10/06/22 Full Edition

Connor McNeely Editor-in-Chief

Wake Forest confrmed this week that it has been tracking public social media posts to monitor campus safety since 2017.

According to an investigation from the Dallas Morning News, Wake Forest is one of 37 colleges to have used the social media monitoring service known as Social Sentinel.

Social Sentinel, listed as a “threat-detection” service, uses AI technology to monitor student speech on social media in order to fag language that might indicate harm to individuals or institutions.

“The social media services have been used to alert the uni versity to public social media posts that may indicate poten tial threats to campus safety,” wrote Cheryl Walker, executive director of university communications. “Using social media alert services to access publicly available information in to day’s environment is a common practice at many higher edu cation institutions to help increase campus safety.”

According to Walker, the services do not access private information, and Wake Forest has never used the services to monitor email or other Google applications.

Wake Forest also stated that they ended their contract with Social Sentinel in 2020 in order to switch to a different com pany that offers similar services.

What is social sentinel?

Social Sentinel did not return phone calls from the Old Gold & Black left on its press line. However, in an interview with WRAL in 2019, founder and CEO of Social Sentinel Gary Margolis compared the service to a “smoke detector.”

“We scan public digital content. We don’t surveil, we don’t monitor, we don’t follow,” Margolis said. “We’re not target ing individuals or groups. We don’t target anyone. We’re just looking at content."

According to the company, the software’s purpose is to “maintain the safety of faculty, staff, students, as well as oth er bystanders and members of the community.”

One of Social Sentinel’s features, named Local+ List, uti lizes geofencing technology, which locates cell phones in specifc geographic areas and social media posts and other data within designated locations.

According to Ari Sen, the lead reporter on the investigation for Dallas Morning News, the feature can be used to target

individual social media authors and has software that can scan public posts for specifc languages and phrases to give localized alerts.

The feature can be used to create “targeted, complex search structures to apply to both inside and outside a geofence,” ac cording to a contract between Social Sentinel and the Univer sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A geofence is a virtual perimeter around a physical, geographic area that allows soft ware to trigger an alert when a mobile device enters or leaves a physical area. This technology would work in areas of as sembly and protest, to monitor the progress of a demonstra tion and social media activity within the area. UNC Chapel Hill used the Local+ List and geofencing services of Social Sentinel to monitor the protests surrounding the Silent Sam statue in 2019 and pro-choice demonstrations at the univer sity in 2015, according to reporting from the Daily Tar Heel.

Though Social Sentinel has stated that the company is not designed to monitor student demonstrations, the Dallas Morning News reported that Social Sentinel has been pro moted and used as a tool to “mitigate” and “forestall” pro tests.

Wake Forest stated that they did not use the Local+ List feature offered by Social Sentinel.

In an explainer provided by the company to justify moni toring of campus activism, Social Sentinel described how it can provide “important insight about crowd size and climate, resulting in possible strategy adjustments including the de ployment of offcers.”

The Old Gold & Black reached out to Wake Forest for a comment regarding the use of social media monitoring ser vices during the August 28, 2021 protest regarding the read mission of a former student onto campus and did not receive a response at time of publication.

a complicated history

Navigate360, a school-safety solutions company, now has unprecedented popularity across the country. Navigate360 CEO J.P. Guilbault is quoted as saying their services, which now include Social Sentinel, are used by one in four K-12 schools in the country.

The Dallas Morning News investigation also revealed that Social Sentinel has been adopted by at least 52 school dis tricts in Texas as an additional security measure since 2015, including Uvalde CISD, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in May.

However, Social Sentinel has now attracted a complicated

reputation.

Social Sentinel’s Local+ List feature bears a resemblance to Geofeedia, a monitoring service that was included in a 2016 ACLU investigation. After the ACLU revealed that the service targeted activists of color during Black Lives Matter protests with geolocation technology similar to Local+ List, Twitter, Meta and Instagram restricted these companies from the use of their data for survzeillance.

UNC Chapel Hill, one of seven North Carolina schools to use or consider using Social Sentinel, announced in October 2022 that it plans to end its contract with the company, ac cording to the Daily Tar Heel. The university also was re

ported to have used Geofeedia in 2015, according to public records.

In a conversation with the Old Gold & Black, Sen, a gradu ate of UNC Chapel Hill, detailed the need for legislative oversight, as well as the opposition that Social Sentinel faces within schools.

“Graig Meyer, the state representative for Orange County in the general assembly, is launching a legislative inquiry into the use of Social Sentinel in North Carolina colleges,” Sen said. “There has been pushback among students, faculty, and at the legislative level as well.”

åAs of now, federal privacy law does not outline a clear limit on the collection and storage of social media data for private companies like Navigate360.

Many other universities around the country have ended their contracts with the service due to its price and ineffec tiveness, according to public records obtained by the Dallas Morning News.

Like Wake Forest, several other North Carolina schools have discontinued the use of Social Sentinel. North Carolina State University’s contract with the company ended in 2018, while UNC Charlotte chose not to pursue a contract due to a lack of funds, according to the Dallas Morning News.

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Old Gold & Black

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CONNOR

MCNEELY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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>> NEWS

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Emily Toro, toroer20@wfu.edu

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Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu

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Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu. edu

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Sophie Guymon, guymsm20@wfu. edu

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>> POLICIES

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The Old Gold & Black is published Thursdays during the school year, except during exam inations, summer and holiday periods, by Triangle Printing of Durham. © 2021 WFU Media Board. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all editorials and advertise ments contained within this publication do not necessarily refect the opinions of the OGB. As part of our commitment to reporting news fairly and accurately, we will not remove any previously published content. If an error in either our online or print content is brought to our attention, we will revise the originally published article with an appended correction. In order to facilitate thoughtful and appropriate debate, profane, vulgar, or infammatory comments on our website are not allowed and will be deleted. For more information on our comment ing policy, please see our website. We reserve the right to reject advertisements deemed inap propriate. Our full policy, and how to advertise with the OGB, can be found on our website.

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>> CORRECTIONS

On pg. 5 of the Aug. 25 issue, there was an incorrect photo attribution of Pilar Agudelo. The cor rect photo credit should have stated "James Li/Old Gold& Black".

Lucius You/Old Gold & Black

“They don’t deserve to die:” The downtown naloxone vending machine and harm reduction in Winston-Salem

AINE PIERRE & YUSHUO WANG Online Managing Editor & Staff Writer

Amanda Clark walked into the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center just before 3 p.m. one ursday afternoon wearing a shirt reading “support not stigma” and a pin reading “harm reduction saves lives,” a clue to her mission.

e next step in her mission was a dozen cases of naloxone nasal spray — an overdosereversing agent — and the crisp sound of the boxes as she dutifully cut them open. e jail lobby was silent, and its mostly bare, semicir cular walls allowed sound to travel far.

Clark, who leads the Forsyth Regional Opi oid and Substance Abuse Team (FROST), is responsible for restocking a vending ma chine that dispenses the overdose-reversal agent free of cost. e naloxone in the ma chine is supplied by the Twin Cities Harm Reduction Collective (TCHRC), which serves Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. e machine was installed on Aug. 24, and similar devices have since been installed in ve North Carolina counties, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

“Sometimes [when I go to re ll the ma chine, it is] about halfway empty,” Clark said. “ is time, it was pretty much almost all the way empty.”

e machine, which holds 150 two-dose packs of naloxone, is part of an ongoing ght against the opioid epidemic in For syth County. Between 2018-2020, Forsyth County had the third highest overdose death rate in the state, and overdoses claimed 52 lives between January and November of last 2021, according to WXII. Clark estimated that since the machine was installed, 250 boxes of naloxone have been distributed at the Forsyth County Jail location.

Naloxone nasal spray, accord ing to Clark, should be admin istered one dose at a time while the overdosing person is laid on their back.

Clark noted that the intent behind the vending machine is not to encourage drug use, but rather to break down the stigma around naloxone and substance use and save the lives of those who do choose to use substances illicitly.

“Everybody in this world has made poor decisions at some point or another in life, and someone doesn’t deserve to die because they made a poor deci sion,” Clark said.

However, not all Forsyth County residents share Clark’s perspective. Shawn C. Scott, whose public pro le indicates that he was a former sheri ’s deputy in Forsyth County, left this comment on a Facebook post announcing the vending machine:

“Narcan is free for junkies who made a choice to use drugs, while Insulin is over priced in the US for people who didn’t choose Diabetes. Keep the junkies alive to buy more drugs.”

e machine was installed in the jail be cause a longitudinal study done in North Carolina showed that those leaving jail are 40 times more likely to have a fatal overdose than their peers.

“Just because they’ve been abstinent for a little while doesn’t mean they’re not going to leave and use, and they are at very high risk of a fatal overdose after that,” said Rachel ornley, executive director at Twin Cities. Another initiative, which would have al lowed those being released from the jail to ask for naloxone, zzled. As ornley ex plained, those incarcerated at the jail may be afraid to ask their corrections o cers for the overdose-reversal agent. However, the vend ing machine in the jail lobby is one of the rst things the people leaving jail will see.

“It’s right in their path. ey don’t have to ask anybody. It’s totally free,” ornley said.

In the jail lobby, the free vending machine with naloxone, the opioid-reversal drug, was nearly empty by Sept. 21.

Due to the prevalence of the opioid epi demic, the amount of naloxone passed out per year is quite high. Twin Cities passed out 6,279 kits in the past year, though that gure includes kits given to local businesses such as Camino Bakery for emergency use. While the number of kits distributed tops 6,000, according to Clark, the number of reported overdoses in Forsyth County is just over 750. However, Clark explained that sometimes,

POLICE BEAT

just one dose is not enough.

“Sometimes naloxone is administered more than one time per person, especially in the day and age of fentanyl,” Clark said. “I’ve seen people need as many as six before to wake up.”

When Clark stocked the vending machine on Sept. 21, 134 of the 150 slots were emp ty, which is the emptiest she has ever seen the machine. Because the machine has only been active for a month, the county sub stance abuse team is still working out how often the machine needs to be re lled. Cur rently, Clark relies on the sta who work at the jail’s front desk to tell her when the ma chine is empty.

ornley noted that a national naloxone spray shortage has slightly delayed some ship ments for the machine; however, the county and Twin Cities both have enough to wait out those delays. While there is more than enough injectable naloxone to go around, ornley believes that it will likely not make its way to the machine, because it comes with a giant needle.

ose who need naloxone can visit the ma chine downtown, attend drop-in hours with Twin Cities on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday; or order delivery from Twin Cities.

Contact Aine Pierre at pierav20@wfu.edu and Yusho Wang at wangy220@wfu.edu

• Four suspects took a pink Princess Power Wheel from Lot A to their suite in Taylor Hall. e report was led at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26.

• Unknown subject(s) removed victim’s unsecured bookbag from the Green Room after a group meeting. e report was led at 7:01 p.m. on Sept. 28.

