The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, September 1, 2021

VOLUME 106, ISSUE NO. 2 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Lettenberger takes silver in 200m individual medley ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT HEETER

REED MYERS

the United States and win a medal for our country is just really special, and just being here was my dream, and to win a medal, Junior swimmer Ahalya Lettenberger it’s so hard to describe. I never would have took home the silver medal in the SM7 dreamed of this happening.”

Coming down the home stretch of 200-meter individual medley on Friday the 200-meter at the 2020 Tokyo individual medley, Paralympic Games, Lettenberger found and followed up herself in fourth her appearance on The feeling when I place, but she was the podium with a touched the wall and able to surge in the fourth place finish last 50 meters to in the S7 400-meter looked up at the board, I catch and then pass freestyle on don’t think I will ever have her competitors.

Sunday. According that feeling again in my But, this was to Lettenberger, something she medaling at the life; it was just like pure anticipated going Games is a feeling joy and happiness and into the race. that will be difficult surprise.

“Going into to match any time the race, I knew soon.

Ahalya Lettenberger that I would be “It really means PARALYMPIC ATHLETE behind going into everything, like I still can’t really believe it; it’s pretty the freestyle just because I knew who surreal,” Lettenberger said. “The feeling my competitors were and I knew their when I touched the wall and looked up strengths, and I knew my own strengths,” at the board, I don’t think I will ever have Lettenberger said. “I knew I was behind that feeling again in my life; it was just like going into that last turn, and I just gave it pure joy and happiness and surprise. It everything I could on that last 50 and that feels incredible, and to be able to represent last 25. I honestly had no idea it was that SENIOR WRITER

In this Issue: Review: Donda page 8

Celebrity Softball Game page 10

close until I rewatched it, and I was like, holy cow, it was just pure adrenaline, and I knew I had to get to that wall as fast as I could.”

Lettenberger’s time of 3:02.82 beat out Australia’s Tiffany Thomas Kane’s time of 3:03.11 and Canada’s Danielle Dorris’ 3:03.16 time for the silver medal. According to Lettenberger, taking home second place in a fiercely contested race made it that much sweeter.

“It definitely made it that much more satisfying and just emotional at the end just having that close race,” Lettenberger said.

“I was talking with some of my competitors afterward, and we were just saying it’s pretty awesome that we were all so close, and it just shows how far the Paralympic movement has come and for us to be that close between second and fifth, it was like a second separating us all, it really did make it that much more satisfying and incredible at the end.”

According to Lettenberger, she doesn’t usually get too emotional following her swims, but this time it was different.

“I don’t really get emotional after I swim a lot, and so I was like ‘oh if I swim well, I don’t see myself having that big reaction or anything,’” Lettenberger said. “But

then it’s so different when you’re actually here. The Games are a completely different environment, and so when I touched the wall, I’ve never gotten that emotional after a swim before.”

Following her silver medal finish, Lettenberger then competed in the S7 400-meter freestyle race on Sunday.

Lettenberger narrowly missed out on coming home with multiple medals as her time of 5:13.55 was just short of USA’s Julia Gaffney, who rounded out the medal stand in third place with a time of 5:11.89.

While her time in Tokyo has come to an end, Lettenberger said that it left a lasting impression on her.

“Being here in the village, I’ve gotten to meet so many different people and being in races with all these people from other countries, I’ve made a lot of friends and been able to make a lot of connections here,” Lettenberger said. “It’s just an environment of acceptance because for once in our lives, we are not the minority.

When you look around, and you see people missing limbs, people who are blind, people in wheelchairs, and nobody thinks twice about it, it’s really just a feeling of belonging and being where I’m supposed to be.”

Administration imposes indoor alcohol ban JULIA LI

SENIOR WRITER

The Crisis Management Advisory Committee and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates have enacted an indoor alcohol ban, effective immediately until further notice, according to multiple emails from college magisters. This follows a previous recent transition back to wet campus after the announcement of false positive cases.

Gorman said that she is hopeful that restricting alcohol use to outdoor spaces is a temporary measure. According to Gorman, the decision to restrict alcohol use to outdoor spaces was made late afternoon on Aug. 30. Magisters notified their college communities that evening.

“I already had a meeting scheduled with college magisters, presidents and chief justices for that evening,” Gorman said. “It seemed appropriate to have magisters relay the message since they are best positioned to answer questions from students in their own communities.”

Izzy Williams, the Will Rice College chief justice, said she thinks this ban is

a reaction and not a solution to the rising which we even saw last year. They were cases. more hesitant to ask for help, call EMS “People are still going to drink indoors or learn how to drink in a safe manner. even if it’s banned, but it’ll just push On a wet campus, students feel more people to drink more secretively and comfortable asking for help before they less responsibly,” need it.”

Williams, a senior, Williams said she said. “I also think thinks encouraging it’ll push people People are still going events or private to go [off campus] parties outdoors is to drink indoors even if to parties and a good idea. bars, which is it’s banned, but it’ll just “If there are more dangerous push people to drink parties on campus, COVID-wise than more secretively and less people will go people remaining to them. If there in the on-campus responsibly. aren’t, people will bubble.” just go off-campus IZZY WILLIAMS and bring COVID Andrew Graziano, back,” Williams the chief justice at WILL RICE CHIEF JUSTICE said.

Sid Richardson Williams said she believes Gorman is College, said he was happy for students when campus was wet, for similar safety relying on the student body to care for one another and enforce the policies on reasons.

“Something the past CJ at Sid ... taught their own.

“Myself and the other CJs are not the me was that if a student wants to drink, they’re going to,” Graziano said. “On a alcohol police,” Williams said. dry campus though, this usually meant students’ own safety was more at risk, SEE ALCOHOL BAN PAGE 3

2 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

THE RICE THRESHER

NEWS

Isolation space runs low as Rice reports 52 COVID cases in one week PRAYAG GORDY SENIOR WRITER

Editor’s Note: Some students who tested positive for COVID-19 were given the option of remaining anonymous in the interest of protecting private medical information.

Anonymous students were given false names, which have been marked with an asterisk on first reference.

Between Aug. 22 and 29, 52 people tested positive for COVID-19, according to Rice’s COVID-19 dashboard, with 40 testing positive on campus and 12 through off campus testing.

Approximately 30 percent of cases were traced back to one campus event, according to a campuswide email from Kevin Kirby, chair of the crisis management advisory committee.

32 of the cases were undergraduate students along with eight graduate students, three faculty members and nine staff members.

Rice’s historical dashboard shows only a handful of Covid cases at this time in August 2020.

Some of the students who tested positive said they felt confused, alone and frustrated.

Nabiha*, a junior, said Rice was not ready to confront the highly transmissible Delta variant.

“I literally don’t even know who I would call if I needed something right now,” Nabiha said. “I just don’t think that they were prepared for this … Delta has been too prevalent for too long for Rice to have not come up with a plan to train contact tracers.”

Izzy Williams, the chief justice at Will Rice College, said crisis management seemed overwhelmed.

“From what I know, it does seem like they’re overwhelmed, which is frustrating,” Williams, who announced her positive COVID test in an email last week to Will Rice students, said.

Kirby said that crisis management is responding to the challenge.

“I wouldn’t say we’re overwhelmed, but we have a really high volume,” Kirby said.

That high volume of cases has put a constraint on Rice’s isolation housing.

Williams said her contact tracers told her that isolation space was running low.

According to five students who tested positive, crisis management instructed some COVID-positive students to isolate together, sometimes in close proximity to healthy students. Jerusha Kasch, director of institutional crisis management, said some cases isolated together last year and again this year under limited specific circumstances, but did not comment about any specific cases.

THIS WEEK’S COVID UPDATES

52

positive cases this week

40 12

on campus testing off campus testing

Four out of six students in one suite are positive and living together.

To use fewer rooms, some positive students are paired up in isolation housing doubles.

INFOGRAPHIC BY ANNA CHUNG

Nabiha and other positive suitemates have had to share their suite with other suitemates who have not tested positive.

“Our suitemates were negative,” Nabiha said. “They live here. They’re sharing the same hallways, and inside the suite it’s all the same air. We’re breathing the same air.”

According to Kirby, Rice did not expect to need as many beds as they reserved for

I wouldn’t say we’re overwhelmed, but we have a really high volume.

Kevin Kirby

CHAIR OF THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMITTEE isolation last year, as there were never more than ten students isolating at one time in Old Sid. “The Delta variant just two months ago was 10 percent of all the cases in the United States, and now it’s almost all of them,” Kirby said. “We weren’t setting aside a large swath of housing, like all of Old Sid, because we weren’t expecting that … We’ve been securing as many hotel rooms as we need.”

