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News | Old Gold & Black
Thursday, February 17, 2022 | Page 3 The week’s events promote self-loveMental Health:
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Swartzberg continued to detail the variety of events SG will offer in attempt to adhere to everyone’s mental health needs.
“ ere’s also goat yoga at some point in the week because we know that interacting with animals oftentimes has a really positive effect on mental health, and we also know physical activity can do that too, so we combined those two,” Swartzberg said.
She also noted the Mental Health Week panel, held on Feb. 15, that she moderated. e panel consists of three prominent individuals on campus: former Editor-in-Chief of the Old Gold & Black Alexandra Karlinchak, Wake Forest football quarterback Sam Hartman and co-founder of Noveltor Mental Health Software Roscoe Bell.
“ e Mental Health Week panel is the biggest event of the week, featuring students who have been very vocal about the importance of mental health and about their own experiences with mental health,” Swartzberg said. “Many of them are known figures on campus and will be able to speak to what it is like to be a Wake Forest student who is kind of thriving at Wake Forest but also has these considerations.”
Swartzberg further noted the importance of the panel and the variety of speakers.
“For me, the importance of the panel is highlighting that there are a variety of students with a variety of different passions who are successful in the pursuit of those passions but still struggle with these things day to day, and I want to normalize that for underclassmen because it wasn’t as normalized when I was a first-year student,” Swartzberg said.
Aine Pierre / Old Gold & Black
Ally Swartzberg moderates mental health panel featuring Sam Hartman, Alexandra Karlinchak and Roscoe Bell.
As a person in an especially significant leadership role, Swartzberg often feels that mental health concerns are overlooked.
“You don’t have to be the student body president to have those moments that are hard,” she said. “I personally have anxiety that I go to counseling for, and that’s not a thing anyone sees when they see the president. I get up. I give a speech. I put on a smile. I wear a suit, and I look put together. Just because people don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
She continued: “I want people to know that it’s normal, and it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve what you want to. You also need to care for yourself in a specific way if you have a specific mental health concern.” e Student Government Instagram, @wake_sg, outlines the various events occurring throughout the course of the week, including daily challenges for students. ey also continue to post graphics and notes regarding mental health and wellbeing.
Contact Emily Toro at toroer20@wfu.edu
BSA hosts ‘Celebration of Black Arts’ event
As a part of Black History Month, the event featured 11 student artists
MEG ZENKE Contributing Writer
On Saturday, Feb. 12, the Black Student Alliance hosted their annual Celebration of the Black Arts event in Brendle Recital Hall. e mission of the Celebration of the Black Arts is to uplift the community of Black students and groups within Winston-Salem and to give them the opportunity to share their unique talents, thoughts and personal expressions.
“My favorite part of [the Celebration of the Black Arts] is that it showcases not only musical expression but every aspect that someone is willing to share,” said Morgan Lyke, Black Student Alliance vice president. “ e Black students on campus can bring so much to the table through their extremely unique identities and talents, and the CBA truly celebrates them in the height of Black History Month.” e celebration highlighted 11 students within a variety of artistic disciplines, including singing, dancing, poetry reading and violin playing. Performers included Fifth Son Band (Cameron French, Will Maris, Malachi Woodard and Ata Yilmazemre), Zhané Waye, Gah’ques Ligons, Alex Silverio, Nasra Deria, Jolie Dumay, Jo$e Wop and Jae Scott. e atmosphere allowed students and faculty to learn more about other cultures and their means of cultural expression. e performances were received with energetic applause and excitement from the audience.
Freshman Gah’ques Ligons sang “Need You Bad” by Jazmine Sullivanone, one of his favorite songs to perform.
“I usually don’t sing in front of a crowd, but it means a lot to me to have a platform and to be a part of a platform that represents and showcases Black people and their talents,” Ligons said.
Ligons said he put in extra time and effort into working on his stage presence and making the song fit for him before performing at the event.
He continued: “ e event as a whole was a very great experience, and I am glad I was able to share the stage with talented Black creators at Wake Forest,” Ligons said. is year, the Black Student Alliance also partnered with the stArt Gallery in Reynolda Village to exhibit visual works of art in addition to the celebration on Feb. 12. ese works are aligned with the theme of “Black Joy: Centering Community and Individual Expression” and will be on display from Feb. 15 to March 3. Attendees of the Celebration of the Black Arts received free tickets to later visit the visual art gallery.