• Unknown subject(s) had removed the paper name tags from two doors and tore them up. Camera system was checked; however, the cameras were o ine during the incident. e report was led at 10:35 p.m. on Sept. 28.

• Unknown subject was in Subway after trespassing on campus. A citation was issued. e report was led at 7:42 p.m. on Sept. 29.

• Four students were retuning to campus on Long Drive when they were robbed by two males armed with a handgun and knife. No injuries were reported. A student’s wallet was recovered between University Parkway and Barclay Terrace and was turned over to WSPD. e report was led at 2:26 a.m. on Oct. 2.

Yushuo Wang / Old Gold & Black

The machine dispenses free naloxone in the Forsyth County Detention Center.

Deacs Decide event educates students on misinformation

Wake Forest librarians offer advice on how to prudently consume information this election season

George Wilkerson Contributing Writer

Deacs Decide — a nonpartisan organiza tion that works to register students to vote — hosted an event in Benson University Center on Sept. 29 called “Dinners for De mocracy: Cut through the Bullsh*t”. ZSR librarians Rosalind Tedford and Hu Wom ack gave a lecture on confronting misinfor mation and disinformation during the up coming midterm elections while students enjoyed free pizza.

Rosalind Tedford is the Director for Research and Instruction Services. Hu Womack is a member of the Research and Instruction team, and both teach classes about informational literacy.

Tedford and Womack described misinfor mation as information that is incorrect and can spread unknowingly. ey described disinformation as intentionally false infor mation which can be spread knowingly.

“Maybe some elements are true, but more details get added so it’s like a game of tele phone,” Tedford said.

Womack de ned misinformation as “something that has a kernel of truth which is then twisted and becomes completely in accurate.”

Freshman Celeste Lynch who attended the event shared how she consumes news and also admits that misinformation is common on social media.

“I get my news from the CNN app, but I do see a lot of misinformation on Tik Tok,” Lynch said.

Tedford and Womack shared habits col lege students can develop to become bet ter interpreters of media and combat mis information. ree action steps students can take stood out during the conversation — to seek out credible sources, be aware of cognitive biases and to not spread false information.

Tedford and Womack urged students to not be passive consumers of news. ey encouraged students to be intentional in gathering news, particularly by taking ad vantage of the institutional subscriptions available through ZSR like the New York Times, e Wall Street Journal, e Econ omist and the Financial Times.

“ ere is a much better way to get news by using all the resources you have to get the news,” Tedford said.

e discussion also focused on the cogni tive biases that are played upon by sources seeking to deceive people and spread lies.

“ e human brain makes really horrible decisions when it is stressed and angry,” Tedford said.

Womack spoke about how the human brain is susceptible to fallacies and biases.

“We have ways of making decisions that worked beautifully a millennia ago but were not designed for the internet,” Wom ack said.

One example used was con rmation bias — which is when a person is more likely to believe an idea that already supports preexisting beliefs they hold. Additionally, Womack spoke about people falling victim to the back re e ect.

“If you prove to me that I’m wrong, all

that does is make me double down, and that’s the back re e ect,” Womack said.

Additionally, Tedford and Womack ad vised students to break the cycle of mis information and disinformation by not interacting with or spreading false content online. Even sharing information to say it is false is harmful because algorithms see the engagement and spread it further.

“Spend your time online on things you think that other people really need to see,” Tedford said.

Freshman James Watson, an organizer of the event with Deacs Decide, explained

the importance of events like these that im prove the news literacy of college students.

“To have a better and more empathetic society we have to pay close attention to what information we take in and how we do it,” Watson said.

Deacs Decide will be hosting additional dinners in the coming weeks about voting, and the organization also o ers support in helping students register to vote.

Contact George Wilkerson at wilkgd22@wfu.edu

Artist Protection Fund fellow presents recent projects

Yemeni flmmaker Ammar Basha shares new screenplay and documentaries to Wake Forest students

Hope Zhu Staff Writer

Wake Forest’s rst Artist Protec tion Fund (APF) fellow, Ammar Basha, hosted a screening on Sept. 27 of his new documentaries — “Ye men: Equal or Selective Justice” and clips from his “Days in the Heart of the Revolution’’ series. Two Wake Forest students also performed a script reading of one of Basha’s screenplays. Many Wake Forest stu dents and faculty gathered to hear from the Yemeni lmmaker in the Scales Fine Arts Center.

e Artist Protection Fund is an initiative of the Institute of Inter national Education that exists to protect threatened artists by plac ing them at host institutions like Wake Forest for a full year so they can do their work safely and plan future projects. Additionally, the program provides fellowship funding, mentoring, and inclusion in a supportive network of artists. During the screening, Basha pre sented several short documentaries illuminating stories of discrimina tory court case victims during the Yemini Revolution, a nationwide protest movement against economic stagnation and corruption in the Middle East. Alongside working

w ith non-governmental organiza tions to produce footage of unjust court cases, the lmmaker high lighted the struggles of shermen and children during this period. Accompanying the documentary, Basha presented a slideshow that provides context to his lming expe rience.

“As a lmmaker, I wanted to show Yemenis who have taken to the streets and the ordinary citi zens who fought for change against overwhelming odds,” Basha said. “I sought to capture the voices of the revolutionaries, the whole anger and frustration and resolve that are the true power behind the Yemeni up rising.”

roughout the event, the artist spoke extensively about his lm ing process. His YouTube channel, “Days in the Heart of Revolution”, presents snapshots of the 2011 Ye meni uprising and served as an in dependent voice amidst the turmoil.

While lming, Basha was shocked by the magnitude of anti-semitism present in Yemen. He recalled lm ing a Jewish wedding, where he met a 12-year-old Jewish boy who circled curiously around his camera. As Basha spoke with him, the boy pointed out his home, school and friends. However, two Muslim chil

dren snuck up behind Basha and ex pressed that the boy is not like them. His Jewish heritage labeled him an outsider.

“ e [Jewish] kid suddenly turned, [his] smile disappeared, his eyes went down, he turned around and walked away like a broken person,” Basha said. “It [hurt] me, and I wor ried we [had] a big problem. A prob lem that Hollywood people earning million dollars would not bother to answer.”

Alongside the threat to the Jew ish community, Basha’s life was en dangered for lming the war crimes that took place during this time. Amongst other dangers, Basha and several of his friends were arrested and kidnapped.

“For the rst friend who got ar rested, I got a warning,” Basha said. “ e second friend got arrested, and they shot my dogs in front of the house. So they meant to scare me, but that didn’t scare me. It broke me.”

ese traumatic events in uenced Basha’s decision to seek safety in another country. He wished to de velop his project free from the fear of losing his life. Basha expressed his gratitude to Wake Forest for fueling his latest project.

“ e production I am currently

working on has slept for 10 years,” Basha said. “I don’t think I would have been able to get to a rst draft without the energy and the power of [Wake Forest].”

Aside from the documentary, Basha is currently working on a screenplay based on the novel, “ e Handsome Jew”. Written by Yemeni author Ali Al-Muqri, the novel tells the story of a young Muslim and a Jew who fell in love despite their community’s aversion. Two Wake Forest freshmen, Emma Peveril and Joe Bruno, joined Basha on stage to read a scene from the screenplay in which the lovers escaped their vil lage and expressed their feelings for each other. Basha expressed that their love story is one that he wishes to tell about Yemen.

“With ction, I can paint a new future,” Basha said. “I can make people think about di erent options about how we can live better. We must start something new.”

Basha’s documentary can be ac cessed on his YouTube channel, “Days in the Heart of Revolution”. More information about the Artist Protection Fund can be found on its website at https://www.iie.org/pro grams/artist-protection-fund.

Contact Hope Zhu at zhuq2121@wfu.edu

Deacs Decide is a nonpartisan organization that works to reg ister students to vote as well as hosts election-related events.

Photo courtesy of Deacs Decide

ENVIRONMENT

Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu

Solar

ADDISON SCHMIDT Staff Writer

Despite the many green initiatives Wake Forest Uni versity has spearheaded, there remains a lack of signi cant renewable energy presence in ‘the forest.’

In reality, similar to many other universities, Wake Forest is dedicated to reducing its greenhouse gas emis sions and has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2040, ac cording to the O ce of Sustainability. Sustainability e orts on campus have taken a multitude of forms, but the lack of solar energy on campus is perhaps one of the most notable absences in the realm of emissions.

In order to understand why solar energy on campus is limited, e orts that the university has taken to reduce emissions must be examined rst.

According to data collected by the university since 2007, university-wide carbon expenditure dropped 47% in the last twelve years, largely due to energy e ciency e orts spearheaded by Campus Facilities. Initiatives like increased insulation in buildings, LED lighting, auto matic sensors, and other building improvements have been the main factors behind carbon reduction.

While Lindsay Batchelor, Director of the Wake For est O ce of Sustainability, is ecstatic about the progress that’s been made, she says that the remaining 53% of carbon emissions will likely be the hardest to reduce.

“Once you cut o anything that would be considered a low-hanging fruit then you get to the harder stu ,” Batchelor said.

One of the most obvious ways of reducing carbon emissions outside of energy e ciency e orts is the uti lization of renewable energy. Given Wake Forest’s loca tion and climate, as well as nancial considerations, the best renewable energy option available both on and o campus is solar energy.

However, multiple factors make it incredibly di cult for the university to install signi cant amounts of solar energy on campus.

e number one culprit? Duke Energy.

As the largest provider of electricity in North Caro lina, Duke controls all of the energy-related infrastruc

pendent renewable energy producers who will build a renewable energy plant and sell the electricity back to the grid,” says Meiburg. “[In contrast], in a regulated monopoly state [like North Carolina], Duke controls the access to the market itself.”

As Batchelor explains, Duke’s monopoly also allows them to prevent consumers like Wake Forest from en tering the market.

“Duke Energy gets to decide through a regulation called net metering the amount of solar [energy] that we can have on our campus that is connected to the grid,” Batchelor says. “Duke Energy gets to decide that we have a maximum of one megawatt of renewable en ergy at any given time that is connected to the grid.”

On a campus that, in its energy-reduced and e ciency-minded state, uses around 11 megawatts of en ergy per year, this presents signi cant obstacles when it comes to o setting carbon emissions.

Batchelor is quick to point out that the installation of solar panels on every single building on campus is not feasible, nor would it produce the electricity needed to power the entirety of campus. However, net metering signi cantly limits possibilities when it comes to how much Wake Forest’s on-campus carbon emissions can be cut.

Currently, there are ve solar panels on Wake For est property. At the Barn, the Reynolda Gardens green house and North Dining Hall, solar panels provide a small amount of electricity required by each of these buildings, and solar units on top of South Hall and the Reynolds Gym provide the energy needed to heat wa ter in each of the respective buildings. ese ve so lar panels account for a small fraction of energy use on campus, but there are continuous conversations about increasing solar presence on campus to the maximum of one megawatt that is allowed by net metering laws in North Carolina.

“Right before the pandemic [began],” said Batchelor, “we were about to ink a contract with a third-party leas ing partner that was going to put a megawatt of solar on our campus, and the pandemic got in the way of that.”

