dunham basketball history.

He led Dunham to three straight appearances in the LHSAA Division III State Championship game, winning one in his junior year in 2018, Dunham’s first championship in basketball since 1998. Dunham would appear in and win two more Division III championships consecutively after Wright’s graduation, something he helped set the foundation for.

For his performance in the 2018 championship run, Wright was named the most outstanding player of the state tournament, in addition to being a three-time All-State and district MVP. “He put us on the map,” Myers said. “Everybody now knows who Dunham basketball is to this day because of the stuff that he and his teammates did.”

Myers was an assistant coach for Dunham under Pixley when Wright played from 2015-19, and said he and Pixley knew Wright was their best player even as a freshman.

Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, Wright was the type of player who might get pigeonholed into playing as a back-to-the-basket, traditional big man in a smaller high school division. Pixley and Myers, though, noticed Wright’s unique vision as a passer.

“Most people [would say], ‘Oh, just put him in the post,’ or whatever. Well, no, he’s not a post player.

He’s a guard,” Myers said. “Really and truly, he was probably our best point guard.”

As a freshman, Wright quickly adjusted to the speed of the game, showing off the playmaking chops that Pixley and Myers had seen as Dunham fell in the state quarterfinals.

“He did a great job of trusting his teammates, even at times when maybe he shouldn’t have,” Myers said. “That gave those other guys so much confidence.”

Wright’s abilities to elevate the play of those around him, as well as his own investment in diversifying his shot selection – he worked with Pixley to mix in stepbacks and floaters and improve his outside shot – were the driving force of Dunham’s incredible three-year run that followed.

His talents extended off the court, where he was a 4.0 student while taking Advanced Placement and honors courses. Academics were never secondary for Wright or for his mother, who Pixley said wouldn’t hear his pitch for Wright to come to Dunham until she was assured that his education would be in good hands.

“He is the true definition of a student-athlete,” Myers said. “He didn’t coast. He took care of his business in the classroom, he took care of his business on the court.”

Perhaps nothing better illustrates Wright’s commitment to scholarship than the fact that his final two choices for college were Tulane and Vanderbilt, two elite academic institutions. Wright, a threestar recruit according to 247Sports, ultimately chose to play for the Commodores under first-year head coach Jerry Stackhouse.

Even as he moved on to bigger things, Wright didn’t forget his roots. Myers says he consistently stays in touch and always asks about his children by name.

“He’s not too big for anything,” Myers said. “When he comes back to Dunham, it’s like he never left.”

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MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

LSU men’s basketball graduate student guard Jordan Wright (6) leaps with the ball Oct. 30 during LSU’s 132-44 win against Louisiana Christian in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. Homecoming At Vanderbilt, Wright entered a program coming off a 9-23 season, including an 0-18 record in Southeastern Conference play. By the end of his four years in Nashville, Wright had helped take the Commodores to the National Invitation Tournament twice and stayed the course for a program on the mend.

Of course, he did all of that while also making the SEC’s academic honor roll three times and being named the SEC’s scholar-athlete of the year in 2022.

When he made the decision to exercise his last year of eligibility as a graduate student and transfer back home to LSU, he once again faced a difficult challenge. The Tigers went 14-19, 2-16 in conference play the year prior.

It wasn’t unfamiliar territory for Wright. He elevates programs: it’s what he does.

Wright averaged a respectable 9.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals during his time as a Commodore, but he’d never truly been the No. 1 option at Vanderbilt.

Instead, he’d been a jack-of-all trades type player: an elite defender and a great, hard-working rebounder, despite his size relative to opposing big men. He’d been the glue for his teams and a key on-court leader.

With expected lead guard Jalen Cook ineligible to play to start LSU’s season, Wright had to assume the top role. That’s where the improvements he’d made during the offseason, getting into better shape and working on his shooting, were most instrumental.

“It’s strange to say as a fifth-year senior, I think his practice habits have gotten better as the season’s gone along,” McMahon said.

“I think that’s become contagious throughout our team.”

Wright drew from his work habits he’d gotten from his time at Dunham, where Pixley and Myers had made him “buy in,” including talking to him about his diet and weight.

“We knew he was talented, but he had to put in the work to get to that next level,” Myers said. “Not just rely on just pure talent, because that’s not going to work.”

As diligent as Wright is in the gym and as much as he’s mastered the hustle categories of the game, make no mistake: He’s a star, not just a gritty role player who bridges talent gaps by effort alone.

This season has been a career year for Wright in points (15.6 per game) and assists (2.7), and he leads the team in rebounds with 5.2 per game. While he’s had some inefficient games and taken some bad shots, it’s clear he’s taken the next step as an offensive engine.

He’s gotten to the basket with ease this year and has had his best season from beyond the arc, despite taking plenty of difficult shots and carrying a greater offensive load.

In addition, he continues to be the team’s best player on the defensive end, ranking No. 3 in the SEC in steals with 2.1 per game.

In LSU’s conference opener, a win at Texas A&M, Aggies coach Buzz Williams came away stunned

by Wright, remarking that Wright’s 20-point, 10-rebound performance was SEC player of the year-caliber.

“He’s really hard to guard,” Williams said. “He plays with such great force. However you want to handle the ball screen, whatever your decision is, he can beat you with power.”

Wright has also had games of 33 and 27 points, but perhaps none of his performances were more meaningful than his 15-point night against his former team, Vanderbilt.

“It was very important for me to get this win,” Wright said after the game, a 77-69 home victory for LSU. “I really, really, really wanted this win.”

LSU, currently 11-9 with a 3-4 record in the SEC, is clearly a significantly improved team. Much of that is due to Wright, who has his hometown Tigers at least within striking distance, with a strong finish, of an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

That may be surprising to some, but not to those at Dunham or to Chad Myers, who saw him grow into the player he is.

“He has not exceeded our expectations,” Myers said. “This is what we thought of him the whole time.”

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CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS The previous edition’s article on Student Government misspelled Student Senator Lailah Williams’ name. The online version has been updated to reflect this change.

ABOUT THE REVEILLE The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication.

