The Stanford Daily MAG AZINE VOL. V • ISSUE I • SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
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IT’S BRUTAL OUT HERE
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The Stanford Daily MAGAZINE
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Readers are back in bookstores, here’s how owners kept them alive during the pandemic By LILY NILIPOUR
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kate Selig
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EXECUTIVE EDITORS Jeremy Rubin Lana Tleimat MAGAZINE EDITORS Anastasiia Malenko Mhar Tenorio MANAGING EDITORS Malia Mendez, Kirsten Mettler, Cameron Ehsan, Abeer Dahiya, Sam Catania, Sophie Andrews, Malaysia Atwater, Sarina Deb, Jared Klegar, Daniel Wu, Zora Ilunga-Reed, Sarina Deb, Smiti Mittal, Jessica Lee, Christine Delianne, Nicholas Welch, Om Jahagirdar, Camryn Pak, Georgia Rosenberg, Malaysia Atwater, Emma Talley, Sharon Du, Caroline Spertus, Andy Huynh, Crystal Chen, Lorenzo Del Rosario, Ron Rocky Coloma, Savanna Stewart, Esha Dhawan, Krystal Navarro, Ray Aguirre PHOTO/GRAPHICS Jessica Lee, Helena Zhang, Cameron L-H, Mhar Tenorio, Crystal Chen, Anthony Bui, Kellen Vu BUSINESS TEAM Eleni Aneziris Hiram Duran Alvarez Ron Rocky Coloma
Dynamic Dozen: the Stanford student-athletes who took on Tokyo
By SOFIA SCEKIC & SAVANNA STEWART
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Self-care and silver linings: Stanford students reflect on lessons learned from the virtual school year By CAROLYN STEIN
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From study abroad to stuck at home: students hold cautious optimision for the future of travel
By MARLI BOSLER
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Stanford Theater is back in the spotlight
By KYLA FIGUEROA
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Stanford football hopes for a return to normalcy after a challenging year By ELLS BOONE & JIBRIEL TAHA
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Crossword
By MATTHEW TURK
COVER GRAPHIC: JESSICA LEE / The Stanford Daily 2 | The Stanford Daily
Letter from the Editors Dear readers, As we send the magazine off to print, we are cautiously optimistic but not certain that we’ll get to see our work in the hands of students on campus. The question “Are all of us actually going to be back on campus together?” feels almost overused, but still unfortunately relevant. The world is emerging from the pandemic as a different place than when students scrambled to leave campus in March 2020. Those returning in the fall are similarly changed from a year and a half of uncertainty, plans adjusted on the go and distance learning. Students in particular belonging to marginalized groups — including but not limited to the Black, FLI, international and disabled communities — had to navigate additional challenges while dealing with stress brought on by the pandemic and online school. Because of this, we’ve themed this magazine around the change, resilience and reflection each of us have undergone over the past 18 months. Two weeks before setting foot on campus, uncertainty remains — you’ll find it as an undercurrent running through many of the pieces. Our writers explore this theme through multiple avenues. From the news section, read on to see how students’ perspectives on learning changed with the pandemic in our cover story, as well as how students are contemplating study abroad. Our sports writers feature Stanford athletes’ experience in Tokyo and look ahead to the football season after a year marked by disruption. And from arts & life, learn more about how local bookstores and student theater have weathered the pandemic and hope to provide future creative outlets for the community. We can’t wait to (hopefully) see you around on campus. MAGAZINE EDITORS Anastasiia Malenko ’23 and Mhar Tenorio ’24
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Readers are back in bookstores, here’s how owners kept them alive during the pandemic By LILY NILIPOUR
“You could sort of hear the sigh of relief to just touch books again, and some of them would just stand and gaze and they would just put their hands on the books,” one of the owners said.
GRAPHIC: 4 | The StanfordMHAR Daily TENORIO / The Stanford Daily
Feldman’s Books relocated to a more central Menlo Park location in mid-August after a long, multi-year dispute with developers to preserve the original building. | PHOTO: CRYSTAL CHEN / The Stanford Daily
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NE DAY, MID-PANDEMIC, Feldman’s Books owner Jack Feldman and his apprentice Aidan Stone were greeted by an unexpected visitor: a hummingbird. “She was freaking out — we couldn’t get her out of the shop,” Stone said. “She actually landed on top of the bird section, which was funny, and she flew behind one of the shelves where there was a window — so she wasn’t flying out.” A bird is just a bird, but for us bibliophiles (and, apparently, most people this past year and a half), it’s easy to read the trapped hummingbird as some poignant representation of our own lives in quarantine. We see a flurry of frantic wings behind the glass, and we think of freedom so perfectly within sight and yet so utterly unattainable. Or we think, maybe it’s an embodiment of the spirit of the bookstore itself,
alive and persevering despite restrictions. A sign of hope. But if Stone did see some symbolism in the hummingbird, he didn’t let on — to him, the scene was just another one of many fond memories at the bookstore. “Jack and I walked around outside of the building, and we looked through the window, and I could see the hummingbird perfectly framed behind the glass, flying around,” Stone said. “It was one of my favorite images I saw here.” Feldman’s Books, founded by Feldman in 1996, is one of two independent rare and used bookstores in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The other is Bell’s Books, founded in 1935 and located off of University Avenue. You only have to look through a few photos on Yelp to know that these two stores have been havens of local book lovers for decades. Rooms with eccentric ephemera, arm-
chairs and tall shelves — filled to the brim with old hardcovers and yellowing paperbacks — offer refuge from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley life. When the onset of COVID-19 forced businesses to shut their doors, Feldman’s and Bell’s both followed suit. For months, they could no longer offer to the public their spaces for browsing, reading and connecting over books with others. “What was really hard and sort of sad was just not being with our people — we’re a really tight team, and we work really well together,” said Faith Bell, owner of Bell’s Books. “We enjoy each other’s company, and to just shut off seeing these people on a daily basis was hard.” Other challenges followed. The year consisted of finding ways to keep their employees on full salaries and pay rent and utilities, as well as learning how to adjust quickly to ever-chang5 | Vol. V, Issue 1
