March 2, 2022

The Emory Wheel Since 1919

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 103, Issue 4

Printed every other wednesday

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Scholar recounts first days of war in Ukraine

By Elena Glazov-Corrigan Guest Feature Emory Professor of Russian Literature Elena Glazov-Corrigan corresponded with her colleague Constantin Sigov, who was in Kyiv during the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Sigov is a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv and Director of the Center of European Humanities Research.

Glazov-Corrigan translated the correspondence, which has been edited by the Wheel for clarity.

Feb. 22 Elena Glazov-Corrigan: How is life in Ukraine at present?

Constantin Sigov: This is the anxious question which friends from other countries of the world are putting to me more and more frequently.

Perhaps not all three million inhabitants of Kyiv, but a majority of us, began this year by discussing what we would put in our “emergency suitcase” when finding ourselves on the verge of war. We listed personal documents, medicines, something to eat — a bare minimum of essential things in case we were bombed and an emergency evacuation was needed. This very topic is something that we’ve discussed among families, at work and on social networks. From time to time we break the tension of these days and nights by cracking jokes. My favorite one: Scientists spent a great deal of money inventing a pen that will never stop writing while in space. But would it not be safer to take several pencils and a pencil sharpener?

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Protestors voice their support for Ukraine in Tokyo. Advocacy for Ukraine erupted across the world after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Children too have been taking an active part in these discussions, correcting the adults about the content of these “emergency suitcases.” If we’re to find ourselves in forests without paths, then a backpack would of course be far better than a suitcase. We’ve wondered what weight adults could carry and what weight children could manage.

Within just one month, more than a thousand schools in Kyiv and elsewhere have received anonymous threats about buildings being mined, and mass evacuations of hundreds of thousands of children were taking place. And there was the desperate anxiety of parents who were urgently summoned to turn up and be there for

their children in what could become a life-threatening situation.

In Kyiv, false threats of subway mines have been increasing exponentially. These forms of hybrid warfare were intensified by the reports of those killed and wounded in the active war in Eastern Ukraine.

EG: Have you felt understood by the Western media and political commentators?

CS: For eight whole years, many people have not called this war by its real name; instead they have kept referring to “the Ukrainian crisis.” But now it’s no longer a secret for anyone that it is “a Russian crisis,” [President of Russia

Bill threatens school conversations on race

By Madi Olivier Asst. News Editor When Tracey Nance’s students walked into her third grade classroom, four feet tall with backpacks full of worksheets and colored pencils, she said they did not need her to teach them about racism.

It was often already a part of their lives, Nance, a Georgia elementary school teacher, explained, even if they were too young to realize it. When they grew up and left Dodge Renaissance Academy, the 100% Black Chicago turnaround school where Nance taught for four years, racism followed them.

“It’s a very real part of their daily lives,” said Nance, who was Georgia’s teacher of the Year in 2020. “It’s my job to listen and say, ‘That sucks, and what can we do to make it better?’”

Classroom conversations about race that Nance has held to teach students about diversity from an early age are at risk of being banned in Georgia public schools under the proposed House Bill (HB) 888. The bill forbids curriculum considered “racially discriminatory” or that portrays the United States as “systemically racist.”

School districts would face a 20% reduction in state funding if they do not comply.

This follows a trend of controversy

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surrounding racial education, including the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which is dedicated to reframing history to focus on the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans.

If passed, HB 888 would have a chilling effect on discussions about race and identity in Georgia public school classrooms.

The bill would also prohibit public

“It’s just another thing they’re piling up in the system to disenfranchise and hate on either other minorities or just Black people in general.”

— Edric Bussie K-12 schools from teaching that students should “bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible” for the past actions of people of the same “race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin.”

Contrary to the country’s debates about education, young children are not actually being taught critical race theory, Nance added. Instead, she said they are taught social emotional learning, which includes understanding diversity, equity and inclusion. This distinction has been

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misconstrued, she said, starting a “war” across Georgia.

“These words have become buzzwords that seem to be quite scary for conservative parents in Georgia that don’t fully understand what it is,” Nance said. “All it is is teaching kids to accept others, to love one another.”

Nance, who studied critical race theory while getting her masters degree in education, said the legal theory espouses that racism is “baked into the systems” in the U.S. The doctrine relies on realworld examples of systemic discrimination, such as housing and education discrepancies especially between Black and white populations.

HB 888 is one of 1,457 bills being discussed during Georgia’s legislative session, which ends April 4. It has been awaiting a second reading in the House since Jan. 14 and has not been voted on. The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet on March 3, but HB 888 is not on the agenda.

Joe Cohn, the Legislative and Policy Director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which protects free speech at universities, told the Wheel that K-12 schools are more heavily regulated by the government than higher education.

“The question is ‘does a teacher have

See EDUCATORS, Page 2

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Vladimir] Putin’s regime being its culprit. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the seizure of cities and villages in the east of Ukraine led to the occupation by Russia of territory greater in extent than the territory of the whole of Switzerland or Belgium. Thousands of Ukrainians have been killed, and millions have become refugees, forced to flee the occupied territories.

We have lived with this sense of national woe, shared by every one of us, adults and children. On one highrise building in the city of Mariupol it has long been possible to see, from afar, the portrait of a small girl named Melania. In 2015, she lost a leg due to a bomb blast, and she survived only

because, under fire from Russian artillery, Melania’s mother leant across her and perished. Not long ago, Melania turned ten years old. For seven of those years she’s been living in Kyiv, at her grandmother Olga’s place. They’ve been helped by the organization “Children of Hope” (Deti nadezhdy). Today I talked with Olga by phone, and she spoke anxiously about news that she was receiving from family and friends back in Mariupol. There is already a war taking place on the outskirts of the city, and no one knows when it will hit the city itself.

EG: This confrontation with this ever present irremediable injustice — can there be any new discoveries in all of this?

CS: Everyday we confront questions of human dignity: namely, how not to lose one’s humanity and how to remain calm and steadfast. Recently, I recorded a conversation with the religious scholar Igor Kozlovsky, who spent 700 days and nights as a prisoner in the basements of Donetsk.

Igor has endured numerous interrogations and also torture, which went beyond inflicting just physical and psychological harm. His tormentors attempted to do two things: to deprive him of the right to remain a person and also to get him to betray his own sense of human dignity. I was struck by the form of resistance which Igor chose in response. When subjected to torture, he held to the words of Viktor Frankl: “conscience is our internal God.” Such witness — even under torture — gives one the possibility of looking at what’s happening “from the outside,” as it were. “You’ve been beaten up and covered in blood, but all of a sudden you’re smiling … and mentally you tell yourself that you no longer fear death. They can’t break you any longer; you’re beyond their power.

See UKRAINE, Page 3

Tyler Perry to deliver 2022 Commencement address

By Eva Roytburg Asst. News Editor Prolific director, producer, actor and screenwriter Tyler Perry will deliver the keynote address at Emory University’s 177th Commencement ceremony and receive an honorary doctor of letters degree, University President Gregory Fenves announced in a student-wide email on March 1. He will address the class of 2022 on May 9 on the Emory Quadrangle.

Perry is acclaimed for the 20 stage plays, 17 feature films and seven television shows he has developed, most notably the television series “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.”

Additionally, he is well-known for creating and portraying the character Madea, an elderly and tough woman, in several films, plays and television series.

In 2015, Perry acquired the 330-acre former military base Fort McPherson in Atlanta and converted it into the Tyler Perry Studios. It is now one of the largest film studios in the nation and is the first major motion picture production facility to be exclusively owned by a Black person.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Tyler Perry, director and actor, will deliver the keynote address at the Commencement ceremony on May 9.

In recent years, Perry has received several accolades for his humanitarian work, both personally and through his philanthropic foundation, the Perry Foundation. The foundation has developed a significant number of projects

See EMORY, Page 3

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Educators, politicians debate critical race theory Continued from Page 1 free speech rights?’ and the answer is generally not, with respect to being inside the classroom in that kindergarten through 12th grade context,” Cohn said. “They are themselves a representative of the government, trying to impart the knowledge that the government has decided it wants kids to know.”

The threat of the bill alone has caused mixed emotions for Druid Hills High School (DHHS) sophomore and Black Student Union (BSU) member Lucille Hayes.

“People fighting back against it gives me hope that people don’t want to stay uneducated in the dark, and that talking about problems and how it affects daily lives is something worth fighting for,” Hayes said. “But still seeing lawmakers in place try to fight against it discourages me because it shows that they don’t have peoples’ best interest in heart.”

Support for HB 888 Just prior to proposing the bill on Jan. 14, Republican state Rep. Brad Thomas said diversity programs are being “hijacked” to promote a radical agenda.

“As progressives continue to push their anti-American, ‘woke’ agenda, parents throughout this state have also woken up to the reality that divisive ideologies, such as critical race theory and the 1619 Project, are being forced on our children by rogue teachers and radical school boards,” Thomas said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp supported Thomas, saying critical race theory has “pit kids against each other” during his State of the State address on Jan. 13.

Some Emory students, like Emory College Republicans Chairman Robert Schmad (23C) have supported removing race-based curriculum and cutting funding as a disciplinary consequence.

“I reject the notion that the United States is systemically racist,” Schmad said. “I think we have a pretty bad class problem that kind of feeds into the perception that we are [racist].”

Daniel Ren (24C) said he agrees with some parts of the bill but believes students should learn about progress in combating racism.

“We need to teach our youth that we should appreciate our country for what it is and continue to find other ways to help teach people so we can mitigate racism in the future without teaching them the idea that the U.S. is systemically racist and that we’re all to collectively blame for it,” Ren said.

Removing race-based information, Ren added, would not harm most students in the future because identifying racist actions is “all common sense.”

Opposition to HB 888 Opponents to HB 888, however, say the bill will allow students to remain ignorant to racism.

“Proponents of this bill worry about the feelings of white students,” Nance said. “What about the history of our students of color and their feelings? I want every student, regardless of the skin that they’re in, to be able to see themselves in a positive light and to see the power of their identity.”

Nance, who now travels around Georgia as an instructional mentor and education consultant, believes that educators do not make students feel guilty, saying, “I’ve spoken with teachers in every corner, in every county, and I can tell you that Georgia teachers care about their students.”

If passed, HB 888 would likely have the most impact on high schools, where students discuss race more deeply. However, several BSU members at Druid Hills High School said they currently get little racial education that does not extend past slav-

A ly Hom/Photo Editor

If passed, House Bill 888 would ban Georgia public schools from teaching that the United States is a “systemically racist country,” and cut 20% of state funding from any school districts that fail to comply. ery and the Civil War. Despite this, Druid Hills senior and BSU president Quinnlan Davis believes the bill would allow people to ignore the racist parts of America’s history, even though critical race theory is his “reality.”

“This bill is kind of trying to escape guilt,” Davis said. “A lot of white people, they have like this deep white guilt on slavery, and a lot of travesties that have happened in history.”

Druid Hills sophomore and BSU member Edric Bussie said he believes the U.S. was built on racism and white supremacy, citing slavery and the death penalty as examples. HB 888 would ban discussing this concept in schools.

“It’s just another thing they’re piling up in the system to disenfranchise and hate on either other minorities or just Black people in general,” Bussie said.

Multiple BSU members also condemned cutting funding. Druid Hills sophomore and BSU member Shanti Rodriguez-Pedraza said many DeKalb County schools are already struggling financially, noting that DeKalb School of the Arts had to cut a grade and could not

get a necessary renovation due to a lack of funding.

“I don’t think that the government should be threatening schools to not teach the true history of the country,” Rodriguez-Pedraza said.

Davis called the financial aspect of HB 888 “juvenile.”

“It really shows who’s in power and how much they abuse it,” Davis said. “If they cut the funding, then that’ll just put the kids you’re trying to ‘protect from critical race theory’ deeper in the toilet.”

Impact on Emory University Emory is a private institution, so the University would not be required to change its curriculum if the bill is passed.

However, with 25.4% of domestic students enrolled in the fall 2021 semester coming from Georgia, the bill threatens to impact the racial knowledge incoming students will have when they arrive on campus.

Nance, who has two daughters in the Atlanta public school system, said students often learn racist ideas from their parents, but educators can intervene. If the bill does not allow for those conver-

sations, however, Nance believes more children will not learn to accept others, impacting their futures.

Davis agreed, saying that removing discussions about race from schools sets students up to unwittingly repeat racist comments and microaggressions.

“If you don’t know the implications of racism, then that’ll just leave you in the dark,” Davis said.

Bussie believes that by removing these conversations from schools, students may be cut off from pursuing a future in advocacy while at colleges like Emory.

“What if they were taught, ‘oh, these people were marginalized and oppressed, maybe I want to one day grow up to be a lawyer, maybe I want to study that in college so this can never happen, or I just want to be humanitarian, to promote and advocate for human rights?’” Bussie said.

“If they don’t get that awareness of what happened in the past, then it’s just not going to make them care that much in the future.”

— Contact Madi Olivier at madi.olivier@emory.edu

SGA bill mandating SPC presidential elections resurfaces

By Ashley Zhu Politics Desk College Council President Akash Kurupassery (22C) proposed a bill to mandate Student Programming Council (SPC) elections at the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting on Feb. 7, arguing that the bill would address how SPC has been “out of touch with the needs of the student body.”

Though the bill unanimously failed to pass on Feb. 14 with 11 votes against it, a flaw in the legislative process has caused the bill to resurface.