A single issue of The Reveille is free from multiple sites on campus and about 25 sites off campus. To obtain additional copies, please visit the Office of Student Media in B-39 Hodges Hall or email studentmedia@ lsu.edu. The Reveille is published biweekly during the fall, spring and summer semesters, except during holidays and final exams. The Reveille is funded through LSU students’ payments of the Student Media fee.

NEWS Voting case ‘WORK TO BE DONE’ rights reopened

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POLITICS

Student Senate resolution would request online DEI statement

BY CROSS HARRIS @thecrossharris

A resolution proposed at Wednesday’s Student Senate meeting would request the university add an “expansive” diversity, equity and inclusion statement to the Student Government website.

The resolution’s author, Sen. Chloe Berry from the University College of Freshman Year, said the legislation would provide SG with a diversity, equity and inclusion statement even if other parts of the university system don’t have one.

Sen. Berry said she’d seen students present concern in recent weeks over the removal of online DEI language. As student senators, she added, it was important that they show the student body they’re listening.

In early January, LSU removed DEI language from much of its online presence in a wide-scale scrub. The university deleted its long-standing diversity, equity and inclusion statement, and renamed the Office of Inclusivity, Civil Rights and Title IX to replace the word inclusivity with “engagement.” Several colleges within the university also removed DEI language from their online presences.

The erasure has drawn criticism from LSU students and professors alike. Some have pointed to the early January inauguration of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the early January DEI scrub as more

BY WESLEY MULLER Louisiana Illuminator

or at least predicted it in some way, and changed the name.”

LSU President William F. Tate IV has staunchly maintained that the removal was not influenced by any politician. He has, however, spoken on the wide-ranging and political nature of DEI language disputes and the Supreme Court’s recent decision to ban affirmative

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a decades-old voting rights case that established the only majorityBlack state supreme court district in Louisiana, according to the court’s docket Monday afternoon.

In a rare move Monday, the 5th Circuit granted a petition from the State of Louisiana for a rehearing en banc in Chisom v. State of Louisiana, a gerrymandering lawsuit that stems from the 1980s. During the 2021-2022 judicial year, the 5th Circuit granted only 2% of requests for en banc rehearings, according to the clerk’s annual report.

In the original lawsuit, Black voters argued the Louisiana Legislature gerrymandered the Louisiana Supreme Court districts by packing Black neighborhoods into majority-white districts.

After protracted litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the state eventually agreed to a consent judgment in 1992 that settled the case by creating Louisiana’s only state supreme court district where Black voters have a chance of electing a candidate of their choice. Associate Justice Piper Griffin currently holds the seat, which is based out of New Orleans.

see STUDENT GOV., page 4

see 5TH CIRCUIT, page 4

MATTHEW PERSCHALX / The Reveille

Student Senator Chloe Berry speaks about her DEI resolution on Jan. 31 in the LSU Student Union in Baton Rouge, La. than a coincidence. The university has said there is no connection.

LSU political science professor Belinda Davis said she thought the change was a direct result of the new governor and a supermajority of Republicans in both chambers of the state legislature.

“The Republican Party in Louisiana and Gov. Landry has expressed hostility towards diversity, equity and inclusion programming,

and I think that LSU is responding to the political reality that it now exists in,” Davis said.

SG Director of Academic Affairs John Michael Sweat also connected Gov. Landry’s recent transition to office with LSU’s recent change in language.

“The president of the university meets with the governor’s office a lot,” Sweat said. “And I’d be willing to bet that they talked about that,

CAMPUS LIFE

The mystery of Memorial Tower’s long-missing original chimes

BY MORGAN CARTER @lsureveille For decades, 18 metal chimes rang out of LSU’s Memorial Tower, filling campus with the “Westminster Quarters” every quarter hour.

Renovations in the 1980s changed this, replacing the original chimes with the electronic speaker system that rings out over Tower Drive to this day.

When the electronics went in and the chimes were removed from the spire, a mystery was sparked. The original bells were lost, said Tammy Millican, LSU’s executive director of facility and property oversight.

“When the tower was remodeled in the 1980s,” Millican said, “the chimes mysteriously vanished.”

Facility Services no longer has the records holding the specifics of the 1980s renovations and no one still working at the university knows anything about the tower’s renovation, Millican said. She said the exact date

when the chimes went missing is unknown.

“I do know,” Millican said, “the original chimes notes were recorded to get the correct tone for the new system.”

The Gumbo Yearbook for the class of 1986 has references to large construction projects across campus to beautify the area around the football stadium. There are no similar projects mentioned in the yearbooks for the rest of the ‘80s.

If the tower’s renovation occurred during the 1986 academic year, this would align with the timeline Facility Services is aware of. However, the mystery grows with information provided in yearbooks from the previous decade.

In the class of 1976 edition of the Gumbo Yearbook, a question is posed to its readers.

“Did you know the chimes in the Bell Tower are not rung by a little elf?” The Gumbo asks.

“Much to many students’ disappointment, they’ve discovered the chimes are taped.”

These lines in the yearbook imply the chimes system have been electronic for longer than the 1980s estimate.

Due to lack of access to old records and people who worked on the renovations at the time, the exact date of the disappearance and where the original chimes went remain a mystery.

Millican said the original Deagan chimes weighed 550 pounds each, around 5 tons in total, and hung vertically at the top of the tower since it was finished in the 1920s. In total, the set would have cost $10,000 at the time, or $150,000 today, Millican said.

Since it was complete, Memorial Tower has had several renovations, including the ones in the 1980s and, the most recent starting in 2018, Millican said.

When renovating Memorial Tower, challenges arise. Paul Favaloro, project manager for the tower’s most recent renovation, said that the site is difficult to access and that working on an active college campus causes

disturbances.

“Renovations are more surgical than new buildings starting from the ground up,” Favaloro said.

The project spanned two years and focused on the exterior of the tower, Favaloro said.

He said that they also worked on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing updates the building needed, and that the clock face was refurbished.

Millican said the renovation gave the tower a “complete facelift” before the William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum moved into the space at the base of the tower.

James Gregory Jr., director of the military museum, said since he started working in the building in June 2023, he hasn’t seen the person who maintains the clock’s electronics.

Millican said a maintenance manager checks the electronic chime system monthly. While the speakers are at the top of the tower, a large computer is housed in a room in the building

beneath the tower and runs the clock above.

