3/17/22 Full Edition

NEWS | 3

FEATURES | 5

OPINION | 8

SPORTS | 13

LIFE | 14

Madness

Old Gold&Black

VOL. 108, NO. 22

WA K E F O R E S T ’ S S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 1 6

MARCH 17, 2022

“Covers the campus like the magnolias”

University conducts campus climate survey Students can participate in the Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey starting on March 15 EMILY TORO News Editor

Wake Forest University students were invited to complete the Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey on March 15.

Campus climate surveys, according to Pilar Agudelo, co-chair of the Sexual Assault, Prevention, Support and Accountability Committee (SAPSA), are conducted at multiple universities to measure student experiences and perspectives so that universities can reflect on their policies, programs and overall environment of campus. This survey will focus solely on Wake Forest’s campus and will center around the topic of sexual misconduct and assault.

“It's a survey that is supposed to not only allow Wake Forest to understand the students, but it's an opportunity for every single student — rather than a few central leaders around campus — to share their own stories and experiences," Agudelo said. “It's a way to get every single student to be able to share something, regardless of if it's positive or negative or anything in general.”

In 2019, Student Government passed a resolution urging the university to conduct a campus climate survey. Although action did not occur as a result of that previous legislation, several staff members, President Susan Wente and cochairs of the SAPSA Committee, Jackson Buttler and Pilar Agudelo, recently pushed for the creation of the survey.

“Pilar and I worked on getting a resolution written that would endorse

Katie Fox / Old Gold & Black

Student Government leaders and members of the SAPSA committee hope to receive a high student response rate so the survey can best represent student experiences and perspectives. the idea on behalf of the student government, which passed,” Buttler said.

“Once that resolution was passed, and the university administration indicated that this was something that they were willing to pursue, we formed the SAPSA

Committee, which helped in getting the survey rolled out and in analyzing the data that would come after the survey was completed.”

The vendor for the survey, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC)

worked with the President’s office on the actual construction of the survey, while Agudelo and Buttler worked to advise the survey.

See Survey, Page 3

University to release renaming process details Wake Forest hopes to announce new names in the coming months AINE PIERRE Online Managing Editor The university will release its next steps in renaming two stretches of a road on campus that is named after former University President Washington Manly Wingate on Thursday.

Since Spring 2021, Wake Forest has been working to rename buildings that memorialize former members of the university community who aided and abetted in the practice of slavery. On May 7, 2021, Wake Forest announced the renaming of Wingate Hall to May 7, 1860

Hall to acknowledge the university's selling of 16 human beings at an auction on that date.

Backlash to that renaming was quick; 1,864 people signed a petition advocating for a different name in January 2021.

As a result, the building ultimately ended up with the placeholder name of the Divinity and Religious Studies Building (DRSB).

The renaming of Wingate Road has taken longer because unlike the previous case of the DRSB, a placeholder name is not a viable solution. This is because the city of Winston-Salem needs to approve

the names of all roads — even those on has gathered from various sources, such Wake Forest’s campus — which is a pro- as the student survey collected in November 2021. cess that can take multiple weeks.

“When we tell the community what “In order for us to have gotten a temporary name for those two stretches of names we chose, we need to explain how road, we would have had to get that we arrived at this process,” Villalba said.

The university is currently planning to name approved and then go back and get announce the names they will submit to the other name approved, which is why it's still Wingate Road,” Vice President the city in the coming months.

This story was sent to print prior to the for Diversity and Inclusion Dr. José Viluniversity's Thursday announcement. Delalba said. tails from the university's announcement According to Villalba, the process that will be included in this article online. was outlined on Thursday will help adjudicate between the names and themes Contact Aine Pierre at that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion pierav20@wfu.edu

Old Gold & Black This column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board.

“

Student participation in climate survey is imperative Last October, the 2021 Old Gold & Black editorial board echoed Student Government’s call for a campus-wide survey to assess the prevalence of interpersonal violence on Wake Forest’s campus.

Five months later, through the efforts of student leaders and senior university administration, a campus climate survey has become a reality.

The survey was released this Monday and will run through March 31. A 30% response rate is needed to make the survey valid — meaning its findings would be applicable to the student body and the campus at-large.

The Old Gold & Black is committed to spreading the necessary information about this survey so that all

students have the opportunity to share their experiences and exercise their voice on campus.

As this editorial board and past editorial boards have noted in several editorials, more information about what is going on at Wake Forest — the good, the bad and the ugly — is never a disadvantage. Information about sexual misconduct on this campus will help inform decisions that could contribute heavily to the eradication of interpersonal violence on this campus.

Thus, the Old Gold & Black implores the student body to take this survey.

Even if a person has not experienced sexual violence on this campus, the “no” answers to questions on the

survey will help with contextualization. According to the Student Government, all information and answers provided in the survey will not be attached to any student’s name, so confidentiality is not a concern.

Further, we encourage members of the Wake Forest community to be especially gentle and understanding throughout this period, as those personally affected by sexual violence may face reminders of deeply painful experiences.

We also encourage survivors who decide to take the survey to take breaks and give themselves grace throughout this process.

Finally, we would like to reiterate the offer made in our October 2021

The survey was released this Monday and will run through March 31. A 30% response rate is needed to make the survey valid — meaning its findings would be applicable to the student body and the campus at-large." editorial of the full resources and platform of the Old Gold & Black in supporting this work. We look forward to working with student leaders and administration to ensure that this important work is completed and that all resources significant to this issue are effectively communicated to the student body.

Old Gold&Black

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SINCE 1916

CONNOR MCNEELY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF mcnecb19@wfu.edu

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>> NEWS

Christa Dutton, duttcd20@wfu.edu Emily Toro, toroer20@wfu.edu

>> FEATURES

Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu.edu Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu Asst.

Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu

>> OPINION

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

>> SPORTS

Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex Thayer, thayse20@wfu.edu

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>> POLICIES The Old Gold & Black is published Thursdays during the school year, except during examinations, summer and holiday periods, by Triangle Printing of Durham. © 2021 WFU Media Board. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all editorials and advertisements contained within this publication 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 our website are not allowed and will be deleted. For more information on our commenting policy, please see our website. We reserve the right to reject advertisements deemed inappropriate. Our full policy, and how to advertise with the OGB, can be found on our website.

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News | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, March 17, 2022 | Page 3

Survey: SG leaders explain importance Continued from Page 1 “Our role is to help in advising the rollout of the survey and eventually advising in terms of how we respond to the report of the survey,” Agudelo said. “So right now, a lot of our work has been preparing promotional stuff, getting ready to help with the rollout of the survey and making sure we’re getting a lot of responses. Ultimately, the best and most effective way for this survey to be successful is to have a good response rate.”

Leading up to the release of the survey, the Wake Forest Student Government Instagram account, @wake_sg, posted social media graphics explaining the survey and its purpose. Student Government also intends to talk to student organizations about how to best inform students about the survey and its importance.

“Our hope is that this is something students appreciate and want to see succeed just as much as we do,” Buttler said. “I think something that we want to make clear is that change can’t be made unless

it is a community effort. This is something that could certainly affect change if students take it seriously and participate, which is why we’re passionate about getting the word out and ensuring that we get as high a response rate as possible.”

He continued: “If we get a response rate that’s below 10% or in the teens, I don’t think we would be able to make decisions that are reflective of student experiences, and we probably wouldn’t be able to create policy that is centered around supporting survivors and trying to make Wake Forest a safer community for everyone.”

Agudelo and Buttler hope the responses of the survey will be as reflective of the student population as possible, reaching all demographics.

Buttler discussed how the survey vendor NORC does its best to ensure the responses of the survey are representative of the entire campus community.

“It’s going to be a continual conversation with [NORC] so they can update us throughout the time that the survey is out,” Buttler said. “Say that maybe one certain demographic group hasn’t answered in a way that is equivalent to other

demographic groups across campus, then administrators or the SAPSA Committee can create targeted interventions to get these groups to take a survey to ensure that we are hearing all the voices across campus.”

In this process, student input has been paramount.

“We’ve been in and out of meetings with [NORC] and the Office of the President, and they really do appreciate the feedback that we’ve given as students, which has been a really great experience,” Buttler said.

Agudelo noted that various campus communities can foster conversations by promoting the goal of the survey and echoing the desire for diverse responses.

“I think another part of it is relying on our committee members, there are 20 committee members in total,” Agudelo said. “And we’re all from different facets of campus. We all have different connections on campus — Greek life, non-Greek life, students of color, women, men, nonbinary, etc.”

“We can’t cover every identity on campus, and we’re not from every single

corner of campus. But the hope is that through word of mouth and through people who are passionate about this work, we’re all having conversations with people in our vicinity, and then that way we get the responses that we need.”

Agudelo emphasized that the hope is for students to feel secure and comfortable when taking the survey.

“We’re focusing on making sure [students] have the resources [while taking the survey] and making sure they have the support services they need,” Agudelo said.

“If they need to step away from the survey, it saves, and you don’t have to do it all in one sitting. You can take a break from answering questions and reach out to support services on campus if you need to.”

Wake Forest students have been sent an email containing the survey. The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete, according to a graphic provided by Student Government, and all information collected is confidential. The survey is slated to close on March 31.

Contact Emily Toro at toroer20@wfu.edu

Students exult in first spring break since 2020 MADDIE STOPYRA Staff Writer

Last week, Wake Forest students had their first spring break since 2020. Campus remained open and accessible to those who wished to remain on campus, but students were given the opportunity to leave campus and take a break from academic life.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Wake Forest has been unable to hold a formal spring break since 2020.

In 2020, students left campus for what they thought would only be a week-long spring break, only to not return to campus because of COVID-19. Wake Forest continued its classes remotely for the remainder of the semester. In 2021, because of the delayed start to the semester and to prevent students from traveling and being exposed to COVID-19, the university did not offer a spring break. Instead, only two rest days were given off the entire semester.

Residential Advisor and sophomore Anabel Ford explained the toll the lack of rest took on her mental health.

“Last year, I had to go home for a few weeks because my health was so

bad,” Ford said. “I had no break and no time to stop and recharge, which is when our brains are best at solving problems we can’t figure out otherwise.”

Freshman Thomas Peterson also expressed his desire for a period of rejuvenation.

“I’m pumped for the time to myself because you don’t get a lot of that during school,” Peterson said. “I will be refreshed and ready when I return to the chaotic cyclone that is college next week.”

Not only does spring break provide students with rest, the week off of classes allows professors the chance to step away from the classroom as well. Professor Alyssa Howards noted this fact and explained the noticeable change on campus after spring break.