In another case, Chuck* and his suitemate, who both tested positive for COVID-19, were sent to a room sharing an internal door with a pair of healthy students, where Chuck said he believes he and his isolation roommate could infect their healthy neighbors.

“What I think [Rice] has done really poorly is … the proximity to normal students who were not exposed to COVID at all,” Chuck said. “We literally share a door with them, like we could walk in and unknowingly spread the virus. There’s a gap under the door that joins our rooms so we are breathing the same air.”

Kirby said some sick students are isolating in their own rooms, and their healthy roommates, suitemates or housemates were offered hotel rooms, although a healthy student living with isolating peers said their contact tracer never mentioned this possibility.

Greer*, another student who tested positive, said they were asked to share a bathroom with a student who did not have COVID-19.

“Once I got to [isolation housing], I realized I was sharing a bathroom with someone who was symptomatic, but non-COVID,” Greer said. “He was so scared … he didn’t even want to use the restroom. He’s like, ‘I’m just gonna hold it in for the next 12 hours.’”

Williams said that her housemate booked an Airbnb to distance from Williams and her other sick housemates. “[Rice was] kind of like ‘yeah, we don’t know if we’ll have any room for you to come on campus,’” Williams said. “He had to book an Airbnb … I think they’re going to try to see if Rice could pay for it, but there’s definitely no offer to pay for it from the university.”

Kirby said he was not aware of specific situations with students’ isolation housing, nor was he aware of the number of open isolation beds, if any. Kasch said Rice does

not know how many isolation beds are open because they are evaluating Rice community members’ return to campus.

Chuck, Nabiha Greer, and Adrian* said they relied on at-home rapid testing kits in addition to Rice-provided PCR tests. Adrian, a senior, said they had heavy exposure to two positive cases, which they said prompted them to continue rapid testing after a negative PCR test. They later tested positive on a rapid test.

“Four of us pretty much had to use the rapid test as our only source because our PCR test came back as negative,” Adrian said.

Nabiha pointed to the difficulty of scheduling PCR tests as one of their reasons to rapid test.

“I [rapid] tested positive Saturday afternoon,” they said. “I’m not able to get a PCR test confirming that I have COVID until Monday.”

Unlike the COVID tests Rice provides, these students’ home rapid testing kits were not free. One student said they spent $52, while another said they spent $40.

Chuck said they believe that Rice should purchase rapid testing kits and make them available to students.

“I’m sure Rice, the university that it is, can find these tests in bulk and supply them to their students who might think they have been exposed and make them not wait 24 hours for a potentially positive result,” Chuck said.

Kirby said that Rice does not anticipate buying rapid tests.

“We’re very happy with our testing machine that we have now,” Kirby said. “We have no plans to go to rapid testing.”

As Rice reevaluates its COVID-19 policies, including prohibiting indoor consumption of alcohol in a late Monday message, Williams said she believes Rice is doing as well as they can in a difficult situation.

“Overall, in terms of the balance, I think Rice is trying their best with the rules,” Williams said. “I think students will be mad if things get shut down or if there are no further restrictions put in place to stop the spread.

It’s kind of like a lose-lose situation.”

However, Williams said she has lost some faith in the university, between what she sees as poor planning for the semester and the disruption following dozens of unnecessary isolations during Orientation Week.

“Everything seemed kind of in disarray during the false positive scare in O-Week,” Williams said. “I wish that Rice had kind of thought through some things before people arrived, because now it just feels like they’re punishing students for the mistakes the administration made in terms of planning.”

SA Diversity and Inclusion Committee plans for several initiatives

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

BONNIE ZHAO ASST NEWS EDITOR

The Rice University Student Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee plans to launch several projects for the school year, seeking to provide a central location for students to address diversity and inclusion issues, according to Committee Chair Hafsa Ahsan.

“[What] we hold as central to our value system is accessibility to the general Rice population,” Ahsan, a Jones College junior, said. “With this committee, if anyone at Rice has a concern about diversity and inclusion, they can reach out to us.”

Cynthia Diaz, vice-chair of the committee, said that their mission is to address inequities related to race, region, religion, ethnicity, (dis)

ability, gender expression, sexual orientation and other aspects of identity. Diaz said they have pinpointed some specific ideas for the semester.

Ahsan said that the timeline for each project varies as some are more time sensitive, while others are meant to be longterm.

According to Diaz, a McMurtry College sophomore, one of the committee’s initiatives this semester is to increase financial accessibility at Rice.

“One thing that we’re thinking about doing is to [make it possible to] convert meal swipes into Tetra so that we can use them on on-campus facilities like Brochstein and [Rice Coffeehouse],” Diaz said.

Ahsan said that the committee is also meeting with [Student Success Initiatives] to discuss how to broaden SA’s impact, and they’re currently looking into possibly changing the current minimum wage at Rice.

According to Madison Bunting, the SA internal vice president, the committee also hopes to partner with the SA task forces that are centered around supporting historically disadvantaged populations.

“We’ve also discussed an idea to create a forum for all the diversity-related organizations across campus to share ideas and best practices,” Bunting, a Martel College junior, said.

Diaz said that another goal is to create more volunteer opportunities for students in the Houston area.

“We also wanted to create a greater connection between Rice and the greater Houston area [through] different volunteer projects that Rice students can do,” Diaz said. “We want to make it accessible for our students ... We’re thinking [of offering] shuttles [for students] getting to places that they can volunteer at and simply creating a better way for students to find out about these opportunities.”

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 • 3

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

Student-Run Businesses manage reopenings amidst campus policy changes BONNIE ZHAO ASST NEWS EDITOR

Rice Coffeehouse and Rice Bikes both fully reopened during the first week of class; Hoot will be opening on Sept. 12 or 13, and Willy’s Pub plans on reopening by the end of September, according to the businesses’ respective general managers.

Rice Coffeehouse Rice University permitted students to eat indoors at a reduced 50 percent capacity in an email sent by Bridget Gorman, Dean of Undergraduates, on Aug. 24. Rice Coffeehouse, which fully reopened the day before, has since began allowing indoor seating and dining, according to General Manager Miguel Luna. “[Housing and Dining] gave one of the managers a heads up [about the new policy], and that manager reached out to me,” Luna, a Wiess College senior, said.

“So we were kind of ready before the email got sent out to everyone ... We got rid of like nine chairs so that we’re at 50 percent capacity of people eating inside.”

Luna said Rice Coffeehouse will still require students to wear a mask unless they are actively eating or drinking.

Luna said that he is glad to see that indoor eating is permitted on campus again.

“Coffeehouse has always been popular, but it’s a different environment when people get to see other people in line and talk to people in person,” Luna said. “More people are gathering inside instead of the [Rice Memorial Center] courtyard because they can actually eat and drink inside and study.”

Luna said he believes that Coffeehouse will be even more popular if classes return to in-person again next week.

“Off-campus students that otherwise might not want to go to Rice will be forced FROM PAGE 1

ALCOHOL BAN Gorman said that it is important to reduce opportunities for disease to spread.

“Maintaining a healthy campus is a more complicated process because of COVID,” Gorman said. “Since the pandemic started, we have taken steps to reduce mixing across large groups of students, with the goal of reducing opportunities for disease, if present, to spread. This is the key obstacle to allowing large events with alcohol, like campuswide public parties, to occur.”

Leigh Gabriely, the chief justice at Hanszen College, said she also doesn’t know if the new policy will help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“I just don’t know if it’s going to do anything; I fear that people will just go off campus,” Gabriely, a junior, said. “Rice

to be on campus,” Luna said. “When classes are in person, I think there will also be more collaboration that happens, and Coffeehouse is a great place to do that.”

Pub Elizabeth Groenewold, the general manager of Willy’s Pub, said that it is more difficult for Pub to reopen compared to other student-run businesses because its alcohol permit only applies to inside, and so customers cannot take any drinks to go.

“We can’t reopen until [the Rice administration] determines it’s safe to have a certain number of people in Pub,” Groenewold, a Will Rice College senior, said. “But I’m in contact with the people

But I do want the student body to know that Pub is strong. We’re coming back and it’s going to be just as good as it was when [juniors and seniors] were all freshmen.

ELIZABETH GROENEWOLD PUB MANAGER

on the [V&W Permits] board, and they are pretty confident that [we can reopen] by the end of September, especially with the recent emails from [administration] indicating that campus is wet and we can eat inside.”

