8/25/22 Full Edition

Old Gold&Black

UCC hires two new counselors

BREANNA LAWS Staff Writer

The University Counsel ing Center (UCC) has hired two new counsel ors — Katie Whitley and Brittney Lowery — making the UCC fully sta ed for the rst time since 2019.

Over the past couple of years, the UCC has had multiple instances in which they were not able to replace counselors cycling out of their sys tem in a pace consistent with stu dent demand for services.

According to a Nov. 2021 state ment made by UCC Director Dr. Warrenetta Mann in the Old Gold & Black, around 40% of students were experiencing general instances of anxiety and depression. At this same time, the UCC was operating with only seven to nine providers.

In October 2021, the UCC changed to a short-term, goal-based therapeutic approach — referring students to o -campus services when deemed most appropriate.

e UCC returned to its normal therapeutic approach at the begin ning of the spring 2022 semester.

e increase of full-time sta is ex pected to aid in mental health edu cation and services, achieving what the UCC is there for — catching mental health concerns early.

“We [the UCC] are truly excited to be starting this new academic year in a great place as we welcome all of our students to campus,” Mann said. “Each of our new sta members contributes a unique skill set and strength to our team, and we have been focusing on leverag ing those unique strengths for the bene t of our campus community.”

Whitley began working with the UCC in July 2022. She has had

previous experience in counseling college students and is coming to Wake Forest after holding a posi tion in the counseling center at Ap palachian State University. She has a special interest in working with students who are working to recov er from traumatic experiences.

Lowery will begin as a counselor in the UCC in September 2022. She has worked in outpatient and inpatient settings, particularly with clients experienc ing mental health crises.

While sta ing issues at the UCC proved to be a major point of student concern this past year, the UCC feels con dent that these new members of our community will alleviate this issue. However, the stress of understa ng was not the sole factor in the UCC’s deci sion to welcome the large number of new faculty members.

“We were intentional about main taining high professional standards, and not responding to the pressure to just ll slots,” Mann said. “We believe that the UCC sta is well positioned to provide the kind of support that Wake Forest students can really bene t from.”

In ful lling these standards, the new hires have already been active on campus in multiple ways.

“Our new sta have been great additions and have already started taking clients, participating in outreach and co-facilitating group therapy classes,” Charlotte Brown, a UCC administrative assistant,

said.

Ti any Longjohn, Clinical Case Manager for the UCC, wants stu dents to remember that the UCC is available for everyone who wish es to use it.

“My hope is that all folks in our community know that we con tinue to be a well-being resource for students,” she said. “I also hope that students re orient themselves to the UCC's re sources including on-campus sup port and addi tional resources via the telehealth platform.”

“We want our students to have con dence that we are here to sup port them as they return to cam pus,” Mann said. “We [will] con tinue to work closely with other campus o ces to ensure students have the support they need to be successful.”

If you need support, reach out to the UCC at 336-758-5273 at any time for crisis assistance or during business hours to schedule an appointment. You can also log in to the TimelyCare platform at timelycare.com/wakeforest — this space provides 24/7 crisis support, as well as scheduled counseling.

For immediate assistance in a mental health crisis, call 911. e National Suicide Prevention Ho tline can be called at 988 or +1 800-273-8255. e Crisis Text Line can be contacted by texting HOME to 741-741.

Contact Breanna Laws at lawsbn21@wfu.edu

What's Inside

University welcomes students during annual Convocation

MADDIE STOPYRA Staff Writer

On Friday, Aug. 19, university faculty and sta welcomed the Class of 2026 to the Wake Forest community at New Student Con vocation. Hosted annually in Wait Chapel, New Student Convocation is a ceremony in which new under graduate students sign the honor code, pledging to uphold the uni versity’s motto “Pro Humanitate”.

“Academic integrity is the found ing principle of Wake Forest edu cation,” Provost Dr. Michele Gil lespie said during her opening remarks. “ is code represents a foundational commitment that every member of this community makes to uphold honesty and in tegrity. It allows our community to foster trust and respect for each other.”

Facilitated by Student Govern ment President Pilar Agudelo, new students signed a printed statement alongside their peers. In complet ing this, the Class of 2026 pledged to maintain the university’s policy regarding plagiarism, cheating and stealing.

In addition to participating in the tradition of signing the honor code, the incoming class took part in a pinning ceremony. Students faced their classmates and declared themselves full members of Wake Forest, and each student promised to contribute and respect the uni versity.

Alongside partaking in two Wake Forest traditions, attendees heard from six speakers, including Wake Forest President Dr. Susan Wente. e university president who was inaugurated in March 2022 com municated the university’s devo tion to student success.

“Covers the

like the magnolias”

The two hires will make the University Counseling Center fully staffed for the frst time since 2019

“We want our students to have confidence that we are here to support them as they return to campus,"

UCC Director Dr. Warrenetta Mann

Old Gold & Black

is column represents the views of the Editor-in-Chief, Connor McNeely

Letter from the Editor: A new tradition

For its entire history, the Old Gold & Black has been a weekly campus news paper, upholding a tradition that mem bers of the Wake Forest community have come to expect and depend upon.

is fall, the Old Gold & Black will be adopting a new biweekly printing sched ule.

Instead of a physical print newspaper every single week, we will now be stock ing stands with the Old Gold & Black every other week with eight issues across the Fall semester on the following dates:

1. August 25

2. September 8

3. September 22

4. October 6

5. October 20

6. November 3

7. November 17

8. December 1

is decision was informed by the sweeping transformation made across the nation to both professional and studentcreated print newspapers. News organi zations everywhere are diverting their re sources to expand their multimedia reach and working to create more high-quality print editions. Now, as members of our community pick up a copy of the Old Gold & Black, they can expect a news paper that re ects a higher investment of time, e ort and creativity.

Readers concerned about potential lack of content can look to our website www. wfuogb.com, to nd a continuously

updating source of news on everything Wake Forest.

As an organization dedicated to the ev er-changing Wake Forest community, the Old Gold & Black has followed this na tional change and is now working to con tinually transform its operations in order to provide the best coverage possible. e reduction in the frequency of print newspapers has allowed for a substantial amount of our funding to be directed to wards both professional development of sta members and multimedia projects, which will be produced as the semester progresses.

roughout its history, the Old Gold & Black has always stood as a creative hub on Wake Forest’s campus — with this choice, we are opening our doors to

Old Gold&Black

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SINCE 1916

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

SELINNA TRAN

PRINT MANAGING EDITOR transn19@wfu.edu

>> 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

Ian Steffenson, stefp21@wfu.edu

>> LIFE

Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu

Josie Scratchard, scraja20@wfu.edu

>> PHOTO EDITOR

Virginia Noone, noonvc21@wfu.edu

>> ADVISER

Phoebe Zerwick, zerwicp@wfu.edu

AINE PIERRE

ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR pierav20@wfu.edu

>> POLICIES

The Old Gold & Black is published Thursdays during the school year, except during examinations, summer and holiday periods, by Triangle Printing of Durham. © 2022 WFU Media Board. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all editorials and advertisements contained within this publication do not necessarily refect the opinions of the OGB. As part of our commitment to reporting news fairly and accurately, we will not remove any previously pub lished 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 correc tion. In order to facilitate thoughtful and appropriate debate, profane, vulgar, or infammatory comments on our website are not allowed and will be deleted. For more information on our commenting policy, please see our website. We reserve the right to reject advertise ments deemed inappropriate. Our full policy, and how to advertise with the OGB, can be found on our website.

>> SUBMISSIONS

The OGB welcomes submissions in the form of story tips, columns and letters to the editor. Letters to the editor should be fewer than 500 words, and columns should be around 500 words. Send yours via e-mail to mcnecb19@wfu.edu the Monday before publica tion. We reserve the right to edit all letters for length and clarity. No anonymous letters will be printed.

>> ONLINE MEDIA

Web: wfuogb.com

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COOPER SULLIVAN

MULTIMEDIA MANAGING EDITOR sullcg20@wfu.edu

“

As an organization dedicated to the ever-changing Wake For est community, the Old Gold & Black has followed this na tional change and is now work ing to continually transform its operations in order to provide the best coverage possible."

even more talented students by provid ing new opportunities in media. If you are interested in writing for the Old Gold & Black, or working for us in any capac ity, please contact wfuogb@gmail.com. ank you for reading, and thank you for your continued support of our news paper.

EMY YAMAMOTO

BUSINESS MANAGER yamae20@wfu.edu

Convocation :

“[The faculty is] committed to en suring that Wake Forest is a place where each of you can belong and thrive,” Wente said. “Let me further clearly say [that] each of you [is] val ued, and you belong right here at Wake Forest University.”

As she continued to encourage the Class of 2026, Wente drew on her background as a biomedical scientist. She spoke on the pathway to success and connected it to the chemical term “catalyst”, a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction.

“While each of us is here foraging our own pathway, we are united by our common desire to be catalysts for good in society,” Wente said. “Catalysts speed things up and lower the barrier to success. That is an apt metaphor for what you are about to

Wake Forest welcomes Class of ‘26

experience at Wake Forest. As stu dents, you are going to experience many different catalysts on campus: a class, a paper, a club, an interaction with an advisor, a counselor, a profes sor, assigned reading or guest lecture; or even a walk along one of our beau tiful campus trails. When you add up the action of all these individual catalysts together over the course of your time here, the result will be your individual pathway to discovery.”

Alongside Wente, faculty members such as Associate Dean for Academic Advising Dr. Ashley Hairston and Interim Dean of the College Dr. An thony Marsh offered advice to the incoming freshman class. Hairston invited students to utilize resources available to them such as the Office of Academic Advising and comforted students in finding their path and messing up along the way. Similarly,

Marsh emphasized the importance of openness to the college experience.

“Be open,” Marsh said. “Be open to new opportunities as they present themselves over the next four years. Be open to new ways of thinking as you take classes in the liberal arts core and the various majors and mi nors as our amazing college faculty strives to help you reach your full po tential. Be open to new relationships with your peers as we recognize that we are more alike than different.”

Each speaker highlighted the im portance of community on Wake Forest’s campus. The University Chaplain, Reverend Timothy L. Au man, offered a moment of prayer and stillness for attendees. He prayed for unity among students and faculty as the Class of 2026 begins their col lege experience. Auman, alongside the other faculty speakers, advocated

for camaraderie and the embodiment of Pro Humanitate. After singing the Alma Mater as a congregation, fac ulty members recessed out of Wait Chapel, and the ceremony conclud ed.

“I appreciated the emphasis placed on belonging and community throughout the entire ceremony,” freshman Ava Johnson said. “This message created a sense of intimacy and security despite sitting among hundreds of students who I might consider strangers today, but soon friends.”