Three locked doors, two stairwells and a ladder stand between the building beneath the tower and the speaker system – with the occasional graffiti and “stairs” sign, despite the fact that there is nothing else in the tower but stairs.

The maintenance manager is not the only one who climbs up to where the speakers are held.

Gregory said he goes up the tower every two weeks to check a drain is working.

Gregory said he never needs a leg day because it’s “one hell of a hike” to the top.

He said some older alumni ask to go up the tower. The tower is not open to the public, but because of how frequently he gets the requests, Gregory said people might have been able to climb the tower in the past.

Memorial Tower holds a significant role in LSU’s campus and culture, standing tall over

see MEMORIAL TOWER, page 4

Thursday, February 1, 2024

page 4 5TH CIRCUIT, from page 3 However, the state, through then-Attorney General Jeff Landry, moved to dissolve the consent judgment in 2021 ahead of the legislature’s special session on redistricting the following year.

Landry, a Republican who now serves as Louisiana’s governor, argued that the state no longer needs a federal court to force it to comply with the Voting Rights Act. He further argued that the consent

STUDENT GOV., from page 3 action in university admissions.

“We most certainly have paid attention to the ripple effects,” Tate said at a Faculty Senate meeting this month. “It has happened to campuses across the country, and we are keenly aware of it.”

While DEI has disappeared from much of the university’s online presence, SG’s executive branch so far retains its Department of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

The department’s director, political science senior Reginald Rideaux called the university DEI deletion “disappointing” in an interview with the Reveille.

“It almost seems as though you’re taking away those students’ existences, in a sense,” Rideaux said.

Rideaux’s DEI Department is

judgment was only meant to be temporary and is being incorrectly used as a “perpetual federal check on the State.”

A district court initially declined the state’s request, but the state appealed to the 5th Circuit, where a three-judge panel also initially rejected the state’s arguments. On Monday, however, all 17 of the active judges at the 5th Circuit vacated that panel’s opinion and ordered a rehearing of the case. This time, the hearing will

take place before all of the judges.

A date hasn’t yet been set.

The development comes on the heels of Landry’s recent decision to call a redistricting session earlier this month and press his Republican colleagues in the legislature to add a second majority-Black congressional district, which they did.

Attorneys involved in the lawsuit weren’t immediately willing to comment Monday afternoon as they were still reviewing the court’s order.

now planning a week devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion for this semester. The event will be a celebration of LSU’s diverse community and reaffirmation of their commitment to equality and diversity, Rideaux wrote in a message to the Reveille.

The Senate has sent Sen. Berry’s DEI resolution to committee, where it will be considered, then sent back to the Senate for a vote at a future meeting.

Berry said Wednesday if more people and organizations speak out to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at LSU, there’s a better chance that the university will understand the impact their removal has had and will continue to have on campus.

“The work is still very important,” Berry said. “And there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially in Louisiana.”

Student senators listen to meeting business Jan. 31 in the LSU Student Union in Baton Rouge, La.

MEMORIAL TOWER, from page 3 the university, with chimes that can be heard across campus. The tower is one of the oldest buildings on campus and the site of many traditions.

Jason Jaunet of Metairie, Louisiana, who attended LSU in the late ‘90s, said the tower is a staple of LSU life. He said that he proposed to his first wife under the bell tower and that he’s always appreciated the building.

Jaunet is not the only one who thinks of Memorial Tower as a romantic site. The chimes play later than usual on Valentine’s Day for students who kiss in the tower’s forum at midnight, Millican said.

However, Jaunet said that, to him, the missing chimes are not a big deal and that he has no emotional attachment to the ringing of the chimes.

“It’s the structure more than anything,” Jaunet said.

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

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Krewe of Artemis Downtown Baton Rouge The first and only all-female krewe in Baton Rouge, the Krewe of Artemis will be rolling in downtown Baton Rouge at 7 p.m. Join the Krewe for a Mardi Gras celebration, and maybe even catch one of its signature high heel shoe throws.

Crafternoon DIY Disco

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FEBRUARY

Go relax and craft at DIY Disco’s Crafternoon before your Saturday night plans. Pick from multiple crafts and sip on some cocktails while painting and hot-gluing. The event lasts from 3–6 p.m.

King Cake With the Queens Eloise Market and Cakery

rd

SATURDAY AT 3 p.m.

FRIDAY AT 7 p.m.

BY MATILDA SIPP @SippTilly

Eloise Market is hosting another installment of King Cake With the Queens where participants can take a king cake-making class while playing drag bingo. Queens of Louisiana drag queens Tara Royal and Penny Lou will be hosting the event that lasts from 9–11 a.m. Tickets are $40.

Game on: Students race against time for video game making

BY CLAIRE THERIOT & CONNOR REINWALD @ClaireTheriot2 & @concur16 In a silent room of Global Game Jam participants, only the lively tune of fingers slapping keyboards was heard.

From Jan. 26–28, students gathered at the Digital Media Center furiously typing away on keyboards or drawing on tablets, using their creative prowess to make games at break-neck speeds that are uniquely their own. Teams tailored their games to this year’s theme of “Make Me Laugh.”

Global Game Jam is a virtual and in-person event where teams race to make a video game from scratch in 48 hours under a set theme. Teams have a week to prepare for the event, but during the 48 hours, they are creating the game with each other in real time.

While smaller game jams happen throughout the year, Global Game Jam brings in tens of thousands of game developers from physical and virtual locations around the world. In 2023, Global Game Jam brought in 40,000 people creating 7,600 games. The majority of games submitted are 2D and require only one player, but some are 3D and multi-player.

Marc Aubanel, director of digital media arts and engineering, brought Global Game Jam to LSU in 2014. LSU has not served as a game jam location since 2019, due to COVID-19 restrictions, until recently.

“The average game takes hundreds of people years to make,” Aubanel said. “This is like a sprint, 100-meter dash, when normally it’s a marathon.”

“I think it’s a really interesting creative exercise in seeing what people can do in too short a period of time,” Aubanel said.

Aubanel said the atmosphere is very quiet and almost eerie as competitors enter a state of deep concentration.

“You can hear a pin drop,” he said.

