Vol. 17 Issue 1

backdrop magazine

FALL 2023

AT THE HEART OF SELF-MADE BUSINESS pg.18 BREAKING THE BEAKER pg.30

ROOM FOR

ONE MORE?

pg.22

Letter from the editor

McKenna Christy | Editor-in-Chief backdropmag@gmail.com

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backdrop | Fall 2023

Hello!

Welcome to Backdrop. My name is McKenna Christy, and I have the honor of being this wonderful publication’s Editor-in-Chief. I joined Backdrop my freshman year and with one email sent to backdropmag@gmail.com, I became a staff writer, and then an associate editor, and then the assistant managing editor and now, I am here, as a junior studying journalism, in the role of a lifetime!

This year, I am committed to facilitating an inclusive environment where everyone can create stories about Athens and Ohio University in an impactful way. I became involved with Backdrop because of its transparent stories. Life’s challenges and joys present us with the opportunity to tell these stories, and I am grateful to be a part of a publication that inspires such an endeavor.

I am so proud of our staff for completing our first issue. Although there were obstacles, we got over them with the motivation to carry on. I also want to thank our Creative Director, Abby Burns, and our Art Director, Ellie Sabatino, for their patience with me and, of course, their talents.

Backdrop’s first issue of this year includes diverse content which will encourage readers to grow their perspectives on the people and places around them. Cara Finnegan, one of our talented new junior writers and a copy editor, took on the cover story featuring the experiences of students living in on-campus housing as incoming freshman class sizes grow (pg. 22). Cara worked extremely hard to get these students’ stories, and I am grateful to have her as a new member of our staff.

Junior writer Amber Phipps wrote a feature on a new local boutique and a student-run business about their sustainable practices (pg.

18). Amber’s second feature for Backdrop is another necessary read.

Community Editor and sophomore writer Abreanna Blose wrote a story on OU women in STEM, and the first-identified women to graduate with chemistry degrees in Ohio (pg. 30). Abreanna’s attention to detail can be seen in each story she writes for Backdrop.

Lastly, thank you to all of our readers. I look forward to your readership over our next three issues this year. At Backdrop, we will continue to cover the often-ignored stories and be the “backdrop” of Athens and OU. Happy reading!

FALL 2023 » VOLUME 17 ISSUE 1

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backdrop magazine EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MCKENNA CHRISTY MANAGING EDITOR CARMEN SZUKAITIS COPY CHIEF GRACE KOENNECKE SECTION EDITORS ABREANNA BLOSE, CAROLINE KAMMERER, DARCIE ZUDELL COPY EDITORS KIRSTEN ABBEY, MIMI CALHOUN, CARA FINNEGAN, PEGGY SPETZ SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR ANNA HINKLE ASSISTANT SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR DARCIE ZUDELL

CREATIVE DIRECTOR ABBY BURNS ART DIRECTOR ELLIE SABATINO DESIGNERS ABBY BURNS, JULIA GREENWOOD, CARLEY HINTON, ALLY

PARKER, LAYNE REY, ELLIE SABATINO, ANNA SCHNEIDER PHOTOGRAPHERS ALYSSA CRUZ, JACOB DURBIN, PEARL SPURLOCK WRITERS KIRSTEN ABBEY, ABREANNA BLOSE , ALYSSA CRUZ, CARA FINNEGAN, ANNA HINKLE, SARAH IMLER, CAROLINE KAMMERER, GRACE MILLER, AMBER PHIPPS, ELLIE SABATINO, PEARL SPURLOCK, DARCIE ZUDELL

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SEE "Reframing Farm Culture" PAGE 32

Abbe Turner and Warren Taylor share a kiss while foraging in the woods.

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CONTENTS FEATURES

AT THE HEART OF SELF-MADE BUSINESS

How an Athens boutique and a student-run brand are creating ethical consumerism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

ROOM FOR ONE MORE?

Students share their experiences living on-campus as freshman class sizes grow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

SEX AND HEALTH

THE DROP

Many college students participate in hookup culture, but do they realize the power structures it perpetuates?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Celebrating hometowns through their influences on our college lives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

DYNAMICS OF DESIRE

COMMUNITY

GOING TO THE POLLS

As the November election draws near, it is time to reflect on Ohio's August special election. . . . . . . . . . 8

LOCAL INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Behind the scenes of Athens restaurants with rich cultural cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

PURR-FESSIONAL FRIEND

Students discuss life on campus with animals they cannot live without . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

RECIPE

ONE-PAN PASTA

A dorm and wallet-friendly pasta recipe. . . . . . . . . . 14

ENTERTAINMENT

BEHIND THE PICKET LINES

WHERE WE COME FROM NAVIGATING SUPPORT

Students and a new organization on campus give advice on how to prioritize one’s safety at college. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

BREAKING THE BEAKER

Changing the narrative around women working in a historically male-dominated field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

PHOTO STORY

REFRAMING FARM CULTURE

Abbe Turner reflects on learned lessons in farming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

VOICES

NOT MY STORY TO TELL

Journalism student Alyssa Cruz shares her experience completing an internship abroad and redefining her own ethics for journalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Following the Writers Guild Association strikes. . . . 16

FALL 2023 » VOLUME 17 ISSUE 1

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SEX AND HEALTH

Dynamics of Desire

Many college students participate in hookup culture, but do they realize the power structures it perpetuates?

BY CAROLINE KAMMERER DESIGN BY ANNA SCHNEIDER

W

hen first-year students arrive on college campuses for the first time, they experience several feelings—excitement, nervousness and, most importantly, a newfound sense of independence that comes with leaving home for the first time.

Fueled by this new independent spirit, young adults tend to branch out and try new things. For some, this means exploring the intricacies of sexuality on a college campus. At universities around the country, this phenomenon is known as hookup culture.

According to an excerpt from Lisa Wade’s book, “American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus,” “Hookup culture refers to the idea that casual sexual encounters are the best or only way to engage sexually; and the concept also refers to rules of social interaction that facilitate casual sexual encounters and organizational arrangements that support these encounters.”

College students who want to experiment with their sexuality do not have to be limited to the quick, casual interactions that hookup culture provides. There are still plenty of people out there who look for more meaningful, monogamous relationships, or who don’t seek sexual relationships at all.

Erin Bishop is a junior at Ohio University studying media and social change. As a student, Bishop witnesses this culture among her peers, but also as a Bumble Ambassador, she has another perspective, with dating apps being a tool commonly used in hookup culture.

“It’s so easy to connect with a person, even just getting their Snapchat within three seconds of matching with them, I feel like that promotes hookup culture because on college

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campuses, you are so close in vicinity,” Bishop says. “I don’t really see hookup culture as something that is negative, I feel like college is the perfect time for you to explore yourself.”

In the discussion surrounding gender and sexuality that seems to pervade our current society, hookup culture remains a prominent topic. The question of a double standard, particularly in heterosexual relationships, arises concerning the sexual dynamics between men and women. In these types of casual, less emotionally intimate relationships, does one person hold the power and ultimately enjoy greater benefits?

Myrna Perez Sheldon, associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at OU, examines some of these questions in her studies, particularly those focused around the 1970s. During this period, politicians and religious leaders denounced the sexual liberation movement of women, perpetuating the notion that women were solely interested in long-term relationships and “settling down.”

“I don’t agree with those claims, but I think that those kinds of claims can get reinforced and re-narrated, so you get these stereotypes [that] women are more interested in relationships and are more interested in emotional connections and men are primarily interested in sex defined really narrowly as physical experiences,” Sheldon says.

These stereotypes that remain ingrained in society are what allow the harmful power dynamics to continue in today’s relationship culture among younger generations. Certain patriarchal structures, as Sheldon describes them, can make one question their sexual desires and the value of intentions when entering a relationship.

“One way of thinking about gender is that the gender roles that we have come straightforwardly from what our

bodies are like … in that way of thinking about it, it would be something like men have a strong sex drive, men are good leaders in society, and so they’re sort of in charge of everything, and women feel pressured to become a part of that,” Sheldon says. “I don’t agree with any of that. I think that a more helpful way of thinking about it, [although] it’s very hard, is to know oneself and what one’s sexual interests, sexual desires [and] sexual identity are independently of all of those oppressive structures.”

Double standards can be exemplified perfectly in the discourse over hookup culture and sexuality.

“I think that’s important to note that while we are participating in the literal same type of thing, the girls will be put down more just because there is that stereotype and generalization of the more promiscuous woman versus the ladies’ man,” Bishop says.

While these stereotypes and gender roles happen in heterosexual relationships, Sheldon has found that the power of patriarchal systems can find its way into queer relationships as well.

“Something that people have been really thoughtful in talking about is the weight of how hard it is to escape patriarchy,” Sheldon says. “The sort of relationship structures that we’re all used to that come out of patriarchy can sometimes still find their way into queer spaces.”

The power that can be held by men who participate in hookup culture is what leads to one of the negative effects that it has: people feeling pressured or coerced into having sex.