More information about New Stu dent Convocation as well as a live stream of the event can be found at https://convocation.wfu.edu/newstudent-convocation/.

Contact Maddie Stopyra at stopmf21@wfu.edu

LGBTQ+ Center appoints new interim director

EMILY TORO News Editor

Kayla Lisenby-Denson, former man ager for inclusive practice at the O ce of Diversity and Inclusion, will succeed Dr. AJ Mazaris as the interim director of the LGBTQ+ Center.

Lisenby-Denson plans to support the new assistant director, Nayasia Cole man, and the new program coordina tor, Antayzha Wiseman, in their work this upcoming semester and cultivate an inclusive, supportive campus com munity.

“My goal is to lead the LGBTQ+ Cen ter in o ering a welcoming environ ment, facilitating engaging program ming and opportunities; and fostering a community of support for students of all gender identities and sexual ori entations,” Lisenby-Denson said. “I also want to lead the LGBTQ+ Cen ter in a successful fall semester where we welcome incoming and returning students, host awesome programs and continue o ering the support and com munity the LGBTQ+ Center is known

for within our campus community.”

Lisenby-Denson joined the Wake Forest community in 2015 as the pro gram coordinator for the LGBTQ+ Center and later assumed the roles of assistant and associate director. is past February, they left the LGBTQ+ Center to work with the O ce of Di versity and Inclusion team as the man ager for Inclusive Practice.

“Working in the LGBTQ+ Center for six plus years has been an incred ible experience,” Lisenby-Denson said.

“I have had the chance to develop and build so much of the current portfolio of the LGBTQ+ Center, and AJ Maz aris and I worked very closely together for many years, so I feel those previous experiences have prepared me to step into this interim director role.”

Women’s Center Director Shelley Sizemore also worked alongside Lisen by-Denson and feels that their con tributions in the workplace have been signi cant and will continue to better the campus community.

“It has been a pleasure to work along side Kayla Lisenby-Denson at Wake

Forest, and I am excited to collaborate with them as they serve as the Inter im Director of the LGBTQ+ Center,” Sizemore said. “Kayla’s attentiveness to student concerns, welcoming energy and passion for equity and inclusion will directly bene t the students, facul ty, sta and alumni who interact with the Center.”

Lisenby-Denson believes their degree from the Wake Forest University Evening MBA program has helped shape their e orts at Wake Forest.

“In 2021, I graduated from the Wake Forest Evening MBA program where I focused a lot of my research and practice on diversity, equity, inclusion and change-making within leadership and organizational culture contexts,” Lisenby-Denson said. “ e knowledge and experiences I gained through my MBA studies have already proven to be incredibly valuable to my work at Wake Forest, and I know I will continue to leverage that learning as I serve in this role.”

Some of their previous work at the LGBTQ+ Center involved developing

POLICE BEAT

Larceny:

and implementing the Developing, Empowering and A rming Communities (DEAC) Allies program in 2020 and designing, facilitating and supporting the Change Agent leadership development program since it started in 2017. eir hope is that the LGBTQ+ Center will continue to be a valuable resource for the campus community and establish a space that promotes equity and inclusivity.

“My hope in this interim position is to lead in a way where the LGBTQ+ Center continues to show up within our campus community as a resource, sup port and space for community build ing and active engagement,” LisenbyDenson said. “We will keep looking for places and spaces where students, faculty and sta may have inequitable experiences due to their sexual orien tation or gender identity, and we will work to address those issues and dis mantle the systems that marginalize people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.”

Contact Emily Toro at toroer20@wfu.edu

• Unknown student(s) removed unsecured scooter from outside of Manchester Athletic Center. e report was led at 12:58 p.m. on Aug. 15.

• Unknown student(s) removed unsecured wedding ring from bathroom in the Sutton Center. e report was led at 12:43 p.m. on Aug. 16.

• Unknown student(s) took an unsecured scooter from a bike rack outside of Manchester Athletic Center. e report was led at 3:42 p.m. on Aug 19.

Underage Consumption/Drug Abuse:

• Students possessed and consumed alcohol underage in Kitchin. e report was led at 10:43 p.m. on Aug. 19.

• An underage student consumed an amount of alcohol that required transportation to the hospital from Davis. e report was led at 11:08 p.m. on Aug. 20.

Miscellaneous:

• Student was found to be in possession of a hatchet in a Poteat Hall suite. e report was led at 8:12 a.m. on Aug. 18.

• Unknown student(s) damaged a door lock and vent in Poteat Hall. e report was led at 8:53 a.m. on Aug. 18.

• Student was traveling at an unsafe speed on Gulley Drive. Student was given a verbal warning. e report was led at 9:12 p.m. on Aug. 18.

• An RA reported a large gathering in a Dogwood Hall suite, approximately 40 students. e report was led at 11:08 p.m. on Aug. 19.

• Unknown student(s) tore decorations from a student’s door in Collins Residence Hall. e report was led at 2:19 a.m. on Aug. 20.

• A student was found to be in possession of a glass bong in Poteat Hall. e report was led at 11:24 a.m. on Aug. 21.

Kayla Lisenby-Denson hopes to uphold the center’s mission and further aid inequitable experiences across campus

City approves new road names

AINE PIERRE Online Managing Editor

e city of Winston-Salem has approved Wake Forest’s request to rename four roads on campus after trailblazing professors, according to documents available on the city council’s website.

e ordinance, which is dated Aug. 15, allows Wake Forest to change the four road names on cam pus signs and informational materi als. According to Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Dr. José Villalba, the city, not the university, needs to install a replacement road sign for Elizabeth Phillips Way at the intersection that leads from Polo Road to the Polo Road Gate. e city council passed the ordinance as

part of its consent agenda, meaning there was no debate or o cial vote on the measure.

“I’m grateful to the Winston-Sa lem City Council and speci cally the Public Works Committee for reviewing our application, and ap proving and a rming this nal step in honoring professors Crisp, Eure, McPherson and Phillips,” Villalba said.

On July 25, the university an nounced the renaming of four stretches of roadway after four pro fessors. e section of Wingate Road that leads to the Polo Road Gate will be renamed after Dr. Elizabeth Phil lips, the rst woman to be a full-time professor at Wake Forest, who also played a sizable role in the creation of the Women’s, Gender and Sexu

ality Studies Department. e uni versity also announced that it would rename the section of Wingate Road from Faculty Drive to the Sutton Center after Dr. Dolly McPherson, the rst Black woman professor to achieve tenure at the university and a lifelong friend and colleague of Dr. Maya Angelou. e section of Wake Forest Road that spans from Scales Fine Arts Center to Reynolda Hall will be renamed after Dr. Herman Eure, the rst Black male to earn tenure at Wake Forest and one of the driving forces behind Wake For est’s diversity and inclusion e orts. Finally, the section of road that leads from McPherson Road to the Haddock House will be named after Marge Crisp, who founded women’s athletics at Wake Forest and was the

rst female faculty member at the university.

According to Villalba, the family of each honoree will work with the university to determine dates for an unveiling ceremony later this fall.

e families, along with Eure, the only living honoree, will also attend homecoming festivities in Septem ber.

“I’m looking forward to meeting with Dr. Eure as well as the families of the other honorees next month during homecoming, and continu ing to work with campus partners to elevate the impact that these four pillars of Wake Forest had and con tinue to have on our campus,” Vil lalba said.

Contact Aine Pierre at pierav20@wfu.edu

Letter to the Editor

We, the WFU Alcohol and Oth er Drug (AOD) Coalition, want to offer a response to the Aug. 18, 2022 article entitled, “Con quer college with these ‘surefire’ tips.” While the disclaimer that the piece is intended to be “satiri cal in nature” was added earlier this week to the digital copy, it was not clear in the original pub lication what the intent of this article was. We believe that the result is that this piece had the potential to create harms related to health, safety, sense of belong ing and equity and inclusion and to create confusion for members of our campus community, espe cially first-year students and their families.

We would like to specifically address the article’s statements that are related to AOD and the potential harms that could result.

We offer the points below in the spirit of educating our campus community and harm reduction:

Adderall and Vyvanse: Stimu lant medication does not improve academic performance for people not diagnosed with ADHD. Re search has clearly shown that not only does non-medical use of pre scription stimulants (NPS) not improve academic performance, it decreases GPA. It is also associ ated with a higher risk of depen dence, higher use of other drugs, and increased missing class. Stud ies further show that stopping NPS resulted in GPA increases.

Binge Drinking: Dangerous drinking is not a joke. Every year over 1500 college students die due to alcohol misuse. Encouraging students to consume the num ber of drinks that corresponds to their credit hours (12-19 drinks)

is dangerous and irresponsible. For a 160 lb man over 4 hours 12 drinks would result in a BAC of .30 and for a 120 lb woman, .38. (go.wfu.edu/BAC). A BAC of .30 is often regarded by medical pro fessionals as the level of intoxica tion where breathing stops.

Fake IDs are illegal and violate the WFU code of Conduct. The article fails to inform students that the ALE (alcohol law en forcement) frequently works the Last Resort looking for fake IDs. Students who have fake IDs are charged both by the ALE and re ported to the WFU Dean of Stu dents for a conduct hearing.

While Wake Forest has an award-winning AOD misuse pre vention portfolio and evidencebased support services (BASICS@ wfu.edu) that have effectively and significantly reduced the harms

experienced by students from AOD use, no campus is immune from the serious and potentially lethal effects that can occur when things go wrong.

Over 1000 Deacs do not drink and a majority do not use drugs so we want to remind those students who choose not to partake that they are not alone. For students who do decide to use alcohol or other drugs we want to remind them that there are safer ways to engage with those substances and there is help here for them to be safer. Most of all, take care of each other; it’s what Deacs do.

Yours in Health and Wellbeing,

The Members of The Wake For est University Alcohol and Other Drug Coalition ( AOD@wfu.edu)

Winston-Salem’s city council allows university to rename roads after prominent Wake Forest professors

Katie Fox /Old Gold & Black

FEATURES

Chase Bagnall-Koger, bagncm21@wfu.edu

Meredith Prince, prinmc21@wfu.edu

Asst: Una Wilson, wilsui20@wfu.edu

DEACON PROFILE Pilar Agudelo

ADDISON SCHMIDT Staff Writer

When senior Pilar Agudelo began her campaign for student body president last spring, she found herself in what would be, for most students, an almost impos sible situation: she was tasked with run ning her campaign not from campus but from Casa Artom — Wake Forest Uni versity’s study abroad house in Venice, Italy.

When you take into account her tumul tuous experience as a member of the class of 2023 — which faced numerous inter ruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — and the various on-campus controversies that have taken place dur ing her time at Wake Forest University, you realize that Agudelo is no stranger to change.