However, given the recent indoor alcohol ban, Pub’s reopening may be delayed depending on the length of the policy change. Gorman said she hopes the policy is a temporary measure.

According to Groenewold, an online ordering system is not a suitable option for

needs to find ways to motivate students to stay on campus without completely taking away their freedom.”

In an email sent out on Aug. 19, Gorman wrote about temporary changes in the fall semester plan surrounding undergraduate student life on campus.

Along with pushing back move-in for upperclassmen living in the greater Houston area, delaying the start of courses and moving course instruction back to an online format for the first two weeks, campus returned back to being dry until the end of the second week of classes.

Upon the discovery that many of the cases that were reported on campus were false positives, another update was sent out five days after the first email reallowing indoor dining and consumption of alcohol.

News editor Talha Arif contributed to this story.

Pub as they have to make sure that people are of age when they order.

“The only difference we would make [this year] is that there probably would be a capacity limit due to COVID restrictions and you’d have to mask unless you’re actively drinking, [as well as] limiting the amount of people at a table,” Groenewold said. “But other than that, it would probably be as close as possible to the old Pub.” According to Groenewold, Pub is currently fully staffed with 38 employees and seven managers, but only four employees have experience working at Pub before.

“So many people have graduated, and we haven’t been open for two years now, which sucks,” Groenewold said. “But … for everyone’s first shifts, the managers will be there the entire day for the first few weeks.

We’re [here] to ensure that the employees are properly trained and know how to work, and that we can be there to answer any of their questions.”

Groenewold said she hopes no one is losing enthusiasm for Pub. “It was bad timing with [Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission] restrictions and then COVID restrictions kind of piled on top of each other,” Groenewold said. “But I do want the student body to know that Pub is strong. We’re coming back and it’s going to be just as good as it was when [juniors and seniors] were all freshmen.”

The Hoot Ryan Emelle, the general manager of The Hoot, said that the management team decided to push back opening to the fourth week due to all the changes and policies in flux on campus even though the studentrun business typically opens in the second or third week of classes. “[The previous] no [indoor eating] policy really affected our business, since people

can’t sit at Sammy’s and eat,” Emelle said. “We are hoping for a more lively RMC culture this year to help build our business back up.”

According to Emelle, a Jones College senior, The Hoot will no longer allow online ordering when it reopens.

“That’s a large change from last year,” Emelle said. “However, employees will still be upholding the same COVID-19 policies we had in place last year when preparing orders.”

Rice Bikes According to William Miles, the general manager of Rice Bikes, the student-run business has expanded its hours from opening 1-6 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. on weekends.

Miles, a senior at McMurtry College, said that even with the expanded hours, they are still expecting to be extremely busy and are already fully booked for the next eight days.

“The pandemic caused our demand to go up a lot because people want to get out and get active,” Miles said. “That’s also compounded by ... the problems with shipping. So there’s been an increased demand and it has become a lot harder to get hold of bikes, but it’s slightly better now.

According to Miles, Rice Bikes currently has 25 employees and is looking to hire new employees.

“We have the challenge of [employees] taking semesters off or not coming back [due to the pandemic], so we have to manage that.”

Miles said that one thing Rice Bikes plans on keeping from last year is their online appointment system.

“When the pandemic came, we moved to doing appointments only on the basis of social distancing, but it quickly became apparent that that is a much better way to run things because it’s just better for customers,” Miles said.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE XU

4 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

THE RICE THRESHER

OPINION

COVID-19 is here to stay — we must learn to live with it On Aug. 19, many members of the Rice investigation revealed that 49 of the 50 community were disappointed, confused and asymptomatic cases were false positives. The angered by Provost Reginald DesRoches’s decision to take drastic action before a testing announcement that in-person instruction error was ruled out might be understandable would be delayed by two weeks in response to but for the fact that this too has happened positive cases during Orientation Week. Over before: In November of 2020 there were 17 false positive cases this last year, the Rice caused by equipment administration has contamination that acted with foresight led to the unnecessary and wisdom to keep [Rice] should release quarantine of us safe in the midst guidance detailing a 80 people.

The of an unprecedented progression of restrictions administration has pandemic, but this failed to learn from announcement can that could be enacted ... past mistakes and in only be described as along with criteria for the process caused a knee-jerk reaction when each restriction will substantial harm to to an entirely be activated. the students who predictable situation.

Unfortunately, COVID-19, the Delta variant depend on them.

The university’s lack of planning led to the and pandemic restrictions will not simply go away but will likely be with us for years to suspension of in-person classes, a delayed come. The Rice administration must adopt move-in, travel cancellations and for some, longer-term policies that will allow us to this year’s O-Week being upended. Clubs, outside organizations, students, parents, safely live with COVID-19 in the long term.

The pandemic is very different now than it faculty and staff all make plans based on the was a year ago: Delta is much more contagious administration’s decisions. This irresponsible and can cause transmissible infections in the planning has added unnecessary chaos to an vaccinated, so the administration should have already uncertain pandemic.

The administration must provide known that many students testing positive after move-in was a very real possibility. consistency and transparency in their COVID Rice also had a larger-than-expected class of plans. Much of the frustration around this incoming freshmen this year, creating a lack announcement stems from the fact that it of quarantine housing as upperclassmen was made so close to the start of the semester were asked to move into Old Sid Richardson with no prior indication that online classes College to ensure freshmen could live at their were on the table as a likely possibility: as residential colleges. After 80 positive cases recently as Aug. 11 the provost reiterated were discovered during O-Week, further that classes would be fully in-person. Over

the last year, the Rice community has been more than willing to cooperate in order to safely navigate the pandemic, but at the same time we must be able to plan around the administration’s decisions. At the very least, the university should release guidance detailing a progression of restrictions that could be enacted, organized from least disruptive to most disruptive, along with criteria for when each restriction will be activated. Such guidance would keep the Rice community from being blindsided when restrictions must be imposed and also provide hope by showing which restrictions could be lifted if the situation improves.

We as a community must have a public discussion about our COVID response.

Guidance from the university is the starting point for that discussion, but we must all work towards defining a common goal for the masking policy, gathering restrictions and the testing program, the latter of which is currently much more strict than is recommended by current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. COVID is here to stay, and we as a community must come to grips with that fact by defining and discussing our goals in this pandemic.

Finally, the Rice administration must stop responding to the presence of COVID in a volatile and abrupt manner because constantly changing plans cause emotional whiplash in the short term and are logistically impossible in the long term. This is not to say we should take COVID lightly: Hospitals and ICUs in the south are buckling under the weight of unvaccinated patients. However,

by getting vaccinated the Rice community has kept itself safe and done its part in addressing this crisis. Rice has a vaccination rate of approximately 90 percent (96 percent for undergraduates) and is able to provide a contained living environment that is insulated from the pandemic around it: Individually the vaccines protect against severe illness and in aggregate a 96 percent vaccination rate will slow or stop the community spread of COVID-19, as recent estimates of Delta’s population-immunity threshold suggest.

Because of this protection, students and faculty are far safer at Rice than anywhere else they could be. Vaccines may not end the pandemic at Rice, but they give us more time to make long-term plans and avoid knee-jerk reactions in a constantly changing situation.

The Rice community is now entering a new phase of the pandemic where we must learn to live with COVID until it eventually recedes into the background; the administration must transition to longer-term thinking, must stop abruptly changing plans and must produce public guidance so policy changes don’t continue to blindside the community. Rice has kept us safe in the past and will continue to keep us safe in the future, but in doing so it cannot add chaos to an already uncertain pandemic.

Joshua Kearney BAKER COLLEGE SENIOR

EDITORIAL

Don’t simply return to normal — embrace a new normal

In the past few weeks, the Rice community has begun to return to in-person activities, from Orientation Week to research and soon classes. However, challenges have arisen alongside that return, seen through an increase in COVID-19 cases and students’ feelings of isolation after testing positive amidst a largely in-person community.

Despite the difficulties of a highly virtual environment, COVID-19 brought about a more accessible and often more accommodating world. Last week, we as an editorial board asked the Rice administration not to disband the infrastructure that allows us to navigate COVID-19 in pursuit of a return to normal.

Now, we ask the entire Rice community for a more significant commitment: pursue a new normal instead of just a familiar return.