“There’s such a long and difficult legacy around the shaming of female sexuality, right?” Sheldon says. “Even framing it in that way … presumes that women are not interested in casual sex, which I think we have really good evidence that lots of women are interested in casual sex.”

Michael Reece is the interim department chair of social and public health in the College of Health Sciences and Professions. Reece has extensively researched sexual health throughout his career, conducting various studies and surveys.

An expansive sexual education is about more than learning about contraceptives and how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. While this knowledge remains incredibly important to have, there is still one requirement that is non-negotiable for having sex: consent.

“I think it’s important to understand the importance of consent to have boundaries,” Reece says.

Learning about consent is more complex than learning about contraceptives. According to Reece, it involves understanding verbal and nonverbal cues, as well as considering the potential influence of alcohol.

“The crazy thing about all of this is that the notion of health always tends to fall on women, right? ... I think another important thing that we have to continue to bring to the culture is a continued emphasis on education and awareness programs that target men around the importance of consent and what that looks like,” Reece says.

All things considered, hookup culture is not an inherently negative thing. Like all sexual behaviors, it just has its own set of risks involved. For those who choose to participate in hookup culture, there are ways to protect yourself and do it safely.

There are several resources at OU that can help educate students about sexual health and provide additional resources as well, including the Office of Health Promotion, the Women’s Center, the LGBT Center and the Survivor Advocacy Program. b

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COMMUNITY

GOING to the POLLS

As the November election draws near, it is time to reflect on Ohio’s August special election.

BY SARAH IMLER | DESIGN BY ALLY PARKER

F

or those who can recall, on Aug. 8 there was an Ohio special election held to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment called Issue 1. This issue was written by state republican representatives with the goal of ending majority rule. This meant it would take 60% of votes to pass instead of the usual 50% +1 to pass constitutional amendments. If this issue had passed, citizens would have lost the principle of “one person, one vote,” making it difficult to pass constitutional amendments.

If Issue 1 had passed, citizens trying to amend the constitution would also be required to gather signatures in all 88 counties in the state, but with Issue 1 not in place, people are required to gather support in 44 counties.

Special interest lobbyists spent millions to make Aug. 8 their own election. Protect Our Constitution, the group leading the campaign in support of the issue received many contributions, the largest being $4 million from a billionaire in Illinois, Richard Uihlein, who is the owner of a company that makes shipping containers called ULine, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.

One Person, One Vote was the main group raising funds

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in opposition of Issue 1 and raised the most of its money, $2.6 million, from “a dark money progressive group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund,” also according to the Statehouse News Bureau.

A motivation of these groups in support of the issue was to prohibit future pro-abortion amendments being passed in November. This special election was made due to the republicans' fear that many Ohio voters are pro-choice. Just under 60% of Ohio voters are pro-choice, according to a poll conducted by USA TODAY Network and Suffolk University, which can help to explain why republicans wanted to enact super majority rules.

On July 25, Colleen Marshall and Matt Barnes of NBC4i moderated a live debate on Issue 1 in Columbus. Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Mike Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, were present in support of Issue 1. House Minority Leader Allison Russo and Mike Curtin, a former Columbus Dispatch editor and state lawmaker, were there to argue against the issue.

In response to Marshall’s question regarding why republicans decided now was the time to change the constitution, LaRose response was: “This [issue] is quite simply about protecting

the Constitution about what may be to come. Special Interest Groups have figured out that Ohio is a relatively easy mark when it comes to amending our Constitution … Now, I would argue constitutions aren’t for policymaking.

Constitutions lay out our fundamental rights, things that we broadly agree on, not [what] 50% of us agree on but things that we broadly embrace and of course, the basic structure of government.”

As people with political influence debated, anyone in Athens over the summer could see just how many “Vote No on Issue 1” signs there were around town. A lot of Athens residents disagreed with the proposal, and many people had strong opinions on the issue.

One of these people, Julianna Rittenberg, president of Ohio University College Democrats, believes that the bill was very hypocritical because it would only take 50% +1 to pass, but would have also caused all future bills to require 60% of voters’ approval. In

regard to Issue 1, Rittenberg says, “they are clearly putting their opinion ahead of what Ohio wants.”

Over the summer, since most students were back home, it was hard for the OU College Democrats to get together as a group and do something. However, they made sure to keep their members in the loop on things they could do to help, such as going door-to-door or making phone calls to voters. They also regularly post updates and information on voting on their social media.

After a long day at the polls, Issue 1’s rejection by voters was announced.

Approximately 57% of voters decided to vote no on Issue 1 and meanwhile, in Athens, results came in at around 70% against to 30% in favor.

As for the upcoming November election, there are two issues being voted on. If the previous Issue 1 voted on in August had passed, it would have directly impacted these two ballot measures. Another Issue

1, this time being referred to as The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety initiative, and if passed would legalize abortion in the state.

Issue 2 in Ohio is an initiative to legalize and tax recreational marijuana use for people at least 21 years of age and older and to allow those to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis.

On Nov. 7, the polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. that Tuesday.

The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 10 and early in-person voting starts Oct. 11, which is also the same day absentee voting by mail begins. People can check their voter registration status and change their voting address on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website.

“Voting this November is going to be really important,” Rittenberg says. “These are critical issues to have protected in our state Constitution.” b

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COMMUNITY

LOCAL INTERNATIONAL

Flavor

Behind the scenes of Athens restaurants with rich cultural cusine.

BY SARAH IMLER PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK

T

rying new things is an important part of life. Stepping out of comfort zones and trying dishes from other cultures is both enriching and rewarding. There are many places to eat around Athens, especially near campus, including several restaurants that serve cuisine with rich cultural origins.

Casa Nueva is a Mexican restaurant located at 6 W. State St., right off Court Street. They offer a large indoor seating area, as well as take-out. Their demographic is mostly locals, but they welcome Ohio University students with open arms. Being further down Court Street, students tend to miss them, despite the dining establishment being close to campus.

Casa Nueva is unique in many ways, but one of the incredible things that sets it apart from other businesses in the area is its method of ownership.

The restaurant uses a co-op business model, meaning all workers have a say in decisions. Everyone has a voice. While everyone has their own job titles, such as Grace Corbin, current vice president of the board of directors, each employee gives their input. This type of business model is not seen in a lot of companies, especially in America.

Casa Nueva is also environmentally conscious. They recycle or compost all their waste and offer several vegan options. Most of their ingredients are sourced locally, and all their dishes are made from scratch.

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Naan from Star of India in Athens, Ohio.

The most popular of these dishes is their enchilada verde. It is a freshly made tortilla accompanied by a choice of filling, onions, cheese, cream cheese and roasted green chiles, all topped with verde salsa. It is an order people cannot go wrong with, especially if someone happens to be an enjoyer of a bit of spice and would be a great first dish to try.

Casa Nueva is also a big supporter of local artists. It can be seen on their walls, as well as their live performances.

Something many students may find interesting is their open mic nights on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. Come in and sign up, but do not worry, those who end up getting cold feet always have the option to back out.

While stopping by for the show, might as well get a margarita. Casa Nueva has freshly made margaritas, and during shows, they offer a discount. For people who are not margarita fans, that is okay; they also have many different drink options, so there is a likelihood of finding something to enjoy! Another aspect of Casa Nueva that some people may not

be aware of is their breakfast options.

They open at 9:00 a.m. most days, with a range of menu items.

When asked why people should step out of their comfort zones and try different foods, Corbin says, “Why not!

Staying in your comfort zone, especially with food, makes for a pretty boring life.”

Star of India is a cozy family-owned Indian restaurant with a very friendly atmosphere. They are located at 128 W. Union St, which is within walking distance to campus. They offer indoor seating as well as take-out. Being the main source of Indian cuisine in the area, they are an absolute must try. The owner, Lovedeep Singh, even takes the time to drive up to Columbus to get fresh food weekly since there are few international markets in the area.

They offer many classic dishes such as chicken tikka masala, chicken cooked in a light gravy and cream sauce, and makhani chicken, chicken cooked in butter and tomato gravy. Star of India has many other options such as vegetarian,

Shrimp Masala from Star of India in Athens, Ohio.

seafood or lamb. They also have many types of naans and bread to choose from.

Singh says that one of the most rewarding things about their business is the people who grew up with Star of India. Since it opened around 2001, many local kids have been here through the restaurant’s development.

“Those kids grow up, now they come back, they remember us and come talk to us, and it feels so good,” Singh says.

Last but not least, a restaurant in Athens that deserves recognition is Siam Thai. It is located at 102 W. Union St. They have indoor and outdoor seating options, as well as take-out. Outsai ChanThasene, the owner of Siam Thai, is an Athens local who has been in the Thai food business for over two years.

The restaurant was previously known as Thai Paradise until ChanThasene took over around two years ago.

Siam Thai offers a friendly atmosphere with great food. They have a variety of authentic dishes, soups and appetizers.

The menu has a one to 10 spice scale for people to choose the heat level for their meal.

