FAULT LINES

from Vox Magazine May 2023 Issue

FROM FARM TO TABLE

Are you on drugs?”

I’ll never forget the way that question sounded — harsh and unexpected — from a nurse in the emergency room. I’d been lying on a bed, admitted to the ER for a panic attack neither me nor my parents knew how to treat. As a high schooler in at least five different extracurriculars, I was used to stress. But it had never sent me into a fight for my breath, with walls closing in.

“No,” I remember saying, but I can’t recall much after. They injected me with something to calm me down, and eventually, I went home. But that question still lingers. Of all the questions to ask to understand my condition, why that one? And why did it sound so cold and accusatory?

I’m still convinced that had I not been a Black woman — a Black girl, at that — the interaction would have gone a lot differently.

It was a small introduction to what I would later learn is a large, systemic bias against people of color within our country’s medical institutions. And no matter how kind, ambitious or forgiving I was, the reality of this country’s systemic flaws wouldn’t change.

Missouri is no stranger to these startling discrepancies. This month, we explore how Missouri women, and especially women of color, are losing their lives at alarming rates to pregnancy-related deaths (p. 5). We also introduce you to a team that is actively addressing HIV’s troubling prevalence in Missouri, a frequency fueled by stigma and a lack of adequate education and resources (p. 30). Even treatments like Botox are becoming more popular to young people as a preventative measure against the systemic consequences of ageism (p. 41).

With these societal forces shaping our lives, it’s even more important to find the joy in community. There’s lots of fun to be had in this issue, namely through our impressive package about the “58 Things to Discover about Columbia” (p. 18). But as you take time to page through the newbie finds and townie treasures, do consider the cracks beneath the surface of the places we call home. For some of us, those cracks are more than inconveniences or startling headlines. They can cost us our lives.

Behind the issue

What defines a city? It’s a question we attempted to answer in our “58 Things to Discover about Columbia” package. We filled out this list (starting p.18) by talking to current and former residents, scouring online communities and digging through years of media coverage to find the most-mentioned mainstays and rarer hidden gems. This package became a love letter to what it means to make Columbia a home, whether it’s for a few years, for life, or somewhere in between. Still, we had to leave a lot of noteworthy tidbits on the cutting room floor. (As one former staffer and true townie asked: Where. Is. Sparky’s?) So we ask you, our readers: What did we miss? Share your Columbia favorites on social media with #CoMoThings. —Laura Heck

An early cover draft of Campbell Biemiller’s illustrations

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KATELYNN MCILWAIN

MANAGING EDITOR ABBEY TAUCHEN

DEPUTY EDITOR KRISTINA ABOVYAN

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR MARISA WHITAKER

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR GRACE KENYON

CREATIVE DIRECTOR HEERAL PATEL

ART DIRECTOR CAMPBELL BIEMILLER

PHOTO DIRECTOR SYDNEY LUKASEZCK

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR HALLE JACKSON

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

CULTURE JESSE BERLIN, LAUREN BLUE, LAUREN HUBBARD, EMMA LINGO, AMILEE NUZZO, KEARA SHANNON, MAX SHAPIRO

EAT + DRINK CHLOE KONRAD, NIA MARTIN, MELANIE OLIVA, PETRA RIVERA, ANNASOFIA SCHEVE, TAYLOR WILMORE

CITY LIFE ADAM ALLSBURY, CORINNE BAUM, ASHLEY BUTLER, SOPHIA DONIS, ABBY STETINA, TRINIDY THOMPSON, KAITLYN ZOGLMANN JENKINS

STAFF WRITERS MARA DUMITRU, TATEN JANES, SOPHIA KOCH, CHARLIE RECCHIA, KHALIA SMITH, JANE STEINBRECHER, SAM WILLS, CAYLI YANAGIDA

SOCIAL & AUDIENCE OLIVIA HOLLER, AINSLEY LOWTHER, IRELAND SHELTON, MEREDITH WENDLING, SHANNON WORLEY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS EZRA BITTERMAN, MEGHAN LEE, EILEEN LI, STEPHANIE MEININGER, GRACE ANN NATANAWAN, MCKENNA NEEF, COLIN RHOADS, NATALIE-ELIZABETH TAN, NICOLE VOSS, AUSTIN WOODS

DESIGNERS SIREEN ABAYAZID, LIN CHOI, ASPEN GENGENBACHER, AVA HORTON, JACEY JOHNSON, MEGAN SYDOW

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR HEATHER ISHERWOOD

EXECUTIVE EDITOR LAURA HECK

SENIOR EDITORS CARY LITTLEJOHN, JENNIFER ROWE OFFICE MANAGER KIM TOWNLAIN

Vox Magazine @VoxMag

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ADVERTISING 882-5714 | CIRCULATION 882-5700 | EDITORIAL 884-6432

MAY 2023

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4

PUBLISHED BY THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN LEE HILLS HALL, COLUMBIA MO 65211

Cover design: Campbell Biemiller with photography by Amanda Lee/Archive, Sydney Lukasezck/Archive and Anne Shifley/Archive

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Match-a made in heaven