Feb. 7, 2024

The Emory Wheel Since 1919

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 105, Issue 2

Printed every other Wednesday

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Professor discusses importance of Mvskoke language Willis subpoenaed after acknowledging relationship with prosecutor

By Spencer Friedland News Editor

Jack Rutherford/A sst. News Editor

University of Oklahoma Creek Language Professor Melanie Frye shares her experience teaching the Mvskoke language during an event with the Emory College Language Center. tionships when it comes to lan- Now, nearly 200 years later, Frye

By Jack Rutherford guage,” Frye said. “Learning any- teaches Mvskoke to University of and Franklin Zhang thing is not just you learning on your Oklahoma students and younger Asst. News Editor own. There's people that contribute children during a series of three& Contributing Writer to your learning, to your knowledge.” day youth language camps. She This is the University’s latest discussed the specific methods she University of Oklahoma Creek effort in deepening ties with the uses to teach the language in her Language Professor Melanie Frye Muscogee Nation, which was forced introductory college course, which teaches the Muscogee Nation’s native to relinquish its approximately 4.3 includes memorizing 50 nouns and language for a living, but one of the million acres of land between the 24 infinitive verbs. Frye joked that youngest fluent speakers she knows Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers — includ- she “felt so bad” for her students, is a 52-year-old man. Not a single ing the land Emory sits on today — tasked with conjugating a long list child she knows, Frye said, speaks to the U.S. government in the 1821 of words.

Mvskoke fluently.

Treaty of Indian Springs. The state of “We want to instill the confidence Frye, a member of the Muscogee Georgia comprises 38 million acres, and they know who they are and Nation, reflected on her experi- and more than 10% of the state today where they come from and know that ences teaching Mvskoke in front of consists of land relinquished in the we have our language still for them to an audience of roughly 40 students, treaty. continue to learn,” Frye said. humanities faculty and community Frye detailed the history of Native Frye explained that groups of peomembers during an event yesterday displacement in the region, explain- ple are more easily accepted if they with Emory University’s College ing that the Indian Removal Act of have a distinct language. She said she Language Center.

1830 forced the Muscogee people to “I always have to talk about rela- relocate from Georgia to Oklahoma.

See MUSCOGEE, Page 3

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (96L) recently disclosed in a court filing that she and Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor for the Georgia election interference case, have had a “personal relationship” since 2022 but denied any wrongdoing. In the filing, Willis claimed that she has “no financial conflict of interest that constitutes a legal basis for disqualification.”

Willis is leading the investigation into former U.S. President Donald Trump and his alleged attempt to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

Emory University Associate Professor of Political Science Bernard Fraga said that he believes Trump’s indictment will have minimal effect on the race. He added that Trump’s supporters will likely point to the affair between Willis and Wade as further evidence of a “witch hunt” to prevent the former president from running in the 2024 election.

“This is just further evidence in their lungs [that] the entire thing was illegitimate,” Fraga said. “But the reality is that this, in a sense, has very little bearing on the legitimacy of the case itself.”

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who is representing Trump and co-defendant Michael Roman, moved to have Willis and Wade disqualified from the case last month. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee subpoenaed the pair to testify on Feb. 15.

Georgia State University Assistant

Professor of Law Anthony Michael Kreis, who previously lectured at Emory University, said that witnesses will testify to the “veracity” of Willis and Wade’s statements on Feb. 15. Additionally, he said that the lawyers will litigate the question of what constitutes a relationship.

“Everybody’s definition of a relationship is different,” Kreis said.

“When does the relationship begin?

When is it just flirting? When is it a one-off encounter?”

In court documents Merchant filed on Feb. 2 in response to Willis’ court filing, she claimed that Wade met Willis at a conference in 2019.

She questioned if Willis and Wade began more than “just a friendship” when they first met.

However, Wade affirmed in an affidavit that he did not form a personal relationship with Willis in addition to their “professional association and friendship” until 2022.

He also asserted that he never shared financial accounts or household expenses with Willis.

“I have no financial interest in the outcome of the 2020 election interference case or in the conviction of any defendant,” Wade wrote in the affidavit. “No funds paid to me in compensation for my role as Special Prosecutor have been shared with or provided to District Attorney Willis."

Willis hired Wade in November 2021 to lead the team of prosecutors in the investigation into Trump and his associates for allegedly being involved in a “criminal racketeering enterprise” in an attempt to overturn

See RELATIONSHIP, Page 2

Professors foster student dialogue on Israel-Palestine conflict

By Alyza Marie Harris Oxford Events Desk During a student-led rally last semester, students marched up the steps of Convocation Hall to demand that Emory University and Emory President Gregory Fenves acknowledge the loss of Palestinian lives in the Israel-Hamas war and protested Emory University’s ties to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. On the outskirts of the demonstration, Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus Richard Doner and Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Professor of African Studies Pamela Scully had their first full conversation, despite knowing each other for years.

When Fenves later condemned protesters for using phrases he deemed “antisemitic” during the rally, Doner and Scully grew concerned about the “problems of a polarized campus” and decided to develop a reading course where students could respectfully discuss and debate the conflict.

Other private colleges like Duke University (N.C.) and Columbia University (N.Y.) offer similar courses that explore the conflict. Duke has a course titled “Israel/Palestine:

Jack Rutherford/A sst. News Editor

Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Professor of African Studies Pamela Scully (Left) and Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies Geoffrey Levin (R ight) teach classes on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Comparative Perspectives,” which the one credit, pass/fail course this “It is crucial to have difficult factexplores the conflict through an semester. The course, titled “Variable based discussions where diverse perinterdisciplinary lens. Columbia is Topics in Women, Gender & Sexuality spectives are heard and appreciated,” currently offering a reading group Studies: Reading Together on Israel/ Doner said. course on the modern history of Palestine,” is labeled as WGS 285 but The professors also wrote an open Palestine. will not focus on gender specifically, letter to Emory Stop Cop City and Scully and Doner are co-teaching Doner and Scully said.

Fenves following the October 2023

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rally, criticizing the protest and the president’s subsequent statement as alienating some students.

Doner expressed that he hopes an “institutionalized” open dialogue becomes permanent for Emory.

Scully said she anticipates that their students can learn together through key readings and a collective safe space. The discussion-based course will focus on what Doner said is a fairly non-partisan, journalistic account. Course content will begin with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and end with more recent history.

“We want to get away from weaponizing this discussion because we recognize that, A, these are … really complex issues and, B, a lot of people don’t know the history,” Doner said.

Doner said that many students in higher education “find themselves in the middle” and are afraid to share their views on challenging topics for fear of being criticized. Scully added that such fears have gotten worse with the rise of social media. This lack of dialogue is not just felt by students, as the general feeling of security among faculty is “much less secure than it used to be,” Scully added.

Nandini Kataria (27C) registered for the class because she thought it

See ISRAEL, Page 2

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NEWS

2 Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Relationship unlikely to warrant Willis' removal, legal experts say

The Emory Wheel

Students organize memorial for Palestinians killed

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Duke A rcTerex

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted a "personal relationship" with a special prosecutor.

Continued from Page 1 the outcome of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Trump has called the case a “scam” on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Kreis said that the potential for the relationship to be unethical lies in Willis possibly profiting off employing Wade, who has gifted her what Merchant wrote were “romantic trips.” He added that the crucial point of the case hinges on whether their relationship started before or after Willis hired Wade.

“If the relationship started well after or after she hired him, then it’s a non-issue because there’s no claim that she hired him with the intention of getting a kickback, with the intention of benefiting from the investigation and subsequent prosecution,” Kreis said.

In an email to The Emory Wheel, Wake Forest University School of Law (N.C.) Professor of Practice Ellen Murphy wrote that Willis and Wade's relationship is not illegal or a

violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which govern lawyers and outline disciplinary measures.

“It is not a reason to disqualify or remove either DA Willis or Attorney Wade from the case,” Murphy said.

Although there may not be a legal concern, Murphy, who is a member of the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Committee, wrote that the relationship “demonstrates poor judgment.”

Kreis expressed a similar sentiment, explaining that it is unlikely that Willis will be removed from the case. However, Fraga, who noted that although Trump will likely not be barred from running in the 2024 presidential election, the case is vital.

“Just because it’s not something that will sway the outcome of the election doesn’t mean that it’s not important in terms of preserving the legitimacy of the legal system,” Fraga said.

— Contact Spencer Friedland at spencer.friedland@emory.edu

Jack Rutherford/A sst. News Editor

Community members gather on Friday to remember the Palestinians killed since Oct. 7, 2023.

By Jack Rutherford Asst. News Editor Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) held a memorial on Friday in honor of the Palestinian lives lost in the Israel-Hamas conflict, which is now entering its 120th day.

Students placed red, black and green flags with the names of those killed on Emory University’s Quadrangle in the shape of a Palestinian flag.

The Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023 with Hamas’ incursions into Israel and has resulted in over 27,000 Palestinian deaths.

A member of ESJP’s executive board, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said that she hoped the display would help Emory community members visual-

No candidate wins Nevada primary Continued from Page 1 Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley lost last night’s Nevada Republican primary race as the “none of these candidates” polling option received 61.8% of the 51,937 votes cast at press time, while Haley received 31.6% of votes cast. In total, 62% of votes have been counted at press time. If Haley had won the state’s primary election, she still would have walked away without any of Nevada’s allocated delegates.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is one of only two candidates remaining in the Republican presidential race.

Nevada state legislature transitioned the state away from caucuses in 2021 in hopes of cementing initiatives to improve voter access, but the Nevada Republican Party believes that the caucuses are more secure and encourage voter-candidate interaction.

In protest, the Nevada Republican party will hold the state caucus on Feb. 8, and the winner will leave the state with all of its allocated delegates.

people,” the member said. “We are who we are, we fight for injustices because it’s in our nature. We hope that, in the future, we’ll be able to have more memorials, more demonstrations like this that can continue to bring the Emory community together.”

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Adjunct Associate Professor Jane Yates watched the memorial as it was put together. She called the event “meaningful” and hoped demonstrations like it would continue.

“It gave me hope and inspiration that maybe with continued attention, that there can be a peace of a different sort in the Middle East,” Yates said.

— Contact Jack Rutherford at jack.rutherford@emory.edu

Israel-Palestine classes garner student interest

2024 ELECTION

By Ayla Khan Politics Desk

ize the amount of lives lost in the Gaza strip since the Oct. 7 conflict outbreak, “The impact that I hope happened today was that people would just look at the flags and understand this isn’t everybody who has been martyred so far,” the member said. “Understand that even with such little flags that we have today, this is a lot of deaths. One death is still a human being.”

ESJP previously hosted a vigil honoring the Palestinians killed last October.

Another ESJP executive member, who also requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said that the group aims to promote Palestinian culture and hold similar memorial events in the future.

“As Palestinians, we’re not angry

Haley, who ran in Nevada’s Republican primary, is effectively ineligible to run in the caucus, according to the Nevada GOP. “Simply put, candidates who participate in an illegitimate process cannot expect to earn legitimate delegates to the Republican National Convention,” the Nevada GOP said in a December 2023 press release.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was not on last night’s ballot, will be participating in the caucus. Without Haley participating in the Feb. 8 caucus, Trump is the clear frontrunner in the race for the state’s allocated delegates. If he wins, he could potentially sweep the state’s 26 available delegates.

Haley’s defeat follows a string of losses in both the New Hampshire and Iowa Republican primaries. Haley did not release a statement addressing her Nevada loss by press time. After her loss in New Hampshire, she maintained resolve, telling voters that the “race is far from over.”

“There are dozens of states left to go, and the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” Haley said.