Batchelor explained the labor shortages and supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 led to a massive

maximum of renewable energy on campus. Addition ally, the Biden Administration’s passage of the In ation Reduction Act promises to provide investment into re newable energy and many hope that this will tame the renewable energy market.

“ e In ation Reduction Act is going to be very helpful [not only] for consumers,” said Meiburg, “... [but also] for nonpro t institutions [like Wake Forest] who don’t pay taxes [because it allows them] get a credit against expenses that they incur adopting renewable en ergy.”

One of the most common ways universities and busi nesses, including Wake Forest, are looking into reach ing their carbon neutrality goals is through investment in renewables through a Virtual Power Purchase Agree ment (VPPA).

As Batchelor explains it, the goal of investment into a VPPA is not, like many other investments, to make money. Instead, investment into a VPPA is solely for the purpose of gaining what Batchelor calls “renewable energy credits.” rough a VPPA, Wake Forest would be able to invest in the building of renewable energy plants, most likely solar, that would never directly be used on campus, but would instead serve the purpose of o setting on-campus emissions by funding renewable energy in states like Arizona where large swaths of land ideal for the construction of solar plants exist.

“[A VPPA] is an agreement [between Wake Forest and a renewable energy company] to buy the electricity, [which the company] will then turn around and sell,” Batchelor says. “[Wake Forest then] takes the renewable energy credits, because we can’t bring those electrons to North Carolina [for use on campus].”

While there is no set time frame for solar panel instal lation on campus nor for VPPA investment, Batchelor says that the ideal time for both projects is “as soon as we can.” When it comes to VPPA and the 2040 goal, it’s imperative that investment happens sometime soon because most projects take two or three years to be com pleted after a contract is signed and renewable energy credits can’t be “taken” until the energy is sold.

Energy e ciency projects, waste reduction, increased investment in electric vehicles and other tangible solu tions on-campus are important as the university strives to reduce its carbon footprint, but VPPA– likely thou sands of miles away– may ultimately play a major role in Wake Forest University’s quest to reach carbon neu

How our university is working past Duke Energy’s solar restrictions for a greener future

energy from a foreign land

Photo courtesy of

Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu.edu

Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu

YUSHUO WANG Staff Writer

As a double major in nance and statistics, a Chinese inter national student from Zhejiang Province, a singer, songwriter, and producer——Boxi Chen, Wake Forest senior, has mul tiple identities rolled into one.

However, unless you open his closet in Polo Residence Hall and turn on the light of this treasure box, many of these lay ers may remain hidden. On his standard-issue dorm desk sits Chen’s computer, and next to it, his soundcard and his micro phone.

“I make my closet into a smaller studio because the clothes in the closet can absorb some sound reverbs from the wall, so [the sound] can be more concrete,” Chen said.

A peek into the miniature studio reveals Chen’s extensive musical story.

With 30 original singles and one album with 12 singles so far, Chen has been involved with music since elementary school. He began by learning the Chinese ute and joined a folk music band that gave him professional music practice. In high school, Chen found his newfound interest in playing gui tar and studied it by himself while using Logic Pro X, a digital program for music arrangement, and watching YouTube vid eos. It was in his senior year of high school that his rst single debuted, and he signed to one of the three record companies that have promoted his music.

“I would like to describe my music as pop and hip pop, but I actually make a lot of styles,” Chen said. “I try a lot of styles. If I like those styles, I would just try them and try to add them to my vibes.”

Besides traditional Mandarin pop and hip pop, Chen engag es with Electronic Dance Music (EDM), R&B, folk music and pure rap. “A ousand Words,” one of the hit songs on his album that can be found on Spotify, is an EDM with future bass, according to Chen.

“I have a lot of times when I’m dream ing I have a very good melody. So when I wake up, I just open the recording and try to remember it,” Chen said.

Chen talked about how his song ideas usually come from his daily life, moments of selfdepression and the time he spent alone.

“I think [Wake Forest] gives me a lot of ideas because the en vironment is not a big city,” Chen said. “ ere’s not a lot of chances if you are in a big city that you can spend more time with yourself or be alone. So some times, even if there is a period of time that we spend with ourselves, … [it] is very inspiring.”

However, Chen never pushes himself to come up with song ideas intentionally. He explained it with his experience of tak ing many jobs from his record company to write songs and sell them like song missions.

“You have to stand in front of a soundtrack for one hour and you have to come up with a melo dy; it’s totally like torture to me,” Chen said.

Instead of treating music as his profession, Chen takes it as a way to express himself; a person he can talk to and a purpose in his life.

“Playing music and making my own music just comes from my pure happiness,” Chen said. “So if I become a [professional] songwriter, maybe I will lose a large part of my life.”

Chen emphasized that he would keep music as his inter est but not his career. What he really wants to pursue in the future is a nance-related job.

“I might be in investment banking, nancial engineering and nancial mathematics,” Chen said. “And nally, I want to be part of venture capital and private equity.”

Chen highlights how he loves nance no less than mu sic, which was part of the reason why he devoted himself to founding e Wakers.

As an on-campus business project, e Wakers is aimed at providing an online forum for Chinese students to rate profes sors and discuss campus life. Its set up in 2020 was based on the time when Chen, then a sophomore, had trouble knowing how to register for classes, open a bank account in the United States, where to order Chinese food and nd ratings of profes sors.

“I’m thinking about making this inconvenience disappear by setting up a website, an app, or something like that, to solve those inconveniences to help those newcomers from China,” Chen said.

e Wakers have grown to be in uential among Chinese students, and they were registered to North Carolina’s limited partnership last year. However, when Chen re called start ing from scratch –build ing the web site, brain storming with the other three upper-class co-founders, having meetings every day, and looking for investors – it was still a oundering journey for him.

“You have to nd how to make startups, what problems you want to solve, how to make your product cost-e cient, how to promote your product, and how to enlarge your economy

of scales,” Chen said. “Especially when you are the main man ager of the orvganiza tion, you have to face a lot of di culties, a lot of ques tions every day.”

While Chen tried to troubleshoot everything by paying both e ort and consulting accounting, business and nance professors at Wake, he acknowledged that his team’s limita tions originated from their lack of time and money and the fact that they would soon graduate.

“Right now we don’t have any more meetings because, in senior year, everyone has much more important things to do,” Chen said. “Because we need someone to take it to the next generation, I am still thinking about it. ”

Chen remained modest whenever talking about his music or business project. It seems the traction he gained on stream ing platforms and the wide use of e Wakers makes him no di erent from the four-point line life he has on campus: dorm, classrooms, the Pit and gym.

“I think being popular is nding a group of people that can understand your song, your emotions, or your experiences,” Chen said. “And maybe even sometimes you can just help them overcome di culties … and give them support through your work.”

Contact Yushuo Wang at wangy220@wfu.edu

‘Songbird’ serenades local residents with dementia

ISABELLA ROMINE Contributing Writer

“You were playing so well. Do you know an other?” Winston-Salem dementia resident Gail asks from where she sits on her narrow bed. She directs the question to freshman Lauren Kooman, who has just strummed the nal me lodic chords of “Amazing Grace” on her guitar. e room, like those of the rest of the residents, is too small to t more than a few pieces of fur niture and framed photos, but lends itself per fectly to a private concert.

“Absolutely,” Kooman replies, searching for a new song on the phone that rests on her thigh. e morning of Sept. 25, I accompanied Songbird Musical Service to Brighton Gardens, an assisted living facility located a short veminute drive from campus. ere, the newlyfounded service club provides musical therapy to residents diagnosed with dementia. e stu dents connect with them for an hour, employ ing body language and communication skills tailored speci cally to those with dementia to make them feel at ease. rough trial and error, club members discern what music residents like and respond to, then play the songs for them, engaging with the music in di erent ways.

“Music highlights and reactivates parts of the brain that allow [dementia patients] to come temporarily back to themselves,” co-founder and senior Roscoe Bell said. Bell had a forma

tive experience with a musical therapy club in high school that inspired him to create the same opportunity at Wake Forest.

He continued: “Some residents played piano and now don’t remember, but when you put on a Beethoven or Mozart sonata, sometimes they’ll even play it out without realizing. [In high school], there was this patient who we all called Mr. Jim. You would ask him ques tions, and he would look at you blankly with out responding. We would start playing a song like ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ — a deeply emotional song — and by the second verse, he would light up, say the words and shake as he held your hand. It’s a beautiful transformation for a family to see.”

After our group signed in to the sounds of a church service in the next room, a cheery nurse guided us through a keypad-locked door into the wing where the residents with dementia live. Even though it was only the club’s second visit, the environment felt warm and welcom ing, a sentiment Songbird’s other co-founder, senior Liam Kimbro, described.

“Every worker [here] is so passionate to get behind the club,” Kimbro said. “ e facility is buying half the headphones we’ll use [with resi dents to listen to music], and they’ve worked around our student schedule. It’s such a bless ing to be the recipient of that grace.”

Club members were divided into pairs be fore visiting their residents. One of Brighton Gardens’ biggest draws, Kimbro explained, was

that students could meet with the same people every week to create a sense of consistency and build deeper relationships. e internal life of someone with dementia is often chaotic as they lose understanding of their surroundings; nur turing speci c connections helps provide stabil ity.

I joined Kimbro, whose partner was absent that week, to spend time with a sweet woman named Peggy. She was delighted to hear we went to Wake Forest, where she met her hus band and playing softball. She peppered us with advice on how to avoid overworking our selves between memories, a rewarding conver sation I left reluctantly when Bell ushered me to other pairs.

roughout the sunlit garden, dining hall, and residents’ rooms, some members serenaded residents with violins or guitars. Others played music from their phone, singing and clapping along to the Spotify results; the playlist “Old Time Southern Gospel” yielded some de nite hits amongst the crowd.

Regardless of how far a patient’s dementia had progressed, the familiar rhythms and melo dies of songs opened a pathway for students to connect with residents. Sometimes the process was more involved. Other times, it was more about simply being a comforting presence.

Songbird member and sophomore Tori Cas cone recounted afterwards how her resident took her hand during “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Even though she seemed to fall asleep af

terwards, she continued to squeeze Tori’s hand along to beat if she enjoyed the song.

Other residents with more energy sang read ily along to gospel and classic rock & roll: Elvis songs, “Amazing Grace,” and “Jesus Loves Me” were clear favorites. Conversation also played a prominent role in the morning. One woman sitting in the garden shared her life story, read ily folding me into her group as I approached to tell how she used to drive for RJ Reynolds Tobacco.

“We [aren’t] just playing music and hoping people respond. It’s about talking to the person and making them feel comfortable too,” Liam said. “It’s an opportunity the school needed that wasn’t there — a creative outlet in service through music. Music is just the vessel.”

Both co-founders stressed that musical talent isn’t necessary to participate — although, cer tainly, liking music in some capacity is helpful.