“Even if students don’t travel, I think spring break is an important time to press the ‘reset’ button — this applies to both students and faculty,” Howards said.

She continued: “Also, for me, it’s always been an important transition from winter drudgery to summer.

Everything after break always seems so different — the campus is in bloom, it’s warmer, people are happier. It’s amazing how this all hap-

pens in the span of 10 days. I think all of this adds lightness and joy to the campus, and certainly, that can help us all with our work and mental health.”

Prior to spring break, snow days and the recent Weaver Fertilizer plant fire affected students’ ability to establish and maintain a regular routine.

“I absolutely think this semester has been abnormal, especially because of the snow and fire days off,” Ford said. “It’s caused me to struggle to find a routine or groove that I can get into, which always makes my mental health devolve a bit.”

Because of the lack of routine and abnormal schedule, students have admitted a stronger sense of academic burnout leading up to spring break.

When asked about her level of stress and academic stamina, freshman Ellie Howell noted that her course load has caused an increase in burnout.

“I have definitely gotten burnt out this semester,” Howell said. “I am taking 17 credit hours, and every class seemed to ramp up at the same time. These past two weeks have been very challenging, and there are times when I have to take a break simply because my brain can’t function anymore.”

When asked about the effects of COVID-19 on his students and the absence of a mid-semester break, Professor John Welsh praised his students for their openness to express their exhaustion and sometimes even their lack of motivation in college.

“One of the greatest strengths of this generation of students is their willingness to speak openly about mental health,” Welsh said. “Since the pandemic, the increase in the number of students who speak to me about mental health issues has been remarkable — astonishing even,” Welsh said.

Alongside being honest with professors about a shift in morale, students offered advice to their peers regarding academic burnout.

“Some advice for my peers would be to not be afraid of taking time off, even if it’s for 15 minutes,” Ford said. “If you have been staring at an assignment for what feels like hours with no solution in sight, take a break. Go for a walk, eat a snack, recharge your brain. Burnout is real and affects everyone in different ways. Use your extra time to aid yourself in that way.”

Contact Maddie Stopyra at stopmf21@wfu.edu

POLICE BEAT Larceny: •

An unknown subject(s) took a student’s cell phone from an unlocked vehicle in Lot M. WSPD tracked the phone to an off-campus location. The student refused to press charges. The report was filed on March 11 at 7:56 p.m.

Miscellaneous:

•

The WSPD responded to a loud party on Feb. 27. Officers gave residents a verbal warning, and the party was dispersed. The report was filed on March 12 at 7:36 a.m.

Page 4 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Old Gold & Black | News

Physics professor wins prestigious grant Oana Jurchescu receives ‘Special Creativity’ extension for National Science Foundation grant BREANNA LAWS Staff Writer Dr. Oana Jurchescu became the first Wake Forest University professor to receive a Special Creativity extension on her current grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This award honors some of the NSF’s most creative and innovative researchers, and selection is based on a researcher’s past performance and ingenuity of their current research methods.

While at Wake Forest, Jurchescu has received many distinctions for her research and teaching. She was named Wake Forest’s Baker Family Professor of Physics in 2021, one of the highest honors the College can award a faculty member.

Additionally, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Materials Physics within the American Physical Society and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Jurchescu is a part of a team of researchers from Wake Forest University, the University of Kentucky and Princeton University. The National Science Foundation awarded these researchers with an 18-month extension of their current research grant on March 8. These extensions are a rare honor, and Jurchescu and her team are excited to utilize those funds in fueling their research efforts.

“The award recognizes the impact that our past research has had in the field of f lexible electronics and provides funding for the continuation of our efforts but now with a sharp focus on high-risk, high-reward projects,” Jurchescu said.

The team’s research initiative is known as OSCAR — Organic Semiconductors by Computation on the Accelerated Refinement. This project is run through NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future program. The mission of

this program is to develop new methods for the design of organic semiconductors.

The goal of the project is to help expedite the time between conceptualization and commercialization for optoelectronic materials and devices that emit or detect light. The main focus of Jurchescu’s group is developing f lexible electronic screens and finding cost-effective ways to manufacture them.

During OSCAR’s first five years, the team published more than 50 manuscripts and developed a new class of high-mobility organic semiconductors. With the extension of its grant, the team can now work on cutting-edge methods to get f lexible electronics technology on the market more quickly.

“With support from this extension, we hope to break into real applications like X-ray detectors,” Jurchescu said. “We will develop lightweight,

f lexible sensors that could improve the quality of healthcare.”

Jurchescu also explained that the grant extension is particularly useful since her area of research is primarily dominated by trial-and-error approaches. Her team not only looks to create new methods for creating f lexible electronics, but they also must ensure that these electronics prove to be powerful, reliable and cost-effective. “[Trial-and-error approaches] are not only time-consuming, but also wasteful,” Jurchescu said. “Our team is combining computational studies with synthesis, processing and characterization to shorten this path. We are very honored to receive this special award from NSF, and I am very excited to work on these projects alongside my collaborators.”

Contact Breanna Laws at lawsbn21@wfu.edu

ESG@Wake initiative invites students to compete $25,000 investment allows students to create solutions around environmental, social and governance factors AINE PIERRE Online Managing Editor

Wake Forest University will commit $25,000 to student projects in the realm of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), the university announced in a Feb. 24 press release.

The investment, billed ESG@ Wake, is part of a partnership between the Wake Forest School of Business and ESG award-winning company Windstream that features a video pitch competition open to all Wake Forest students, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the School of Business.

Students can submit video pitches until March 25. Prizes range from $5,000 for first place to $1,000 for third place. There will be three separate competitions, one focusing on the student as a stakeholder, one focusing on climate neutrality and one focusing on creating a globally inclusive Wake Forest. Students must compete in teams of at least three people.

“The ESG@Wake initiative and pitch competition is an important opportunity for Wake Forest students to learn about and be engaged in creating solutions around topics that matter most to them — like sustainability and social responsibility,” Interim Dean of the School of Business Michelle Roehm said.

“This initiative will help prepare future business leaders to create solutions that address some of the world’s most pressing issues.”

Windstream CEO Tony Thomas, who earned his MBA from Wake Forest’s Business School, is excited about the project.

“It’s an honor to join the Wake Forest faculty and students for ESG@

Wake, an event that recognizes the importance of environmental, social and governance factors in creating value for institutional stakeholders,” Thomas said in a press release. “At Windstream, we believe setting and achieving aspirational ESG goals helps our business succeed while also ensuring we do our part as citizens of this planet.”

Junior Max Shenkman is studying ESG at Wake Forest as part of a custom concentration and plans to compete in the competition.

“We’re starting to develop our initiatives regarding the ways that Wake Forest can improve itself in terms of sustainability, in terms of diversity and in terms of creating inclusive communities at Wake Forest,” Shenkman said.

Shenkman said he always had an interest in ESG and currently works at Taulia, Inc., a financial technology company, as an ESG contractor.

“I’ve always had a passion for ESG,” Shenkman said. “I think that the world of business and capitalism has a lot of work to do toward making sure that businesses are held accountable.”

He continued: “[Businesses must also ensure] that they are actually giving back to their communities and treating the people that they work with in respectful ways.” Shenkman said that he believes it is imperative to situate Wake Forest in a model of corporate governance.

“Corporate governance essentially means that Wake Forest uses its money, students serve as shareholders and the student body can give back and make sure that Wake Forest adheres to its wishes,” Shenkman said.

Shenkman believes that competitions like this — especially given

Wake Forest’s partnership with Windstream — are encouraging to those who believe that ESG looms large in the future of business.

“It’s really encouraging that large organizations in the United States are valuing ESG, both for its monetary value as well as just being able to give back to the community at large,” Shenkman said.

Shenkman encouraged students to get involved, as well, citing ESG’s professional value.

“ESG is a really amazing opportunity for students to learn about,” Shenkman said. “I think that ESG is probably one of the top three skills that are demanded by employers right now in any type of corporation.

So the message that I would have to the other students at Wake is essentially just to get involved with this because it’s going to be something you’re seeing a lot more of later on.”

Contact Aine Pierre at pierav20@wfu.edu

Katie Fox / Old Gold & Black

The School of Business has partnered with ESG award-winning company Windstream to host a video pitch competition open to all Wake Forest students.

FEATURES

Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu.edu Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

PAGE 5 THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Mingxuan Zhu/Old Gold & Black

Behind the mask: returning to WFU amid COVID Exploring the impact of COVID on one Wake Forest international student KIARA KAMLANI Contributing Writer

In May 2020, Mingxuan Zhu waited in line to board a five-hour flight from Charlotte International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. She could feel the scientific goggles pressing into her eyes, with black gloves covering her hands and two KF94 masks — express shipped from her mom in China — covering her mouth.

Zhu’s heavy backpack weighed her down as she made her way down the airplane, avoiding the outstretched limbs of passengers in other rows and gripping her ticket close to her body until she found her window seat. Nobody sat directly to her right. But the aisle seat was occupied by a man using his t-shirt as a makeshift mask to cover his nose and mouth.

“It was my worst nightmare,” she recalled.

Stepping off the plane in Los Angeles, all Zhu could think about was food.

Hundreds of passengers ran past her with masks either under their nose or chin. Since she did not want to take her mask off on the plane for even a second; her next meal would occur in Beijing.

Zhu then had to board an additional flight to Beijing, China. She prepared to leave her dorm at Wake Forest University with exactly 14 days worth of clothing, enough to last through the entire quarantine.

Months earlier, the former president, Donald Trump, and his administration

sealed the border and restricted travel in and out of China. At the time, an unknown disease, now termed COVID-19, was spreading and the American government decided that closing the border was their best option to protect the country. However, this strategy left Zhu with no way of getting home.

“All I wanted was to fly home, I got more homesick by the day,” Zhu said.

“The process was too complicated and I just had to wait it out.”

For any Chinese student to get home during this time, they would need two negative covid tests — rapid and viral — a lung scan and a 14-day quarantine once arriving. If a person had been infected with COVID-19, they need to be recovered for six months, making it impossible for certain students to get home.

Given that 46% of Wake Forest’s international students are Chinese, the university made as many accommodations as possible with their limited staff.

“We asked, they listened, and we all made it work,” Zhu said. “We all were moved to the same dormitory building, but at least we had housing. The Pit was open, but that was our only option.”

On June 8, 2020, Zhu was able to board a flight back to China and after a two-week quarantine, reunited with her family. However, her expectation of returning to Wake Forest's campus in August was destroyed.