While discussing the bill with Kurupassery following the bill’s failure to pass, SGA College Council Representative Noah Marchuck (24C) found a discrepancy in the referendum portion of Kurupassery’s bill, which would have allowed the student body to vote on the bill.

According to Marchuck, SGA President Rachel Ding (20Ox, 22B) had treated the bill and the referendum as two separate issues. The legislators went into session with the belief that if the bill failed, then the referendum should also fail by default. Instead, the legislators were supposed to make a motion to move the referendum out of the bill itself and vote on it separately.

It’s unclear what will happen with the bill next, according to Marchuck and Kurupassery.

Marchuck believes that the referendum would have passed if it was voted on originally.

“I think the bill still would have failed,

Courtesy of Emory University

The Student Government Association voted against a bill mandating Student Programming Council presidential elections, but legislators are drafting a revised version. but we still would have had a referendum, and the student body still would have been able to vote on the bill,” he said.

Kurupassery said he was shocked at the outcome of the Feb. 14 vote because he did not expect it to be rejected. He attributes SGA’s decision to a type of elitism, where the organization pretends to know what is best for the student body, rather than going to them directly for their opinions.

“The legislators thought that they knew what was best,” Kurupassery said.

“Now the legislators are facing a dilemma where the student body thinks that democratic elections are a good idea, but they have already voted against the bill.”

A bill written in 2017 established that the student body would no longer vote to elect the SPC president. SPC previously reverted to internal elections for its vice president, according to a 2015 bill written by former Vice President of Programming

Michael Nathin (15B) that limited voters to SPC members only. He thought this would reduce election-induced stress on candidates and argued that the vice president’s roles are strictly internal.

Nathin conceded that it was proper for the SPC president to be chosen via a university-wide election since SPC uses the student body’s money. However, the vice president exercises no direct control over SPC spending.

Though Kurupassery’s bill was rejected, Marchuck is one of several legislators drafting a revised bill in collaboration with SPC. “Akash had good sentiments in requesting transparency from SPC, which I think is important,” Marchuck said. “The issue I had was that having a campus-wide election seemed to be a one-size-fits-all that doesn’t really work.”

Kurupassery’s bill initially addressed

numerous individual concerns, like SPC’s relationship with the Oxford campus, but included one solution for all the small working parts.

Marchuck said that the new bill would counter the original bill by addressing SPC staffing, its relationship with the Oxford Student Activities Committee and increased transparency. He also aims to create a liaison position between SGA and SPC and include more diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

SPC has previously been predominantly white, Marchuck said, so he is hopeful that, starting next year, SPC will form a diversity, equity and inclusion panel and have more Oxford-specific recruitment. Marchuck expects the reformed bill to pass because it addresses the lack of communication between student government and SPC. Kurupassery said that the legislators’ solutions solve parts of the problem, such as improving communication with a liaison between SPC, SGA and Oxford SGA, but the underlying issue persists.

He believes that SPC controlling almost half a million dollars of students’ money is enough reason to give students a say through a direct election. SPC’s funds come from the student activity fee, and SGA awarded the organization $462,700 for the 2021-2022 academic year.

“I think it’s incredibly tragic that the legislators don’t trust students to make this decision for themselves,” Kurupassery said.

Additionally, it is still unclear as to how Marchuck’s bill will interact with Kurupassery’s original bill, now that the

legislative error is causing the issue to be contested again.

“I’m going to potentially re-propose it,” Kurupassery said. “If SGA legislators oppose it, then I don’t know what will happen.”

SPC President Thomas Heagy (22B) said that the organization will continue to discuss new initiatives with SGA representatives, including forthcoming action to solidify both existing and future methods of student engagement.

Heagy added that the proposed bill referenced “relevant and genuine concerns” about the council, so SPC is affirming the importance of improving transparency, communication and collaboration.

However, Kurupassery expressed concerns with a “watered-down version” of his proposed bill.

“The solutions in the new bill would solve some of the ramifications of what I was saying, but I don’t think they address the problem that SPC is not accountable to the student body at large,” Kurupassery said. “The easy question is whether or not legislators trust students to choose if the SPC president is elected, and the answers they came down to seemed to be no. And that’s just scary to me.”

Kurupassery also said that the ball is in the legislators’ court, and it is up to them to see his efforts and the public response.

“It’s incredibly tragic that the legislators don’t trust students to make this decision for themselves.”

— Contact Ashley Zhu at ashley.zhu@emory.edu

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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

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Ukraine: The dignity and courage of resistance Continued from Page 1

You’ve crossed a line and you no longer feel fear. You have seen your real self.”

Today it’s very important to hear the words of my interlocutor, because, really, the people occupying our city want to bring it into the same state that has been inflicted on Donetsk for the past eight years. Putin makes no secret of his wish to place a Russian flag above the Mayor of Kyiv’s office, and other Russian flags on Kyiv’s main street, the Kreschatik, and on Maidan Square. In neighbouring buildings, the cellars of which recall where the KGB used to operate, members of today’s FSB [Federal Security Service] will begin dragging in citizens of Kyiv for interrogations and torture sessions. Nobody in the West speaks of this threat of the Stalinist past returning to Ukraine. Western diplomats aren’t themselves under threat, yet they’re leaving the city, just in case.

A 150,000-strong Russian army, with its technical apparatus, is working day and night to instill fear and, by manipulating that fear, to remove people’s fundamental legal norms and ethical rules. The Kremlin wants to get to a point where Europe gradually foregoes all principles, anything “to prevent a war”.

EG: Why is it that Kyiv specifically has become such a major issue for the Kremlin? What is the underlying impulse here?

CS: Putin’s pseudo-historical fantasies seek to camouflage the pitfalls of his regime. The banning of the international [Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow] is in reality directly connected to the escalation of the aggression against Kyiv. The ban imposed on the organisation called “Memorial” within Russia is fundamentally linked with an escalation in aggression towards Kyiv. This is not often mentioned in the West; nevertheless, it’s a crucial matter.

EG: Are you sure that those darkest pages of history — the Stalinist purges — play a major role here?

CS: The Kremlin is curbing free access to information about crimes perpetrated by Stalin’s regime and preventing any examination of the Gulag and of state-imposed starvation (Holodomor) as crimes against humanity. Denial of the truth regarding places of mass annihilation such as Sandarmokh has already led to repressive measures taken against Yuri Dmitriev and other staff at Memorial.

Putin’s regime is trying to convince the West that judging Stalin’s crimes is a purely “internal” matter, one for Russia alone to decide upon. In short, we are no longer speaking of crimes against humanity as a whole, but about a purely local event. Whatever the number of

victims, it was simply a local event in foreign countries — to be simply viewed by ‘their own’ citizens. Therefore Putin considers that they should be regarded as outside the jurisdiction of humanity as a whole. Curtailment of the condemnation of state crimes of the USSR in effect also vindicates and unties the hands of those who killed Politkovskaya and Nemtsov in Moscow.

Denying the truth about places of mass extermination such as Sandarmoh has turned into a reprisal against Dmitriev and other Memorial workers.

We all know the Russian proverb: “garbage should not be taken out of the hut for all to see.” Speaking the truth about the crimes of the regime is not seen as an act of courage, but rather a betrayal of the fatherland. And impunity for state criminals is directly linked to amnesia in the realm of politics.

EG: Are you convinced that fear of an international trial — similar to that of Nuremberg — consciously and unconsciously determines the momentum of the criminal regime?

CS: The Kremlin’s manic rhetoric about NATO remains absurd until we discern “the shadow of Nuremberg” behind the word “NATO. How will the case of dictator Lukashenko reach the international court in the Hague if his crimes are purely an “internal” matter for Belarus’?

The isolationism of this neo-Soviet regime entails an insistence on the exclusive right to perpetrate evil on its own territory - and to do so with complete impunity. A cover for such evil is provided by the ignorance of those foreign commentators who close their eyes to what’s going on ‘over there’, as if it didn’t affect “us” here. According to the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ignorance can actually be more dangerous than outright evil. Unlike evil, ignorance or stupidity can be completely self-satisfied and, therefore, less inclined to destroy itself.

What model of relations is being offered to Ukraine by those who are, even now, preparing to celebrate the centenary of the creation of the USSR in December this year? The violence of the Putin regime, which is prepared to use the Lukashenko regime, demonstrates the essence of this model.

EG: International Trials for the Crimes against Humanity — are these not simply legal procedures, creating more international bureaucracy?

CS: For the Ukranians, the infringements of international law are a matter of life and death, and the integrity and sovereignty of the country are linked in a very fundamental way with the question of each person’s dignity. The “Memorial affair” cannot simply be removed from the agenda while there’s a struggle going

The Emory Wheel Volume 103, Issue 4 © 2022 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editor-in-Chief Isaiah Poritz isaiah.z.poritz@emory.edu

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

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

The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.

on for a free Ukraine. Today, when the international Memorial Human Rights Center was banned in Moscow as an organization run by foreign agents, millions of citizens of Ukraine constitute the significant political body that is “Memorial.”

Ukraine is bringing “local” Soviet crimes out into the light of universal judgment. On account of precisely this, they’re attempting to annihilate it and bury it in some no-man’s-land. Ukraine is trying to remind humankind of the fate of those who were destined to live on blood-soaked earth. Thereby, Ukraine is expanding the field of responsibility for what has happened here and for what is happening now.

They can’t forgive Ukraine for this. They’re trying to turn it into a hostage and they’re accusing it of all kinds of impossible sins.

In Russia and Belarus, the archives of the Committee for State Security (KGB) have long been closed, but in Kyiv they’re open to all researchers.

Feb. 24: Beginning of the Invasion.

Early morning.

“We know that every move we make must either help a human being or the people who stand next to us.”

— Constantin Sigov

There is a real commitment to freedom, much more than a feeling of hatred.

I see no hysteria around me, neither in my entourage, nor in the media, nor on social networks. It is hard to find the right words. I want to be precise. It is not exactly calm or serene, but we have put aside every desire to quarrel and lose ourselves in passing emotions. We know that every move we make must either help a human being or the people who stand next to us.

EG: You were a major force during the “Maidan revolution” in 2014. Do you find in your compatriots the same spirit of resistance?

CS: It’s true that our experience today reminds me of that moment in 2014 when people suddenly addressed any stranger in friendship -with a simplicity of gesture.

It was then the “revolution of dignity,” and we are still part of this revolution. We must want to stand firm as we once held the barricades of Maidan, but this is happening on a completely different scale, in a different format: that of a huge front, from Crimea to the north of Ukraine.

EG: Tell us what you mean by simplicity of gesture.

CS: There must be now this simplicity of gesture and word. I saw the tanks five meters away from me going to the front.

On the faces of those soldiers one certainly saw emotion, but not of intoxication or exaltation. The emotion was simple: to stop the fire. That’s the most accurate metaphor. To stop the fire, one needs water, and each one of us is looking for water — so that we can extinguish these deathly fires.

EG: Please, tell us anything… How are you all?

CS: Just one day earlier, I thought that the threat of invasion was simply a distant but threatening nightmare. It was the first time in my life that I woke up like that. Kyiv also woke up at five o’clock in the morning under bombardment. The strikes were very loud; it was obvious that the war had intensified in a virulent way.

EG: Where are you now? Where is your mother who was in Kyiv during Hitler’s invasion?

CS: My family — my wife, my younger children and my mother — are now in the basement. We sleep on the floor, but it is warm. I cannot disclose the place through social media. It is forbidden.

EG: One of the photos of Kyiv that we received shows the inhabitants of the capital fleeing by road. Are you still in Kyiv? What do you observe among the civilian population?

CS: There are, of course, people lining up to fill their gas tanks or stock up on food, but there are more Ukrainians in Kyiv lining up to donate blood in hospitals.

There is a determination to be together, to enter into resistance, not to give in to the invasion, not to succumb to this barbarism. Many civilians, fellow educators like me, have recently — and today even more strongly — joined the local defense.

Despite some prognoses, the army is strong and it is fighting. Several Russian tanks have been taken out of service.

Earlier, in a basin of the “Kyiv Sea,” a Russian helicopter was also shot down.

EG: Is Europe’s reaction equal to the situation?

CS: It is not for me to say. Everyone has to do their best in the position in which we find ourselves. I, as a scholar in Kyiv, have my task; the political leaders in Paris and Brussels — theirs. But I think the time has come for each of us to do much more than what has already been done. European decision-makers must understand that firmer action is now needed. If they aim to resist the Kremlin’s madness, France and Europe must choose real solidarity.

In terms of defense, the sky over Ukraine is the most vulnerable place. Just now, warplanes flew past my window, and I am not sure whether they were Russian or Ukrainian. On the ground, we have had long experience of how to arm in order to deter Russian tanks, but the sky is a dif-

Feb. 27

ferent matter. By defending the sky over Ukraine, Europe will be defending its own skies as well.

And then there is the economic lever.

There must be serious sanctions. The suspension of the certification of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by Chancellor Olaf Scholz was very important, but it seems to me that Putin and his entourage must be personally sanctioned. The masks have come off: these are criminal acts.

Putin has a lot of wallets in European banks. The time has come to stop this infernal luxury. The entire Russian political class that supports Putin’s unlawfulness must be banished. These people must feel that they will be judged, and that the trial begins now. Sanctions must be imposed before Putin goes to the Hague.

The lives of men, women, children should not be endangered by money that enriches Putin and pacifies him for a short while.

EG: Is Ukraine at a tipping point in its history, even more so than in 2014?