“It’s about taking your own passion for mu sic and commitment to service and using it to heal others and help them relive some of the best moments of their life,” Bell explained.

He added: “From an individual patient to a nation, any form of art that reminds us of what is beautiful and true about life is crucial to the healing process and getting through the su er ing.”

Contact Isabella Romine at romiie21@wfu.edu

CONNOR MCNEELY Editor-in-Chief

Ralph Herring is an alumnus of Wake Forest University (‘49) and a professional artist. With his brother, David, Herring designed the 50watt transmitter used by the rst radio station at Wake Forest. is radio station eventually be came WF DD — callsign “Wake Forest Demon Deacons” — and then later on, WAKE Radio.

Tell me about how the radio station got started.

I built the transmitter in 1946 from a diagram in a talk magazine. It was fun because we had a high tension wire that connected from the stadium [formerly known as Groves Stadium], and the station could reach all the way to Raleigh. e radio was a big deal when it started, and almost all of the student body wanted to listen once we got it working. I worked with Alva Parris and Henry Randall to get it started, and they hosted the station and had an o ce in their rooming house.

You went to college at a pretty turbulent time in the world. Can you tell me about your experience during the Second World War?

I was in the Navy twice: the rst time was in 1945, when the [Second World War] was just ending. I was an [electrician] reman on an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) and worked in the engine room. We were stationed in the Philippines, and made one trip to Okinawa, but I was only in for around 11 months — it was a short time. at was my freshman year. You either were drafted or joined the Navy, and I decided to join the Navy. It was a very chaotic time because right after college I

went back to the Korean War with my college degree and worked on an aircraft carrier as para-intelligence, brie ng pilots on the mis sions that they were ying around the Medi terranean.

But the war was in Korea, and not in the Mediterranean, so everyone was pretty cheerful there. When I came back [to the US from the second world war] not many people were worried about the war, and actually wanted to go back and enlist for the Korean War once it started. I never liked the military because you have a certain mindset and a lot of strict regulation.

What were you majoring in at Wake Forest? How did you get into working on the radio?

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English — some of the courses I wasn’t re ally interested in. Back then, I was interested in Hi-Fi radio, and was building ampli ers, some of which were used for broadcasting all the football, baseball and basketball games.

e ampli ers were battery operated and generated 110 volts, which went over the telephone wire all the way back to the sta tion. Not many other people were interested in building radio at Wake Forest back then, so word got around in the dormitories about my interest and what I was making. It was also something completely di erent than what me and my brother would later go on to do he later became a physicist.

You were a professional artist after college, how has your passion for art developed over time?

I started drawing at about ve years-old, and at rst it was a comic strip of Felix

the Cat. I drew it on toilet paper, and I would copy Felix on each square of the paper. roughout [undergraduate college] I illustrated the covers for the student magazines that were published there, and the Howler, the yearbook.

Eventually, I got private art lessons and went to an art school in Chicago. ey most ly prepared students for commercial art, and advertising. ey wanted to teach you how to draw something that would make other people buy another thing. But I had some teachers that were interested in classical art, who had studied in Europe, that got me into portraits. Portraits were something that peo ple could possess for a long time and enjoy, so I painted portraits for a long time — I also did several for the deans of Chapel Hill and Salem College.

Wake Forest has probably changed quite a bit since you attended in your undergraduate years. Can you tell me a little bit about anything that might still be the same?

At school, everybody knew everybody it was that small, and I take it that it still might be that way. ey had a place downtown called Shorties where you could get a choc olate milkshake for 15 cents. I bet that has probably changed.

What kind of music would they play on the radio station back at the beginning?

It was mostly classical music. We played one of my favorites: Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, and we also played the big bands and guys such as Jimmy Dorsey. ere was also “Deaconlight Serenade”, which was some romance music for students on campus.

Last year, WAKE radio celebrated its 75th anniversary since it went live in 1948 playing the song “Dear Old Wake Forest.”

What inspired you to make such complicated machines and work on the radio?

e demand that the student body had for it, and also that I knew that the entire community could use it. I was already curious about Hi-Fi radio and putting together transmitters, so why not use my curiosity to help everyone around me?

Contact Connor Mcneely at mcnecb19@wfu.edu

The Wake Forest-based group uses music to foster connection with local residents and their families

73 years after his graduation, Herring’s legacy at Wake is alive and well

Conversations with Ralph Herring, founder of WAKE Radio

Photo courtesy of Alex Herring

OPINION

OLD GOLD & BLACK

International Politics

Mahsa Amini deserves justice

Heisenberg Staff Columnist

During the last few days, the streets of over 40 cities in Iran have more closely resembled a battleground than a metropolis. Flooded with protestors, consumed by ames and reverberating with chants, chaos has enveloped the country. e con ict on these streets, however, is not war, but rather a retaliation against the oppression of women that has erupted following the murder of Mahsa Amini.

On Friday, Sept. 23, Amini was arrested by the Iranian “morality police” for breaking the country’s hijab law. She died later that day after su ering blunt trauma to her head. Iranian o cials claimed that Amini’s death resulted from a heart at tack, yet multiple eyewitnesses have disputed this, saying she was beaten in the police van upon her arrest.

Amini’s family has joined the chorus of voices calling for justice after news of her attack circulated through Iran. Her parents, who commented on the atrocity publicly, labeled it torture, further stoking the re of unrest already unfolding in the streets.

Amini’s death is merely the tip of the iceberg in what has been an attack on women’s autonomy since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Fundamental human rights, such as the ability to receive an education, gain equal opportunities in marriage and protection against violence have been dismantled, among many other measures seeking to reinforce the patriarchal and traditional Islamic values of the regime.

In the four decades between the Iranian Revolution and the present day, protests have taken place speci cally regarding forced veiling and hijab mandates. Despite gaining momen tum and garnering the support of women across the country, these demonstrations have done very little to alter the govern ment’s attitude towards “improper” dress.

In 2019, protests ravaged the nation in what was known as Bloody November, calling for a new Iranian democracy. is movement became the most violent uprising since the Revolution, and resulted in greater government restrictions on personal freedoms.

Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s extremist president elected in 2021, has maintained the oppressive ideals present in the country surrounding the practice of veiling. Raisi has additionally strengthened government response to breaches of this practice by seeking out and jailing individuals found in violation of these laws. For many, including Amini, this has cost them the ultimate price.

e magnitude to which Amini’s death has been met with opposition is an inspiring sight to behold, particularly in a

country where the stakes for engaging in acts of de ance are high. As women across the nation publicly remove their hijabs and cut their hair, those from all around the globe have turned to watch. However, the response from the Iranian government indicates that the struggle is far from over.

e ongoing demonstrations have caused Iranian authorities to restrict internet access throughout the nation until the protests cease. While the con ict escalates, and the death toll continues to rise in the dozens, it is unsure when that date will be.

e international attention directed towards Iran over the course of the last week has demonstrated the power of social media in times of oppression and uprising. Fueling action through the sharing of photos, videos and information, the movement has spread from Tehran to cities possessing even more traditional Islamic values, such as the city of Mashhad. Iranian authorities have begun attempting to identify protestors from photos and videos disseminating across the internet in order to enforce punitive measures. Authorities have also threatened to counter protestors with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the army. In streets already ablaze with con ict, this warning looms large as the demonstrations become increasingly more dangerous to attend.

While the protests have shown an outpouring of female sup-

Sophie Guymon, guymsm20@wfu.edu Maryam Khanum, khanmg20@wfu.edu

port, men have joined the ranks, too. As the days drag on and outrage is ampli ed, men have taken to the streets to express their fury alongside the women of the country. eir presence does not go unnoticed, especially during such a critical point in Iran’s reckoning with the historic patriarchal systems at play. ere is hope, however slim, that these protests could rally the country, resulting in an upheaval of the current political rulers. ough the likelihood that this movement has the potential to overthrow the extremist leaders holding power is small, the passion and resilience shown by protesters has been encouraging.

Women in Iran are tired of living under decades of oppression. As protesters symbolically cast stones at portraits of Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei, reminiscent of centuries of heinous stoning committed against women, they are demanding an end to the radical values inherent to the regime.

Only time will tell if Iran can gather the support necessary to elicit the action they wish to see. For now, the world will continue to watch, with the hope that after years of brutality and injustice against women, Iran can have a chance at equality.

Contact Natasha Heisenberg at heisng20@wfu.edu

e views expressed in all opinion columns represent those of the article’s author, not the opinions of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board

Natasha

Photo courtesy of Reuters

"The magnitude to which Amini's death has been met with opposition is an inspiring sight to behold."

I’M DONE BURNING MY CLOTHES

Refections on sexism and the male gaze

VIRGINIA NOONE

Photography Editor

I wore a Hollister skirt with blue and orange flowers and an oversized zipper that I had got ten on sale from Marshall’s. It was paired with white vans and a heather gray H&M t-shirt that fit loosely. I fiddled with the barrette that held the front piece of my untamed hair back from my eyes.

My father and younger brother walked slightly ahead of me on the city street, engaged in a disagreement over the Patriots’ starting roster or some Boston-related sports thing. I looked at the spring flowers blossoming in the windowsills of apartments and imag ined what my windowsill might look like one day.

As we passed a group of men indulging in a smoke break, I watched as one of them looked from my shoes to my skirt and eventually to my eyes. He smirked and gave a nod in my direction.

I first looked around to see if the gesture was intended for me — it was. Then I looked again to see if anyone had noticed — they hadn’t.

I was 13 years old.

Ashamed, I never told my brother or dad what had happened just outside of their pe ripheral vision. As I lay awake that night re playing the small encounter, which I now remember as the first of many, I felt so angry. Strangely, almost all of my anger was directed at the stupid flowery skirt. I never wanted to touch that worthless piece of fabric again. I wanted to see it burn. Despite being in perfect condition, the skirt would forever be stained in my mind.

As time went on and I grew older, the pile of my outfits that I was ready to set on fire only grew larger. The light-wash Levi’s jeans that an older classmate grabbed the back pocket of; the yellow bikini top an old man at the beach had commented on; the black satin home coming dress that communicated the wrong message; the white tank top with red hearts that caused my drink to be roofied and even my oldest pair of oversized running shorts that I had worn since middle school — I wanted to watch them all burn.

I walked away after a man had insisted on giving me a handshake in broad daylight and then refused to let go until after I smiled and pulled away repeatedly. I looked down at my favorite red sundress with tiny blue flower pet als that cut just above my knees. I couldn’t be lieve it was stained just as the others had been. I couldn’t believe that I gave him a polite smile and laughed.

Later that night, I called my mom and told her casually what had happened earlier — pass ing it off as a strange, maybe even funny oc currence.

“You have to learn how to not be as nice. If you want this stuff to stop happening, you have to find a way to seem meaner,” she

I focused on maintaining my compo sure and steadying my voice, despite feeling the tears welling up in my

“Yeah, I know,” I responded. Logically, I understand that it’s not the outfit I wear or the reaction I give. I know there’s very little I can do to pre vent this from happening to myself or other girls. I’m sure my mom knows this as well. Af ter all, she’s told me her horror stories that mirror mine and those of most of my friends.

