The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, August 31, 2022

VOLUME 107, ISSUE NO. 2 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

2022

DesRoches creates working group on reproductive health

SEE PAGE 10

Super Bowl hero C. J. Anderson mentors Rice RBs

BEN BAKER-KATZ

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

In an email sent to the Rice community on Tuesday morning, President Reginald DesRoches announced the creation of a working group focused on reproductive health within the Rice community.

DesRoches said that because of the evolving nature of legal questions surrounding abortion access and other reproductive services, the group will operate for the foreseeable future.

[The group will] provide guidance to leadership on how these changes affect the broader educational and research mission at Rice, and determine how to best support our community in their reproductive health choices.

Reginald DesRoches RICE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

“Given the complex and changing nature of these issues, the working group will begin by understanding the new legal and health care environment to address the questions that have arisen in our community,” DesRoches said. “[The group will] provide guidance to leadership on how these changes affect the broader educational and research mission at Rice, and determine how to best support our community in their reproductive health choices.”

The group will be co-chaired by Provost Amy Dittmar and Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman. Additional members include Rachel Kimbro, dean of social sciences, Seiichi Matsuda, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, Joan Nelson, associate vice president for human resources, Omar Syed, vice president and general counsel, Linda Thrane, vice president for public affairs and Allison Vogt, associate dean of students and deputy Title IX coordinator.

The current Texas abortion ban, which went into effect last Thursday, prohibits the performance of an abortion except in the instance of a “life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.” That definition, however, has proved confusing for physicians when determining in what cases they are legally allowed to perform an abortion.

As it presently stands, the nearest abortion clinic to Houston is in Wichita, Kansas — a nine hour and 10 minute drive from the Rice campus. The next closest clinic is in Santa Teresa, New Mexico — an 11 and a half hour drive from campus.

According to Gorman, the group plans to provide a process through which members of the campus community can submit questions to the working group.

“We will use the questions that come, as well as those we’ve already received, as a springboard for organizing initial and ongoing activities in the time ahead,” Gorman said. “This will be an important first step for us as we consider how to support our community in terms of reproductive health education, pregnancy prevention and health care use.”

FOOTBALL PREVIEW

REED MYERS

SENIOR WRITER

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE:

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

Robert Hodge presents new campus mural KAVYA SAHNI

THRESHER STAFF Robert Hodge’s studio is home to into his collages, which remain his all kinds of art including paintings, a primary medium of expression, Hodge collage he’s currently working on and is driven by the desire to innovate. When a music album with his own design on a particular type of work becomes easy and predictable, he challenges himself the cover.

“I’ve been making art literally my to try new things.

“I use any vehicle I can find and whole life,” Hodge said. “Believe me, I tried to avoid it. I tried to do other tell the story,” Hodge said. “It’s about things in life, but the art kept bringing things that are happening now, things that are relative to the past that affect me back in.”

Hodge, a multidisciplinary artist the present. And then, where can we go based in Houston, is the talent behind in the future?”

Hodge repurposes artifacts from the one of the newest pieces of art on campus. Commissioned by the Moody past through his creative process, which Center for the Arts, “Everybody Loves begins with buying $1 records from record stores, the Sunshine” is meticulously a collage of record selecting ones covers that Hodge that speak to painstakingly him visually, collected. Similar It’s about wanting regardless of the to his other everything to be perfect genre of music. works, Hodge and great all the time.

Then, while he describes the But it’s not. Everybody plays the record, collage as a he cuts images bold statement, loves to be warm, but out of the art to p a r t i c u l a r l y that’s not life, you create something because of its know? You can’t always new. location on the be the sunshine.

For Hodge, Rice campus. collage-making “It’s a Robert Hodge is similar to juxtaposition of HOUSTON-BASED ARTIST sampling records this really wealthy school that has this top tier education, as a music producer — it involves access to everything, and have this challenging pre-existing perceptions piece as … it doesn’t necessarily fit on in favor of a new perspective. Once he a campus,” Hodge said. “So it’s already puts the images together, they begin to tell a story of their own. standing out in itself.”

“That’s kind of what drew me to it,” According to Hodge, the phrase “everybody loves the sunshine” means Hodge said. “I can make it whatever I different things to different people. For want to be. I can change the story … I him, it is a reference to soul musician can change the narrative.”

Although Hodge may have a specific Roy Ayers’ 1976 song; it is also a larger story in mind for his work, he said statement about life.

“It’s about wanting everything to be he wants to leave room for people to perfect and great all the time. But it’s experience his work in their own way.

“Now the thing is, will it translate not,” Hodge said. “Everybody loves to be warm, but that’s not life, you know? to people? Sometimes people [get it].

Sometimes, they tell their own story.

You can’t always be the sunshine.”

Hodge said that these nuances are And they’re allowed to do that,” Hodge layered inside of the collage, and he is said. “I want to leave that space for curious to see what people think of it. people to have their own perception of Along with folding multiple meanings what is happening in the artwork.”

With three minutes and 13 seconds left in Super Bowl 50, the Denver Broncos lined up in the I-formation on the two yard-line up 16-10 against the Carolina Panthers.

Peyton Manning took the snap and handed it off to running back C.J. Anderson, who ran through Carolina Panthers All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly and used a second effort to reach the end zone and put the game away.