In early July, the Trump Administration rescinded visas for all international students taking fully virtual courses, which was Wake Forest’s plan. Students

became aware of the change through an email sent by the university.

“I opened the email and was devastated,” Zhu said. “I could not come back to campus; I did not know when I would ever be able to come to campus.”

However, multiple universities sued the federal government in response to this policy. Wake Forest joined as an amicus curiae, a status that allows a person or institution to submit a brief as a third party.

“This extremely affected all of our students abroad and we felt like we now had no control of the situation,” said Great Smith, Senior Advisor for International Students and Scholars at Wake Forest University.

In response to the lawsuit, the Trump administration rescinded the policy allowing students to legally remain in the country. Students with valid visas could now return to campus, but Zhu’s visa expired. The Trump administration stopped processing and renewing visas for applicants abroad due to a lack of resources, so universities were forced to replan the upcoming Fall 2020 semester.

Zhu checked her emails every day, waiting for updates from the university on what her courses would look like in the fall, if she could take any at all. Her biggest fear was falling behind, not being able to keep up with her coursework or graduate in time.

At exactly midnight on Jan. 10, 2021, Zhu sat down at her desk, in her small, dark room to begin her school day.

Her blue star patterned curtains stayed

closed on her left; behind them was the dark, lifeless city of Beijing.

“I would rather have the little stars with me than the darkness,” Zhu said.

She opened her laptop and logged onto Zoom.

Since August 2020, Zhu had been taking classes every night from her bedroom — there was no other option.

Fluorescent lights glared down on her, almost as if they were trying to keep her awake. She was in China living in a United States time zone.

She finished class around 6 a.m., about the time when her parents got up to start their day. They were living in the same space, but not living the same lives.

“Good night,” Zhu would say, and her parents would respond good morning.

Many days she started her homework but became stuck when she realized many American sites were blocked by the Chinese government.

“The censorship was getting worse; I had no access to a lot of information I needed,” she explained.

Canvas and Zoom, essential to virtual learning, crashed often.

Many times throughout the semester, she woke up her father during his sleep because the internet connection was not working or unstable. This meant that their VPN, which allowed her to use foreign internet, was down. Zhu lived this daily cycle for about nine months — the entirety of her junior year.

See Zhu, Page 6

Page 6 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Old Gold & Black | Features

Zhu: Continued from Page 5 Ironically, from her professors’ point of view, she did really well. Professor Justin Catanoso, Zhu’s journalism professor, explained how her performance was the same or better than students taking News Literacy on campus.

“Other than her looking a bit sleepy, her participation was just as regular and insightful as any others in the class, often more so,” Catanoso said.

“While she was doing her reporting from Beijing, much of it over Zoom with sources in other parts of the world, her work was not hampered or different from those working on campus.”

He noticed her trying to fight a fog in her head, but he always called on her as much as any other student as participation was not an option. He did not treat her any different than a student physically on campus.

On Aug. 17, 2021, Zhu sat by herself at a small table in Benson University Center. She took in the people around her, the noise, the shuffle and the smell of American fast food. She took her first bite of waffle-cut french fries and Chick-FilA sauce, the moment she has been waiting for.

“I missed that so much,” Zhu said. “Nothing compares to that in China.”

Life was finally returning to a new type of normal on her first day of senior year.

“I felt that air at Wake,” Zhu said. “It is so much fresher than the [air] in Beijing, I could breathe well.”

Then she unpacked her suitcases at Dogwood Residence hall and felt like a normal student again. She went directly to her favorite place on campus; the track.

“I missed the track more than anything,” Zhu said. She ran 28 laps before she was so out of breath she had to stop. Life felt real again.

The transition back to campus was not as easy as Zhu assumed. Because she was in China a whole year she had to readjust to living away from her parents.

“I felt like a freshman again, being independent was a big struggle,” she said. “This is the time I have to be an adult.”

The initial anxiety was put aside by the beginning of classes. Even though she enjoyed in-person classes instead of virtual ones, the workload picked up and overtook her daily life.

“Campus was lively. I felt happy again,” Zhu said.

In those first months, when she looked at a classmate, half their face was covered, but that was better than looking at them in a little box.

A/perture Cinema: A Winston-Salem Arthouse SOPHIA MARCHELI

Tucked in next to Jeffrey Adams and across from Mellow Mushroom, the cozy, four-theater A/perture Cinema recently became one of only seven local film theaters across the United States to host the well renowned Sundance Film Festival.

After starting the cinema in 2010, Executive Creator and one-time Winston-Salem native Lawren Desai worked to bring people into the world of arthouse cinema.

Rashad Little, a board member at A/perture, spoke about the community feel and the importance of the showing, as well as the city’s connection to the cinema.

“Being a part of this community, any time you say film, I think being a part of this community is kind of crazy because it’s a global community but it’s also like a local community,” Little said.

The location of A/perture Cinema is also significant as it is in the heart of downtown on Fourth Street near the Stevens Center.

“The buzz right there in the middle of the city is just a great concentration of people,” Little said. “ I think that location gets every facet of the community from old to young, to different races and populations and genders and all these different things.”

The pull towards this film festival hosted at A/ perture was, in part, due to COVID-19. Desai noted that the festival being hosted at the smaller U.S theaters was the only way the Sundance films could be screened in person.

When looking to find local film cinemas to host their festival, A/perture not only offered the southern presence Sundance wanted but demonstrated quality cinema.

“With Sundance it was just the quality of our programming,” Desai said. “You look at what’s on screen in bigger cities and oftentimes we have films that they’re not even playing.”

Little also spoke to the importance of bringing the Sundance Film Festival to Winston-Salem.

“When she [Desai] told us about that opportunity, I was obviously excited about it because when you have a breath of fresh air with independent films and being in that community and being able to show those films I think it’s always an exciting time for the city,” Little said. “We worked hard to try to bring people here into the world of arthouse cinema. I think Sundance recognized that.”

Karen Absher, a staff member at A/perture, was also able to participate in the film festival.

“Sundance is a name you hear a lot and see a lot, but I never had a chance to see those films until we were able to show them here,” Absher said. “It gave you a chance to see things here you wouldn’t get a chance to see anywhere else.”

Absher was initially drawn to the A/perture Cinema and its community connection despite having no background in theater or cinema.

“What drew me to this cinema was how community based it is. The Winston-Salem community is very close and there really is a good connection between us and them.”

Not only was the Sundance Film Festival a draw for the Winston-Salem community, but it also

managed to bring in audiences from around the United States as well.

“The best thing about it was we had several people come from out of the state even. They treated it like they were going to Sundance and they stayed overnight in hotels,” Desai said. “If you’re a film lover, Sundance is huge and I think people are willing to travel for it.”

In order to support the company’s continued growth and growing popularity, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County recently gave a $10,000 grant to A/Perture.

Photo courtesy of Cinema Treasures

A/perture Cinema is located in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem and works to bring the local community together through the art of cinema.

Page 7 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Old Gold & Black | Features

Campus Garden celebrates the spring equinox UNA WILSON Asst. Features Editor

As cherry blossoms and daffodils have begun to speckle Wake Forest’s campus with color, Campus Garden is preparing to celebrate the spring equinox on Sunday, Mar. 20 from 4-6 p.m. The event is open to the student body and is expected to draw crowds to the garden at 1141 Polo Rd to enjoy the sunshine and celebrate the coming of spring.

In the northern hemisphere, the spring equinox occurs when the sun moves north across the celestial equator.

During an equinox, direct sunlight shines on the equator, so that the length of day and night is nearly equal for both hemispheres. Historically, the spring, or vernal equinox, signifies the first day of spring.

Celebrating the spring equinox is a centuries-old tradition that has a different significance for many cultures.

Crowds gather during the spring-- and fall-- equinoxes at the ruins of Chichen Itza, the ancient Mayan city in Mexico, to watch as the afternoon sun creates shadows that resemble a snake moving along the stairs of the 79-foot-tall Pyramid of Kukulkan, also called El Castillo. In Northern India, the spring equinox is a time to celebrate Holi, a colorful festival that involves throwing colored powder to celebrate the many

“Going outside and feeling the sun radiate on your skin; it’s free dopamine from the sky.”

Photo courtesy of Una Wilson

colors of spring. In Central Asia, it is Native insects and pollinators are buzzing around known as Norwuz, and is a day for spring the campus garden, indicating the coming of spring. cleaning, growth and bonfires. Thailand celebrates the coming of spring with the Songkran Water Festival, which involves street-wide water “fights” and splashing.

The U.S. First Lady hosts the annual White House egg roll party, a tradition that has been around since the 1800s.

At Wake Forest, Campus Garden plans to hold their own celebration of the event, with a focus on sustainability,

Photo courtesy of Una Wilson

Magnolia trees and other flowering plants on campus have begun to blossom as the first day of spring draws nearer.

environmentalism and “plant-forward” lifestyles. The garden interns have tried to incorporate elements of traditional equinox celebrations from other cultures as well as an emphasis on nature and gardening in their event planning.

“We really want this to be a celebration of the coming of spring and new life,” senior Caroline Walker, a Campus Garden intern, said. “There will be music, pins and badges to take home, plant-forward food available, and baby chicks and bunnies to meet!” Walker said.

According to Walker, the Spring Equinox festival used to be an annual event, but it has been canceled for the past two years due to COVID-19. “I am so glad we can finally start this tradition again,” said Walker. “It’s such a great opportunity to introduce students to the garden and educate them about the earth.”

In past years, the Spring Equinox festival has marked the beginning of Earth Month, a month-long extension of Earth Day put on by the Office of Sustainability. This year, Campus Garden plans to restart the tradition.

Campus Garden Manager Nathan Peifer emphasized that the ecological significance of the spring equinox is part of Campus Garden’s desire to host a celebration geared towards sustainability.

“Since 2017, the Spring Equinox Celebration has been the signature event that starts the Office of Sustainability’s Earth Month programs. It’s a time to celebrate life and the newness of spring,” Peifer wrote in an email.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve introduced students to baby chicks and honeybees, plant-forward dining and vegetable gardening, the Jewish celebration of trees called Tu BiSchvat, which happens in January, and a variety of campus organizations including our partner Campus Kitchen,” Peifer wrote.

“Some years have included poetry readings and meditation practices that promote balance and harmony.

It’s primarily a social event (with some

undertones of wellbeing) that provides a few hands-on experiences related to sustainability and agriculture.”