The sad truth is that she just wants to be able to offer her daughter a solu tion. So, she tells me to be meaner. My solution is to mentally set my tainted wardrobe on fire. As women, we continuously search for ways to fix a cultural problem that is none of our doing.

We carry pepper spray. We share our loca tions with each other. We walk in groups to parties. We don’t accept open drinks. We train in self-defense. We do what we can to prevent and cope with the reality of being a woman.

The truth is that I’m not sure where the solu tion lies. I’m not entirely confident there’s one to be found. But we owe it to ourselves and our daughters to keep trying.

This begins with talking about our experi ences. We have to share our stories. Keeping our experiences and emotions buried only enables men to continue with this problem atic behavior. Having hard conversations with brothers, sisters, boyfriends, parents and class mates about what is happening is the first step towards improving conditions. This is a call to conversation.

Contact Virginia Noone at noonvc21@wfu.edu

TROUBLE IN PARADISE:

The aftermath of Hurricane Fiona

JIMENA ELMUFDI Contributing Columnist

Five years after the devastation of Hurri cane Maria, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (DR) were forced to relive yet an other catastrophic natural disaster. The forceful winds and incessant rain brought by Hurricane Fiona –- a Category 3 storm — swept into the western part of Puerto Rico on Sunday, Sept. 18 and continued on a disastrous route, reach ing the easternmost portion of the DR on Monday.

The storm threw the entire island of Puerto Rico into disarray as mass power outages, flashflooding and disrupted water supplies pushed the island into a state of complete darkness. For Puerto Rican communities already suffering from inefficient electricity grids and recurring blackouts, the impacts of Hurricane Fiona set back the recovery process, hurting the nation’s 5-year-old open wound. A lot of the infrastruc ture that took months to repair after Hurricane Maria has once again fallen apart, creating a sense of a never-ending game of snakes and ladders for the citizens of Puerto Rico.

As for the DR, Hurricane Fiona targeted one of the country’s most economically precious regions, Punta Cana, which is home to more than 90 resort hotels. With high season (the most popular time of year) being just around the corner, there is a tremendous amount of pressure on these businesses to pull everything together in time to fulfill tourists’ expectations of tropical bliss, while locals remain submerged in the crude reality of flooded homes and scarce resources.

It is very easy for those of us who are not witnessing this event firsthand to read a few headlines and move on, believing that once the rain and wind cease the worst part will be over. But in countries like Puerto Rico and the DR, people seldom experience the proverbial “calm after the storm.” As soon as the rain clears, the real agony begins. During the never-ending hours of a hurricane’s passing, our fight-orflight mind state is activated. We are fully present and concentrating on simply making it through, but that split second of relief we feel when the rain and wind finally come to a gradual halt is unfortunately short-lived. The returning sunlight spotlights the gloom, reveal ing everything that was lost.

Feeding into the idea of ‘seasonal depres sion,’ the hefty humidity, damp and sticky nights, bare trees and battered towns play a meaningful role in the process of recovery. This aesthetic of ruin is reflected in people’s lack of optimism. When faced with adversity, we are encouraged to persevere — but the process of recovery can feel excruciatingly long when government officials fail to allocate resources appropriately, extinguishing the hopes of those who were most deeply affected.

Natural disasters like these also worsen the socioeconomic gap, sinking the most vulner able communities further into poverty. Under developed communities that are settled among low land surrounding rivers suffer the frighten ing fate of violently swollen rivers. Families lo cated in areas that are considered danger zones are rarely relocated when rivers take over their homes.

We are constantly reminded that material objects should not dictate our happiness, but this is only true when we don’t have to think about basic necessities like food, water, shelter and electricity.

A few months after Hurricane Maria in 2017, New York Times journalist Caitlin Dickerson visited a Puerto Rican suicide pre vention center to shoot a short documentary film examining the emerging mental health crisis. Hurricane Maria left hundreds with nothing but despair amidst physical and eco nomic disaster. After the unsettling effects of Hurricane Fiona, these traumatic events will undoubtedly repeat themselves in the wake of Hurricane Fiona.

So how do we help people cope with losing everything when they already have so little?

Many local organizations have started to raise awareness and come up with recovery strategies, inspiring a sense of community aid. Although this short-term support is necessary, we should follow the lead of Dickerson and dig deeper into the legacy that these hurricanes are leaving behind. Apart from improving the ef ficacy and preparedness of emergency services, there are further social implications that arise from catastrophes like these that should be taken into account. Our beautiful Caribbean islands won’t stop being attacked by hurricanes any time soon.

Contact Jimena Elmufdi at elmujm20@wfu.edu

Photocourtesyof WBTW

Sophie Guymon/Old Gold & Black

Letter to the Editor

"Deactown" threatens property rights

As much as I admire the editors and journa lists of e Old Gold and Black, I am disap pointed by the paper’s September 21 mischa racterization of my neighborhood’s opposition to new student housing in the residential areas across from campus (“Wake Forest Students are Advised to be More Respectful to eir Neighbors”). e lawn signs referred to in the article do not object to students but to new student housing. My neighbors and I are speci cally responding to the threat of new housing development on Freds Road (perpen dicular to Friendship Circle). A 15 acre forest has been purchased by College Corner Pro perties (it is held by the recently created “Freds Road LLC,” owned by James Carros, husband of CCP’s owner Ashley Carros), and it is very likely that the owners will clear-cut the land to build the kind of cheap, disposable housing that now blights Polo road just north of cam pus. is is what we oppose: the destruction of ourneighborhood, not by individual stu dents but by a real estate developer who has no hesitation about ending what has been a

tranquil way of life for generations of residents. We also object to the way that developer’s pro ject is hinged to the university’s broader expan sion—it’s self-declared right to claim any and every acre of Winston Salem as “Deactown.”

Students are hardly the beginning or end of the threat to our neighborhood, though I understand why they are everyone’s presumed antagonist. It’s easy to obscure the university’s encroachment into the residential neighborhood over the decades by focusing on individual students’ behavior, as if it was simply a matter of conduct and personal responsibility. However, the issue is not how students behave but how and why the university leans on the local area to absorb the housing problems created by its admissions and growth plan. Yes, many students living in the area have parties, make a lot of noise, discard trash along the road and on lawns, and generally disrupt the 9-5 lives of their adult neighbors. at’s not unique to Wake Forest and it’s been true of students as long as there have been students (it was true when I was a student. Hell, I was that student). Meanwhile, my adult, home-owning neighbors run their power tools at all hours of the day, spewing out

noise and air pollution. e truth is, it’s hard for all of us to be good neighbors, and being a good neighbor is a constantly negotiated task. ese are the ages-old problems of neighbors and neighborhoods, cited in Leviticus no less, which nally tells us to love the neighbor as we love ourselves, paraphrased by the Jewish sage Hillel as “that which is hateful to you, do not do unto your neighbor,” and paraphrased by me as simply, “don’t be a jerk, and you know exactly what I mean by ‘jerk’.”

is ethics of the neighbor are easy enough to sum up because of the straightforward logic of substitution: do for me what you’d want me to do for you. But the politics of the neighbor are di cult: where we live and how we live are determined by a political economy over which most of us have no control. In a city where the biggest economic and political driver is Wake Forest, the university creates the conditions that the rest of us have to live in. Given that the university’s over-admission of students all but mandates that students live in the neighborhood, it has created the conditions that increase demand for property, and which facilitate the spread of students onto my block.

Very likely, the owners of the property along

National Collegiate Athletic Association

BYU incident reflects racism in college athletics

Dean Franco English Professor Lucy Roberts Staff Columnist

Racism within the sporting world runs deep— historically, but also today.

During a women’s volleyball game at Brigham Young University on Aug. 26, Ra chel Richardson, the only Black starter for Duke’s women’s team, and her “fellow Afri can American teammates … were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match,” according to her statement released two days after the game.

Richardson criticized the BYU o cials and coaching sta for failing to “take the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable be havior and create a safe environment.”

BYU is a private university sponsored by e Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has a predominately white stu dent body, with less than one percent of the population being Black.

In fact, a 2021 report issued by BYU themselves found “that racial minorities are highly underrepresented in our student body and that [this] trend is worsening rather than improving.”

is lack of diversity is re ective of the racial discrimination that is pervasive within all aspects of the institution, including their sports programs.

A couple weeks after opening an investi gation into the incident, and banning the accused fan from future sporting events, BYU concluded that their investigation did

not nd “any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heck ling,” and lifted the ban.

Following the ndings of the investiga tion, Duke Athletic Director Nina King re leased a statement reiterating the university’s support of Richardson.

e circumstances surrounding this inci dent provoke a deeper conversation about the treatment of athletes, particularly Black players, and its intersection with the broad er societal treatment of Black women in this country.

If you attend any sporting event, you’ll notice that the stands are full of fans who interact with the game in various ways. However, one normalized aspect of fan commentary is their ability to yell hostile, rude or disparaging things about players, whether these comments are related to their athletic ability, a speci c play or even their appearance.

When it comes to college sports, this is an especially interesting phenomenon, par ticularly when one considers how the dy namic often involves adults yelling at young students. Fans seem to separate the human from the athlete, resulting in the dehuman ization of young players.

When race is factored in, the BYU inci dent is not too surprising.

At a primarily white school with a history of racism in their policies, the fan clearly saw no problem with yelling harmful, racist obscenities to the only Black player on the court.

Freds Road will exert their right to clear and build. e deer that live in the forest will move on or die, along with the hawks and owls that roost there. e temperature of the neighborhood will increase at least 2-3 degrees, tra c will triple, noise will increase. e entire character of the neighborhood will change, and property values for residents will decrease. For its part, the university will continue to tuttut and issue missives about student conduct, as if it had nothing to do with determining the conditions that destroyed a neighborhood. Wake Forest will tout character and leadership, and expectstudents to be the ag bearers of these virtues, but will never dare to challenge the shibboleth of property rights, let alone lead in a way that is good for the human welfare of its local-area residents. You various deans of conduct and student life: you should recognize that administering students’ behavior means administering the university’s cynical expansion and ruthless betrayal of its motto, pro humanitate. at’s what those signs are about.

Contact Dean Franco at francodj@wfu.edu

Photo of Rachel Richardson courtesy of The News & Observer

Ian Ste ensen ste p21@wfu.edu Aaron Nataline nataae21@wfu.edu

Demon Deacons bounce back in ACC play

Wake Forest's run game paved the way to a comfortable win over Florida State

IAN STEFFENSEN Sports Editor

Wake Forest bounced back from a heart breaking loss to Clemson with a statement win against Florida State in Tallahassee.

After falling behind 7-0 after the game’s first drive, the Demon Deacons stepped up in all areas to score 28 unanswered points and win by a final score of 31-21. For its efforts, Wake Forest was awarded the No. 15 slot in both the coaches’ poll and the AP poll.