Despite Haley’s dedication to campaigning in her home state, preliminary polls indicate that Trump holds the lead in South Carolina.

According to Associate Professor of Political Science Bernard Fraga, Haley may continue her campaign even if she loses the South Carolina primary.

“Now it’s effectively a two-candidate race, it’s not clear why Haley has to drop out,” Fraga said. “If she can continue to fundraise enough to mount a campaign, there’s other benefits that could accrue to her.”

— Contact Ayla Khan at ayla.khan@emory.edu

was a great opportunity to combine her interest in history and current events by learning more about the conflict.

“With social media, it is easy for people to find some sort of bias or choose a particular side based on the news’ role,” Kataria said. “This is a more accurate way for me to be able to be more informed about this.”

Scully emphasized that she and Doner are not the only faculty members trying to connect with students and foster healthy dialogue concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies Geoffrey Levin is teaching a course titled “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Political Struggles, Personal Histories,” which focuses on the context and history of the struggle. Levin has taught this course

Courtesy of Emory University

Associate Professor of Modern Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture Ofra Yeglin teaches a course on Israeli-Palestinian literature.

every other year since spring 2022.

Additionally, Associate Professor of Modern Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture Ofra Yeglin is teaching a course titled “IsraeliPalestinian Literature,” which covers a selection of literary works related to the conflict.

Levin mentioned that social media makes it difficult to get information that is not exaggerated or overly shortened. He explained that his course will cover varying perspectives from individuals on both sides of the conflict throughout history.

“When people see the other side humanized throughout history in this way, it really gives students a deep and empathetic understanding of what the region is,” Levin said.

Levin’s class, which normally has less than 20 students, is open to 70 this year. He said he made this decision because he wants to foster a community where everyone respects others’ views and knows their opinion has value. River Somerville (27C), one of the students enrolled in the course this spring, said that they were drawn to the class from a “justice standpoint” because they want to meaningfully contribute to the conversation about the conflict and educate others.

Yeglin stated that since she is a citizen of Israel, she cannot “fully represent the Palestinian perspective.”

However, she said that other students in the class have commended her for maintaining a balanced perspective when teaching the course.

“I have to admit that after teaching this course for about 10 years, it was especially difficult to teach it during fall semester because the war broke [out] about the middle of the semester,” Yeglin said.

Despite the controversy around the Israel-Palestine conflict, Yeglin

Courtesy of R ichard Doner

Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus Richard Doner developed and co-teaches a reading course on the IsraelPalestine conflict this spring. explained that she did not encounter any difficulties in her class and was able to successfully lead the course and engage with students, even during the “most explosive semester.”

“If the course is well-built and you are mature enough to have a conversation with the students, I see no obstacles whatsoever,” Yeglin said.

Professors such as Doner, Scully, Levin and Yeglin expressed similar goals with their courses on the Israel-Palestine conflict. They want students to become more educated about the issue and feel safe discussing their views with their peers.

“My hope is that we are one of many institutions that tries to figure out how to talk about this stuff and act on it in ways that are productive,” Doner said.

— Contact Alyza Marie Harris at alyza.harris@emory.edu

NEWS

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, February 7, 2024 3

Nova music festival survivor discusses Hamas attacks, promotes discourse

By Amelia Dasari Atlanta Events Desk Jenny Sividya, a survivor of the Supernova Sukkot Gathering Hamas attack in Israel last fall, spoke about her experience at Emory University on Friday.

A social psychologist and doctoral candidate in gender studies, Sividya attended the music festival in the Negev Desert on the night of Oct. 6, 2023, after gifting her partner tickets. She also attended with brother, Shlomi, and his girlfriend, Lily. The festival stretched into the early hours of the next day until the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which the United States and other countries have designated as a terrorist organization, initiated a surprise attack on Israel.

“I was told [the festival] will be heaven, but eventually it turns out to be hell,” Sividya said.

As she addressed Emory community members, she recalled first hearing missiles around 6:30 a.m.

“At first we thought these were fireworks because … there were no alarms or sirens and the music kept on going,” Sividya said. “But one look at the sky was enough to see that these were no fireworks. These were missiles … Not one or two or 10 or 20, as we Israelis are used to, but hundreds of them.”

Soon after noticing the missiles, Sividya said the music was cut short and replaced with security shouting instructions through the speakers.

“They shouted, ‘Everybody that

A lex Friedman/Contibuting Photographer

Jenny Sividya discusses surviving the Oct. 7, 2023 Supernova Sukkot Gathering Hamas attack in Israel to Emory University community members in Goodrich C. White Hall on Feb. 2. is here, please take your belongings and go back home now,’” Sividya said. “But what they didn't know was that on the main exit of the festival, Hamas waited for those who rushed to go back home.”

Sividya added that by this point Hamas took over the nearby military base, as well as local kibbutzim.

Sividya also paid tribute to Shlomi and Lily, both of whom were killed in the attacks. It took four days for Lily’s body to be found and identified, while Shlomi was not identified until six days later, Sividya said.

Muscogee Nation pushes to keep language alive Continued from Page 1 believes this is especially important for those currently living on the land on which Mvskoke was once spoken, which is why she chose to give her talk at Emory.

Professor of Italian Pedagogy and Emory Language Center Director Christine Ristaino said that the center is “doing everything possible” to support bringing the Muscogee language to Emory. Last semester, the University held the second annual Muscogee Teach-In, where tribal members lectured on various subjects in the Emory Student Center. In February 2023, the Mellon Foundation awarded Emory and the College of the Muscogee Nation a $2.4 million grant to establish a Native American and Indigenous Studies program. Emory further established the Indigenous Language Path Working Group, which aims to conduct research into Muscogee history on the University’s Atlanta and Oxford campuses, as well as erect “physical reminders” in these

locations that reflects this past. The group has arranged listening sessions in 2022, but there have been no major public updates recently.

Ristaino called yesterday’s event “beautiful.”

“This event accomplished what the humanities should accomplish and that’s bringing so many different disciplines together to have a conversation,” Ristaino said.

Linguistics Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies Marjorie Pak emphasized the value of gaining different perspectives, especially in language, stating that regardless of birthplace, people tend to develop skewed views of other cultures on Earth.

“Having that broader perspective just makes you sort of more grounded in the world and also makes you better to other people,” Pak said.

— Contact Jack Rutherford at jack.rutherford@emory and Frankin Zhang at franklin.zhang@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel Volume 105, Issue 2 © 2024 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editors-in-Chief Matthew Chupack and Sarah Davis matthew.chupack@emory.edu sarah.davis@emory.edu

Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.

The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration.

Lily was a biologist and mother of six-year-old twins. Shlomi was a senior software engineer and a father of two young sons.

“He had two tattoos,” Sividya said, remembering her brother. “One of the guitar that symbolizes love for music … and the other one said ‘live learn’ because this was one of his two mottos to life. The first one was ‘I work to live, I don't live to work,’ and this is exactly how he lived his life.”

Assistant Teaching Professor and Language Coordinator in Hebrew Pazit Kahlon Shelnutt said she hopes

that Sividya's visit will raise awareness about the events at the festival and “open minds” to respectful conversations.

“This is not going against someone that says, ‘Free Palestine,’” Shelnutt said. “The idea is the fact that Oct. 7, by some people, is being ignored and jumping immediately into what happened to the war that opened the day after Oct. 7. People need to recognize what happened.”

Emory-Israel Public Affairs Committee President Sophie Kalmin (26C) noted that Sividya’s speech

drew emotional reactions from several members of the audience.

“This reaction that you're seeing is exactly why it's important,” Kalmin said. “It's part of our history now and the fact that this happened in our lives, the least we can do is just pay attention to it.”

Shelnutt also noted that Sividya’s story, as well as her background in psychology, positively impacted many people.

“She managed to basically be a help for other survivors and other families that had fallen members or soldiers,” Shelnutt said.

Sividya visited Emory as part of the “Faces of October Seventh” project.

The initiative, founded a couple weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, aims to connect communities across North America with victims affected by the events.

Doron Gertzovski, who works for the project, emphasized the power this initiative has among students.

“We know how much it’s hard to be pro-Israel on campus, Jewish on the campus, and we feel we need to do it right away,” Gertzovski said.

Since last year, Sividya, Gertzovski and other members of the project have visited over 70 other universities in North America, Gertzovski said.

“I hope that all the students and all the world realize and understand what's happened in Israel,” Gertzovski said.

— Contact Amelia Dasari at amelia.dasari@emory.edu

PAID RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY: The Emory Mental Health & Development Program

is seeking males worried about recent changes in their thoughts and perceptions.

Males aged 12-34 may be eligible if experiencing one or more of the following: • • • • •

Unusual thoughts Questioning if things are real or imaginary Suspiciousness or paranoia A sense of having special powers or unrealistic plans for the future Unusual experiences with seeing or hearing things that are not there

The purpose of this study is to see how unusual thoughts, suspiciousness or paranoia, and unusual experiences with seeing or hearing things that are not really there can be used to predict risk of psychosis through computerized tasks. The study will be conducted online through Emory University.

An initial screening will be done. Then, if the study is found to be a good fit, you will be invited to participate in the main study. Participants will be compensated $30 per hour.

Contact us or visit our website for more information: Phone number: 404-727-7547 Email: mentalhealth.research@emory.edu Website: https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/mhdp/ ǣ

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The Emory Wheel

Opinion For Emory to rise in rankings, invest in third spaces Sabrina Lane Emory University has it all. It’s a mid-sized school in a large city that also sits in a nice, suburban neighborhood near a beautiful park. It is pretty diverse, with excellent facilities and extremely intelligent students. So why have I noticed many Emory students say that they don’t want to be here, or compare themselves to other schools so frequently? Our lack of school spirit surely plays a part, but that’s not the only problem.

When you think of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Blue comes to mind. When you think of The University of Southern California, you think of the Trojan spirit. Even schools without a lot of school spirit, like The University of Chicago, are notable for their core curriculum. When you say you go to Emory, people often say it’s a very good school, but they never mention a specific selling point. Emory can stand out though — it can be the “goldilocks” - or middle ground - of all schools. But, in order to do that, the school administration needs to create something within walking distance we can call our own. A “third place,” by sociological definition, is a social environment away from “first places,” such as homes and dorms, and “second places,” like schools and workplaces.

This can come in the form of cafes, bars, parks and theaters.

Although Emory students have beautiful buildings where they can spend their days studying, they do not have a space to relax, catch up with friends and enjoy themselves. At most schools, the “college bar,” by definition, exists within walking distance for students attending that university.

In this shared space, people host open mic nights, student groups perform and music or dancing are encouraged.

Emory students seldom get to showcase their skills to their peers in a non-academic or club setting. There is no sense of community: Sunday

Ha-tien Nguyen/Podcast Editor

night football is often watched alone in people’s rooms instead of together in a common space. The restaurants in Emory Village feel desolate and empty.

It’s no wonder that there is so little school spirit at Emory.

providing movie nights and midnight snacks. But these events are not necessarily appealing to college students Just five years ago, Emory canceled a tradition of renting out the High Museum of Art for a student gala. This was the perfect example of shared college-like experiences that we lack – and yet it was discontinued.If Emory lacks entertainment on campus, the least the University can do is allow easier access to the broader city to find third spaces. Experience shuttles run infrequently, and in order for Emory students to kick back and explore, an Uber ride is required, as few of the shuttles go to restaurants, museums or bars. An Uber ride to get anywhere is not financially sustainable for many students, and the fact that Emory students have to leave campus to find a fun place proves incredibly isolating.