Aubanel has participated in game jams since the early ‘90s.

Game jams were started after companies would submit their games to the manufacturers. Game developers couldn’t continue to work on their games, but still had to be at work in case changes were requested by the manufacturers.

“We started making video games in short timeframes for fun because we had entire game teams with nothing to do,” Aubanel said.

Game jams are a popular exercise of creativity for game developers. The extreme time constraint causes participants to take creative shortcuts.

“Any time you take something and you ridiculously shorten the time frame of what it would normally take, you get really interesting results because you can’t overthink it,” Aubanel said.

Computer science freshman Katherine Winchester said she was excited to have fun with her friends and create games. Her team was named “Euclides and the Boys.” Winchester said her team was especially excited for the “Make Me Laugh” theme.

“We kind of think of ourselves as the funniest people on Earth,” Winchester joked.

Digital media arts and engineering graduate student Nyako Arana said her favorite part of the game jam is when the game clicks and comes together. Arana said she was influenced to join by her friends, who felt there was a lack of artists and an abundance of programmers involved.

“My original background was in 2D,” Arana said. “I’ve been making the transition to 3D, and now I’m going back to 2D.” Arana’s original idea for her

team’s game involved a criminal trying to get illegal items to a checkpoint while continually being stopped by police. The player would have to make the police officer laugh in order to escape.

Her team’s final product was a player being stopped by law enforcement and having to find their license, registration and insurance from a cluttered car in a timely manner or else they would be arrested.

While working under pressure from the short time frame, teams’ games begin to evolve creatively.

As the teams’ games evolve, so do the members’ skills in game development and collaboration.

Ashley Elliott, a digital media arts and engineering graduate student, participated in the last Global Game Jam before COVID-19. Elliott said she learned the most about software during that game jam because she was forced to cram her knowledge into a short amount of time. She said this experience would be worth it for anyone interested in getting involved.

“It helps you understand the process of making a game,” Elliot said. “You don’t have to be an artist or programmer.”

Elliott said she was originally

a biology major but ended up switching and getting her undergraduate and master’s degrees in digital media art after attending the Global Game Jam in 2019.

“It’s a very good insight on what you want to do in the future,” Elliott said.

As more companies that aren’t in the business of game development start to use game engines, it’s becoming more important for LSU to encourage aspiring game developers.

Jason Jamerson, assistant professor of virtual production and immersive media, said most industries are beginning to use game engines to do things like run simulations and provide relatisic visuals for gallery exhibits.

“Imagine if you have an asset in a movie that’s a monster or a robot and it needs animation and it needs a 3D model and it needs textures and colors and it needs sound. That’s exactly the same type of assets that you need in a game,” Jamerson said.

Game jams provide a way for anyone, new or experienced in game development, to grow his or her professional skill set and learn new ways to create video games while collaborating with others.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

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Thursday, February 1, 2024

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An excavator sits at the edge of a hole Jan. 27 on Field House Drive.

A small excavator sits in a fenced-off area Jan. 27 on Forestry Lane.

Machines fill a parking lot on Jan. 28 on South Campus Drive.

A large machine sits on Field House Drive Jan. 27 on LSU’s campus.

An excavator moves rubble Jan. 29 near the Barnes Ogden Art & Design Complex.

A missing patch of wall is apparent Jan. 27, on Thomas D. Boyd Hall.

COMING SOON

Across campus a multitude of construction projects are in the works

Road rubble sits in piles Jan. 27 on South Campus Drive.

Photos by Matthew Perschall and Reagan Cotton

Gravel layers a track of a large construction machine Jan. 27 on LSU’s campus.

Fences block the road on Jan. 28 on South Campus Drive.

An excavator and a bulldozer sit Jan. 27 on Field House Drive.

Pieces and parts sit scattered about Jan. 27 on LSU’s campus

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THE Daily Commuter Puzzle by Stella Zawistowski ACROSS 1 Swimmer’s grunt work 5 Young lady 9 Olympics prize 14 Exam for a future Esq. 15 Aid and __ 16 Still in the game 17 Literary Karenina 18 Emperor 19 Number of deadly sins 20 Calming practice 23 Part of a deck 24 Biblical mount 25 Don’t sink 27 Went fast 29 Minor injury 33 Animated pic 36 Coped (with) 39 Like much Western music 40 Venue for a big concert 42 Ballerina’s balance point 43 Up to 44 Was granted admission 45 Addis __ 47 Sp. lady’s title 48 Weight lifter’s lift 50 Coffee lightener 52 Gasp in shock, perhaps 55 Skier’s destinations 59 Hunter’s garb 62 “If anything can go wrong, it will” 64 Old enough 66 Move, in real estate lingo 67 Tortoise’s opponent 68 Tier 69 Sharp break 70 Italian volcano 71 Worker bee 72 Big name in ice cream 73 Quit working for a bit

Created by Stella Zawistowski

5 Sea cow 6 “Yeah, right!”

7 Font flourish 8 Place to sit at a bar 9 Some graduate degs.

10 Negatively charged particle 11 Star soprano, say 12 Formally declare 13 Give for a time 21 Gene Kelly’s specialty 22 Negatives 26 In reality 28 Facts for analysis 30 Hill dwellers 31 Duo 32 Spanish pronoun 33 One-liners 34 Element in DOWN hemoglobin 1 Alpaca relative 35 Greek cheese 2 Ed of “Lou Grant” 37 High toss 3 Black-and-white 38 Side in a bear sporting event 4 Elevator 41 The atmosphere, alternative mostly

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46 “Holy” chess pieces 49 Meat that’s not 51-Down 51 Allowed by Jewish law 53 Hex 54 Get big on social media 56 Place setting part

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57 Merits 58 Beads of body moisture 59 Chilly 60 In the distance 61 Sandwich spread, for short 63 Enjoy toys 65 Poetic “before”

SPORTS STUCK IN A SLUMP

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BY TYLER HARDEN @ttjharden8

Coming off a loss to South Carolina, a positive response from LSU was important on Monday against Mississippi State.

But the response was quite he opposite.

The Tigers fell in Starkville 77-73, marking the first time LSU has lost back-to-back games since Kim Mulkey’s first season in Baton Rouge.