Amidst the toll isolation took on the Rice community’s mental health, students reported professors accommodating their mental health needs and even reaching out to offer assistance. While in-person classes and meetings were often not options, recorded lectures and more flexible attendance policies allowed for students

to join remotely while sick and normalized several times in the past few years, and one are isolating as a result; classes and student reaching out when they needed time to thing is evident: We, as a community, are not activities should be willing to adapt and physically recuperate. A main facet of Rice’s doing enough to address these problems. accommodate students in isolation. Even COVID-19 response has been encouraging The conversations that COVID-19 have once the threat of COVID-19 dies down, we provoked cannot end must continue to take the physical wellstudents to stay home in our excitement being of our community seriously. We and isolate when to return to normal know now that dual-delivery, combining they feel sick. For in-person and virtual elements, is possible, campus life. some, the pandemic The conversations that While in the past and some form of remote accessibility is offered perspective COVID-19 have provoked students may have worth implementing. and encouraged cannot end in our So to our student leaders, our professors felt obligated to people to prioritize excitement to return to “tough it out” and and the administration: Embrace this new their personal normal campus life. attend class while normal. Take the beneficial lessons from wellbeing.

One student told the Thresher last spring that the ill, remote-delivery options and a new a year and a half of remote learning and pandemic made him realize that it is okay to attention to public health show us that not virtual interaction and incorporate them only is this unnecessary but it’s ultimately into your planning. A return to in-person not exist in a state of constant productivity.

These conversations about mental harmful to the community as a whole. As campus life should not mean abandoning health and accessibility that have become we plan a return to fully in-person campus accessible solutions, and a commitment commonplace during the pandemic should operations in the upcoming week, we to including all community members is have been happening more openly before should remember that COVID-19 infections necessary if we are to call ourselves a “Rice COVID-19. Even recently constructed are still prevalent on campus, and students community” at all. buildings have presented accessibility issues, and our 2019 editorial board called Correction for able-bodied students to push for more In “Rice reports around 50 students as positive due to COVID-19 testing error, disrupts accessible campus spaces. The Thresher has O-Week,” Ishaan Rischie is a campuswide O-Week student director, not a campuswide reported on student mental health concerns O-Week coordinator.

EDITORIAL STAFF * Indicates Editorial Board member Savannah Kuchar* Editor-in-Chief Ben Baker-Katz* Managing Editor Ivanka Perez* Senior Editor NEWS Talha Arif* Editor Hajera Naveed Asst. Editor Bonnie Zhao Asst. Editor OPINION Nayeli Shad* Editor FEATURES Nicole Lhuillier Editor

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Morgan Gage* Editor SPORTS Daniel Schrager* Editor BACKPAGE Timmy Mansfield Editor COPY Bhavya Gopinath Editor ONLINE & VIDEO Brandon Chen* Web Editor Jasmine Liou Video Editor

PHOTO & ILLUSTRATION Channing Wang Photo Editor Katherine Hui Asst. Photo Editor Yifei Zhang Illustrator Chloe Xu Illustrator Ndidi Nwosu Illustrator DESIGN Robert Heeter Art Director, Opinion/ Backpage Designer Anna Chung News Designer Katherine Chui Features Designer Ivana Hsyung A&E Designer Katherine Hui Sports Designer BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Karoline Sun Business Operations Deema Beram Social Media Amanda Mae Ashley Distribution

The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

Letters to the Editor must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the right to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center: 6100 Main St., MS-524 Houston, TX 77005-1892 Phone: (713) 348 - 4801 Email: thresher@rice.edu Website: www.ricethresher.org The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA, CMA, and CMBAM. © Copyright 2021

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 • 5

THE RICE THRESHER

FEATURES

Rice students navigate post-consumer composting SUMIN YOON

STAFF WRITER

When Sid Richardson College freshman Grace Kwan walked into the servery for the first time, she was pleasantly surprised by the numerous palm leaf plates.

“I noticed that the plates were not normal paper plates, but looked wooden,” Kwan said.

The palm-leaf plates — which juniors and seniors may recognize, as they were used in the serveries before the pandemic — and the compostable gloves and utensils mark a sharp transition from the black plastic to-go containers and non-compostable utensils of the previous school year.

These changes are part of Housing and Dining’s new post-consumer composting program for waste generated by servery patrons. Gloves, utensils, plates and any other items marked as compostable are provided so that composting is as convenient as possible for students, according to Ashley Fitzpatrick, the president of the Rice Environmental Society and an intern at Rice’s Sustainability Office.

“The goal is that somebody can have their plate and at the end of their meal, they can just drop it straight into the compost and not have to worry about anything else,” Fitzpatrick, a Martel College senior, said.

Wiess “Everything in the servery that you take out is going to be compostable, with the C o l l e g e exception of those small portion-controlled junior and cochair of the Student packets.”

Environmental After a pilot run at Martel and Sid Association Richardson last spring, the post-consumer Committee Madeleine Cluck said that three composting program has been expanded to videos regarding recycling, composting and all residential colleges as well. According sustainability were part of new students’ to an email from Fitzpatrick and college matriculation modules on Canvas. Cluck and EcoReps to the student body on Aug. 25, Fitzpatrick are working alongside campus students are now able to compost in their eco-reps to further educate the student rooms after they read provided educational body about what can be composted at Rice. materials and pass a quiz that tests the According to Thacker, this campuswide ability to categorize materials as either education is important for preventing contamination of the compost by noncompostable or non-compostable.

“Students this year [can] participate in compostable material. “[The contamination rate] needs to be post-consumer composting, which means that they can not only compost excess food below 1 percent,” Thacker said. “If [it] begins on their plate in common areas but, like last to go up and we drop off contaminated composts, our year, also apply to take compost partners a quiz to get individual will cut us off.” compost bins in their Fitzpatrick dorms as well,” Helen said the newly Tian, a Sid sophomore We chose not to put implemented and Eco-Rep, said. “I post- consumer personally am really compost bins everywhere composting will excited about the because it is an opt-in complement expansion of the dorm program. We want it to be the existing residential composting pre-consumer to all of the colleges, not convenient but not overly composting done just at Sid and Martel, convenient. for all Rice servery because this program kitchens. has so much potential Brad Thacker “Pre- consumer and room to grow.” [composting] is Brad Thacker, NORTH COLLEGES DIRECTOR OF a lot easier to the H&D director of OPERATIONS control because it operations for the North Colleges, said that to prevent contamination is just in the kitchen and you don’t have as and to encourage proper composting, post- much variation,” Fitzpatrick said. “[Postconsumer composting is optional. This helps consumer composting] was a lot more to ensure that those who choose to compost difficult to implement [amid past COVID-19 policies] because we didn’t have people do so in a mindful manner.

“We chose not to put compost bins eating in the college commons and there everywhere because it is an opt-in program,” wasn’t a central place where people were Thacker said. “We want it to be convenient actually discarding their waste. So even but not overly convenient. [The option] if we had composting set up [in college mitigates the risk of [those who choose not to commons last school year], most people’s compost] contaminating the efforts of those food would still probably go into trash bins inside or outside their rooms.” who want to participate.”

Channing Wang / THRESHER

A Moonshot compost bin is next to the trash bins in the dish room at Duncan College. Postconsumer composting is now offered at all the residential colleges.

Moonshot, a local composting company, delivers the food waste in the compost bins at Rice to nearby composting facilities. According to Moonshot cofounders Chris Wood and Joe Villa, the composted food waste can be used in crop production and flood prevention in numerous ways.

“When we collect both the pre- and post-consumer waste from Rice, we take it directly to a composting facility, where it’s mixed with other vegetative materials like yard clippings and tree trimmings to form nutrient-rich compost,” Wood and Villa wrote in an email to the Thresher.

The nutrient-rich compost can then be transported to various community gardens around Houston, such as Rice’s holistic garden, where it aids crop production, according to Wood.

“It’s this beautiful closed-loop system, where the nutrients from the food waste, rather than going to the landfill, go to great compost, and that compost is returned to community gardens where healthier produce is able to grow,” Wood said.

According to Fitzpatrick, troubleshooting and improving the postconsumer composting program at all colleges in response to student feedback will be the focus of the upcoming weeks.

“This past week, as well as the next coming weeks, are all about identifying and mitigating problems as they arise,” Fitzpatrick said. “In response to student feedback over the last week, we will be upgrading signage, amending layouts of bins in dishrooms and transitioning to a system where students will scrape food off their plates then stack the palm leaf

plates and bowls next to the bins to better manage the volume of waste.”

According to Thacker, it will take some time for people to be trained in postconsumer composting, and he does not yet have real data on the program at Rice.