Some of the classic dishes people tend to enjoy are Siam Thai’s pad thai or curry.

The pad thai consists of rice noodles, egg, bean sprouts and scallions, stir-fried in a tamarind sauce and served with a side of peanuts and lime. There are six different options of curry: green, yellow, red, pineapple, panang and massaman, all served with brown or white rice.

If someone is searching for more authentic Thai dishes, they also have many options, including larb gai, which is steamed and minced chicken tossed with onions, cilantro, mint and lime dressing, served on a bed of lettuce. They also offer a similar dish but with thinly sliced steak instead of chicken, called naum toak. They also have soup options, one that stands out the most is the tom kha gai, which is a coconut soup made of chicken, tomato, mushrooms, onions, galanga, lime leaf and lemongrass.

Thai tea is another item to try of Siam Thai’s. Being only $3, it is one of the more affordable options in the area.

For both OU students and Athens residents who are looking for something different or a new restaurant to frequent, make sure to stop in at these local restaurants Athens has to offer. b

Spring Rolls from Siam Thai in Athens, Ohio.

Pad See Ew from Siam Thai in Athens, Ohio.

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11

COMMUNITY

Purr-fessionaL Friends

Students discuss life on campus with animals they cannot live without.

BY KIRSTEN ABBEY DESIGN BY ANNA SCHNEIDER PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK

P

lenty of people would love the opportunity to bring their pets with them wherever they go, but there is a difference between wanting an animal and needing an animal during day-to-day experiences. Service animals exist to help and accommodate people who have physical and mental disabilities as well as support mental wellbeing.

When renting an apartment or living in a university residence hall, pets are often prohibited; however, rental agencies and university management cannot deny tenants the presence of a service or emotional support animal.

Taylor Mondragon, an Ohio University alumna, worked for an OU rental company as an undergraduate. She described the responsibilities as equivalent to that of a landlord. “I toured the apartments, I started leases, I signed leases with people,” Mondragon says. “I paid bills.

I collected rent.”

The company Mondragon worked for did not allow pets but could not deny emotional support animals (ESA). “Ohio state law does not recognize emotional support animals or service animals as pets, so we could not deny them, and we could not charge a fee because it's a pet fee, and if they are registered, they are not considered a pet,” Mondragon says.

The law that Mondragon is referencing is the Fair Housing Act (FHA), which penalizes discrimination in estate transactions.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.” The discrimination that FHA protects against includes “race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), familial status and disability.”

The section of the FHA specifies disability acts as the safeguard for both service animals and emotional support animals, unlike the American Disability Act (ADA). The U.S. Service Animal registration page outlines that the ADA only recognizes service animals and guarantees their accommodation, excluding emotional support animals.

In the case of permissible housing, the only certification required for service or support animals is a letter from a licensed physician indicating the necessity of the animal. The

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actual distinction between an ESA and a service animal is based on training and the needs of their owners.

Akira Jakkson, a senior at OU studying integrated media production, has a psychiatric service dog, an 11-year-old yorkshire terrier, Loki. Jakkson had Loki trained to perform tasks that alleviate the symptoms caused by diagnosed major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety and PTSD. Jakkson is prone to prolonged moments of dissociation, which Loki is trained to handle. “He provides me with DPP– deep pressure therapy,” Jakkson says. “So, kind of pushing on my chest.

He sits on my chest [and] my lap. He does other grounding techniques like lick my face, lick my hands and stuff to ground me when I'm having episodes.”

The specific techniques and training employed by Loki make him necessary for Jakkson’s everyday life, not just within his home. Therefore, Jakkson would not consider Loki an emotional support animal. “I don't really feel like using the loose term emotional service animal really applies because I literally can't be without him,” Jakkson says.

“It's not a choice.”

On the other end of the spectrum, emotional support animals lack definitive training, but they provide a different form of support for their human counterparts. Lydia Caggiano, a 21-year-old OU student studying exercise physiology, has an ESA in the form of her cat, Dexter.

Caggiano had Dexter registered by her doctor to help with anxiety and depression. “Honestly, I feel like part of it is just having something to take care of [that] makes me feel worthwhile,” Caggiano says. “Kind of like if I'm not alive, he really can't be alive … I feel like we can still communicate even though I'm a human [and] he is a cat.

It feels like I have a friendship, some kind of bond.”

The significant impact that service animals and emotional support animals have on their handlers’ lives emphasizes the imperativeness of accommodation.

Finding a rental home in Athens can already be a strenuous process, even

Akira Jakkson with his dog, Loki.

Lydia Caggiano and her cat, Dexter.

without incorporating the addition of an essential animal.

Caggiano details a straightforward transition from the OU residence halls to her current apartment. “I did have to go to my doctor, and a doctor had to say, ‘yes, she has issues. She needs an ESA,’” Caggiano says, referring to the initial papers required by the university for Dexter to cohabit her dormitory. Her rental agency then accepted those same papers without issue. However, while touring off-campus housing, the nopets policies were consistent. “I feel like a lot of apartments don’t allow animals,” Caggiano says. “That was something we kept running into.”

Jakkson’s experience with various rental agencies in Athens was less than seamless. He described encounters with harsh landlords. “It was kind of like 50/50 whether the landlord would not even bat an eye at the fact that I had a dog and not even ask questions. And then there were the others who were like, ‘we don't accept animals at all,’” Jakkson says.

One particular housing manager made it very evident to Jakkson that he did not want them as tenants. “He was very thrown off by me having Loki with me when we were doing the tour and kind of staring at him,” Jakkson says.

“Additionally, he was pretty vocally like, ‘usually we rent out to older families and couples and people with established incomes.’ Just say you don't want to rent to a young person.”

This suspicion from landlords seems to derive from the vagueness of the certification. “I think sometimes some of the tenants got them registered to have them,” Mondragon says, though she reported no problems with any of the animals. “I never heard of any issues with people hearing the animals or interacting with the animals in any negative way.”

The certification process’s obscurity is the source of an ongoing issue for Jakkson. “I'm constantly in scenarios where people are invalidating my need for having Loki with me places, and it's incredibly frustrating because, in the U.S., there is no official branch of the government or any agency that you go to to get certification,” Jakkson says.

“It's just kind of like my doctor says I need it. I can tell you he's been through training, but there's not really more certification than that, mainly in regards to psychiatric animals.”

While Jakkson eventually found a home with a landlord who is supportive of Loki, his struggle with the rental industry in Athens highlights the underlying issue of invisible disabilities being disregarded.

“I can't really stress enough the difference in reception to someone having a service animal between physical and very visible disabilities versus invisible disabilities,” Jakkson says. “It’s a whole issue of getting accommodations and people not understanding that you can have a disability and not have it be right in your face.”

The rental companies in Athens appear to generally adhere to FHA, but the occasional hurdles that tenants must bypass in order to acquire their legally ensured right to a service animal or an ESA exemplifies the ignorance surrounding disabilities.

For handlers and owners, these animals are more than just a pet. “I feel like it’s almost like having a friend,” Caggiano says. “Unconditional love gives you meaning.” b

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13

RECIPE

One-Pan PASTA

A dorm and wallet-friendly pasta recipe.

STORY AND DESIGN BY ELLIE SABATINO PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK

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T

he beginning of the school year comes the challenge of finding meals to make that are delicious and friendly toward a college student’s budget. Whether it is made in avoidance of the dining halls or figuring out how to cook in an apartment for the first time, this simple one-pan pasta dish only requires basic ingredients, one pan and minimal prep.

Ingredients: - Pasta of any type (amount measured with your heart) - Spices: sea salt, oregano, garlic powder and pepper - Olive oil - Parmesan cheese (grate some if you desire to be fancy, but the shaker stuff works just fine) - Fresh basil - Cherry tomatoes Steps: 1. Bring about four cups of water to a boil in a large skillet.

2. While waiting for the water to boil, chop your cherry tomatoes in half and rough chop your basil leaves. Set aside.

3. Once the water reaches a boil, add in your pasta of choice and reduce the heat to avoid spillage. Cook until the water is mostly reduced, and the pasta is soft.

4. If a large amount of water remains in the pan after the pasta is cooked, drain the excess water before proceeding to the next step.

5. Reduce heat to medium-low.

6. In the same skillet, begin lightly tossing the pasta after adding the tomatoes and basil. Toss until the basil is slightly wilted.

7. Add in your spices and toss again (Measure with your heart! If you like a lot of garlic, this is your time to shine). Remove from the heat.

8. Serve with a dash of olive oil and a sprinkle or handful of parmesan cheese and rejoice that you only have one dish to clean. b

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15

ENTERTAINMENT

BEHIND THE

PICKET LINES Following the Writers Guild Association Strikes.

BY GRACE MILLER | DESIGN BY ELLIE SABATINO

I

n a fast-paced world where the constant pursuit of staying current can lead to exhaustion, there remains a constant: storytelling.

Film and media serve as avenues for escaping the mundane and gaining insight into alternate realities. This year, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” challenged the way we think by suggesting that creativity will last forever, even though humans have an end. Cinema shapes our opinions, thoughts and decisions.