Moreover, this leaves low-income students stranded and limited in their options for exploring Atlanta. Emory always advertises Atlanta but doesn’t give us much of a chance to connect with the city. Perhaps this is why students refer to Emory as one of the most depressed schools. Emory’s elimination of college bars, crackdown on

If Emory lacks entertainment in classes, the least the school could do is allow easier access to the wider city to find third spaces.

Many feel that the lack of school ethos stems from the fact that we do not have a football team. This isn’t the full truth. Emory’s lack of spirit stems from having nothing specific outside of academics that students can call their own. Additionally, the lack of third spaces creates fewer traditions that bring a sense of unity. I completely acknowledge and respect the Emory administration’s attempts to fix this by trying to create events like the Fall Festival and Songfest or by

The Emory Wheel Volume 105 | Number 2

Matthew Chupack Editor-in-Chief

Sarah Davis Editor-in-Chief

Jenna Daly Managing Editor Claire Fenton Managing Editor Madi Olivier Managing Editor Sophia Peyser Managing Editor Oli Turner Managing Editor Spencer Friedland News Editor Jack Rutherford Asst. News Editor Lauren Yee Asst. News Editor Marc Goedemans Editorial Board Editor Ellie Fivas Opinion Editor Saanvi Nayar Opinion Editor Lola McGuire Asst. Opinion Editor Safa Wahidi Asst. Opinion Editor Alexandra Kauffman A&L Editor

Nathan Rubin A&L Editor Ari Segal A&L Editor Amiee Zhao A&L Editor Alex Gerson Asst. A&L Editor Catherine Goodman Asst. A&L Editor Clement Lee Sports Editor Madeline Shapiro Sports Editor Will Peck Asst. Sports Editor Jenny Zha Copy Chief

Sandy Ge Copy Editor Haley Huh Copy Editor Angela Chan Asst. Copy Editor Disha Kumar Asst. Copy Editor Teodoro Taylor Asst. Copy Editor Tiffany Namkung Social Editor Esther Fu Asst. Social Editor Natalie Sandlow Asst. Visual Editor Ha-tien Nguyen Podcast Editor Emma Kingwell DEI Editor

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The Emory Wheel welcomes letters and op-ed submissions from the Emory community. Letters should be limited to 300 words and op-eds should be at least 500. Those selected may be shortened to fit allotted space or edited for grammar, punctuation and libelous content. Submissions reflect the opinions of individual writers and not of the Wheel’s Editorial Board or Emory University. Send emails to matthew.chupack@emory.edu or postal mail to The Emory Wheel, Drawer W, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322.

Greek life and lacking connection with Atlanta makes the going-out culture at Emory incredibly elitist. Students who can’t afford the overpriced Ubers and drinks every weekend are excluded from the social scene.

Emory is medium ground, but it often feels like the administration is not sure which way to turn.

Emory is medium ground, but it often feels like the administration is not sure which way to turn. We have large, beautiful Greek mansions students cannot utilize due to Emory’s shutdown of Greek Life. We are in the middle of a city, but the University does not provide resources for us to interact with it.

Moreover, they limit non-academic shared spaces such as bars near campus, as well as places of entertainment like movie theaters, clothing stores or small businesses. The closing of

Slice and Pint is an example of this, bars used to decorate the campus. We have few ways to easily access spaces that are just as important to the college experience as the school. College is about interesting classes, great professors and smart students, but it is just as equally about experiences with friends, exploring new places and bonding over shared experiences.

The answer is in shared spaces that increase a sense of unity. With this, Emory could stand out as being the perfect middle ground of new and old, big and small. Emory is old school. By emphasizing previous traditions and bringing back third spaces, we will be able to develop traditions outside of academics, and as a result, connect more with alumni and the people who came before us. Emory’s annual Coke Toast and gate walk is a step in the right direction, and we need to continue to create more quirky and fun traditions throughout the year.

With all of this considered, Emory’s plunge in U.S. News & World Report rankings coincides with the limitations on Emory students’ social life in the last few years. However, it does not have to be like this. Just 10 years ago, third spaces like bars and restaurants were part of Emory Village, beautiful fraternity mansions were full of life and traditions were valued.

Emory is a wonderful place with hardworking people, and students get the sense that the administration really cares about them and their wellbeing. However, we need to stick out more in order to give people a reason to come here. Those who choose top colleges tend to be well-rounded and do not just look for academic experiences, but also seek a broader social experience. By bringing back traditions, investing in third spaces within Emory Village, or if that’s not feasible, creating more accessibility to them, top students will be more likely to choose Emory over other institutions.

Sabrina Lane (27C) is from New York.

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OPINION

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

5

Humanities student: Think about the ‘Roman Empire’ — I am Oxford, close the gap WAHIDI’S WHAT’S HAPPENING

Amiee Zhao Coming back from winter break, I felt a loss of familiar faces on Oxford College’s campus. Many students had opted to graduate to the Emory College of Arts and Science early, and I would have too if I had enough credits.

As a humanities scholar investigating cultural phenomena through language, Oxford’s idyllic campus has made me anxious about whether my English research can connect with the world outside of the Oxford community. The mostly foundational classes and small town community have made me see Oxford as incongruent with reality. Perhaps, instead of boasting Oxford as a liberal arts education equivalent with the Atlanta campus, Oxford should be a one-year preparatory college experience.Oxford’s focus on introductory classes provided me with a smooth transition from high school to my freshman year of college.

However, it also created a false expectation of the world in the next two years of college and after graduation. As I started my sophomore year, the limited curriculum began to feel dry. Most higher-level English classes are listed as “Special Topics,” which means they appear irregularly in different semesters and focus on case

The small, predominantly-white town of Oxford also contributes to a lack of connection with the real world.

Despite Oxford’s emphasis on club involvement and leadership, many major career and extracurricular opportunities are in Atlanta. To make meetings for the Wheel, my round-trip commute to Atlanta is about two hours round trip.

To study and understand various cultural representations, I also need to squeeze my time to travel to the Atlanta campus for symphony concerts, film screenings and guest lectures that rarely take place at Oxford. Oxford Student Government Association listened to student feedback and improved shuttle service, but it is still difficult to sufficiently keep up with Atlanta campus opportunities.

While Oxford’s lack of academic and professional choices may not significantly impact students, I have felt that the curriculum deviates from what is advertised.

Emory’s mission is to provide service for humanity, but I feel shorthanded because of the distance I experience from the Atlanta campus and the limited community we can reach at Oxford. Oxford isn’t “a place where liberal arts prepares you to put your ideas to work” as their website advertises, falsely shaping an idealistic education for its students.

Mia Usman/Staff Illustrator

studies of specific literature. While the Atlanta campus offers classes like Criticism: Practicing Theory and Literature & Cultural Studies regularly, Oxford provides few classes on literary and cultural theory, an integral English methodology, to tie all the special topics classes together.

Because of this, I found it hard to understand what post-graduate English research really looks like or envision what I can contribute to society through my studies. I feel hesitant to declare as an English major with my Oxford experience.

Much of my research interest in English focuses on understanding cultural and language hegemony, like discrimination against non-standard English. Oxford’s curriculum is insufficient for me to gain a concrete understanding of my research interest.

Trying to learn from an interdisciplinary lens about the cultural experience from different underrepresented groups, I’ve found that many Emory College of Arts and Sciencebased programs that establish crosscultural understandings, like East Asian Studies, Comparative Literature and Chinese Studies, do not offer any classes on the Oxford campus. And, if they do, it is not consistent.

Oxford prides itself on its focus on a liberal arts curriculum for everyone.

However, a lack of choices for more in-depth classes and diverse opportunities forestalls this promise from coming true, especially for a humanities scholar like me who wishes to understand systematic cultural discrimination across the globe.

A true liberal arts curriculum should allow students to design their own pathways by having a wide depth and breadth of classes, but Oxford does not meet these standards. Instead, to keep Oxford’s small community and foundational curriculum alive, it should provide all Emory-admitted students with a one-year high school transition instead of a full, college-level liberal arts program.

Its unique community and foundational classes can alleviate students’ anxiety stepping into college and facing the professional world for the first time, and this approach would reduce the gap between Oxford and Atlanta students. The bubble created

by Oxford should not be equal to the college liberal arts education on the Atlanta campus but rather serve as a college preparatory experience.

Amiee Zhao (24Ox) is from Shanghai.

Ivana Chen/Staff Illustrator

Safa Wahidi Last year was fraught with a litany of social media trends. “Girl dinner” embraced low-effort meals and propelled charcuterie boards and incongruent snacks to the top of aesthetic Instagram accounts.

“Quiet luxury” elevated understated wardrobe pieces and championed investment clothing over fast fashion. And, while food and style are frequently subject to cyclical trends, perhaps no one could have predicted that 2023 would also be the year the Roman Empire would reach its influential peak — despite falling over 1,000 years ago in 476 AD. The meme first surfaced on TikTok in September 2023, drawing on a seemingly gender-specific obsession with ancient Rome.

What started as women asking the men in their lives how often they think about the ancient civilization catalyzed a linguistic shift, evolving into a cheeky colloquialism.

A “Roman Empire” can be anything that persistently captures someone’s attention, whether it be an ex-situationship, a particularly memorable meal at the dining hall or a night out gone awry.

A “Roman Empire” can be anything that persistently captures someone’s attention, whether it be an exsituationship, a particularly memorable meal at the dining hall or a night out gone awry.

Although the Roman Empire has embedded itself into today’s mainstream culture as a catchy phrase, as the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches, the actual history of the Roman Republic, and subsequent Roman Empire, serves as a powerful lesson of what should be on voters’ minds as they anticipate casting their ballots this fall.During its peak, the Roman Empire exerted control from Roman Britain in the northwest to Egypt in the southeast. Today, the United States operates at a similar size

and wields a parallel position on the global stage as a world superpower.

Just as Rome’s military prowess enabled it to fight threats like the Germanic and Persian invasions, the U.S. military’s strength has allowed it to dominate defense strategy. Yet, it was the combination of persistent attacks and widening socioeconomic disparities that led to Rome’s eventual decline.

This is reflected in the U.S. today with tax systems that exacerbate economic inequality and disproportionately affect the poor. It will take a sharp leader with a fresh proposal to reform these policies, and it is the responsibility of citizens to vote accordingly.

Former President Donald Trump — who is currently vying for another four years in The White House — is also fatefully commensurable to Rome’s most recognizable leader, Julius Caesar.

Although the latter has been mythologized over time as one of history’s greatest military commanders, both men rose to power by embracing populism, appealing to the working class and evading traditional democratic norms.

Trump’s disregard for the decorum of the highest office echoes Caesar’s defiance of sacred Roman traditions, creating an off-putting spectacle of demagoguery and masculine arrogance.

Both leaders also maintained a tenacious grip on their political titles, with Caesar declaring himself dictator for life and Trump continually denying his defeat in the 2020 presidential race. Caesar’s rule ultimately left Rome divided, akin to the polarization that is rampant across America today in the wake of Trump’s presidency.

Caesar’s story famously ended in assassination when he was stabbed to death by dozens of senators who opposed his authoritarian rule. While America has, fortunately, not endured a scene quite as dramatic, Trump has incited several instances of political violence in the past, including the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. This is a warning voters should heed as they consider their options for the presidency.

Ancient Rome was also characterized by deplorable hallmarks of American political life known all too well today, such as distraction, diversion and misinformation.

Long before Trump ruled Twitter, Caesar had mastered the art of political propaganda, writing a book praising his own performance in the Gallic Wars.

Later in the Empire, Caesar’s adopted heir, Augustus, utilized a campaign of quippy slogans on coins to disparage General Mark Antony as a drunken womanizer. Sound similar to “Sleepy Joe?”