There was a lot of uncertainty heading into this contest. Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday afternoon, and with Florida State canceling classes, many wondered if the game would be postponed or moved to a neutral site. However, the game went on as scheduled, and Wake Forest continued to put the nation on notice – and put to rest any con cerns after last week’s loss.

“Last week was a soul-crusher, and I certain ly had concerns with our ability to get them back,” Head Coach Dave Clawson said. “They just put in a great week of work and prepared, and came down here expecting to win.”

On the first drive, Florida State marched down the field and quickly found wide open gaps in the Wake Forest defense. Defense has continued to be a liability for the Demon Deacons, and giving up some big plays early quickly shifted the momentum towards the Seminoles.

Although we are in Week 5, penalties contin ue to be a problem for Wake Forest – especially holding penalties. On the first drive, Clawson took a gamble and went for it on fourth down, and the offense converted — only for it to be called back for a holding penalty. Wake For est finally got going on their second offense series. Redshirt junior quarterback Sam Hart man connected with his favorite target, red shirt junior wide receiver A.T. Perry, on three occasions for a total of 42 yards. Running back Christian Turner capped off the 84-yard drive,

punching it on

the goal-line stand on fourth and goal for his third touchdown on the year. The Wake Forest defense shut down Florida State on their next series, and put the ball back in the hands of their offense.

The Demon Deacons got their run game go ing in the second quarter, with Sophomore Justice Ellis breaking through the Seminole defense for a 35-yard rush to get Wake Forest inside the red zone. Hartman found A.T. Perry again, this time in the back of the endzone, to put the Demon Deacons on top 14-7.

Wake Forest’s defense came up with a big play on its next series. Redshirt sophomore Linebacker Jaylen Hudson hit QB Jordan Tra vis to force a fumble, which was then recov ered by junior linebacker Chase Jones to set up the offense right in Florida State territory. With pressure coming on 3rd and 8, Hartman remained calm and collected in the pocket and threw a 20-yard pass to wide receiver Dona von Greene who made a spectacular contested catch in the endzone, which put Wake Forest up 21-7. Wake Forest looked to put even more points on the board late in the second quar ter. The offense made it to the Florida State 26 yard line only for Hartman to be sacked on third down. Clawson sent out his kicking unit, but Redshirt Freshman Matthew Dennis missed the 44-yard field goal, his first miss of the season. Florida State got the ball back with three minutes left in the first half and looked to mount a charge. The Seminoles marched down the field with ease, and found themselves in the heart of the red zone at the 11-yard line. But the Wake Forest defense came up big and stopped the Florida State attack, and forced them to kick a 29-yard field goal, which kicker Ryan Fitzgerald also missed. Wake Forest led 21-7 going into the locker room. Wake Forest’s ground game was the story of the first rushing for over 199 yards in the first half.

Wake Forest continued where they left off, opening the second half with their fourth un answered touchdown on the day. It was a bal

anced attack with Hartman finding Perry numerous times, and Ellison running right through the Florida State defense for a 12-yard score. The Seminoles would not go away that easily though, scoring on their next series with an 85-yard drive. The Wake Forest defense came up big yet again with Gavin Holmes in tercepting the pass from Travis on their failed two point conversion attempt to keep the De mon Deacons lead at 28-13.

After stalling on back to back drives, Wake Forest continued to leave the door open for a Florida State comeback. Travis continued to attack the open gaps in the Demon Deacon de fense, finding his tight end Camren McDonald for 28 yards to set them up inside the red zone.

Travis capped off the drive with a four yard touchdown pass to Johnny Wilson, and with the Seminoles converting on the two point try, they were right back in it to make it a seven point game. Wake Forest was not about to let another lead slip away, and made sure to make the most of their next drive. Hartman found Ke’Shawn Williams three times for 30 total yards. On one of the grabs, Williams caught the ball over a defender to save an interception and keep the drive going. The offense ate a lot of clock on this series but were forced to settle for a field goal. Dennis nailed the 27 yarder to put Wake Forest up 31-21. The Wake Forest defense continued to lock down Florida State and stopped any efforts of a comeback. After Florida State was forced to kick a field goal which came up short, the game was officially over, and Wake Forest had come out on top.

Running back Justice Ellison had this to say after the team’s win: “People might say a lot of things about Wake Forest, but we're a team. We stick together no matter what. If you're not doing this for something bigger than yourself, what are you doing it for?”

The Demon Deacons return home to Tru ist Field to face off against Army next week at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Ian Steffensen at stefp21@wfu.edu

Photo courtesy of Florida State Athletics

Photo courtesy of Florida State Athletics Ke'Shawn Williams (No. 13 in white) prepares to explode off of the line as the Wake Forest offense takes flight.

Wide receiver (No. 80 in white) Jah mal Banks eludes a Seminole defender.

Men’s soccer falls at home versus No. 4 Duke

In a controversial Big 4 match, the Demon Deacons lost their frst game at Spry in 365 days

Midfielder Colin Thomas (No. 26 in gold) gets the angle on two Blue Devil defenders before firing a shot on goal. Wake For est outshot Duke 18-14 despite the loss, with Thomas leading the midfield unit to set up many of those oppurtunities.

MATTHEW KULYNYCH Contributing Writer

The No. 1 ranked ranked Demon Deacons dropped their frst match of the season Saturday night at Spry Stadium 3-2 to the No. 4 ranked Duke Blue Devils in a massive Big Four game. Despite outshooting Duke 18-14 on the night, Wake Forest was unable to come away with the victory as they fell to 9-1-0 and 3-1-0 in conference play. This loss also ended the Demon Dea cons’ program-record, 13-game winning streak at home in front of the Spry Stadium faithful.

The match against Duke was highly anticipated, and despite the loss, the game provided plenty of excitement and lived up to the hype. Duke came into the match ranked 4th in the nation, with a 7-0-2 record and having only conceded 3 goals on the season, so it was bound to be a big test for the Demon Deacons.

Coming off of two statement 6-1 wins in the week prior over the George Mason Patriots and the Clemson Tigers, the Demon Deacons came into this big matchup in great form. This momen tum seemed to carry on into the early stages of the game, as Wake Forest dominated proceedings from the frst half whistle. The Demon Deacons’ frst chance came six minutes into the match, when junior left back Jahlane Forbes whipped in a dangerous cross to the back post, but a Duke defender was able to clear before tricky junior winger Colin Thomas could head it home.

Three minutes later, some great build-up play on the left side between Forbes and sophomore Baba Niang led to a blocked shot from sophomore midfelder Roald Mitchell, and junior Os car Sears lashed a shot from 25 yards on the rebound but Duke’s keeper was in position to save and hold the shot.

Unfortunately, pivotal midfelder Hosei Kijima had to be withdrawn with an injury following an attempted cross in the 20th minute. The junior from Yokohama, Japan was replaced by sophomore Ryan Fessler, and Demon Deacon fans everywhere hope Kijima undergoes a speedy recovery, as he is tied for 3rd in team goals with three and is extremely important to the strong midfeld unit.

Perhaps the loss of Kijima and the long break in play slowed Wake Forest’s momentum a bit, but the Demon Deacons cre ated yet another big chance in the 24th minute. Colin Thomas received a pass from Fessler and whipped in a gorgeous cross at the back post to Roald Mitchell. Mitchell got a free header away, but a sliding Duke defender managed to block the shot,

and junior Oscar Sears fred the follow up over the bar. Minutes later, Sears unleashed another thunderbolt of a strike, but it few just past the top right corner from long range.

Duke fnally started to fnd their feet in the game, as the last 15 minutes of the half were largely played near Wake For est sophomore goalkeeper Trace Alphin’s box. Fortunately, the strong backline led by captain Garrison Tubbs and his centerback partner junior Prince Amponsah were able to neutralize any Duke attacks.

As the halftime whistle blew, the Demon Deacons must have felt unlucky to not be in the lead. They had taken seven shots to Duke’s two and had dominated the game. Jahlane Forbes and Colin Thomas in particular seemed to be at the center of a lot of Wake Forest’s biggest chances.

However, Duke came out in the second half carrying the mo mentum they had started to build late in the frst half.

Despite no clear chances in the frst 10 minutes of the sec ond half, the Blue Devils looked more threatening. Following a foul by senior Takuma Suzuki about 40 yards from goal in the 57th minute, Duke whipped in a free kick that was headed just past Alphin’s reach by Shakur Mohammed. It looked like Baba Niang had been bowled over by a Duke attacker just prior to the header, but no whistle came from the referee.

The packed crowd at Spry Stadium would break out into a “Wake…Forest” call-and-response chant immediately follow ing the goal, and the energy seemed to reach the players on the feld. Niang would get his foul just a minute later to win a penalty kick and give Wake Forest an excellent opportunity to equalize.

Following a long ball by Tubbs, Niang had cut towards the end line and was clumsily taken out by a Duke defender with a slide tackle. Beginning his penalty kick with a stuttered run up, Niang calmly slotted his penalty kick into the bottom right cor ner, sending the Blue Devil goalkeeper the wrong way.

The Demon Deacons would unfortunately fnd themselves behind just moments later in the 60th minute. Tubbs sent a slight ly under-hit back pass to Trace Alphin, who appeared to slightly hesitate before coming off his line. This combination allowed Duke forward Jai Bean to block Alphin’s pass, and it somehow managed to sneak inside the post to give Duke the lead right back.

This uncharacteristic error seemed to wake up Wake Forest, as they began to regain momentum and press for another equal izer. And they thought they had it with just under 20 minutes to go, as sophomore Julian Kennedy thumped home a header only

to be denied by an offside fag. Those in the stadium seemed to think he was onside, but there were no huge complaints from Kennedy and no replay angle could confrm or deny the decision on the broadcast.

This disallowed goal seemed to defate the Demon Deacons a bit, as Duke pushed for a 3rd and forced two big saves out of Alphin in the next fve minutes, one of which led to the corner which would give the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead. Axel Gudbjorns son was able to fick a header into the far right corner, and the Demon Deacons had conceded their 2nd set piece goal of the night in the 77th minute.

But Wake Forest was not done fghting yet. With a corner of their own in the 80th minute, the Demon Deacons found their second via an own goal. Junior midfelder Omar Hernandez whipped in a ball towards Baba Niang at the near post, and it ficked off a Duke defender and into the far corner to make it a 3-2 game. The Demon Deacons turned up the energy, and all of Spry Stadium was on their feet for what looked to be an exciting fnish.

Roald Mitchell came very close to fnding an equalizer in the 87th minute. Sophomore right back Cristian Escribano did excellent to dribble around his defender and make space for a cross to the top of the six-yard box to Mitchell. Unfortunately, the Demon Deacons’ top scorer was unable to put this one in the back of the net, as his header fell calmly to the feet of the Duke goalkeeper.

The fnal chance of the match came for Baba Niang in the 90th minute. He dribbled around his defender twice and cre ated space 30 yards from goal, before sending a powerful effort straight towards the top right corner. Duke’s goalkeeper took the save a little too calmly, as he spilled it off the post, but luck was on his side as it fell right back into his arms, and the fnal whistle came just a few seconds later.