Jerkaila Jordan was Mississippi State’s answer, as she led the team with 24 points, shooting 9-for-17 from the field and 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line. She also noted four rebounds and two assists. Darrion Rogers was right behind with 19 points, shooting 4-for-8 from three and 6-for-10 from the field.

For starters, LSU’s 21 turnovers weren’t going to put it in a winning position. Five of those turnovers came from Mikaylah Williams. Flau’jae Johnson and Last-Tear Poa each had four, and Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith each had three.

“You can’t do that at this level,” Mulkey said. “You can’t just turn the ball over, especially on the road.”

Miracle Sheppard played a large part in LSU’s abundance of turnovers. She had six steals along with 12 points and five assists. Jordan also had five steals.

Mississippi State had 22 turnovers, and was outrebounded

by LSU 35-33. But the rebounds for Mississippi State were more equally distributed, and that’s all in part to the depth Mississippi State had over LSU. In addition to lack of depth, foul trouble once again present-

LSU women’s hoops loses second straight game MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

LSU women’s basketball junior forward Angel Reese (10) gives her teammates a pep talk during LSU’s 76-70 loss against South Carolina Jan. 25 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Dr. in Baton Rouge, La. ed itself. Reese, Poa and Williams each had four fouls.

Reese led the team with 20 points and 18 rebounds. She was arguably the most consistent LSU player against South Carolina, and her being fouled out with four minutes left in the game played a big role in why the Tigers were on the losing

end.

Not only does Reese have to be somewhat careful in staying out of foul trouble, especially early in the game, but it would be especially helpful if LSU had a response that it can use in situations like these.

Eight LSU players made an appearance in the game as op-

posed to Mississippi State’s 10.

It’s been a consistent trend that LSU has been outnumbered in options off the bench. In the postseason, it may be almost every game that the Tigers have less options than their opponents.

“When you deal with that through the season, you have to

keep on keeping on and make them believe,” Mulkey said.

“Fatigue may be some of it, but you have to be tougher...I really think that’s where experience plays a big role.”

While the Tigers starting five can at times be a sure thing,

see BASKETBALL, page 10

GYMNASTICS

Stock Watch: Highs and lows of SEC gymnastics’ week 4

BY ETHAN STENGER @allthingsethan

FRANCIS DINH / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics all-around senior Haleigh Bryant chalks her hands Jan. 19 during LSU‘s 198.125 - 197.600 victory over the University of Kentucky in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The 2024 college gymnastics season is off to an already historic start, with perfect 10s coming from what feels like every direction.

This week in the Southeastern Conference was no different, with multiple long-standing historic streaks coming to an end over the weekend.

Here who’s stock is shooting up and down after all the action: Rising Kentucky’s two perfect 10’s Ten thousand fans packed Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, to watch the No. 7 Kentucky face off against Georgia.

As the Wildcats closed out their first rotation, Makenzie Wilson recorded the first perfect 10 the program has seen since 1996 on an incredibly acrobatic vault performance.

Not only was it the first per-

fect 10 the program has seen in nearly three decades, but it’s also the first that Rupp Arena, which opened in 1976, has ever seen in its almost 50-year existence. Let’s just say it’s been a long time coming.

Speaking of a long wait, fifth-year senior Raena Worley notched the first perfect 10 of her collegiate career, ending the historic night on the highest of notes.

It felt like a night that Kentucky gymnastics needed and the Wildcat faithful deserved.

Oklahoma’s resilience The No. 1 Sooners played host to No. 12 Denver, a team they previously topped in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad Meet. But, for the first time this season, in this meet, they found themselves trailing. While some may find this concerning, this was Oklahoma’s first chance to show its

see GYMNASTICS, page 10

page 10

BASKETBALL, from page 9 many other teams will have the same to say with several options on the bench to support it. This may be the difference maker for LSU between a win and another game to play or a loss and the end of its season once the postseason arrives.

Offensively, along with Reese, Johnson and Aneesah Mor-

GYMNASTICS, from page 9 resiliency this season.

Jordan Bowers once again led the charge with a 9.975 on bars and a 9.95 on floor, with Ragan Smith also assisting in the Sooners’ comeback, winning the contest’s beam title with a 9.975.

“I think it was the first time that we were behind this season and they didn’t give up, they kept pushing their way forward and it wasn’t easy,” Oklahoma head coach K.J. Kindler said.

Oklahoma stayed calm, righted the ship and avoided the upset with a 197.775-197.150 comeback win over the now No. 10 Denver. This outcome didn’t occur for most of the top teams in the SEC this week.

Kindler just seems happy that his team found a way to win.

“There’s a lot of little things

Thursday, February 1, 2024 row both scored in double figures; Johnson scored 18 points, and Morrow finished with 14 along with six rebounds. Williams added 11 points as well.

Nobody except Reese was effective enough to win the game rebounding, which was an unfamiliar sight from this LSU team.

Of LSU’s 35 rebounds, Reese grabbed 18 of them.

In addition, the 3-point

shooting wasn’t there for the Tigers. They shot just 3-for-14 from behind the arc as opposed to Mississippi State’s 9-for-17.

Between the lack of options, offensive production, collective rebounding and too many turnovers, LSU wasn’t in a place to win this basketball game.

With the momentum Mississippi State had at several times throughout the game, LSU keep-

ing it as close as it did still gave it a chance. Still having a chance to win the game with all that went wrong says a lot about the general talent LSU has.

The Tigers are running out of games that allow them to rely on sheer talent. They need to dig deep within the team and see who can step up, and they need to become an all-around team. Running a consistent six

or seven players just isn’t cutting it anymore.

If they don’t, their postseason may be short lived. And there is too much talent in the program for that to be the case.

“I think everybody gets caught up in rankings, and how great they are, but at the end of the day, experience matters,” Mulkey said. “It’s a little bit of everything.”

and details I think we left out today overall. For us the lesson was, we fight back, you keep fighting, you don’t give up no matter what,” he said.

Arkansas wins in front of sold out home crowd The No. 4 Razorbacks earned their first home victory over Auburn since 2018, defeating the Tigers 197.225-196.675 at a sold-out Barnhill Arena on Friday night.