Similarly, this moment represents an inflection point for democracy in America, and voters should heed the lessons of history’s past when making decisions about the country’s future.

Further, The Roman populace was continually pacified through the use of “bread and circuses,” a political strategy that strove to divert attention from government actions using marvels like free food and entertainment.

The ancient phenomenon bears a striking similarity to the right’s recent obsession with conspiracy theories about everything from beloved pop stars to Pizzagate. Voters must not fall prey to these strategies; it is imperative to pay attention to the actions lawmakers are taking — not the deflections they tout.

The United States must not “cross the Rubicon,” a phrase that alludes to Caesar’s historic passage across the Rubicon River in 49 B.C. His journey ultimately began the civil war that shaped the end of the Republic, leading to the end of an era and a point of no return.

Similarly, this moment represents an inflection point for democracy in America, and voters should heed the lessons of history’s past when making decisions about the country’s future.

For a return to stability, it is evident that Trump cannot be reinstated as the next U.S. president.

This is my “Roman Empire” for the beginning of 2024; consider it yours too.

Safa Wahidi (26C) is from Sugar Hill, Ga.

6

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

OPINION

The Emory Wheel

All votes are not created equal under gerrymandered Lola McGuire As the 2024 primary elections rmble forward, Americans are once again asked to be a part of the electoral process, despite politicians efforts to disincentivize and minimize voters.

The rich, white elite class within the United States have a greater effect on politics than others. As in previous elections, older voters are more likely to turn out in greater numbers than their young counterparts. Likewise, white voters have a greater turnout than people of color, as do upper-class voters.

In anticipation of next November, many Americans might be wondering if their vote even matters. An ongoing resolution that their vote will not make a difference plagues these voters, and they have little confidence in the U.S. democracy, Pew Research found.

These Americans are correct to feel this way. In the grand scheme of American politics, the average person has very little control over an election’s outcome. Politicians manipulate, disparage and shield voters across the country, thus demonstrating the decline of true democracy. I, along with many Emory University students, struggle to find motivation to vote when we feel so disconnected from a political system that represents all citizens unevenly. A rich, white billionaire’s vote is much stronger than that of a low-income person of color. This divide exists for multiple reasons, but the root of this inequality is gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is the creation of new or different electoral boundaries to give one party, class or race an undue advantage in specific districts. In Georgia, this looks like the Republican majority creating districts that silence minority votes, especially from Black residents.

Gerrymandering should be illegal.

It is undemocratic and un-American to intentionally write certain demographics out of their electoral voice and birthright as citizens.

America was founded to be a haven for those who were discriminated against and meant to provide social mobility and representation for oppressed groups. It was founded with the goal of all people having equal voices in the political system.

This is simply a fantasy.

Demography should be destiny. The way that a given district or state looks and feels should be adequately and proportionately accounted for when government officials are selected.

Georgia has been in the hot seat for the past several years, turning from a strictly-red state to a competitive and influential battleground state, especially in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

The effects of gerrymandering have abhorrent effects in Georgia.

The current district maps disparage Black and other minority voters in and around Atlanta and its suburbs. There, these minority voters, who tend to lean liberal, are packed into densely-populated districts. When this packing occurs, the vote of a person in a packed district does not carry as much weight as those who are in a dis-

trict with a lower population. Thus, minority voters are minimized and not accurately reflected in the electoral process. Gerrymandering will erode and dismantle our beloved democracy. It will marginalize the small and empower the big.

Gerrymandering will be the downfall of our democracy.

The minimization of voters in U.S. elections is not new. Originally, the purpose of gerrymandering was to write out voters because of their race, and the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) outlawed this practice under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause in 1995. However, politicians use gerrymandering today to discriminate based on race, but all in the name of a political party.

the Center found that about 73% of Black, Hispanic and Asian voters backed President Joe Biden in 2020, while only 25% supported former President Donald Trump.

As of October, 80% of Republican voters are still white. In 2022, the Democratic Party had a much larger share of racial minority voters. The Democratic Party is a melting pot of diversity, while the Republican Party is lagging behind due to its racist policies. When Republicans gerrymander against Democrats, they are not gerrymandering off of the party. They are unregretfully manipulating individuals because of their race.

With this racial breakdown in mind, I claim that partisan gerrymandering is a premonition of

Partisan gerrymandering, just like racial gerrymandering, is detrimental to elections. It erodes voters’ confidence in their government, and it will be the demise of the democracy Americans are so proud of.

Americans should not take pride in such a harmful system. We, the people, need to be more active in fighting against gerrymandering.

As Georgia’s 2024 presidential primary approaches, the distorted opinion of Americans is going to once again be the law of the land.

Although Georgia could change its electoral maps in nearly the blink of an eye, it is unlikely to occur before the March 12 primary.

All registered voters can vote in the primary — and should. Despite the

Partisan gerrymandering is still permitted, and electoral maps are allowed to be drawn for the benefit of political parties. Both the Democratic and the Republican parties use gerrymandering to their advantage.

In Georgia, some counties have been subdivided into more than three different congressional districts, confusing residents. Just last year, a suit against the Georgia legislature claimed that the new gerrymandered districts racially violated citizens of the state. Yet SCOTUS claimed redistricting of the partisan kind is out of the purview of the judicial branch. The 5-4 ruling was along ideology lines, with liberal justices dissenting from the majority opinion by arguing that partisan gerrymandering should be illegal and was within the purview of the court. When it comes to voter disparagement, SCOTUS has remained weak in its rulings. The right to vote is foundational in the U.S., and it is cowardly for the court’s justices to not advocate for the American people and the worth of their votes.

Although racial gerrymandering is illegal, it is mirrored in partisan gerrymandering. While there are increasing numbers of minority voters who support conservative candidates, the numbers still heavily lean Democratic, according to The Pew Research Center. Using data from state election records,

racial gerrymandering. This unfortunate equivalency does not have to be the case for the rest of American history. However, at this point, due to the large minority makeup of the Democratic Party, partisan gerrymandering is, in fact, racial gerrymandering. Maps drawn to exclude certain political parties may even be reflective of historically racial gerrymandered districts.

Georgia, where large minority populations are concentrated in areas in and around a major city, holds this especially true. Despite people of color comprising 41% of the population in Georgia, these populations are not accurately represented. On the state level, 76 out of the 180 Representatives are Democrats. There has not been a Democratic governor in Georgia since 2003, further demonstrating how insulated the politics are from Democrats in the state. Minorities shape Georgia socially and culturally, but not politically because of a political system that does not deem their voice important. Clearly, partisan gerrymandering is synonymous with racial gerrymandering.

Partisan gerrymandering should be illegal, unless we no longer align with our constitutional values of equal protection, SCOTUS? Partisan gerrymandering targets minority voters, which SCOTUS previously deemed to be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

disparagement of voters, it is still imperative that anyone who can exercise their privilege to vote does so, as many within our country and around the world are not given the same rights.

For Georgians, there is imminent pressure to act. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden was heavily reliant on Atlanta mail-in votes and the surrounding suburbs to win the election. All 16 electors for Georgia had not voted for a Democratic nominee for president since 1992. The electoral votes from Georgia were necessary for Biden to win the election. In 2021, Georgia’s run-off election is what sealed the 50-50 split in the U.S. Senate. Despite enormous efforts to minimize minority or Democratic votes, voters have made significant grassroots efforts and have been fairly successful.

The efforts to fight for Georgians’ right to equal power in the electoral system must continue. Feb. 14 is the final day to register to vote in Georgia, and it is imperative that you participate. There is too much riding on the 2024 presidential election to lose steam now.

There are two ways to make changes to the rampant suppression of minorities in Georgia: legislative and legal.

At this point, little can be done to convince SCOTUS that partisan gerrymandering has the same dev-

Mia Usman/Staff Illustrator

astating effects as racial gerrymandering. There is, however, potential to pass legislation in the Georgia General Assembly to help limit or do away with gerrymandering, but this can only occur if citizens of the state can overcome the current gerrymandered hindrances.

It is a common commitment among both sides of the aisle to fight for legislative reform. As Emory students, we are a hub of potential voters who are not reaching full capacity.

As of 2018, only 57.1% of the registered students on Emory’s campus were voting, according to a Tufts University research study. We have the privilege to be immersed at an institution that encourages active engagement with the community and world around us. The community of Atlanta and the state of Georgia care for and nurture us, and it is our responsibility to do the same for them. As community members, we need to lobby the Georgia General Assembly to pass new legislation that requires an independent, non-partisan company to come to the state to be responsible for drawing new electoral maps.

A non-partisan group would be completely separate from the politics and ideology of the government, and its mission would be to give each vote in Georgia equal weight. By doing so, a more competitive and fair election would be ensured. Getting involved with justice-oriented groups on campus, like the Emory Social Justice Coalition or Young Democrats of Emory, can be a great on-campus community to make contact with local Georgia politics. Working with student groups to call your representative and showing up to protest is a way to advocate for equality. Americans voting despite the hurdles and unfairness of gerrymandering will make a difference in the world around them. The United States has to become more democratic. Americans want to become more democratic. We must let them.

In the dance of politics, our legislators are comfortably nestled in a system that caters to their self-interests, showing little inclination to disrupt the status quo.

It falls upon vigilant citizens and institutions like Emory to shake them from their complacency and demand accountability. Our democracy, currently drowning in the murky waters of gerrymandering, needs more than just votes — this requires a collective push for genuine change.

I implore you: Do not only cast your vote, but open your eyes, question the system and actively advocate for transformation. Envision a political landscape where every citizen’s vote, regardless of color or party, carries the same weight.

This is a passionate call to resist being passive spectators and instead champion our democratic ideals. Let us unite in this fight for a political system that transcends puppetry and truly mirrors the diverse aspirations of our nation.

Stand with me in demanding fairness, equality and a democracy that authentically represents the people.

Lola McGuire (26C) Nashville, Tenn.

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Arts&Life The Emory Wheel

Staff picks: Art that reminds us love is still real

By Arts & Life Staff Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and whether you are single, taken or something in between, everyone can love one thing: arts. From sculptures, movies, songs and more, the arts offer a versatile way to expand viewers’ hearts or leave them heartbroken.

The Arts & Life section has compiled our favorite pieces of arts and media that explore love.

‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa’ (16491652) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini This sculpture looks as though an ethereal world of aesthetic perfection brought it to life. It depicts St. Teresa of Avila — a nun and a Catholic saint who recounted her mystical encounters with God in her autobiography — in a moment of religious rapture.

With the angel’s arrow about to pierce her heart, Teresa’s head is thrown back, her mouth agape and arms and hands limp at her sides — ecstasy consumes her.

The attention to texture adds a dimension of almost uncanny lifelikeness, as the thin fabric of the angel’s robe ripples across his chest, and the thick folds of Teresa’s gown subsume her.

The details add physicality to the piece, turning Teresa’s ecstatic mania into a pure, gold-lined aesthetic bliss for viewers to experience alongside her.

The sculpture represents a seamless confluence of erotic longing and religious devotion, pain and pleasure, suspense and release. The artwork epitomizes love — Teresa’s devotional love for Jesus Christ and Bernini’s love for his craft.

— Alexandra Kauffman, Arts & Life Editor ‘Sealed off’ (1943) by Eileen Chang This work of fiction portrays a romantic encounter between two strangers in a train cabin.

The story takes place during wartime in Japan-occupied Shanghai in the 1940s. A bank accountant and a young college assistant teacher meet on the train when it suddenly gets locked down.