Campus Garden Intern Ty Zanders added that spending time in the garden provides many benefits to wellness. “It’s easier for people to access nature when the weather gets warmer, so we wanted to jump on the opportunity to invite students to spend time outside.” Zanders said. “Going outside and feeling the sun radiate on your skin; it’s free dopamine from the sky.”

Zanders also expressed excitement about partnerships Campus Garden has formed while hosting the event.

“We have tried to include a lot of different aspects of campus life, so there will be involvement from the Intercultural Center, the Women’s Center, Wakerspace, and many others.

It should be a time filled with art, music, creation and connection and hopefully a time to introduce newcomers to the magic of the garden,” Zanders said.

“Spring is a time of growth and connection, so we wanted to represent the bonds we share with as many other campus involvement groups as possible at the celebration.”

Walker says she hopes the festival will introduce some students to the garden who haven’t engaged with the space before.

“I have learned so much from my time at the garden; not just about the environment and sustainability, but about other people too. I am continually fascinated by the people I have been able to connect with while cultivating the garden, and I would love for other students to be able to experience that as well. Hopefully, students will feel the beautiful energy of the garden and join us at our ‘connect and cultivate’ volunteer hours, which are held weekday afternoons from 5-6 p.m.”

Contact Una Wilson at wilsui20@wfu.edu

OPINION

PAGE 8 THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022

OLD GOLD & BLACK

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

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

Deacs Debate

Students discuss the use of nuclear power Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused many nations to begin searching for alternative sources of energy AINE PIERRE AND CONOR METZGER

Online Managing Editor & Staff Columnist

Conor Metzger: Well, Aine, it looks like the recent Russian invasion has raised the question of energy independence. Americans are experiencing rising gas prices — in spite of only using a small amount of Russian oil — because oil is priced on a global market.

It makes me wonder if we should open up another conversation about other alternative energy sources, especially nuclear power, which has divided people due to its perceived risks.

Aine Pierre: The Russian invasion has raised lots of questions over energy sources.

I fall on the side that stipulates that nuclear power should not be used. Russia’s assault on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during its invasion, and the near Chernobylstyle calamity that it almost caused, is part of what gives me pause about increased investment in nuclear power. If there were to be an internal or external attack on one of the United States’ nuclear power plants, it could spell disaster for hundreds, thousands or even millions of people.

Additionally, as recently as three years ago, Russian hackers attempted to cyberattack the United States’ nuclear power plants. The nuclear plants’ cyber defenses held, but there is no guarantee that this would always be the case. Because of how computerized our infrastructure is nowadays, it would be impossible to build a nuclear reactor completely off the grid. Granted, a Russian cyberattack could shut down other alternative energy plants, but none would have such disastrous effects as a nuclear reactor meltdown.

CM: I agree that there is that risk, but, like you said, everything is on the grid. Our traffic system, our healthcare network and our national security are all on a grid. If any of these fail, it could mean calamity for the entire country. I don’t think the argument of it being attacked through cybersecurity is enough for us not to consider it. Also, the fact that the ground invasion did not cause a meltdown shows that every party is well aware of that danger. The actual fire was not near the nuclear reactor. This is an example of the media overhyping the danger of nuclear power.

This is not to say that we need not be mindful of the risks, but the benefits of nuclear power seem to outweigh these dangers. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear power is producing 92% of its capacity, compared to the next closest renewable source, geothermal, which is only producing about 74% capacity.

AP: I’m not sure I agree with your logic there. Healthcare and traffic systems can be cyberattacked, but neither of those would be catastrophic on the scale that a nuclear

Photo courtesy of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

As fuel prices continue to rise globally, conversations regarding alternative sources of energy have grown in popularity and placed nuclear energy at the forefront of discussions. meltdown would. Hospital record systems have gone down, and those problems can be fixed in hours. Three Mile Island, the site of a nuclear reactor meltdown in the United States, is still radioactive decades later. Also, with regard to the Russian attack, the administrative building caught fire because heavy artillery was firing right at the nuclear reactor and that building happened to be in the way, according to NPR. I agree that nuclear energy is remarkably efficient compared to its peers, but the risks are far too great. This is to say nothing of the fact that there is incredible environmental racism at play in terms of the location of nuclear power plants and the storage of nuclear waste.

Many nuclear power plants are located on Native American lands, and one of the federal government’s prominent nuclear waste storage sites is also on Native land. Another waste site in Minnesota built on Native land has been causing harmful effects for the people who live near it, but the U.S. Government continued to increase the amount of waste held at the site.

Nuclear waste and the prospect of meltdown make nuclear energy not worth the risk in my opinion. I'm not even mentioning the fact that it is disproportionately Black and Indigenous People of Color who pay the brunt of the cost.

to do it on a broad scale and not handcuff it to nuclear energy.

As for the example of Three Mile Island, if we go into a broad scope, you will see that other energy sources actually kill more people per year. Solar power alone has a national death rate average of 0.44%, yet only has about a 35% efficiency. In contrast, nuclear power has a death rate of around 0.04%, accounting for the after-effects of radiation. I think the media has a tendency to hype up these accidents because “nuclear” is such a buzzword.

I disagree with your assertion that healthcare systems are less harmful to society if hacked. I did not just mean records, I meant the machines that run life support systems, the lights that allow surgeons to see and the computers that account for life-saving medicine. All of these things are on the current grid and are subject to cyberattacks. It is a fact we have to live with and so we should instead be looking at increasing our cybersecurity in a broad sense, not handcuffing an issue that has a wide effect to a singular aspect.

What I also want to bring up is the waste you mentioned. All the current nuclear waste the United States has generated can currently be held on one basketball court about 50 feet high. If you compare this to other energy sources, this is a negligible amount. I will concede, however, that transportation is an issue when it comes to nuclear waste.

CM: We can work on environmental racism — so I do not think this is a good enough reason. There is also environmental racism in almost every form of energy production so if we want to address that we need

AP: I would not be so quick to dispense with environmental racism, as it has been shown that the U.S. government blatantly ignores these issues rather than dealing with them head-on.

I will concede that of your examples, healthcare systems falling prey to cyberattacks is the most dangerous; however, I still believe a cyberattack on a nuclear plant would be catastrophic, and while we cannot avoid taking care of our sick, we can avoid the use of nuclear power.

Your argument about deaths per terawatt hour is interesting and compelling, but I wonder if that measure only includes deaths associated with nuclear power production and its accidents and not its inputs and outputs. A study from the International Journal of Epidemiology which studied over 100,000 uranium miners found that almost half of them died of cancer related-causes to their time in the mines. Nuclear waste storage sites have also been sites of increased cancer deaths relative to local and national averages. I would be interested to see what an updated death rate would be with those statistics in the mix.

Ultimately, though, I think we can agree that recent events have put sources of renewable energy at the forefront of conversations regarding America’s energy future. I think earnest debates like these will be important to making informed decisions about renewable energy.

CM: I agree, and I think having conversations such as these is a good way of moving forward so that we can make sure we are creating a better environment and a better world for our future's sake. Thanks for taking the time to have this conversation!

Contact Aine Pierre at pierav20@wfu.edu & Conor Metzger at metzcr19@wfu.edu

Thursday, March 17, 2022 | Page 9

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

Russia-Ukraine Crisis

“

Educational sanctions on Russia punish innocents Rather than targeting Russian leaders, educational sanctions harm students who are not at fault for war Hope Zhu

Staff Columnist zhuq21@wfu.edu

As Russian forces continue to attack Ukraine, a growing number of enterprises and corporations have started to impose sanctions on Russia. While the financial sanctions blocking banks and restricting imports have historically been a reasonable strategy, many other sanctions towards Russia appear to be ambiguous and somewhat unwise.

A week ago, the CEO and Founder of the QS World University Rankings, Nunzio Quacquarelli, announced that Russian and Belarussian entries would not be included in new QS university rankings and that Russia would no longer be promoted as a study destination.

I visited the QS World University Rankings website this evening and found that after setting the location as Russia, all universities in Russia were available to view. This implies that the sanctions will start with the new round of rankings next year.

This is not the first time the battlefront has transferred to the academic world. In June 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice issued The China Initiative, a policy that claims to counter China’s economic hostility, which endangers the technologies and intellectual property of the United States.

Under the pretense of protecting U.S. technology and trade secrets, several ethnically Chinese professors were arrested for having foreign ties with Chinese institutions while receiving research funds from the United States.

One researcher at the University of Tennessee, Anming Hu, waited more than a year to be proven innocent and was not released until Feb. 2022.

Yet, a second wave of Red Scare ideology seems to be resurfacing. Last month, California representative Eric Swalwell suggested that Russian students in the United States should be expelled from their schools as part of the sanctions towards Russia.

“Frankly, I think closing their embassy, kicking every Russian student out of the United States, those should all be on the table,” he said in an interview with CNN. “Putin needs to know that every day that he is in Ukraine,

We should consider who is harmed by these sanctions [which] promote ignorance and misunderstanding that will only encourage war." there are more severe options that could come.”

Despite Swalwell’s hate speech, many educational platforms have expressed their willingness to “stand with Ukraine” by blocking their resources in Russia and Belarus. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) suspended testing in Russia and Belarus last week, and online education platforms like Coursera and Edx ceased their services in Russia and Belarus.

With that being said, is QS’ redaction of Russian and Belarussian universities really proving its credibility in assessing universities’ value?

Possibly. QS is right that currently, Russia is not the best choice of study destination. Sanctions from multiple domains are needed to warn Russia about greater punishment, and education is undoubtedly a crucial area.

However, before barring an entire nation of students from once-unlimited

educational opportunities, we should consider who is harmed by these sanctions. Has Putin been disturbed by not being able to access rich education resources? Are Russian higher officials suddenly worried about unemployment due to the devaluation of their college degrees? No. It is students — who may have been expelled from St. Petersburg State University for their anti-war protests, who went to a foreign nation for better education opportunities, who are thirsting for more voices about this war besides the propaganda from their own country — who are hurt. While political and financial sanctions sacrifice civilians in order to cease war, educational sanctions are likely to promote ignorance and misunderstanding that will only encourage war.

Understandably, sanctions are the easiest way for an industry to “pick a side” and express support to the victims of war. However, exerting misguided sanctions does nothing to stop the perpetrator of violence. Though we all know “science without boundary” is a false ideal in this world, we should leave room for the exchange of ideas and enlightenment.

Mental Health

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Technology exacerbates college students' anxiety As the spring semester progresses, increasing workloads cause mental health issues among students Lauren Carpenter Staff Columnist carple21@wfu.edu

Are you stressed about something right now? Does anxiety seem to follow you around? Can you remember the last time you weren’t worried about anything at all?