“I call Portland, Oregon home because that’s where my family is now, but I grew up living abroad,” Agudelo says when asked about her hometown. “I was born in Colorado Springs, then we were in Arizona for a little bit, then we moved to Malaysia, Brazil and Germany, and then I came back to the United States to graduate from high school.”

Agudelo knows five languages; she be came proficient in Italian, German and Portuguese while growing up abroad and spoke English and Spanish at home. Liv ing abroad in the past allowed Agudelo to effectively communicate in a variety of ways, a skill she credited with aiding her in com munity-building during her campaign.

“Finding people for [campaigning] has been a really valuable experience, because now some of them are some of my closest friends, and they were what grounded me during my election season,”Agudelo said of her campaign team back on campus in Winston-Salem. “I could not have done it without them.”

Agudelo’s path to president was not linear. Af ter running for senator her freshman year and losing her election, she was appoint ed when spots were left open later the same year.

“I got involved in student government fresh man year [after] I had done a lot of peer educa tion work in high school and that turned into some public advocacy work,” Agudelo said. “I [thought] ‘Where can I do advocacy work at Wake?’ And [student government] was the first thing I came across.”

Agudelo’s stint as a senator began in a manner that would reflect the aforementioned trend of unpredictability throughout much of her college career.

“Being appointed is a weird position to be in because you’re coming in a little later than most people are,” Agudelo said. “For me, it was really exploratory. I was on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and my co-chairs were Mariama Jal low and [former student body president] Ally Swartzberg…both of them were really influen

tial for me growing in student government.”

The following year, beginning in the fall of 2020, Agudelo co-chaired the D&I Commit tee alongside Uma Bernardo in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.

“Being in the position I was with my co-chair Uma Bernardo was a really interesting place to be because I think it was a lot more responsive than proactive since there was a lot going on,” Agudelo said. “[After that experience] it became really important for me moving forward to try to plan more, be more proactive, and make sure everything we do isn’t in response to a crisis.”

Agudelo remained co-chair of the D&I com mittee through her junior fall before serving as the co-chair of the newly formed Sexual Assault Prevention, Support & Accountability (SAPSA) Committee while abroad last spring. Her experi ences serving on these committees have signifi cantly impacted her trajectory in student gov ernment, and most importantly her platform as president.

“For me the biggest goal is looking at student government internally,” Agudelo said. “When we are planning events on campus, are we keep ing in mind all students on campus? When we are creating policies or advocating for students, do those policies reflect every single student on campus? Do they reflect the students who need it more versus the students who already have had those privileges?”

While Agudelo refrained from com menting on the specifics of how she plans to create change within student government, stating that her cabinet and school senators are not yet aligned on how change will be implemented, she did give some insight into her hopes for a restructuring of the D&I committee.

“In the past [D&I] has been kind of siloed in a sense…[the committee] had its own projects that focus on certain things, [similar to the function of other committees]” Agudelo said. “...Instead, it should be working within each of the committees.”

While DNI work is important to Agudelo from a humanitarian perspec tive, it’s also personal. After spending her adolescence in liberal Portland, Or egon, Agudelo was nervous about the transition from the Pacific Northwest to the South.

“[As] a student who is Latina, who’s a woman in a leadership position and who’s also bisexual…[I] find that very isolating at times.” Agudelo said of her own experience with the homogeneity of the Wake campus.

Despite her initial feelings of isola tion, Agudelo reinforces that there are spaces for everyone on campus and that her favorite part about Wake Forest re mains the people that she has met.

“You will find people who want to see you succeed; you will find people who want to see you happy, who will encour age you to do what’s best for you and help you do what’s best for you,” Agudelo said. “For me, the biggest thing was not taking a moment for granted.”

That advice is something Agudelo will cer tainly be seeking to mimic on her own as she moves into her senior year. She plans to graduate in May with a B.A. in Politics & International Affairs and a Minor in Psychology. While she hopes to pursue master’s degrees in both busi ness administration and public health in the fu ture, Agudelo hopes to spend her time abroad immediately after college.

“I would like to work in an abroad [program]” Agudelo said of her immediate post-grad plans. “I really enjoy living abroad in that kind of space.”

Before Agudelo returns overseas, however, she has one final year at Wake Forest, in which she hopes to represent the student body in its en tirety as much as possible. She left the interview with one final message as she moves into her new role:

“My door is always open, and I really mean that,” Agudelo said. “We’re in Benson 304, so please do stop by…[if I’m not here] email me or any members of [the executive committee] or our senators.”

Contact Addison Schmidt at schmac21@wfu.edu

Photo Courtesy of ADD COURTESY

AControlledCrash: SAVING THE DAMAGED PERUVIAN AMAZON

BEN LANE

Contributing Writer

After hours of hiking, 11 Wake Forest students broke through the dense vegetation onto a small cli , exposing an endless expanse of rainforest stretched out beneath them. Clothes glued to their bodies by the wet air, they watched as storm clouds gradually approached them, drifting over the mountains to the north.

Gray streaks of rain poured onto the atiron, which began the water’s inevitable journey to the vast Amazon basin below. Along the way, the water would pick up nutrients from the soil, serving as an essential mode of fertilization in this complex environment.

“We are standing on the last outlying ridge of the Andes,” Wake Forest Biology Professor Dr. Miles Silman said. “ is is the last high point from here to the Atlantic Ocean, 3,000 kilometers away. You’re looking at the unbroken forest of the Amazonian plane.”

Silman has made this hike countless times. His annual visits to the Peruvian Amazon over the last 30 years have resulted in groundbreaking studies and a wealth of knowledge

of the complex ecosystems of the Neotropics.

Over the few days prior, the group of study abroad students had traveled down the Rio Madre de Dios to Pantiacolla Lodge as part of a greater journey to see the wonder of the Amazon rsthand. Everything in sight was pristine forest, almost untouched apart from a handful of eco-friendly lodges and Indigenous lands.

But other parts of the Amazon are not so lucky.

Just outside of Manu National Park, which covers an area larger than Connecticut, pockets of the Amazon have been razed by deforestation and mining. Almost a fth of the Amazon has already been destroyed, with the rst three months of 2022 being the highest Amazon deforestation ever recorded, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.

ese trends are threatening and currently impacting complex ecosystems within the Amazon, which are home to some 30 percent of the world’s biodiversity. is biodiversity is essential to the health of the rainforest, and by extension, the slowing of climate change on a global scale.

Gazing out at the untouched landscape, the study abroad students nally understood what conservation efforts aimed to protect — and what competing political and corporate interests aimed to reap for economic gain.

As global warming increases in tandem with deforestation, we are actively destroying an essential tool for mitigating the e ects of climate change. Trees that sequester carbon are being cut down. Species are being driven extinct. Ecosystems that are foundational parts of global climate are being permanently damaged. Much of this is irreversible, but much can still be saved.

“If you don’t do anything, you know that things are going to be bad,” Silman said. “If you do something, there’s a chance you can pull it out. If the plane’s going to crash, you y that thing all the way to the ground. You never stop.”

DIRTY GOLD

After staying in the park for another ten days, the group once again boarded a boat for a journey down the Manu River. ey traveled downriver for two days, seeing only untouched wilderness. But the moment they crossed the border to exit Manu National Park, the river transformed. Trash oated in the water. On the banks were huge piles of stones, remnants of illegal gold mining. Gaps in the forest canopy were frequent, huge plots of land completely cleared to make way for gold miners. Periodically, the group

would pass a group of miners actively working along the river’s edge, a testament to the almost nonexistent enforcement of mining regulations.

Gold mining has plagued the Peruvian Amazon, largely due to a lack of government crackdown. is has not always been the case — in early 2019, the Peruvian government launched Operation Mercury, a program sparked by the newly publicized knowledge that gold mining was releasing huge amounts of toxic mercury into the air. e program initiated a wave of military interventions in the Madre de Dios region to apprehend illegal gold miners and shut down their camps.

ese areas were hotbeds for other crimes, including gang activity, child labor and human tra cking.

Operation Mercury was a huge success, resulting in a 92% decrease in illegal gold mining activity, according to Amazon Conservation. However, three years later, the region has regressed.

Political shifts and a lack of broad support for the initiative have allowed illegal miners to retake the Madre de Dios. ousands returned to the region with no one standing in their way, once again threatening the fragile Amazonian ecosystems and local public health.

View of the Amazon Basin from the mountaintop ‘mirador’ near Pzantiacolla Lodge in Manu National Park.

Photo courtesy of Ben Lane

Mining equipment is frequently seen in the Madre de Dios region.

Photo courtesy of Ben Lane

a process for miners to become o cially formalized by the government, but due to low enforcement, there is little incentive for them to do so. Gold buyers even prefer to purchase illegally mined gold, as they are more familiar with the appearance of nuggets formed using mercury.

Wake Forest’s Center for Amazonian Science and Innovation, or CINCIA, was founded to combat these issues, aiming to serve as a reliable source of information on environmental issues in Peru. e NGO’s goals include reforesting damaged lands, providing research and education on mercury, and helping the mining process become more environmentally friendly.

“We do good, hard science here at CINCIA,” Dr. Carol Mitchell, deputy project director of CINCIA, said. “We are here to provide information; we are not an activist group. You can pick at

orts to engage with formalized gold miners in Madre de Dios to experiment with recovery options for destroyed land. ere are thousands of gold miners, and only about 30 are currently formalized. CINCIA works with about 15 of them.

“ e idea is not to say, ‘Oh, you’re a bad person because you’re a miner,’” said Cesar Ascorra, national director of CINCIA. “ e idea is, ‘Mining has negative impacts, let us work with you to try to solve them.’”

After an area of land has been clear-cut and mined, the soil becomes nutrientpoor, making it extremely di cult for the forest to reclaim. CINCIA has developed an e ective recovery strategy for deforested lands, using the shells of the common Brazil nut.

e group has found a cheap and e ective way to make these nutshells the ideal fertilizer. According to CINCIA researchers, this burnt Brazil

nut fertilizer, or ‘biochar,’ can remain in the soil for hundreds of years, playing host to various species of microbes that are responsible for fertilization.

Biochar has proven to be e ective in eld research experiments, drastically improving the growth of plant life in areas a ected by mining. is recovery is critical to regenerating fractured ecosystems and preserving biodiversity.

Unfortunately, the e ects of mining extend beyond reforestation. e rainforest is home to various Indigenous groups, who have faced immense struggle in making their voices heard by decision-makers.

GUARDIANS OF THE AMAZON

Jaime Corisepa is the former president of the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and

climate change science and environ mental issues. But they still struggle to be heard at even lower levels.

“We have our own physical and spiritual connection to the rainforest,” Corisepa said. “We need to be there [the IPCC]. e Indigenous people should be represented–we are part of these big decisions that a ect the whole world.”