A conversation blossoms in the isolated space between the two, who have distinct age and class differ-

ences. Chang’s depiction of the encounter in the train cabin implies the many connections between individuals in modern society.

She metaphors life as continuous, forward-moving pathways, just like the trains passing by one another on railways. Chunks of intimate dialogue and detailed portrait descriptions lead the story to near isolation from reality.

This story is ephemeral but beautiful in the coincidental time and space designed by Chang.

— Yvette Wang, Arts & Life Contributing Writer ‘Across the Stars (Love Theme from ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’)’ (2002) by John Williams & London Symphony Orchestra This beautiful melody is the aptly-named soundtrack to the starcrossed romance between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

The song is both light and intense as it takes the listener through the ups and downs of their romance, allowing the audience to experience the love story alongside the characters. The music makes clear the sense of duty and propriety Anakin and Padme both feel as well as how the intensity of their love overcomes their barriers to each other.

However, due to its strength, their love ends up devouring them both with negative consequences for their entire universe.

I love this orchestra piece because I can see the movie play in my head while I listen to the melody.

The lengths to which Anakin and Padme went for each other inspire me.

The devastating end to their romance adds to the music’s intrigue, emphasizing the brief brilliance of their relationship and how bittersweet it is.

“Across the Stars” also begs the question: What lengths will we go to for love, and are they worth the consequences?

— Jessie Satovsky, Arts & Life Staff Writer ‘The Light’ (2000) by Common With the help of the legendary beatmaker J Dilla, neo-soul-meets-

hip-hop artist Common scored a modest hit single with the groovy track “The Light,” even gaining him his second nomination for Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

The song is an ode to Common’s then-girlfriend Erykah Badu and the ebb and flow of having a mature relationship.

In addition to the track’s infectious groove and tasteful Bobby Caldwell sample, the introspective lyrics truly stick out in the oft-misogynistic world of hip-hop.

The track excels in its slam-poetry-type delivery and its vivid storytelling between two loving yet complicated partners.

“I never knew a luh-luh-luh, a love like this / Gotta be somethin’ for me to write this,” Common raps in the first verse, then tapping into a bygone era of chivalry. “Queen, I ain’t seen you in a minute / Wrote this letter, and finally decide to send it.”

— Ari Segal, Arts & Life Editor ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005)

by Ang Lee It always starts with a simple glance: eyes darting to and from and back again.

Almost the first queer film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture but likely snubbed due to homophobia, Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” remains a homosexual hallmark, telling a simple love story between two passionate cowboys that unfolds into a blindsidingly profound one-two punch of desire and grief.

The film pulls the pair across stunning mountainscapes and valley-swaddling rivers — and even inside of a sweaty, sensual tent.

It knots them with wives and children but unravels again and again as Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) fail to resist the depths of desire-turned-desperation.

Not far below the surface of its visual beauty is a tragedy about the ugliness of a society built to stop some ways of loving from coming to fruition. It is a carnal film about how queer love cannot be silenced, even in death. Held together by a palpable sense of unshakable passion, “Brokeback Mountain” never leaves room for slack, even through the slow untying of its delicately rural cinematography or the melancholic twang of

Jessie Satovsky/Staff Illustrator

Gustavo Santaolalla’s timeless score.

— Nathan Rubin, Arts & Life Editor ‘Piku’ (2015) by Shoojit Sircar An Indian movie that moves away from the stereotypical dance breaks and flying action heroes, Shoojit Sircar’s “Piku” is a charming comedy about a daughter, Piku Banerjee (Deepika Padukone), and her father, Bhashkor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan).

The plot revolves around the stubborn and intrusive hypochondriac, Bhashkor, who disrupts Piku’s professional and personal life.

He crashes presentations and dates,

sharing unpleasant details and status updates on his chronic constipation.

As the story progresses, Bhashkor’s quirks begin to grow on the audience.

Though Piku has a love interest, the movie primarily depicts a daughter’s love for her father when the role of a caretaker is reversed — he returns to being childlike, with spontaneous requests to have sweets, drink wine and travel to his birth city. A road trip ensues, and the movie cuts to the tiny streets and grand mansions of Kolkata, India with beautiful sarod music in the background. Piku obeys her father’s requests, not out of duty, but out of love.

— Satvika Bharadwaj, Arts & Life Contributing Writer

CAMPUS ART

‘Recasting Antiquity’ explores fascinations with femininity

By Erin Devine Contributing Writer

As I took in the floral hues and diaphanous drawings in the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s newest installment, I was utterly mesmerized by the garden of femininity blooming around me. With its gorgeous sketches, ancient statuettes and pastel paintings, “Recasting Antiquity: Whistler, Tanagra, and the Female Form” is not your average art exhibit.

Co-curated by Ruth Allen, the museum’s curator of Greek and Roman art, and Linda Merrill, professor and director of art history undergraduate studies, the collection opened to visitors on Feb. 3.

The exhibit explores changing attitudes towards classical antiquity and conventional Western notions of femininity.

It primarily features the paper and lithographic works of U.S. artist James McNeill Whistler alongside

these figures depict seated, standing or dancing women draped in cloth.

Each of these Tanagras, which are on loan from the Louvre Museum, contextualize one set of Whistler’s drawings.

I could not tear my eyes away from the lounging figures and their elegant garbs.

Hannah Xu/Contributing Photographer

Michael C. Carlos Museum’s new exhibition celebrates the female form. It opened on Feb. 3 and will close on May 19. several of the Hellenistic Greek pieces they are based on, terracotta figurines known as Tanagras.

Other artists’ paintings, photos and sculptures that mimic or capture these classical artifacts accentuate

these elements.

According to the exhibit’s introduction, “Tanagra” applies to any statuette unearthed at the namesake site in late 19th century Boeotia, Greece. The most common type of

His choice to draw using paper, color lithographs and soft pencil gives the women an ethereal appearance, freeing his muses from the heaviness of their original clay material.

The third floor exhibition hall is divided into three sections, with the initial area splitting off into a room on the right and a room further back

on the left.

As I ventured farther into the first room, I could not tear my eyes away from the lounging figures and their elegant garbs, nor from the flowing lines that Whistler used to compose their forms. The allure does not come from the women’s bodies or poses but rather in the way they are absorbed in their tasks.

Around the corner, two of Whistler’s live models, dressed as though they had been pulled from the Panhellenic era, playfully pose for the camera in a blown-up photograph. The description panel notes how Whistler encouraged his models “to wander, dance, read or rest — anything to avoid the appearance of working.”

I could see this direction shine through in the lightness of his drawings’ bodies and the movement insinuated in each one. These elements

See NEW, Page 8

8 Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Emory Wheel

A&L

New Carlos exhibit explores effortless beauty Continued from Page 7 of leisure, softness and joy saturate every display in this remarkable collection.

A Tanagra of two girls playing a game reminded me that, even in ancient Greece, girls liked to have fun. A figure of the mythological Cassandra seeking refuge under a statue of Athena at Troy juxtaposes the girls’ antics. The exhibit demonstrates the crucial presence femininity has in both daily life and religion.

When I looked up at the surrounding drawings, Whistler’s art further reminded me of women’s effortless beauty and the pleasures of girlhood that stretch back centuries.

The second room further explores

history by detailing the creation processes of Tanagras.

Around the room, pieces inspired

by Tanagras demonstrate the ways people have recreated the traditional production process. I was thrilled to see a table on one side with art supplies where visitors and children could cut out and color their cardboard statuettes, and I was even more delighted to see a young pair of kids engrossed in the activity.

Not only does the station encourage visitors to learn more about the crafting process, but it also enables them to experience the same pleasure the sculptors and even Whistler himself may have felt in creating their works of art.

Hannah Xu/Contributing Photographer

“Recasting Antiquity” features works by American artist James McNeil Whistler.

The entrance to the third and final room is striking. The doorway opens right in front of a magnificent pastel painting by impressionist Childe Hassam, included to highlight the appearance of the Tanagra theme in U.S. art.

The pieces paint a picture of timeless femininity, demonstrating the beauty girls have in simply being.

Hannah Xu/Contributing Photographer

The image is simple — a girl holding a Tanagra figurine — but the colors and brush strokes gleam in the light and radiate out of the frame and onto the pink and pale green walls.

The effect pulls the viewer deeper into the exhibit and into the portrait at the same time, making the rest of the room feel like an extension of the painting. By organizing the layout this way, the museum invites its guests to contemplate the other pieces around them just as the young woman contemplates her Tanagra.

The rest of the room includes goddess statuettes, Whistler’s drawings of mother and child Tanagras as well as some of his chalk-on-paper creations. Looking at the soft shades

A painting with floral mortifs displays a woman standing beside a table. and sketches of women living and lounging, I felt as though the images come from a fond memory rather than thousands of years of history.

Overall, the collection and Whistler’s art capture both the playful and ineffable elements of the different Tanagras beautifully.

The detailed descriptions of Whistler’s inspirations, Tanagra creation, their discovery and resurging artistic portrayals make the statues alluring without sexualizing them, a feat for an exhibit entirely featuring the female figure. Moving from drawing to drawing felt like a lesson in leisure and light, while

the layout of the entire space brings the statues the same freshness that Whistler’s drawings gave them. In a world increasingly focused on impossible body standards, “Recasting Antiquity: Whistler, Tanagra, and the Female Form” asks that we, like Whistler’s drawings, free ourselves from the heavy weight of society’s expectations into the delight and lightness of existing.

Together, the pieces paint a picture of timeless femininity, demonstrating the beauty girls have in simply being.

–Contact Erin Devine at erin.devine@emory.edu

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Emory Wheel

9

COLUMN

Cat’s Collection: 5 albums for lovesick, lovestruck, lovelorn

By Catherine Goodman Asst. Arts & Life Editor

‘The Divine Feminine’ by Mac Miller (2016)

Roses are red; violets are blue. As Valentine’s Day approaches, here are a few albums to listen to. On a day as contentious as this, one must be prepared. Will chocolates, flowers and a lover’s warm embrace fill the day? Or will angst, reruns of reality TV and a social media hiatus fill it instead?

Love may be in the air, but it does not have to be in the music. Here are five albums for every Valentine’s Day mood.

“The Divine Feminine” by Mac Miller is more than an album — it is a confessional, a plea and a declaration of love.

Even after passing away in 2018, Miller retains his devoted fanbase and a recognizable influence on hiphop music. “The Divine Feminine” explores the sensuality of romantic relationships and worships the female form.

The album emphasizes intimacy as a critical component of a vibrant relationship. Miller’s desires have no shame.

On “Congratulations (feat. Bilal),” piano and violin accompany Miller’s smooth rapping, fusing to form a soulful composition that highlights his calm demeanor and lyrical ability. Above all, Miller values connection throughout “The Divine Feminine.”

In the pop duet “My Favorite Part,” his ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande sings, “I got enough on my mind / But I can make some time for somethin’ so divine.”

Every student has more than enough on their minds, but on Feb. 14, you should make time for this album.

‘Rumours (Deluxe Edition)’ by Fleetwood Mac (1977) The success of “Rumours” made Fleetwood Mac a cultural phenomenon. As one of the bestselling albums of all time, “Rumours” is an everyday listen and is especially pertinent on Valentine’s Day. The album reflects the beautiful highs and terrible lows of relationships. “You Make Loving Fun” is an energetic track that celebrates the magic of an all-encompassing love. It is lively, lighthearted and the perfect karaoke song for couples. On the other hand, “Songbird” is a more emotionally poignant ballad that relishes in the intensity of endless devotion.

Nevertheless, “Rumours” is not only for the lovers. Instead, the album houses one of the strongest love songs ever released, “Silver Springs.”