ing governmental mandates and new information about the virus. “If you ever need a lesson with rolling with the punches, this is it,” Bell said. “At a time when people bringing their groceries home were sterilizing the outsides of their packaging, to have 350,000 books and not know, if I touch it and someone else touches it, if that’s a problem — that’s difficult.” But as regulations relaxed after months of lockdown, the bookstores began to show signs of life. The staff at Bell’s and Feldman’s both took advantage of the momentary absence of customers to reorganize and deep clean their extensive collections, as well as to launch new online stores with some of their more interesting materials. At Bell’s, staff members introduced some levity into their workdays by adorning all their author busts and portraits with Post-It Note masks. And eventually, both stores were able to open, even if it was just a “table by the door” for curbside pickup at first. “The thing that was really moving was to see how much the community wanted us there and 6 | The Stanford Daily
missed us,” Bell said. “In lieu of browsing … we were delighted to find that people were really happy to have us pick [books] and bring things for them.” According to Stone, “business has been better than ever,” with customers not only patronizing Feldman’s curbside pickup and new online store, but also making direct donations to keep the store afloat. Stone found that the pandemic reminded people of the importance of “third spaces”: places outside of home and work such as “church, your local coffee shop, or your gym or your bookstore — places you go to release.” The past year hasn’t been without drama for Feldman’s Books. The bookstore relocated to a more central Menlo Park location in mid-August after a long, multi-year dispute with developers to preserve the original building. But Feldman and Stone are optimistic about their new location; new plans include bringing in a piano, painting the ceiling “Michelangelo style” and possibly even hosting a roller skating event on the store’s hardwood floors. “It’s all been a great adven-
Feldman’s Books, founded by Jack Feldman in 1996, is one of two independent rare and used bookstores in Palo Alto and Menlo Park.| PHOTO: CRYSTAL CHEN / The Stanford Daily
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ture and experience,” Feldman said. “The community has really come out and been supportive, and we found a good spot and … we persevered.” Bell’s Books, after 70 years in the same location, isn’t going anywhere. This fact will be a relief for the store’s loyal patrons and general literary community, who have missed the musty smell and feel of their beloved used books. Bell described the “tentative faces” of people peeking through the doorway and entering the store on “their first trip out … after six months of being isolated” — people who had “trepidation but [who were] relieved to be someplace they felt safe that wasn’t just in their home.”
“You could sort of hear the sigh of relief to just touch books again, and some of them would stand and gaze and they would put their hands on the books,” Bell said. “It was almost like a religious experience to be back in a bookstore again. Some of them who normally would have put their stuff down next to the register to go on and browse some more, would just hug them. They’d just hold these books next to their chests.” To Stone, the support for and eagerness to get back to local bookstores is a sign of a thriving literary community in Silicon Valley — one that does not disappear in the face of big tech, pandemics and relocations.
“For 25 years, Feldman’s Books was a beautiful place where people met and fell in love and read books that changed their lives, and that’s going to continue, and it’s going to be here,” Stone said. “I think that what it shows is that there is life and there is culture and there is community and ritual and nature here, and this is a place you can always come to remember those older and better parts of ourselves.” Perhaps, then, Stone would allow me to grant one more superfluous meaning to his story of the trapped hummingbird: a soul who has found her way into the bookstore, and simply doesn’t want to leave.
“What was really hard and sort of sad was just not being with our people — we’re a really tight team, and we work really well together,” said Faith Bell (right), owner of Bell’s Books. | PHOTO: KELLEN VU / The Stanford Daily
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Aidan Stone, apprentice at Feldman’s Books, found that the pandemic reminded people of the importance of community places outside of home, such as church, coffee shops and bookstores. | PHOTO: ANTHONY BUI / The Stanford Daily
Curbside pickup and new online store, but also direct donations from the supportive community kept Jack Feldman’s store afloat. | PHOTO: ANTHONY BUI / The Stanford Daily 9 | Vol. V, Issue 1
When Bell’s Books re-opened, readers returned to the 70-year-old location. With tentative looks, they would just hug the books in the| The collection. | PHOTO: KELLEN VU / The Stanford Daily 10 Stanford Daily
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GRAPHIC: JESSICA LEE / The Stanford Daily
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DYNAMIC DOZEN:
the Stanford student-athletes who took on Tokyo
By SOFIA SCEKIC & SAVANNA STEWART
An impressive 12 of Stanford’s competitors in Tokyo still hold undergraduate status on the Farm: some are on Leaves of Absence pausing their undergraduate career, some are current student-athletes and others are incoming frosh to The Farm.
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tanford sent 57 former, current or affiliated athletes to Tokyo to compete on the world stage at the 2020 Olympic Games. Between the Opening Ceremony on July 23 and the Closing Ceremony on
Aug. 8, Stanford captured 26 medals — more than any university in the country and just one shy of the school-record 27 earned by Cardinal athletes at the 2016 Rio Games. All but two of the Cardinal’s medals were claimed for Team USA,
where Stanford’s 35 members stood as the largest plurality from any university. An impressive 12 of Stanford’s competitors in Tokyo still hold undergraduate status on the Farm: some are on leaves of absence, some are current stu13 | Vol. V, Issue 1
dent-athletes and others are incoming frosh. Keep reading to learn who’s who on Stanford’s newest list of Olympians!
BRODY MALONE, GYMNASTICS (USA)
The two-time defending NCAA allaround champion, rising senior Brody Malone represented the USA as the top performer in the men’s all-around at the Olympic trials. As Malone advanced to finals in the team, all-around and horizontal bar event, Team USA looked to earn a medal in the team event for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The team ultimately finished in fifth place, and Malone placed 10th in the all-around, just two spots ahead of teammate Sam Mikulak. A highlight of Malone’s strong performance in the final was his parallel bars mount, submitted by the gymnast as an original element to be dubbed “The Malone” in the Code of Points. Malone narrowly missed a medal; his fourth-place mark represents the fifthstraight Olympics in which the USA men’s gymnastics team has logged a finisher among the top five in the event. On the Farm, Malone enters his senior year, working toward a degree in Management Science and Engineering. During his three seasons at Stanford, Malone has earned MPSF Gymnast of the Year honors three times. He is a five-time individual NCAA National Champion — twice in the all-around and high bar and once in the floor event — as well as a 12-time NCAA All-American.