IPCC decisions and climate sum mits across the world will be essential to determining the well-being of future generations — an estimated 216 mil lion people may be forced to migrate within their own countries by 2050 due to climate change, according to the World Bank on Climate Change and Health. Most of these people re side in low and middle-income coun tries which have little voice on an in

Indigenous perspectives on the cli mate emergency. “ e biggest misconception of the western world is that they think Indigenous people are just another object inside the rainforest,” Corisepa said. “We are forced to adapt to western ways of living. e western world has a lot of political, nancial, and social strategies to force the Indigenous people to adapt to their ways of thinking and being.”

Because the Indigenous people are viewed in such a way, they are not appreciated for how they protect and care for the rainforest. Despite being there for over 5,000 years and serving as guardians of the forest, they are still often cast to the side when trying to make their voices heard.

Many Indigenous people hope to be represented on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body that deals with

fates being decided by world powers.

Protecting the Amazon is integral to the future of the planet, as it is one of the most crucial assets to slowing global warming. With preservation e orts by organizations like CINCIA and fair representation in climate policy-making, the invaluable rich biodiversity of the Amazon could be saved.

“ ere is hope.” Corisepa said. “As long as governments are willing to listen and learn, there is a future.”

Contact Ben Lane at lanebg20@wfu.edu

Indigenous leaders prepare to meet with current Peruvian President Pedro Castillo. One of their major concerns is representation in climate change issues.

Photo courtesy of Facebook @FENAMAD,

Illegal gold mining threatens the fragile Amazonian ecosystem.

Photo courtesy of Brett Gundlock, Nature

Biochar hosts various species of microbes that greatly support fertilization.

Photo courtesy of Ben Lane

OPINION

OLD GOLD & BLACK

Oval Offense

U.S. diplomacy in Taiwan should return to status quo

Ethan Wearner Staff Columnist wearep19@wfu.edu

On Aug. 2, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan for a brief visit with the island’s leadership. During her stay, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen awarded Pelosi with the ‘Order of Pro pitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon’. This is the highest distinction that can be awarded to civilian recipients.

The Speaker’s office released a statement the fol lowing day, stating that her “visit should be seen as a strong statement that America stands with Taiwan.”

Pelosi also proclaimed that the American-Taiwanese partnership “remains unwavering” and that Con gressional support for the territory is “ironclad.”

China has strongly admonished Pelosi’s vis it to Taiwan. Chinese military exercis es have been conducted across the Taiwan Strait median line — a response that Secretary of State Antony Blinken deemed “disproportionate” to Pe losi’s otherwise “peaceful” visit. Despite this, Pelosi’s trip has come under intense scrutiny within re cent weeks. It is not clear what Pelosi achieved with Ing-wen.

If anything, Pelosi’s deci sion to jour ney to Taiwan increased the probability of conflict while decreasing the likelihood of bi lateral coopera tion with China on issues such as climate change.

More than that, Pelosi’s visit displayed Ameri can tunnel vision on Taiwan. Regard of whether she had a right to visit the island, Taiwan will not gain lawful inde pendence any time soon. Guided by its 2005 anti secession law, China has continuously warned that it will employ “nonpeaceful means and oth er necessary measures” if Taiwan moves away from a One China Policy. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains adamant on the eventual integration of Taiwan into the mainland. As Hu Jintao said in 2007 at the

Seventeenth Party Congress: “the two sides of the Straits are bound to be reunified in the course of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Despite the emergence of a distinct ‘Taiwanese’ identity over the last two decades, Taiwan has his torically been considered a part of China. Taiwan was sacked when Beijing was at its weakest and most vulnerable in the late nineteenth century and the Japanese captured Taiwan in 1895, four years before the Boxer Rebellion. The loss of Taiwan is associated with the national humiliation that came with the social stagnation and general instability of this period.

Of course, Chiang Kai-Shek’s actions in Taiwan during the Chinese civil war is yet another reminder of this historical trauma. The legitimacy of the CCP is found, in part, in its ability to hoard off separat ism and imperialism. It is for this reason that Bei jing responds with military vigor when islands like Daiyu (Senkaku), Hong Kong and Tai

Asia to the furthest possible extent.

It is for this reason that many on both sides of the political spectrum have argued that it is in Ameri ca’s best interest to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression. The defense of its democracy and econ omy is, they contend, integral to the defense of lib eral hegemony and to our commitments under the Taiwanese Relations Act. While Taiwan seems like an obvious partner in a balancing coalition against Beijing, it lacks a conventional military deterrent. Politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, who advocate for an “absolute” commitment to Taiwan, presuppose that we have the capacity to defend Taiwan.

This assumption is flawed for many reasons. Firstly, Taiwan is only a thousand miles away from China — it takes just a couple of hours to arrive in the country from the mainland. In a struggle for Taiwan, China would easily emerge victorious in a conventional war with America. While clear umbrella extends wan, no sane American seek thermonuclear war with China in defense of 14,000 square miles of democracy.

An unwinnable SinoAmerican war in de fense of a small, though not insignifi cant island, is not in our national interest. The cost of maintain ing an “absolute” defense of Taiwan would become increasingly large in the long run. Indeed, the benefit of our continued partneship would face diminishing returns in proportion to China’s growth. While it would be unwise to abandon the island outright, it would be foolish to commit to an unconditional long-term partnership with Taiwan.

Supposing China continues to grow as it has, the best pos sible outcome for the United States will be to maintain the status quo of de facto inde pendence.

If we cannot do that, then we must recognize Taiwan’s integration as inevitable and work to secure terms with the CCP that are most suitable to American interests. Above all, though, we cannot risk war with China over the defense of Taiwan. To do so would be di

can security presence in

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

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

Waging war in defense of Taiwan would tax national resources and run counter to the United States' interests

Photo courtesy of AP Photo

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meets with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Aug. 3, in a display of inter national diplomacy that has been met with controversy and generated criticism across the political spectrum.

Classism

Classism runs rampant in our education system

Students at Wake Forest often have a hard time empathizing with others of various fnancial backgrounds

Breanna Laws Staff Columnist

Education is a luxury that we cannot afford to undervalue. Un fortunately, many people do not make it as far as the college level. I’m hoping that I can use this po sition to advocate for the people who could not obtain access to what should, frankly, be deemed a human right.

Coming from a low-income family is often a disappearing act for the person affected and can somehow be perceived as a threat to those who are not affected by it. In my experience at Wake Forest, as well as in my hometown, this is a reality that I cannot avoid.

I would have to use two hands to count the number of people who have proclaimed that I am “lucky” to be receiving financial aid for university. I would need several more hands to count the number of people I hear com plaining about being made to pay the full price for a college educa tion. Before addressing this, I do want to clarify that I understand that Wake Forest is a particularly expensive institution. This is re flected clearly in the demograph ics of the student population.

The National Center for Edu cation Statistics reports that only 34% of incoming students re ceived grants or scholarship aid for the 2019-2020 academic year. Additionally, a New York Times study estimated that the median family income of a Wake Forest student is $221,500. This same study concluded that 71% of stu dent households come from the top quintile of families by house hold wealth.

Putting those figures in reverse, only 29% of students come from the bottom 80%. Six-figure in comes are commonplace here. This in itself is not a bad thing at all, but it becomes problematic in terms of students’ ability to empathize with others of various backgrounds.

I believe that this lack of em pathy is often not malicious but rather a sheer act of ignorance coming from those who do not know any better. I mentioned previously that I have been re ferred to as “lucky” for receiving financial aid. For those who have this thinking pattern, I would like to ask you a question:

Don’t you think I would rather have the capability to pay the full tuition?

Even students whose house holds make more than $100,000

The median family income of a student from Wake Forest is $221,500, and 71% come from the top 20 percent. Less than 1% of students at Wake Forest came from a poor family but became a rich adult."

"The New York Times" (2017)

A 2017 New York Times study of wealth disparity at elite colleges found that 71% of Wake Forest students were in the top 20 percent, while only 29% were in the bottom 80%.

bring an awkward end to a con versation, but it is often a source of shame for many low-income students. So instead, we disappear into that rich facade. If I can just pretend to be rich enough, then maybe no one will ever know.

The difficult part is the fact that I will always know.

cause I worked like my life de pended on it — because it does.

a year are still capable of receiv ing financial aid. The National Center for Education Statistics shows that households making $110,001 or more in income still, on average, only had a net price of $52,236 for attendance in the 2019-2020 academic year.

The average cost of attendance for this same year was about $65,000. This means that even households with over $100,000 in annual income — something that many people can never imag ine — received about $13,000 in aid, on average.

It may seem like harmless ban ter, but remarks on how much you have to pay to attend school here often put students who are receiving aid in a strange posi tion. This is where the disappear ing act comes into play.

It is significantly easier to pre tend to carry the same woes as my peers, rather than to say “oh, I ac tually don’t pay that much.” Not only is the latter answer likely to

When I was in elementary school, I had constant night mares about tornadoes because one teacher made a thoughtless comment on how people in mo bile homes die if a tornado comes through.

In middle school, I cried in the bathroom because someone said my clothing — which was handed down from my mom — made me look like a grandma.

In high school, I fought with school boards on tuition increases for out-of-district students like me. My parents did everything they could to pay a fee for me to attend school in a different dis trict because my original school was not offering challenging enough coursework for me. Even if they waited up until the very last day to pay it, they scraped enough money together.

Now, I am here at an elite pri vate university named Wake For est. I think about how I got here — the sheer amount of effort that it required. I think about how I scored higher on tests than the kids whose parents could afford paid tutors. I scored higher be

Not many people like me make it here. This was a precious gift that I cannot afford to waste. I don’t have something to fall back on, and neither do a lot of people in the world. I believe firmly that education is a right and that all children deserve free access to the same resources.

Until then, though, I ask you to do this. Be kind. Do not be ashamed of your privilege if you have it. In fact, proclaim it — be ing blind to discrimination only helps the oppressor. Choose your words with care, and remember that the world is only made better when you learn to respect the ex periences of people who are dif ferent from you.

Contact Breanna Laws at lawsbn21@wfu.edu

I have been referred to as "lucky" for re ceiving financial aid ... Don’t you think I would rather have the capability to pay the full tuition?"

“

If I can just pre tend to be rich enough, then maybe no one will ever know. The difficult part is the fact that I will always know.

“

JoshReynolds/OldGold&Black

Abortion

20-week abortion ban is intrusive and unjust

Criminalizing abortion robs people of their medical rights and targets groups who are already highly vulnerable

Hope Zhu Staff Columnist

e Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June has now reached North Carolina.

On Wednesday, Aug. 17, a federal judge rein stated a decade-old ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy — with the exception of cases where the parent’s health is at seri ous risk.

e order was issued by U.S Dis trict Judge William Osteen, lifting an injunction based on Roe. In May 2019, Osteen granted the injunction because the 20-week ban was deemed unconstitu tional under Roe v. Wade. However, with the fall of Roe in June, the most critical resistance to pre serving repro ductive rights in North Carolina has diminished.