The soulful ballad reflects the anger and desperation that follow a surprising split. The lyrics and the emotion of Stevie Nicks’ powerful voice speak for themselves. “You’ll never get away from the sound / Of the woman that loved you,” Nicks sings. If you find a lover haunting you down or enjoying the embrace of another, press play on “Rumours” — you will not regret it.

‘Melodrama’ by Lorde (2017) A sweaty forehead plastered against the cold car window, the muted beat of the music from behind a locked bathroom door, spontaneous jaunts down city sidewalks at night: This is how “Melodrama” by Lorde feels.

The album begins with a synthpop track that masks gut-wrenching lyrics with a dance-inducing beat.

“Green Light” references the sym-

bol of unrequited love in “The Great Gatsby” (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Just as Jay Gatsby battles with the unattainability of his ex-lover Daisy Buchanan, Lorde struggles with letting go of an old fling.

“Melodrama” is pop perfection.

The album contemplates the value of unpredictable romances, acknowledges deep-rooted insecurities and celebrates the beauty of platonic relationships.

In “Melodrama,” Lorde asserts the power of personal responsibility and the understanding of one’s role in the degradation of once fun or healthy relationships.

In “Supercut,” Lorde writes, “in my head, I do everything right,” expressing her desire but ultimate inability to be an effective lover. If you are ready to dance, cry and maybe even do some reflecting this Valentine’s Day, “Melodrama” is the album for you.

‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ by Taylor Swift (2021) To be heartbroken on Feb. 14, mourning the now-canceled dinner or scanning your bed for the never-purchased teddy bear is frankly the worst. In the face of such despair, Taylor Swift has the remedy: “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault).”

The soft melody carries the listener through a journey of infatuation, sorrow, angst and empowerment, encapsulating the risks of romance.

While this track garnered unprecedented attention from listeners, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” houses many overlooked tracks.

For the lucky lovers, “State Of Grace (Taylor’s Version)” and “Stay Stay Stay (Taylor’s Version)” reflect the excitement of newfound love and

TV REVIEW

‘Hazbin Hotel’ marks devilishly-entertaining escape

By Paige Hogan Contributing Writer

Over four years ago, animator Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano turned heads when she released the full-length pilot of “Hazbin Hotel” on YouTube.

With original songs, stunningly fluid animation and professional voice acting, the episode quickly gained popularity. The production company A24 picked up the show a year after its online debut for eight episodes, releasing the first episode this January on Amazon Prime.

The history of “Hazbin Hotel” is inspiring for indie animation, showcasing the culmination of Medrano and her team’s passion for the story. Although the show’s visual and musical components are nothing short of spectacular, the rushed pacing ultimately left me questioning the intended storyline. The show is a dark comedy musical that follows Princess of Hell Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen) as she attempts to remedy Hell’s overpopulation problem by opening a rehabilitation center for sinners, the titular “Hazbin Hotel.”

Alongside her pragmatic girlfriend, Vaggie (Stephanie Beatriz), and the wickedly charismatic Radio Demon, Alastor (Amir Talai), Charlie works to prove that her hotel can serve as a peaceful alternative to Extermination, or the yearly purges performed by exorcists from Heaven.

Alongside the main cast is a wide-ranging ensemble of unique demons and angels, including the narcissistic, rock-loving supreme angel Adam (Alex Brightman) and the lewd, yet kindhearted adult film star Angel Dust (Blake Roman).

However, the show’s large cast is one of its bigger problems. With so many characters, few are given enough time to be fleshed out beyond their plot significance in singular episodes. For example, the character Sir Pentious (Alex Brightman), a former supervillain who later becomes a resident of the hotel, is portrayed as comic relief for most of the series. Yet, in the finale, Sir Pentious boldly sacrifices himself to prevent Adam from hurting his friends,

Chau A hn Nguyen/Staff Illustrator

laughs at inconsequential arguments through humorous anecdotes.

For the not so lucky, the ballads “I Almost Do (Taylor’s Version)” and “The Last Time (feat. Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol) (Taylor’s Version)” pack an emotional punch — especially for those who feel taken for granted. Whatever your Valentine’s Day state of mind, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” will strike the perfect chord.

‘Five Seconds Flat’ by Lizzy McAlpine (2022) NBC News defines a situationship as “a romantic relationship that is, and remains, undefined.” Situationships are confusing, toxic, frustrating, intoxicating and so much more.

Lizzy McAlpine’s “Five Seconds Flat” reflects this disorienting roller coaster of emotions that spurs from an undefined or even illusory romance. On “ceilings,” McAlpine portrays the latter, building a complex narrative of sexual and emotional

intimacy, only to reveal in the bridge that it is all a fantasy — the relationship, the memories, the heartbreak do not even exist. “Five Seconds Flat” pairs candid lyricism with indie-pop production, ensuring an overall pleasing listening experience.

Nevertheless, McAlpine does not shy away from experimentation. For example, “firearm” reflects on a toxic relationship and utilizes the production to energize the story.

By gradually increasing the volume of the backing instruments and straining to sing-scream with her otherwise light voice, McAlpine expresses the sadness, anger and embarrassment that result from unhealthy and unsuccessful romantic endeavors.

If you are waiting by the phone or blocking their number this Valentine’s Day, “Five Seconds Flat” might help you through a rough day.

– Contact Catherine Goodman at catherine.goodman@emory.edu

Mini Crossword

By Miranda Wilson Crossword Desk

Photo Manipulation by A lexandra K auffman

which is intended to be poignant for viewers but ultimately falls flat due to a lack of emotional buildup.

The cast is also one of the show’s greatest assets.

Filled with notable Broadway regulars like Christian Borle and Jeremy Jordan, the musical numbers are a dazzling creative showcase. Featuring catchy melodies, skillful composition and perfect blends of humor and emotion, the songs add a unique and memorable dimension to the show’s storytelling. The musical style ranges from show tunes to electro-swing, with each genre fitting into the show’s unique and quirky aesthetic.

The soundtrack covers a broad tonal range with empowering pop ballads like “Loser, Baby” to softer, orchestral duets like “More Than Anything.”

Another great aspect of “Hazbin Hotel” is the show’s distinct visual style.

Animated by Bento Box Entertainment, all of the characters are diverse and memorable, each containing meticulous details in their designs. One of the best examples is the character Husk (Keith David), the jaded hotel bartender who is indebted to Alastor after an unfortunate gambling match.

Husk’s design is symbolic of his gambling past, with a roulette wheel-esque pattern on his wings and hearts on his gloves, making his design unique and meaningful to his character.

Another high point of the ani-

mation is its gorgeous and creative world-building shots. From the pastel paradise of Heaven to the early 20th-century aesthetic of Cannibal Colony, each location’s buildings and residents have a distinctive style. With such a large variety of characters and locations, the show’s animation succeeds in making all of them unforgettable and visually marvelous.

Although “Hazbin Hotel” excels in its animation and soundtrack, the show’s rushed pacing is a drawback.

With only eight 20-minute episodes, the show introduces too many plot lines and characters for viewers to truly enjoy any of them. The overcrowded story and cast diminish the show’s emotional moments since the audience is not given enough time to appreciate its characters or their relationships.

Despite its flawed pacing, “Hazbin Hotel” has no boring moments. With what little screen time the team gave the show, it filled every second with charm and excitement.

“Hazbin Hotel” has already been confirmed for a second season, and I am excited to see where the show goes.

I hope that the coming season can move at a more relaxed pace and follow through with many of the exciting subplots and characters this season set up.

– Contact Paige Hogan at paige.hogan@emory.edu

ACROSS 1. “The Bluest Eye” author Morrison 5. What a grammatically correct owl might hoot?

6. Georgia civil rights activist John 7. Greek mythology’s Cupid 8. Adjective for morning grass DOWN 1. “As if __ easy,” as Shakespeare might say 2. “Incredible!”

3. Cacophonous 4. Can be sent on Slack (abbr.)

6. Environmentally-friendly lightbulb

Scan for answers

A&L

10 Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Emory Wheel

FEATURE

Colors of resistance: Atlanta style writing culture evolves, expands

By Yvette Wang Contributing Writer Style writing colors the streets of Atlanta neighborhoods like Cabbagetown, Inman Park and Midtown. Such art pieces are prominent on the walls of the Krog Street Tunnel and along the Atlanta BeltLine.

The mixed writing styles and colors catch the eyes of pedestrians and drivers as they pass by, highlighting their presence in modernized areas.

Style writing, most commonly known as graffiti, has become an increasingly prominent subculture in Atlanta over the past 40 years.

Street artists host exhibitions with the Atlanta BeltLine, such as “ATL Jam” and “So So Def Wall,” to celebrate the art in one of its most popular locations within the city: Midtown.

The art form has developed in Atlanta for over 40 years. In the early ’80s, as Atlanta’s hip-hop movement took off, style writing began to grow as well. Atlanta also expanded its transportation network as main MARTA stations like Peachtree and Atlantic stations were built in 1971. This expansion allowed style writing from urban centers like New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles to make its way to Atlanta, said Mendez, a style writer with Madclout, which is a team of style writing artists in Atlanta. Many young artists, such as The United Kings Crew, Save, Totem and Doctor Dax, moved to Atlanta and established a style writing culture in the city.

According to Melissa Hughes, who has done research on style writing in Atlanta at Georgia State University, style writing is the application of graphic styles, letters, forms and spray paint. Artists use paint materials to write words in different public locations to represent themselves or share their opinions.

Cultural significance Style writing has become a non-mainstream avenue for underrepresented communities to speak up about identities and ideas not often portrayed in mainstream media. In cities like Los Angeles, style writing thrives among Black and Latino communities as a way to express their underrepresentation in politics.

Atlanta’s style writing culture coincided with the rise of hip-hop. In movies about hip-hop, such as “Wild Style” (1982) and “Beat Street” (1984), viewers can see style writers creating and experimenting with different writing styles. Such visual representations contributed to hip-hop culture as street writing appeared alongside with rappers and break dancers.

Randy Gue, assistant director of collection development and curator of political, cultural and social movements at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, has helped the University acquire collections of style writing.

Courtesy of Baser

A grafitti wall depicts local style writing on the Atlanta BeltLine.

“Atlanta is an African American mecca, a hip-hop mecca,” Gue said.

“The interesting thing about Atlanta graffiti is to see how [hip-hop and graffiti] intertwine and how those things relate.”

Antar Fierce is a style writing historian and art teacher based in Atlanta.

He is the co-founder and chief curator of Steel Wheels, a style writing preservation society. Public transportation has always played a significant role in Atlanta’s style writing culture, Fierce noted. Style writers produce their work on static locations like subway stations walls or under bridges, as well as on movable mediums like trains, allowing their pieces to be seen by many.

In Atlanta, style writers often choose to create their artwork on MARTA vehicles so others can view their work throughout the city, Fierce said.

“I live near railroad tracks here in Atlanta … and I see work from all over the country, even from Mexico, come by my place,” Gue said. “That’s who graffiti writers are speaking to — they are speaking to each other — and we happen to be lucky to stumble upon those conversations every now and then in our daily life.”

“That’s who graffiti writers are speaking to – they are speaking to each other – and we happen to be lucky to stumble upon those conversations ... in our daily life.”

— Randy Gue, Stuart A. Rose Library curator Although Atlanta is the hub of Georgia style writing, this art style is now reaching other cities in the state, Fierce said.