Through these decisions, people are able to create social change.

However, certain storytellers have found themselves overlooked. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) initiated a strike that has persisted since May 2. It is the first time in 15 years that writers are taking a stand and battling producers for new contracts. This strike has sparked a new conversation: Why are writers not valued as much as actors?

The writers are on strike due to inadequate payment, reduced job opportunities, small writing rooms, lack of staffing and, for some, the fear of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over script productions.

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Members of the strike are advocating for greater pay equity among writers and calling for substantial transformations in Hollywood. Kara Corthron, a writer for the TV series “You” and “The Flight Attendant” and an MFA candidate at Ohio University, shares the situations writers are being put in, causing them to strike.

“Screenwriters are being asked to create work that makes a few CEOs extremely wealthy while many of us are barely getting by … This industry has to change, and this strike is the beginning,” Corthron says.

Corthron also writes for a hit TV show in China and was on a video call with students in her writing class in Uganda, who were all fans of the show. She says how despite the show’s sizeable audience, her international residual checks do not exist.

Talk shows on NBC, CBS and ABC have been halted, and streaming services such as Max have stopped airing new episodes due to the strike. Meanwhile, the Fox News show, “Gutfield!” has continued airing during the strike.

Many writers and actors have shown their support for the WGA strikes. Big names in Hollywood such as Sarah Hyland, Tina Fey, Lin-Manuel Miranda and many more have participated on the picket lines.

“You” staff on strike. (Photo provided by Kara Corthron)

“The WGA negotiates with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) every three years, and it is an arduous process, involving a lot of compromises,” Corthron says. This time the AMPTP was unwilling to make the necessary compromises on their end and ignored many of the WGA’s proposals, which is why we’re now on strike. The AMPTP has not called for a follow-up meeting with WGA and until they do nothing will change.”

Corthron also fears that AI could eliminate her and other writers’ jobs because the AMPTP has not ruled out using AI. Through all of this, Corthron says, “I try to be hopeful and the solidarity of my fellow members and other unions is encouraging.”

While picketing, John Carlson, a screenwriter, director and producer, saw a dozen other writers protesting alongside him.

“Where would actors be without the words to perform? I was on the picket lines for one day and I sincerely hope they make a compromise soon for the sake of the future of human generated quality entertainment,” Carlson says.

An alumnus of bars OU,are Frank Torok, who graduated this past Strawberry oatmeal an easy way to make your summer break sweet.

Kara Corthron holds Jennifer Coolidge sign while striking.

(Photo provided by Kara Corthron)

year with a degree in media arts production, shares his opinion about the strikes from a different perspective.

Torok is an audio engineer and producer who participated in the OHIO-in-LA Program over the summer through the Scripps College of Communication.

“Freelancers in the music industry generally do not have unions like the WGA, but this entire situation is comparable to the general environment of the music industry before the Music Modernization Act; streaming changes everything. So, I feel for the writers,” Torok says.

However, he also worries about the financial impact the strike will have on Los Angeles.

“The last strike in 2007 resulted in an estimated amount of $2.1 billion in losses,” Torok says. “Screenwriters need to be paid more through residuals just as songwriters receive more profit through publishing. Could legislation solve this issue?

Overall, this is a very multifaceted situation with tons of realworld impacts.”

Since the strike began, the Screen Actors Guild has joined the strike. Corthron has been optimistic about both groups striking together.

“If SAG/AFTRA also goes on strike, that may light a fire under them, but only time will tell.” Corthron says. “Greedy, short-sighted producers are the ones who need to change.”

With no definitive results yet, time will tell if this protest creates any change. But as people in the entertainment industry come together, whether from OU or Hollywood, it is clear there is true power in numbers.

“I feel at some point, an agreement will be reached, and writers will be compensated more fairly,” Torok says.

“Although bigger media companies may be the reason this strike could last so long. I’m not exactly sure if this strike will end anytime soon.” As of Sept. 24, the WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement to end the strikes and draft a final contract. b www.backdropmagazine.com

17

FEATURE

AT THE HEART OF

SELF-MADE

BUSINESS How an Athens boutique and a student-run brand are creating ethical consumerism.

BY AMBER PHIPPS | PHOTOS BY JACOB DURBIN | DESIGN BY ABBY BURNS

T

he rise of sustainable and ethical fashion is becoming both influential and beneficial as more people realize how their actions affect the environment. Business owners are striving for handcrafted, local products and ethically sourced materials to combat the industry of fast fashion.

Fast fashion refers to any product that is cheaply produced in order to gain maximum revenue through catalogs, malls and the latest trends, according to Earth.org. The haste with which fast fashion produces clothing from cheap materials results in increased carbon emissions and global pollution.

Fast fashion is often cheaper due to the rate at which companies produce clothing. Not everyone has the budget for purchasing handmade, customized clothing since those brands are often more expensive due to their quality.

Due to this, people result to staying within their budgets and purchasing cheaper clothing – both in price and in quality.

Environmentally conscious fashion brands often do not carry larger sizes.

This excludes those with the desire to shop sustainably but are unable

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to find their sizes at ethically sourced clothing stores.

Local businesses such as Bleeding Heart Boutique and VANI are combating the harmful, fast fashion industry with upcycled, ethically sourced materials. These small businesses prioritize products that not only support local artists, but also spread awareness about the importance of genuine, environmentally friendly materials.

Hannah Morgan, the owner of Bleeding Heart Boutique just held

the grand opening of her storefront in Athens on July 29. This store is not just the start of a colorful and vintage business for the community of Athens; it is so much more.

Located on 28 ½ E. State Street, Bleeding Heart is filled with racks of ripped jeans, funky patterned shirts and handcrafted earrings. Vivid colors and wacky patterns paint the store in shades that light up the street, and passersby cannot help but stop and admire the unique quality of the shop.

“A bleeding heart is someone who

Several pieces of leather and tools used by Anthony Phillips to create VANI products. (Photo provided by Anthony Phillips)

Hannah Morgan poses in one of her favorite areas of her store.

cares a lot, so much so that their heart bleeds, and I’ve always felt that way,” Morgan says. “I am definitely bleeding heart towards trying anything that I can to reduce [the] carbon footprint on our environment.”

Morgan’s boutique has something for everyone. From plants to jewelry to clothing, she strives for secondhand and sustainable items in an environment where everyone is welcome. One way Morgan curates ethically sourced products for her store is by collaborating with local artists who create handmade items.

“I’m hoping that it means we can ride more of this train of people realizing that secondhand first is a good way to shop … If you’re not getting something secondhand here, you’re probably getting something made by someone local who put their heart and business into it,” says Morgan.

Secondhand clothing is not just a trend for young adults wanting to find

their style with unique pieces, but a legitimate way of recycling clothing in a consumer-driven society. According to Earth.org, “the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago.”

This increase in clothing sales over the past few decades has resulted in more clothing production and consumerism. The growth in sales leaves people wondering if there’s anything that can be done. Small business owners are pursuing their passions and their regard for the environment by making secondhand shopping trendy and affordable.

Anthony Phillips creates handmade leather products such as bags, wallets, and purses for his brand, VANI. Phillips is a junior at OU studying entrepreneurship. Similar to Morgan, Phillips strives for ethically sourced materials to create his designer products and ensures customers that all products

are handsewn by him.

Phillips started leatherwork during his junior year of high school. After realizing the long-term potential of his skill, Phillips trademarked VANI in 2019 by accessing better materials for his leather products.

“I make it entirely by hand, so I get one flat hide, and then I have different pieces that I can cut out and sew and glue together to make them into different bags. I use all Italian cowhide,” says Phillips.

All of Phillips’s products are handsewn by him using cowhides from honest companies. When he started his business, the goal was to achieve designer quality from legitimate materials, but Phillips quickly found that many of cowhide suppliers are not transparent about where they obtain their hides.

“The supplier that I use is American based, but they buy all of their leather overseas from ethically sourced, family-

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A selection of six hand-made wallets.

(Photo provided by Anthony Phillips)

owned tanneries in Italy and France,” says Phillips.

Tanning is the process raw hides go through to prevent decay, according to BestLeather.org. This is required before the hides are transported, which ensures the cleanest quality leather for Phillips to sew his products. After thorough research, Phillips ensures the tanneries he purchases his hides from originate at companies in Italy who are open about their treatment.

Phillips directs all his effort on custom orders due to the amount of time and precision it takes to make one product.

One wallet could take four to five hours, and a purse can take up to 15 hours to complete. Phillips is an open book when it comes to discussing where the leather comes from since all of his products are hand-sewn. While Phillips does not have a website for VANI, his orders are taken by word of mouth.

As the battle against fast fashion persists, ethically sourced materials for sustainable products is not an unachievable goal. Small business owners are rising to the occasion with well-made products that customers can feel good about purchasing.