“All parties, in this

case, have undoubtedly been aware of [Dobbs v. Jackson] since it was decided nearly two months ago,” Osteen wrote in the Wednesday order. “From then on, any reliance on this court’s injunc tion to continue providing abortions after twenty weeks of pregnancy was not reasonable reliance.”

Before the abortion ban, North Carolina per mitted abortion up until around 24 weeks, which is the time when “fetus viability” begins. is makes it one of the few southern states that allowed abor tion for that long, while nine southern states had a full abortion ban in e ect.

North Carolina and Florida have been a refuge for people seeking an abortion before Roe’s overturn. In 2020, a total of 30,004 abortion procedures were performed. Of these patients, 4,946 — roughly 16% — were non-res idents, a number that is likely to increase in the wake of Dobbs

However, traveling out of state for an abortion is becoming in creasingly di cult even for those who have the resources to do so. e in ux of patients in wake of Dobbs has extended waiting times, as well as straining clin ics’ already limited resources. Now, North Carolina residents might also be forced to seek abortion by traveling to other states, a situation that most cli nicians would not recommend. ere is already confusion among providers over whether they can provide care, result ing in pregnant people be ing turned away in

NorthCarolinaPublicRadio

Protestors gather in Raleigh in response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the ramifications of which have now reached North Carolina.

emergency situations,” a joint statement from the Center for Repro ductive

Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of Amer ica, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the ACLU and the ACLU of North Carolina reads.

need help that is currently blocked by the ban. is would create further polarization: those who don’t want a child would induce abortion in the early stage, while

Photocourtesyof NCHealthNews

There are currently 14 abortion clinics in North Carolina, whose operations will likely be affected by the 20-week ban.

“Forcing people to travel out of state for essential care or su er through the pains of forced pregnan cy puts the health of patients at unnecessary risk.”

Supporters of the ban emphasize the idea of a “fetal heartbeat” and contend that 20 weeks should give people enough time to seriously consider their options. e problem is, as pregnancy is a highly risky process, the timing of such a process is inher ently medical. e politicization of medical events is a challenge to bioscience that purports to pro mote the well-being of both parents and children alike.

Likewise, institutionalizing pregnancy itself raises arguments over the extent to which politics should interfere with medical decisions. is statute may as well be a full abortion ban, as it intrudes on a parent’s body the moment the fetus’s body starts developing. en the countdown starts: before 20 weeks, one is still a parent; after 20 weeks, they are a carriage of another human being.

Even if it is true that more people miscarry in the rst 20 weeks of pregnancy than in the second trimester, this also means that the statute is target ing the most vulnerable minority, who de nitely

Campus Issues

those who do want a child would give birth any way. e ban would only bar those who might face second-trimester miscarriage due to issues such as chromosomal abnormalities (which account for a quarter of all miscarriages), cervical insu ciency, and other chronic diseases. Many of these causes cannot be screened during prenatal examinations.

In North Carolina, 91 (of 100) counties do not have access to abortion care. With increased fear of prosecution, fewer options will be available to those who have passed 20 weeks of pregnancy. Criminalizing abortion already discriminates against racial minority groups, and a “loose” ban would create even more division within states.

“[People’s] lives are at risk because politicians are trying to take away their right to get the medical care they need,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said. “States are trying to ban abortions in all cases, including rape, incest, and when the [parent’s] health is in danger. Denying [people] health care when their life or health is at risk vio lates federal law.”

Contact Hope Zhu at zhuq21@wfu.edu

University must streamline early move-in process

Wake Forest should utilize their extensive time and resources to better meet students' needs

Sophie Guymon Opinion Editor

Every year, Wake Forest allows a num ber of students to move onto campus early. ese students are typically partici pating in pre-orientation programs or are involved in student organizations such as the Old Gold & Black, Student Union or the Spirit of the Old Gold and Black (SOTOGAB). However, students without these types of obligations can also move in and regular move-in dates are determined well before that — the undergraduate cal

endar for the 2022-2023 academic year was published in February. While this may be ne for students who live in-state or are able to drive to campus from their home town, it is incredibly inconvenient for those who do not live in-state and are not able to drive to campus.

Additionally, the O ce of Residence Life & Housing (RLH) often only designates one speci c move-in day for students from a certain organization, despite the fact that multiple days are o ered throughout the process, creating further inconvenience.

When arranging my move onto campus, I had to change my ights not once, but twice due to a lack of clear communica tion from RLH. Scheduling and chang ing ights at the last minute often incurs steeper costs and fees — something that the university should be considerate of and aim to avoid, especially for those students who are receiving need-based aid. ese changes also become more di cult to make as time passes — I had to call my air line directly because I was unable to make any changes online.

Additionally, storage services that are partnered with the university do a poor job of accommodating early move-in, charging additional fees for early drop-o in spite of

Wake Forest certainly has the time and re sources to streamline the early move-in pro cess for students whose presence on campus is typically helping the university, and it is apalling that they have not."

the fact that students who move in early are already paying extra money just to be in their living spaces, and that the storage units are located in convenient proximity to campus.

I was not able to monitor the delivery of my items because they were dropped o on a day entirely di erent from the one I had designated and began to unpack my boxes only to nd that multiple items were bro ken or otherwise damaged beyond repair. While the university may not be directly responsible for the failures of these services, companies such as Storage Scholars would probably be better able to accommodate

the early move-in process if the university released early move-in schedules in a more timely manner.

Students who move in early often also face issues with their Deacon OneCard ac cess. While buildings such as the Pit and Benson operate at more limited hours pri or to early move-in — a fact that I have no issue with — students will often attempt to use their meal plan at an open dining location only to be asked to use a di erent payment method instead.

However, on freshman moving day, these Deacon OneCard issues are magical ly solved, with all the restaurants in Benson catering to an in A transition period of a few days does not justify the di culties that thousands of students over the years have faced during early move-in. Wake Forest certainly has the time and resources to streamline the early move-in process for students whose presence on campus is typically helping the university, and it is appalling that they have not.

Photoscourtesyof theOfficeof ResidenceLifeandHousing

Contact Sophie Guymon at guymsm20@wfu.edu

Photocourtesyof

Men's soccer Preview

JAKE STUART Staff Writer

e time has come for the Wake Forest men’s soccer team to take the pitch once again. Following a pair of exhibition games, the team is set to take on the University of Central Florida on ursday, August 25 at Spry Stadium.

It’s no surprise that Wake Forest enters the 2022 season with sky-high expectations and a roster stacked from top to bottom. Following an up-anddown season that saw the men’s team make their seventh-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA tournament before falling to the No.4 ranked Duke Devils, the 2022 season o ers promise in every aspect . Omar Hernandez — a senior sensation coming o an All-ACC year — was named to the 2022 ACC Preseason Watch List, while Wake Forest placed third in the ACC preseason coaches poll, trailing only the reigning champion Clemson Tigers in the Atlantic Division.

ough Clemson remains the team to beat, Wake Forest proved in both 2016 and 2017 that the team can be the top dog in the conference.

e Demon Deacons are led by

Head Coach Bobby Muuss — having mustered a top-10 recruiting class in every season since taking over in 2015 and a pair of NCAA college cup nishes that are familiar to the Demon Deacon fanbase. e 2018 ACC coach of the year has developed players likeJack Harrison in his program, and last year led two players — Calvin Harris and Michael DeShields — to their top- ve selection in the MLS Superdraft.

e challenge in 2022 comes with lling the hole left by forward Kyle Holcomb. Drafted with the 29th pick in last year's MLS Superdraft, Holcomb notched the seventh most goals in program history, including a team-high 12 last season. Luckily, the Demon Deacons already have the No. 3 ranked recruiting class nationally – according to Top Drawer Soccer –leading the entire ACC. Six players and four mid elders were added to the 2022 signing class, while three joined the club in January. Cooper Flax — New York’s No.1 rated player in the 2022 class — headlines an eager and savvy class of young Demon Deacon recruits. When one factors in the return of redshirt senior mid elder Jake Swallen, senior forward David Wrona, and junior speedster Chase

Oliver among others, there’s no reason that team won’t make noise come tournament time in November.

ose new to Wake Forest soccer will learn that home pitch advantage is important. e Spry has been kind to the Demon Deacons who have only lost 11 home games over the last six years and have won their last seven home games dating back to Oct.1 of last year. e Demon Deacons will play 11 more at the Spry this season.

e competition continues to be erce for Wake Forest, who will be facing ve teams ranked in the national preseason coaches’ top-25 poll and are already up against a multitude of talent in the ACC. Before the rst ACC game on Sept.10 against NC State, the Demon Deacons will square o against formidable opponents including No.6 West Virginia. is year’s nonconference opponents include UCF, Air Force, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Winthrop University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, George Mason University, Jacksonville University, William & Mary and Wo ord College. e squad must rally for a mid-season stretch on the road against top-ranked Clemson and at home versus No.12 Duke. However,

Wake Forest is well positioned to keep its winning ways alive as the preseason No.15 team in the country.

e Demon Deacons team that outscored opponents 42-15 last season, but the key will be in creating opportunities in front of the net. e 267 shots attempted last season placed Wake Forest seventh amongst ACC teams, though the team was ranked fourth in both goals scored and goals allowed. All eyes will be on the goalkeeper battle this season between sophomore Trace Alphin and redshirt junior Cole McNally. e latter started nine games in the 2020 season going 6-1-2 before Alphin took charge last season.

e Demon Deacons also added Devin Armstrong, a premier goalkeeper out of Florida who spent three years in the Development Academy and played for the Tampa Bay United with the MLS Next.

Go support your Demon Deacons men's soccer team as they look to have another strong season in 2022. Students may claim tickets for home games on the Screamin’ Demon Rewards app.

Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

Wake Forest's squad has title aspirations and will be looking to make the most of this year

With or without QB1, the show must go on

standard fall o .”

SEAN KENNEDY Contributing Writer

“Frustration.”

A single word can describe the feelings of thousands of Wake Forest football fans upon learning that team captain and starting quarterback Sam Hartman would be out inde nitely with a nonfootball related condition discovered fol lowing a workout Aug. 9.

Hartman, the redshirt junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, is no strang er to these types of setbacks.

In his high school sophomore year, Hartman tragically lost his older brother, Demitri, two days before he would play the state championship with his high school team, Davidson Day. Not only did Hartman throw for multiple touch downs, but he won the game as well.

After Davidson Day’s football pro gram closed its doors before Hartman’s senior year, he went to South Carolina’s Oceanside Collegiate Academy with un familiar faces as teammates. He ended up leading Oceanside to a 7-3 record that season with over 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns, a drastic improvement from the team’s 0-8 record the previous

season.