“When you come in from those outer places, you start to see a little bit more graffiti getting closer to the city, whereas 20 [to] 30 years ago, you

Courtesy of H.J. Parsons

Delaware River Generating Station in Pennsylvania is filled with grafitti.

didn’t see that,” Fierce said. “I would go out to Carrollton, which is all the way, almost, to Alabama, and there were writers out there, and that was awesome.”

Social importance Style writing in Atlanta has a distinct narrative, which Gue associated with Atlanta’s civil rights history. Civil rights scholarship started with prominent figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Gue said, adding that a lot of current civil rights work in Atlanta is happening on the grassroots level. Curtis Jackson, the team lead of Krog Codex, a website that serves as an archive for street writing in Krog Street Tunnel, found that style writers create art for political and social protests. From Jackson’s experience recording style writing in the Krog Street Tunnel, he said that the tunnel is more than a place of art but a space for interactive conversation.

“It’s a community bulletin board,” Jackson said. “It is a place for people to put up their ideas, their passions. It’s also a place for political protest.”

Jackson added that he has seen street writing related to the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Stop Cop City movement.

Jackson and his team also saw a large wheat paste collage about women’s rights in the Krog Street Tunnel.

“There were a set of three of them, and they were based on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’” Jackson said. “It was clear that it was to remind people, ‘Hey, there’s this election coming up,’ and remind them of the issues …

Within a week, it was all torn down.

That tells us also that there were people who were against that particular issue.”

Challenges, changes Style writing was not initially celebrated in government, schools or journalism in Atlanta, Jackson said.

Such entities viewed style writing either as individual acts of vandalism or associated with anti-social groups like gangs. Style writers were often chased by police officers and risked their lives to finish a piece, Jackson said. Consequently, they sometimes used pseudonyms for their safety when being interviewed.

“There’s been some very, very trying times, like police, authority figures, trying to apprehend us for being style writers and for applying a medium to a surface that’s deemed illegal,” Mendez said. Since many style writers are young, they face economic challenges such as getting paint materials. Fierce used to experience this struggle.

“You’re a kid, so you can’t afford to buy spray paint,” Fierce said. “You had to either steal it, or you had to get it some other way that was not above board.”

Style writing is not a lucrative

career, so many artists have an additional job. Fierce, who has done style writing since 1983, shifted to teaching style writing in Atlanta after his daughter went to school. He got a master’s degree in creative writing from Georgia State University. Now that he has a teaching job, Fierce said it is difficult for him to find the time to do style writing. Fierce recalled that when he came to Atlanta in 1989, style writing was still perceived as vandalism by the public, which posed challenges.

“When I first moved here, I remember seeing ‘wanted’ posters in the train for graffiti writers, which I thought was crazy,” Fierce said. “But I understood it, because it’s illegal, and it’s vandalism, and that’s the narrative that graffiti has had for the longest time.”

However, Fierce said he has noticed that authorities in Atlanta have grown more accepting of style writing over time. He said young people who grew up with street writing are now in leadership roles, and they are changing the discourse and differentiating style writing from vandalism.

“They are in a better position to support it more than they have in the past,” Fierce said.

Parsons once recorded a style writing project on a train from night until dawn.

“Going in pitch black in the middle of the evening, coming out and then getting the final photograph almost as the sun was rising,” Parsons said.

“That was what really made me see and realize how much effort, blood, sweat and tears go into producing results from the sketch onto a surface, an unsanctioned surface.”

Being generalized as vandalism, style writing can be stigmatized and undervalued in the academic field, Gue said. However, scholars now pay more attention to the arts. Gue noted challenges in promoting style writing in academic discussions.

“The other battle I have sometimes — and I’m not saying this often — but it’s convincing people in the academic world that this stuff is important to document,” Gue said. “It is as important to research and teaching as the other materials that we have.”

“The more people realize the value in it from an artistic standpoint, the more opportunities we’ll have to make sure that the story is recorded.”

— Antar Fierce, style writing historian Gue also noted that social media has helped foster attention to style writing, and the art form is expanding its scale globally.

“All you have to do is go on social media, and you see the graffiti has conquered the world,” Gue said. “I don’t believe that there’s a country in the entire world that doesn’t have this style of graffiti.”

Preservation

Street writers’ ideology

Style writers often rely on documentarians and historians to record and sustain their works.

“You can spend three hours starting at midnight one night, creating this great masterpiece,” Gue said. “At 6 a.m., some business owner may see it and paint over it, and it’s gone.”

As a result, Gue said photography is crucial for documenting street writers’ work. Photographers often work closely with style writers to track the latest progress of a piece. Photographers may also record changes over time in areas with a lot of street writing art.

“Photography plays a really important role in preserving the artwork because sometimes that is the only evidence that a piece existed,” Gue said.

Emory’s Rose Library has collected photos from photographers who took pictures of style writers’ pieces. In 2022, the library launched “Graffiti: A Library Guide to Aerosol Art,” a collection of style writing presented with photographs from H.J. Parsons and Jack Stewart.

Atlanta’s style writing culture developed along with new construction in the city. Parsons witnessed the redevelopment of old Superfund sites into places like Ponce City Market. “​​ I didn’t initially start off taking photos,” Parsons said. “I started off as walking down railroad tracks, which are the main parts of the BeltLine now, wandering and doing my research.”

Parsons later took his interest in architecture photography to record these changes. However, documenting style writing is often challenging.

To Fierce, who has not been professionally trained in art skills, style writing was his introduction to art.

“My education in art began on the subway platforms, and I love art now because of writing,” Fierce said.

After teaching lessons in style writing to young people in Atlanta, Fierce perceived style writing as a medium inspired by kids.

“Kids invented this,” Fierce said.

“Kids invented the idea of making art with spray paint — that is undeniable.

So, when I do teach with kids 50 years later, it’s almost immediate. Kids get it, they understand it, they enjoy it.”

Fierce considers teaching a way to stay engaged with style writing and pass the art on to younger generations.

“The more people realize the value in it from an artistic standpoint, the more opportunities we’ll have to make sure that the story is recorded, and the story is told and archived,” Fierce said.

Style writing has become a passion in Mendez’s life, and he has created many pieces in Atlanta.

“Even when I’m driving a vehicle for work, in my mind, I’m still thinking of some letters, and I’m thinking of writing and style writing, and I’m thinking of what I can create next,” Mendez said. “The way the visuals you see in the everyday part of your life can be inspiring and also influence your style as far as the way highways turn and curve and the way highways perpendicular and intersect. There’s creative energy and influences.”

– Contact Yvette Wang at yvette.wang@emory.edu

Wednesday, February 7, 2024 11

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel SOCCER

Players remember Mike Rubesch as exemplary coach and friend

By Alina Glass Contributing Writer

Former Former Emory University Men’s Soccer Head Coach Mike Rubesch, or “Rubes” as he was affectionately known, passed away on Jan. 6 at age 66 after an 11 year battle with early-onset dementia.

Mike began his head coaching career at Emory in 1986, leading the first women’s soccer teams in their 1986 and 1987 seasons. He then became the head coach for the men’s team in 1988, a position that he held for 19 seasons.

Mike was born in Los Angeles and went on to play NCAA Division II soccer at Erskine College (S.C.). After graduating from Erskine in 1980, he coached the varsity boys’ soccer team at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta from 1981-1984. He helped transform the program with three consecutive Georgia Final Four state tournament appearances. Mike then brought his magic to Emory, where he served as the men’s assistant coach from 1984 to 1987 and head coach for nearly two decades, from 1988 to 2006.

The men’s team garnered great success during Mike’s tenure. He had an overall winning record of 236-99-22, eight NCAA Division III (DIII) tournament appearances, five University Athletic Association (UAA) titles and 16 victories during

the 1989, 1991 and 2003 seasons, tying the men’s soccer school record for most wins in a season, which still stands today. He also oversaw three Emory men’s soccer teams that escaped conference play without a single loss.

Mike’s accolades included winning five UAA Coach of the Year awards and landing among DIII top 40 alltime highest winning percentages after his last year as a men’s coach in 2006. During his tenure at Emory, nine of his players earned AllAmerica titles and five UAA Player of the Year titles.

After retiring from Emory soccer, Mike moved to South Africa to coach the South African Premier Division team Cape Town Spurs F.C., formerly known as Cape Town Ajax, from 2007 to 2008.

He went on to split his time between the United States as an assistant coach for NCAA Division I Coastal Carolina University (S.C.) and his soccer academy in Hermanus, South Africa.

In honor of Mike’s coaching success, he was inducted into the Emory Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.

Players remember Mike for more than just his brilliance on the field.

Scott Kelly (92C, 00MR), a 1991 AllAmerican, said Mike was “more than a coach:” He was also a “great friend.”

“Every time you saw him, he was like, ‘How’s your Mom? How’s your

brother? How’s your sister? What’s going on in your life? How’s your girlfriend?’” Kelly said. “He really cared about you as a person.”

Ho Lee (91C), a 1990 First Team All-American, echoed these sentiments and praised Mike for his “genuine” care for those around him.

“The best way to describe him is, he wasn’t above the team, looking down … He was [a] part of the team, leading us from within,” Lee said. “That was extremely effective.

It pulled everyone together. We genuinely liked each other and wanted to play for each other. I think a lot of our success those years was because of that.”

Lisa Rincon (88C) said Mike was a positive and fun coach with his constant chatter on the sidelines and sense of amusement. John Symbas (00C, 04M, 05MR, 10MR) said Mike made sure all of his players found “joy” in the game.

“He really seemed to be enjoying life, and he helped spread that good vibe throughout the team,” Rincon said.

Alumni players remarked on Mike being a visionary for Emory’s soccer program, transforming it into a nationally-recognized powerhouse.

“He’s the one who put Emory soccer on the national map,” Lee said.

Courtesy of Emory Athletics

— Contact Alina Glass at alina.glass@emory.edu

Mike Rubesch, who was head coach of the men’s soccer team for 19 seasons, passed away on Jan. 6.

Chiles optimistic, taking season ‘one pitch at a time’ Continued from Back Page

Natalie Sandlow/A sst. Visual Editor

Senior outfielder Page Nellis runs the bases during a game on Feb. 25, 2023.

nated much of the confusion which comes with the adjustment period for first-years.

“I’m definitely glad they’re there,” Pineada said. “Just having people to follow made it definitely a lot easier.”

With a less than full roster in the previous season, more playing time was not always ideal. In order to avoid forfeiting games, pitchers were playing the hot corner at third base, and catchers were not playing their primary position. Everybody was playing everywhere. Chiles describes the returning players as “warriors.”

In order to establish a good team culture, Chiles introduced a puzzle.

Each player has their own piece, with one word they picked before the sea-

son encapsulating their role on the team. The idea is that if everybody is able to articulate their role, they can find their responsibility and identity within their squad.

Swift’s word is “composure” because she can keep a level head in all situations. Pineda’s word is “reasonable” because she’s quick to understand the importance of practice and coachability.

“These pieces will revolve somewhat,” Chiles said. “You may not be the centerpiece in the month of May … But you’re still there, and we need you. Everyone has a role.”

All 18 players fit together not just as a puzzle but as a family. Chiles wants to shift the players’ mindsets to make the words “team” and “fam-

ily” synonymous because then they will cultivate a common work ethic.

Chiles said the team will only be able to get to the World Series after they achieve that feeling.

“Of course I want postseason play,” Chiles said. “I want to be in Texas playing for a championship, and that’s realistic for this team.

That’s the scary part of our talents — when we look ahead because we know how good we are.”

Chiles said her number one goal for her first season at Emory isn’t result-focused but rather taking it “one game, one inning, one pitch at a time.”