While these small business owners have proven that sustainability is actionable, it does not mean their journeys were easy. For Morgan, the grand opening of Bleeding Heart was well deserved after months of enduring life’s unexpected challenges.

“When I decided to start this store, it was with barely anything in my bank account,” says Morgan. “I was working here alone, and I was really hoping to open the store by the end of April or

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beginning of May. That is when I fell off a ladder and ended up fracturing one of my vertebrae in my spine.”

After months of working many parttime jobs and putting everything she earned toward the store, Morgan’s boutique opening was postponed as a result of her back injury. The healing process meant bedrest for the next few months, causing financial strain.

“During the healing process, [I] wanted to be at the store and keep going on that goal. It drove me crazy just to be laying there,” Morgan says. “It also created a panic around my funds too because I thought, here’s two months of me having to rest my back, and I have to pay rent on this spot, or I’m going to lose it.”

Despite life’s ever-present obstacles, Morgan refused to let any setbacks hinder her dream of owning a store and advocating for her values. The community of Athens, seeing her vision and sharing her passions, stepped up to the challenge and raised enough donations for her first few months of rent on the store space.

“The community really showed up for me. I’m blown away every time I think about it,” says Morgan. “The amount of friends that showed up and donated but [also] people that I didn’t really know either from the community that were just excited to see this store open.”

Morgan’s boutique has also helped to introduce more inclusion and representation into the community.

Bleeding Heart paves the way with bright colors, expression and vintage chic all while advocating for inclusion.

“I really feel like there’s not a lot of shopping options in uptown Athens especially inclusivity-wise,” says Morgan. “I want to be that place where anyone can find something here, and I welcome anyone who wants to come in.”

Alexa Gudelman is a senior studying environmental biology at OU. As someone who supports local businesses

and advocates for the environment, bright tops and bleached denim with Gudelman was thrilled to discover a awe and wonder on their faces. Each new boutique was opening in Athens. item is generously worn or created with “It was so colorful with so many care, and Morgan finds joy in seeing her different patterns, a lot of things satisfied customers. caught my eye,” says Gudelman. “I “I really wanted everyone to feel think it’s going to do really well when included in what they could shop here; school starts.” [no matter] their budget, their gender Gudelman could not help but notice expression, their size and shape and the variety of denim shorts and jeans age,” says Morgan. “I really wanted you sold at the boutique. The products sold to be able to find anything here.” b at Bleeding Heart include a range of patterns, textures and sizes, so for those who are unsure what they would like at the store, their style preference is most likely represented in the selection of clothes and accessories.

“I think it’s really important because not only are the products and the quality of them better because they’re not produced in fast fashion factories … but also it just makes you feel better that you’re supporting small businesses,” says Gudelman.

Supporting small businesses such as VANI and Bleeding Heart may not be the final solution to the fast fashion crisis, but it is a step in the right direction. The problems of the fashion industry cannot be resolved overnight, but by making a conscious effort, small changes are better than nothing.

Buying from small businesses is not only supporting the owners’ businesses and dreams, but also helping the environment. The benefits of secondhand shopping are rooted in concerns for the planet and the desire to reduce fast fashion.

For business owners such as Phillips, supporting local businesses means encouraging the hard work of enthusiastic individuals. The resources used to make his leather pieces allow customers to have comfort in knowing what they are purchasing.

“Ethically sourcing is more important to me as a person than it really was for the business because you can get leather for cheaper but it’s less ethically sourced than what I get,” says Phillips.

“And then it also makes more sense from a business standpoint because whatever you tell people about the supply chain, you can show it off more than being secretive about where you get everything from.”

Making the change to purchase locally and support the environment may eventually decrease carbon emissions caused by fast fashion. The effect may not be immediate or visible, but over time, these small changes could change the future of the world.

For Morgan, ethically sourced products make her colorful store and handcrafted products notable. Customers pick out www.backdropmagazine.com

21

FEATURE

Room For One More?

Students share their experiences living on-campus as freshman class sizes grow.

STORY BY CARA FINNEGAN | PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK | DESIGN BY JULIA GREENWOOD

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backdrop | Fall 2023

O

ver the past year, Ohio University students have dealt with the aftermath of increased enrollment post-COVID-19. The OU Common Data Set (CDS) showed a sharp uptick in students attending OU after COVID-19 restrictions eased in 2021. However, before the pandemic, OU’s enrollment was steadily decreasing.

OU then admitted a record number of students in 2021, with an overall acceptance rate of 88.6%. Nearly 22,000 students applied to OU in 2021, with 19,245 admitted to the Athens campus. Of those 19,245 students admitted, 3,364 students opted to attend OU for their first year of college.

The following year, in 2022, first-year student enrollment at the Athens campus grew to 4,441 students, a 20% increase in first-year students. According to OHIO News, this year, the first-year class broke another record with 4,516 students.

Since 2016, there has been a 13.7% increase in the acceptance rate of students applying to OU’s main campus.

The percentage of accepted students enrolled at OU has also been incredibly fluid. The percentage of students enrolled took a sharp 12% decrease from 2016 to 2020 but has since increased post-pandemic.

Overall, these numbers share a few things: OU is becoming a popular choice and a competitive campus compared to other public colleges in Ohio, perhaps due to its affordability or notorious party culture. While having more Bobcats on campus brings in more revenue for the university, how are all these students being housed, especially after the demolition of the beloved Scott Quad and 10 Back South dormitories?

Jneanne Hacker, executive director of housing and residence life, says in an email that “Housing and Residence Life has a great deal of experience programming halls to match occupancy needs, and our overall capacity was supported further through a master lease agreement with a local apartment complex through a competitive bid process.”

Hacker also says that there are 8,300 beds available to students for the 2023-2024 academic year. The newest housing option, available to some students, is the opportunity to live in the River Park Apartments near South Green.

The option for students to live in River Park Apartments is enticing, especially for students such as Nicholas Medvitz, a sophomore studying sports management. Medvitz was one of the second-year students who secured a room in River Park this fall semester. Students may be happy to be in apartmentstyle spaces because each resident not only has their own bedroom, but also access to a shared kitchen and living room.

“I think living in River Park is a great opportunity for sophomores because it helps them get ready for life after school and helps them for possibly living off-campus for their junior and senior year,” Medvitz says.

While many freshmen and sophomore students such as Medvitz are excited to live in River Park through OU’s contractual agreement with the apartment complex, other students remain in dorms.

October Reno, a sophomore studying creative writing, shares their perspective on living in on-campus housing last year. He lived in a triple alongside two friends in Perkins Hall on East Green. The space is listed on OU’s Floor Plan as a triple. Reno does not feel that the space was large

enough to accommodate three people comfortably. Their room had built-in closets for two people, with some space to spare, but it came with an extra wardrobe, desk and bed to accommodate a third student.

Reno and his roommates struggled to place the wardrobe safely without blocking the heater or windows, so they placed it in the hallway for Housing and Residence Life to take away. Reno says they did not take the wardrobe, and they ultimately place it back in the room.

“Everyone is moved in, but we are struggling because of the lack of space that we have,” Reno says. “We ended up treating it like it was a cut-in of the wall. It was very difficult to live with three people.”

Kacy Vanscoy, a freshman studying early childhood education, also struggles with her room not accommodating university-issued furniture. When Vanscoy first entered the room, she was caught off-guard by the size of it.

“We were both almost in tears because of how small the room was, and we were worried that we weren’t even going to be able to function,” Vanscoy says.

Vanscoy’s room is 145.94 square feet, but the single directly

A converted double in Jefferson Hall.

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23

across from her is 124.25 square feet, which is only 20 square feet smaller. Due to the space feeling so cramped, Vanscoy says that she often uses the amenities in Jefferson Hall, such as the study spaces, rather than being in her room.

After attempting to reorganize the dorm’s furniture during move-in with no success, Vanscoy asked the housing staff in Jefferson Hall to help continue moving stuff around.

Vanscoy says the staff was helpful, but there was seemingly no feasible solution aside from lofting a bed, which, according to OU Housing and Residence Life’s Amenities page on their website, is not a permittable accommodation.

“I think the way we arranged the room was the best we possibly could for what we wanted.” Vanscoy says.

As a result of the lack of space in the room, Vanscoy’s roommate, Megan Kuhn, had to buy a smaller fold-up desk from Amazon and placed the university-provided desk under her bed.

Emily Osborne, a sophomore studying psychology, lived in Ryors Hall in a triple last year. In this space, Osborne says all of her roommates struggled to coexist.

“Not even having your own little corner or space to yourself, having to constantly be on top of each other was overwhelming, in a sense, especially after a long day,” Osborne says.

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Similar to Vanscoy, she struggled with feeling cramped in her own space and opted to spend time in the Ryors Hall lobby, or with friends in other halls, rather than in her own space.

These housing issues not only raise concerns for students, but also the resident assistants (RAs) that help and advise students living on-campus.

Ben Dawson, a junior studying education and a former RA of Shively Hall, shares his concerns about the size, layout and occupancy of some dorm rooms at OU. In Dawson’s experience, he noticed that multi-occupancy spaces, such as triples and quads, had more “domestic conflicts” than other spaces in the Shively-Perkins Complex.