A highlight video of some performances and more information on BSA’s Black History Month programming can be found on their Instagram, @wfu_bsa.
Contact Meg Zenke at zenkmc21@wfu.edu
POLICE BEAT
Underage Consumption/Drugs:
• A student in South had consumed alcohol underage at an unknown location. e student was assessed and transported to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. e report was filed at 12:29 a.m. on Feb. 12 • A student in Poteat had consumed alcohol underage at an unknown location. e student was assessed and transported to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. e report was filed at 12:34 a.m. on Feb. 12. • A student in Dogwood had consumed alcohol underage at an unknown location. e student was assessed by Student ERTs and refused transport. e report was filed at 2:23 a.m. on Feb. 12. • A student in Luter had consumed alcohol underage at an unknown location. e student was assessed by Student ERTs and refused transport. e report was filed at 2:36 a.m. on Feb. 12.
Miscellaneous:
• A student took another student’s electric scooter from the breezeway at Davis and was not going to return it. e victim does not wish to prosecute. e report was filed at 10:46 a.m. on Feb. 8. • A student reported multiple larcenies of clothing between Oct. 2021 to Dec. 2021 in Magnolia. e student was studying abroad and just now decided to report the thefts. e report was filed at 12:52 p.m. on Feb. 10. • WSPD was advised that a student had received a call from an unknown person who was possibly watching her. e report was filed at 6:46 p.m. on Feb. 10. • An unknown student(s) removed an unsecured bike from a rack at Reynolda Hall. e report was filed at 3:10 p.m. on Feb. 13.
Lam: Professor speaks on cultural endurance
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“It is important to consider this longterm history of Latin American civilizations because the way history is taught in schools often only begins with Aztecs and Inca and ignores the centuries of brilliant communities that preceded them,” Norman said.
Throughout the presentation, Norman referenced significant events in Latin American history, such as the Spanish-Aztec and Spanish-Incan wars. Through these two historical events, Norman explored popular myths and beliefs regarding Spanish colonization.
“I wanted to emphasize that the process of conquest in Central and South America was not inevitable due to any superiority in European culture,” Norman said.
As the presentation continued, Norman connected her fieldwork to the themes of the exhibit. She frequently referenced specific artifacts from the collection to demonstrate the rejection of Spanish Catholicism by native peoples along with the merging of European and Latin ideas.
Other objects, such as the Veracruz smiling figures, introduced the concept of gender in Latin American religious traditions, a theme at the forefront of Norman’s work. When asked about the importance of this specific facet of her research, Norman launched into a description of inequality regarding gender in historical studies.
“My current research integrates gender and inequality into colonialism studies,” Norman said. “Specifically, I’m looking at how women helped shape and lead Taki Onqoy, pushing back against the narrative that women were fully disenfranchised by Spanish colonialism. My work explores the earliest parts of colonialism, so we can see the roots of systemic inequality through the material culture.”
Norman concluded the event with a brief case study on the endurance of indigenous rituals. She examined Taki Onqoy, which was prohibited by the Spanish due to a lack of understanding of the tradition.
After the practice was banned, groups began to practice Taki Onqoy in secret, which Norman compared to the secrecy of an American speakeasy during the prohibition era. Despite the efforts of the Spanish to end the ritual, Taki Onqoy endured. Her focus on this tradition and its persistence in Latin American cultures during the period of colonialism furthered the exhibit’s aim of emphasizing ritual endurance in Latin American culture.
When asked about the importance of the exhibit, Hernandez emphasized the students’ goal to educate a broad audience on the effects of colonialism.
“The students [who curated the exhibit] wanted the exhibit to reflect the impact of colonialism over time within Latin America as documented through material cultures,” Hernandez said. “They highlighted the understanding of what colonialism is for a broader audience, from children to adults who may not have much knowledge of archeology, the legacies of colonialism and the importance of material culture in revealing important changes within a society.”
“Experiences of Colonialism in Latin America” will be open until July 23. The Lam Museum will hold its next event on Feb. 26, 2022. More information can be found on the museum’s website: lammuseum.wfu.edu.