CS: I would say this is the hardest day of our lives, worse even than the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. The difference is that at that time the lies of the Soviet regime were blatant, and when the truth was uncovered, millions of people dissented. Today, we know the truth. Now we are not in the grip of an ideology with its constant falsehoods. The Maidan revolution brought down this empire inherited from the Soviet Union, but its monstrous corpse is still alive.

For this reason, the events today are much worse than Chernobyl. Now the dictator like Nero in Rome burns his own country, his own people and the people next door. Ukraine attacked no one; no Ukrainian soldier has ever crossed the border. While time and time again the Russian secret services have tried to fabricate incidents, provocations from the Ukrainian forces have been strictly avoided with absolute precision.

There cannot be any pretext for this invasion, for millions of lives uprooted, for countless deaths, and for unleashing so much suffering.

EG: Do you have the impression that we are on the eve of a global conflict?

CS: This scenario is not excluded, because, once again, we are witnessing the action of a madman. If he was able to shoot, as he did today, in the center of Kyiv, a city which he called for years the “cradle” of Russia, this means that he can go further — with no limits, no scruples. In Ukraine, apart from Chernobyl, we have other nuclear power plants. If a bomb hits one of these new Chernobyls, the cloud will not stop at Ukraine’s borders. Directly or indirectly, Putin can do damage to the whole of Europe.

This needs to be stopped now.

— Contact Elena GlazovCorrigan at eglazov@emory.edu

Emory announces honorary degrees Continued from Page 1 designed to uplift the economically disadvantaged, many of which are based in Atlanta. Perry has a history of covering the expenses of rent, college education and funerals for those in need.

In 2020, Perry was awarded the Governor’s Award from the Primetime Emmy Awards and was included in Time’s list of the 100 most influential people. The following year, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy Awards.

“Whether funding scholarships for talented students, covering the grocery bills of elderly Atlanta resi-

dents, or supporting global disaster relief, [Perry] is renowned for creating opportunities and giving back to his community,” Fenves wrote in the email.

The press release also announced that Sally Q. Yates and Louise (Lou) R. Glenn will receive honorary degrees.

Yates, an Atlanta native, was appointed as the United States Deputy Attorney General by President Barack Obama in 2015. She served as Acting Attorney General under the Trump administration for 10 days before being dismissed for insubordination on Jan. 30, 2017 after instructing the justice department to not defend Executive

Order 13769, known as the “Muslim ban.” This executive order temporarily banned the admission of refugees and barred travel from several Muslimmajority countries.

Glenn is a founding trustee of The Wilbur & Hilda Glenn Family Foundation, where she has supported initiatives on cancer treatment. The Glenn Family Breast Center, Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute’s first named center for a specific type of cancer, was established in 2013 through gifts from the foundation.

— Contact Eva Roytburg at eva.roytburg@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

O������

W��������, M���� 2, 2022 | Opinion Editor: Sophia Ling (sophia.ling@emory.edu) | Asst. Opinion Editors: Sophia Peyser (speyser@emory.edu) & Chaya Tong (ctong9@emory.edu)

EDITORIALS Let’s be blunt: Emory Police should no longer be called for cannabis in residence halls Flashing blue lights outside of an Emory dorm may indicate that someone has caught a whiff of cannabis.

Under Emory’s current policy, Resident Advisors (RAs) must report student cannabis possession or usage to the Emory Police Department (EPD), according to Scott Rausch, senior director of residence life.

Despite law enforcement’s threat of involvement, many students are not deterred from smoking cannabis or storing it in their residences.

It is high time for University staff to stop calling EPD when students are found in possession of cannabis. The legal repercussions of police involvement are stigmatizing due to implications of criminal records, perceived threats to FAFSA and other consequences related to educational and job opportunities beyond Emory.

Moreover, the threat of punishment for students found with cannabis and drug paraphernalia on campus only creates greater stigma, which prevents these students from developing an honest understanding of the true effects of the drug and seeking help when necessary. Cannabis use among college students in the U.S. has increased, with nearly half of all students reporting using it in 2020, a sizable increase from the last three decades. It would be naive to think Emory is an exception to that trend.

Walk into any residence hall across campus, irrespective of year, and you will likely find someone smoking weed.

Criminalizing the use of cannabis on campus is useless when, for every police officer called, there are countless others facing zero repercussions. EPD can never catch every student using cannabis, and as use of the drug continues to spread and increase, more and more students will develop a habit or addiction that goes unaddressed.

It would be more prudent of the University to focus on educating students about the dangers posed by heavy cannabis use. Treating cannabis use as a public health issue rather than

a legal concern will help to shift the conversation towards how to have healthier relationships to all drugs. The threat of police and legal recourse does not. Cannabis misinformation and stigmatization have made the drug appear more appealing on social

incidents of student cannabis possession, it leads to the escalation of an already fraught situation, putting students in direct contact with potentially aggressive law enforcement.

According to Joy Knowles (22C), an RA at the Clairmont campus, the current

in these situations, a lot of Black and Latinx residents are uncomfortable with EPD being present, so it’s kind of, whose comfort and safety is being valued, and whose comfort and safety is being ignored?” said Knowles.

While critiquing Emory for its

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMORY UNIVERSITY

Emory University Police Department patrols campus. media. Author Michael Pollan is a prominent voice pushing the decriminalization and depoliticization of cannabis. Pollan argues that reducing the stigma surrounding cannabis will lead people to have healthier relationships with the drug. Many people, especially a large percentage of college students, use cannabis on almost a daily basis; the drug has already ingrained itself in our community. The only question is: How can students develop a healthy relationship with weed?

When RAs involve the police with

policy is, “very hard stop, no exceptions, call EPD.” “So right now the policy states that if we encounter a resident with marijuana, it’s recommended that we call backup, so another RA for support, but we’re required to call EPD and have them come and handle the situation and we stay there until EPD arrives and handles the drugs and any paraphernalia as well,” said Knowles. Knowles also noted that there are racial implications to calling EPD in these situations.

“A lot of Black and Latinx RAs are uncomfortable with EPD being present

inflexible stance on this policy is necessary for catalyzing change, easing up on the cannabis ban is easier said than done.

Currently, the federal government forces all colleges and universities to ban on-campus cannabis use, as it is still a Schedule I drug. The Schedule I status loops cannabis in with drugs like cocaine and heroin, even though cannabis is not nearly as dangerous as the other two.

Yet, a ban on possession does not have to mean a full-throttled enforcement. Alternatively, RAs should take

the drug away from the student and provide campus resources for rehabilitation.

Our campus culture’s position on cannabis use needs to change. The simple first step comes by changing the policies around RA confiscation of cannabis.

Many Emory students come to the University with no prior cannabis experience, leaving them vulnerable to misuse and dependency. The University should encourage productive conversations about cannabis use by incorporating it into first-years’ mandatory health coursework or mandating a pre-arrival online course similar to the one on alcohol. These measures would encourage constructive conversations about having a healthy relationship with cannabis; education is the best step toward prevention.

A more concrete step toward progress would be changing enforcement to reflect the University’s stance on underage drinking. As it stands, students who are underage and caught with alcohol must pour it down the drain while an RA is present. Knowles proposes similar treatment of cannabis when found on students.

“One thing that myself and some people who have now graduated from Emory have tried to push for is doing the same thing [as with underage drinking] except flushing it [cannabis] down the toilet, confiscating any paraphernalia,” said Knowles. “I think that would make it less stressful, it would make it more comfortable and make it a safer environment for every single person present, especially people of color.”

Ultimately, aggressively enforcing Emory’s cannabis ban does more harm than good due to inevitably unequal implementation and the problematic implications of police involvement. At the end of the day, students will keep smoking and keep getting hurt, and healthy habits will be further stigmatized rather than promoted.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board is composed of Rachel Broun, Jake Busch, Kyle Chan-Shue, Sophia Ling, Demetrios Mammas, Daniel Matin, Daniela Parra del Riego Valencia, Sara Perez, Ben Thomas, Chaya Tong and Leah Woldai.

The Emory Wheel

DISAGREE WITH US?

Volume 103, Issue 4

ISAIAH PORTIZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ANJALI HUYNH EXECUTIVE EDITOR SARU GARG MANAGING EDITOR BRAMMHI BALARAJAN MANAGING EDITOR JESSICA SOLOMON MANAGING EDITOR CAILEN CHINN CHIEF OF DIGITAL OPERATIONS PHYLLIS GUO Copy Chief

MICHAEL MARIAM Sports Editor

RACHEL BROUN Associate Editor

XAVIER STEVENS Asst. Life Editor

NINAD KULKARNI Sen. News Ed

JADA CHAMBERS Copy Editor

SOFIA HIMMEL Associate Editor

CLAIRE FENTON Asst. Sports Editor

MATTHEW CHUPACK News Editor

CAROLINE SILVA Copy Editor

JEFFREY ROSEN Associate Editor

JENNA DALY Asst. Sports Editor

SARAH DAVIS News Editor

NICOLE SEMAAN Copy Editor

MADI OLIVIER Asst. News Editor

AMAICE INCE Asst. Multimedia Ed.

SOPHIA LING Opinion Editor

JENNY ZHA Copy Editor

EVA ROYTBURG Asst. News Editor

KATILIN MOTTLEY Life Editor

GABRIELLA LEWIS Digital Ops Editor

SOPHIA PEYSER Asst. Opinion Editor

JACKSON SCHNEIDER A&E Editor

LAUREN BAYDALINE Asst. Multimedia

CHAYA TONG Asst. Opinion Editor

EYTHEN ANTHONY A&E Editor

RYAN CALLAHAN Editor-at-Large

DEMETRIOS MAMMAS Asst. EB Ed.

ALLY HOM Photo Editor

AIDAN VICK Associate Editor

OLI TURNER Asst. Life Editor

MILEEN MEYER BUSINESS MANAGER

Business/Advertising Email wheelbusinessmanager@gmail.com

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

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR. Submit here: emorywheel.com/op-edsubmissions/

The Emory Wheel

OPINION

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

5

Ignorance is fueling the opioid epidemic in the U.S. Pavle Zelic Parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic and its instantly recognizable waves of infected and dead, there is another lethal scurge in this great nation, which also recently reached its highest peak of casualties. The opioid epidemic. And while there are tens of thousands people dying from previously unknown types of narcotics in this tsunami of addiction and demise, the American public is still talking about the waves of the opioid epidemic that happened years ago, and watching Hulu’s “Dopesick,” of course.

But, what exactly is going on? In the past few months, two major announcements were made to the public by critical federal institutions that are not prone to the dramatics and I will go into detail about both.

But what they had to say was nothing short of tragic. First, on Sept. 27, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) released a Public Safety Alert, the first document of this type in six years. The agency warned of the severity of the issue of drug overdoses, reporting that there were more than 93,000 deaths from this cause in the U.S. alone in 2020, most of them from opioids. This is a sharp increase from 2019, with more than 70,000 deaths and 2018 with 67,000. The

DEA claims that the uptick was caused by sales of illicit drugs on social media and e-commerce platforms and organized by international criminal networks, both of which specifically targeted youth. And then, even more shockingly, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an urgent press release on Nov. 17, with a title “Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Top 100,000 Annually.” The period in question was counting victims from April 2020 to April 2021, and drugs that are accounting for the 100,306 deaths should be a symbolic final straw that propels us to consider this as everyone’s problem.

So why aren’t we talking about this more? The DEA plea for the public to take the matter seriously did make it to national news but was also quickly forgotten. The CDC warning suffered a similar fate even though the huge round number they emphasized may have struck a chord with the public at the time but more likely not. How can we explain this never before seen danger from drugs? That people don’t get high, they just simply die.

I would argue that in the U.S., one of the reasons for unawareness on this issue is ignorance regarding counterfeit pharmaceuticals, by lack of knowledge of the dangers they present, or even what they are. And it is these fake meds that are the

main driver for the tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Counterfeit or falsified drugs are near perfect copies of legal prescription medicines. Sometimes they look even better than the real product and have been historically linked with potency pills, slimming products, anabolic steroids and other so-called “lifestyle” drugs. However, there was a specific shift in the U.S. in the past years that made criminals adapt to the needs of the market. You see, federal and state governments in the U.S. insisted that physicians stop overprescribing opioids, based on CDC guidelines that redefined pain management.

Therefore, it can be assessed that because of that, the already-hooked masses turned to internet providers for their next fix. The customers for fake pills have changed, and nowadays instead of drugs to make them look or perform better, they prefer prescription opioids. As a result, the illegal manufacturers started mass producing and distributing new types of forged pills that you would usually get in the pharmacy.

Not to say that the government is not trying to address all of this, and in such a very dynamic field of public health, there has been a recent pushback to once again change the approach to prescribing opioids in order to resolve at least some of the issues raised above. There are new eagerly expected CDC guidelines that

will redefine how to treat pain and this will surely help alleviate the needs of many patients that turned to black market for management of their suffering.

But the problem with counterfeit drugs will not go away on its own, I can vouch for that myself. Personally, I have worked or better still, battled in this field for more than a decade in Europe and globally and continue to do so during my Humphrey Fellowship at Emory University. I have always faced an uphill battle to raise awareness just how bad it is out there in terms of illicit medicines. I feel obliged to warn the public over and over about the grueling consequences of this problem. Based on restrictive estimates by the World Health Organization and Interpol, the perpetrators of these de facto crimes against humanity profit over $200 billion annually, killing more than 250,000 unsuspected patients in the whole world, and the majority of them being children. However, there is something strikingly new and wrong with fake meds in the US. The most dangerous element of the current problem with counterfeit prescription drugs in the U.S. is that well-known opioids like oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam, or stimulants like amphetamines are not only fake and of low quality, but also laced with unwanted deadly substances. The most dangerous of these secret ingredi-

ents is the synthetic cousin of heroin: fentanyl. The drug is up to 100 times more potent, and lethal in a less than two milligram dose – small enough to fit on the tip of your pencil. Criminals put fentanyl in their counterfeit drugs to make their product stronger and more addictive, but without precision of real pharmaceutical production. As a result, up to two in every five pills have the potential to kill. Essentially, whenever someone buys these pills and puts one in their mouth, it is as if they are unknowingly playing pharmacological Russian roulette.