Dawson also feels that compensation for RAs, but especially for those who deal with multi-occupancy spaces, is not enough.

“RAs at OU are already not compensated particularly well, in my opinion,” Dawson says. Dawson also mentions the allure of free housing but expresses disdain for the low weekly stipend that RAs receive, along with the lack of compensation for RA’s meal plans.

For the 2022-2023 school year, Dawson says his stipend was $1603.00 per semester.

According to the RA Position Information page on OU’s website, RAs are expected to be “...a community builder, educator, conflict manager, equity and inclusion advocate, role model and team member,” while also taking classes as a full-time student.

Increased enrollment does have positives, for example, “revenue from increased student enrollment provides an increased opportunity for the university to further invest in the student experience and student support, such as housing,” Hacker says in an email.

Dawson suggests that OU’s Housing and Residence Life expedite the construction of new dorms to accommodate more students. He also expresses his critique of current spending.

“It seems like their priorities are maybe misplaced,” Dawson says.

Despite whether the space was built to house two or three residents per room, students living in suite-style rooms at OU are charged the same price: $5,068 per semester.

Individuals placed in a room built to house two residents but have an additional roommate are not compensated through a price reduction of any kind.

For students deciding between living in a standard double or a standard multi-occupancy space, the price difference between these spaces is $220 per semester. The price difference between a renovated double and a renovated multi-occupancy is $586 per semester.

Using Bromley Hall as a frame of reference for suite-style rooms, on the fifth floor of the dormitory, the average square footage for a double room, excluding RA rooms and including a closet, is roughly 224.68 square feet, allocating 112.34 square feet per resident. Room 501 in Bromley Hall is a suite triple and has an area of 331.6 square feet, including a closet, giving residents 110.5 square feet each.

This was the only triple room on the fifth floor of Bromley Hall with all measurements available to determine an

average square footage. According to Bromley Hall Floor Plans, some fourth-floor rooms that are identical to the fifth-floor doubles directly above them are listed as triples allocating each resident about 74.86 square feet of space.

“Sometimes, rooms originally designed to house three occupants are programmed as doubles,” Hacker says in an email. “During periods of increased occupancy, we can easily return those rooms to their three-person design, and we are prepared to make adjustments like that this year, if needed.”

OU has developed a Master Housing Plan with the intent to construct new dormitories, renovate existing halls and demolish older ones. Phase one of OU’s Housing Plan states that there is a plan to build a 600-bed complex on South Green, which is set to open in 2026. The university plans to demolish the remaining dorms on Back South, which will remove 618 beds from the housing portfolio.

This increase in students on campus has impacted many facets of the university, including housing, allocation of campus resources and more. Whether students have to spend extra time waiting for a squat rack to be available at Ping Recreation Center, struggle to find a table at Donkey Coffee & Espresso or find themselves placed on a waitlist for intake at Counseling and Psychological Services, the perceived and shared drawbacks of increasing enrollment can be seen across OU’s campus.

“I understand wanting to grow the school and not wanting to deny people,” Osborne says. “I think you also need to consider not only current students, but if you’re advocating that it is a really good school, you don’t want to change people’s minds when they actually get here.” b

Megan Kuhn in her dorm in Jefferson Hall.

*Housing and Residence Life states in all their floor plans that “while Ohio University will make every effort to provide accurate and complete information, with hundreds of rooms of various occupancies, sizes and shapes on campus, updated frequently, we cannot guarantee that the information will be error-free, and no reliance should be placed on this information.”* www.backdropmagazine.com

25

THE DROP

WHERE WE

COME FROM

Celebrating hometowns through their influences on our college lives.

BY ANNA HINKLE | PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK | DESIGN BY ELLIE SABATINO

H

ometowns can play a major role in shaping who people are as individuals, which works to bring everyone together to grow through one another’s diverse backgrounds.

Whether from large cities, small towns or suburbs, students all chose to come to Ohio University for the similar reason of gaining an education. Embracing where students hail from is one way to see how much each other’s day-to-day lives depend on it, including our decisionmaking and actions in school.

OU has embraced this diversity of where students are from by accepting students from all over the world. OU students were all born and raised in different cities, and while potentially born in the same place, each student connects with different experiences. From a little under 1,000 international students, over 20,000 in-state and over 4,000 students from all over the United States, according to OU’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion, little pieces of the different places people originally called home are brought to OU. Through all of the different cultures and groups on campus, it is easy to see the importance of sharing the stories of where people come from represented.

The exhilarating yet nerve-wracking feeling of being at college and possibly independent for the first time is a journey like no other. This journey, surely about self-discovery, is the beginning of branching out from people’s hometowns.

Every place a student comes from has shaped and influenced their individual perspectives on the school environment.

While making new friends, meeting new people and sharing interests, students can see how the values and traditions of our hometowns have shaped them. Bobcats also see these hometown values through their chosen classes and majors that resonate with personal goals from where they have grown up.

Through the new challenges that arise during the first few weeks of college, students find that the effects of their roots guide them in the process of creating lifelong memories and friends at OU. Ellie Coldiron, a recent graduate of OU, says that her personal experiences growing up in Dayton shaped who she is today. Coming to OU as an in-state student, Coldiron had been very familiar with OU since high school and with her friends attending. As far as her growth and her experienced differences between living at home versus in Athens, she

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expresses how it “made her feel more appreciative of quiet nights, her independence and more interested in living in a suburb or bigger city” than what she was used to. Through these differences, she was able to recognize and be more thankful for her growth at school while still being involved her interests that encouraged her to leave home.

Students coming from out-of-state have also expressed how their hometown is prevalent in their everyday life at OU, says Avery Ochs. Ochs is a junior studying journalism at OU from Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, and shares about her hometown through cherishing the little time she gets to spend at home aside from her time in Athens. She also has seen how much her values and goals have come into play with the people she surrounds herself with now, being in a larger population and growing outside of her comfort zone.

“I have definitely become more independent and outgoing,” Ochs says. “I never thought I would join a sorority before college, but I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and it ended up being a great experience. I was able to meet so many new people that will always be a part of my life.”

However, the hometowns of students can also include those from different countries. Gabby Toti is a senior at OU this year and is originally from São Paulo, Brazil, and came to the U.S. when she was 14 years old. She says she felt “right at home when coming to OU for the first time” while adjusting to a completely new home, college and country.

“Coming to Athens became a culture shock because everyone was so friendly, and you will at least see one person you know on campus,” Toti says.

Celebrating her culture is also very important to her to this day, and she loves coming across people from different cultures and backgrounds. Altogether, Toti has seen how mature she has grown through her studies and language to get to where she is now.

The connections made among students by knowing how identities differ has shown to have much value. By embracing the core of all communities through these conversations and experiences, each student can see how hometowns leave an impact.

Personal identities can be exchanged due to these hometown influences as a part of the Athens and OU communities forever. As we recognize these communities, whether tens, hundreds, or thousands of miles away, everyone comes together to grow at OU. b

Gabby Toti, an Ohio University senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, poses for a portrait.

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THE DROP

NAVIGATING SUPPORT Students and a new organization on campus give advice on how to prioritize one’s safety at college.

BY DARCIE ZUDELL | DESIGN BY ELLIE SABATINO

W

ith the semester being kicked into full gear, there is no wrong way for students to enjoy their time back at Ohio University. Despite everything happening at once, it can be hard to disregard the strong sense of anticipation that accompanies those first few months into each new school year. The anticipation to party.

In 2015, Playboy Magazine crowned OU the top “party school” in the nation. Although over the years, OU has slipped in the rankings, the school’s reputation lingers on.

The OU faculty is not oblivious to the reputation. Incoming freshmen are required to complete online training aimed at educating students about the dangers that can accompany drinking too much.

With this, new students are also educated briefly on understanding consent during Bobcat Student Orientation.

At the OU Involvement Fair, various campus groups had tables at the event. Some of these groups are dedicated to promoting student safety and support.

Grace Jarchow, a junior majoring in sociology, is the current vice president of the new student organization PAVE, which stands for Promoting Awareness - Victim Empowerment.

Jarchow was eager to get involved with the organization when she found out a chapter of the national non-profit was starting on campus.

At the Student Involvement Fair, members of the group handed out information about a concept known as “the red zone.” The phrase was coined by Dr. David Lisak, a clinical psychologist, who specializes in researching rape prevention programs on college campuses.

“The red zone is basically the time period when the semester starts to like around Thanksgiving break … when most [sexual assault] cases are reported on campus,” Jarchow says.

Jarchow suggests that the mix of the warm weather, back-

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to-school excitement and excessive drinking calls for a higher risk of danger.

A former student at OU, Abigail, whose name is changed to protect her identity, reflects on her welcome week experience at OU. While on Mill Street, notorious for hosting many OU house parties, she recounts feeling uneasy.

“I felt like it was really predatory toward freshmen,” she says.