The Hogs went over the 197-point benchmark for the third consecutive week, only the second time that’s happened in program history, the other coming in 2021, also under current head coach Jordyn Wieber.

Arkansas did it in front of 7,147 fans, matching the attendance record the Razorback faithful set last year against the LSU Tigers.

While we’ll have to wait and

see if the Hogs are genuine national title contenders later down the line, Gymnastics is currently thriving in Fayetteville.

Falling The LSU Tigers No. 3 LSU trailed No. 9 Missouri on the road following the first rotation, but superstar Kiya Johnson’s 9.90 on floor put her squad back in the fray entering the contest’s final event: the balance beam.

Two weeks ago, freshman Konner McClain earned the first perfect 10 of her collegiate career on a flawless bar routine.

On Friday, she did it again, this time on the balance beam.

Right before fans eyes, McClain is becoming a superstar, and her team might need even more from the first-year gymnast in the coming weeks.

Even with McClain’s perfect 10, LSU’s weak spot failed them

yet again.

It came down to the final gymnast, but thanks to freshman Kennedy Griffin’s earlier clutch score of 9.975 on the floor, Missouri pulled out the narrow 197.325-197.225 home victory in the battle of the Tigers.

This is Missouri’s highestranked win in program history, and it did it in front of a crowd of over 7,000 fans.

“We are obviously disappointed with that result. We still had a chance to win going into the last routine,” LSU head coach Jay Clark said.

While LSU dropped to No. 5 nationally, Clark doesn’t seem worried about his team’s misstep.

“The good news is that it’s a regular-season meet, but the bad news is that it’s a missed opportunity,” Clark said. “If we’re going to be the team that

I think we are, then we can’t have this drop in execution on the road. We’re going to go home and get better.”

Florida’s home win streak It was a close battle, but thanks to Lily Hudson’s perfect 10 on vault and 9.925 on floor, the No. 6 Crimson Tide narrowly escaped the teeth of the No. 8 Gators, 197.575-197.425.

“I’m so proud of the team tonight,” Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston said following the win.

It was an imposing road win for Alabama, as Florida hadn’t lost a regular-season home meet since 2019.

“This was a really important meet for us because it’s easy to get to a meet like this and try to be perfect, and I’m really proud of the way that the team focused on just making progress. Progress over perfection,” Johnston said.

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page 11

Thursday, February 1, 2024

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

BY TRE ALLEN, JASON WILLIS AND TYLER HARDEN @treday314, @JasonWillis4 & @ttjharden Both LSU basketball programs enter February still with a lot to play for.

LSU women’s hoops has faced recent adversity after consecutive losses to South Carolina and Mississippi State, but the rest of the regular season remains critical for seeding in the Southeastern Conference and NCAA Tournament.

For LSU men’s basketball, the Tigers enter the final stretch of the season at 11-9 and still have hope alive for some kind of postseason play. Making the NCAA Tournament remains a sizable mountain to climb for LSU, but the Tigers still have a chance to stack a few SEC wins and finish in the top half of the conference.

Our LSU men’s and women’s basketball beat writers at the Reveille got together to discuss what’s new with the two teams and the outlook for the rest of the season.

Is it time to hit the panic button for LSU women’s basketball after consecutive losses?

Tyler Harden: I don’t think this team will ever have to hit the panic button. Including the South Carolina game, all their problems have been internal.

Everything seems to stem off of lack of depth; defensive stamina, foul trouble and lack of consistent shooting and overall production.

The teams that have defeated LSU weren’t necessarily more talented teams overall, but just had the better game and the resources to be able to play a full game at a high level.

LSU will always be a team, talent wise, that can play at a high level, but it will always be hard with a seven-player rotation. There won’t be a point where they need to hit the panic button, but something will have to give in order to meet their full potential.

Tre Allen: Not yet, but a change needs to be made. I think something that has been overlooked the most is the lack of defensive intensity. Kim Mulkey has emphasized that they need to be better on defense.

There have been too many times when the opposing team has wide open looks and that is something that can’t happen. On offense, things get too stagnant.

This is a very talented team but I do feel like they force up shots or don’t move the ball enough which gets them deep into the shot clock and have to force something. I wouldn’t mind seeing someone like Hailey Van Lith, Aneesah Morrow or even Mikaylah Williams being moved to the bench to get some extra help.

Jason Willis: The season isn’t over, but there’s reason to doubt there will be another deep postseason run. The side of the ball that needs work is the defense.

LSU’s starting lineup defensively isn’t inherently bad—even Reese has made strides as a rim protector—but the effort and discipline hasn’t been there. Fouls have hindered them, as well.

Given the gauntlet that lies ahead, how critical is the Arkansas game for the men’s team?

Jason Willis: It’s important to get a win here and stop a three-game skid. No matter how tough the opponents were, no one likes lengthy losing streaks, and it’s unbecoming of an aspiring tournament team.

LSU would be lucky to be in single-digit games with both Tennessee and Alabama, let alone win, so getting this game before those two is important, especially with it being against a winnable opponent.

Ultimately, if LSU wants to be in the NCAA Tournament (still within the realm of possibility if the team gets hot) or even the NIT, these are the types of games it should win, and if LSU does it in impressive fashion, it will be a good sign going forward.

Tre Allen: It’s extremely crucial to win this game against Arkansas. LSU has already improved a lot since last season but still has a long way to go. With a game like this where Arkansas is extremely talented on paper but hasn’t exactly translated that into wins.

If LSU can go into this hard stretch of games with confidence or momentum by beating Arkansas at home, then it might be able to steal a game against Tennessee, Kentucky or South Carolina.

what Mulkey’s mindset is when it comes to bench options, and it doesn’t seem very confident.

Two players came off the bench in a game where four of five starters had multiple fouls.

If this game was a postseason matchup, that problem may be more emphasized, and it’s a matter of time before the Tigers may be faced with a situation just like this in the postseason.

This was most seen within the team’s perimeter defense.

With lack of options to resort to late in the game, South Carolina started knocking down 3-pointers when it mattered most. In a game where LSU’s defense was solid overall, the lack of depth to continue defending strongly was the only blemish that may say otherwise. We also learned that this team’s fast starts are often key to continuing to play at a high level throughout the game.