Having all of this in mind, it is obvious that there is a lack of knowledge on the true nature of the latest opioid epidemic wave in the U.S. not only among addicts, but also the public in general. This issue can’t and mustn’t be restricted to the level of abusers, because even someone who is taking an opioid for the first time may end up dead after only one pill. We must educate and campaign and engage communities or simply talk in our social circles about counterfeit prescription opioids to understand the nature, sources and danger these fake drugs pose. But we must talk right now, or else thousands more lives will be endangered.

Pavle Zelic is a Humphrey Fellow from Serbia.

Letter from the editor: A love letter to opinion, vulnerability and untold stories Brammhi Balarajan I chose opinion on a whim.

Split between news and opinion, struck by the power of perspective but unwilling to use my own words, my freshman self was torn, to say the least. I remember the opinion editors at the time telling me that opinion journalism could be used as a form of advocacy. A way to tell untold stories.

Opinion journalism is inherently different from news. As a member of Greek life, you should not report on accusations of racism within your own sorority. As a member of the Student Government Association, it would be unethical to write a news article about allegations of election fraud.

What you can do is pen an op-ed.

To me, opinion is boldness. It’s writing columns criticizing white supremacy even when it means your inbox will be flooded with hate messages the next day. It’s not just telling people the most intimate, raw details of your life, but putting it in a newspaper that’s on every nook of campus. That vulnerability doesn’t come easy.

My love for opinion journalism transcends most things. It gives power back to people who historically do not have access to news sources. It allows people to utilize reporting and interviews while advocating for change.

And above all, opinion is personal. ** In my Asian American history class this week, my professor asked a simple question: do stories matter?

In the aftermath of Hiroshima, journalist and author John Hersey wrote a novel chronicling six accounts of individuals who survived the atomic bombing. His novel was an instant success, with all 300,000 copies being immediately sold out after publication.

But in the 70 years since Hersey’s reporting, public opinion on nuclear warfare has changed very little, if at

all. In the context of warfare and protecting U.S. troops, studies show Americans are firm in their backing of nuclear weapons. Stories, it seems, may not have been enough to turn into actionable policy.

This last week, the week before the Wheel’s turnover occurs and I assume my role as editor-in-chief, I’ve again and again wondered about whether stories really can have an impact.

I’m used to friends and peers joking about how no one reads the Wheel. Even as I write this, a pessimistic note at the back of my mind wonders if this article will be memorialized on the website but never read.

I’m consumed by the fear that stories don’t matter. Because if stories don’t matter, maybe mine doesn’t either. ** The idea that stories may not move people or shift lives is uncomfortable. It threatens my idealistic, moralistic worldview on the value of stories. Some days, I feel foolish having lived by the unrelenting thought that stories had the power to change the world, the very belief that drew me to opinion writing in the first place.

Perhaps the reason I have always been drawn to untold stories is that I feel like one. There’s not a lot of Tamil Sri Lankans on campus, and there’s not a lot of people who know about Sri Lanka’s turbulent history and the lasting effect of the Civil War. Academic lectures, discussions in the dining hall and conversations all work to center marginalized voices.

But still, there are so many more left out.

So, I’ve tried to find stories that were forgotten or written out of existence. And if I couldn’t find them, I wrote them myself. I remember a fellow editor asking me once, how I was able to publish “The Myth

Behind the Model Minority” and be so okay with the knowledge that peers, friends and even strangers could read it. To give strangers a purview into the most intimate thoughts in your head is terrifying, to say the least.

I still get an uncomfortable stirring in my stomach when I read my own words, at the thought of how exposed I feel. I still second-guess articles I published years ago, wondering if pouring such intimacy into articles was worth it. I’m not sure if that feeling ever really goes away.

Opinion is often diminished, relegated as the inferior, less difficult version of news. The easy way out for

pursuit of a universal truth?

The premise of objectivity is rooted in white supremacy. To not take a stand on human rights means to choose the side of the oppressor.

To denounce people the right to use their own voices is a blatant disregard for the necessity of humanity.

And in the past three years, I have again and again grappled with the question of where the line stands between hate speech and free speech yet I still don’t have an answer. ** So when I reflect on why I chose opinion, why I stuck with opinion and why I love it, I still wonder every day how to put it into words.

I grew up in an Asian household. My parents always warned me not to put anything too controversial out there, lest I risk my future job opportunities. But for people of color, we’re already instantly scrutinized for every step we take. We’re already a liability enough as it is.

For me, opinion journalism is freeing. It’s doing the hard thing and taking a risk, even if I might regret it later. I don’t know how to take all the clichés in the world and make it something real. But here goes something.

As I learned to speak up through opinion journalism, I learned to hold institutions around me accountable.

It was the Wheel that taught me this.

I’m sure my editors from freshman year remember me as the quiet girl who struggled to hammer out a sentence during my first Editorial Board meeting. As one of the very few women and people of color in the room, and one of the two freshmen, I don’t hold that against myself. But I still wonder how things would have been different had diversity, equity and inclusion had always been the founding principles of journalism, the values that we modeled every-

I’m consumed by the fear that stories don’t matter. Because if stories don’t matter, maybe mine doesn’t either. people who couldn’t hack real journalism. Throughout my time as an editor, I watched again and again as the notion of objectivity was weaponized against people with perspectives. I heard stories of reporters at the Wheel who were told they couldn’t report on politics because, as a person of color, they weren’t objective enough. It influenced me to start a whole project to investigate how white supremacy infiltrates campus newspapers, and creeps into the historical records of universities.

But what is it that requires true objectivity? Does it mean not taking a side in the face of white supremacy?

What about police brutality? Or asylum for refugees? Does objectivity mean morals and values have to fall to the wayside in the supposed

thing after.

My sophomore year, I started to notice the inequities within the Wheel itself. The way its structures excluded low-income students, the coverage that excluded Black, Indigenous and people of color. So, I became the annoying person that had something to say about everything, and advocated for change at every turn. I may not have always been the most liked person, but I hope the Wheel was made better as a result.

Now, as I embark upon my final year at Emory and transition into the role of editor-in-chief, it’s time for me to take a break from opinion writing, at least for a while.

I wholeheartedly believe in the value of opinion journalism, and I am so, so grateful for the past three years. I’ve done everything I set out to do. I helped launch an opinion podcast that centers marginalized perspectives on inequalities on campus. I wrote an award-winning column about the intersection of politics and race. I’ve written op-eds, music reviews, editorials and everything in between.

And now it’s time for something new.

To anyone who happens to stumble upon my good-bye, I know it’s likely that these words will just become construction paper at the back of the Wheel’s offices. But I still believe, even now, that telling stories can change the world. As cheesy as it is, I hope I always maintain my youthful exuberance and I hope I never stop telling stories.

No matter who you are, I encourage everyone at Emory to try to pen an op-ed during their time here. To advocate for something more even when it’s difficult, even when you’re worried about how others will perceive you. When you leave this campus, what do you want your mark to be?

Brammhi Balarajan (23C) is from Las Vegas.

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The Emory Wheel

A��� E������������ W��������, M���� 2, 2022 | Arts & Entertainment Editors: Jackson Schneider (jdschn3@emory.edu) & Eythen Anthony (eaantho@emory.edu)

Hasan Minhaj’s ‘The King’s Jester’ captivates, invigorates South Asian audience

BY BRAMMHI BALARAJAN Managing Editor

COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

‘The Batman’ is more of the same, for betterand forworse

BY JACKSON SCHNEIDER Arts & Entertainment Editor This review contains minor spoilers.

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” a gang member, clad in white face paint, asks as Batman (Robert Pattinson) emerges from the shadows of a nearby alleyway. The Caped Crusader knocks him to the rainsoaked pavement and brutally beats the criminal into submission. “I’m vengeance,” he replies.

“The Batman,” which releases in theaters Mar. 4, follows a younger, angrier Bruce Wayne as he fights crime in a grimy and vicious vision of Gotham City. A serial killer named Edward Nashton, known only as the Riddler (Paul Dano), begins to murder prominent city leaders in a quest to cleanse Gotham of corruption, leaving clues with each victim.

Bruce Wayne finds himself plunged headfirst into the dizzying underbelly of Gotham City in a quest to find the Riddler. During his journey, corruption seeps into Bruce’s life like rainwater until he finds himself questioning his own morality.

The performances in “The Batman” bring a level of nuance to Gotham City’s characters that has rarely been present in previous iterations (with the notable exception of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy).

Pattinson’s performance is the best portrayal of Bruce Wayne to date.

Batman reckons with the morality of his vigilantism and his family’s legacy in a city of crookedness. Over the course of the film, Bruce realizes that heroism is more than just vengeance. Dano’s performance as the Riddler is electric, swinging wildly between calm rationalism and hysteric bursts of emotion. The Riddler is an extremist who seeks to use terroristic methods to take down the dishonest power structures in Gotham City. While he is undoubtedly the film’s villain, he reflects a wave of very real vitriolic anger toward Gotham’s leaders. While

Pattinson and Dano deliver the powerhouse performances, Zoë Kravitz provides a unique take on Catwoman and Jeffrey Wright excels as Officer Gordon (not yet Commissioner Gordon).

While “The Batman” entertains throughout its nearly three-hour runtime and provides some muchneeded complexity to Gotham’s characters and their relationships, its story can feel somewhat predictable.

The narrative feels especially familiar if one has seen “Se7en” (1995), directed by David Fincher, which clearly had a massive influence on this film. The similarities between the two movies are striking, from the constantly rainy streets to the killer who speaks in ciphers and seeks to wash away corruption and sin. Much like “Se7en,” this film trucks forward at a breakneck pace, with exciting action sequences and little dead time.

Unfortunately, “The Batman” doesn’t quite make it out of the shadows of its inspirations and delivers little that we haven’t seen before.

“The Batman” doesn’t do a lot wrong, per se. Instead, director Matt Reeves plays it safe, despite a marketing campaign that suggests this film is a daring and unique reboot that will revolutionize the superhero genre much like “The Dark Knight” did in 2008. This film is neither daring nor revolutionary, and it acts more like it’s trying to emulate both Nolan’s Batman movies and neo-noirs such as “Chinatown” (1974), “Se7en” and Nolan’s own “Memento” (2000).

Those movies excelled because they held a mirror to the gamut of human emotion and made us question our sense of morality. “The Batman,” on the other hand, falls into the trap that lesser neo-noir movies fall into: a lack of emotional stakes.

In “The Dark Knight,” the Joker’s (Heath Ledger) calculated murder of Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) causes Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to go into griefstricken hysteria, leading him to go

on a murderous rampage throughout Gothamagainst those he believed responsible. While the characters in “The Batman” have nuanced motives, Reeves never comes close to Nolan's emotional depth. The problem with moral ambiguity without emotional stakes is that there is nobody for the audience to root for, and feelings of ambivalence prevail. I found myself not particularly caring whether Batman succeeded in finding the Riddler or whether the Riddler succeeded in his quest to cleanse the city of corruption.

What makes “The Batman” so frustrating is that there are moments of brilliance strewn throughout its 170-minute runtime. One scene toward the end of the movie where Batman confronts the Riddler displays the two actors at their best and examines the dynamic of their relationship with one another and with Gotham City. Edward, an orphan himself, derides the billionaire Bruce Wayne for the attention he received when his parents died while he had to suffer in an underfunded orphanage. In moments like these, the film dips its toe into critically examining Gotham’s systemic issues of late-stage capitalism, but moments like these are sadly few and far between.

The fundamental flaw of “The Batman” is that it refuses to take risks yet models itself on daring and original films that came before it.

There is very little in this film that hasn’t been done before, and better.

The one caveat is that I walked into the theater with very high expectations.

If you go in expecting an entertaining yet fairly run-of-the-mill Batman story, you won’t walk out of the theater disappointed. However, from the excellent cast to the brief moments of brilliance, “The Batman” indubitably had the potential to be so much more.

- Contact Jackson at jackson.d.schneider@emory.edu

As the crowd trickled in, my friends and I instantly felt humbled after splurging for seats only to find ourselves crammed right in the very back of the theater. Yet even with thousands of people in the audience, Hasan Minhaj has the ability to feel like an old friend. And we instantly felt comfortable when he pranced onto the stage, cheering to “his people” in the back.

Minhaj’s one-man comedy show “The King’s Jester” showcased at the Fox Theatre Feb. 20. Four years after his hit Netflix special “Homecoming King” captivated global audiences, Minhaj enraptured the crowd with a completely new show that spotlighted tales of fertility and fatherhood. A giant egg-like backdrop hung above the stage, changing colors to reflect the tone of each joke and displaying pictures to go along with the show. As the show began, the background captured Minhaj’s infectious energy and set the tone for a night of introspective, relatable humor.

“The King’s Jester” expanded on previous jokes and stories the audience knew and loved, while showcasing Minhaj’s ability to use humor and comedy to provide social commentary. Telling the story of the first joke he ever landed, Minhaj masterfully brought the audience to tears as he mocked Eric, an undercover cop who infiltrated his community and mosque. Still, his story, as most of his sets do, was meant to raise awareness about the extreme violence and policing toward Muslim individuals in the aftermath of 9/11.