Unfortunately, an outlook on Hart man’s timetable for a return is unclear. Head Coach Dave Clawson has indi cated that there is no set date; however, Clawson is con dent that the starting quarterback will return this season.

“It’s too early to tell exactly what that timeline is,” Clawson said. “Anything you say is just speculation right now, but we expect him to be back and as it goes along, we’ll get a better idea. Like any injury, illness, whatever, there’s always a timeframe you think, but it can get shortened, it can get lengthened.”

Although Hartman’s leadership and competitiveness could be seen as un rivaled to some, Clawson was eager to point out the depth and experience of his o ense.

“You got two, three six-year guards [Sean Maginn, Loic Ngassam Nya]. You got a fth-year center [Michael Jurgens]. You got a fth-year tight end [Blake Whiteheart]. You got a fth-year receiver [A.T. Perry]. We have leadership across the board on o ense,” Clawson said. “ [Hartman]’s done such a great job in creating the tone and setting a standard that those guys aren’t going to let that

Focus at the starting quarterback po sition shifts to redshirt freshman Mitch Gri s and redshirt sophomore Michael Kern, both of whom limited saw game action last season. Gri s, who Clawson has stated as being the provisional “QB1” in fall camp, is on track for the start in the Deacons’ rst game on September 1st against FCS program VMI.

1“He runs the o ense well,” Clawson said about Gri s. “He’s got savvy. He’s a bit like Sam [Hartman] in terms of how important football is.” He also addressed Kern, stating “Michael too. Michael can go out there and lead us down the eld.”

Relying on Gri s and Kern will be a top receiving corps in the conference, led by 2021 All-ACC rst teamer A.T. Perry. Perry, who set the Wake Forest record for receiving touchdowns in a single sea son last year with 15, was one of two De mon Deacons to make ESPN’s Top 100 Players for 2022, along with Hartman. Also contributing to the receiving room will be redshirt sophomores Taylor Mo rin and Donavon Greene, the latter of whom is returning from an ACL tear suf fered before the 2021 season. Ke’Shawn Williams and Jamal Banks are expected

to show out as well, rounding out one of the strongest receiving squads in the country in terms of both talent and depth. e Deacons, who rank No. 22 in the country in the preseason AP poll, had their expectations dampened by na tional media after the news concerning Hartman’s medical condition.

0“I don’t expect our football team to be any less successful because of this and not one guy on that eld feels that way,” Clawson said. “I mean that. We can win a lot of games with those two guys [Gri s and Kern] and we can beat good teams with those guys.”

Despite the lack of starting experience, Demon Deacon fans shouldn’t overreact to the news. Not only will Hartman be back this season, but as evidenced by his past, he’ll persevere just like always. In the interim, fans should know that Gri s and Kern can both be trusted to handle O ensive Coordinator War ren Ruggiero’s o ense, and they should be just as supportive (and con dent) as Clawson is in his men.

Contact Sean Kennedy at kennsm21@wfu.edu

Zalatoris to miss out on Tour Championship

IAN STEFFENSEN Sports Editor

While the landscape of golf has been quite contentious recently with the heat ed LIV Golf-PGA Tour Battle, the post season nale of the FedEx Cup promises to be memorable as the best players will compete to claim the title at East Lake Golf Club next week.

Wake Forest alum Will Zalatoris led the rst round of the FedEx Cup fol lowing his victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

“It’s hard to say, ‘About time’ when it’s your second year on tour, but it’s about time,” Zalatoris said. “Considering all those close nishes, it means a lot.”

Zalatoris made a splash on the PGA

Tour in his rst year. He nished second at his rst Masters, one stroke behind champion Hideki Matsuyama. is year, Zalatoris continued to inch closer and closer to his rst win on the PGA Tour with strong showings in each of the ma jors. In the PGA Championship, Zala toris lost in a playo to Justin omas, and in the U.S. Open his nal putt on 18 burned past the cup which kept him from forcing a playo .

In the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Zalatoris was in a scenario he was all too familiar with: a three-hole playo against Sepp Straka. Zalatoris struggled early on–though he put himself in tough positions he was still able to save himself and make par. On the second playo hole, Zalato ris sliced his drive right and ended up in the trees close to a boundary fence. He

then pitched it out and made a 15-footer going into the nal hole.

e nal hole was wild. e par-3, 11th hole at TPC Southwind was the nal obstacle for Zalatoris. Flying over the water, Zalatoris’ ball landed short, hitting the rock bank and bouncing several times before nestling itself in the grass. Straka did the same, only his ball ricocheted o the rocks into the wa ter. While Zalatoris had caught a huge break, his ball was in an unplayable lie and he hit from the drop zone along with Straka. Straka hit his next shot into the bunker while Zalatoris landed the green and was seven feet from the hole. Zalatoris made the winning putt and earned his rst PGA Tour victory.

is week at the second round of the FedEx Cup Playo s, the BMW Cham pionship, Zalatoris looked to build on his momentum from the previous event. His rst win moved him to top of the FedEx Cup standings and up to No.9 in the world rankings. On Saturday, how ever, his momentum took a turn. Despite being one-under for the day and just four strokes back from the leader, Zala toris hurt his back on the third hole. He received treatment before heading to the fourth hole, but the pain was too much and he was forced to withdraw from the tournament, and will sadly also miss out on the nal event, the Tour Champion ship.

Cameron Young, another Wake For est alum, has also had a great showing on the PGA Tour this year. Young tied for third at the PGA Championship and nished second at the Open Champion ship. He hopes to follow in his team mate’s footsteps and earn the coveted

title of Rookie of the Year.

Patrick Cantlay, winner of the 2021 FedEx Cup made a strong case for his title defense after winning the BMW Championship. Scottie Sche er who leads in the standings, will have a sig ni cant advantage heading into the nal round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Sche er will start the tournament at ten under par, and Cantlay will start at eight under par. e event will then continue under normal scoring conditions.

e ongoing power struggle between the PGA-Tour and LIV Golf has domi nated this golf season. LIV Golf is ex pected to announce seven new signings following the conclusion of the FedEx Cup. One of these signings is rumored to be current Open Champion Cameron Smith who withdrew from the BMW Championship as well. Before the BMW Championship gol ng legend Tiger Woods convened with other top players to discuss changing the PGA Tour.

e proposed changes mirror some of the strategies of LIV Golf. ere would be fewer tournaments, a consistent line up of 60 of the top players, and larger earnings. Controversially, it would also feature no cuts, a signature facet of LIV Golf events. Another proposal was for the PGA Tour to renounce its status as a nonpro t organization. is change would allow more investors to partner with the Tour and give the PGA Tour the ability to compete with the LIV Golf prize money. ese recent events show the changing landscape of profes sional golf, and how it is now adapt or die for the PGA Tour.

Ian Steffensen at stefp21@wfu.edu

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

Photo

Sam Hartman’s absence raises questions for the football season

The fnal event on the PGA Tour calendar kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 25

Contact

Former Demon Deacon golfer Will Zalatoris celebrates after the FedEx St. Jude Championship, his first win on the PGA Tour.

Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu

Josie Scratchard, scraja20@wfu.edu

DC

controversies

ALYSSA SOLTREN Staff Writer

I’ll be honest: I have yet to watch “ e Batman”, but I’m sure that it is great, and it is on my watch list. What I cannot ignore, however, is how many not-so-great things have come out of Warner Bros. this year. is may not be news to some, but DC lms, in particular, have taken some blows. It seems that WB's misfortunes have cast a shadow on DC studios. In other words, it just looks like a tangly, mismanaged mess that makes one feel as if WB is already past its best days.

I think we should start with the most prominent and recently publicized subject — Ezra Miller. is actor is involved in both DC and “Fantastic Beasts” lm franchises — their most current project is the starring role in " e Flash". In recent months, numerous reports have been owing into the mainstream news regarding various crimes and acts of misconduct that Miller has committed. is has come into collision with the fact that promotion for the upcoming lm “ e Flash” is about to pick up. Warner Bros. spent around $200 million producing this rst-ever solo feature lm for the popular character.

As far as we can tell, the movie is still set

to release next summer. Miller even released a public apology and a promise to get help a few days ago. I won’t give my thoughts on how WB is handling this — partially because I don’t think they even really know how to handle it — but there’s no way this movie will just get dropped … unless Miller does something even worse, such as killing someone.

Speaking of dropped movies, let’s take a look at another unreleased movie whose lead character had never previously had a solo feature lm, except this movie will most likely never see the light of day. Plans for a “Batgirl” movie began in 2016. After the right directors and actors were found, the movie was lmed in 2021 and 2022. It was the plan to release it exclusively on the streaming platform HBO Max later this year. But despite the fact that it was in the nal stages of post-production, “Batgirl” got axed. Some report that WB’s decision to do so was due to bad test screening, but the company denies this and instead cites their goal to make more theatrical DC lms. Others still wonder how much loss there would have been anyway if it was just going to be released on a streaming service. Still, more have gawked at the fact that one of the lm’s directors was informed of this at his

own wedding.

Now that’s quite a bit of drama — but wait, there’s more! How many of you paid attention to the trial between actors and exspouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard this past spring? For those of you who didn’t, I’ll just let you know that it resulted in Heard receiving severe criticism for a number of reasons. One notable reaction was the created petition now bearing over 4.5 million signatures, calling for her removal from the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel due to the trial’s revelation of her behavior. Despite this, the movie’s producers still insist that she is in the movie, although there were reports that her role was reduced for uncertain reasons. ey had already completed lming some time ago and are currently in postproduction. If she has such a small role as is claimed, though, it makes me wonder how di cult it would be to reshoot those scenes with someone else as Mera. en again, I am no expert in the lm industry’s inner and outer workings.

Heard’s in uence was also interwoven within “ e Secrets of Dumbledore”, the third installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” series. Depp previously played the role of Gellert Grindlewald in this franchise, but a lawsuit involving him and Heard

resulted in Warner Bros. quickly removing him from that role in the third movie. Amid the controversy, lming and postproduction proceeded. After “ e Secrets of Dumbledore” had its time in theaters, it seemed to be an overall disappointment. It made an objectively decent pro t at the box o ce, but it also wound up being the lowest-grossing entry of any Harry Potter lm. I imagine that there are multiple reasons for this underperformance, but the fact that Depp was removed while Miller — who also had a lead role in this lm, whaddya know — remained in it likely did not promote the movie in the eyes of the public.

With all of these knotted-up predicaments, it’s easy to conclude that Warner Bros. is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. But perhaps there is hope yet. As we have also seen, “ e Batman” was a success, and directors of DC media, in general, have been granted more creative liberty in recent years. I’m not saying that Warner Bros. is completely blameless, though.

e development of the problematic lms wouldn’t have happened without them.