“The post-consumer compost bins are located in the dish rooms of each college,” Thacker said. “Because dining was moved outside, people [were] not using these receptacles but [they were] instead using whatever receptacle is closest to where they eat, whether in the room, hall or quad.”

Kwan said that more attention should be brought to the new composting program.

“I think right now most people don’t know that almost everything from the servery is compostable,” Kwan said. “I only heard from word of mouth that there is a compost right next to the two normal trash cans. So far, I’ve only composted the plates and the food but I threw away the cup and the utensils.”

Soleste Starr, a junior from Martel, said that greater publicity for the program would be helpful.

“The only improvement I stress heavily is publicity,” Starr said. “I think that more people need to know about the system and what to toss and not toss.”

As Rice implements post-consumer composting, Wood and Villa said they are looking forward to the upcoming semesters.

“Since Rice has begun the program, Rice students have participated in diverting over 60,000 lbs of food — and that’s just with pre-consumer composting,” Wood said. “With more students on campus and the implementation of post-consumer composting, we expect this number to increase dramatically.”

FEATURES

6 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Crossword

DOWN

Picnic in the Park 1

2

4

3

12

5

6

16

21 26

27

36

35

28

37

31

55

56

38 41

43

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47

48

45

46 49

53

52

54

57

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60

61

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65

JAYAKER KOLLI AND NIKHAZ OMAR

CROSSWORD WRITERS

30

34

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51

29

20

33

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42

11

22

25

39

10

17 19

24

9

14

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50

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1 Buckeye state

59

2 Korra’s predecessor 3 Structural integrity 4 Beethoven’s “Moonlight ______” 5 Broader category of MECH and CEVE 6 Arguably best chip in Chex Mix 7 Farm raptors 8 “The Economist” McIndex of cost of living 9 Anti-police brutality acronym 10 Quiet period 11 Like Ireland or Great Britain 12 “Do or do not. There is no ___” 13 Cake layers 16 Creator of Most Wanted List, in short 20 Colored part of the eye 23 Spelling bee champ Avant-Garde 24 Like Cusco or the treasures of Atahualpa 25 Mystic cards that can be read 27 Tennis star Rafa 28 Twenty-sided game piece 29 Comedic predators of the Serengeti 30 2010 Emma Stone film based on “The Scarlet Letter” 31 “What a tragedy! That’s __ ___” 36 Capital of Manitoba 37 Actress de Armas 38 Souvenirs 40 Hard work 43 Frightening groups of flying insects 44 Effort require to turn on a phone?

45 One who plays Minecraft 49 Along with the LGBTQ+ community, originators of most modern slang 50 Curves 51 Meat like chicken or fish 52 Oft-hated leafy green 53 Children’s toys named after Lincoln 54 Indigenous people of Hokkaido 55 Google’s Word competitor 56 Direction opposite of WSW 59 CAAM 210 TA

ACROSS

1 Rowing stick 4 One from Novi Sad 8 Indonesian resort island 12 Pad Kee Mao cuisine 13 Nancy’s figure skating rival 14 Currently overcrowded hospital units of TX and LA 15 Digit displayed after a proposal 17 Audacity 18 Infamous cartoon picnic basket thief 19 Agile 21 Soil 22 “Your Song” singer Rita 23 Pasta that is often baked 26 PB&Js or clubs 32 ____ & Phys.

33 Suffers (from) 34 Retired Rockets superstar Ming 35 2012 Flo Rida hit 36 Walks in water 38 Naval eating hall 39 One from Vientiane 40 “Proud Mary” singer Turner 41 “Orinoco Flow” singer 42 Unpleasant snack or unpleasant sight?

46 Kendrick Lamar album “good kid, ____ city” 47 Dub 48 Back of the neck 50 Metal group that includes Na and K 53 Sweet and sour citrus beverage 57 Rump 58 What fluoride provides against cavities 60 Period before a storm 61 Composer of the “Enigma Variations” 62 Before twice 63 Predecessor to the N64 64 Pained breath of air 65 Amogus?

FEATURES

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 • 7

THE RICE THRESHER

8 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

Review: Kanye West sees a return to form with multifaceted ‘Donda’

JACOB PELLEGRINO

THRESHER STAFF

“Donda,” Kanye West’s long-awaited tenth solo album, finally came out at 7 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29. While covering his face and avoiding the typical controversial appearances expected of him, Kanye created one of the most talked about and sought after albums of 2021. For the album rollout, West took his experiment of a “living, evolving art project” from 2016’s “The Life of Pablo” to another level by bringing the creative process front and center to his audience through a series of record-breaking livestream events on Apple Music. Kanye’s iterative changes to the album were shown as it was played on a world stage in three listening events that moved from his birthplace in Atlanta to his childhood home in Chicago. This emphasis on home is made even more poignant with the title of the album, a tribute to Kanye’s late mother, Dr. Donda West, who is featured throughout the work.

“Donda” is some of West’s most engaging work in recent years, a return to form for a musician who has hailed himself as “the greatest human artist of all time.”

On “Donda,” Kanye embraces a much more “Jesus Walks” style of Christianity than “Jesus Is King.” By that I mean that Kanye seems to embrace his faith as something more personal to him. The songs are informed by his religion, but that doesn’t dominate the lyrics and album as a whole.

Kanye ties the songs to his personal life in a way that leads to more interesting and effective storytelling and imagery than we saw on his last Christian album.

Sonically, “Donda” includes several vocal snippets from Dr. Donda West herself

that work to create a sense of poignant continuity throughout the album. This is especially apparent on tracks like the titular, “Donda,” which primarily features a segment of a speech from Dr. West before entering a section with gospel vocals from Kanye’s Sunday Service Choir. On “Jesus Is King,” Another track, titled “Jesus Lord,” includes a massive first verse from Kanye that finds him at the top of his game lyrically. The verse references suicide, addiction, violence, loss and grief in an unbroken chain of imagery. “Jesus Lord” is also an interesting example of how Kanye involved his process with the listening parties in the final cut of the album.

The original listening party two cut of “Jesus Lord,” a 11:30 minute epic is included as “Jesus Lord pt 2,” while the final version from the Chicago event appears earlier on the album.

Rather than removing four of the changes throughout the events, Kanye preserved two versions of “Jail,” “Ok Ok,” “Junya,” and “Jesus Lord” on the final album (helping to bring it to an insane 1 hour 48 minute runtime) as “pt 2” versions: not remixes but a sort of alternative creative path.

Anticipation for the release of “Donda” reached almost unprecedented heights

production made producer Mike Dean’s involvement apparent and showcased a large sound suited to Kanye’s music.

However, the mixing was not complete, and for many the album sounded like it needed some work throughout its around fifty minute runtime.

Of course, Kanye did not release the album after the first release party and instead returned for a second release party on Aug. 5. Similar to the first listening event, Kanye arrived after a long delay, but with him came background support who made the event feel more like a concert.

Additionally, the songs were mixed significantly better and the production was more refined. New tracks added onto the album gave audiences around an hour and twenty minutes of music to enjoy.

For his third and final album listening event, which took place on Aug. 26, Kanye returned to his hometown of Chicago, where he grew up with his mother. Leading up to the event, Kanye had his childhood home rebuilt in the center of Soldier Field.

After another two-hour delay, Kanye emerged from the house and began the PHOTO COURTESY ZACH LONG album. The highlight of the night for many was when Kanye appeared from the house engulfed in flames and, shortly after, met his wife Kim Kardashian West, whose over the past month, thanks in large recent separation from Kanye was widely part to a series of listening parties Kanye reported on, as she processed forward in a hosted, the first of which was held on July wedding dress and veil, finally removing 22 at Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta, his mask and showing a genuine smile.

Musically, this third event was similar GA, with a promised album release the night of the event. The physical event to the second listening party except for the sold out, while the livestream drew 3.3 omission of prominent features. Some new million viewers, breaking the previous tracks were also added to the album, beats record for viewers on an Apple Music were changed and the track order was livestream. The event itself featured the heavily altered. After the listening party, album played over the stadium’s speaker the “Donda” release failed to materialize system while Kanye moved around alone for three more days. The final album cover, on the field. However, throughout the a simple black square, continues the idea event Kanye donned a tan face covering, of letting the music speak for itself on this a continuation of the months leading release cycle.

Overall, “Donda” features an incredible up to the album release, in which Kanye range of sounds that emphasizes Kanye’s talent at a variety of types of music.