“Obviously, running Luke Keuchly over in the Super Bowl is one [of my favorite moments from my career],” Anderson said.

“You can’t beat that, Luke Kuechly, good player, and I got a chance to seal the deal there.”

Anderson and his team would lift the famous Vince Lombardi Trophy as they were crowned champions of the 2015 NFL season. At the final whistle, Anderson’s 100 yards from scrimmage led all players in the game. This marked a special moment for Anderson, who first made the team as an undrafted rookie in 2013 from the University of California, Berkeley, and was third on the running back depth chart when the Broncos lost in Super Bowl 48 to the Seattle Seahawks.

According to Anderson, winning Super Bowl 50 as the starting running back was a journey that started when he was on the bench for Super Bowl 48.

I don’t need the money, I don’t need the job, I’m not playing a kid because it saves my job. [I’m] truly getting to evaluate [my players], truly can develop and grow them and truly care about them on and off the field.

C. J. Anderson RUNNING BACKS COACH

“Back in 2013, when we lost the Super Bowl to Seattle, I wasn’t the featured back,” Anderson said. “I sat there and I played the last three minutes of the game and I told myself what can I do to make it happen.

Going through the process and the run was a lot of sacrifice.”

Anderson started the following season on the bench, but took over the starting role in the Broncos’ tenth game of the season and didn’t look back, leading the NFL in yards and touchdowns over the final six weeks of the season. In 2015, Anderson bounced in and out of the starting lineup after some early-season struggles, but regained his feature role in time to lead the Broncos to victory in the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl 50 Broncos team included many of Anderson’s good friends, such as former all-Pro retired cornerback Aqib Talib, eight-time Pro Bowler outside linebacker Von Miller, and the late Demaryius Thomas, who he said was a big part of his life during his time in Denver.

SEE ANDERSON PAGE 11

2 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Rice, NASA extend Space Act Agreement, prepare for 60th-anniversary KEEGAN LEIBROCK

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

This past week, Rice and NASA extended the Space Act Agreement in a continued effort to promote relations between the university and the space administration.

The SAA, which was initially established in 2012, marks a continued collaboration to provide joint research opportunities, general STEM engagement and other educational opportunities to undergraduate students and faculty.

The SAA is an umbrella agreement between Rice and NASA that acts to encourage general collaboration between the two entities, with a focus on encouraging Rice-NASA collaborative research in a variety of space-related fields, according to Rice President Reginald DesRoches.

“Robotics, bioscience and human health and performance research will be at the forefront of our efforts and will focus on enhancing astronaut health and human performance during space exploration,” DesRoches said. “Students in these areas will have exciting opportunities to work with and hear from people with NASA who are directly involved in such efforts.”

Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Vanessa Wyche, said that NASA sought to continue collaboration with Rice in offering educational and research opportunities.

“NASA’s Johnson Space Center has a long history of working with colleges and universities since the early days of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs,” Wyche wrote in an email to the Thresher.

“We are eager to extend our partnership with Rice University to collaborate in vital research and technology development initiatives that will enable us to meet our nation’s exploration goals and advance human spaceflight as we work to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon under Artemis.”

David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute, said the agreement’s extension marks a continued effort to expand space-related research opportunities for Rice students with NASA. “[The agreement] solidifies the interest the university has in working together with NASA,” Alexander said. “This is basically an agreement that says NASA really wants to work with Rice in many different

COURTESY RICE UNIVERSITY Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and President Reginald DesRoches sign an extension of the Space Act Agreement in Rice’s Founder’s Room on Aug. 19.

avenues; it allows some of our students to become engaged with research at Johnson Space Center, and it allows researchers from NASA to come work in collaboration with both undergraduate and graduate Rice students.”

Wyeth McKinley, a Jones College senior, said that he hopes the extension of the agreement will extend space-related opportunities to an interested student body. McKinley has worked as a Pathways Intern at Johnson Space Center for the past two years.

“Rice has had a fantastic history tied to space exploration, and it is really encouraging to see Rice prioritizing the study of space technologies,” McKinley said. “There has always been a huge interest and demand among the student population for opportunities related to space, so it’s great that the extension of this agreement will hopefully allow more students access to space-related research.”

Beyond the agreement’s extension, McKinley said he would like to see greater opportunities and accommodations from the agreement in the future.

“I would love to see both more lectures at Rice from NASA researchers and more students from Rice in internships/coops at NASA,” Wyeth said. “I hope to see Rice become more accommodating of co-ops by offering more flexibility in class scheduling and financial aid for students taking time away from school [for internships].”

Jessica Tunick, a Wiess College freshman, said that she hopes the agreement’s extension will help her in pursuing work with NASA during her time at Rice.

“I think this agreement’s extension will really help get a lot of students who are interested in space coming to Rice in hopes of getting to work with NASA,” Tunick said. “Getting to work with NASA was a big dream of mine in middle and high school, and now that may actually be possible through this agreement.”

The Space Act Agreement is part of a long history of relations between Rice and NASA. In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered his “We choose to go to the Moon” speech at the Rice stadium.