If, as a college student, stress has become an unhealthy issue, you are certainly not alone. Our college years represent an important period in terms of our mental health patterns — analyses of these behaviors show that they have drastically changed for today’s students.

According to data collected by the American Addiction Center, 88% of college students experience what they describe as severe stress on a regular basis.

Forty-four percent of college students experience severe anxiety. Forty-seven percent of college students screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of anxiety — which are now up from 44% last year and the highest rate since the survey began in 2007.

These statistics are jarring, and they pose a consequential question: Why are college students more anxious than ever?

College students are easy targets for anxiety because many elements of our

lives are full of pivotal, stressful transitions. Anticipation anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety and academic anxiety are a few of the most common stressors that plague students — but these are issues that past generations have been overcoming for years.

The lifestyle change that today’s college students are faced with — as opposed to those from 15 - 20 years ago — is the newfound inclusion of technology at school. Anxiety levels in college students have skyrocketed in recent years, and this can be largely attributed to the sudden incorporation of the Internet in college life.

One night over spring break, I was out with a friend in New York City. The last thing on my mind was school, but when my phone flashed with an incoming midterm grade, I was immediately taken out of the moment and sucked into a spiral of worry. As a student, having our technology and schoolwork intertwine is extremely difficult. School follows us everywhere — there is always a grade to check or an email to respond to.

Separating school and social life is nearly impossible with constant notifications. Finding a healthy balance between focusing on school and taking a break can be extremely difficult. This direct line of communication and access to schoolwork seems like an academic advancement, but the stress that comes with constantly carrying school in your

If, as a college student, stress has become an unhealthy issue for you, you certainly don't stand alone." pocket makes it less appealing for students.

The internet can also be perpetually overwhelming for young people. A few days ago, I realized I had nearly twenty tabs open on my laptop. They consisted of a list of Wake Forest’s majors and minors, summer internship opportunities, careers at the New York Times, a Quizlet of Italian flashcards, my DegreeWorks page and a list of grad schools, just to name a few. It is remarkably easy to go down a spiral of preparing, planning and researching when it comes to school and career goals. I used to do this daily until I became so overwhelmed that I had to close my computer and distract my mind with anything else. The instant opportunities that the internet presents are seemingly endless, and certainly overwhelming. Having a world of opportunities at our fingertips can serve as a unique system to jumpstart our careers, but more than anything, it leaves us faced with a staggering overload of information.

The internet is also painfully persistent about showing us the phenomenal things that other people our age are doing, creating a hub for comparison and

competition. We see a sliver of people — specifically other young people — who have done incredible things such as discovering a new species or inventing a new medicine because this is what the Internet shows us. It is nearly impossible to stop ourselves from self-comparison.

The internet shows us the best of the best, tricking us into believing that all of our peers are superior to us. As students trying to find our place in the world, this mindset of constantly comparing ourselves to others is difficult to overcome.

These examples of how technology presents itself in our lives may not be applicable to everyone, but technology has without a doubt made our college experience different than that of generations before us. It certainly is not all about stress — the internet undeniably presents a fascinating new way to learn and prepare for life after college. But as technology has become increasingly ubiquitous, it is no overstatement to say that it has left today’s students with more qualms about schoolwork and a more anxiety-inducing college experience than ever before.

Because the internet makes several aspects of our coming-of-age experience inherently more stressful, it’s now more important than ever to move through college at your own pace, stay grounded in your surroundings and place genuine value in the work you’ve done.

Page 10 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Old Gold & Black | Opinion

Identity

Artistic tropes expose danger of stereotyping “ The 'male manipulator' trope encourages problematic assumptions and typecasting based on tastes Adam Coil

Life Editor coilat21@wfu.edu

“Male manipulator” is a term that people love to throw around on the Internet because it is a quick and convenient way to simplify a person into an easily-digestible category. It is a great way for one to feel as though they understand a complete stranger, as it allows them to choose from an array of stereotypes to pin on to someone.

But where, exactly, did the term come from? What does it even mean?

The “male manipulator” is someone who listens to a specific kind of music, like The Smiths, Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead, Elliot Smith or even artists outside of the indie genre like Kanye West.

They might wear Dr. Martens, rings, Dickie’s pants, Carhartt beanies — you get the picture — but the conversation mainly revolves around the music.

When you look at the music itself, though, the stereotype does not quite

make sense. Oftentimes, the songs are just about men who are dealing with loneliness, depression, anxiety, loss, growing up and intense nostalgia — or they might even just sing about nonsense — the kinds of topics that art tends to cover.

The last thing that I want to do is discredit the experiences of those who are victims of gaslighters — and men, in general — who manipulate women. Those people are out there and plenty of them do fit the “male manipulator” stereotype.

But when I talk to women about these musicians, directors or authors that constitute the “male manipulator” biome, most of them really enjoy these artists, too.

Sure, Morrissey is a horrible person, but does listening to “How Soon is Now?” and “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” make me misogynistic or racist? I don’t think so. After all, I was put on to The Smiths by a woman. It’s clear that there is not some inherently misogynistic aspect to this kind of music — at the very least, it is heavily debatable.

Even if a person or their art does have something problematic about it, that doesn’t mean it should never see the light

When we allow ourselves to judge others based on that person's taste, we [are doing] ourselves a disservice." of day. Life would get pretty boring pretty quickly if that were the case.

The blame here falls on the individual men — this is not a systemic issue like policing in the United States or Greek Life at universities. Attributing problematic male tendencies concerning power dynamics in relation to the media they digest somewhat downplays the issue at hand because there are so many people who consume “male manipulator” content and do not look down on or traumatize women.

While most look at the “male manipulator” stereotype as a fun, light-hearted joke on the Internet, the truth is that many others do take it quite seriously.

What is especially concerning is how quick people are to allow themselves to be defined or reduced down to the media that they consume.

In the fast-paced internet culture of today, creators — or people trying to be-

come creators — do not have the luxury of time to introduce themselves to their audience. Instead, shortcuts are taken — and one of the best ways to do that is to visually show what kind of media you are into.

It may sound silly, but a lot of relationships on the internet are formed entirely out of common interests. Someone is scrolling through TikTok and sees a video talking about how “Little Women” is a wonderful movie and how Greta Gerwig is the best director of all time. They follow that person because “Little Women” is their favorite movie. They feel a connection with the person that makes the video, even though they know nothing about them.

Art helps to mold and shape us — but it does not define us. We are more than the songs we listen to and the movies we rewatch again and again. When we allow ourselves to judge others — both positively and negatively — based on that person’s taste, we do ourselves a disservice and fool ourselves.

Humans are fascinatingly complex, and we should give them the chance to surprise us.

The Marshall Fire

“

The Marshall Fire wreaked havoc in Boulder County, emphasizing a lack of preparedness Ethan Wearner Staff Columnist wearep19@wfu.edu

The evening of Dec. 30, I sat upon a hill outside Superior, C.O. Perched atop this hill, I watched as a vicious wildfire— which would come to be known as the Marshall Fire tore through our community. While forest fires are fairly common in Colorado, so-called “urban firestorms'' are somewhat rare. No one predicted that a grassland fire would be able to destroy over 1,000 homes that day, or that it would cause over a billion dollars worth of damage.

The Marshall Fire began at around 11:10 a.m. in Boulder County, near Colorado Route 93 and Eldorado Springs Drive. Investigators have yet to settle on a definitive cause of the fire. Many suggest that the fire was caused by a religious cult called the Twelve Tribes. Neighbors adjacent to the Twelve Tribes’ property on Eldorado Springs Drive had called the fire department to investigate the tribesmen a week before the Marshall Fire began. Others blamed the wildfire on an underground coaling station that had caught fire in 2005.

Regardless of the source, the spread of the fire was exacerbated by irregular environmental conditions along the Front Range.

An unusual amount of rain came down on the state in 2021. With greater precipitation and higher snowpack, grass grew longer and faster. Even in 2020, Colorado experienced

a record year of wildfires, more than 500 million acres of land were burned. Over the course of a few months, we experienced some of the most destructive wildfires in state history. Even during periods of drought, all of these fires have spread through high wind speeds. The Marshall Fire was able to jump bridges, box stores and highways, spreading across city lines due to 80-100 m.p.h. wind speeds along the Foothills.

There is only so much that can be done to prepare for wildfires. Wildfires can be unpredictable beasts — which makes taming them particularly difficult for first responders. What is more concerning is that urban or suburban firestorms are becoming increasingly common across the United States — particularly in states like California and Colorado. One of the reasons that the Marshall Fire was so deadly is that our crowded suburbia never expected our cities to be the site of a catastrophic fire. Marshall served as a wake-up call for the quiet tract-home neighborhoods that make up the Foothills and metropolitan areas of Colorado.

To prevent future urban firestorms, we must place a heavier focus on preparedness and mitigation. Practical measures can be taken to fortify homes, apartments and businesses. Sources of ignition — vegetation and fencing, among other things — can be removed or replaced with safer alternatives. Fire or fuel breaks can be installed outside buildings. Most insurers in the area will already require the installation of asphalt or metal roofing, higher quality vents and buffers between certain residences.

Temperatures are bound to increase for at least the next 20 or 30 years, making grass

legislatures — both at the local and federal level — should concern themselves with longterm mitigation strategies." fires increasingly likely. The small costs associated with renovation will be wise investments.

However, there are also larger questions that legislatures must address. Colorado has experienced a considerable increase in its population over the last ten years. As a result, there has been less space between houses and apartments.

Smaller, “multi-use” buildings have become increasingly popular in the state amid

higher housing costs. While the popularity of these housing models is understandable, higher-density housing will pose a risk to the safety of communities like Superior if not properly managed. City planners framing fire-safety strategies must walk a fine line in balancing the needs of the housing market and public safety. Houses built too close together risk simultaneous destruction. Houses built farther apart but closer to native vegetation also risk being burned down. To combat the urban firestorm, legislatures — both at the local and federal level — should concern themselves with long-term mitigation strategies. Above all, we must recognize that the climate is changing which makes suburban tragedies like the Marshall Fire more likely.

Ethan Wearner/Old Gold & Black

The Marshall Fire has devastated Superior, CO and surrounding communities, exposing greater issues that must be addressed.