The musical variety keeps the album interesting across multiple listens and gives fans a song Genre: Hip-hop/gospel/pop for every mood. The album has some of Kanye’s best singing Top Track: “Off the Grid” on the Lauryn Hill sampling “Believe What I Say” and “Come to Life” along with strong wore full face masks whenever in the rapping on tracks like “Off The Grid” and “God Breathed.” public eye.

“Donda” utilizes Kanye’s diverse For viewers, the stream went on for influences and personal almost two hours, panning through the musical stadium as audiences who attended experiences, informed by his faith, to awaited the new music before Kanye create a compelling and deeply satisfying stepped out onto the field. Kanye did not album. It was worth the wait.

This story has been condensed for print. say a word for the entire night and let the music do the talking. The cinematic Read the full article on ricethresher.org.

REVIEW: DONDA

WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS POETRY OPEN MIC Attend an open-mic night at Avant Garden Houston on Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. to listen to poets from the greater-Houston area including featured poet Kyla Jenee Lacey with the option to sign up to read your own poetry. Admission is $8.

FOUR SEASONS Listen to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons presented by the Mercury Chamber Orchestra at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park.

The performance is on Sept. 4 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are free, and there are online viewing options.

PLAY IN A DAY

ROOFTOP CINEMA

Join Rice’s student-run theatre group, the Rice Players, for a series of short shows on Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. in Hamman Hall. Shows are written, rehearsed and performed within 24 hours, and students who wish to write, direct or act can sign up online to participate. Admission is free.

Go back to the days of outdoor theaters at Rooftop Cinema Club with showings of crowd favorites from “Into the Spiderverse” to the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” A wide variety of genres will be showing every night over the next week with seats starting at $17.50.

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

New public art installations open

Delita Marten’s “The Gathering” CHANNING WANG

MORGAN GAGE

A&E EDITOR

Since the construction of the provisional campus facilities in August 2020, the sides of the buildings have served as venues for murals as a part of Rice’s public art program, an initiative started in 2008. Three new large-scale art installations are now featured on the sides of the provisional campus facilities facing the inner loop and will be on view through May 22, 2022, according to the Moody

Center for the Arts’ programming.

The new works provided by Karin Broker, Delita Marten and Charisse Pearlina Weston are available for viewing by the public.

“Each artist was invited to respond to the current moment and the campus environment with interventions intended to foster conversation and community in the academic year ahead,” said a Moody Center press release.

Broker’s “Domestic Melancholia” features an enlarged vinyl print of a black-

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 • 9 and-white drawing of a vase filled with lush flowers. Broker, who formally taught visual art for four decades at Rice University, includes a digitally rendered table and chairs meant to represent a conversation between the artist and the personification of melancholy. The empty chairs evoke a sense of separation between the artist, viewer and the world around them.

Texas-based artist Martin brings her work into three dimensions with the planned construction of a platform that will be hand-painted by the artist in collaboration with students and feature seating to invite passersby to interact with the art. Vibrantly colored, “The Gathering” evokes a sense of community and connection. “[‘The Gathering’] prominently features the coneflower, a symbol of strength and healing in Native American and AfricanAmerican cultures,” said a Moody Center press release.

Using black-and-white video projected onto the tent, Weston’s “Plunge, Cry” combines a close-up video of the artists’ feet, imagery of glass installations by the artist, field recordings and manipulated audio from a 2016 Orlando protest in response to the murder of Philando Castile and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s, an artist recorded by Duke Peacock Records that was located in Houston’s fifth ward, 1960 song “Cry, Cry, Cry.” “Projected onto the temporary structures built on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Plunge, Cry’ serves as a ‘monument to Blackness and Black people that also acknowledges the risk and danger we face,’” said the Moody Center’s description of the installation.

JOHNNY WANG

Review: Churros galore at The Loop Handcrafted Churros JOHNNY WANG

THRESHER STAFF

If you’re looking for a deliciously Instagrammable dessert spot, look no further than The Loop Handcrafted Churros. Located in Rice Village, this spot is cranking out mouth-watering, loopy churros and creamy soft-serve ice cream. Menu prices range from $4.50 to $8.

A dessert chain originally based in southern California, The Loop’s west coast roots are apparent in its carefully curated aesthetic.

As you wait in line, it’s difficult to resist the energy inside with the sound of EDM playing overhead and a large shining hologram of their logo beaming.

Read more online at ricethresher.org.

Review: ‘Solar Power’: Lorde finds some sort of light her that isn’t brooding and tragic? As I have heard it been put, it isn’t Lorde’s fault that she’s happy and you aren’t.

“Solar Power” is so different from Lorde’s CALEB DUKES previous work. The sound, the variation, THRESHER STAFF the production is all so vastly changed from The Lorde has returned, but is it with “Pure Heroine” and “Melodrama” that it’s full force? The cultural phenom, otherwise kind of hard to believe the three bodies of known as Ella Yelich-O’Connor, surprised work were made by the same person. Though fans earlier this summer with her first song not entirely upbeat and cheery (see “Stoned in four years, a timeline that has become at the Nail Salon” and “Dominoes”), this somewhat of a regular album cycle schedule. latest entry is a far cry from the depressive, The titular track and lead single, “Solar dramatic beats we are used to hearing on her Power,” was released without any promotion records. Gone are the days of contemplating or announcement on Lorde’s part — instead lost nights in the drunken chaos of a party. the singer decided to stay off of social media Now we are frolicing through nature and and send fans exclusive emails throughout sun-bathing on quiet beaches. There are no the album release — and was received with swelling strings or sweeping landscapes of somewhat mixed reviews that ranged from complicated production here. Oftentimes, slight disappointment to adoration. This isn’t there is just Lorde’s voice and an acoustic too surprising. Lorde’s singles are usually guitar, shocking when you consider how pretty divisive. “Green Light” was criticized the Grammy-winner used to say that she for its different sound and bold rejection hated the guitar. But other times, there are of rhyme scheme. However, the rest of the hints and whispers of the life Lorde has been album usually makes up for that initial leading in isolation these past four years: judgement and earns her universal acclaim. the cicada chirps of a New Zealand summer, the layered laughter That might not of her friends and the exactly be the case wind and waves she this time. speaks so highly of.

Now, I must issue Put together, we get to a disclaimer before The album, though it see a slice of what she I begin this review: I could never be labeled has been up to while am a Lorde superfan. “bad,” just isn’t great in out of the public eye, It’s hard not to give the way that we are used something she says she her five stars, and needs to do in order to I am going to be to seeing album from find inspiration for her searching for every Lorde. writing. reason to give her the While one of the benefit of the doubt. Caleb Dukes biggest complaints When people were THRESHER STAFF that people have had belittling “Green Light,” I was oh-so happy to shoot them an “I about “Solar Power” is that the songs are told you so” once the rest of Melodrama came so cohesive that they seem to blur together out and it became one of 2017’s highest-rated into one song, there are certainly stand outs, albums. Will “Solar Power” give me that especially once you’ve given the album a same comeback? Honestly … probably not. few full listens. Some of my favorites include The album, though it could never be labeled “Fallen Fruit,” the greatest outlier on the “bad,” just isn’t great in the way that we are album in terms of sound, “Secrets from a Girl used to seeing albums from Lorde. But is that (Who’s Seen it All)”, which features a cameo because the 24-year-old New Zealand native from popstar Robyn at the end and “Big Star,” made mediocre work? Or is it because we a ballad dedicated to Yelich-O’Connor’s late just don’t know how to handle music from dog, Pearl, who passed suddenly from a

PHOTO COURTESY Republic Records

heart attack early on in the album-writing process. Here she laments times she used to stay inside and thanks him for showing her the beauty of the outside world, singing, “Everyone knows that you’re too good for me, don’t they?” and “Now I watch you run through the amber light.”

Of course, there are the more scandalizing tracks as well, such as “The Path” and “California,” which reflect on the ridiculousness and superficiality of Hollywood and fame, even making references to the Met Gala and Carole King awarding her the Grammy for song of the year for her breakout hit, “Royals”. Then there’s “The Man with the Axe,” a love song that seems to be about her label executive and long-rumored boyfriend, Justin Warren and “Mood Ring,” a satirical piece that makes light of wellness culture and its appropriation and exploitation by white women. If you thought that just because this album is largely joyful that it would be free of controversy and gossip, you would be quite wrong.

Finally, with the last song on the album, we hit the crown jewel: “Oceanic Feeling.”