Rice will celebrate the 60th anniversary of JFK’s speech on Sept 10-12 with two days of commemorative activities. Some of the events include speeches from NASA astronauts, space exploration exhibits and a “Spelfie” wherein Rice students will form a giant number 60 and have their picture taken from space.

In addition to commemorating President John F. Kennedy’s speech, the days’ events will serve as a field trip for thousands of Houston public school students and an occasion highlighting Rice’s research and educational opportunities, according to Andrea Isella, a Rice associate professor of space physics.

“The celebration is a great way to have Rice in the public spotlight and remind people that we do a lot of great research here,” Isella said. “For space, [Rice] is not that well known compared to other institutions just because we are smaller in terms of astronomy and space sciences.

I think this will be a great opportunity to encourage publicity and bring in students that are interested in doing this kind of research.”

Jamey Rootes, sports management faculty, passes at 56

COURTESY RICE UNIVERSITY

MARIA MORKAS

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Jamey Rootes, recently appointed director of the Hutchinson Leadership Initiative in sports analytics in the department of sports management, died in Houston on Aug. 21

at the age of 56. His wife, Melissa Rootes, shared the news on Monday, saying he had been battling mental health issues.

Rootes joined the Rice community July 1 and passed away the day before classes started. He planned to teach “Sales and Revenue Generation in Sport,” as well as supervise the internships in the Sport Analytics branch.

The Houston Texans of the NFL earned various accolades under his leadership, including the American Business Awards for Marketing Excellence and Crystal Awards from the Houston chapter of the American Marketing Association. The team also had 185 consecutive sold-out games, which was a record for the Texans. Rootes also developed Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, an agency that spurred some of Houston’s major sporting events such many international soccer matches and an annual football bowl game.

Sport management department chair Clark Haptonstall said that this is a terrible loss for both the sport management family and the Rice community.

“Though Jamey was only at Rice [for] a short time, he had generated unbelievable excitement among our students and was already inspiring them in ways I doubt he could have imagined,” Haptonstall, a friend of Rootes, said. “He will be greatly missed by us all.”

Sport management major Thomas Avalos, a Lovett College junior, said that he met Rootes on the Tuesday of Orientation Week.

Even though he didn’t know Rootes for a long time, Avalos followed Rootes throughout his career and was specifically inspired to pursue sport management after reading his book, “The Winning Game Plan.”

“A lot of the leadership principles and motivational principles that [Rootes] talked about in [his] book sounded very similar to what I experienced [during] my time in the Marine Corps,” Avalos said. “I told [Rootes] that when I read [his] book, it really made me feel like getting into the sport management program and trying to work in sports was just the right fit.”

Provost Amy Dittmar said that her thoughts and sympathies are with Rootes’

wife and family, and that his presence on campus will be missed.

“Rice and the Department of Sport Management will forever be grateful to Jamey for his willingness to share his time and wisdom with our students,” Dittmar said. “We will always remember his inspiring career achievements and remarkable warmth and accessibility.”

Avalos said his amazing demeanor showed with the people he worked with and was probably the reason he was so successful in his career. “[He was] the Michael Jordan of sports business,” Avalos said. “To have somebody like that at the Rice sport management program on our faculty – that takes the number one sports management program in the country and makes [it] unquestionably number one.”

Rootes is survived by his wife and two children, Chris and Caroline.

If you or anyone you know are thinking about suicide or experiencing a health crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 3

NEWS

Satterfield eyes research expansion as new Baker Institute head

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER Ambassador David Satterfield assumed the position of Baker Institute of Public Policy director July 1.

VIOLA HSIA

SENIOR WRITER Ambassador David Satterfield assumed the position of director of the Baker Institute of Public Policy July 1. He succeeds the previous director, Ambassador Edward Djerejian, who served as director of the institute for 28 years.

Satterfield spent most of his career working in the U.S and overseas, with a focus on the Middle East, North Africa and NATO connectivity between Europe and the Middle East, and recently

focusing on Russia and China as key players. He assumes this position with 43 years of experience working for the U.S government, with 41 of those years as a foreign service officer in the Department of State.

“I come to Rice after almost half a century [of work] in the government, with a deep practical background in Washington,” Satterfield said. “I think that well prepares any director for the unique work of this institute which is to reflect in a fact-based, nonpartisan fashion on critical issues that affect American lives.”

Thomas Kovac, co-president of the President Reginald DesRoches said Satterfield was chosen as director by a Baker Institute Student Forum, also committee chaired by director of the Baker expressed excitement in working with Institute of Advisors Marc Shapiro and Satterfield.

“We’re excited to start a new chapter former Rice President David Leebron.

“The Baker Institute is a vital part of of relations with the ambassador,” Kovac the university and the broader Houston said, “BISF had a great relationship with community,” DesRoches said. “With Ambassador Djerejian and we’re looking over four decades of diplomatic service forward to the same with Ambassador and policy and management leadership Satterfield.”