She also recalls thinking, “You don't want to drink too much because this is the week where seniors are gonna try to prowl.”

She observed a greater focus on the nightlife Athens had to offer, with less attention given to academic achievement.

Abigail admits that welcome week set a harmful precedent for her academic year. “It was all about partying, and I feel like that made me get caught up in it really easily,” she says.

Though OU offers various school-sanctioned events during Welcome Week, some students use their newfound freedom to make choices they would not typically make.

Throughout the two semesters Abigail spent on campus, she noticed a shift from the excitement and fun of nightlife to a new awareness of predatory behavior.

She notes that she grew up in a “tight-knit” community her whole life. Behaviors and attitudes that would never occur in her hometown, she says, were normalized in Athens.

She was often advised to steer clear of specific fraternity houses to minimize potential risks. Concerns about open containers and questionable hosts led her to frequent the numerous bars on Court Street.

The unpleasantries and perceived predatory behavior did not end at the bars.

She claims to have found herself noticing a difference in the mixed drinks she received from male and female bartenders.

“Whenever a girl would make your drink, you could tell

that she made it right,” Abigail says.

She also says that if she thought male bartender wanted to make conversation with her, her drink would taste as if it had more alcohol in it.

She also recounts certain men who offered to buy her a drink requesting it be made stronger.

Kelsey P. Younce's master's thesis titled, “Attractiveness Privilege: The Unearned Advantages of Physical Attractiveness,” discusses the phenomenon known as “pretty privilege.”

“Numerous studies demonstrate that people who are judged as more physically attractive are consistently perceived more positively and treated more favorably than people who are considered less attractive,” according to Younce.

When Abigail was allowed into bars without her ID being checked or when certain store owners would give her free or discounted items, she became familiar with the term.

When recounting the “favors” given to her while on campus, she notes the same uneasy feeling she had on Mill Street.

“I would get the most gut-wrenching anxiety from it and then, I would just, over time, think about it more,” Abigail says. “Why am I feeling like this? Then you realize, maybe I was taken advantage of a couple of times.”

Abigail alleges that the privilege of being perceived as attractive resulted in stalking, manipulation and coercion.

Abigail also says one owner of an Athens business showered her and her friends with free products. He also allegedly developed an obsession with her.

She recalls him pleading with her to return to the store for additional benefits. When she didn't respond, he purportedly went searching for her on Court Street and even showed up unannounced at her residence hall.

She recounts having moments on campus where she longed for a female support network that would validate her feelings about this behavior.

She observes that the group she typically went out with would tolerate this mistreatment in exchange for free products and

access to bars. In turn, she also put up with the mistreatment until her discomfort provoked her to break the cycle.

Abigail admits she had no knowledge of how to report sexual abuse on campus. She also feared if she did seek out support, it would come with judgment. She did not want to draw attention to herself.

Jarchow affirms that this is a key reason why victims of sexual assault or sexually charged abuse goes unreported.

“I think that that can be really scary,” Jarchow says. “Just from the simple fact of having to give names or recite the event itself. I think that can be traumatic and definitely turn a lot of people away.”

Jarchow also says that reporting should be handled with care and confidentiality. The reaction and potential backlash from concerned peers often discourage many survivors from seeking help. PAVE aims to be not only a source of emotional support but also a resource that survivors can use to seek justice, grieve and build a support network.

“My biggest piece of advice that I would give, would probably be, it's not your fault,” says Jarchow. “Women are constantly being poked and prodded at … but at the end of the day, there's no good or valid reason for sexual abuse happening.”

Students who want to get involved with PAVE or speak to a member are welcome to attend their bi-weekly meetings on Wednesdays in Bentley Hall 145 at 6:00 p.m. The organization’s Instagram page can be found @pave_ou.

Abigail is no longer a student at OU. She felt leaving campus would be the best solution for her to move on from the experiences that occurred.

“Always trust your gut,” she says. “Your intuition knows better than anyone else. And surround yourself with people who actually care about you.” b

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THE DROP

BREAKING

THE BEAKER

Clippinger Lab at Ohio University.

Changing the narrative around women working in a historically male-dominated field.

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BY ABREANNA BLOSE | PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK | DESIGN BY CARLEY HINTON

istory is full of women who have made groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but their stories are seldom told in our history books.

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 1970, women made up only 8% of STEM workers. Today, that number has increased to 27%. While the gender gap may be shrinking, these fields remain dominated by men.

Despite these numbers, Ohio University women have prevailed, laying the foundation for women across campus and the world.

It can be difficult to tell stories that accurately represent a whole body of female students, professors and alumnae.

Each experience is different, but it is important to start the conversation somewhere.

Here are the stories of just a few of the thousands of Bobcats who have made their mark in STEM.

The first two women to graduate with a chemistry degree

Until the early 1990s, it was believed that the first female chemistry graduates accepted their diplomas in the 1930s.

Dr. Howard Dewald, author of “Development of chemistry at Ohio University and its first women graduates,” discovered the truth when OU reclassified from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress.

That is when two theses were discovered in the year 1903.

To Dewald’s surprise, the papers were written by women: Ethyl Riley and Nannie Nease.

At the time, chemistry was a relatively new discipline. The American Chemical Society was formed in 1876 and women in chemistry were unheard of.

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“It was significant that they were able to do this and persevere in a strongly male-dominated field,” Dewald says.

After the discovery of two women chemists in the early 1900s, Dewald began digging in alumni directories from other universities. He checked The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati and Miami University, and could not identify any earlier women chemistry graduates in the state of Ohio.

“It’d be another quarter century before more degrees in chemistry were awarded to women,” Dewald says. “Their actual theses are phenomenal.”

Both Riley and Nease went on to follow paths outside of chemistry and what many would consider traditional paths for women at the time. Riley became a schoolteacher, while Niese became a stay-at-home wife.

Even if they did not go on to make groundbreaking discoveries, one thing is clear: they were the first of their kind, and they laid the path for countless women to come after them.

“There are more women graduates from chemistry than there are male graduates now,” Dewald says. “It is continuing to develop based upon personal interests, based upon societal pushes and desires.”

Aluma finds success and receives high STEM honors

Seana McNeal graduated from OU with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2006. Today, she is an Air Force Research Laboratory supervisor, representing the excellence of women in STEM rooted at OU. McNeal’s love for engineering began in seventh grade when she joined a program called “The Right Step” hosted by Wright State University in partnership with Dayton Public Schools.

“The goal of the program was to expose students to [STEM]

and encourage them to go into STEM fields,” McNeal says.

She found herself at OU to better her understanding of electrical engineering. McNeal says she knew she was different from her male classmates. She also says she understood the real world would mirror her classroom experience, so McNeal learned how to cooperate with group members and learn from them despite their differences.

McNeal recalls having only one female professor, so she turned to her for advice. “I realized that I was different from the other folks in my class, and I wanted to get her feel for how do I maintain myself and my identity and not try to go overboard and change myself?” McNeal says.

In 2022, McNeal was awarded the Professional Achievement in Government Award at the Women of Color STEM conference.

“I got on stage, and I had to give a speech and all that, so very different, unlike anything I experienced before, but the biggest feeling I felt was appreciation and respect,” McNeal says.

Now, reflecting on how far she has come since her time at OU, McNeal says she would tell her past self to stop overthinking. “Just be yourself and be honest and give people the opportunity to see you,” McNeal says.

Current faculty notes there are more changes to be made

Dr. Nancy Sandler poses for a portrait in Emeriti Park.

Seana McNeal (sourced from an Ohio University News article).

Dr. Nancy Sandler has been teaching physics and astronomy at OU since 2002. When she arrived, there were two other female faculty members working in her department. Now, there are five.

She describes OU’s current physics department as an anomaly because of how many women make up the body of physics professors –- close to 15 to 20%, which is significantly larger than most universities.

“We have an international community in the department,” Sandler says. “I am an example of that. So, we have people from all over the world, and we have people represented from different parts of the society.”

She says her colleagues are welcoming, inclusive and accommodating, but not every STEM department functions the same way. “I know places where women are given smaller lab space than men, different salary raises or different teaching loads,” Sandler says. “These types of things still exist in our field.”

Back in 2006, Sandler became the first faculty member in OU’s physics department to become pregnant. “I was the first person to be pregnant as a tenure track professor in the department,” Sandler says. “So when I got pregnant, they didn’t know what to do with me, they didn’t know anything about the regulations and the leaves.”

She notes that a stigma still exists where the hiring faculty assumes that every woman will want to have a child at some point during her career. “If you are a woman in particular, you are expected to want to become a mom at some point,” Sandler says.

“So, you will not be given the same level of seriousness to your work because you’re going to give up at some points –- that still persists in many places.”

Dr. Sandler is proud to be a member of an inclusive and diverse department at OU, but she understands that her situation is unique. She feels that change still needs to be made so people of all genders, races, ethnicities and intersecting identities are included in the conversation of STEM. b www.backdropmagazine.com

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PHOTO ESSAY

REFRAMING FARM

Culture

Abbe Turner reflects on learned lessons in farming.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY PEARL SPURLOCK | DESIGN BY ALLY PARKER

A

bbe Turner has always loved nature. Ever since she was a little girl, she was always outside.