A near-seven-minute product, “Oceanic Feeling” is a narration of Lorde’s thoughts in chronological order as she contemplates the past, present and future. She sings

about jumping off Bulli, a famous cliff overlooking the ocean in New Zealand, the way her father did. She reflects on her love and hope for her little brother, who is around the age she was when she rose to fame. And she speculates on what her future daughter will be like: “Will she have my waist or my widow’s peak? My dreamer’s disposition or my wicked streak?” She then brings the album to a close by putting away the “cherry-black lipstick” that defined her early era and telling the listener that the way to peace and power is through breathing and tuning into the universe. But not before switching up the sound one last time in a final thought featuring famous collaborator, Jack Antonoff, that answers the question we all want to know: when will Lorde be done?

Can she continue to narrate the phases of our life for all eternity? The answer, it seems, is no. According to Lorde, there will come a day, though it is unknown when, that she will “know when it’s time to take off [her] robes and step into the choir.”

So overall, is “Solar Power” what I wanted? No. But that doesn’t matter so much anymore. Unlike her past albums, this is not our album created by Lorde. It is Lorde’s album for herself. It belongs to her and I, for one, may not be happy like she is, but I am happy for her.

THE RICE THRESHER

10 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

SPORTS

Football kicks off season with Arkansas, UH, UT PAVITHR GOLI

SENIOR WRITER The Rice football team will kick off their season this Saturday, Sept.

4 against the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR. The Owls look to improve upon their record of 2-3 from last year’s pandemic-shortened season.

Despite having only won seven of their 30 games over the past 3 seasons, the team has plenty of optimism going into this season, according to head coach Mike Bloomgren.

“I think the thing that we are looking forward to, as a team, [is continuing] to improve and take another step in our program,” Bloomgren said. “The things that we talk about around here are winning championships and bowl games. Those are the goals that we set forth and that is what we are pushing towards every day and every minute.”

The first three games of the Owls’ season present one strong challenge after another, as their non-conference schedule is packed. In addition to Arkansas, the Owls will also face off against the University of Houston in the second week of their season, followed by a trip to Austin to take on the University of Texas, Austin.

Bloomgren is wary of their difficult start but said that he sees their first three matchups as a great opportunity for his players.

“We are excited to be able to play in those venues against those historic programs. Those are great opportunities,” Bloomgren said. “These primetime matchups against those Power 5 opponents are opportunities that we treasure in the schedule.”

Bloomgren added that the first three games will be very indicative of how much the team has improved in years past and the performance in the first three weeks will be critical in setting their expectations for how the season will turn out.

“We will learn a lot about the character of our team, but more than that, we will see how much we have improved,” Bloomgren said. “We thought that we took some giant strides last year, I think we will learn… a lot more about where we are and what everyone can expect out of us after the three-game start.”

After Texas, the team will turn to their conference schedule, which begins with an Oct. 2, against the University of S o u t h e r n Mississippi.

Their 8-game conference schedule

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

includes matchups against the entire junior Bradley Rozner, who led the team C-USA western division, as well as in receiving in 2019, before opting out of Western Kentucky University and the last season.

To replace Collins, the Owls University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

According to freshman running back will turn to redshirt freshman Luke Khalan Griffin, the team’s leading rusher McCaffery or redshirt sophomore Wiley from last season, the Owls hope to end the Green. McCaffrey, a former four-star season atop the conference and qualify recruit, transferred to the Owls from the University of Nebraska over the for a bowl game.

“Conference championships are offseason. Green, meanwhile, spent last always on the top of the list of team goals year as a backup to Collins, after starting along with bowl games,” Griffin said. seven games in 2019. While the winner of “I definitely want to win a conference the quarterback competition has yet to be formally announced, championship and McCaffrey said he we definitely have expects big things the group to do it. from the offense, no If the team wants We will learn a lot about matter who’s under to do that, they will rely heavily on a the character of our team center.. “[I am excited defense that ranked [after our first three by] this offense and No. 12 in the country games], but more than the growth that can in points per that, we will see how happen,” McCaffrey game allowed last said. “There is so season. The defense much we have improved. much room for returns 10 of its Mike Bloomgren improvement [both] 11 starters, with from the quarterback the one exception Head Coach standpoint [and an] being linebacker Blaze Alldredge who transferred to the offensive standpoint,” McCaffrey said.

University of Missouri. Junior linebackers “It is a continuous cycle of mastering one Antonio Montero and Treshawn area of the offense so that I can learn a Chamberlain will look to anchor the new area. This is important so that we can keep developing and maximizing our defense in Alldredge’s absence.

On offense, the team will look playmakers at the end and also be perfect to improve on their 23.4 points per in the run game.”

Bloomgren and his players believe game, which ranked No. 99 in the FBS. Last year’s starting quarterback that the return of fans to the stands will Mike Collins, and be beneficial for the team.

“I think the fans in the stands help leading receiver Austin Trammell everybody on game day. I think our kids left the team over work so hard so many days out of the year the offseason. At in this program for those opportunities wide receiver, the and they are only promised this 12 times team will turn to a year,” Bloomgren said. “The ability to sophomore Jake have the player’s family in the stands and Bailey, who was for them to be able to watch them will be second on the team very awesome.”

The Owls’ first game against Arkansas to Trammell in yards, and redshirt will start on Sept. 4, at 1:00 p.m.

James Harden, celebrities take over Reckling for softball game PAVITHR GOLI

SENIOR WRITER

Former Houston Rockets star James Harden, currently of the Brooklyn Nets, celebrated his birthday this past weekend in Houston with a softball game at Rice’s Reckling Park. The game featured a number of celebrities, many with connections to Harden or Houston, and proceeds went towards Harden’s charitable organization, 3 The Harden Way. The game featured Team Cactus Jack, whose star-studded lineup was highlighted by world-famous rapper Travis Scott, and Team Harden, which was led by Harden.

Notable celebrities on Team Cactus Jack included rapper Quavo, former Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, former NBA all-star Rajon Rondo, and Houston Rockets rookie Josh Christopher. On the other side, Team Harden included streetball star Adrian “Konfuzion” Mack, along with some of Harden’s close friends.

In addition to celebrities taking part in the game, there were many others in attendance supporting their friends. Those in the crowd included rappers Lil Baby and Gunna along with NBA stars Kevin Porter Jr, of the Rockets, and Victor Oladipo, of the Miami Heat.

The game itself was won handily by Team Cactus Jack as they jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first inning with the offensive attack highlighted by an inside-thepark home run by Rajon Rondo. Scott and company did not look back from that point, winning the game 17-2.

The game brought out a huge crowd with stands of Reckling Park filled with not only Rice students but also plenty of Travis Scott and James Harden fans from all around the Houston area. In addition to the celebrity game, there were food trucks and music, entertaining fans while they were at the game.

John Fu, a senior at Duncan College, said the game was a good way to spend a

Sunday afternoon, especially knowing that the event was for a good cause.

“It was nice because the money was going to charity,” Fu said. “There were a lot of cool celebrities there. [I especially enjoyed] seeing Travis Scott try to hit a softball.”

Steven Cloud, a Lovett College sophomore, said that he enjoyed seeing his favorite artists play at the game, and

was even surprised by their athletic abilities.

“Being the huge Huncho Jack fan that I am, it was great seeing both Quavo and Travis Scott there. Even though they didn’t perform, I was pleasantly surprised by their ability to play softball,” Cloud said.

“Being able to hang out with my friends and just enjoy the overall experience was very exciting and memorable.”

GAZI FUAD / THRESHER

NBA Star James Harden and rapper Travis Scott share a laugh during the JH-Town Celebrity Softball Game which took place at Reckling Park over the weekend. Scott’s team defeated Harden’s by a score of 17-2.

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 • 11

Going into year four, Mike Bloomgren doesn’t care what you think DANIEL SCHRAGER

SPORTS EDITOR

When the Rice football team beat No. 15 Marshall University 20-0 last December, their first win over a ranked opponent in 23 years, it was easy to see it as a defining moment for the program.

The Owls, who had won just one game so far in their pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and only six games in head coach Mike Bloomgren’s three years at the helm, seemingly came out of nowhere to shut out a top-15 team. But according to Bloomgren, for himself and his team, it just confirmed what they already knew.

“A lot of people were like ‘oh my gosh, you beat the No. 15 team in America,’” Bloomgren said. “That was a big deal for our fanbase. For our players and our staff, that wasn’t a mountaintop experience, but a proof of concept – that if we do the things that we talk about, we can beat anybody on our schedule.”

After the Marshall win, the Owls closed out their five-game season with a five point loss to conference champions University of A l a b a m a ,

Birmingham, bringing their record to 2-3.