ALBERTO MESTRE, SWIMMING (VENEZUELA)
Two-time All-American Alberto Mestre qualified for the Olympics in two events and finished top-15 in the 50m freestyle and top-35 in the 100m freestyle. In his signature event, the 50m freestyle, he finished fourth and qualified for the semifinals. His time of 21.96 was just 0.03 seconds shy of the Venezuelan national record of 21.93 that he set in his nation’s Olympic Trials. In the 50m freestyle semifinal, his time of 22.22 placed him seventh in his heat and 15th overall, but did not qualify him for the event’s finals. The Tokyo Olympics were somewhat of a family affair for the Mestre’s — Alberto’s brother Alfonso, who 14 | The Stanford Daily
swims for the University of Florida, also competed. Alfonso swam in the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle, placing top-16 in both races. The Mestre’s father, Alberto Sr., was also an Olympic legend in the 1980s, qualifying for the games at just 15 years old. Alberto Sr., while never earning an Olympic medal, finished top-six in both of his events at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
ANDREI MINAKOV, SWIMMING (RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE)
19-year-old Andrei Minakov competed in four events at his first Olympics, and nearly medaled in two of them. He first swam the 4x100m freestyle relay, where the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) took seventh overall in the finals with a time of 3:12.20. Following the relay races, Minakov competed in the 100m freestyle, finishing fifth in the semifinals, which was not enough to make it to the event finals. In the 100m butterfly, his performances in the first round and semifinals earned him a spot in the finals. With a time of 50.88, Minakov finished fourth, and was just 0.14 seconds away from winning an Olympic medal — Noe Ponti of Switzerland finished third in 50.74. The next day in the 4x100m medley relay, the ROC finished in 3:29.22 and took fourth place, just behind third-place Italy, whose team finished in 3:29.17. Minakov will begin his swimming career at Stanford in the fall after opting out of last season to train for the Olympics. He will bring plenty of international competition experience to the Farm after competing at the Olympics, the 2019 World Championships and the 2019 World Junior Championships.
RON POLONSKY, SWIMMING (ISRAEL)
Ron Polonsky swam in three events in his first Olympics, and will arrive on the Farm next year to start his career at Stanford. In Tokyo, his first event was the 400m individual medley. He finished third in Heat 1 with a time of 4:21.50; his time, however, did not qualify him for the next round. In the 200m breaststroke, he finished fifth place in Heat 2, but his time of 2:12.71 did not carry him to the semifinals. In Polonsky’s final event, the 200m individual medley, he finished fourth in Heat 3 in 1:58.95, but did not turn in
one of the 16 fastest times that would have qualified him for the semifinals. Like Minakov, Polonsky will bring a wealth of international experience to the Farm next season. He swam four events at the 2021 European Championships and four more events at the 2019 World Junior Championships, where he finished fourth in the 200m individual medley.
ARIA FISCHER, WATER POLO (USA)
After completing two seasons with Stanford women’s water polo, Aria Fischer stepped away from the team for two consecutive seasons to train with the USA national team. Tokyo 2020 marks the second time Fischer has competed in the prestigious competition. At Rio 2016, she became the youngest female team sport athlete in American Olympic history to earn gold. This time around, two goals from Fischer in the quarterfinals helped Team USA cruise past Canada in 16-5 fashion. Fischer continued her scoring streak into the semifinals against the Russian Olympic Committee, adding one goal for Team USA in the 15-11 victory. She netted two more in the Gold Medal Game to help guarantee a 14-5 dominant victory over Spain and the third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event. Before dazzling Tokyo, Fischer was just as successful on the Farm. As a freshman in 2018, she scored in 20 games, recording multiple goals in 10 of them and ranking 13th in the MPSF at the close of the season in goals per game, with 1.46. Her 58 total goals the following season were the second most by a member of the Cardinal squad in 2019, and 12 goals by Fischer at the NCAA Championships helped lead Stanford to a national title. On Stanford women’s water polo’s 2021 roster, Fischer is a rising junior majoring in Creative Writing.
MAKENZIE FISCHER, WATER POLO (USA)
Mackenzie Fischer completed three seasons with the Cardinal before sitting out for two to train, alongside her younger sister Aria. She remained a serious offensive threat for Team USA throughout the Games, recording two goals against Hungary and the Russian Olympic Committee. Scoring in the semifinals and the Gold Medal
Game brought her Olympic total to 14 goals overall. Tokyo 2020 marks Fischer’s second time bringing home the gold; she was also a member of 2016 gold-medal Team USA. Fischer will be a senior on the Cardinal squad upon her return to Stanford. During her junior season in 2019, Fischer averaged a league-high 3.50 goals per game and recorded a career-high 84 goals, good enough for second-highest in Stanford history. Before taking leave from Stanford, Fischer declared a major in Mechanical Engineering.
BROOKE FORDE, SWIMMING (USA)
A four-time individual NCAA national champion, two-time team national champion and 15-time All-American at Stanford, Brooke Forde ended her first Olympics with a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Forde anchored the relay team in the semifinals as they swam to first place in the first heat with a time of 7:47.57. Katie Ledecky ’20 subbed in for Forde in the finals as the American relay team finished second, just fourtenths of a second behind China, with a time of 7:40.73, setting an American record and becoming one of three teams in the race to break the former 800m relay world record. Forde’s father, Pat — a writer for Sports Illustrated who attended the Olympics as a journalist — documented Brooke’s challenging journey to the Olympics with two narrative articles for the outlet. During the early months of the pandemic, she faced difficulties finding pools in which to to train, and the college swim season happened months later than it normally would. Despite multiple COVID-19 scares and a laborious lead-up to the Olympic Trials, Forde still managed to swim the fastest 200m split of her life at the Games and come home with a silver medal.