Satterfield said he acknowledges that experience – both in the United States and overseas in the Near East and Europe – the global political environment has [Satterfield] is well suited to maintain and changed since he began his diplomatic work and hopes to grow the superb address this as the legacy I know he institute’s director. will continue to “I won’t be maintain and grow I know [Satterfield] will breaking new the institute’s continue to maintain and ground by saying critical, globally renowned policy grow the insitute’s critical, the world today is far more complex research and globally renowned policy and challenging outreach as well research and outreach than in the as the strong as well as the strong and last decades,” and productive Satterfield said. relationships the productive relationships “What the institute institute has with the institute has with seeks to do is to our schools, faculty our schools, faculty and assess … aspects and students students. of these challenges that Ambassador of the global D j e r e j i a n Amy Dittmar situation and then established at the PROVOST present judgments, institute as its founding director.” conclusions, options and Leebron said that the breadth and recommendations for ways forward based depth of Satterfield’s experience in the upon those facts.”

State Department made him emerge as a Satterfield said his goals are aligned frontrunner amongst the candidates early with the university’s aim to expand as a on in the search process. research institute.

“We wanted someone who would “It is very important that both the continue to build relationships with university and the institute look to the the faculty of the university and build future and how we can expand what we relationships with the [university’s] are doing, enhance what we are doing and leadership,” Leebron said, “The search attract the type of staff that are able to take committee was extremely enthusiastic on additional challenges which this world about this choice and really felt grateful presents in many ways,” Satterfield said. that Ambassador Satterfield was available Satterfield said students hoping to to take this opportunity.” study public policy should consider the Provost Amy Dittmar said she was different opportunities the institute offers excited to work with Satterfield. in the field.

“Rice was very fortunate to have “I would encourage students to recruited Ambassador Satterfield. I know consider the opportunities that the he will continue to maintain and grow institute presents to become informed the institute’s critical, globally renowned on these issues of public policy, national policy research and outreach as well as policy, foreign policy and international the strong and productive relationships relations,” Satterfield said. “[These are the institute has with our schools, faculty issues that] will affect their lives every day and students,” Dittmar said. in the future.”

Residents frustrated with Life Tower condition upon move-in CHLOE SINGER

THRESHER STAFF

The new Life Tower apartment complex, a popular off-campus housing option, has faced criticism from Rice student tenants for ongoing issues since the building opened this month.

A petition written by Life Tower residents and signed by several undergraduate students cites electrical issues, security concerns, broken appliances, car break-ins and a lack of responsiveness from management amongst the problems residents have encountered since moving in.

According to Emma Hughes, manager of Life Tower, around 300 Rice students are living in this medical center complex, located a mile from campus.

Britney Hsu, a Rice tenant, said she started noticing problems with the building upon her arrival in late August.

“They were not ready to open because a lot of things were not fully finished or prepared yet,” Hsu, a sophomore at Duncan College, said.

“The whole setup for moving wasn’t very well organized. They don’t have a package system figured out yet. They don’t have a mailroom setup yet … The trash chutes weren’t functional … The internet is unstable.”

Nancy Lindsey, a junior at Jones College and a petition signee, said that

she has had issues with basic appliances in her unit.

“The ovens don’t work … and, more annoyingly, the washing machines don’t work,” Lindsey said. “I know other people have complained about issues with the fans and lights — I haven’t had issues with those, fortunately, just with the oven, washing machine and dishwasher.

My dishwasher leaked all over the floor, which is not convenient.”

Lindsey said that the staff at Life Tower has been slow to respond to repair requests and other residential issues.

“I’ve reached out via a combination of work orders, phone [calls] and actually talking to [management] eight or nine times, and no responses,” said Lindsey.

Hsu said the Life Tower residents relayed their common issues to the administration via the petition.

“I think individually it’s easy to shrug us off sometimes, and say that it’s only specific to your unit and your experience,” Hsu said. “But when numerous people are coming together with the same concerns … it gains a lot more attention with management.”

Hughes said that when the management team received the petition, they began to review and attempted to resolve the expressed concerns.

“Our apartments are brand new and like any other new construction

developments, we also had some unforeseen, last minute, minimal delays with supply chain deliveries and have been in constant communication with our vendors,” Hughes said. “We are resolving tenant requests as quickly as possible and are happy to report that many have been resolved.”

Hughes said several tenant requests are in the process of being fixed: trash chutes are scheduled for delivery this week or early next week, the oven vendor should finish resolving tenant requests by the end of this week, HDMI cords are being provided for all students and there is a 24-hour courtesy officer.

In response to tenants’ parking concerns, Hughes said that residents were informed of the parking situation well in advance of their move in.

Hsu said that despite the progress made by Life Tower, there remains room for improvement.

“I’m hoping that they will get better at communicating with residents,” Hsu said. “In the future, after they’ve worked through these issues, Life Tower may be an ideal choice for some students.

But right now, it’s still developing.”

JASMINE LIOU / THRESHER

4 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 5

THE RICE THRESHER

EDITORIAL

Don’t let paid wristbands become the norm at publics

Three years ago, in the pre-COVID world, there were only three public parties that charged for admittance. NOD and Y2K needed the money to hire extra security, and Architectronica charged because it wasn’t funded by a college and depended on the money from ticket sales to cover event fees. Now, we fear more colleges will charge for entrance to publics, a poor practice we urge socials to avoid.