SPORTS

Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex Thayer, thayse20@wfu.edu

Follow us on Twitter @wfuogbsports OLD GOLD & BLACK

PAGE 11 THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

MBB misses out on March Madness

The team will now look ahead to the National Invitational Tournament, where they can prove the doubters wrong CHRISTIAN ODJAKJIAN Staff Writer

This is March, where anything can truly happen at any moment, and anyone can beat anyone. Upsets, glory, heartbreak. The highest highs, the lowest lows.

And that’s why we love it.

The energy around the Wake Forest men’s basketball program this season is as high as it’s been in over a decade. A strong regular season set this team up to play meaningful games in March.

"We plan to compete for championships, play meaningful games in March, cut down nets and raise banners,” Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes said when he took over the Demon Deacons program in April of 2020. “To get that done, we have to reignite the energy around our program."

Unfortunately, with a chance to secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the John Collins-led squad made it in 2017, the Demon Deacons could not make a run in the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn.

A return to the NCAA Tournament seemed highly probable for most of this season, but a combination of factors left the 37th ranked KenPom Demon Deacons out of the big dance.

Wake Forest fell to the 13th-seeded Boston College Eagles, 82-77, in overtime last Wednesday. The Demon Deacons led by 10 with six minutes to go after being outplayed for most of the game.

ACC Player of the Year Alondes Williams was dealing with a leg cramp and was in and out of action to close the game.

With five seconds remaining in regulation, and the score knotted up at 70, Williams was called for an offensive foul.

Brevin Galloway of the Eagles missed a shot at the buzzer to win it, but the underdog was able to pull out the victory in overtime.

Once the result of that game was determined, the NCAA Tournament bubble waiting game began. Almost every “bracketologist” had Wake Forest safely in the field at the beginning of conference tournament play, but losing to a Boston

College team with a losing record, combined with bubble teams across the nation stepping up and winning games, created the perfect storm for the Demon Deacons to be left out of the field of 68.

A 23-9 record, including a 13-7 mark in ACC play, usually should be plenty for a team in this conference to receive not only a tournament bid, but a good seed.

However, a weak non-conference schedule, as well as a down year within the ACC, dissuaded the committee from including Wake Forest over a 17-14 Michigan team, for example.

The Demon Deacons weren’t even listed on the “first four out” by the selection committee on the bracket reveal show, which was pretty informative, meaning that even if Wake Forest did defeat Boston College, they would have had to at least beat Miami in the next round to have received an at-large bid.

However, exclusion from the NCAA Tournament doesn’t mean that the season is over. Wake Forest accepted to play in the National Invitational Tournament, where the next best 32 teams com-

pete. The final four is played in Madison Square Garden. The Demon Deacons are a No. 2 seed and will host the regular-season champions of the Colonial Athletic Association, the Towson Tigers.

If they win that game, the winner of the VCU versus Princeton game would come to Winston-Salem.

NIT games are played at the campus site of the better-seeded team, meaning Wake Forest could host up to three games at the Joel Coliseum, if the #1 seed in the bottom right bracket Texas A&M, fails to reach the regional finals.

While it’s a disappointment that this revitalizing season didn’t ultimately lead to a March Madness appearance, this year has still been a big success for a program that was in dire need of energy.

Forbes said in his opening press conference that he plans on getting this team to play meaningful games in March. The Demon Deacons are doing just that this season.

Contact Christian Odjakjian at odjact18@wfu.edu

Page 12 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Old Gold & Black | Sports

Baseball secures first ACC win over Florida State While winning one game over the No. 8 Seminoles, the Demon Deacons lost the other two games in the series ESSEX THAYER Sports Editor

After opening the season 12-1 in outof-conference play, the Wake Forest baseball team began their conference schedule this past weekend, dropping two of the three games in the series against Florida State. The Seminoles were picked to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC — the division in which Wake Forest plays — and are ranked No. 8 in the NCAA. In the Friday matchup, three hits from freshman Danny Corona – two of which were home runs – powered the Demon Deacons to a 9-3 victory over the Seminoles. Sophomore starting pitcher Rhett Lowder delivered a solid six-inning, two-run performance and the Wake Forest bullpen closed the game with three scoreless innings.

Following a postponement of the Saturday game due to inclement weather, the Florida State pitching staff produced a near-perfect performance in the first matchup of the Sunday doubleheader – a 5-1 win. After 5.2 innings from starter Bryce Hubbart, who only gave up one run, the Seminole bullpen closed the game with 3.1 scoreless innings. In turn, Wake Forest freshman starter Josh Hartle allowed five runs, four of which were earned, giving him his first loss.

The second game of the doubleheader turned into a pitchers’ duel, with Florida State starter Ross Dunn allowing two runs over seven innings and Wake Forest starter Seth Keener giving up three runs over five innings. Both bullpens closed the game with scoreless innings, giving the Seminoles the 3-2 win.

For the first four and a half innings of the Friday game, Wake Forest was held scoreless, until Corona stepped up to the plate. Trailing by two runs, the freshman infielder ripped a solo home run to center field, opening up the score for the Demon Deacons. This heated up the Wake Forest bats, as redshirt sophomore Adam Cecere brought in two more runs on a single, giving the Demon Deacons their first lead of the day.

In their next inning, Wake Forest went right back to their scoring ways.

With two men on base, sophomore Jake Reinisch singled to left field, bringing redshirt Brandan Tinsman home and extending the Demon Deacons’ lead to two runs. The next Demon Deacon to come to the plate, Corona, followed his fifth-inning home run with another, launching a second ball out of the park for a three-run home run.

“Corona had a career day today,” Wake Forest Head Coach Tom Walter said after the game. “It was really nice to see Danny have a couple great at-bats.”

With the dominance of the bullpen, Wake Forest maintained their 7-2 lead into the eighth inning, where Corona once again added to the scoreline with a two-RBI single.

Despite a ninth-inning solo home run from Florida State, redshirt sophomore Derek Crum closed the game with just that one run allowed, giving the Demon Deacons their first ACC win of the season.

“Tonight was a great team win,” Walter said after Friday’s game. “It’s always a good feeling to get off to a good start in league play.”

In the first game of their doubleheader on Sunday, Wake Forest’s bats fell flat,

Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

Freshman Danny Corona (4 RBIs) had three hits in the Friday game against Florida State, two of which left the park for home runs.

Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

Sophomore Camden Minacci winds up to throw. Minacci pitched four innings in the series, only allowing two hits and no runs. with the team only connecting for four hits and one run against a very strong pitching effort by Hubbart.

Following three scoreless innings from Hartle, the Seminoles finally got the best of the freshman, bringing home a run in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Florida State hit a ball into the infield that the Demon Deacons turned into a double play, though a run still crossed the plate. Hartle was able to get Wake Forest off the field with just that run given up by securing a strikeout two batters later. In the next half inning, the Demon Deacons were able to even the score on a sacrifice-fly by Tinsman.

In the fifth inning, the Seminoles went right back to work. A double on the first at-bat of the inning turned into a triple off an error in the outfield. A ground out from the following batter brought the runner home, giving Florida State the lead again. In the sixth inning, the Seminoles moved even further ahead on a two-run home run and an RBI double.

In the bottom of the sixth, Wake Forest looked primed to get back into the game, loading the bases with two outs.

Walter brought in freshman Tommy Hawke to pinch-hit, and he struck out swinging.

“I was proud of the way we battled,” Walter said after the game. “We just couldn’t find that one big hit to jumpstart us.”

Following the defensive stand, the Seminoles bullpen closed out the game with three scoreless innings, giving the team the 5-1 victory.

In the second game of the Sunday doubleheader, the Wake Forest offense once again lacked its usual pop. The Demon Deacons’ only score came in the first inning, a two-run home run by sophomore Brock Wilken. In the second inning, Florida State added all their runs for the game. Unfortunately for the Demon Deacons, they had one more run.

To open the second inning, Alex Toral hit a solo home run. Then, with two runners on base, Jackson Greene brought a runner home on a sacrifice fly, evening the score. The crucial, final run for the Seminoles was plated by a single by Jaime Ferrer. From there, both teams pitched shutouts for the rest of the game, giving Florida State the onerun victory.

After the game, Walter was critical of his offense’s success in relation to the team’s pitching.

“Today was a disappointing day,” Walter said. “We pitched well enough to win. I was proud of our bullpen and the way that they stepped up.”

Despite the disappointing losses, Wake Forest secured a win against a Top-10 team in the nation, a feat that garnered them national recognition.

The Demon Deacons will look to follow the victory with success in their weekend series in Atlanta against a strong program in Georgia Tech, the team picked to finish first in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

Contact Essex Thayer at thayse20@wfu.edu

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, March 17, 2022 | Page 13

Men’s tennis continues to dominate The Demon Deacons collect four wins over the break

CHRISTINA DENOVIO Sports Editor

While the rest of us were relaxing on a beach, exploring a new city with friends or spending quality time with family over spring break, the No. 6 men’s tennis team notched three consecutive wins against ranked ACC opponents.

The first win came on March 4 against No. 21 University of Miami (FL). With a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes, this match was the Demon Deacons’ first win on the road so far this season.

Two days later, Wake Forest swept No. 29 Florida State 7-0 and picked up their second road win of the season. Doubles teams consisting of graduate student Ben Draper and redshirt senior Eduardo Nava on Court 1 and graduate student Jurabek Karimov and senior Siddhant Banthia on Court 2 secured the doubles point with both pairs winning 6-4.

On March 10, Wake Forest played their first home match of the break against No. 29 NC State, which the Demon Deacons won by a margin of 5-2. In the second match of the double-header on March 10, Wake Forest defeated Bluefield State College 6-1.

The win against Miami began with Wake Forest clinching the doubles point.

Karimov and his doubles partner Banthia started the match on a high note on Court 2 by defeating their opponents 6-2.

On Court 3, sophomore Filippo Moroni and his doubles partner graduate student Jakob Schnaitter defeated their opponents in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4).

The road became a little rocky at singles, as the Demon Deacons struggled to pull out enough wins, but No. 62-ranked singles player Nava and Schnaitter won their matches at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively.

These wins were outweighed by losses from Karimov along with juniors Taha Baadi and Rrezart Cungu. As the score remained tied at 3-3, the match would once again come down to Moroni. For the fourth time, the Valenza, Italy native clinched the win for Wake Forest.

In singles matches against Florida State, Karimov, Nava, Cungu, Moroni, Schnaitter and Banthia defeated their Seminoles opponents in dominant fashion. Karimov, Nava, Cungu and Moroni did so in straight sets.

At doubles, on Court 2 Karimov and Banthia beat their opponents 6-4 while on Court 3 Schnaitter and junior Matthew Thomson captured a 6-3 win, giving Wake Forest its first point.