Contact Maddie Stopyra at stopmf21@wfu.edu
New stArt exhibit features student photography
A brand new Wake Forest digital photography class displays their work in local art gallery
CHRISTA DUTTON News Editor
e stArt.dt gallery recently opened a new exhibit called “Film Stills”, which features students’ work from a Wake Forest digital photography class. e stArt.dt gallery is the downtown satellite of the stArt gallery in Reynolda Village and is located on the first and second floors of the Wake Forest School of Medicine. e exhibit features Wake Forest student artists from Professor John Pickel’s digital photography class Film Stills: Photographs Inspired By Movies. is experimental special topics course was designed by Pickel and taught for the first time last semester.
Over the course of the semester, students viewed and discussed films that were related to photography, then created digital photographs inspired by the films. e films selected included: Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-up”, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner”, Jocelyn Moorhouse’s “Proof”, John Water’s “Pecker” and Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”.
Pickel decided to construct this course to add a new facet to his classes and his students’ studies.
“Partly what inspired [the class] was the fact that I’m in my 36th year of teaching photography,” Pickel said. “I’m trying to keep [my work and teaching] fresh because if I don’t then it is certainly not going to seem exciting and fresh for my students.” e course was also inspired by Pickel’s personal interest in the intersection between film and photography.
“In my own artwork, I’ve approached the idea of creating images that were inspired by film [so I wanted to] try an experimental course about that,” Pickel said.
According to Pickel, what makes the show unique is that each piece of art is predicated on the student’s interpretation of another piece of art — the film they chose. Pickel noticed that students focusing on the same film perceived it differently, making the photographs deeply personal.
“It was pleasantly surprising to see how students interpreted the film differently and to see what little scenes attracted them,” Pickel said.
One student artist featured in the gallery was senior Sammy Clark, a communication and studio art double major from Greenwich, CT.
Clark has two pieces in the gallery, “Bladerunner Scape 1” and “Bladerunner Scape 2”, each inspired by the film “Bladerunner”. Clark took these two photographs at the top of Rockefeller Center in New York City.
“[ e top of the Rockefeller Center] has all these glass walls around the balcony,” Clark said. “All the colors from the city reflect off these glass walls, and I wanted to use that because it reflected a lot of the scenes from the movie. I was just inspired by the moment.”
Clark found that her photographs reflect the aesthetic context of “Bladerunner”.
“[Blade Runner] is a futuristic film so you see a lot of neon colors and funky outfits, and I think my piece contains a lot of the same imagery and colors,” Clark said.
For Clark, having her pieces in the gallery is a chance to showcase her focus of study.
“Until this year, I was hesitant to show my work in any show because I had never had my work on display like that,” Clark said. “None of my friends are art majors or do any coursework like I do, so it was fun for me to show them the work that I’m doing.”
Pickel encourages all Wake Forest students to go view their fellow students’ work to see what students in different disciplines are working on.
Pickel described the show as “highly provocative” because the artwork incites a curiosity about the film from which the art was inspired. “All art should be provocative,” Pickel said. “And that doesn’t mean problematic or offensive, just provocative in the sense that it provokes you to learn.”
Pickel hopes to teach the class again and incorporate it into the course catalog of the Wake Forest art department.
“[ e class] was highly successful,” Pickel said. “ e students were as enthused as I was, and as you can see, the product turned out to be pretty amazing as well.”
Other student artists featured in the show include Sabrina Bakalis, Zifeng Chen, Emily Clark, Claire Falletta, Suh Kamara, omas Rigamonti, Yunqi (Qiqi) Ying and Kehui Zhu. e gallery is free to the public and will be on display until Feb. 19.
Contact Christa Dutton at duttcd20@wfu.edu
FEATURES
Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu.edu Asst: Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu
OLD GOLD & BLACK
Editor’s Note: is interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
DEACON PROFILE Bea Pearson
SYDNEY PASCERI
Contributing Writer Bea Pearson is a senior from Mount Holly, NJ who is majoring in history and double minoring in American ethnic studies and politics & international a airs. Pearson was one of the recipients of this year’s “MLK Building the Dream Award” who was recognized during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration on Feb. 3. is event was hosted by Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University.
You received the MLK ‘Building the Dream’ award for being “an advocate for justice and community service.” What are some accomplishments that you’re proud of within the Wake Forest community or beyond?