Minhaj has seamlessly perfected the art of bringing the crowd to an uproar for the high moments, and settling the audience down to leave them with a more serious, lasting message. A particularly poignant example was Minhaj’s explanation of his brash criticisms that, while meaningful, have at times put his family at risk. Minhaj referenced his prior criticism of Jared Kushner for not leveraging his connections to free a Saudi activist.

Still, as Minhaj has grappled with the line between satire and ethics throughout his career, he noted that after a close-call incident with his

daughter, he’d realized that his family was the only line that he wouldn’t cross for a joke. His family was the heart of this show, and no matter the joke or story, he ultimately connected it back to his encompassing love for his wife and children.

Unlike his Netflix specials, the experience of seeing Minhaj in person brought an unexpected physicality to his set. Bugging his eyes out and waving his arms around, Minhaj was eloquent in his ridiculousness. It’s bewildering how one man can take a giant stage with a meager lone stool and use the full space in a way that felt natural.

Whether cackling into his mic over his massive following or sobbing on the floor to round out a joke, Minhaj’s physical cues added just as much to the joke as his words.

For longtime fans of Minhaj, his regular references to old stories and jokes grounded the night in a heartfelt tone. His digs on how it took him 20 years to propose to his wife in an Applebee’s will hit harder for fans who know “Homecoming King” by heart, and his references to his analytic news show “Patriot Act” rounded out the night.

Unlike his previous Netflix specials, Minhaj took a more raw, personal approach with “The King’s Jester,” telling us stories about worries of fertility and problems with his family that he hadn’t touched on before. Still, the audience was left with a happy ending as we got to hear more about his two kids and life with his family.

Minhaj’s jokes were geared toward a South Asian crowd, and it showed in the audience response.

Only a South Asian audience would erupt in cheers when Minhaj paused before revealing he’d brought his daughter to the Scholastic Book Fair, or understand the snide comments when he noted his wife “cares a lot about family … She’s a Patel.” The sense of unity and camaraderie in the crowd was unmatched.

All in all, Minhaj’s performance far exceeded my expectations. When the cards fall in his hands, Minhaj never fails to turn an everyday story into a lifelong lesson.

- Contact Brammhi at bbalara@emory.edu

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

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Mitski enchants at The Eastern in Atlanta

BY NOOR ALDAYEH Contributing Writer When one hears the name of indie rock artist Mitski, the first thing they probably think of is, quite frankly, utter melancholy. As a huge fan of that mood in particular, it is no surprise I’ve consistently had Mitski on my music rotation for the past few years. With a passionate and dedicated cult following, Mitski has continued to make waves within the indie subculture, and rightfully so.

Fresh off the heels of the release of her sixth studio album, “Laurel Hell,” Mitski has started the first leg of a worldwide tour beginning in North America. Excitingly, her third stop on this tour happened to be on Feb. 19 at the Eastern in Atlanta, and I was lucky enough to attend.

The show began with the upbeat electronic and rock sounds of the opening act: an all-girl Japanesebased band named Chai. Having seen Chai perform back in 2019, I was excited to see the growth that these wildly talented four have experienced in the last few years. They’ve established their style impressively well — with a unique sound that blends the genres of electronic, J-Pop and rock. These four are a pleasure to watch, and I found that there was not a single person in the audience without a smile on their face as they performed.

After an incredibly strong start to the show, there was a short intermission as the curtain went up and the stage reset for Mitski's set. Fans entertained themselves by holding up phones with various phrases (a few of my favorites being: “lesbians,” “boobs,” “DILFS” and “thighs”).

After eagerly waiting in the audience for the curtain to lift, we heard an audio recording of Mitski reminding the audience to remain masked as

the house lights went down. The stage was illuminated in a foggy sea of red and purple lights with a singular white door in the center of the floor, and the audience watched in anticipation as Mitski quite literally glided to her microphone. The opening notes of “Love Me More” played, and the crowd immediately began to sing each word back to her on stage.

As someone who has reviewed many shows, I can confidently say that Mitski is one of few artists who truly leaves a mark. Her stage presence is nothing short of heavenly, and I found myself absolutely mesmerized throughout the entirety of her performance. As she made her way through each song, the only word that could come to my mind was ethereal. She performs with such grace and majesty that it is impossible to look away. Stage presence is something that Mitski embodies in every sense of the phrase. She delivered each note with a raw passion that was palpable through the entire venue. Mitski incorporated modern-contemporary choreography alongside every song in her set, creating the feeling of a dance performance. Nothing could’ve more accurately captured the unfiltered and pure emotion of her music than her movements, and to see everything performed by the artist herself created an entirely new level of intimacy. I was especially enamored

by Mitski’s performances of “First Love / Late Spring,” “Nobody” and “The Only Heartbreaker.”

Though she didn’t make frequent use of the door on stage, Mitski did have a section of “Francis Forever'' where she knocked on the door as strobe lights illuminated her. A little further in the set, I cathartically screamed at the top of my lungs alongside the rest of the venue

throughout the performance of “Drunk Walk Home.” It was something that I had no idea I needed.

Each song's choreography blended perfectly into the next, acting as one of the best forms of transition I have seen in a live performance. A majority of Mistki’s discography consists of songs that don’t exceed three minutes. While one could easily see this as something to critique, it does make for a versatile show dynamic, as she was able to perform over 20 songs from five of her albums. I found pleasure in the progression and distribution of these songs, and felt as though she created a setlist which truly satisfied diehard fans.

Mitski played six out of the 11 songs on the album, and the same number off of“Be the Cowboy” and “Bury Me at Makeout Creek.” I enjoyed the way in which she created this setlist, as it allowed the audience to hear a wide array of her discography.

I do think it’s easy for artists to fall into a trap where they only play songs from their most recent album, which I am very glad didn’t happen with this show. After coming out to perform the encore “Two Slow Dancers,” Mitski said goodbye to the audience and walked through the door to exit the stage.

I wish there were words to capture the pure enchantment that Mitski is able to create in her live performances. This was a concert that will stick with me for a long time.

For those of you who ever get the chance to see this spectacular woman live, take it. Until then, go on and delve into the heartwrenching, complex and simply exquisite music with which Mitski has graced this world.

Thank you Mitski.

- Contact Noor at noor.sarah.aldayeh@emory.edu

Black Country, New Road’s ‘Ants from Up There’ marks the beginning and end of their journey together

BY HALLE GORDON Contributing Writer The up-and-coming British rock group Black Country, New Road, released its post-punk album “Ants from Up There” in early February, leaving many of its listeners in a state of immense joy and inevitable sadness due to the group’s split after composing two albums together.

Two weeks before the album’s release, the primary lyricist and lead singer of the group, Isaac Wood, published a statement confirming his resignation from the band. The remaining members intend to continue releasing music as a group although missing a vital part.

I did not know what a perfect album sounded like until I heard this record. The band composed a beautifully executed narrative of love and loss with bold lyricism and instrumentals reminiscent of Slint and Arcade Fire. Wood’s earth-shattering and idiosyncratic voice made me feel every single emotion despite the ambiguity of his lyrics.

His voice is deep and somber, and it grows in moments of intensity to what resembles a strained scream.

Although sadness surrounds his departure, Wood left an irreplaceable mark on modern art-rock music.

The album’s introduction, “Intro,” intertwines bright horns and heavy

drum beats that reflect the boisterous execution of the later parts of the album. The following song, “Chaos Space Marine,” consists of the same explosive instrumentals and lyrically references the Concorde’s transcontinental travel, alluding to the prominence of stylistic appearance in a modern age and the general chaos that comes with relationships — especially ones that include members of the touring band. These two tracks build anticipation and tension, which ultimately highlight moments of calmness and catharsis at the end of the album.

The following, and notably one of the more sorrowful songs of the record, “Concorde,” describes the feeling of dissociation Wood encounters while traveling and gaining acclaim. The repetitive third-person phrase, “Isaac will suffer, Concorde will fly,” allows the listener to understand and sympathize with the lead singer.

As Black Country, New Road continues to gain recognition and praise, it leads to a degree of isolation that concludes in agony. The underlying theme of “Concorde” is that of a destructive relationship. The singer is far more dedicated than the other party is and will do anything to gain their love. The line, “I was made to

See MASTERPIECE, Page 8

Queer love in art transcends time and place

BY ZIMRA CHICKERING Staff Writer There is no doubt that Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” and Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” are iconic portrayals of love, desire and sexuality, but they are far from the only ones. Unfortunately, our current art historical canon prioritizes narratives from white, male, cisgender and straight artists, portraying themes that thus align with the experiences of that demographic.

However, once one dips their toe outside of the canon, powerful narratives concerning love and desire between people of color and LGBTQ people begin to unfold like a beautiful storybook.

While readers should do some research into this artistic representation for their own enrichment, whether by a quick Google search or a visit to an art gallery,here is a list of a few of my favorite visual artists who portray queer love.

Zanele Muholi Portraying queer love “ ... means celebrating and acknowledging the presence and existence of all those who have been denied their right to

love,” explained the iconic South African queer photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi.

Muholi is one of many contemporary artists across the globe who challenges the negative rhetoric surrounding LGBTQ identities, specifically tackling the false idea that homosexuality is un-African. Muholi is well versed in portraiture and selfportraiture, as seen in her more recent exhibit “Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness”: a series of self-portraits examining the intersectionality between race, gender and sexuality within her own Black queer body.

“SIBUSISO, CAGLIARI, SARDINIA, ITALY.” COURTESY OF FLICKR/ZANELE MUHOLI

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New rock album is a LGBTQ artists made masterpiece their mark on history

Continued from Page 7

love you, can’t you tell,” underscores the desperation that is evident in the lyrics and the drum, electric guitar and saxophone of the ballad.

Continuing with the motif of strained relationships, “Bread Song” displays the necessary end to the compromised couple of “Concorde” and compares this feeling of loss to a bothersome bread crumb left on someone's bed, one that the other partner never wanted there in the first place. The upbeat drum and guitar juxtaposed with the heartbreaking lyrics left me feeling empty in the end.

“Good Will Hunting,” “Haldern” and “Mark’s Theme” introduce a jazz influence new to Black Country, New Road’s work. The group’s effortless execution of this different style displays the group members’ versatility and immense talent. Although not consisting of the same earth-shattering lyricism as other tracks on the record, the songs continue the narrative swiftly toward its conclusion.

The half hour conclusion of the record, which consists of the tracks “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade,” “Snow Globes” and “Basketball Shoes,” is what defined this album for me. These songs contain the most enigmatic lyrics on “Ants from Up There.”

The production and the manner in

which Wood completely embodies the pain and sorrow in his poetry through the power in his voice paired with its versatile musicality truly entranced me. Instrumentally, the songs begin slowly with a light guitar and grow to outbursts of horns and intense drums.

The final lines that Wood sings on the album, “Your generous loan to me, your crippling interest,” is one of my favorite lyrics of all time and made his departure from the group all the more understandable. In the perception of the lyricist, somewhere along the way, the creation of music and art seemed like a transaction, one that he was willing to give up.

This album allows listeners inside Wood’s mind, explaining his reason for leaving the band: production demands that overshadow the depth of the art. This idea is what many believe influenced the album’s title, “Ants from Up There.”

The title is reminiscent of when you’re sitting in an airplane and you see everyone running around trying to find their way, like the moment of clarity that comes before the bittersweet conclusion as Black Country, New Road finds a different path to travel.

- Contact Halle at halle.gordon@emory.edu

Upcoming events in March

Continued from Page 7 Simeon Solomon Due to the taboo nature of queer love even just 50 so years ago, some may have expected this list to include only contemporary art. However, Simeon Solomon’s Raphaelite-era paintings, which depict relationships between both queer and Jewish figures, decidely shatters that expectation.

Solomon is an illustrious, yet again underrated, 19th century painter who was both gay and Jewish and worked in Victorian England. As a recent CNN article covering Solomon’s work described, his “Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene” painting is considered to be one of the “first depictions of same-sex female desire made for a gallery-going audience in the West.”

Depicting Sappho’s story, an iconic tale of lesbian love, the work underscores Solomon’s subtle references to controversial identities.

During this era, only classical motifs and traditions, like the story of Sappho, were allowed to be invoked as a reference to gay love, surreptitiously appealing to queer viewers.

Even if cisgender, heterosexual viewers may have thought this was a mere retelling of a Greek tale, others could feel represented and celebrated for their desire and life.

Unsurprisingly, Solomon’s career was cut short due to his scandal and arrest for possible gay activities with men in 1873 and 1874, as the worlds of art and politics have often tried to silence LGBTQ people.

These queer couples, set against reconigizable backdrops and enjoying quotidien activities, deny any homophobic assumptions about queer life, allowing them to take up the space they were often denied.

Something as straightforward as a portrait can contain various layers concerning both the artist’s own queer story and the broader sociopolitical status of his fellow people of color and queer people.

“UNTITLED (FROM REFLECTIONS OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE).” COURTESY OF TATE/SUNIL GUPTA

Félix González-Torres

González-Torres’ elegant and eye-catching sculptural forms are masterpieces of metaphor, often celebrating his deep love for Ross and the traumatic loss that was his death.

Every González-Torres artwork leaves me feeling both joyful in a loving and nostalgic way, and pained emotionally at the histories of queer oppression.