TORRI HUSKE, SWIMMING (USA)
Torri Huske has yet to compete for the Cardinal but will bring a silver medal and Olympic experience in three races to the Farm. She nearly won a medal in her first race, the 100m butterfly — after holding the lead in the finals, she ultimately dropped back to fourth place and finished in 55.73. She
missed out on the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds and was just 0.14 seconds behind Margaret Macneil of Canada, the race’s winner. Huske’s second final was in the mixed 4x100m medley relay, where team USA took fifth in 3:40.58. Her last race proved to be her best race, as Huske and the rest of the women’s 4x100m medley relay team — including fellow Stanford swimmer Regan Smith — finished second. The team’s time of 3:51.73 broke the previous Olympic record, but Australia now holds the Olympic record after winning the event in 3:51.60. The Arlington native will also come to the Farm as the American record-holder in the 100m butterfly. At the Olympic trials final, her time of 55.66 broke the American record she had set the previous day, and was also the third-fastest time ever recorded in the event worldwide.
TAYLOR RUCK, SWIMMING (CANADA)
Taylor Ruck competed just one full season for the Cardinal before taking an Olympic redshirt in 2019-20 to train for the Games and an additional redshirt season during 2020-21. She followed up her 100m back performances with success in the 200m back; Ruck cruised through both the trials and semifinals to secure sixth place in the finals, with a time of 2:08.24. Ruck received a silver medal as part of Canada’s 4x100-meter free relay team after having swum in the trials round. Ruck also competed in the 4x100-meter medley relay prelims for Team Canada, earning a bronze medal following the team’s performance in the finals.
LINDI SCHROEDER, SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING (USA)
Lindi Schroeder is another athlete for the Cardinal who competed in the Olympics before competing for Stanford. Schroeder and synchro partner Anita Alvarez, a two-time Olympian who turned pro after high school, finished 13th overall in the duet competition. Schroeder and Alvarez began competing together in 2018 after Alvarez’s partner from the 2016 Olympics retired. The duo sat in 13th place after scoring 86.5333 points in the free routine preliminary, and held that spot through the technical routine after scoring 86.1960, for a total of 172.7293.
REGAN SMITH, SWIMMING (USA)
Regan Smith took the past year off from college to train for the Olympics, and it paid off — three medals in four events. In the 100m backstroke — one of her signature events — she placed third with a time of 58.05, not even six-tenths of a second behind champion and Olympic record holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia. In Smith’s second event, she earned a silver medal in the 200m butterfly, again finishing just behind another now–Olympic record holder — this time, Yufei Zhang from China. Her third event was the only one she didn’t bring home a medal in. The mixed 4x100m medley relay team from the United States finished fifth in 3:40.50, missing a medal by a wide margin of nearly two seconds. Even so, she had one more chance at another medal in the women’s 4x100m medley relay. Swimming as part of the same relay as Huske, Team USA took second with a time of 3:51.73 to break the Olympic record along. Smith, one of the top swimming prospects in recent memory, will join a Cardinal team next year looking for yet another NCAA title in 2021. As a 17-year-old at the 2019 World Championships, she broke two world records and won one gold medal, and she has only moved up from there. After adding Smith and Huske, as well as others, the Cardinal have high hopes to bring more national championships back to the Farm next season and beyond.
SZE EN TAN, GYMNASTICS (SINGAPORE)
Sze En Tan competed for Singapore in the qualifying rounds of the balance beam and floor exercise in the artistic gymnastics competition. She scored 11.033 on the balance beam and 11.833 on the floor exercise, but ultimately did not place among the top eight in either competition to advance to the event’s finals. As only the second gymnast from Singapore to compete in an Olympic Games, the 20-year-old will return to the Farm for her sophomore season at Stanford. As a freshman with the Cardinal, she competed on the beam at the Pac-12 Championships and was named a WCGA Scholastic All-American at the conclusion of the season. 15 | Vol. V, Issue 1
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Self-care and silver linings: Stanford students reflect on lessons learned from the virtual school year By CAROLYN STEIN
The Stanford Daily spoke with a few students about their experiences during the pandemic and the lessons they will carry into the new school year. From volunteering in Peru to making music to artist residencies, there were two themes that were common among the varied student experiences: self-care and silver linings.
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HEN MAHMOUD HAMDI ’24 stepped off his plane and onto Stanford’s campus for the first time last fall, he was not greeted with the typical chaos of move-in day — but a nearly empty campus that he described as a “ghost town.” Due to COVID-19, most frosh would not be moving into dorm rooms, instead taking virtual classes from home. The University initially invited frosh and sophomores to campus in the fall, but canceled these plans and only offered housing to students with special circumstances. Unlike previous years, there weren’t any resident assistants dressed in tutus and colorful socks to cheer Hamdi on and help him move into his first college dorm room. Only an orange sky that swallowed the Bay Area awaited Hamdi’s arrival. At the time, the Golden State was suffering its worst wildfire in a century, with 4.2 million acres of land burning. The wildfires took place amidst a pandemic that already claimed the lives
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of thousands in the United States alone. Due to policies restricting large gatherings of people, Hamdi had to figure out how to navigate campus by himself. He was given a key to his room in Escondido Village Graduate Residences (EVGR) and had to follow passersby to locate a dining hall. In a few days, he would begin his first college class over Zoom. A year later, Hamdi is preparing for his first in-person classes. While this virtual college experience might sound out of the ordinary and a bit haunting, for many, it is all too familiar. For the first time since March 2020, the entire undergraduate student body is invited back to campus. After a year and a half of Zoom breakout rooms, dorms will be filled with students chatting in hallways. Instead of jumping from meeting link to meeting link, people will be biking to and from class (and probably hopping to and from fountains).