— Contact Sasha Melamud at sasha.melamud@emory.edu

Golf aiming for national championship SWOOP’S

Continued from Back Page

nament of the year: the NCAA Division III Championships. Since the program’s creation in 2018, the team has won two UAA titles as well as a national championship in 2022, where they broke the NCAA Division III Championship record for a four-round team total.

Fernandes said she does not intend to change too much about the program, but she plans to gradually put her own “spin” on the team to build on recent successes.

“She’s very determined to get us back where we were,” Chiu said.

“Hopefully, we can win the NCAA Championships this year.”

According to Fernandes, the team has been preparing for spring tournaments since the first day of class in January. Fernandes held meetings with all of the players, and they have been practicing on 18-hole courses during the weekends.

Fernandes said the team is in a “good place” after the transition period. The players and coaches know how to communicate better, and the

SCOOP Sport

Opponent

Track & Field

Friday Feb 9

@ Samford Bulldog Invitational Track & Field @David Hemery Valentine Invitational Swim & Dive @Auburn First-Chance Invitational W Basketball WashU M Basketball WashU Track & Field Track & Field

Saturday feb 10

W Golf Baseball M Tennis

Courtesy of Derica Chiu

The women’s golf team poses with awards after winning the Lynn Schweizer Invitational in September 2023. team is aware of Fernandes’ high expectations, including her wish for them to keep elevating their game.

“I expect greatness from them,” Fernandes said. “I want them to feel like they can continue to always set a new bar and set a new goal. I have

high standards for them, but they definitely meet those standards, and they continue to surprise me where they go farther.”

— Contact Madeline Shapiro at madeline.shapiro@emory.edu

Swim & Dive

Saturday March 19

W Golf M Tennis M Basketball Baseball W Basketball

Time

All Day All Day All Day 5:30 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

@ Samford Bulldog All Day Invitational @David Hemery Valentine All Day Invitational @Auburn First-Chance All Day Invitational Columbia Classic TBD Berry 11 a.m., 2 p.m. @Georgia Gwinnett 2 p.m.

Columbia Classic @ North Georgia UChicago @Berry UChicago

TBD 11 a.m.

12 p.m.

1 p.m.

2 p.m.

*Home Games in Bold

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Men’s basketball drops back-to-back heartbreakers at home

By Samir Cooper Ajy Staff Writer Entering the weekend with games against Brandeis University (Mass.) on Feb. 2 and New York University (NYU) on Feb. 4 , Emory University’s men’s basketball team looked to recover from a loss on the road at NYU on Jan. 28.

Pearce scores 23 in loss against Brandeis The team got off to a hot start in the first half of the contest with sophomore guard Ben Pearce scoring five of the team’s first nine points. Ultimately, the first 10 minutes of the game were low-scoring with strong defensive efforts from both teams. However, after trailing early in the first half, Brandeis went on a 14-0 run to take a 29-17 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half. Emory responded with a 12-6 run to enter the half trailing by six.

In the second half, Brandeis quickly extended their lead to 17 with key shots on three consecutive possessions.

Emory was able to cut the Judges’ lead to eight with strong defense and good ball movement.

A putback by senior guard Max Fried cut the lead to six with seven minutes remaining. Sophomore forward Jair Knight then converted an and-one free throw to cut the lead to three. With points from Knight, the Eagles eventually cut Brandeis’ lead to one with three minutes remaining in the game.

Brandeis had a chance to ice the game with a two-point lead, but they missed both free throws, giving Emory a chance to snag the win. The Eagles grabbed the offensive rebound and called a timeout. After falling behind by as many as 17 to start the second

Justin Whitening/Contributing Photographer

Sophomore guard Ben Pearce looks for junior forward Logan Shanahan to set a screen during a game against NYU on Feb. 4. Emory lost 81-78.

half, Emory had the ball when three seconds left with a chance to tie with a two or win the game with a three. The Eagles inbounded the ball to Knight, who missed a crucial three as it rolled around the rim before toppling out.

Despite the Eagles’ effort in the second half, Brandeis defeated Emory 71-69.

Pearce noted that Emory could have improved their ball handling more and prevented less turnovers.

“Coach always says we have to keep fighting,” Pearce said. “We can’t throw in the towel at any point … You can’t win games down the stretch when you don’t take care of the ball; you don’t make a play when a play needs to be made.”

Fried praised Brandeis’ team and coaching staff after splitting two games with them this season.

“Credit to their head coach: they are a well-coached team, ” Fried said. “It’s not necessarily one guy with them but

SOFTBALL

a ton of guys who can hurt you. They’re a well-rounded team, and we let one get away.”

Eagles lose 3 straight games with loss to NYU The Eagles returned to the George W. Woodruff Physical Education Center on Sunday to face NYU, who defeated them 86-77 on Jan. 28.

Both teams opened the first quarter trading baskets and were tied 10-10 early. NYU went on a 9-0 run to take a 19-10 lead with turnovers hurting the Eagles almost immediately. However, the Eagles responded with a 14-3 run to take a 24-22 lead.

The two teams went back-andforth, and a putback at the buzzer for NYU gave them a 49-47 lead going into the half. Knight led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points in the first half.

Emory got off to a strong start,

taking a 59-50 lead but was then interrupted by a questionable loose ball foul called against freshman forward Ethan Fauss. Jason Zimmerman, Emory men’s basketball head coach, contested the call. Fauss was ultimately ejected after receiving his second technical foul.

“Coach is very passionate, and he really fights for us,” Knight said.

“With [Fauss] getting ejected, it obviously hurt the team, but we didn’t let that affect us. After he got ejected, we went up a level, and we used it as momentum.”

Emory led by four with one minute remaining in the game. Junior forward Logan Shanahan, who finished the game with his sixth double-double of the season, grabbed a key offensive rebound and was fouled on the way down. Shanahan converted a free throw to extend the Eagle’s lead to five points. Emory had a 78-73 lead late in

the contest, positioning themselves to win the game. Knight received a shooting foul after fouling NYU freshman guard Zay Freeney on a three-point shot. Freeney converted all three free throws to cut the Emory lead to just two with 25.8 seconds remaining.

Pearce stepped out of bounds while attempting to take the ball up court on the following possession, giving NYU a chance to cap off a stunner. After grabbing an offensive rebound on a missed three-point attempt, Freeney ended up being the hero for the Violets, converting a three-point shot to give NYU a 79-78 lead with just three seconds left.

The Eagles had one last chance to win the game but were unable to get a good shot off due to strong defense from the Violets. Emory committed a foul with 0.1 seconds remaining.

The Violets converted two more free throws to clinch an 81-78 comeback win and deliver another heartbreaking loss for the Eagles, extending their losing streak to three games.

With both games against Brandeis and NYU being decided in the final minutes, Knight said that the squad will prioritize “closing out games” ahead of their future University Athletic Association (UA A) matchups.

“If you look at our record and go through our games and how the final score ended … we’re losing a lot of games, but it’s not like we’re getting blown out,” Knight said. “And so, we’re prioritizing our last five minutes or the last six minutes of the game, where it’s really tight.”

The Eagles will look to bounce back at home against UAA rival Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) on Feb. 9.

— Contact Samir Cooper Ajy at samir.ajy@emory.edu

GOLF

Softball ‘warriors’ shooting Women’s golf looking to overcome ‘growing pains’ for championships

By Madeline Shapiro Sports Editor

By Sasha Melamud Staff Writer Last season was an interesting one for Emory University’s softball team.

Without a full roster, the bench sat empty. Still, the Eagles won nearly half their games. This season, however, the team has a full bench and a new head coach.

Senior pitcher Natalie Swift recalled last season’s roster struggles and said she is excited to have a full roster this year.

“It’s really awesome to have a full team,” Swift said. “We’re a really young team, but the young girls that we have also have so much experience from having to play as sophomores. Adding numbers this year with the great, big freshman class, we can be really successful.”

The team’s new coach, India Chiles, said she is preparing the women to “play with courage and guts.” Before accepting the position of the new women’s head coach, Chiles coached a youth national team with the primary focus of getting her players recruited by college coaches.

Ironically, the same happened to her when Director of Athletics Keiko Price offered her a position as head coach of the Emory women’s softball team.

Chiles said that she is eager to coach the team’s first game as it

will add the “last layer” they need to become a team after months of practice and strategizing.

“That first game will be the last new situation with me,” Chiles said.

“I’m really excited to get over that hump with the girls, so that we can buy into this new family that we have.”

Chiles is not the only newcomer to the team. Eight first-years will be on the field this year, including pitcher Georgia Pineda. Chiles explained that pitchers and catchers train the most because they control the game.

“They’re the only people that touch the ball the most,” Chiles said. “They are doing extra time with conditioning more than the team, and they’re putting in more hours in practice.

They’re not necessarily elected team captains, but they have to put the team on their back.”

Each week of the preseason includes three early mornings of lifting, two days of conditioning and two of on-field practices, Pineda said.

“It was definitely hard to adjust,” Pineda said. “Especially when every day is so taxing at the beginning of your freshman year because you’re meeting so many new people and doing so many new things.”

However, Pineda noted the company of returning players elimi-

See CHILES, Page 11

Emory University’s women’s golf team finished the 2023 fall season ranked No. 2 in the country and placed second at the University Athletic Association (UA A) Championships in October 2023.

Ahead of the 2024 spring season, the team, led by new Head Coach Liz Fernandes, is looking to raise the bar for the program.

Fernandes became head coach in June 2023 after the team’s former head coach, Katie Futcher, retired following the 2022-23 season. Fernandes previously worked as an assistant coach at Spalding University (Ky.), the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the University of Louisville (Ky.). She has also served as a teaching professional at several major golf courses around the country.

Despite having a strong fall season, which included winning the Lynn Schweizer Invitational in September 2023, Fernandes said the team faced many challenges. Several players missed parts of the season due to illness, and Fernandes’ first assistant coach stepped away from the position in October 2023. Junior Heejo Hyun said the fall has “definitely been a transition” for the team, and Fernandes acknowledged the necessary period of adjustment.

“With any new experience,

there’s going to be growing pains,” Fernandes said. “It was a lot of me getting to know them, them getting to know me. And with everyone having their own personality and their own backgrounds, it took a little bit longer for some to buy into that process.”

Fernandes said she emphasizes open communication with her players so that they can come to her with any questions or concerns. In the fall, several players expressed to her that they wanted more time between events and the challenge of playing

“With any new experience, there’s going to be growing pains.”

— Liz Fernandes

in an NCAA Division I (DI) tournament. Fernandes addressed their concerns when she organized the spring schedule.

The women will compete against DI teams when they kick off the season in Melbourne, Fla. for the Columbia Classic on Feb. 10 and for the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in March when they travel to Athens, Ga. Freshman Derica Chiu said she is looking forward to facing DI com-

petition, especially since the team’s practice is “basically structured like a DI team.” “[I am] both nervous and excited because I don’t know what to expect,” Chiu said. “But also, we have a great team, and we can compete against them … It’ll be really cool to see how we can stack up against them.”

In addition to open communication, making sure players have equal time to discuss their strategies and goals is also one of Fernandes’ priorities. Hyun said Fernandes is a “very accessible” coach who stresses both team dynamics and individual performances.

“It’s easy to talk to her,” Hyun said. “She holds a lot of individual meetings with the players, so I think that makes an environment where it’s easier to talk to the coach about what’s going on and improve.”

The team came close to winning the UAA Championships in the fall, finishing second behind Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.).

While Hyun said the results were “a little disappointing,” the team learned important lessons from the championship and will use the loss as motivation to achieve its spring season goals.

Hyun added that one of the team’s overarching goals for the remainder of the season is to compete in May at the biggest tour-

See GOLF, Page 11