Three years later, as publics finally return in full force, seniors who had a taste of the old, free publics find themselves perplexed by the new changes while reminiscing about the lost institutional knowledge of pre-pandemic Rice. But tradition isn’t the only thing that the new “pay for wristband” system is harming. Though $5 and under price tags generally wouldn’t prohibit any student from attending, it has sparked a growing resale market with wristbands being sold for upwards of $20. This resale market especially affects freshmen, who already

feel social pressure to fit into college culture and are likely to buy these resale tickets even at an unreasonable price.

Further, paying without clear justification to attend a public defeats the purpose of a “public” party.

As publics finally return in full force, seniors who had a taste of the old, free publics find themselves perplexed by the new changes while reminiscing about the lost institutional knowledge of prepandemic Rice.

Despite all of this, buying and securing wristbands doesn’t even guarantee adittance. Tickets are typically oversold, as in the case of Martel College’s public

last Saturday, which results in extended lines and destroys the original purpose of charging a fee: limiting capacity.

Three years ago, capacity issues solved themselves. With security monitoring the crowd inside, everyone could show up and line up; when the line felt too long, people simply left. Not to mention that most students do not intend on staying at a public from beginning to end. But being required to pay for admission and the extensive process required to secure a wristband might alter that, decreasing the number of overall students who are able to attend at all.

With the university expanding its student population, the issue of limited attendance at popular student events will only become more prevalent.

Conversations surrounding how to preserve the old Rice culture and to ensure the same college experience for future Rice students need to be a focus for the administration and individual residential colleges alike.

GUEST OPINON

Will a new student DJ please stand up?

Rice DJs are dead. Long live the Rice DJs. Seeing the first Texas Party since Fall 2019 happen is both a joy and a solemn reminder. Yet another public has come and gone and yet no student DJ has risen to prominence. It may not seem like a problem, but this is critical. Rice DJs play an integral part in campus social life, but they cannot survive and thrive without the help and advocacy of campus socials and the boldness of potential DJs rising to the challenge.

In the pre-COVID era at Rice, there was a small but very active community of student DJs who played music at publics and large privates. COVID hit and disrupted so many aspects of life, including the Rice DJ community. With no publics on campus for the foreseeable future, there was no way to build interest to take up the mantle. One by one, the remaining DJs graduated or prematurely retired. When the 2020-2021 school year rolled around, I found myself the last of an endangered species, nearing the point of extinction. When I graduated spring 2021, no campus public DJs remained.

Rice publics are uniquely Rice experiences, despite many imperfections.

In no other environment will you see hundreds of the nerdiest ex-high schoolers from around the world singing along to Taylor Swift at one moment, throwing it back to Bad Bunny the next and yelling “Beer Bike” during the chorus of that DJ Khaled song before the end of the night. There are traditions to be learned, acquaintances to be met and memories to be made. When the sun goes down and the lights go up, the DJ becomes master of that universe for the next four hours. With a job that important, how can we as a Rice community allow anyone else other than a Rice Owl to be your vibe technician?

When you hire out, you leave a lot to chance. A non-Rice DJ doesn’t know the type of music that excites this campus.

They don’t know the Orientation Week songs or the unofficial anthems of certain colleges (i.e. Murts’ love for “Kernkraft 400” or Hanszen with “MMMBop”). But if aspiring DJs at Rice don’t get their shot, their platform, their opportunity, you have no choice but to hire out. While alumni like DJ Friendzone, DJ Chaney and myself all love coming back, we’d also love to see more current students take ownership of a small but critical piece of Rice culture.

When you hire out, you leave a lot to chance. A non-Rice DJ doesn’t know the type of music that excites this campus ... the Orientation Week songs or the unofficial anthems of certain colleges.

For the socials, there are a few ways you can foster this new regrowth. First, fight for making publics free again, administrative red tape be damned. The very definition and origin of Rice’s public parties is that these are open to everyone, free of charge. Publics are egalitarian at their core, and ticketing them only feeds into the elitist image that Rice so desperately needs to fight against.

Increasing access and reducing barriers to big social events like these make DJing seem worthwhile because more people get to hear your music and spread the word about your skill. Ticketing kills the

spontaneity of a DJ set drawing attention and building momentum throughout the night, among many other negatives. Hold live auditions to test and recruit new talent; provide references and spread the word if any DJs appear competent and need promotion; generally, be the allies that Rice DJs need in order to survive and thrive.

On the flip side, if you are interested in becoming the new generation of Rice DJs, even if this is your last year at Rice, please get some live practice in and put your name out there. Perform live. Be adventurous and bold with what you play, but make sure to choose songs with mass appeal and popularity. When you’re playing to crowds, you can’t be playing only obscure tracks that you like. For God’s sake, diversify your music tastes and inject some global flair. Remixes are welcome as long as you don’t get too weird. Learn to read a crowd and its ebbs & flows. Ask for knowledge and help, even equipment, from those who came before you. Finally, reach out to the socials all across campus about potentially DJing their public. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to get started, just your laptop, some DJ software and decent music taste.

All the world’s a stage, and as a Rice DJ, it is yours to own and yours to lose.

Take the stage and bring the campus DJ community back from total extinction.

Banh Mi’s rooting for y’all.

Victor Nguyen

LOVETT COLLEGE ’21

with the Rice Thresher, in print or online!