First, I want to say how appreciative I am of this award. Everything that I did was made possible through collaborative student e orts. I understand that there are a lot of students who can’t receive an award and who feel their work isn’t seen, but it is. I hope that people understand that I come from a long legacy of people ghting for justice. I’m just really grateful to be able to receive this recognition for all of us, not just for myself. I have really led with empathy and love in my work at Wake Forest. I think sometimes awards about justice are uncomfortable because justice is an ongoing pursuit. I don’t think people just arrive at justice. Anyway, I have de nitely been working towards justice since my rst year at Wake Forest through organizing and protesting. I helped with the President’s commission. I have run some student programming, like the Black Women’s Leadership Retreat. And I really think that I just focus on empathy — that’s where my passion lies. I really tried to keep it as the center point of all my work in the last few years.
How do the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King in uence your leadership on campus?
For me, Martin Luther King represents misunderstood radical justice. As a country, American culture has really kind of distanced ourselves from the passions and the re of Dr. King. He has that quote, “so the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?” I de nitely try to serve as an ex-
Photo courtesy of Bea Pearson
tremist for love in all of my work, and I think that his dedication to achieving justice through sacri ce and relentless work is something I really respect. Something that’s also really important to me is faith. I think that the level of faith that Dr. King and others have had throughout the history of Black freedom ghting has been very in uential. I obviously can come nowhere near emulating it, but I do my best.
In what ways do you see a space for growth in the Wake Forest community? In other words, what does our community need to improve upon?
I would like to see some more deeprooted shifts towards equity. We’ve got a lot of new opportunities on campus, like with the African American Studies (AAS) department. Dr. Shea Kidd Brown is our new vice president for Campus Life, and she’s a Black woman. ere’s the changing of the name of the building the Religious Studies department is housed in. Wake Forest is making these moves that portray a message of dedication to equity. With that being said, I think there’s a lot of policy that is not as visible, but certainly a ects the lives of students. ings that may seem small, like attendance or bigger issues like where investments lie and concerns about the surrounding area in Winston-Salem. e city is changing, and displacement is continuing. ere is a housing crisis in Winston-Salem that I don’t hear people talking about on campus. Sure, it’s hard to house students, but as the Wake Forest student population increases — meaning the campus must expand — we must consider the already present housing crisis. We need to talk about how we are connected to that crisis, right? ings like that are where I would like for us as a community to direct a lot more of our policy and e orts.
Forest and Winston-Salem State could collaborate on or connect on that would shed light on policy change or community awareness of these issues?
I think that we should do a better job re ecting not just what Wake Forest is now, but what Wake Forest has been. Winston-Salem State, as an HBCU and as a presence in Winston-Salem has a really rich history. I mean, the reason the award ceremony even got started is because students from Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State were a major reason as to why the lunch counters in Winston-Salem were desegregated during the Civil Rights Movement. I think we can do a better job of re ecting on our history — I admittedly have not spent enough time at Winston-Salem State during my four years at Wake Forest, but I think from what I have seen, they’ve done a better job of talking about public history. And I think we should too, even if that does not re ect on the prettiest parts of our history as a school. Understanding what the school has been and how it has impacted people is important.
What are some ways that students can get involved and continue to make a change on campus and in the community?
e best things that I did were building out my communities of mentors. I don’t think students always know the best way to get involved and a ect change. Some of the people who helped me get involved in student organizing and justice or equity e orts were either upperclassmen or certain sta members who had been doing the work of justice. ey pulled me in and educated me, comforted me — they were like friends — and in turn, I have tried to do that as well. Often, students don’t realize the power those connections hold, especially because of the four year turnover. I would encourage students to show up in these spaces where people are already serving and if you want to know more, just ask. If anybody ever has any questions about how to get involved in certain things or just wants to talk in general, just say hello or reach out. I would just really encourage people to reach out and create that network.
Page 6 | Thursday, February 17, 2022
Old Gold & Black | Features Energizing the next environmental leaders
Wake Forest’s environmental educators teach Winston-Salem middle schoolers about sustainability
UNA WILSON Asst.Features Editor
A seventh grader huffs as he pedals the stationary energy-producing bike as fast as he can — but the incandescent bulbs hooked up to the circuit board barely flickered on.