Wake Forest ended the game with 18 shots to Duke’s 14, and both sides took eight corners. Despite the loss, the crowd was electric at Spry Stadium, and coach Bobby Muuss took to Twit ter to say, “Thank you to the amazing crowd that came out to Spry tonight. I am sorry we didn’t get the result you and the team wanted and deserved, but I felt the guys played good football and battled to the end.”

Contact Matthew Kulynych at kulymh21@wfu.edu

Black

Photo

Photo courtesy of Evan Harris

College Football Week 5 Recap

DYLAN TYNES Staff Writer

As the year moves into October, the college football season nally settles into its routine of high-stakes conference matchups in which every week matters. Naturally, the rst day of the month brought with it a lot of turmoil in the sport, with ten ranked teams los ing, mostly in the second half of the AP poll. Viewers at Wake Forest can be forgiven for missing the news from around the league, however, since they were preoccupied with the Demon Deacons’ big 31-21 win over Florida State. If that was you, here’s a little of what you missed.

In the highest-billed matchup of the day, No. 5 Clemson took down tenth-ranked NC State in a slow but competitive game. Tigers quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was e cient in an e ort that saw Clem son maintain a lead for most of the game. Uiagalelei showcased his size and running ability in the e ort, frustrating the Wolfpack defense throughout the game. With 209 yards through the air and 73 on the ground, the dynamic Uiagalelei continues to shine in keeping the Tigers o ense unpredictable. NC State, for their part, looked like a top-25 team, but their of fense has real aws that can be exploited by another solid team.

No. 2 Alabama had a brief scare in its game against No. 12 Arkansas after reigning Heisman Trophy win ner Bryce Young left the game with a throwing shoul der injury. e Razorbacks built momentum from that point as Alabama’s o ense became stunted—Ar kansas cashed in 16 unanswered points in the third quarter. ey quickly moved within ve of the Crim son Tide.

Alabama was fortunate to be able to fall back on star running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who exploded for 206 yards on the ground and two scores to lead the Tide to a 49-26 win. Gibbs accomplished this with just 18 carries as the fatigued Razorback defense let him rumble into the secondary more and more in the

home stretch.

First-ranked Georgia did not fare as well, trailing most of their contest against down-and-out Missouri. While the Bulldogs managed to prevail 26-22 in the end, it took a signi cant second-half comeback to do it after the Tigers went into halftime with a 16-6 lead. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV did enough to win but only after starting slowly, as he nished 24-43 with 312 yards. Missouri capitalized on Georgia’s turnovers and miscues to keep it close, which could become a recurrent problem for the Bulldogs as they look to repeat as national champi ons. Despite coming away with the win, Georgia gave teams everywhere hope that they can be toppled from the No. 1 spot.

No. 17 TCU provided perhaps the greatest shock to the college football world in Week Five by handing Oklahoma a 55-24 loss that felt even less competitive than the score indicates. e Horned Frogs averaged just under 9 yards per play in a performance featuring four di erent 60-yard plays for touchdowns. One of these highlights came from quarterback Max Dug gan’s extraordinary 67-yard run for a score. He and running back Kendre Miller combined for 252 rush ing yards on the day.

e Sooners saw quarterback Dillon Gabriel exit the game after a scary hit to the head in the second quarter, but Oklahoma was down by a large margin before the hit. e defender who brought the hit was ejected, however, following a scu e between the teams. e Horned Frogs are now 4-0 on the season and are headed into an improbable ranked matchup with Kansas next week.

e No. 19 Jayhawks, for their part, took down Iowa State 14-11 in a slog of a game that somehow involved an accidental two point conversion by the Cyclones. Iowa State struggled to establish any run game, and Kansas survived a scoreless second half to win.

It was not pretty at all, but the Jayhawks improved to an astounding 5-0 to reach their win total from the past three seasons combined. e meat of their schedule still lies ahead, but Kansas has quickly be come one of the premier stories of the college football season as they host their rst College Gameday next week versus TCU.

No. 7 Kentucky became the highest-ranked team to fall on Saturday after a heartbreaking loss to Ole Miss, 22-19. e Wildcats squandered opportunities late, as their last three possessions ended within Ole Miss territory and produced no points. Quarterback Will Levis fumbled in each of the last two posses sions, including one after a helmet-to-helmet hit that was not called for targeting. Levis endured constant pressure throughout the game, and Ole Miss even managed to wrangle him down in his own endzone for a safety in the second quarter.

Kentucky missed a eld goal and an extra point as well, but Ole Miss ultimately took care of business, led by 106 yards and a touchdown on the ground from running back Quinshon Judkins. e Rebels walk away with a top-10 win in their rst real test of the season.

On Friday night, No. 18 UCLA prevailed over No. 21 Washington 40-32 in an exciting battle of unbeat ens out west. e Bruins jumped out to a solid lead early, leading 33-10 shortly after halftime. Washing ton was taking damage from both ground and air, as UCLA running back gave them 124 rushing yards and quarterback Dorian ompson-Robinson pro duced three scores through 315 passing yards.

But Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. kept things interesting, nishing with 345 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in a losing e ort. He helped the Huskies generate 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but the Bruins managed to hang on. Both these teams played well, but UCLA established itself early and made fewer mistakes, turn ing a few heads in the process of improving to 5-0 on the year.

As the season grinds on, more of the questions around college football will begin to nd answers. Next week features a number of intriguing matchups, including TCU-Kansas in a battle of Big 12 upstarts, Tennessee-LSU in a cross-divisional SEC matchup, and Utah-UCLA in a game that could go a long way in determining who wins the Pac-12 South. ese games just scratch the surface of what lies ahead next week and beyond in a college football season that is just beginning to heat up.

Contact Dylan Tynes at tynedw19@wfu.edu

The top two teams in the nation Alabama and Georgia suffered brief upset scares in their games

Undefeated Kansas will host their first Col lege Gameday when they face undefeated TCU .

Photo Courtesy of Kansas Athletics

UCLA QB Dorian Thompson Robinson hurdles over his defender in their win over Washington.

Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times

Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu

Josie Scratchard, scraja20@wfu.edu

Changes in children's media reflects broader phenomena

Loud, brash, colorful programs beat out laid back formats of years past

“

ALYSSA SOLTREN Staff Writer

“Why does this city’s social infrastructure de pend on a ten-year-old boy and his six puppies?”

I ask over my baby sister’s shoulder. “And do they realize how many of these problems could have been prevented if they had arrested this guy the rst time? ey literally have a police o cer dog!”

I am the eldest of four children. We’re spaced out in age relatively evenly: I am 20 years old and the youngest is turning four in November. I’ve been able to observe the evolution of preschool television programs from when I was that small all the way up to what they televise today. You can imagine the vast amount of opinions that I have generated as a result. ey often result in me mak ing comments such as that aforementioned one against shows like “Paw Patrol”. It also results in a visual or verbal reprimand from my mother, much to my chagrin.

Nevertheless, I still enjoy taking jabs at contem porary children’s shows that I nd terribly subpar while reminiscing on the shows I grew up with. It’s a humorously passionate topic among myself and my siblings and cousins. But what do you do when you nd yourself spending a good amount of your summer looking after your sister while the rest of your family runs errands? It’s just you, her and the annoying characters on the TV. With no one else to talk to, I, unfortunately, became fa miliar with nearly every show that would play on Nick Jr. and Disney Junior. It was an odd feeling when I moved back onto campus and wasn’t hear

ing some theme music playing in the background of my activities.

Upon sparking the idea to write an article about this, I initially planned to just talk about my opin ions. However, I later realized that it would be an even better idea to gauge the general opinions of our fellow Wake Forest students as well. Even if it’s not a topic we normally discuss, most of us were still raised by the same childhood shows. us, a survey was born and was taken by 58 students (in cluding myself), providing me with some interest ing results.

e selection of students primarily consisted of juniors, as well as more females than males. Most participants were from my Research Methods in Psychology course. e demographics aren’t ideal, but that was my convenience sample. If these stu dents were a decent enough sample of the Wake Forest student body, then it appears that roughly one-in-three students either has a young relative or babysits a young child who is engrossed in the preschool shows of today. e show that was most reported to be watched by these youth was “Paw Patrol”, decisively. Runners-up included “Peppa Pig”, “Blue’s Clues & You” and “Bubble Guppies”. When students were asked if they actually enjoyed any of the shows the younger kids watched, both “Paw Patrol” and “Wild Kratts” were mentioned a handful of times.

Next, I turned my attention to the shows of our childhood: the early-to-mid 2000s. Out of the 58 participants and the 16 shows I listed — which were inherently di cult to choose — “Blue’s Clues” was the most watched, closely followed by

e Backyardigans” and “Dora the Explorer”. Only about one in every ve students reported that they would not want to watch any of their favorite childhood shows again.

e nal question on the survey, though, is what left me with a lot to think about. I asked stu dents what they thought of the quality of preschool shows compared from then to now. e majority stated that they had since declined in quality, but some participants left comments detailing their full thoughts. One student described their impres sion of recent shows as “very loud, bright colors, in your face.” I concur in nding these aspects unap pealing — numerous shows’ constant rock music and high-energy animation are a heavy contrast to the storybook illustration styles accompanied by classical or jazz music that you would nd in “Little Bear” or “Max & Ruby”. However, one improvement that junior Sam Goodman pointed out was that “shows have gotten a lot more diverse, which is great.”

Some students were more sympathetic to to day’s preschool shows. Kendall Obando-Sanchez, a junior, explained that producers of children’s shows probably have to work on lower budgets nowadays: “Back then, preschool shows got a lot of love; now, Roblox takes up preschool kids’ time.” I recalled noticing other adaptations to modern de mands. ere are now commercials for things like vacuum cleaners and food delivery services instead of exclusively child-oriented short programs. Nick Jr. no longer o ers a di erent show every hour — instead, they spam the same show for three-hour blocks; a re ection of binge-watch culture.

But one other comment made what I thought was a critical point about all of this: “I just think that they are very di erent from what we used to watch… we do not nd them comforting or fa miliar.”

Perhaps I’m not giving as much credit to these shows as they deserve. I can acknowledge some of their merits after all. Peppa Pig is ridiculously fun ny — remember the iconic “I can’t whistle” scene? “Blaze and the Monster Machines” might actually help mitigate the widespread fear of physics con cepts. I literally run to the television whenever I hear the opening theme song for “Bluey” because I harbor respect for the show that somehow man aged to make me cry… three times. What can I say? It has a great script, well-written characters, re latable stories and real emotions — listen, I cannot stress to you enough how much I love this show, probably more than my sister does.

So, this new generation of young viewers may not grow up with the storylines and musical mas terpieces of “ e Backyardigans” or the comedy gold that was “ e Upside Down Show” — and I’m disappointed to see how few of you watched it apparently — but at least we can understand now that the new shows are simply di erent. What’s more important is that kids are still laughing and learning and hearing good stories, just like the shows that I remember most fondly.