* Indicates Editorial Board member Ben Baker-Katz* Editor-in-Chief Morgan Gage* Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Zhao* Managing Editor NEWS Hajera Naveed* Editor Maria Morkas Asst. Editor Keegan Leibrock Asst. Editor OPINION Nayeli Shad* Editor FEATURES Nicole Lhuillier Editor Riya Misra* Editor Nithya Shenoy Asst. Editor ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Michelle Gachelin* Editor SPORTS Daniel Schrager* Editor Pavithr Goli Asst. Editor SPECIAL PROJECTS Prayag Gordy* Editor BACKPAGE Timmy Mansfield Editor Ndidi Nwosu Editor Andrew Kim Editor COPY Jonathan Cheng Editor Annika Bhananker Editor PHOTO, VIDEO, & WEB Katherine Hui Photo Editor Cali Liu Asst. Photo Editor Jasmine Liou Video Editor Camille Kao Asst. Video Editor Eli Johns-Krull Asst. Video Editor Brandon Chen* Web Editor DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION Robert Heeter Art & Design Director Anna Chung News Siddhi Narayan Opinion Katherine Chui Features Ivana Hsyung Arts & Entertainment Robert Heeter Sports Lauren Yu Backpage BUSINESS Edelawit Negash Business Manager Ariana Moshiri Social Media Jazmine Castillo Distribution

The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

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6 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Instagram accounts reveal the meme-ing of Rice LAUREN YU

FOR THE THRESHER Another year, another batch of Riceinspired Instagram pages. Rice students have made niche Rice-related Instagram pages about everything from bricks to possums to chairs, but they are also no strangers to meme accounts that make light of Rice happenings and traditions, from parodies of the ‘Be Bold’ campaign to relentlessly positive affirmations about servery swipes. @rice_affirmations Kelton Keck, a Sid Richardson College sophomore, started the @ rice_affirmations Instagram page at the beginning of his freshman year.

Affirmation memes have become a popular trend on social media, and Keck’s account features a Rice-specific take on the trend. Like other affirmation meme pages, @rice_affirmations features posts with overly optimistic, almost absurd messages designed to be relatable and shareable.

they actually think about it instead of what they would tell the person who runs it,” Keck said. “Sometimes I’ll tell people that I run it if they really like it, and it’s kind of funny because I feel like a lot of people think that meme pages are run by people they’ll never meet.”

Keck said that he does not see himself passing on the account after he departs from Rice.

“If anyone posts anything offensive or anything, I don’t want that to be attached to me,” Keck said. “And I don’t think I’m leaving something important here, so letting it die off could be maybe a service to the community.”

When I was first talking to my girlfriend, she actually sent me one of my memes before she knew that I ran the account. I didn’t say anything about it, and she only figured [things] out months later. That was very fun.

Ben Allen JONES COLLEGE SOPHOMORE “The main reason I started the account was because I liked making random memes and sending them to my friends,” Keck said. “I had a bunch of ideas for affirmations and thought I might as well make an account and have some fun with it.”

Keck’s account features posts about common worries relevant to Rice students. A recent post characterizes the Martel College public last weekend as a superspreader event.

Another post jokes that students have to use a second meal swipe to get a drink that they forgot.

“I try to aim for things that are unspoken, shared experiences,” Keck said.

Keck accepts submissions from other members of the Rice community, but he said that the vast majority of his posts are created from his own ideas and occasionally from some of his friends’ ideas. Although @ rice_affirmations has garnered over 630 followers, Keck said his main focus isn’t the numbers.

“I like to treat it less as ‘how many followers can I possibly get?’ and more [as] posting whenever I think of something that’s actually kind of interesting to me,” Keck said. “I don’t get any sort of fulfillment from the actual likes or anything on it, but I like the creation process, and I like showing [the posts] to my friends.”

Moreover, Keck said he enjoys the semi-anonymity that he has, as his account does not explicitly identify him as its owner.

“I can just ask someone what they think about the account and they’ll answer objectively, and that’s always kind of fun to me — to listen and see what

@bakercollegememes Ulises Moreno, a sophomore at Baker College and avid meme-creater, started the @bakercollegememes Instagram account in his freshman year, shortly after Orientation Week.

“I had been making memes prior to that and just sending them to the main Baker chat,” Moreno said. “One of my O-Week brothers kept pressuring me, [saying] ‘You should make a meme page,’ and I checked first to see if there was already a Baker meme page and there wasn’t. And I was like, ‘How can that be? We’re the best college. We need to have the best meme page.’”

The meme account focuses on events and traditions in Baker but also

takes inspiration from campus-wide happenings that non-Baker students can relate to. Moreno said the account, which has amassed over 1,000 followers over the past year, saw a gradual rise in popularity.

“I just went on a relentless advertising campaign — going to GroupMe chats, putting posters everywhere. It’s been pretty gradual,” Moreno said. “It took a couple months to really get a higher follower count.”

Getting most of his ideas from conversations in Baker GroupMe chats, Moreno produces almost all of the content he posts on @bakercollegememes.

“Sometimes people do send me things, but I would say more than 90 percent of everything is things I make,” Moreno said.

Moreno said one of his favorite posts is about the ‘Be Bald’ campaign, a reference to Rice’s fundraising campaign.