Louise Abbéma Any list of queer artists is not complete without the mention of iconic lesbian painter and sculptor Louise Abbéma and her lover, actress Sarah Bernhardt. Together they took the art world and the French cultural scene by storm during La Belle Époque in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While Abbéma painted very well from a young age, she gained recognition at the age of 23 for her portraits of Bernhardt (deemed “Divine Sarah” by her fans), who was quite famous at the time. Abbéma even became Bernhardt’s official portraitist. I can only imagine how much of a power couple these two iconic, vibrant and eccentric artists were.

Their own geniuses propelled them together into celebrity status at the time, and it is a shame we do not hear their names nearly as often as we hear the names of cisgender, heterosexual male Belle Époque artists like James Whistler (think Whistler’s Mother) or Henri Rousseau.

Mar. 3 • Spring Showcase, 7:30-10 p.m., McDonough Plaza Mar. 4 • Alan Chow Piano Recital, 6-8 p.m., Burlington Road Building Mar. 11-12 • Atlanta Master Chorale: “The Way of Stars,” 8 p.m., Emerson Concert Hall Mar. 13 • Marilyn Chin Poetry Reading, 3-4 p.m., Online

“SAPPHO AND ERINNA IN A GARDEN AT MYTILENE.” COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS/SIMEON SOLOMON

Mar. 16 • “Fire Ecologies” by Unheard-of, 8-10 p.m., Performing Arts Studio Mar. 18 • Kittel & Co. Performance, 8 p.m., Emerson Concert Hall Mar. 18-19 • “Morning Has Broken,” 7-8 p.m., Schwartz 203 Mar. 19-20 • Lenaia Playwriting Festival, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., Burlington Road Building Mar. 20 • “The Buddhist Bug” Performance by Anida Yoeu Ali, 12-1:30 p.m., Carlos Museum Mar. 22 • “Works by Women 2022-Voyages Home” by the Merian Ensemble, 8 p.m., Emerson Concert Hall Mar. 25-26 • “Maya Grace Was Here,” 7 p.m. and 2 p.m., Schwartz Theater Lab

Sunil Gupta Intersectionality is at the center of the queer community, as we are only strengthened by the many other identities we bring to the table. Sunil Gupta is the perfect example of this, as an inspirational photographer and activist who lives in London and was born in New Delhi, India.

Some of his most famed works are narrative portraits from the 1980s, where he worked in the U.K. alongside the Autograph ABP (Association of Black Photographers) through the British Black arts movement. Gupta focuses on themes of desire and liberation for those marginalized because of race and sexuality, and he has had exhibitions all across the globe. The photographer was part of a 10 photograph feature on the experience of people of color in London in 1986, which features a photograph of himself and his partner. He often works with images of himself alongside his white partner or photos of other queer long-term relationships, taking the simple format of the portrait and adding a sociopolitical statement.

“UNTITLED (PORTRAIT OF Ross IN L.A).”

COURTESY OF FLICKR/FÉLIX GONZÁLEZ-TORRES

While the previous three artists have all used powerful figurative representations to celebrate queer love and identity, Félix GonzálezTorres is a master of using symbolic, non-figurative forms to highlight these themes. He specializes in ephemeral installations and conceptual minimalist technique.

One of González-Torres’ most poignant artworks, which I had the privilege of interacting with at the Art Institute of Chicago, is his “Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A),” a symbolic elegy to his lover Ross who died of AIDS. This artwork is made up of candies wrapped in gleaming rainbow cellophane. Visitors are allowed to take from the pile, which is renewed each day to the original delineated weight of 175 lbs., the ideal weight of an average male. As the day continues in the galleries, this weight is depleted just as Ross’ weight fell steeply when he battled AIDS.

PORTRAIT OF SOPHIA BERNHARDT. COURTESY OF FLICKR/LOUISE ABBÉMA

While this list is in no way comprehensive, as queer people have existed and created art for all of human existence, these five artists are an amazing starting point to understanding how queer love can be honored through portraiture.

Whether it be falling more in love with yourself or with a partner, love is an essential part of building a stronger and more vibrant queer community.

As these portraits of love show, the queer community is not a monolith, but instead a rainbow of experiences and passions that can enrich the world.

- Contact Zimra at zimra.chickering@emory.edu

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Emory Life

Wednesday, March 2, 2022 | Emory Life Editor: Kaitlin Mottley (kmottle@emory.edu)| Asst. Editors: Oli Turner (oli.turner@emory.edu) and Xavier Stevens (xsteven@emory.edu)

Emory debaters ranked among top teams in nation after Dartmouth Round Robin victory

By Oli Turner Asst. Emory Life Editor Eu Giampetruzzi (23C) and Grace Kessler (24C), competitive debate partners in Emory University’s Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue, are now unofficially the third-ranked collegiate policy debate team in the nation, an achievement following years of practice debates, research and commitment. The ranking will be made official in March.

The duo won first place in the Herbert L James Debates, known as the Dartmouth Round Robin, last December held at the New Hampshire college. The pair went undefeated at the prestigious debate competition between seven of the top teams in the country, which are chosen by invitation, Giampetruzzi said.

Their victory came after winning second place at the same tournament last year. Giampetruzzi also won the tournament as a freshman with a different partner.

The team specializes in policy debate, in which debaters work as a pair to affirm or negate a policy resolution against teams from other schools across the country. One of the winning strategies of policy debate is to make the maximum arguments possible in the limited amount of time each team has to speak.

“At its highest level, everyone talks as fast as they can,” she said. “You sound kind of like an auctioneer, and ... you get a lot better at processing arguments very quickly.”

This year’s topic is on antitrust poli-

MIRANDA’S BOOKSHELF

The sacrifice of belonging in ‘The Vanishing Half’

By Miranda Wilson Staff Writer “People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else.”

Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half” takes readers on a rollercoaster of identity loss and formation that encourages them to look deep within their own habits of self-expression.

Bennett’s 2020 novel tells the story of twins born in the 1940s in Mallard, Louisiana, a small town known for its population of “light-skinned” black individuals.

Bennett was born in Southern California and “The Vanishing Half” was inspired by a story Bennett’s mother told her about a town near her home where skin color was an obsession among its residents.

Stella and Desiree Vignes, the main characters of the book, are identical in appearance but opposite in personality: Desiree is a feisty troublemaker and Stella a quiet schoolgirl. However, it is Stella that eventually abandons her sister, using her “light-skinned” appearance to “pass” as white and marry a white man. A tumultuous tale ensues as Bennett explores themes surrounding family, identity and race.

Bennett’s decision to narrate the story through the perspective of twins adds a unique element to the idea

cy, and the team will have more specific debates related to the topic throughout the season at tournaments, Kessler said. Preparation for high-level debate, though, entails day-to-day research and gathering evidence.

“We cut something called cards,” Giampetruzzi said. “We take pieces of articles and make it evidence, and we’ll do a substantial amount of that per day, like multiple hours, especially in the lead up to big tournaments like the Dartmouth Round Robin.”

Though they have only been partners for less than two years, Giampetruzzi and Kessler are two of the most talented debaters Mikaela Malsin, the director of competitive debate in the Barkley Forum, has ever worked with. But their success is also fueled by the rest of the debate team, who contributes to research efforts to support Giampetruzzi and Kessler, Malsin said.

“We have one of the best set of coaches in the country, and we also have a larger team that contributes to their efforts, you know, kind of putting in research and supporting them in any way that they can,” Malsin said.

However, debating at a high level while maintaining their studies as fulltime students in the college has been something that both debaters have had to learn to manage.

“Debate itself definitely can be allconsuming and anxiety-provoking, but I think that I’ve found a much more healthy relationship with the activity where it’s not my entire life,” Kessler said. “If you can find other intrinsic benefits in the activity like the comof “passing.” Stella’s side of the plot explores the experiences of a white woman throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, and Desiree’s experience is that of a woman of color.

Each woman struggles with unique challenges but both grapple with the inner turmoil of betrayal. Stella’s betrayal centers around the rejection of herself and her family. Desiree betrays her family and town by having a child with a “dark-skinned” man. She gives birth to a child who becomes an outcast in the Mallard community due to the darker color of her skin.

Through these complex characters, Bennett exposes racism that occurs inside and outside of certain communities, creating a narrative around the idea of internalized racism.

“The Vanishing Half” is engaging, quick-paced and uncomfortable.

Bennett asks her readers to consider the same dilemmas her characters are facing, forcing readers to reckon with their own prejudices. The story spans several decades, ending in the late 1990s, but its message is relevant and powerful to the racial tensions of today.

Throughout the novel, readers will love and hate each character and find themselves laughing and crying along with them. The beauty of Bennett’s novel is that every reader can connect with certain aspects of the book. While some readers will certainly connect with more specific parts of the plot, everyone knows what it means to want to belong, and “The Vanishing Half” considers how much identity should be sacrificed to facilitate belonging.

— Contact Miranda Wilson at miranda.wilson@emory.edu

munity and the coaches and your partner, then it’s a lot more fulfilling.”

For Giampetruzzi, one of her biggest challenges is staying motivated.

“I think it’s like anybody who’s in a professional sport,” she said. “It’s hard after a while to not get distracted by everything else that there is in the world that you could join and be a part of.”

Both debaters came from small schools. Kessler grew up in Kansas, where her school had few resources for debate. Giampetruzzi is from Venezuela but first started debating as a high school freshman at a small school in Miami, where she learned to debate with female partners.

As an all-female team, Giampetruzzi and Kessler often face sexist remarks aimed to diminish their success.

“Debate itself is a very male-dominated activity, there’s a lot of times where people will talk down on you,” Kessler said. “Debate itself can kind of create a forum where people will be condescending towards you or kind of belittle you, and there have been times when people have said things to us that we just know they wouldn’t have said or been as rude as they were if we were not women.”

While debating at other schools, the pair has faced disrespect from all-male teams, including remarks such as they are a good women’s team, but not a good team in general, Giampetruzzi said.

At Emory, though, the culture contrasts the typical male-dominance in the activity. Emory’s debate coaching staff is composed of three women and

Courtesy of Grace K essler

Eu Giampetruzzi (23C) and Grace Kessler (24C) research antitrust laws to prepare for a debate round at the Dartmouth Round Robin tournament in December. one man.

“I genuinely believe that Emory is the best place to be if you want to be a debater and a woman in college,” Kessler said. “The team just has such a culture of respect.”

Despite challenges with sexism, Giampetruzzi recognizes the team’s racial and financial privilege.

“We’re protected from a lot because we are white but definitely have faced a lot of sexism in debate,” she said.

Emory funds the Barkley Forum’s travel expenses, but growing up, debate was a “huge financial commitment for families” of students who wanted to participate, Giampetruzzi said. To give back to the debate community, the Barkley Forum works closely with the Atlanta Urban Debate League to help young debaters who

do not have the same opportunities to debate, Giampetruzzi said.

“It’s a huge part of our commitment,” she said. “I think that’s been a super cool part of my Emory experience.”

Kessler said she hopes their allfemale team’s competitive success can inspire young girls interested in debate.

“When I was younger, I would always look up to the women who were doing really well in college policy debate, but there weren’t a lot of teams of two women.” she said. “I think it’s really special that Eu and I can take on that role and hope to be role models for other young girls in the activity.”

— Contact Oli Turner at oli.turner@emory.edu

Customers enjoy communal dining at Desta Ethiopian Kitchen

By Krithika Shrinivas Staff Writer Even though Valentine’s Day has passed, love is meant to be celebrated every day, and what better way to do that than by sharing a meal with someone you hold close to your heart?

Located nine minutes away from Emory University in a quiet shopping center along Briarcliff Road, Desta Ethiopian Kitchen is the perfect place to relish a hearty, affordable Ethiopian meal with a loved one.

Co-founders Ash Nega and Titi Demissie were born and raised in Ethiopia and met in Atlanta later in life. They opened Desta in July 2006 with the vision of bringing authentic Ethiopian cuisine to the Atlanta area.

Eager to try new cuisine, I went to Desta with my aunt on Feb. 17.

The indoor dining was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, so we were seated at the adjacent patio surrounded by clear vinyl tarp. The ambience was rustic with wooden walls and floorboards and a tree that protruded through the ceiling. For a Thursday afternoon, the restaurant was lively with customers laughing and talking over plates of fresh “injera,” or Ethiopian fermented flatbread.

We learned that Ethiopian dining is a communal experience. Our server suggested that we order platters with breads such as injera and different stews to share between the two of us. My aunt and I chose to order one appetizer and entree for the both of us.

For our appetizer, we ordered a

breakfast dish called “Fowl,” which consisted of a bowl of crushed fava beans sauteed with spices and chopped onions, tomatoes and green pepper with the options of adding feta cheese or scrambled eggs. Pita bread and injera were served on the side to scoop up the fava bean dip.

The Fowl’s rich and creamy fava bean dip melted in my mouth and was complemented well by the light, refreshing chopped vegetables. It reminded me of the Indian food that I grew up with, although much less spicy for those who don’t enjoy spice.

The appetizer left us in anticipation for the entree we ordered, the vegan platter, and we were not disappointed.

The platter came with two rolls of light, fluffy injera with various colorful stews, salads and condiments to indulge in.

Each side dish had its own unique flavor. The “gomen” — or Ethiopian collard greens — was well-seasoned and smoky, the chickpea stew called “shiro” was rich and nutty, and the potato salad was zesty and refreshing. Our favorite dish was the tomato “fitfit,” a fresh and tangy tomato salad mixed with bits of soaked injera.