With hundreds of students hungry for a “normal” college experience, it is no secret that students are excited to return. However, several are returning with a changed perspective on their education — the past year and a half has changed both University life and educational paths for many. While the virtual format was far from ideal, Hamdi still formed connections with students and professors, feeling their passions come through the screen. As the year went on, Hamdi struggled more with classes for reasons that went beyond the usual stress of coursework and exams. “More people were joining class with their camera off and then just leaving,” he said, making it difficult to meet people in classes and stay engaged with material. By winter, Hamdi felt like there wasn’t “going to be a light at the end of the tunnel” as his classes became increasingly monotonous. To keep up with the challenges of virtual learning, Hamdi prioritized his self-care habits even more than he had before. Small tasks, such as exercising and prioritizing sleep, became important to him. “I compromise my sleep for nothing and nobody,” Hamdi said. Between missing out on traditional milestones to small conversations that take place in everyday life, it is no secret that students’ mental health suffered. Self-care for Hamdi also came through prayer. “I’m also a Muslim, so I pray five times a day,” he said. “I always have that time to just forget everything and submit myself to something else ... religion has been something that’s kept me sane throughout the pandemic,” he said. Hamdi also feels that prayer acts as a form of socialization for him — a feeling that has been reflected in an academic study that he read. For some students, balancing mental health with the virtual realm posed a greater challenge. Megan Hyatt ’22 said that balancing her life as a student and as a resident assistant (RA) became worse due to the online format. Hyatt was working for the Stanford Summer Engineering Academy (SSEA) over the summer, which she attended
GRAPHIC: HELENA ZHANG / The Stanford Daily
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It was definitely very hard for me because I was, again, going through a hard time myself and I had to make sure that the students didn’t know that and didn’t feel like when they’re around me. MEGAN HYATT ’22
in person before her frosh year. As a virtual RA, Hyatt said she “couldn’t get to know the residents as well.” Being away from campus brought unique challenges for SSEA students during the pandemic. In-person activities and opportunities to collaborate with peers were limited. “I was kind of more of their emotional support rather than just like an RA that was supposed to be around them because they didn’t have a lot of people to talk to,” Hyatt said. “It was definitely very hard for me because I was, again, going through a hard time myself and I had to make sure that the students didn’t know that and didn’t feel like when they’re around me,” Hyatt said. “So it was hard, but it was fun.” Hyatt said the past year made her truly understand how much one’s financial situation can affect their access to resources. “Education should be much, much more universal than it is,” Hyatt said. “Everyone could get a top-notch Stanford degree if they wanted to, but they can’t because it’s all about money.” Due to the unique challenges of remote learning, Hyatt chose to take a gap year. Originally from rural Kansas, she spent most of her year at home. Hyatt said that the virus didn’t reach her community until between April and May. While Hyatt and her family took precautions, she noticed a lot of other people who didn’t seem to care. “The majority of people in my area either thought it was a hoax, didn’t care, or thought God was going to take care of them, or just something ridiculous,” Hyatt said. “And eventually, by the time fall came around, they learned
their lesson when people in the community started dying, but that took a long time.” With the Delta variant on the rise, many regions — including Santa Clara County — reinstated mask mandates despite high vaccination rates. Students have had mixed responses towards the new policies, with some expressing frustration. While most of Hyatt’s gap year was spent in Kansas, she had the opportunity to work at EcoSwell, a nonprofit located in a coastal desert town in Peru that’s dedicated to providing communities with access to clean water. When Hyatt arrived in Peru, she noticed that COVID-19 was not as widespread due to the rural location: “It almost felt normal. For the first time since COVID hit America, it felt normal.” Like Hyatt, Maya Czeneszew ’23 found unique opportunities despite the pandemic. Czeneszew competed in several “ideathons” — brainstorming events where students have one to five hours to propose a product or project to solve various issues. Czeneszew competed in a biology ideathon that her team won. “I would have never imagined winning something like that,” she said. Ideathons were not the only opportunity Czeneszew pursued while she was in quarantine. The conditions of the pandemic also allowed her to reflect on her passions in visual art and apply to an artist residency. “I think for this, I was like, ‘no, I have a compelling story. I have a story behind my art and maybe this is the time for me to share that.’ And it worked,” she said. Through her time at the residency, Czeneszew finally had the space to cre-
ate the art that she had been wanting to make for a long time. She was also able to push her artistic abilities and create video art. “I think the piece of video art that I worked on was influenced by the pandemic,” Czeneszew said. Her art piece explored the theme of impermanence and her own growth as an artist. For former Daily staffer Young Feminore Lee ’21, the pandemic presented opportunities to delve into music journalism. Previously, listening to music was treated like a homework assignment rather than just something to do in passing. “I think in some ways outside of the pandemic, I sometimes didn’t feel like I had the time for it or had the mental space for it in certain ways,” they said. However, Lee said the pandemic presented additional challenges for their mental health. As students prepare for the full return to campus, they bring with them new insights about education and what they want to get out of not only their college career, but their life. For Czeneszew, the pandemic has made her appreciate alternative paths to pursue a degree, and she hopes for more respect for people who take more than four years to graduate. Hyatt, Hamdi and Lee learned that education, while important, is not the only thing that makes their life important. Hyatt has learned to take time to value the friendships that she has. Undoubtedly, the lessons learned from the pandemic will follow these students into the new school year and not only recreate students’ approaches to education, but also their relationships with their sense of self.
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From study abroad to stuck at home: students hold cautious optimism for the future of travel By MARLI BOSLER
The world seems to be opening back up, but students have heard that before.