Contact Alyssa Soltren at soltac20@wfu.edu

BEN WILCOX Staff Writer

It might be time to admit Marvel Studios has hit a bit of a snag as of late. Fans of the uber-popular franchise have been left wanting more in the years post-“Avengers: Endgame”. e seeming lack of direction has left many of the newer movies and television shows feeling unfocused and meandering, instead of the concise and quippy style they’ve based their brand around for the last 14 years. e copy-and-paste approach that seems to have characterized Marvel's latest lms and TV shows has fans like myself feeling dissatis ed. I am going to break down why I think that the Marvel formula has felt a little stale and concerning for the largest studio in lm.

It is my belief that the decline in quality that people have started to notice may have started in between the releases of their two largest movies ever, “Avengers: In nity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”. In 2019, the rst movie released after “Avengers: In nity War” was “Captain Marvel”. is lm was just ne. Instead of discussing the ins and outs of the movie and its pros and cons, I’ll say it’s just a project released by Marvel to tell general audiences, “Hey, pay attention! Captain Marvel is here and she will be one of the faces of our franchise for the next decade!” e movie lacked any real substance and had the stereotypical weak Marvel Cinematic Universe villain and milquetoast humor that has plagued the MCU as of late.

e next lm after “Captain Marvel” was

“Ant-Man and the Wasp”, which had very similar issues. However, lots of people went out to see it because the Marvel Studios machine kept reassuring us, “Go see this movie, you might not care about these heroes like any of the original Avengers, but we promise there’s something in here really, really important to the plot of 'Avengers: Endgame!'” at’s how Marvel successfully made the second installment of the “AntMan” lms into a higher grosser than the original, despite a pretty sharp decrease in quality.

Pretty much every iteration of a Marvel release post-"Endgame" has used this same trick to try and get general audiences excited about less popular characters taking the reins of their franchise. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” was going to reignite the new-look MCU by teasing the multiverse in trailers, only to make it one of Mysterio’s many lies. “Black Widow” was going to give us one more story from one of our favorite characters and set up Florence Pugh to take over the mantle. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was going to be the grand union of all three Spider-Men on screen, while “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” would delve deep into the implications of what the multiverse could mean for the MCU.

If you told me about this plan in 2019, I’d be pretty excited. ere’s just one problem though — these movies aren’t any good, and I haven't even gotten started on their TV series. ey’re formulaic with their villains and they are burdened by trying to move forward the plot of the MCU, leaving them

with a loss of identity.

One major area of weakness in these phase four projects is their post-credit scenes. I’d honestly prefer if we’d retire them altogether than to feel obligated to reuse the same type of scene every time to tease a follow-up. ese

lms are using one of two formulas in their stingers. ey will either take a secondary threat or character from the second act and tease their powerful return in the sequel, or they will introduce our characters to a special celebrity cameo who will be their partner in crime or even adversary in the next lm.

Examples of the former are the return of the Ten-Rings in “Shang-Chi and the TenRings”, Kit Harrington and Maharshala Ali in the second “Eternals” stinger and the return of Zeus in “ or: Love and under”. Examples of the latter would be Harry Styles in “Eternals”, Charlize eron in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Black Widow” and Brett Goldstein in “ or: Love and under”.

e reason I’m so critical of this trope is that even though these formulas are copyand-paste, Marvel has used them well before. e perfect example of the rst formula is the “ or: e Dark World” ending. Al though it is not a proper post-credit scene, this is without a doubt where the DNA from which these rst examples have come. We are led to believe that Loki has died and or leaves Asgard to return to Earth with Jane, until it is revealed that it is Loki disguised as Odin and is now presiding over Asgard. is ending recontextualizes the whole back half of the movie, from Loki’s supposed sac

ri ce onwards. It leaves the audience on a genuine cli hanger and has us invested in knowing what happened to Odin and where they will go from there. It’s the kind of ending that made you curious when the next or movie was coming out.

And to keep it brief with the second for mula, Marvel is clearly trying to recapture the magic of the anos scene in “ e Avengers”. e anos reveal works also because it recontextualizes the movie. We had spent the entirety of the MCU to this point seeing these characters unite to face a larger threat, such as Loki and the Chi tauri invasion, only for the reveal to come that they’ve all been working for anos, and now people are re-watching the older lms for hints at where the In nity Stones could be. e phase four version of this has been to stunt-cast so you care about the character instead of having to rely on making a compelling story. It’s a good sign that Marvel knows what works and what doesn’t, but we have now clearly slid into an unexciting pattern.

ere is a whole other side of matters with how they have struggled to collaborate well with high-quality lmmakers, but I’ll leave that up to Marty Scorsese and the opinion experts. We’ve really seen Marvel build a compelling universe on the backs of some of these concepts, but now all they give us are empty calories.

Contact Ben Wilcox at wilcbr19@wfu.edu

A steady stream of scandals and blunders leaves DC questioning its future

reels after storm of

Marvel needs to break from its repetitive formula

'The Sandman' disappoints

The comic-to-show adaptation leaves much to be desired in its lack of originality

JOSIE SCRATCHARD Life Editor

On Aug. 5, Netflix released its television adaptation of the award-winning comic book series, “The Sandman”. The show shot to the No. 1 most-streamed title on the platform. Currently, “The Sandman” remains the secondmost-streamed show — nearly three weeks after its release. The story follows the Sandman, also known as Morpheus, who is the god of dreams, as he travels throughout the human realm to cease the chaos that began while he was imprisoned for 100 years.

The comic series creator, Neil Gaiman, played an instrumental role in the show’s crew as a writer and executive producer, assuring that the series remained true to his original vision. The first season of the show consists of ten episodes, each representing the first ten issues of the comic, respectively.

I am a big advocate for the comics, so my expectations for the show were high. I did not expect to have such a difficult viewing experience. In fact, I struggled to enjoy the Netflix series so

The

much that I only watched the first five episodes — and I played episodes three, four and five at 1.5x speed. The plot was so slow that I felt as if I needed it to progress faster, and I still felt dragged along against my will.

Additionally, very little of the show’s plot deviates from the comics, which puts a noticeable constraint on its ability to flourish in a different medium. Placing the narrative arc of the show in the fragmented style of the comic appears freeing in theory but ultimately places the story’s execution in shambles. Maintaining the integrity of the comic by recreating its scenes with little room for excursions cost the show in its degree of creativity.

Each character is flattened in this storytelling approach, which would be acceptable if the au dience was meant to only view the characters as pawns to demonstrate story concepts — like in the fifth episode, "24/7". Minor characters are in troduced to exemplify the consequences of Mor pheus’ magic in the hands of the enemy, which serves this episode well. However, in the context of the show’s secondary characters, the audience is forced into a distant relationship without any emotional connection.

Unfortunately, this bleeds into Morpheus’ character, as well. The show’s narrative stretches itself too thin, causing wear and tear on an already weak viewer relationship with the Sandman due to his helplessness in the pilot episode.

The worst part of the Sandman’s character is not his flatness but the show’s stripping of his mystifying qualities. Since TV shows are incapable of achieving the same undertakings as books — because nothing is imagined but rather pictured before the viewer — Netflix's adaptation was unsuccessful in formulating Morpheus as an incomprehensible figure. The Sandman appeared to be a man just like any other in the show, and this idea was reinforced by his seeming inability to control even small amounts of chaos. Morpheus not only looked like a human being but felt like a human being, which is unacceptable when he is supposed to be a god — even if he has limits on his powers.

Overall, the show would have benefitted if it deviated from the comics. A series of plot events crafted for the television adaptation with more focus and an emphasis on character dimension would have formed a faster pace. Hopefully, if season two is created, it will find its rhythm as both its own creation while retaining the pull of the comic.

Method 101: HBO’s 'The Rehearsal' Reviewed

always been a contemporary genius of alternative comedy. Fielder's Emmy Award-winning 2013 Comedy Central series “Nathan For You” cap tured audiences with his dead-pan and absurdist approach to helping small businesses (check out “Dumb Starbucks” If you somehow haven’t al ready). He also served as executive producer for the HBO sensation “How To With John Wilson”. Fielder’s newest project, however, is something that transcends his entire prior body of work —

e Rehearsal” is this: what if you could rehearse and prepare for con sequential or life-changing moments before they rough elaborately staged rehearsals every possibility and outcome is accounted for, making sure the participant is fully equipped to embrace wise seemed insur e concept was seemingly formed as a result of Nathan’s own social awkwardness, admitting in the opening minutes of episode one that “Humor is my go-to instinct, but every joke is e show positions Fielder as a dream maker, a man of unlimited resources wielding the power to help ordinary folks solve interpersonal

e premiere introduces the audience to Kor Skeet, an avid trivia nut who is dreading telling a longtime friend and trivia partner that he had lied

“ e Rehearsal” was simply an o beat reality show after episode one–but this is a clever mis direction. What it becomes is something wholly new: equal parts social experiment and elaborate performance art piece.

Part of the show’s genius is in its willingness to continually reinvent itself. After episode one Nathan produces a rehearsal for Angela, a wom an who wants to use a rehearsal to learn how to navigate raising children. For this Fielder hires an absurd number of child actors to chronicle the life of a child named Adam. Fielder eventually decides to participate in the rehearsal in the role of the father, given his own desire for a family. is project reveals itself to be much bigger than the rst scenario and as a result, the Angela re hearsal morphs into a season-long throughline. One wonders if the tangential rhythm the show nds in episodes two through six is the result of completely organic experimentation. It is almost as if the original plan for the show was ditched when the Angela rehearsal escalated in terms of scale and complexity—-and as Nathan became less of an observer and more of the subject himself. e rst episode may seem dis connected from the rest of season one, but it's actually critically used to establish the rules of the series — it is almost like a prologue for the “real” show.

It’s impossible to go into much more detail without spoiling the absurdism and element e Rehearsal” so bril rst place. Simply put, there is no lmmaking reaching any of the stunning e Rehearsal” is e way the show blurs the lines be ction and reality, make-believe and real life, is truly astonishing. While some of Nathan’s experimental diatribes can feel a little aimless at times, season one as a whole is overwhelmingly ere is no question that Fielder is the preeminent comedic genius of our time.

It's not immediately clear what shape season two will take but rest assured Fielder is probably e Rehearsal” on HBO Max.

Contact Josie Scratchard at scraja20@wfu.edu

Astrology Forecast

(Advice based on your sign)

Aries: Don't go to LR!

Taurus: Don't go to LR!

Gemini: Don't go to LR!

Cancer: Don't go to LR!

Leo: Don't go to LR!

Virgo: Don't go to LR!

Scorpio: Introduce warm Autumn tones in your wardrobe.

Sagittarius: Don't go to LR!