According to Bloomgren he saw enough in the shortened season to know that the team is headed in the right direction, but he knows the team needs to win more games.

“To say that there’s not progress out of the end of last season would be crazy,” Bloomgren said. “But on paper, as things are, we were 2-3. And in our business, you are what your record says you are. You are what you earned, and that’s what we earned last year. So now, we gotta go to a bowl [game]; we gotta do some things to let our players feel the rewards for the work that they’ve put in.”

While the team may not be where he envisions them quite yet, Bloomgren, who had previously served as the offensive coordinator at Stanford University, said that they are far better off than they were when he took over the program.

“That first year was very tough,” Bloomgren said. “We had to do a lot of things to get the football right, and to get people to understand the standards of this program.”

After a 2-11 finish in his first year, Bloomgren expected the Owls to show progress in year two. But despite a string of close games including some against Power 5 opponents, they began the next season with nine straight losses. “[At 0-9] I think every program in America would be scared to death of going 0-12 or 1-11,” Bloomgren said. “There are frustrations, there are disappointments.

[You have] to be a bit of a cheerleader in the locker room to reassure people that we’re doing the right things.”

He and his team stayed the course, and finished the 2019 season with three straight wins.

But Bloomgren

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

said that it took all the focus he had, as well as the help of two mentors, to do so.

“For me, it was having [Carolina Panthers head coach] Matt Rhule who had [gone] through [a similar rebuild at Baylor University], and was talking to me every week about the progress he was seeing,” Bloomgren said. “He caught every game we played, and he would talk to me and say you’re doing this [right] and this [right], and you’re kids are starting to believe, keep staying the course. And [Stanford head coach] David Shaw would say ‘Bloom, I’ve been there, this is how

To say that there’s not progress out of the end of last season would be crazy. But we were 2-3, and in our business, you are what your record says you are.

Mike Bloomgren Head Coach you chip away at it.’ Having those two people allowed me to keep the faith more than people outside.”

Then, going into last season, Bloomgren said he expected the team’s progress to finally produce results.

“Year three is a year you always point to in a rebuild,” Bloomgren said. “You wanna make a bowl game, you wanna show progress.”

Unfortunately for the Owls, a COVID-19 affected season had other plans. The team was only able to play five of the 12 games originally on its schedule.

According to Bloomgren, had it not been for the pandemic-shortened season, the Owls would have taken a step forward as a program.

“If we could have played our whole schedule, I believe we [would have been] a bowl team,” Bloomgren said.

Now, as he is set to begin year four, Bloomgren is hoping that the Owls can

finally begin their delayed breakout.

He has built the team according to his philosophy: pound the rock, control the clock and play great defense. According to Bloomgren, while the offense needs to step up, the Owls are closer than people realize to fulfilling that vision.

“We have solved the defense [part],” Bloomgren said. “We’re playing great defense, [we were] No. 12 in the nation in scoring defense last year. Now, one thing I think people may not always get is how one works with the other. We need better plays in some positions, and we certainly need to put up more points, but [our offense was] second in the nation in time of possession last year. Because of that, our defense had the ball snapped against them 15 times less [per game] than the average in Conference USA. When you talk about how good our defense is doing, it’s also a function of how well our offense is doing at possessing the ball.”

While the offense ranked just 99th in the country in scoring last year, Bloomgren said he is convinced that his run-heavy style of offense that relies on multiple tight-ends can get the Owls to where they want to go, because he has seen it elevate his teams before.

“At Stanford we won the conference three out of [my] seven years there, and I don’t believe that in any of those years we were the most talented [team],” Bloomgren said. “One of our advantages is to be the contrarian. [We can] be something that nobody can practice against. [If an opposing team] doesn’t have tight ends in their program, they can’t line up with one tight end much less two or three.”

Whether or not the offense takes a leap will go a long way in determining the success of the team this year, and ultimately the success of Bloomgren’s tenure. Bloomgren said he knows that pressure is mounting from the outside for the Owls to have a winning season, but frankly, he couldn’t care less about the noise.

“I just can’t concern myself with people outside,” Bloomgren said. “I’ve got 150 people in this building that I’m responsible for. I’ve gotta help [them] every step of the way.”

Volleyball drops two to start the season CADAN HANSON

STAFF WRITER

The Rice volleyball team’s season started with a pair of non-conference losses over the weekend at the “Carolina Classic” hosted by the University of South Carolina. On Friday, the Owls lost their season opener in a five-set match against No. 9 University of Pittsburgh. The next day, the Owls ended their weekend in Columbia with a 3-1 loss to the University of South Carolina.

Entering the season, the Owls were ranked No. 23 in the country according to the AVCA, which was the first time they have entered a season ranked in program history. Junior setter Carly Graham, who was selected to the Conference USA Preseason Team, said she believed the team was focused only on improving from last season.

“While it is an awesome thing to come into the season ranked, we didn’t talk about it much,” Graham said. “We are more focused on being the best team that we can be.”

The Owls’ match against the No. 9 Panthers was a back and forth affair, containing 21 ties and nine lead changes.

After splitting the first four sets,the Owls jumped out to a 14-13 lead in the fifth set, but the Panthers managed to secure the final three points to win the match.

Despite the loss, head coach Genny

Volpe said she was impressed with how the team battled back into the game to reach the match point.

“Something that really stood out was our fight and our grit when our backs were up against the wall,” Volpe said.

“We could have folded in those situations but we did not. We continued to battle and make really strong adjustments.”

The Owls were led by junior middle blocker Anota Adekunle who recorded 11 kills and five blocks, and senior outside hitter Nicole Lennon who had 19 kills and two blocks. Despite the loss, Volpe emphasized how crucial the team’s defense was in keeping them in the game.

“Pitt is such a strong team, both on the offensive and defensive side,” Volpe said. “We held a really strong offensive team to a much lower hitting efficiency than they normally attack. They return all of their offense from last year’s Elite 8 squad, so we knew our block and defense were going to be key, and they were. We can truly see the depth of our potential when we were literally one point away from a quality Top-10 win.”

After a short, 16-hour turnaround, the Owls took the court for day two of their weekend double header. Despite the Owls’ out hitting the Gamecocks .257-.231 and having more total digs (61-56), the Gamecocks took the victory in four close sets (24-26, 25-14, 23-25, 20-25). The Owls had strong performances from Lennon

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

The No. 23 Rice volleyball team gathers during a preseason scrimmage. The Owls opened their season this past weekend with a pair of losses in the “Carolina Classic.”

who recorded 16 kills and junior right side Ellie Bichelmeyer who had 11 kills and 3 blocks.

According to Graham, the losses were more about the quality of competition, than about any rust from the Owls offseason.

“I think we were battle tested,” Graham said. “We lost to some quality teams that are going to make noise this season. I don’t think there was necessarily rust but just some plays that didn’t go our way. I believe we will bounce back strong and learn from this weekend.”

Overall, despite the results, the Owls had lots of positive takeaways from the weekend tournament. Adekunle felt

strongly about how the Owls’ opened the season after the long off-seasonn “Going into this weekend, we really wanted to carry over all the time and dedication we put into work during the off-season and our ability to compete and play together as a team,” Adekunle said. “We finished last season with some unfinished business, so we definitely wanted to come out strong and play at our highest level.”

The Owls will look to improve their non-conference record in their home opener at the Rice Adidas Invitational later this week. They face the No. 13 University of Oregon on Thursday at 6 p.m. and Southern Methodist University on Saturday at 1 p.m.

12 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

BACKPAGE

ALBUM

Dungda West Servery • 2021 • 13 songs, 16 hr 2 min

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TITLE

PLAYS

1

Dungda Chant

69,420,015,408

1:58:02

2

Rustication

stay sober my frens

57:25

3

God Breathed Without a Mask

12,824

2:15

4

Off the Gastroenteritis

west servery lol

1-3 days

5

Hurricane szn

1,111,111

18:58

6

Praise Leebron

daddy

57:02

7

Remote 4 2weeks

52 students rip

2 wks duh

8

heaven and hanszen

HFDO4TCH YEET

8:44

9

DUNGDA

5,000

3:03

8,571,110

2:25

18,218,576

2:35

we made dat

0:01

13

13:13

West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery West Servery

10 Keep My Stomach Alive West Servery

11

Roger I Need You

12

Pure-ity Test

13

Moon’d by Baker

E

West Servery

West Servery West Servery

The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu and Timmy Mansfield. For comments or concerns, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.

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