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HE LAST TIME JAKOB Barrus ’22 boarded a plane was in March 2020 — right when Stanford sent students home. Unmasked and unaware of what the next year had in store, he watched COVID-19 headlines scroll across an airport TV. “Some-
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one here must have COVID,” he recalled thinking. His next flight was supposed to be to Florence, Italy alongside around 40 other Stanford students for a spring quarter abroad. As cities locked down and borders closed, Barrus’ plans with the Bing Overseas Study Program (BOSP)
were replaced with a quarter of online classes from his childhood bedroom. And then another quarter. And then two more. Barrus was one of the studyabroad-hopefuls who were grounded by the pandemic. Starting from spring 2020, BOSP suspended five consecutive quarters
of programs. Students are now piecing back together the plans for their college experience. After over a year of college from home, some students are more eager than ever to take their studies abroad. For others, their final quarters on campus are too precious to spend elsewhere. 70 undergraduates are registered to study abroad in the fall across programs in Berlin, Florence, Hong Kong, Madrid, New York, Oxford and Paris, according to BOSP Executive Director Shawna Knauff. However, the programs will be modified to support student health and safety. BOSP has implemented COVID-19 protocols and safety measures, according to Knauff, which include requiring students to be fully vaccinated, testing and modifying travel and activities. Last fall, Oxford hosted students from the United Kingdom for a “Studying Away at Home” program consisting of virtual classes and activities from the Stanford facilities in Oxford. But that program was the only one open to students during the pandemic. Those who enrolled in the other programs had no such luck; all of them were deferred once more. Erick Bravo ’23 was one of 16 who joined the summer 2021 Oxford program. Despite the smaller group and restrictions, this year’s program included new course offerings and field trips. According to Bravo, students could enroll in OSPOXFRD 67: “Pandemics in Cultural Context” or participate in a Bristol art walk and Black history tour of the area. The program also hosted visiting guest speakers, including Sir Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator on the
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University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trials. “He came to the Stanford House and talked to us about the process he oversaw with the trials for the AstraZeneca Vaccine and recent news about vaccine efficacy,” said Bravo. After his talk, students joined him for a formal dinner and drinks reception. “I heard that for this program, usually they drop you off and say, ‘Have fun!’” he said. “But this year, we’re doing something every week.” But Tori Pollak ’23 wasn’t so lucky. She applied to both the Madrid and Santiago programs this summer, excited to use her Spanish in a professional setting and explore new cultures. As an international relations major, studying abroad is a degree requirement, but it was also an experience Pollak looked forward to since she was young. She hoped that, after over a year since the pandemic began, a quarter abroad might be possible. However, when a BOSP email announced otherwise, Pollak found herself back home again for the summer. “Part of me saw it coming,” she said. “It’s great to be home, but I was disappointed nevertheless.” With the pandemic uprooting everyday routines, Story Frantzen ’22 said the “whirlwind of panic, nervousness and anxiety” he experienced prevented him from giving much thought to his canceled spring 2020 Paris program. He ended up spending his spring quarter at home in Louisiana amidst the historic French culture that piqued his interest in a trip to France. While Bravo and Pollak have two more years at Stanford to fit in quarters abroad, the considerations were different for Barrus and Frantzen as
they planned out their last year as undergraduates. After a year of canceled plans, Barrus said he has been conditioned to hold some pessimism. Still, his estimates of the chances of a fall in Florence are high: “I’d say I’m 98% optimistic it’s going to happen.” Bravo also made plans for a fall away from campus in Washington D.C. “This fall, I’ll have been off campus more than I’ve been there, which highlights just how weird a college experience a lot of us have had,” Barrus said. However, he plans to extend his time away from campus for another quarter by enrolling in BOSP’s Florence, Italy program for the fall. “Study abroad really has been the one concrete thing I’ve wanted to do in my academic experience,” Barrus added. On the other hand, Frantzen said he preferred to cherish his last quarters on campus: “Paris isn’t going anywhere in the way my friends here might”. Pollak shares Barrus’ hopes that study abroad will resume this school year and plans to apply to the spring Madrid program. “I’m confident the program is doing all they can to get students back abroad,” she said. After a sophomore year at home, Bravo said studying abroad was an opportunity to “get out there and see as much as I can.” He looks forward to reuniting with friends on campus in the winter, a sentiment Barrus shared. “This last year has made me realize all the things I didn’t appreciate about Stanford,” Barrus said. “Soaking it all in those last two quarters — I can look forward to that.”
Paris isn’t going anywhere in the way my friends here might. STORY FRANTZEN ’22 21 | Vol. V, Issue 1
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Stanford Theater is back in the spotlight By KYLA FIGUEROA
Like most students, theater companies had to adapt last school year. This adjustment process included navigating Zoom in a way that many couldn’t fathom prior to the pandemic.
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ights. Curtains. Dancing and singing. Laughter, clapping and bows. Heart-to-heart moments, backstage memories. Seeing each other in rehearsals and group huddles. This is what theater-makers and audiences missed this past year with online theater. While shows did go on, as actors and crew members persevered in making the virtual campus lively with their work, it is nice to know that we will be returning to in-person shows and live audiences this school year. Recently, I got to catch up with some theater-makers and talk to them about their experiences with virtual theater and expectations for the coming year. Like most students, theater companies had to adapt last school year. This adjustment process included navigating Zoom in a way that many couldn’t fathom prior to the pandemic. Chloe Chow ’23 is an actress, producer and director who works with the Ram’s Head Theatrical Society and Asian American Theater Project (AATP). She said Zoom theater was a challenge, but also something she embraced with a positive mindset as an opportunity to grow: “I experienced Zoom fatigue and burnout faster than I normally would with in-person classes and rehearsals,” she said, “but I think the resilience that I learned will help me push even further once we return back to our self-defined normalcy.” Her time doing online theater made her view it as a separate artistic medium, not as a halfway point or substitute for in-person shows. This approach al-
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lowed her to stay open “to the possibilities that await when you make a performance digitally.” No two shows that she produced, stage managed, directed or performed in were the same. For rising sophomore Ahmad Koya ’24, the Zoom theater experience brought a drastic change from acting in high school. Used to “having a spotlight on [him], doing makeup, wearing costumes and just feeling the energy of being on stage,” he still wanted to act once everything went online. “Physically, it was a big change, but personally it did not change my motivation to act, and I found different ways to do it,” Koya said. During his freshman year, Koya participated in Ram’s Head’s productions of “Gaieties 2020” and “La Llorona.” Writing a skit and performing within the specific time constraints for Gaieties were novel experiences for Koya, pushing him beyond his comfort zone. Reflecting upon these activities, Koya said he felt like a YouTuber — setting up a filming room, green screen and perfect lighting. The disconnect from the audience further enhanced the idea of online entertainment. While these challenges were new, Koya knew that he wanted to make the best of his situation. Liam Fay ’23 took a similar approach as a set designer for “Gaieties 2020” and composer for “Gaieties 2021.” In between coordinating the virtual behind-the-scenes meetings, he also had to be creative in redefining backstage roles. As a virtual set designer, Fay
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had to create Zoom backgrounds for shows, which required more artistic skills rather than the traditional design. To him, “it allowed [the theater company] to rethink the way we do things we previously knew and look at the benefit of doing something over Zoom.” Despite the disadvantages that come with online theater, many found the experience to be beneficial for personal growth. Koya discussed how facial expressions and body language, while important for in-person shows, were crucial to Zoom theater performance. “I relied a lot on my facial expressions and those very small movements, and I saw how paying attention to these details made me a better actor,” Koya said. “I want to dive into that more when I go back in person.” Chow’s Zoom experience made her appreciate the accessibility of online theater, as it allowed people from all over the world to watch the magic from the comfort of their homes. In her roles as an actress in the Fall Main Stage production of “Beyond the Wound is a Portal,” producer of Ram’s Head’s first virtual Gaieties and director of AATP’s “Question 27, Question 28,” Chow channeled resilience in the performing arts. “Coming out of the virtual theater age, I learned that you have to be adaptable, no matter what. Adaptability is the key to survival in this industry, and I’m so thankful that I was able to help pioneer a lot of virtual theater productions at Stanford,” Chow said. Now, she wants to explore the intersection of performance and technology, drawing inspiration from a performance of “The Seagull” on “Sims 4.” To talk more about gaming culture, she hopes to direct a play that partly takes place in a video game. She plans to experiment with projection and virtual reality as a set to “deepen [her] understanding of the role that digitization of worlds and presentation has on the future of theater.”