“I changed the Be Bold campaign to ‘Be Bald.’ That one really blew up,” Moreno said. “Special memes that get a lot of attention that I know are some of my best work — it just makes me happy when people appreciate it.”

Moreno said he plans to continue growing his account while at Rice.

“I would really like [it] if Baker could sell @bakercollegememes merch,” Moreno said. “I don’t even want money off of it.

Just to see that come from a silly idea out of O-Week, to make a meme page, to see people at Rice wear that — I think that would be really cool.”

Moreno said he hopes the account can live on even when his time at Rice nears an end.

“Eventually, when I’m a senior, I want to pass the page to someone else so it doesn’t just die off,” Moreno said. @jibamemes The @jibamemes Instagram account was created by Jones College sophomore Ben Allen last October. Allen said he decided to create the account after noticing other Riceinspired meme accounts, including the @ bakercollegememes account, emerge.

“I’d seen some other meme accounts pop up, and I was like ‘Jones needs that,’” Allen said.

Like Moreno’s account, @jibamemes mostly makes light of events, traditions and conversations within Jones but also features content about the larger Rice community. For instance, one of the more popular memes in the early days of his account is about Jones’ neighbor, Brown College.

“One of my favorites was a meme of Brown, like ‘Imagine living in a residential college named after an Ivy you got rejected from,’” Allen said. “That was a good one.

Another recent one was about freshmen pretending to be party animals when all they did was study in high school.”

Since its creation, @jibamemes has been solely run by Allen, who plans to continue creating and posting content throughout his time at Rice. Allen said that until it is time to pass the account on to another Jones student, he will enjoy bringing a smile to his followers’ faces — especially the people who have not yet recognized him as the person behind the popular account.

“When I was first talking to my girlfriend, she actually sent me one of my memes before she knew that I ran the account,” Allen said.

“I didn’t say anything about it, and she only figured [things] out months later.

That was very fun.”

KATHERINE CHUI / THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 7

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CROSSWORD WRITER

Students talk unconventional jobs at Rice ZOE KATZ

SENIOR WRITER As the school year gets going, Rice students may begin the search for an on-campus job. There are lots of options — from Coffeehouse barista to teaching assistant — but some jobs are off the beaten path. These jobs are unique ways to get involved around campus and make some money while doing so.

Skyspace Docent Many Rice students have heard about Skyspace’s evening light shows, but not all know that the Moody Center for the Arts hires docents for its sunset showings.

Docents give a quick presentation on the artwork, enforce rules and respect for the piece and clean up any trash.

Sarah Eunsu Kim, a Hanszen College junior, has worked as a Skyspace docent for about a year. She said that her favorite part of the job is the quiet time she gets for reflection and introspection.

“I get to watch the sunset and do my homework on the grass,” Kim said. “I wish more people would come, just in general, to be able to enjoy the artwork … Being able to work at the Skyspace is a privilege.”

After the lightshow ends, Kim spends an hour cleaning up afterwards and talking to visitors. According to Kim, as a docent she has met a large array of interesting people, from the architect of Skyspace to international tourists.

“There’s a bunch of Skyspaces across the world, and the one in Houston at Rice is unique in the fact that it has two levels,” Kim said.”Most Skyspaces only have one.

So [the tourists] wanted to come see that.”

Peer Research Ambassador The Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry sponsors Peer Research Ambassadors to mentor their peers and to provide feedback to academic departments at Rice.

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER A student tends to plants at Rice’s Holistic Garden.

Anika Sonig, a Sid Richardson College senior, has been a PRA since her sophomore spring semester at Rice. She said she was inspired to get involved as a PRA after working with the OURI during the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium, an annual showcase for Rice undergraduates to present their research projects.

“There’s so much information but it’s hard to know where to go,” Sonig said.

“There’s so many majors where you can do research, but it’s not advertised as much, so you might not know how to go about it.”

As a PRA, Sonig has had the opportunity to advise her peers in both group and individual settings. She said that most PRAs work about two hours every two weeks.

“We have open office hours, and if people reach out one-on-one, we have individual meetings with them,” Sonig said.

According to Sonig, advising new students is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

“Getting to meet the new students and seeing how excited they are, passionate about certain areas [is great],” she said.

“There is information overload from [Orientation Week] onwards, so knowing who to talk to is important.”

RESP Fellow The Office of Student Success Initiatives hosts the pre-matriculation program Rice Emerging Scholars Program for firstyear students from under-resourced high schools to prepare for their time at Rice.

RESP hosts a cohort of about 40 students over a six-week span in the summer. The SSI office hires upperclassmen fellows in order to support RESP students both academically and socially.

Jacob Williams, a junior from Martel College and 2022 RESP fellow, said the job is multifaceted: he hosted office hours, planned social events, encouraged good study habits, graded assignments and

supported the RESP students throughout their transition to college life.

“I’ve always been really passionate about teaching and working with students,” Williams said. “I did a lot of tutoring back in high school, and that was the most fulfilling thing that I did.”

Accordimg to Williams, he typically spent about four hours a day working, whether holding office hours up to twice a week or helping with fun events outside of classes.

“The point of RESP was to acclimate students to what Rice was gonna be like academically,” Williams said.