Capricorn: Don't go to LR!

Aquarius: Don't go to LR!

Pisces: Don't go to LR!

Contact Judy Assaad at asaj20@wfu.edu

Look! Tim in the drive thru

losing his friend. You'd be forgiven for thinking that

Contact James Watson at watsjcc22@wfu.edu

The 'Nathan For You' creator’s new series is a milestone for television.

Fielder

Photo courtesy of IMDB Photo courtesy

Adam Coil/Old Gold & Black

Talking music: the best albums of 2022 (so far)

August is almost over, and 2022 still feels like a lackluster year for music. The general consensus is that this year has thus far lacked the big-name releases and the breakout debuts that tend to define the music scene. There are, however, still a plethora of great albums that belong to 2022, some of them just take some digging to find. Here are some albums from this year that you might have missed (or forgotten about). Honorable mentions: “MOTOMAMI” by ROSALÍA, “Crest” by Bladee and Ecco 2k, “NOT TiGHT” by DOMi & JD BECK, “Ugly Season” by Perfume Genius, “Beatopia” by beabadoobe and “Hellfire” by black midi.

“Ants From Up There” inspires with its progressive sound Adam Coil, Life Editor Black Country, New Road’s sophomore LP, “Ants From Up There”, is the type of album that makes your standard Spotify subscription seem like an unbelievably good deal. It displays BC, NR at the height of their powers — a finely-tuned machine brimming with creative elixir. “Ants From Up There” was released at the beginning of this year, and despite not quite reaching mass appeal, it has remained culturally relevant from consistent praise by prominent critics in the music community. With its refreshing style, its unique nack to linger with you after you listen to it and the seeming enormity of its universe, there’s a lot to talk about.

It’s hard to do the album justice in such few words because the project itself covers an insane amount of ground. “Chaos Space Marine” is a shot of soma mixed into a pint of surreal escapism. “Concorde” is a dying tree that refuses to let go of its final leaf. “Haldern” is a glowing candelabrum in the kind of archaic mansion that you just don’t make it out of. “Good Will Hunting” is a warm evening on the Mediterranean in July. “Basketball Shoes” is a three-part series of nostalgia-induced paralysis. “Ants From Up There” wants to do a multitude of things — and it actually does (with seeming ease).

One of the most endearing aspects of this album is the fact that a lot of the songs are so personal and genuine that they nearly border on inaccessible. The intertextuality between other pieces of art, the band members’ own personal lives and British culture and history make the project a somewhat formidable jungle to trudge through if you’re the type of listener who really wants to ‘get’ each album you listen to.

But this type of perspective is not in the spirit of “Ants From Up There”, a piece of art that is not a story or a message but a pulsing, indefatigable, jumbled-up ball of power, emotion and the fleeting sensations that help us define being human. There is no room for specifics, just experience. The music has this engulfing quality that almost leaves you feeling hollow when the record stops — something that parallels the emptiness that Concorde leaves behind throughout the album. BC, NR has mastered the art of building and releasing tension — “Ants From Up There” will have you both squirming in your seat and cathartically staring at the wall in front of you. It’s one of those things where it’s best to just buckle yourself in and hope that you get off the rollercoaster in one piece.

In its infinite complexity and richness, the album gives its audience something new to chew on during and after each listen, but there is nothing required to enjoy and especially feel the

album during the first listen. The unique quality to be both instantly and consistently rewarding is what has given the album both general and critical acclaim. It is intelligent without being belletristic; it is entertaining without being cheap; it is emotional without being melodramatic. It has everything you need to come back wanting seconds, and then it actually makes good on its promise by being so much more than you remembered.

It is almost difficult to believe that the BC, NR that made “For the first time” and the one that made “Ants From Up There” are the same band. While “For the first time” is a terrific album — angsty, electrifying and sobering all at once — BC, NR obviously matured rapidly in the short span between the two projects. The implacable screaming that could be found on tracks like “Science Fair” and “Sunglasses” is restrained and focused on “Ants From Up There”. The lyricism, while still being sparse and vague for the most part, is much more cohesive and constructive — images are constantly reappearing and molding, building a bigger and bigger world as you trek further and further into its 58-minute runtime. To capture perfection on a second try makes BC, NR all the more awe-inspiring, and it makes their subsequent loss of Isaac Wood (vocals) all the more disheartening.

I do not foresee BC, NR ever receiving the recognition they deserve but I do not think they will ever be forgotten, either. From what I could gather on social media after its release, this latest album was truly resonating with a niche but fiercely dedicated fanbase — and that means something. People all over are being inspired and feeling seen with this project, which is something that doesn’t just fade away. It does not belong to any specific moment in time but to the listeners who choose to accept it. The album is a chaos space marine in its own way, and it’s looking for a place to live.

“Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” achieves total serenity Adam Coil

important in August as it is in March. The song “Time Escaping” might resonate especially well right now, reminding us that we cannot hold on to the warmth of summer any more than we can speed up the return of spring and that we have to learn to enjoy and see the beauty of whichever wrinkle in time we find ourselves in.

I think that this new release from Big Thief is a great album that can be elevated even further by the right setting. I first listened to it heavily while in the snowy mountains of Colorado, a place where you cannot help but contemplate your relation to nature and your undeniable smallness. The rushing rivers and vast stretches of giant trees made it so much easier to connect to the mood Big Thief was going for on this one. I recommend listening to this somewhere that allows you to get away from it all, you just might find something.

“Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” displays Kendrick Lamar with total openness Brody Leo, Staff Writer

sounding at home on various flows and styles. Overall, Lamar’s self-reflective project can get messy and imperfect, but Lamar seems perfectly aware of that. In fact, Lamar seems to take pride in prioritizing himself over his audience in the creation of this project, particularly in the closing track “Mirror”. The repeated one-line chorus of “I choose me, I’m sorry” becomes a powerful incantation after the preceding hour of Lamar purging himself of his past traumas and tribulations.

If nothing else, “Mr. Morale” is the most enjoyable therapy session you’ll ever experience.

Pusha T pins down his artistic identity on“It’s Almost Dry”

Ishan Viradia, Contributing Writer

Big Thief dropped their fifth album “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” a week after BC, NR dropped their sophomore album, and these two projects have been in the driver’s seat for my album of the year ever since. Big Thief has been an indie folk powerhouse since 2016 and, while they’re not a band that pushes the envelope too much stylistically, they have always been consistent in making pleasant music with a lyrical depth that far exceeds most popular music today.

Adrienne Lenker — the lead singer of Big Thief — makes this album as amazing as it is with her famously soft and soothing vocals. She has this ability to make everything about life seem more pleasant and beautiful, like waking up and instantly thinking about something you’re genuinely looking forward to doing that day. Lenker is a gently encouraging presence throughout the album, and she seems to approach the deep and complex questions that the album asks with a uniquely wise and understanding voice.

“Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” is undoubtedly a spring album, but I think that it can be relevant to the fall as well. A lot of the album is concerned with change and dealing with that change, something which is just as

After five years of silence from Kendrick Lamar, it was difficult to know what to expect from his new project. Five years — 1,855 days, to be exact — is an eternity in the world of hip-hop. For reference, within that time, BROCKHAMPTON experienced both their rise to fame and their breakup, Playboi Carti turned from SoundCloud rapper to vamp king and Kanye West dropped three albums and a presidential bid. It’s been a wild five years, and if nothing else, I expected Lamar to provide some perspective on it all. Instead, Lamar turns his focus to the subject that may be the most difficult to pin down: himself.

A central theme of the album is the pitfalls of sudden fame that Lamar has found. On the album’s opener, “United in Grief”, he describes his rampant spending habits and tries to uncover why he was so drawn to materialism. He asks, “What is a rapper with jewelry? / A way that I show my maturity.” Lamar accredits his conspicuous consumption to the fact that he wanted to show the world — and more importantly, himself — that he was finally on top. The Rolexes, Porsches and infinity pools could not heal the wounds that his troubled past left him, as he raps, “Poverty was the case / But the money wiping the tears away.”

Lamar also delves deeply into his past and present relational issues in a way that is unprecedentedly vulnerable, even for Kendrick Lamar. In “Father Time”, Lamar examines the toxic masculinity and relational issues that his difficult relationship with his father ingrained in him. In “Worldwide Steppers”, Lamar opens up about sex addiction and unfaithfulness through two stories of sexual intercourse with white women, motivated by a desire for a sort of generational vengeance. He concludes with the striking line, “I might be racist / Ancestors watchin’ me f*** was like retaliation.”

This album also marks a sharp shift in production choices for Lamar. While his previous albums were each somewhat stylistically uniform, “Mr. Morale” takes a much more eclectic approach. Tracks like “United in Grief”, “Crown” and “Mother I Sober” are strippedback, piano-centered tracks that allow Lamar’s songwriting to shine through, while tracks like “N95”, “Count Me Out” and “Silent Hill” are more classic trap-inspired, heavy-hitting bangers. The diverse production does not feel as jarring as you’d expect; Lamar has always been a master at

An album that personally exceeded all ex pectations was Pusha T’s underappreciated “It’s Almost Dry”. Here we see King Push bring together Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) and Pharrel to produce an al bum that tells the world he will be staying true to himself. Early in his career, Pusha worked with Pharrel under his Star Trak label before signing with Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West). This album can be seen as a bridge between these two unique production styles in his discography, from a meticulously crafted beat to more vocal-heavy tracks. It al lows the listener to really appreciate the pro gression Pusha T has experienced as an artist. Though I think the album is a love letter to Pusha T fans, it is by no means a perfect al bum. Many tracks lack replayability and the album as a whole does a poor job of convey ing any overarching message to the listener. The subpar storytelling is more than made up for with its consistently catchy melodies and striking bars, however.

Joey Bada$$ proves his status on “2000” Ishan Viradia

At this point in his career, no one can deny Joey Bada$$’s greatness with his distinct sound and loyal fanbase. Bada$$ knows this and attempts to use this album as a chance to challenge himself and solidify his place as one of the greats. He even goes as far as to refer to himself as part of “the holy trinity” along side Kendrick and J.Cole. Normally, I would disregard this as an outrageous claim, but during certain points while listening through the album, I believe him. Joey delivers a pure display of his rapping ability alongside some thing reminiscent of his classic beats with pi ano and keyboard samples mixed in. This al bum isn’t without its flaws, however, as many of the tracks have simple rhyme schemes for an artist of his status. These issues paired with less-than-exceptional production create an ef fect where many songs blur together. Fortu nately, however, this feeling is usually broken by a track where he displays his technical abil ity such as “Zipcodes” or “Survivor’s Guilt”.

Contact Adam Coil, Brody Leo and Ishan Viradia at coilat21@wfu.edu, leomb21@wfu.edu & virai21@wfu.edu

Illustrations by Josh Reynolds