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With the return to in-person theater comes the traditional recruitment festivities. Fay was recruited into “Gaieties 2018” in the standard way: Ram’s Head members “yelled at [him] in White Plaza until [he] auditioned.” “Somehow, I made it in and fell in love with Stanford theater from there,” Fay said. Through his experience in backstage and center-stage roles, Fay came to learn that theater experience is not required to get involved in productions at Stanford. With most shows, especially on Zoom, skills that may not seem applicable to theater are sometimes crucial, and new people are needed all the time. Chow, for example, auditioned for “Gaieties 2019” on a whim. Then, the show connected her to a strong community of theater-makers. She encourages the newcomers to reach out to people for advice and to throw themselves at opportunities they are interested in, no matter their level of experience. “Stanford’s theater community is there to welcome people of all identities and backgrounds, and we are always looking for people to fill positions and provide mentorship to those who desire to learn and grow,” Chow said. “Each show is only a quarterly commitment, but these friendships and relationships you build will last your entire career.” While she found it difficult to maintain relationships with the wider theater community on Zoom, Chow managed to find artists that would support her both virtually and eventually in person. For all interviewees yearning to return to campus stages the new year brings hope for restoring the collaborative, social aspects of theater — working together in person and not in front of a screen. “I always appreciated in-person shows, but I still took it for granted,” Fay said. “Now, I don’t think I’ll ever take it for granted again.”
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Coming out of the virtual theater age, I learned that you have to be adaptable, no matter what. CHLOE CHOW ’23
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Stanford football hopes for a return to normalcy after a challenging year By ELLS BOONE & JIBRIEL TAHA
The Cardinal look to build on strong close to the 2020 season.
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UNUSUAL SEASON
n late November 2020, the Stanford football team faced another challenge during a very unusual year. Santa Clara County prohibited contact sports, preventing Stanford from practicing or hosting games on campus. As the team scrambled to find sites to practice, they ended up practicing in a public park in Washington, as well as on the side of the road in Corvallis, Oregon. Junior offensive tackle Walter Rouse ’23 remembers the experience on the Oregon State trip. “We’re literally lifting on the side of the road … and I’m just really thinking, ‘How did we even get to this point?’ and, ‘What are we even doing here?’” Rouse said. “But
we took what came at us and dealt with it.” Dealt with it they did, rattling off four-straight road wins to close the season after a 0-2 start, despite not being allowed to partake in activities in their home county for the prior three weeks. But there’s even more to the story. Four Cardinal players, including starting quarterback Davis Mills ’21, were ruled out of the opener due to what ended up being a false-positive COVID-19 test. They were not cleared to play until the Friday before Week 2, giving them only one day of practice before hosting Colorado. All throughout offseason, people have attempted to undercut Oregon’s second-straight Pac-12 title
by pointing to Washington’s endof-season COVID-19 debacle that forced them to be replaced in the conference championship game — meanwhile, Stanford’s false-positive is scarcely mentioned. Anyone who watched Stanford fall to Colorado in Week 2 saw an offense that struggled mightily early but found its groove as the game progressed. We’d be remiss not to mention that the defense was atrocious in that 35-32 loss, but we’re also quite confident that Stanford wins if Mills practices all week. We will never know what would have happened, but one sure can make a compelling argument that Stanford would have won the Pac-12 North if not for that false-positive. But the past is the past, and the focus now shifts to 27 | Vol. V, Issue 1
how the Cardinal can use last year’s experience to succeed in the future. A common theme amongst the team is resilience. As sixth-year outside linebacker Jordan Fox put it, “Having that last year, going 4-2 from that, being kicked out of our own state and going to practice on the road, we know what it’s gonna take, and we’re ready for any challenge that comes at us this year.” “When we face a challenge, if we have a setback, we’ll be resilient,” Fox said. “We know what it takes to do it because we did it before. We have that maturity.” With last year’s growth combined with the prospect of playing a full season with fans in the stands, you already have an excited group of guys. The media’s doubt of the Cardinal this season and tendency to dismiss last year’s 4-2 record as lucky adds to that motivation. The sentiment around the squad is one of excitement. “We have some semblance of a regular camp heading into the new season. I cannot wait to play, and if you ask anyone else on this team, they’re going to say the same thing,” Rouse said. “A lot of that excitement also stems from the fact that people doubt us — we cannot wait to prove them wrong, and we cannot wait to just do what Stanford football does.”