LSU led three of four quarters against South Carolina. Now, against the No. 1 team in the country, losing the game is obviously still a possibility. But having momentum from the start of the game may throw a team off track, and the talent the Tigers have may make it harder for the opposing team to gather themselves.

Tre Allen: A lot of players went quiet in that game. The best player for LSU in that game was Angel Reese. She was the most consistent all night and was keeping them in the game.

Morrow had 10 points in the first quarter then only scored six for the rest of the game.

Williams started solid in the first half as well but down the stretch, she looked lost and took many bad shots along with Van Lith. There was no go-to scorer when things were getting close and especially with a team like South Carolina you need someone to take over.

Jason Willis: We learned that South Carolina and LSU are both very, very good basketball teams. I don’t think the loss was cause for too much concern. In fact, I think it’s a good sign that the gap between the two programs has closed. If LSU hadn’t missed South Carolina in last year’s tournament, they might not be national champions.

What did we learn about LSU women’s basketball in the loss to South Carolina?

Tyler Harden: We learned a couple of things in LSU’s loss to South Carolina. First, we learned

The men’s team is lacking production in the frontcourt.

What could be the answer?

Jason Willis: Will Baker and Jalen Reed are both solid, wellrounded scorers, but their lack

of physicality has made them very easy for opposing defenses to scheme out of games. It seems like one of them will go on a run, score a few baskets in a row, and then disappear for the rest of the game.

Hunter Dean and Derek Fountain are more limited offensively, but they make the easy plays – and that’s really the blueprint to get the frontcourt going. If the team can get back to Jalen Cook pick-and-rolls with Baker and Reed, something they seem to have lost recently, they’ll generate more easy looks, which will hopefully get them going and playing with more confidence.

Tre Allen: To get the bigs and forwards more involved they need to find mismatches for them. The frontcourt is very limited offensively and physically and a way to get them more production is finding ways to exploit the mismatches.

Pick and roll with Fountain who is more gifted athletically or Baker who stands tall at 7 feet 1 inch will be a start. Also not having them do too much on offense and getting the ball down low, using one move to go up will generate faster offense.

How long will the women’s team be able to get away with only playing six or seven players?

Tyler Harden: The South Carolina game answered a lot of questions when it comes to the team’s lack of depth; in games as big as that one, who does Mulkey look to? Now, that wasn’t necessarily a game that Mulkey would use to experiment with the bench, but it shows who has gotten into the category of a consistent option off the bench.

This weakness will be most visible in the postseason, when there will be other teams that can play the full length of the game the way they started. When LSU got in foul trouble against South Carolina, that may have been the difference between winning and losing games. In games in SEC play, LSU’s sheer talent will most likely be enough, and maybe in the first couple rounds of the NCAA Tournament as well.

But in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament, when the Tigers are faced with teams comparable to South Carolina, depth will be one thing the opposing team has over LSU, and once again, that could be the difference between winning and advancing or losing and seeing the

end of the season.

Tre Allen: It’s a tough decision because Mulkey has voiced that there are some games where she simply can’t put on the bench due to them being so young and inexperienced. It has shown multiple times this season where one, two or even three starters either have an off night or get in foul trouble and Mulkey has no choice but to put them in the game and the bench can’t keep up.

I think it’s too deep into the season to put in the younger players with all crucial games left. If she wants to use the bench more, I think she can implement the bench earlier in games to get her starters some rest and maintain their fouls.

Jason Willis: Maybe not for much longer, at least not against good teams. LSU made it impressively competitive with South Carolina despite the lack of depth, but, ultimately, it makes the margin of error thinner.

It’s simple math: fewer players means fewer options to fall back on when someone doesn’t have it going. The lack of discipline the team has had lately with fouls hasn’t made the issue any better.

What young players are showing the most promise for LSU men’s basketball?

Tre Allen: Freshman Mike Williams is the first player that comes to mind. He is starting to figure things out and is becoming a reliable option on offense.

His 3-point shooting has continued to improve as he is shooting 44% over the last six games.

You can see his confidence rising with him taking more shots as the season goes on. His role right now is more of a catchand-shoot as Jordan Wright and Cook are the first options but I can see him being that third scorer in the future.

Jason Willis: Definitely second on Williams, and nod to his defense as well. Other than him, I’d look at sophomore Tyrell Ward. He’s easily LSU’s best shooter, automatic from the corners. His shot is NBA-ready.

On defense, Ward’s length makes it pretty impossible for him not to be a plus defender, although his impact comes and goes. He often gets his hand in on an opposing drive and comes up with a steal. It remains to be seen how his offensive game can expand as a ball handler, but he’s got a solid foundation.

OPINION

page 12

Interracial marriage’s dissidents are missing the whole point NATE’S TAKES NATHANIEL DELA PEÑA @NateDerDoner If you’ve lived under a rock like I have for the past few years, you probably only recently heard of Dr. Umar Johnson.

I randomly encountered him on TikTok, and it’s indisputable that he’s an interesting character.

He’s made it as a famous meme several times. Just to name one, he went viral for a livestream where he sought donations for his panAfricanist school, Frederick Douglass Marcus Garvey Academy. His backhanded statement “thanking” sister Avanti for her $10 Cashapp donation (he urged her to donate $20 next time) was what induced me to research Johnson.

Over the last week, I’ve been meticulously watching interviews of Johnson because of his flamboyant personality. As I’ve gotten deeper into the Umarverse, Johnson has espoused several disappointing views.

First of all, he is “unapologetically African” and a staunch pan-

Africanist. While I can respect his intentions, his beliefs are a rejection of the multicultural society that America has developed over time.

I agree with Johnson on the fact that his desire for Black liberation and defense of Black culture is a reasonable reaction to the structural racism of this country.

His concerns with the treatment of Black Americans by the ruling class fuels many of his thoughts.

Secondly, this includes his most famous idea on defending the sanctity of the “African family:” anti-miscegenation. In simpler terms, Johnson abhors interracial marriage.

Johnson terms the abandonment of Black women by Black men in favor of white women the “snow bunny” crisis. In an interview with the Breakfast Club, he demonstrated his opposition to the extramarital relationship of then-former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka with a white Celtics staffer for two reasons.