“There’s got to be a better way to light a lightbulb,” he said, wiping sweat from his forehead. His classmates at Southeast Middle School laughed, but senior Julia McElhinny, president of the Environmental Educators group at Wake Forest, smiled slyly as she explained that there actually were more efficient ways to use energy.
The Wake Forest Environmental Educators visit local Winston-Salem middle schools on a weekly basis to give presentations about environmental issues and sustainability solutions to students. The curriculum, titled “Energy Explorers,” is put together by the Piedmont Environmental Alliance (PEA).
It includes topics such as how electricity is produced, the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, climate change and renewable energy. The curriculum even suggests small steps students could take to lower their carbon footprint, such as unplugging lights when not in use and encouraging their parents to buy LED light bulbs.
At the end of the slideshow presentation, McElhinny asks for a student volunteer to ride the “energy bike,” which is hooked up to three types of lightbulbs: incandescent, fluorescent and LED.
The energy generated by pedaling the back wheel of the bike is enough to cause the bulbs to flicker to life. The level of difficulty, however, varies for each bulb, with LEDs being the easiest to light, fluorescents being the middle ground and incandescents the hardest. The exercise is meant to demonstrate how much energy it takes to power inefficient energy consumers and encourage students to switch to more energy efficient choices.
McElhinny has been volunteering with this group since her freshman year. Almost immediately after arriving at Wake Forest, McElhinny was struck by how isolated the campus was from the rest of WinstonSalem.
“Wake Forest students exist in a bubble — out of all the student organizations on campus, not nearly enough of them are active in the Winston-Salem community,” McElhinny said.
A larger part of the program’s importance is its impact on local middle school students, especially those who would not have received any sort of education on the environment without this curriculum.
“Environmental education isn’t even mentioned in North Carolina’s learning standards, which is so detrimental to not just these students’ future, but to all of us. How are we supposed to have the next generation of leaders if kids don’t even begin to discuss environmental issues until college?”McElhinny said.
The presence of educational inequity isn’t the only issue McElhinny has noticed while volunteering at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS). Environmental inequity often affects the same communities of students who attend Title I schools in the county.
Receiving environmental education, therefore, is crucial for these students, since they are the most likely to experience the adverse effects of energy production, such as air and water pollution.
“The kids we are educating — those in Title I schools — are likely going to be the ones that are the most impacted by the environmental issues we are talking about,” McElhinny said.
During the threat of the Weaver Fertilizer Company fire the week of Jan. 31, students at North Hills Elementary School weren’t able to go to school from Tuesday to Thursday, due to the building being within the designated one-mile evacuation zone. To McElhinny, this was a poignant example of why the “Energy Explorers” curriculum is especially important for underprivileged students.
“While it wasn’t a climate-related event, the Weaver fire had disproportionate impacts on families of color,” McElhinny said. “This event mirrored a pattern that we have seen so many times with things like hurricanes and wildfires — and only expect to continue to see in the future that will affect these communities.”
Not everybody agrees with teaching social inequity concepts, however. In the summer of 2020, WSFCS school district struck down McElhinny’s request to add a brief explanation of environmental racism to the presentation. In response, she has tried to approach the issue in more roundabout ways, such as talking about how certain communities, like those in Flint, MI, are often more directly affected by leadcontaminated water than others.
McElhinny acknowledged that although she believes these environmental issues are critical, not all students will be receptive to the curriculum right away.
“It’s really important to be understanding of the fact that some schools just don’t offer field trips to outdoor places, or have gardens, or teach their kids about nature,” McElhinny said. “Some kids might be thinking, my family is struggling financially, why should I care that some animal is going extinct? That’s where I like to direct the conversation towards the idea that sustainability happens in really small ways, like even just being aware of climate change is a huge step for some people.”
For the immediate future, however, McElhinny hopes that Environmental Educators will grow its volunteer base at Wake Forest to include more than just students interested in the environment. Sophomore Emy Yamamoto hopes to take over the program after McElhinny graduates this spring.
“I hope the program grows to people in other organizations on campus that aren’t usually represented in sustainability, such as Organization of Latin American Studies or the Black Student Alliance — people who are just interested in volunteering opportunities and might benefit from learning about the environment as they gain the skills needed to teach it,” McElhinny said.