In singles against NC State, senior Melios Efstathiou, Cungu, Schnaitter and Banthia defeated their Wolfpack counterparts. Karimov and Nava both fell at No.

1 and No. 3 singles respectively after the win had already been clinched.

Against Bluefield State, Demon Deacons’ only slipup occurred at doubles, in which the Big Blues won two of the three matches, giving them their only point of the match. In singles, however, Efstathiou, Schnaitter, Banthia, junior Juan Lopez de Azcona, Matthew Thomson and Draper all won in straight sets.

After two very successful weeks the Demon Deacons (21-4 overall and 17-0 at home) have a series of ACC matches on the road. After a short break, on March 25 Wake Forest travels to Virginia Tech.

This match will be followed by matches against No. 18 University of Virginia, No. 32 Notre Dame and No. 45 Louisville. The Demon Deacons’ next home game is several weeks away on April 8 against No. 48 Clemson.

Contact Christina DeNovio at denoca20@wfu.edu

Editor predicts March Madness ESSEX THAYER, Sports Editor

PAGE 14 THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022

LIFE OLD GOLD & BLACK

Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu Josie Scratchard, scraja20@wfu.edu

Case studies: David Lynch and the rise of dark suburbia "I mean, it sounds like a good daydream, but actually doing it would be too weird": the reality of the American dream combination with more positive evolutions like efforts towards inclusion and diversity — things changed. The public began to turn its back on the sanctity of the "White Flight" suburbs of the 50s and 60s and the nuclear family with dad’s station wagon parked out front. Something about uniformity wasn’t comforting anymore.

It’s easy to look at the suburbia trope in film and television and write it off as people poking fun at unfaithful housewives or apathetic fathers, but that doesn’t explain why it is so effective in contemporary media.

What about nice homes occupied by happy, normal families is so eerie? Why does too much pleasantness induce anxiety?

Photo courtesy of IMDb One of the most explicit nods to the dark subLynch generates unease with an urbia trope is “Vivarium”. In this film, Lorcan overtly-pictureseque opening sequence. Finnegan captures a very specific type of dread which latches on to a relentlessly monotonous life.

Clear blue sky. Pretty flowers. A friendly fireTom and Gemma are looking to buy their first truck. Children leisurely crossing the street. Nice, home, and they are led into a neighborhood in simple houses with white picket fences. Upper- which every single house is identical except for the middle-class white people enjoying a lazy Satur- number on the front door. When they try to leave, day. This is the portrait of the American suburbs they become so disoriented and confused that it’s that David Lynch paints in “Blue Velvet”. impossible for them to escape. In utter isolation, There is something about this sequence, we watch them resort to typical gender roles — though, that is subtly unnerving — a feeling Tom works tirelessly to dig a hole in the front yard which is reinforced as the camera soon makes its to escape while Gemma tends to the house and way to a pile of beatles squirming below the mani- child. cured grass, revealing the reality underneath the They sink into despair, straining desperately toshimmering facade. ward a future beyond their grasp. When Tom dies, The two shots aren’t entirely unrelated — or, he is buried in the grave he spent months digging. at least, they shouldn’t be — but there is a reason I mean, seriously, the metaphors write themselves. why we almost expect the bugs, the filth and the “Vivarium” is so fresh and modern that it seems ugliness. That expectation is exactly what Lynch hard to believe it is a critique of a lifestyle from the capitalizes on as he sets the mood for the entire 50s, but that is because the facade of the American film. dream never entirely faded — it has just constantLynch’s film marks a watershed in Western ly reinvented and rebranded itself. thinking. As people were becoming increasingly “Them” is a 2021 Amazon original that also aware of the dangers of American exceptional- leaned on dark suburbia for its artistic vision. Set ism and the fragility of the American dream — in in 1953, a Black family looking for a better life ADAM COIL Life Editor

moves to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood.

Here, the hegemony extends beyond the houses and encompasses the people as well, creating a suffocating environment. As expected, the Emorys

inherently suspicious when things are too neat and orderly. Perhaps this tension is one that has been created by the media that precedes it, but I don’t think so. There is one path of reasoning that has yet to be explored because it is, well, a little too unpleasant to stomach.

The real reason for our aversion to cul-de-sac America and its promise for a perfect life is because perfection, itself, is unsettling.

We all need to wish that we were healthier, richer, more popular, happier, more successful or more fulfilled to keep ourselves going. We have to be able to convince ourselves that there is something out there for us that will make life better than it is now — something worth working towards. If we have everything that we want, then all we can do is lose that happiness. The idea — the dream — of the perfect life is more pleasing, more essential than the perfect life, itself.

Because what is one to do if they wake up one Photo courtesy of IMDb Saturday morning and they find themselves unable Tom ponders his isolation and the to be occupied by mundane conflict resolution cyfutility of his actions in "Vivarium". cles? What is that person to do if they are unhappy with who they see in the mirror — what if they are treated horribly by their neighbors, but the no longer even know who they want to see? What unexpected twist lies in the sinister nature of the if one has everything that they think they should house itself. The haunting nature of their home want and still find themselves unhappy? What if symbolizes their own inherent discomfort with they are forced to spend a moment alone with their the neighborhood that would exist even if their thoughts and confront the fact that they are utterly neighbors weren’t constantly plotting to remove unfulfilled? them. There is something about that uniform The trope is so effective at adding a disturbing street with its cookie-cutter houses that is just as element because it functions as a symbol of the disturbing as the racism it harbors. perpetual instability within ourselves and because There are plenty of other films and television it subtly reminds us of our inability to reconcile shows that have adopted this motif to create un- our true selves with the world to which we are subcertainty within the viewer, like “Donnie Darko”, jected.

“The Stepford Wives” and even the hilariously If we look long and close enough at that thing sinister “Desperate Housewives” with its Wisteria that seems like such a wonderful daydream, we start Lane. It’s something that you don’t notice until to realize that actually living it would just be too you do, but then you can’t stop thinking about it. weird.

Perhaps it has to do with the uncanny — looking at something that is unknown but feels famil- Contact Adam Coil at iar. Perhaps we on the outside looking in are just coilat21@wfu.edu

Sports delivers with latest album, 'Get A Good Look' 'Get A Good Look' experiments with a psychedelic sound in new project MARYUM KHANUM Opinion Editor

2015 was the year that gave us the musical genre of psychedelic indie rock, characterized by synthesizer instrumentals and vibrant, dreamier melodies reminiscent of 80s dance music. The year yielded many albums and songs that helped establish the trajectory of this genre of music — Cavetown’s self-titled album, Mac Demarco’s “Another One”, Beach House’s “Depression Cherry”, Wolf Alice’s “My Love Is Cool” and — arguably one of the most iconic albums in the genre — Tame Impala’s “Currents”.

It’s okay if you don't know who Tame Impala is — he’s pretty underground.

However, the year did not only provide indie rock lovers with new music from their favorite, established artists but also gave them new artists to which to listen.

Formed in 2015, the band Sports consists of brothers Jacob and Christian Theriot and their childhood friend, Cale Chronister. The trio from Tulsa, OK had

actually been playing together for years before their debut album, “Naked All The Time”. Their band name was coined as a humorous nod to their own lack of athletic abilities.

Though they are most widely recognized for their hit single “You Are The Right One”, which has amassed almost 40 million streams on Spotify and almost epitomizes shoegaze music, their newest album “Get A Good Look” displays a more unique and creative side, adding slower acoustic elements to create a unique sound.

“Get A Good Look'' is divided into two halves by a 45-second intermission, with the first half of the album consisting of songs “Call Me Anytime”, “The Look”, “Baby Baby” (my personal favorite song of the alum), “Never Know”, “Tell You Something” and “Don't Get Me Started”.

This half of the album exhibits a brilliant display of the vibrant, psychedelic indie dance music that we all know and love.

Tracks like “The Look”, “Never Know” and “Don’t Get Me Started” are all much

more fast-paced and upbeat, revealing a style that seems heavily inspired by Bee Gees and their pop-dance fever style of music in “Saturday Night Fever”, if only it were slightly more mellow and used heavy synthesizer riffs in the chorus.

Songs like “Baby Baby”, “Call Me Anytime” and “Tell You Something” all feature similar riffs which add psychedelic indie elements to them, but their slower, more hazy tempo gives them more of a kaleidoscopic jazz feel.

In the second half of the album, Sports transitions into a completely different sound that might not even sound like the same album — or the same artist — if you don’t know what you are listening to. This half of the album places a much heavier emphasis on the “rock” element of the music while still maintaining the psychedelic-indie integrity of the music through the typical fuzzy vocals and synthesized samples.

Songs like “It Gets Hard To Be Alone” and “Get A Good Look” sound almost like if you combined dark-synth, surre-

alist pop with the sound of iconic rock ballad bands like Oasis. While this half of the album still contains songs that are similar to the first half, such as “Can’t Be What You Think” and “Ordinary Man”, the general vibe of the second half is much less electronic and heavily features manual instruments alongside synthesized production.

Overall, I’d say Sports’ new album is a banger with no skips. Not only does it contain more poppy 80s dance music that would draw in the audience that loved “You Are The Right One”, it also has tracks that delve deeper into the genre of psychedelic indie with more bizarre instrumentals for their long time fans and a rock-ballad vibe to certain songs in the second half of the album, making it unique.

It seems as if the band has really found their niche within the music industry, and hopefully, they will continue to produce hit records like this one.

Contact Maryum Khanum at khanmg20@wfu.edu

Life | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, March 17, 2022 | Page 15

College transition strains old relationships Maintaining friendships proves especially complex for international students YUSHUO WANG Staff Writer

“I’m delighted that somebody treats my Olivia with benign intentions.”

My best friend at high school sent me this message when I told her about my most recent gratifying encounter at Wake Forest.

Right after our conversation, I started rummaging through our chat logs from WeChat, one of the most prevalent social media platforms in China.

I realized that our chatting had changed from a very dense, daily back and forth to a weekly, now monthly status quo after graduating from high school. It seems like college separates our past friends in distance on purpose, though we neither doubt our mutual role as confidants nor lose the thoughts of each other as they occupy the corners of our minds.

I have ruminated for a while now on compiling my thoughts on friendship, struggling with its future longevity, seeking its trail and pondering on its significance.

My biggest struggle comes from my balancing of friendships. I worry about losing touch with my middle school best friends who attend universities in China, but at the same time, I’m sure that I will miss my friends at Wake Forest — who so often offer me solace and bring me courage and support — after I return to my home country.