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CHALLENGING YEAR AHEAD
espite a lack of confidence from other analysts, we have the Cardinal going 7-5 overall and 5-4 in the conference, which should be good for a third-place finish in the North division behind Oregon and Washington. This would render the Cardinal bowl game eligible after a 10-year streak was broken by the 4-8 season in 2019. Becoming bowl-eligible, however, will not be easy. There are two ways to look at the team’s brutal, all Power-5 schedule featuring six
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teams in the preseason top-25. One way is that the Cardinal are hurting themselves — as a program that has precipitously fallen from national relevance over the last few years, one could argue that the Cardinal should have padded their record to make bowl-eligibility much easier. On the other hand, another could say that this schedule gives the Cardinal a chance to prove they are truly back if they go, say, 9-3 against such a grueling slate. It’s important to remember that these games are scheduled years in advance, so it can be difficult to predict just how difficult one’s schedule will be in a given year. With that said, we would have preferred to see a brand-new starter face FCS opposition Week 1, instead of Power 5 opponent Kansas State. Many would find our 7-5 prediction a bit generous. After all, Vegas has the Cardinal sitting at four wins. They were also picked fourth in the preseason Pac-12 media poll and are absent from most bowl projections. But a 7-5 prediction is not generous. Look at Stanford’s last four recruiting classes: No. 40 in 2018, No. 19 in 2019, No. 21 in 2020 and No. 41 in 2021. Even with such a tough schedule, that’s not a four-win team on paper. People have raised endless questions about the defense, but eight starters are back, and that’s not counting the return of physically healthy seniors Ricky Miezan and Jacob Mangum-Farrar. Add them to everyone getting a year older and stronger — if Booker stays off the injured list, this group is at worst average in the Pac-12. On the offense, all the talk has been about how the Cardinal will have a tough time replacing Davis Mills ’21, Simi Fehoko, Drew Dalman ’21 and Foster Sarell ’21. But there are answers to those questions: Stanford has a deep wide receiver, running back and offensive line group, and while sophomore Tanner
McKee in Year 1 might not be as good as Mills, there’s no reason why McKee can’t be an above-average quarterback in the conference.
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VACCINATION UPDATE
s of Coach David Shaw’s Aug. 25 press conference, 85% of the program has been vaccinated. While Stanford is requiring the vaccine for students to come to campus this fall, waiver exemptions for medical and religious reasons can be granted. Around the Pac-12, seven schools have achieved 90% vaccination rates, while one other school joins the Cardinal at 85%. UCLA comes in with the highest rate at 98% program-wide. Washington State brings up the rear at 80%.
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BOTTOM LINE
his leads us to the theme of Stanford football this season: all of the potential issues have clear solutions that will more likely than not work out. There are obvious positions that must be replaced and clear areas that need improvement, and while it’s unlikely that every single one of these solutions will pan out, the majority will and it should get the Cardinal back to bowl eligibility. That being said, Stanford is missing out on facing Colorado and Arizona, substantially hurting their chances to compete for the division title. It’s also hard to argue that Stanford is better on paper than Oregon or Washington this season. In addition to the play on the field, much has been made of Shaw’s recent recruiting efforts. The 2021 class of current freshmen came in at No. 41 in the country and No. 7 in the Pac-12, according to 247Sports. This mark is Stanford’s lowest since 2013, and would have been even lower if it were not for the late-June commitment and reclassification of highly
rated outside linebacker Wilfredo Aybar. Nevertheless, this trend does not seem like one that will continue — the 2022 class currently sits in the top-20 in the country and second in the conference, with 16 verbal commitments and four months to go until the Early National Signing Period. The return of on-campus visits has played a pivotal role for the coaching staff, as the NCAA did not allow such visits from March 2020 through May 2021. Staying in that top-25 range is key for Stanford football to stay relevant both in the Pac-12 and on the national stage. To reel in those top prospects, though, the Cardinal need to get back to their pre-2019 standard. Today’s recruits were too young to have
grown up watching Andrew Luck ’12, Toby Gerhart ’10 and Kevin Hogan ’16 lead Stanford to big wins in the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl, and future generations of Cardinal football have to give top recruits more reasons for excitement. All in all, this 2021 squad is good enough to get the program back on the right track, with the expansion of the College Football Playoff on the horizon. Playoff expansion gives Stanford the ability to get back to that elite level — that is, if the program can put itself in a position in which they can tell recruits they are a conference championship away from competing on the biggest stage in college football, the talent level in this program can go up a notch. Add that to a recruit having every
opportunity to play professionally, being able to live in beautiful Palo Alto and getting the best education of any FBS school, and the appeal of attending Stanford would be at an all-time high. But they have to demonstrate that a Pac-12 championship is attainable. They have to get back to that eight- or nine-win base to show that Oregon and USC are not leaving them in the dust, as the national media portrays. With a brutal schedule this year and a team that should see a lot of returning production in 2022, a winning season in 2021 would be a step in the right direction. For a more detailed preview of the season, check out the position breakdown on our website.
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Crossword By MATTHEW TURK
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ACROSS
DOWN
4. A textile floor covering that University administration pulled out from underneath first- and second-year students on Jan. 9 5. Formerly No. 15 for Cardinal football offense 7. Unofficially the most common “syndrome” to afflict Stanford students 10. First word of the surrounding county’s name — or that of Saint Nick 11. The word one uses when “introductory seminar” is neither slangy nor Californian enough 13. If “West Coast, best coast” is an accepted refrain, then an ex post facto corollary could be “East Coast, ___ coast” 14. Class of 1925 author who wrote “The Grapes of Wrath” 17. Number of ResX neighborhoods on campus, divided by two 18. Class of 2015 creator of popular math YouTube channel 20. Billionaire real estate developer John, whose surname graces several buildings across campus 22. Acronym of large student organization, in which the saying “it’s not rocket science” is perhaps a falsehood 23. Jane Stanford’s favorite building, abbr. 24. The branch of zoology that the founding University president studied 25. A baked staple food that becomes 10 Down when it’s been left out for too long 27. “If your room is a pigsty, just remember that we’re all on the ___ anyway!”
1. “Freshman” 2. Currently the most popular major behind computer science, abbr. 3. The famous Drive 6. A fitting name for a Stanford student? 8. Plain-woven fabric online? 9. Rose, bud, ___ 10. Stanford + Yale? 12. The department whose notorious 50 series instills great fear 15. “The color, not the bird” 16. Campus location on which occupants’ behavior is governed by a lunar phase once every winter 17. Lifting weights or flaunting material possessions and accomplishments 19. You might want to buy a helmet for it — and a lock 21. “Die Luft der Freiheit ___” 25. “Just wanted to make sure you received my previous message” 26. It’s sometimes also called “leaf cabbage” and finds itself in a burrito featured on the Treehouse menu
Solutions online at stanforddaily.com
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