To check out the full results of the survey, head to wfuogb.com

Contact Alyssa Soltren at soltac20@wfu.edu

Harry Styles and Taylor Swift take to the big screen

Acclaimed

EMMA SHUFORD Contributing Writer

Two of the most beloved icons of pop culture have recently taken to the Hollywood scene: Har ry Styles and Taylor Swift. e two music icons have recently taken to the big screen in their re spective lms — Styles stars as Jack Chambers in “Don’t Worry Darling” and Swift as Liz Meekins in “Amsterdam”. As these two musicians enter a new chapter of their careers, their massive fan bases are certainly waiting eagerly in anticipation.

“Don’t Worry Darling”, directed by Styles’ current girlfriend, Olivia Wilde, debuted on the big screen on Sept. 23, 2022. is thriller and horror movie, starring notable actors such as Florence Pugh as Alice Chambers, Chris Pine as Frank and director Olivia Wilde herself as Bun ny, made headlines long before ever making its splash on the big screen.

e lm centers around Alice Chambers and her husband Jack, who live in an idyllic town in the desert called Victory. Led by Frank, a group of men drive daily into the desert to work on secret technological advancements while their wives stay at home. roughout the lm, Alice begins to see cracks in Victory and begins to wonder what is really happening in this seem ingly perfect town.

e drama surrounding “Don’t Worry Dar ling” before the lm’s release threatened to signif icantly dampen the lm’s success. Initially, Styles was not even cast in the lm, with Shia LaBeouf meant to play Pugh’s husband. It was later re vealed that Wilde had red LaBeouf due to his

behavior. His ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs, also led a lawsuit against LaBeouf accusing him of sexual and physical assault. In early 2021, Styles and Wilde began dating. Hannah West (26) said, “I am team Florence Pugh because I know the original stu with Shia LaBeouf. Florence Pugh was uncomfortable with him because of sexual assault charges, but Olivia Wilde still wanted him in the movie. Overall, especially when Harry Styles started, Olivia Wilde did not separate her personal life from her professional life.”

Wilde’s previous lm, “Booksmart”, received a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, vastly di erent from the critics' response to “Don’t Worry Darling,” which garnered only a 38% on Rotten Toma toes. Ultimately, though, the lm had a $19.2 million launch compared to its $35 million over all production cost — more initial revenue than Warner Bros. expected.

Styles began his acting career with his role as Alex in the critically acclaimed lm “Dunkirk” and has since acted as Eros in “Eternals” and Younger Tom in the upcoming lm “My Po liceman”, which is set to be released on Oct. 21, 2022 — coincidentally also the release date of Swift’s new album. e reviews of Styles’ acting in “Don’t Worry Darling”, however, have been less than favorable thus far. In e Guardian’s lm review published on Sept. 24, writer Wendy Ide writes, “Florence Pugh is phenomenal in Olivia Wilde’s beautiful-looking Stepford Wiveslike thriller. But the story barely holds together — ditto Harry Styles as the husband.”

Styles’ role in the lm is central to its plot, but his character notably does not appear nearly as of

ten as Pugh’s. Freshman Toni Wade (26) watched the lm on its release date, Sept. 23.

“I think he had some good points, but at other times I think he was overacted by Florence Pugh, so it made it seem like his acting wasn’t as good,” Wade said of Styles’ acting.

“Amsterdam” is both written and directed by David O. Russell, known for lms “Silver Lin ings Playbook”, “ e Fighter” and “American Hustle”. e lm will be his rst since directing “Joy” in 2015. Swift stars alongside a cast full of celebrated actors — Christian Bale as Burt, Mar got Robbie as Valerie, John David Washington as Harold, Anya Taylor-Joy as Libby Voze, Chris Rock as Milton and Robert De Niro as Gil to name a few. e red carpet screening occurred on Sept. 18 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Originally set to be released on Nov. 4, 2022, the lm will hit theaters on Oct. 7. Wake Forest Swifties will have to decide what to prioritize — midterms or Swift on the big screen.

e period comedy and drama lm was lmed in Los Angeles. According to IMDb, “Set in the 30s, it follows three friends who witness a murder, become suspects themselves and un cover one of the most outrageous plots in Ameri can history.” e doctor, attorney and nurse, played respectively by the three main stars Bale, Washington and Robbie, must solve the murder mystery themselves in order to clear their names. Assisted by a varied cast of characters, the lm promises a star-studded cast and a wild ride.

Swift plays a supporting role — according to Variety, the daughter of the murdered man who is the center of the lm. is lm, however, is

certainly not the multi-Grammy award-winning artist’s rst foray onto the big screen. She previ ously played Bombalrina in the poorly received “Cats”, Rosemary in “ e Giver”, Audrey in “ e Lorax” and Felicia in “Valentine’s Day”.

Styles and Swift are both highly celebrated singer-songwriters. Styles began as a solo con testant on “ e X Factor” before joining the beloved boy band One Direction. He has since been known for his solo music career and fash ion, becoming the rst man to appear alone on Vogue’s cover. Swift similarly has had a roller coaster of a ride through fame. e youngest art ist to ever win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Swift has proved her musical and writ ing talents time and time again.

Freshman Catie Oakley, a Taylor Swift fan, also saw Styles’ lm on its release date.

“I think that it is de nitely interesting that they are moving into acting from music,” Oakley said. “It makes me wonder if they would be cho sen for the roles if they weren’t already famous. I feel like having A-list celebrities in movies gener ally helps to generate attention, but, as I saw in ‘Don’t Worry Darling’, the movie could be me diocre due to the lack of experience in the acting eld from these celebrities.”

While Styles and Swift may not yet possess the talent of lm industry legends like Robert De Niro and Margot Robbie, their growing pres ence on the Hollywood screen is not surprising for these two ambitious and talented pop culture icons.

Contact Emma Shuford at shufee22@wfu.edu

musicians explore new territory with acting pursuits

Billy Butcher is not a hero. Well — he is my hero, but he is by no means a hero. Karl Urban brings to life the raunchy, witty and lov able Butcher in “ e Boys”, a Prime Video television series that asks the question “what if superheroes were bred in a lab and were corporate pawns in a capitalist hellscape?”

Despite my love and fangirl-esque adoration for Butcher, he is not a hero. After su of a supe — the show’s term for a person with super human powers — Butcher’s sole motivation is to see the eradication of supes, but especially one in particu lar: Homelander. Homelander is Butcher’s arch nem esis, the leader of the supes and is basically a manifes tation of cruelty — he was born in a cold emotionless lab and su ers a great deal of mommy (and daddy) issues.

In the world of “ e Boys,” most of the supes are twisted — acting merely for fame and greed. Homelander is the worst of them all, as he lives and thrives on the incessant need to be liked and adored, which stems from a tragic childhood devoid of any love.

I’d argue, though, that the characteristics I idolize in Butcher are re ected in Homeland er, as well. As a viewer, you root for Butcher because of his traumatic backstory — he dealt with an emotionally and physically abusive father, along with the grief left behind from his wife being raped by Homelander — and his motivations be come your own. But where is the line drawn for some of the cruel actions and motivations that Butcher has, and how di erent are Butcher and Homelander?

Butcher leads “the boys”, a group that consists of him, Mother’s Milk, Hughie, Frenchie, Kimiko and Annie — all people who have been a by supes in some way or another.

up to Butcher — it’s hard not to — as they carry out

covert operations to uncover and dismantle the super hero institution that is led by Vought, the corporate

ment. As a result, there are many times through out the show where Butcher displays a lack of empathy and a cruel motivation that is akin to nds the idea of Compound V — the substance that empowers and creates supes — disgusting, but in season 3 his desire to see Home lander’s life end overpowers his own morality as he takes Temp V, which will eventually kill him.

While Butcher does turn into a villain at the end of the comics, he is more of an antihero in the show, but we see our beloved sailor-mouth Butch er slowly go farther from the light everyday.

e Boys” are quick — but understandably so — to write o Homelander as the villain and Butcher as the hero, but it is not that simple. I would argue that Homelander’s evil ness is a result of nurture — or lack thereof — and not nature, and his actions are shaped and moti vated in a very similar notion as Butcher’s.

In the show, Butcher commits a number of questionable acts — as does Homelander — like murdering without justi cation, abandoning the members of the boys and manipulating and using Hughie, just to name a few.

Yet, I think the dichotomy that is built be tween the two in the show further exempli es how similar they are and how far both men would go to carry out their goals. e di er ence in my eyes, and what I tell myself to make me feel better about my love for Butcher, is that Homelander acts narcissistically and without any real care or motivation while Butcher works to end a greater evil, even if the ways he gets there

Butcher’s experiences have shaped him into this cold, almost unfeeling individual who is blindly motivated by revenge and what he believes is right, erent from the breastmilk-lov ing, cruel and unloved Homelander.

SELINNA TRAN

Print Managing Editor

Contact Selinna Tran at

Photos courtesy of IMDb

LIFE THROUGH THE LENS

way through speaking that no one understands it. When someone talks about how they grew up in the states, I sit quietly in the conversation, not being able to re

The last month and a half has arguably been the most challenging and daunting time of my entire life. I moved across the world from the most highly populated city in India, New Delhi, to the quaint city of Winston-Salem. I did all of this on my own to start afresh in college. Navigating the transition from high school to college is already hard enough, but when you add in the aspects of being at a predominantly white institution, as someone who is Indian and did not grow up around American culture, it makes the experience a whole lot harder. I remember in my senior year of high school — right about the time I committed to Wake Forest — I was concerned about the lack of diversity and how that cru cial factor would impact my college experience. None theless, I decided to take the leap and committed. The first few weeks after I knew I would be going to Wake Forest, I went out of my way to try and make friends virtually with other incoming freshmen — I was so terrified that I would be left out and lonely and wasn’t going to “fit in”. I know these are normal feelings for anyone moving away from home and starting a new chapter of their lives in college, but, by speaking to other students around me, my feelings and fears be came amplified.

College is about meeting new people. And when you meet new people, you introduce yourself. Something as simple as telling others name is now something I dread. I get confused looks, and the worst of all — some people don’t even ac knowledge the fact that I do have a name or avoid making an effort to say it, simply because they find it a little hard to pronounce.

Telling someone your name is a simple thing, but also such an inte gral part of your identity that even a minor thing like this feels in cred ibly

late. People haven’t been very interested in getting to know about my culture and upbringing because it is different from theirs. I wish people would acknowledge the fact that I had a life before I came to college, and that it was fun and full of interesting experiences, too. Just because my experiences were different doesn’t

I know some of this might sound like I’m being over-dramatic and a little too sensitive, but kindness and empathy is all I ask for. The transition to col lege has been a very overwhelming and challenging experience for most people, and hopefully this perspec tive of life through my lens about my first month at college can serve as advocacy for more diver

“People haven’t been very interested in getting to know about my culture and upbringing because it is different from theirs.”