It is strange that I am thinking about this so early as a sophomore, but my early nostalgia feels like chewing on a cucumber.

There is a sweet side and a bitter end. Biting on either part means unavoidable suffering — either at present or in the future.

There is no way for me to hold on to any side as long as I wish. With days in the future bleeding into one another, the only thing that I can do is keep checking on my old friends and collect as many special jars of memories at Wake Forest as possible for me to dwell on once I go back home.

However, we can always choose to leave something behind so long as we cannot beat time.

My overwrought feelings are always soothed by my chat records — a record of me and my friends’ lives. I never delete them because they are where I find out on which day in which month and in which year I accidentally dropped my phone in the toilet and lost everything. They are where I found out which afternoon my friend had a boring class and unconsciously finished off an entire bag of sweet potato strips. They allow me to dig out those half-forgotten, half-remembered AP calculus problems we discussed senior year of high school and to remember the boys we never got a chance to cross paths with but whose whereabouts we knew so well.

These are the chat records that I let fill up my phone's memory instead of deleting.

And they are the friends for whom I will click thumbs up for whatever stupid posts they share and stay up until midnight to wish happy birthday. They are a part of me now. Regardless of how often or not they occupy my thoughts, they mean a lot to me.

Architecture deserves more appreciation as art Buildings hold more value than just their functional purpose ABBY KOMISKE Staff Writer

One thing in life that is grossly underappreciated is the impact of architecture on people.

We go about our daily lives to school, work, the gym and dinner before going home to repeat it the next day, often thinking nothing of the thought put behind the structures in which these events occur. These buildings are instrumental to our lives, yet so often we forget about the significance of their existence.

There is meaning behind our homes, government buildings and businesses beyond simply providing necessities like sleep, societal regulation and work.

Architecture is pivotal to how we first view buildings and what is conducted within them. Thus, the style of architecture is very telling to how people view the world and how they decide to live in society. Columns, facades, windowsills, arches, bricks, stories, stained glass and bright colors all tie into what buildings are used for and what they represent to both inhabitants and viewers alike. A home is made for a family; a church is made for worshipers; a school is meant for students.

But why, exactly? Although we have always cared so much about architecture throughout all of human history, no one typically cares to ask why it is so necessary to us as we grow and become modern. There are obvious examples that everyone appreciates, like Hagia Sophia, the New York Public Library, Fallingwater, Monticello, the Eiffel Tower, St. Basil's Cathedral, Burj Khalifa, the list goes on.

We see these magnificent creations as outgrowths of styles such as Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque. These architectural periods reflect the values of people, and what they hope to inspire at the time. For example, out of the Baroque style came Versailles. On a radically different spectrum, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao came out of the Postmodern era. These are grand instances of architectural

significance, and the importance of these structures should not be underestimated — especially considering people of all races and cultures have been creating since the beginning. Just look at ancient Egyptian temples, the Longmen caves on the Yi River and the Taj Mahal.

However, architecture and building designs serve a greater purpose in mundane life as well. The vaulted ceilings of churches, the bright murals in schools, and the columns of

Katie Fox/Old Gold & Black

Wait Chapel serves as a popular symbol of Wake Forest University.

how beautiful and mystifying architecture can be.

Builders and laborers throughout the centuries have cared about architecture because it is an art that people need. It is not a craving people have, but a necessity that breaks up monotonous life to highlight the beauty of our world and our creativity. It’s a nice thought that people care so much about architecture, even if it’s hard to put a finger on exactly why it’s specifically so necessary or transformative to daily life.

Even if you don’t particularly care for arcades, atriums or facades, the general look of buildings can always be appreciated by people, or in some cases may be dissatisfying to onlookers. That’s why there is such a psychological detriment to living in an ugly, brutalist apartment complex that is produced en masse to lower the cost of living. Living prices have significantly gone up despite this design, while the attention to details beyond necessities for living has often been forgotten in recent years.

The bleakness and inability to add light to such architecture can significantly harm the people living within them. After all, a home is made for a family and if their home is a gray duplex without any windows, a yard or style, then there are major discrepancies to the vibrancy a family should be surrounded by. This is a major problem, especially in the U.S., that needs to be talked about more. Beautiful architecture should not be taken for granted because of this issue.

While I agree that form follows function and that structures primarily serve to fulfill the purposes of their inhabitants, there must also be beauty and meaning behind buildings that showcase their culture and values or else there will be a negative psychological effect on its inhabitants.

official buildings all have meaning. A church may have such high ceilings to show its followers how it is lifting towards heaven, a school may have murals highlighting the goodness and kindness of the world to its impressionable children.

A government building may have Roman elements like marble ionic columns to signify the ideals of modernity and republicanism.

These would not exist if people only cared about creating structures for the sake of working, surviving and living. There is a purpose to such beautiful creations beyond the objectives of housing a family, selling products or teach- Contact Abby Komiske at ing children. These are just a few examples of komiak21@wfu.edu

Likewise, knowing that I have few of my foreign friends’ phone numbers stored in my phone makes me feel less adrift or scared when standing alone — even if I’m in front of Hanes Mall waiting for my Uber driver and four or five strangers get out of a car and fill the air with the pungent smell of cannabis.

Those chat records and phone numbers are what hold me tight. This may sound a little shallow, but my garbage collection and processing center must be guarded by people who love me so much, and who I would love back more.

I still may not have a clear answer to which side of the cucumber I should start biting, but I won’t hesitate to shoot that message saying, “I miss you, I miss you so much” to whoever will be far from me in the future.

Only for better encounters do we trek across distance and time.

Contact Yushuo Wang at wangy220@wfu.edu

THE HOT LIST TOP 10 SPRING BREAK DESTINATIONS

1.

Your mom's house

2.

Weaver fertilizer factory

3.

Anywhere but here

4.

The Bermuda Triangle

5.

Somewhere with tropical cocktails

6.

Best Western PLUS

7.

Lost city of Atlantis

8.

Your mom's beach house

9.

The North Pole

1000.

Florida

Page 16 | Thursday, March 17, 2022

Still Grimey SELINNA TRAN Print Managing Editor As its logo suggests, the sibling-founded clothing store Still Grimey specializes in offering fine vintage goods to the public. With a brick-and-mortar shop located in downtown Winston-Salem and a booth in Design Archives Vintage and Handmade Emporium — a store home to hundreds of different small businesses and art-

COOPER SULLIVAN

Old Gold & Black | Life ists — Still Grimey was top on my list of stores to visit for Life on the Street.

When stepping into the Still Grimey store, the first thing you will notice is the aesthetic color-coordinated assembly of clothes on the different racks. While the physical size of the store may be small, there are is an abundance of clothing packed onto each rack.

The store has a nice atmosphere and is inviting, although the storefront is a small hole-in-the-wall establishment on Winston-Salem’s busy downtown street.

From random college sweatshirts to iconic Dickies pants, Still Grimey offers a variety of clothing articles to spruce up your closet.

The store frequently offers sales, but as is common with many vintage re-sellers, prices can reach steep levels that go beyond the average college student’s budget. Robert and Stephen Daniel are the (twin duo) minds behind Still Grimey. With a goal of offering sustainable secondhand clothing to the local community, the two moved to Winston-Salem in the summer of 2020.

“We can’t please everyone, but if you like cool stuff you’ll probably like us,” Stephen Daniel said.

When asked about the mission and backstory behind Still Grimey, the duo basically started out of necessity: “We lived in Boone, NC for six years while attending Appalachian State,” Stephen Daniel said.

“Robert and I would go Goodwill-looking for clothes and any outdoor gear we could find.”

“We’d buy outdoor gear to flip at the local gear consigment store for groceries on the weekends. Ultimately, there’s a lot more to the story but that’s how we got started. We’ve been selling clothes full time for almost three years.”

Stephen Daniel attributes their hustle and interest in selling clothes from their grandfather. The Daniel brothers have come a long way from sellling at pop-up shops

The Outfits...

Selinna Tran/Old Gold & Black

Sullivan’s first outfit was my attempt at a stylish outfit with the options I had available. Sullivan is not one to shy away from fun prints so a shirt that screams “YEAH, I’M A RACING FAN” was perfect. I wanted neutral colors so I chose white and tan and finished the look off with a contrasting green vest. On the right, I wanted to explore and have a little bit of fun. Sullivan confidently rocked the striped jorts and the store owner even agreed with me.

and have accomplished what many sellers and companies aspire to achieve.

In terms of where Still Grimey sees themselves progressing in the future, Stephen Daniel said, “I mean, we have a brick and mortar?! That’s the goal for a lot of people when they get into re-selling. When we lived in Boone we would do weekend pop-ups in our driveway.”

He continued: “We both feel that we’ve by no means made it, but we’re happy to be moving toward our goals and we’re happy to be doing something we love. Our goal over the next couple of years is to grow into a larger space here in Winston-Salem and to open a second location.”

Although Stephen Daniel notes that — while they wish to grow and progress as a company — maintaining a personal style is vital.

As someone who enjoys exploring my personal style and also being conscious of how to be more fashionable while being sustainable, I had to ask the minds behind Still Grimey for any input or tips they had.

“One of the most important things is to do what comes naturally. No matter what that looks like. Be yourself and do not force it,” Stephen Daniel said.

Stephen Daniel notes that he and his brother, themselves, do not have what they consider to be an “outstanding sense of style.”

Stephen Daniel continued, “It is important to focus on the basics when getting into your own personal style. Buy stuff that you would wear every day if you had to. Try not to rely on one source when shopping on a budget.”

Even if you may not find exactly what you are looking for at Still Grimey, visiting the store can provide inspiration as to design, color and style.

If you look at the photos available, my friend and coworker Cooper Sullivan and I took turns to style each other from the various pieces available at Still Grimey.

Our primary goal was to be able to make some super funky outfits from the options available.

SELINNA TRAN

Cooper Sullivan/Old Gold & Black

“I went into the excursion with the goal of giving Selinna two versatile outfits.

On the left, you ‘see’ a fit good for all formal forest occasions. And on the right, you have the classic ‘hanging with the bros’ fit. Selinna drove us from campus to Still Grimey and every time she made a turn, she would pretend she was at Bristol, making an obnoxious gear shifting sound. So finding all these 2000s NASCAR gems was a no-brainer!” - Sullivan The first photo on the left shows a glimpse inside the quaint store. The logo is courtesy of Still Grimey. If you’d like to plan a visit for inspiration, the best way to figure out the ever-changing business hours is on their Instagram @ still.grimey.

Contact Selinna Tran at transn18@wfu.edu