“I’ve always felt a strong connection to the land.

Where I grew up in Toledo, there was a woods behind my house, and that’s where we spent our summers,” Turner says.

“We weren’t addicted to screens; we were playing outside, and we built forts and collected tadpoles and had toad races and did all sorts of wonderful things. When I was about nine, all of a sudden, they put up this concrete wall and they built high story condominiums in my woods, and I was so pissed.”

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Turner decided, if given the opportunity, she would own land and raise her children so they could play outside, and simply be in nature.

“So, I was working very hard and fundraising, I was making good money, I had just had my first baby, and I just decided to lease a horse,” says Turner. “And I was standing out in the pasture, and it was a Saturday morning, and the sun was shining, and I just felt like, a calling. It’s the craziest thing, where I was like, I’m supposed to be in a field.”

Turner raised three children with her former husband on a

14-acre farm in Garrettsville, Ohio. The Harvest Provisions is a network of small family lived in an old farmhouse, where farmers that grow produce for different their children, Madeline, Lily and Ezra, restaurants. The company focuses on could run wild. providing fresh, quality ingredients “This, to me, is my definition of grown without pesticides. success,” Turner says, pointing to a worn Turner’s life as a farmer has not photo print. The picture was idyllic: the been without its ups and downs. The three children playing with their kid unpredictability of the job is known to goats beneath an apple tree. take a toll on the mental and physical wellTurner started cutting flowers to make being of farmers, and she is no exception. money, which was not successful. After “Things happen. Things go wrong. that, she bought four goats, eventually Things go wrong regularly,” Turner says. growing the herd to about 150. With the “You just have to be flexible enough, goats’ milk, Turner produced cheese and and try to bounce back, and try to make other dairy products. Thus, Lucky Penny smart decisions in response to whatever Creamery was born. goes wrong. We had a big [and] important “For the cheese business, I went to a piece of equipment get hit by lightning. lot of schooling all over the country, all We had the roof cave in at the creamery.” over the world,” Turner says. “A lot of Turner is in the minority as a female work was in Pennsylvania because it was farmer. “It’s very hard being in a such a big dairy thing. I did sheep dairy traditionally male industry. We’ve come school up in Wisconsin. That was great, a long way. We have a long way to go.

I learned how to milk sheep up there and We went to get financing at the bank make sheep milk cheeses.” once, and I went in and asked for a Turner spends much of her time with loan, and they told me to go home and Warren Taylor, her partner. Taylor get my husband,” Turner says. “Then founded Snowville Creamery, a popular I had somebody from an economic milk brand. Taylor and Turner have to development agency, when I was talking commute to see one another, with Abbe’s to them about growing the business, home being in Plain City and Warren’s they were like, ‘well don’t you have three being in Meigs County. children at home?’”

The couple enjoy cooking together Turner went on to co-author a book and foraging for ingredients in the with her eldest daughter titled “The woods. Taylor is a partner in Mushroom Land of Milk and Money: Lessons Harvest Provisions, a company that Learned and Business Earned From Turner purchased in 2020 at the Women in Dairy.” b height of the pandemic. Mushroom www.backdropmagazine.com 33

VOICES

NOT MY STORY TO TELL

Journalism student Alyssa Cruz shares her experience completing an internship abroad and redefining her own ethics for journalism.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALYSSA CRUZ | DESIGN BY ALLY PARKER ournalism is one of those professions where you have to be all in. There is no clock-in and clock-out time when you’re a journalist.

Some stories take years while others take hours. Sometimes a lifelong connection is created with a source, while other sources are merely a printed name for a quote in a sea of letters.

I knew I wanted to be a journalist when I was in high school. I always told everyone I wanted a job where I could travel, write and speak Spanish.

Being a journalist seemed like a natural career path. More specifically, I have always had my sights set on becoming a foreign correspondent. The allure of meeting different people from diverse cultures while at the same time exploring parts of the globe was always appealing to me.

Last spring, an opportunity of a lifetime was presented to me: a summer internship in Ecuador. I had traveled a decent amount prior, including spending the previous summer abroad, but I had never worked abroad.

Additionally, I had never solo traveled.

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Traveling by yourself instead of traveling with friends or family members is a totally different ball game.

Leading up to my departure, I had very few details about my internship.

This includes but is not limited to where I was going to live, what I was going to be doing and how long I would be there. Minor details, of course. About two weeks before I left, I finally had a plane ticket.

When I landed in Quito, I was a bundle of nerves. I met my host family, who had only known they were going to be hosting me two weeks before and felt a little better after seeing how warm and welcoming they were.

My internship was with a multimedia organization called Comciencia, which is dedicated to spreading awareness about different environmental and political issues affecting Ecuador. The organization oversees producing new content for three separate accounts on social media, so every day was spent writing scripts, filming and editing.

The next six weeks were a blur of learning. I was learning everything

from new videography skills to new Spanish vocabulary to new traditional foods. Every day I came home to my host family’s house and flopped on my bed to immediately fall asleep.

Although my work schedule was pretty manageable with coming in the office around 9 a.m. and leaving around 4 p.m., I still found myself exhausted every afternoon. The everyday stress of the workday plus navigating the extremely complex transportation system aided my fatigue, but the main reason was speaking Spanish.

I grew up in a bilingual household, and I have been studying the language for years. But nothing compares to speaking Spanish all day every day with no breaks. I spoke Spanish at work, I spoke Spanish with my host family, and I spoke Spanish on the street, at the grocery store, in coffee shops and with my friends. I always say only multilingual people truly grasp the concept of your brain feeling tired after a long day of complete immersion.

After six weeks of working at the office in Quito and thoroughly enjoying it,

it was time for me to embark on the second leg of my internship, which was spending two weeks in the province of Loja. Ecuador is divided into provinces, with Quito being in the province of Pichincha. Loja is the most southern providence and neighbor to Peru. In Loja, we specifically stayed in the town of Cariamanga.

The reason for our trip was because we were part of the communication team for the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute. The Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute (ITDI) is a program at Ohio University that seeks to “improve the health status of underserved populations through sustainable and comprehensive research, service and educational initiatives related to infectious diseases,” according to their website.

ITDI brings students from OU as well as the Pontifical Universidad Católica de Ecuador to Loja to work on a variety of projects from health literacy to infant malnutrition to theater productions to preventing the spread of Chagas, a tropical disease that affects the rural communities of Cariamanga.

As a member of the communications team, my job was to accompany the different teams on their daily outings to do fieldwork. We took photos, shot video footage and conducted interviews with various participants.

Half of a journalist’s job is watching, and I was given the opportunity to be a fly on the wall while some amazing work was being done. Well checks were

done for residents of a remote village where I met a community member who was 97 years old and still working every day. On a visit to a house in the mountains, the team was asking a man for his birth records, and he laughed when he realized that day he turned 63.

He said he was so focused on taking care of his family that he hadn’t celebrated his birthday in years.

Another key aspect of journalism is having a secure view of what your role is. Although journalism can be used to provide a podium for injustices, it can also be viewed as exploitative. Shoving a camera in someone’s face when they are going through a tragedy or begging for a quote from a survivor of sexual violence are all reasons journalists get a warranted bad rap.

I always felt like I had a good sense of what ethics meant, but being in rural Ecuador on a trip whose entire purpose was helping an underprivileged community made it hard. Families of eight or nine members living in twobedroom houses with no electricity, running water or even a floor. Old couples who had lived in the mountains their entire lives found out their beloved home was infested with chinchorros, or Chagas-plagued bugs, and needed to be fumigated. Kids who love school but cannot attend every day because it’s a two-hour-long hike on the side of a mountain to get there. 14-year-old girls who had no access to sexual education and were already mothers.

All these cases broke my heart and

made me want to do something. I was upset about the injustices, and angry there was not more time and effort being put in to solve them. Although the community members were upfront about the challenges in their lives, many of them were not angry. There was this attitude that things were the way they were, and there was no changing them.

This is not to say they did not want the best life for their kids or themselves, but rather, they were content with what life had to offer. What was most important for me to realize was they were not asking to be helped. So often in our culture, we are taught that we are somehow superior to others, and it is our duty to help. This fosters feelings of saviorism and heroism, making us feel good about ourselves.

I found myself craving that feeling, but it was completely unwarranted. My job there was to document the program and the participants. I refrained from taking photos of community members and avoided recording any sort of footage with a child in it. The bottom line was it was not my story to tell.

Looking back at my internship, I am overwhelmed by a feeling of gratitude. I learned so much about myself, and I am proud of myself for absorbing so much information from others. Although I am nowhere close to having all the answers, I employ all journalists to ask themselves why they are doing what they are doing and who they are doing it for. Find a story that is asking to be told rather than asking to tell a story. b

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