Firstly, he reasonably argued that adultery is wrong regardless of race. Secondly, however, he focused on the identity of the

woman Udoka had an affair with.

Johnson argues “it’s even more wrong to go out of your community and do it.” He then spent the next few minutes arguing that Black men who enter mixed-race relationships get the “leftover” white women and that the white power structure opposed Udoka’s affair because a well-established white Mormon woman was “stolen” by a Black male.

Udoka was suspended and eventually fired not because the white power structure “determined” that their extramarital affair was egregious to them. It was because Udoka violated his responsibilities as a head coach to maintain a healthy team environment and because he brought unnecessary attention to the organization.

It’s also quite damning to hear him espouse views that infer women have no control over their partners and that a category of “leftover” white women can exist.

His argument that Black men are only able to marry (or get into a relationship) with “leftover” white women ignores the fact that interracial marriage is supported by

the vast majority of the American public. The strict social barriers of interracial marriage between classes have eroded. The idea that “leftover” white women go into relationships with Black men is a tool to debase the value of interracial marriage (and consequently, the value of those women as well).

Contrary to Johnson, I believe interracial marriage is a useful weapon against white supremacy.

While it may be detrimental to the “Black family,” these relationships allow white partners to experience (or at least empathize with) the feeling of being “othered.”

And interracial marriage falls under the umbrella of cultural exchange. Johnson may argue that an African identity can exist, but that identity has been shaped by countless instances prior to the development of an African identity during the era of African colonialism.

As I was taught in my African civilization class, Africa has experienced the immigration of people outside of the African continent.

The people of Madagascar are the Malagasy people, who descend

from Southeast Asian migrants from Indonesia. Earlier traversers of the Indian Ocean helped transport bananas, a staple crop, from Asia to Africa.

Multiracial and intercultural interaction will always quash intolerance. While Johnson may argue that interracial marriage destroys the Black family, I argue that it’s a diversion from fighting the true monster in the room: structural racism. Intolerance of interracial marriage, after all, harkens back to the days of Jim Crow.

I believe that pan-Africanism should focus on empowering the African community that comes from different backgrounds. If the Malagasy people originally came from Indonesia, would they be considered African.

Pan-Africanism rose as a reaction to the exploitation of Africa

by European powers and to unite the African diaspora while they faced discrimination overseas.

Snow bunnies should be the least of Johnson’s problems.

Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 21-yearold political science and history senior from Alexandria.

Abolish the restrictive cage that is gender for a better society PELLITTIERI’S PERSPECTIVE MATTHEW PELLITTIERI @m_pellittieri The 21st century has seen the continued erosion of gender roles and the notion of the gender binary.

Transgender representation has grown more noticeable and more positive. Preferred pronouns are a common icebreaker.

“Non-binary” is a term that even your conservative grandparents have heard of (even if they don’t/won’t understand what it means).

And, in the best indicator of progress, regressive and reactionary conservatives are actively opposing the social change which threatens their status and worldview.

But we seem to have stopped short of calling out the real problem—the reason we need continuous change. It’s time to go all the way and abolish gender.

Why? Because gender harms us.

Neither the patriarchy nor cisnormativity are the core problem. Those are just aspects of the larger oppressive system: the gender spectrum.

The spectrum isn’t a set of discrete identities arranged in order from masculine to feminine. A transgender person isn’t packing themselves up and assimilating into another identity.

But, that’s the perception created when we continue to perpetuate gender. The trans person moves from one restrictive box to another, rather than being allowed to do whatever makes them happy and complete.

In reality, the spectrum is just a descriptive tool for understanding how people roughly express their sex as gender in relation to traditional norms. The very fact that gender is so fluid is evidence that it doesn’t accurately capture the complexity of human behavior and presentation. It’s just a vague conceptual framework—and one that lacks any real utility to make up for its restrictiveness.

It’s a social structure that divides and assigns people into

arbitrary sets. It’s an expectation about how people ought to act, and the damage that does to individuals and to society far outweighs any benefits the system might provide. And so gender must be destroyed.

What would a world without gender even look like?

The first question might be about what sexuality looks like without gender. How could you be gay or straight without it?

Well, you’d no longer describe yourself as being attracted to men, women or the same or different gender. Rather, you’d, for example, simply gravitate toward those with a penis or those with a vagina. Sexuality wouldn’t be about attraction to a rigid group of traits under a label like “man” or “woman” but about attraction to all the stuff in such a group.

How do we get to that genderless utopia?

To start, it’s best to simply acknowledge that, in the present, a person’s gender is not who they are but what they attach themselves to. Think of it as an adjective that modifies the noun that is an individual person. It’s not

part of the definition of the person.

If we can all just do that, we could move toward a genderless world and address the problems that plague the gendered one we actually live in.

You see, the ultimate emptiness of gender as a concept doesn’t mean that it’s meaningless.

Sexism, transphobia and homophobia all derive from the existence of gender. If we want to cure those societal ailments, we can’t just wish gender out of existence. But we can position feminism as the liberation of those attached to the term “woman” rather than of “women.” Transgender activism would be the fight for those who attach themselves to the term “man” when society used to, or would like to, attach them to “woman,” or vice versa.

Relatedly, pride in your gender identity or sexual orientation (or femininity or masculinity) wouldn’t need to be immediately dropped. Just recognize that what you’re proud of is all the things that words like “woman,”

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“trans” or “gay” stand for, not the words themselves.

And community is about solidarity with similar people, not the preservation of an identity that binds you as much as the system as a whole. You don’t need to box yourself in to effectively fight for your freedom.

Malvina Reynolds wrote and Pete Seeger sang: “Little boxes all the same / There’s a pink one and a green one / and a blue one and a yellow one / and they’re all made out of ticky-tacky / and they all look just the same.”

It’s not about making the little boxes equally sized or painting your box a unique color. It’s about tearing down the walls. It’s about embracing the furniture, not the building it all sits in.

Think of it this way. The revolutionary poor seek to escape the system of capitalism that binds them. Those persecuted by the gender hierarchy should do the same thing, abolish gender and live free.

Matthew Pellittieri is a 19-yearold history and political science sophomore from Ponchatoula.

Quote of the Week “No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.”

Stephenie Meyer American novelist 1973 — present