Desta not only offers a fantastic culinary experience but also polite and helpful service. Our server took the time to break down the menu to us, clarify our confusions and suggest dishes based on the preferences that we expressed. When I accidentally knocked over a glass of water, he was very understanding and even laughed it off, so I didn’t feel embarrassed.

With locations in Briarcliff, Westside Village and Emory Point (temporarily closed, unfortunately), Desta brings authentic Ethiopian cuisine to the Atlanta area with delectable food and a unique dining experience.

If you’re looking for a great date spot or just want to go out to lunch with friends or family, Desta Ethiopian Kitchen is the place to go.

Overall rating: 5/5

— Contact Krithika Shrinivas at krithika.shrinivas@emory.edu

K rithika Shrinivas/Staff Writer

Like other dishes at Desta Ethiopian Kitchen, he vegan platter has its own unique flavor. It comes with two rolls of light, fluffy injera and is easily shareable.

10 Wednesday, March 2, 2022

EMORY LIFE

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Java Genesis: Roasting fresh and pure coffee at Emory Farmers Market

Orion Jones/Contributing

Tom and Juanice Christian seek out their coffee beans directly from importers from Asia, Africa, South and Central America to have full control over the quality and flavor while providing sutdents with an affordable cup of coffee.

By Orion Jones Contributing Writer Whether you’re a coffee lover or new caffeine drinker after this midterm season, there is no question that Tom and Juanice Christian, owners of Java Genesis Coffee Roasting, will have a beverage you’ll enjoy sipping.

A vendor at the Emory University Farmers Market, Java Genesis offers a wide array of gourmet roasts that students won’t be able to find anywhere else.

The Christians have been selling coffee, both freshly brewed and in bags of beans, at the Emory Farmers Market since spring 2020. Their small business has quickly become an Emory staple every Tuesday morning.

Born out of a decades-long love of home roasting, the Christians decided to quit their corporate jobs a decade

ago and start their own roastery, which they own and operate together. Their collective business acumen has not been forgotten, however, as they describe some of the logistics that allow them to get their premium beans.

“As a hobby roaster, we were roasting about a quarter of a pound per batch that we’d give to friends,” Juanice Christian said. “But it really isn’t effective from a labor standpoint to do home roasting on a roaster that can only handle that small of a batch, so we had to upgrade.”

They get their beans directly from importers in all of the major growing regions — Asia, Africa, South and Central America — which allows them full control over the quality and flavor notes that they seek.

Coffee is graded on a 100 point scale for quality. The bulk of coffee that peo-

ple buy at shops or in grocery stores is grocery store, be that beer or coffee, below 60, or “commodity grade.” The but now times have changed. What we coffee that Java Genesis serves uses discovered when I first started roastbeans graded 84 ing was that people or higher, which had never had fresh puts it in the top coffee. When it’s “We’ve had people tell 3 to 5% of beans freshly roasted, you around the world. get all of these difus lately that they look As the ever forward to use being her ferent flavor notes evolving taste that disappear over buds of the on Tuesdays, that it’s the time.”

American cofThis realization best coffee on campus. fee drinker grow, That is why we do what launched Tom and Juanice’s business, the Christians are we do.” and their tagline, ready to fuel their “Discover the Fresh customers with — Juanice Christian Roast Difference” the best quality points to their aim products. to spread their love “Thirty years of pure and simple ago, things were pretty industrialized and homoge- coffee to the public.

“We want people to understand that nized,” Tom Christian said. “You kind of got what was presented to you at the coffee doesn’t have to taste like some-

thing that you have to doctor up with a bunch of cream, sugar or flavors to cover up that bad taste,” Tom Christian said. “It can actually be good on its own.”

Under their tent they have a variety of sweeteners that they use to give students pumps of chocolate or caramel, but perhaps their most flavorful item on the menu is a cup of black coffee.

Java Genesis has only been at Emory for a little over a year now, but it has already found its way into the hearts and minds of many students.

“We’ve had people tell us lately that they look forward to us being here on Tuesdays, that it’s the best coffee on campus,” Juanice Christian said. “That is why we do what we do.”

Crossword 50 States

By Miranda Wilson Across

1. James ___ Space Telescope 5. Alternate name for cluster beans 10. News channel with a peacock logo 14. The color of unbleached linen 15. Hawkeye 16. Name that is rhymed with Cola in a song by The Kinks 17. A South African of Dutch descent 18. Something on a to-do list 19. What one might run around a track 20. City in Ky. with two capitol buildings 22. Savoriness 23. “I would’ve let you borrow my shirt, but you didn’t even __ _!”

24. These can be used to return lost pets 27. OECD organization for nuclear energy (abbr.)

28. Largest city in the N.C. Research Triangle 30. The Sunshine State (abbr.)

32. Degrees that can be earned at Goizueta 34. USDA agency that manages crop insurance (abbr.)

35. Sea near Uzbekistan that dried up in 40 years 36. City where Coca-Cola is headquartered 39. Engravers 41. Greek god of war 42. U.S. National Park in Wash.

(WA) (abbr.)

44. One of the Great Lakes 45. Suffix for hi or lo 46. Elite group of intellectuals 48. Mark Watney’s shelter in “The Martian” 52. Depressed feline 53. Small copper coin used in 18th

century Mexico 55. Unclear 58. Major midwest city 60. Desert descriptor 61. “Keep calm and carry on” e.g.

62. Shortened version of ethylenedioxythiophene 63. ribozyme that carries out protein synthesis (abbr.)

64. Impassive 65. “Super Mario RPG” fan favorite 66. Online Academy for math help 67. Sanitizer gets rid of 99% of them 68. Biblical garden

Down

1. Internet enthusiast 2. City in Michigan on the Detroit River 3. What might be in a package with a fragile sticker 4. Ruined toast 5. French singer known for“La Vie en rose” 6. Ingredient used to make popcorn 7. Person who announces Best Picture, e.g.

8. “As long as it’s not like __ __.”

9. What goes in a pen cartridge 10. No pearls in these mollusks 11. Mardi Gras city (abbr.)

12. Comic book sound effect 13. Answers to 20 across, 28 across, 36 across, 58 across, and 50 down 21. Islamic religious text 22. “So annoying.”

25. Rock formations containing quartz 29. To obey, or to do __ __ 30. Drawn without a stencil 31. 2022 Super Bowl champs(abbr.)

33. Humanities degrees 35. Type of tuna

36. Arthur of PBS show 37. Three in Italian 38. Short personal story 40. “Take your tears elsewhere, go __ __ someone else” 43. Roman army commander 46. Airport code for Columbia Metropolitan Airport 47. What country-singer McGraw might respond to “Who’s there?”

49. To do well on a test

50. Municipality of Harvard University 52. Country bordering Chad, Ethiopia 54. Feudal superior 56. Something a pirate might say 57. “Jane the Virgin’s” Rodriguez 59. Chattanooga college athletes 61. BRB, i’ll txt back in a min, e.g.

Scan for answers!

— Contact Orion Jones at orion.jones@emory.edu

Female role models are a ‘game changer’ Continued from Back Page Championship in 2018, and has recorded 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

Her successes and achievements since her playing days far outweigh any negative experiences she may have had, as McDowell said the inconveniences she faced never took away from her experience as a female athlete and the value it had in her life.

McDowell’s experiences, however, were not isolated incidents. Emory women’s tennis head coach Amy Bryant (96B), who played tennis at Emory, said women’s sports took a backseat to the men’s during her time as an Eagle.

“It was cool to be a female athlete, but not many people came to our matches or followed our program,” Bryant said. “The women always got the early games and the men got the games under the lights.”

While at Emory, Bryant became the first NCAA women’s tennis player to earn all-American honors in singles and doubles, and she played on the varsity soccer team for a year as well.

Putting in work day in and day out to obtain success, often in two sports, and then not being given the same treatment and opportunities as the men’s teams was infuriating for Bryant and her teammates.

“It’s okay for our emphasis to be on

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel

resources for women’s sports,” Bryant said. “Let’s put the money where the success is.”

Bryant, McDowell and Whitehill all said they had coaches, senior teammates and other female mentors who contributed to their success. For McDowell, who played solely on boys teams with male coaches for most of her life, having her first female volleyball coach in high school was an exciting opportunity.

“It was a game changer to have a female role model,” McDowell said.

“She was incredibly tough on us, knowing we could handle it. She had extremely high expectations, because she knew what we were capable of.

She pushed us physically and mentally because she wanted us to become the best we could.”

Bryant said that her older teammates had a major impact on her athletic career, and she still admires their athletic and professional achievements.

“Many of my role models came from older leaders,” Bryant said.

“I really looked up to some of the upperclassmen. Specifically, one of my former teammates, Mandy Jackson, who played both tennis and basketball, and always had her priorities straight.

She is currently a renowned doctor.”

As a result of playing at such a high level beginning at a young age, Whitehill said that she had mul-

tiple female mentors she looked up to, including one who continues to inspire her everyday: her under-21 national team coach and Emory women’s soccer head coach Sue Patberg.

During her time as a broadcaster at ESPN, Whitehill also had aspirations to be like Robin Roberts, who was one of the first high-achieving female broadcasters advocating for women’s issues.

Above all, Whitehill stressed that all her female idols were sources of empowerment who taught her to be proud of who she was and persevere in the battle for equal representation, a message she hopes to impress upon her Emory athletes.

“All of the female mentors I learned from and continue to be surrounded by to this day, saw where my potential was, gave me a platform, pushed me to become the best version of myself and taught me not to be afraid of using your voice to stand up for who you are and what you believe in,” Whitehill said. “[That’s] part of who I want to be as a coach and as a person. I want to empower the next generation as well.”

Rossi (she/her) ( 25C) is a player on the Emory women’s soccer team and plays under Whitehill.

SWOOP’S SCOOP Wednesday March 2

Friday March 4

Sport

Opponent

Time

Softball

@ Berry

3 p.m. & 5 p.m.

W Tennis

v. Centre (ITA National Indoors Championship) v. Randolph-Macon (Leadoff Classic) v. Pomona-Pitzer (Leadoff Classic) v. Averett University

TBA

Softball

M Basketball

Saturday March 5

W Tennis Track & Field Softball Baseball

Sunday March 6

Monday March 7

11

W Tennis Baseball Softball

M Golf W Golf

3:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

7:10 p.m.

TBA @ ITA Indoors All Day @ Tufts National Qualifier 10 a.m. @ MIT (Leadoff Classic) 12 p.m. @ Christopher Newport (Leadoff Classic) 12 p.m., 3 p.m.

Maryville College @ ITA Indoors Maryville College @ Texas Lutheran (Leadoff Classic) @ Central College (Leadoff Classic)

Time TBA 1 p.m.

1:30 p.m.

@ Savannah Collegiate @ Savannah Invitational

All Day All Day

— Contact Pilar Rossi at pilar.rossi@emory.edu

3:30 p.m.

*Home Games in Bold

Op-Ed: Olympics overrun by politics and propaganda Continued from Back Page during the Olympics have an effect and favor certain groups of people. In the National Football League, Colin Kaepernick’s protests were immediately regarded as political, but the act of singing an anthem, a ritual performed before every game, is also a political act.

Tarver argued that sports cannot be divorced from politics “because the human beings involved are fundamentally engaged in politics.” Even attending a sporting event takes a stance because doing so recognizes the opposition as worthy competition. Additionally, the Olympics have a history of countries and their athletes boycotting the games. In the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 26 African nations participated in a joint boycott because the IOC refused to ban New Zealand, which had par-

ticipated in a South African rugby tournament during the Apartheid era.

United States allies boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow during the height of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union reciprocated in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

This year, the United States led a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, as they, Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, among others, did not send government officials to the games.

With such a half-hearted protest, the United States is trying to have it both ways: they want to express their disapproval of the human rights situation in China without damaging the opportunities of the competing athletes. No matter how noble the intent, neither a diplomatic nor a full boycott will meaningfully change China’s conduct. In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron did not support

the boycott, calling it an insignificant move. Countries’ future attempts to do the morally right thing, regardless of the consequences, must involve taking a resolute stand against injustice while not damaging innocent people.

British Olympic diver Tom Daley was on the right track when he said, “I think it should not be allowed for a sporting event to host in a country that criminalizes against basic human rights.” Morals are subjective, but when clear human rights violations are occurring, the nation committing such crimes should not be given the honor of hosting any international sporting event. Doing so will protect innocent civilians from danger and only damage the guilty government. Although different countries will have contrasting conepts of what qualifies as a human rights violation, committing genocide in China or making homosexuality punishable by death in Qatar super-

sede any possible debate.

Countries such as China and Qatar should suffer consequences for their actions rather than being rewarded with a propaganda boost. Reactions in the sporting world to Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine offer some hope: already, Russia has been stripped of hosting the Union of European Football Association Champions League Final and the Formula One Grand Prix. The President of the Polish Football Association refuses to play the Russian soccer team. If such sentiments could also be extended to governments that thrash human rights, the sporting world can be on the right side of history.

We, the fans, also have a responsibility to remain educated and rescind support for criminal governments, even though we do not have the power of an institution. Philosopher Michel Foucault’s maxim that “Not everything

is bad, but everything is dangerous” applies in this situation. Tarver said that while it is not inherently unethical to support athletic events hosted by countries with dubious practices, “it’s important for us to think about the way that we participate in these things and to recognize their political status, and where we can use it or to exploit it for the purposes of working against injustice.”

We can appreciate the amazing things the world’s athletes achieve, but also support athlete activism.

Ask meaningful questions about the indirect effects these sporting events can have. Speak out against cruel governments.

By working together, we fans, athletes and their countries can give sports a conscience.

— Contact Andy Waisser at andreas.waisser@emory.edu

Track team prepares for outdoor Emory to host NCAA first and

Continued from Back Page In both races, I won. It wasn’t like I just got dragged along to a fast time. I think just having a competitive mindset allowed me to push myself super hard in those races and run to my fullest capabilities.”

Athletes on both teams will learn next week whether or not they qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships on March 11-12. In the meantime, most of the team is preparing for the upcoming outdoor season, which commences with the Emory Spring Break Classic on Mar. 18-19. The Eagles are returning several athletes who competed at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, including senior Jessica Barbarosh (4x100-meter relay), Henshey (high jump), senior Hannah Lansberry (4x100m relay) and junior Annika Urban (5000-meters).

Devaux said her goals for the upcoming outdoor season include surpassing the 50-meter mark in the hammer throw and breaking the Emory women’s hammer record of 52.50m set by Danielle LeSure (02C) in 2002 while maintaining the posi-

tive mindset she cultivated during the indoor season.

“I’m definitely just looking to stay in the same mindset that I was able to access for the weight [throw] of feeling thankful and appreciative the entire time of what I’ve been able to accomplish,” Devaux said. “Anything else that comes my way is just icing on the cake at this point.”

Watry, who is currently recovering from an injury that hindered him at the UAA Championships, said that he hopes to redeem himself with strong outdoor performances to earn him a berth to nationals. He said that the support of his coaches and the cooperative atmosphere with his teammates will make recovering and achieving his lofty goals much easier.

“Having such a good team culture [is helpful],” Watry said. “Everyone around [me] is just as motivated as I am, works just as hard as I do in practice. That just makes it a lot easier to go through the process of training really hard and trying to get better.”

— Contact Claire Fenton at claire.fenton@emory.edu

second round matchups

Continued from Back Page two free throws for Martens and baskets from Schener and Stuck kept the Eagles on ahead 66-60. Rochester hit 3-pointers on subsequent possessions to close the gap to 74-70 with 57 seconds remaining, but Stuck connected twice from the charity stripe to push the lead to 76-70 at the 35 second mark. Rochester’s final points, two free throws from senior forward Brian Amabilino Perez and a layup from senior guard Trent Noordsij, were not enough to secure them the win, and the Eagles walked away with a 76-74 victory. Schner finished with 27 points, Stuck added 15 and Williams and Martens contributed 10 apiece.

The Eagles will face Averett University (Va.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship on Mar. 4 at 7:10 p.m. at the Woodruff Physical Education Center. Averett finished the regular season with a 17-11 overall record and went 11-3 in the USA

South Athletic conference.

Schner said that matching the tempo Averett sets and playing tight defensively will be key for the Eagles to move on to the second round of the tournament. “[The focus is] having to adjust to guarding the ball a lot more,” Schner siad. “They have very quick guards. They play very fast-paced.

They put a lot of pressure on the ball.

We play a pretty fast-paced game, but we can expect them to go right along with that and play a fast-paced game as well. I think the key for us is really dictating defensively what’s going on.”

The Eagles won their last three games by a total of seven points, and have given those opponents opportunities to win up until the final moments of the game. Schner said that continuing to do so moving forward will not allow them to succeed in the playoffs, especially against a talented team like Averett.

“Teams have gotten too many offensive rebounds on us,” Schner

said. “I think offensive rebounding could be a strength for us, and we’ve allowed too many teams to get second chance points. Making sure that we hold teams to one shot, grabbing the rebound and getting out quickly in transition with it has been something we worked on for sure.”

Schner said he is excited to kick off his final tournament run with a home court advantage at the WoodPEC and, if the Eagles win, to play their second-round game there on Mar. 5.

“It’s great to be at home in a gym that you’ve put up so many shots in over your many years here at Emory,” Schner said. “It’s also just great for all of our students and for all of our Emory basketball fans to be able to be here to watch this game.”

— Contact Jenna Daly at jenna.daly@emory.edu and Claire Fenton at claire.fenton@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Wednesday, March 2, 2022 | Sports Editor: Michael Mariam (mmariam@emory.edu) | Asst. Sports Editors: Jenna Daly (jenna.daly@emory.edu) and Claire Fenton (claire.fenton@emory.edu)

TRACK & FIELD

Track & field athletes break school records

By Claire Fenton Asst. Sports Editor

Courtesy of Wikimedia commons/Presidential Executive Office of Russia

Russian president Vladimir Putin watches the opening ceremony 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Giving sports a conscience

By Andy Waisser Contributing Writer

From the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in China, to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, 2022 has a heavy lineup in the sports landscape. These events usually attract millions of tourists and billions of viewers. However, outside the sports world, both nations’ governments have questionable human rights records.

In China, the Uyghur Muslims, victims of population control and forced labor, are held in detention camps.

Qatar’s mistreatment of migrant workers building World Cup stadiums has sparked accusations of modern slavery. The political implications of the dichotomy between sports and politics at these global events have long been a topic of conversation, inviting a philosophical analysis of the circumstances.

According to Associate Professor of Philosophy Erin Tarver, “Sport is [a practice] that human beings use to make our world meaningful, to understand ourselves, and our place in it.”

Tarver likened it to the unifying role religion can play in a culture in that it provides specific rituals that shape the way people dress, the songs they chant, the way they mark time and the flags they wave. In the long term, sports create a sense of belonging and unify people despite their different

backgrounds. As Albert Brooks’ Dr. Cyril Wecht quips in “Concussion,” “The NFL owns a day of the week, the same day the Church used to own.”

The influence sports have on our identity is elevated when applied to the international arena. From my experience living in Mexico, the only two events that ever trigger an outward explosion of love for our country are Independence Day and the FIFA World Cup. Tarver explained that the stakes are higher for international sports than they are for local sports because “world history is full of examples of leaders making use of the successes of their teams to foster a sense of nationalism amongst their citizens.”

Countries exemplify this to different extents, but one example that stands out is Argentina’s victory in the 1978 World Cup, which the military junta used to distract from its “Dirty War” as it enacted state violence.

What does all this have to do with hosting a major international sporting event? Doing so is a covert way for countries to assert political dominance and achieve global prominence. The numbers don’t lie: the only Olympic host city to turn a profit in the modern era was Los Angeles in 1984. Countries bid to host the Olympics knowing it will likely be a poor financial decision because they want to build soft power, the ability to sway international

BASKETBALL

Men’s basketball awaits

Averett in NCAA Tourney

By Jenna Daly Claire Fenton Asst. Sports Editors

and

Although the outcome of the men’s game did not impact the Eagles’ playoff standings, the energy was high from the beginning as the seniors sought to capture a win in the final regular season game of their careers. Emory started to break away midway through the second half behind baskets from senior guards Matthew Schner and Romin Williams, pushing the score to 26-12 with 11:14 to go. The Eagles were shut out for the next three and a half minutes until junior forward Mason Johnson’s layup at the 7:41 mark broke the scoring drought, making the tally 28-16. For the remainder of the half, Rochester outscored the Eagles 18-8, with 15 points from Schner barely keeping Emory on top with a 36-34

lead.

Schner and freshman forward Cale Martens opened the scoring in the second half, giving Emory a 40-34 advantage. The Eagles continued to pile on baskets, as senior guard Nick Stuck, Williams and Schner hit shots one after another to increase the Eagles’ lead to 49-38 with 15:05 left in the game. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Rochester closed the gap to 51-45, but Stuck completed the and-one play after a foul by Rochester junior guard Matt Niemczura to make the score 54-45.

However, Rochester kept themselves alive by connecting from 3-point range three times in a span of two-and-halfminutes and cut the deficit to 57-56 with 9:01 to play.

Niemczura put the Yellowjackets on top with a layup at the 8:05 mark, but

See EMORY, Page 11

behavior through attraction and persuasion. The better reputation and recognizability a country has, the more it can influence other nations. Countries such as South Africa, Brazil, Qatar and Russia saw hosting the World Cup as an opportunity for branding and bolstering national pride.

The interesting duality of sports is that while they appear competitive, they require a lot of cooperation.

Determining the rules and boundaries of a game and recognizing an opponent as a legitimate adversary require a certain level of respect among adversaries, which is the magic of global sporting events. Countries that typically argue over politics or economics compete side-by-side. As a result, athletic governing bodies organizations like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are intent on remaining apolitical because they walk what Tarver called “a political tightrope, in being able to maintain a sense of cooperation amongst people and countries who have radically different views of what good politics look like.”

However, true apoliticaliticsm is almost impossible. When organizations like the IOC take neutral stances, they are in fact deciding to not challenge a status quo. Neutral decisions like banning political demonstrations

See OP-ED, Page 11

The Emory men’s and women’s track and field teams competed last weekend at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships where some Eagles came home with new school records.

Notable placings include senior Brett Henshey who tied for second in the high jump at the 1.89-meter mark and sophomore Kenya Sei who earned third place in the weight throw with a 15.58-meter toss. For the running events, first year Jackson Price won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.01 seconds and placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.35. Graduate student Liam Fost captured the 400-meter title in 49.12, and senior Thomas Perretta turned in a 1:55.46 run in the 800-meter race to finish third.

The 4x400-meter relay team of first year Chris Belz, sophomore Dawit Dean, Fost and Price earned third place with a time of 3:23.17.

On the women’s side, first year Sarah Fineman placed second in the shot put with a 12.11-meter throw.

Senior Alex Devaux took the top spot in the weight throw, and her 16.23meter throw was a program record.

Although Devaux was aware that it would require a career-best effort to top Paris Wagner’s (19C) record of 16.20m set in 2019, she said her confidence never wavered.

“As soon as I saw a throw go over 16 [meters] in my second throw of the day, I was like, ‘I got it,’” Devaux said. “I just knew that the next one that I was going to throw was going to break the record, and if it wasn’t the next one, it was going to be the one after that. I felt super confident that I was going to be able to do it after I heard that 16 mark.”

The last time she competed in the event at the UAA championships was in 2020, when her 15.09-meter throw, a personal best at the time, earned her second place. Devaux credited her impressive improvement to her focus on her “mental game” and the support

from her coaches, friends and family who were in the stands to witness her historic achievement.

“I’m not going to look back on this and just remember how far I threw,” Devaux said. “I’m going to remember the people that were there and the energy in the room. [Head coach Linh Nguyen] has been really helpful in just helping me reconceptualize and feel confident in my ability to throw, but also knowing that that comes from having a positive team atmosphere.”

The indoor season was also historic for sophomore Spencer Watry, who has broken three school records this year.

At the South Carolina Invitational in January, Watry won the one-mile race with a time of 4:11.51, barely surpassing the previous record of 4:11.55 set by Max Brown (18C) in 2018. Two weeks later at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, Watry again jumped to the top of the leaderboard after running the 800m in 1:51.95, and participated on the distance medley relay (DMR) team that crushed the event’s previous record by eight seconds with a time of 10:02.27.

Given that Watry rarely ran the mile prior to this season, beating Brown’s record came as a welcome surprise, especially since he had run the same event around seven seconds slower two weeks earlier.

“It was kind of a shock when I crossed the line,” Watry said. “But once I ran that, that gave me a ton of confidence that I could go for the 800[m] indoor record, and then also the DMR.” Although Watry knew he had a chance to break the 800m and DMR records heading into those events, he said that he concentrates on staying competitive with the runners around him rather than hitting personal bests as he walks up to the starting line. “[Nguyen] doesn’t really want me to think about times,” Watry said.

“Usually that’s always in the back of my head, but the number one thing is just competing with those around me.

See EAGLES, Page 11

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Emory coaches empower female athletes

By Pilar Rossi Contributing Writer

This is the first of a series of articles for Women’s History Month spotlighting female empowerment through sports.

“You can’t put women in a box. You can’t put us in a mold. It’s important to bring out whatever personality you have, whatever beliefs and values you stand for. Stand up for who you are. We need more female leaders out there to encourage women to be proud of who they are.”

Emory women’s soccer assistant coach Catherine Whitehill’s words about women’s athletics reflect the unfortunate reality of the obstacles female athletes face and struggle with when navigating the sports world. As a former soccer standout who played for the University of North Carolina, the United States women’s national team and the squad that captured the gold

at the 2004 Olympic games, Whitehill knows better than anyone that female athletes are repeatedly forced to pave their own paths and prove they deserve all of the opportunities male athletes receive.

“I got to play with household names — Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Christina Lee — and one of the first things that you could notice was that they were not finished with just being World Cup champions,” Whitehill said.

“They wanted to develop their own league because playing professionally was always a dream of ours, but it wasn’t there. They wanted to create something for the next generation.”

Women’s head volleyball coach Jenny McDowell, a three-time, allregion and all-captain honoree at the University of Georgia (UGA), also experienced challenges as a young athlete who had few female role models around her.

“Growing up, I always played on boys teams,” McDowell said.

“Basketball, baseball and volleyball were coached by men. There were very limited opportunities for girls.”

When reflecting on her time as an athlete at UGA, she remembers the women’s teams experiencing challenges regarding traveling, budgets and facilities.

“We traveled in 15-passenger vans to other SEC schools, now [teams] are able to charter flights,” McDowell said.

“We stayed four to five girls per a hotel room, they now have two in a room.

We were allotted $5 a meal, but now nutrition and health is a major priority for their athletes.”

After competing in the United States Olympic Festival in 1985, McDowell began her coaching career at her alma mater, where the team qualified for the national tournament every year of her six-year tenure.

After arriving at Emory, she led the Eagles to their first NCAA

See FEMALE, Page 11