According to Williams, the job of a RESP fellow is one that he wished more people knew about. He said that it provides a good perspective on the transition to Rice.

“It would be helpful for Rice students to be more aware of the typical culture that goes on at Rice,” Williams said. “It’s so easy [for some students] to go into classes and have all this academic preparation that most students haven’t [had access to].”

Student Garden Worker Rice’s Holistic Garden, which recently moved behind the Gibbs Recreation Center, employs Rice students to help with everyday gardening tasks.

Carissa Witt, a Brown College junior, said that BIOS 204: Community Garden inspired her to apply to be a student garden worker, a position that she has held for over two semesters at Rice. Witt said she works about six to eight hours a week.

According to Witt, her job as a student garden worker is never monotonous — everyday she finds something different to do, from collecting eggs to harvesting fruit to weeding plant beds.

“It’s a very relaxing, peaceful environment,” Witt said. “It’s a good way to destress, be outside, get some quality nature time in and get your hands dirty.”

This article has been cut off for print.

Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

8 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

‘ones & zeros’ powers digital and interpersonal connection members to flip a switch to turn each box on and off.

“The idea of allowing people to play Created from plywood, corrugated around with the switches was so that people plastic, Arduino circuits and LED strips, could leave their mark [and] draw their “ones & zeros” was created by senior pattern on this giant analog screen,” Xia, architecture students Peyton Chiang, a Brown College senior, said. “After they’re Joseph Hsu, Olivia Malone and Jeff Xia for done, they can sit down and see what the Archi-Arts. The large-scale, interactive next person does.”

The team was heavily inspired by the exhibition goes on display Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. in the Sewall Courtyard as theme of Archi Arts: 8-BIT. It paid homage Sleepy Cyborg’s first fall exhibition, slated to the 8-bit graphic technology that was developed and popularized in the ‘80s and to run until Oct. 9.

The project began when the group ‘90s and pioneered computer graphics and color images. won $1000 at last “In response to year’s Archi-Arts the more technical competition. theme of 8-bit, we “We wanted to The idea of allowing wanted to bring in all create something of our disciplines,” that reflected the people to play around Hsu, a Baker College idea of the zero with the switches was so senior, said. “Jeff and the one, and that people could leave has been working on [we] translated their mark [and] draw some electronic stuff that to the physical in an engineering motion of switching their pattern on this giant class, and we something on or off,” analog screen. wanted to combine Chiang, a Duncan JEFF XIA that with all of our College senior, said. expertise in the The sculpture BROWN COLLEGE SENIOR woodshop and our is formed from 50 plywood boxes stacked 5 feet wide and 10 feet architectural knowledge.”

The team ultimately used their combined tall. Each contains an LED strip controlled by an Arduino processor, covered by a sheet skills to create a design as simplistic as of semi-translucent corrugated plastic. The possible.

“The end product is the result of trying to boxes are constructed individually and then screwed together, enabling audience break down the 8-bit theme to its most basic

HUGO GERBICH PAIS

THRESHER STAFF

COURTESY PEYTON CHIANG

component,” Malone, a Jones College senior, said. “We wanted to celebrate the simplicity of 8-bit for what it is.”

The team also relied on their architectural skills throughout the artistic process.

“The design process was mostly done through drawings and the computer — just trying to visualize everything. After we won the competition, that’s when we really tuned into how to manifest the project,” Xia said.

From the beginning of the design process the team considered how the audience would experience the installation.

“Another thing we thought about that relates to architecture is how the user was going to interact with the art, the procession to the piece and how the piece would interact with them,” Chiang said.

The boxes are also designed so that the structure can be disassembled and still function.

“At some point we will probably break apart the boxes and distribute them so that people can keep one pixel of the piece,” Xia said.

Review: JID reminisces about his origins on ‘The Forever Story’

COURTESY DREAMVILLE / INTERSCOPE

JACOB PELLEGRINO

THRESHER STAFF

It’s been four years since JID’s last studio album, “DiCaprio 2,” but he hasn’t been quiet by any measure. In the past few years, JID has been heard on a wide range of features, from Doja Cat to Joey Bada$$, never compromising on quality and creating even more excitement for his next full work.

After being signed to J. Cole’s Dreamville records in 2016, JID released his debut studio effort, “The Never Story,” showcasing his unique vocal style and flow. “The Forever Story” takes listeners back to the topics mentioned in his debut, providing context on his time growing up in Atlanta and how he got to where he is today.

Fans’ first taste of “The Forever Story” came in January with “Surround Sound,” a collaboration with Baby Tate and 21 Savage. Growing up the youngest of seven siblings, the track is about how the constant sounds that surrounded JID in his childhood inspired his choices and informed his behavior as a youth, along with his competitive edge in the rap game.

“Surround Sound” also notably samples Aretha Franklin’s “One Step Ahead,” a lush backing for the track that immerses the listener. The same Aretha Franklin track was similarly used on Mos Def’s 1999 classic “Ms. Fat Booty,” a track which JID pays homage to with his choice of sample. 21 Savage’s verse continues the feeling of danger and competition that JID

Top Track: ‘Surround Sound’

establishes in the chorus, beginning with verse discusses the use of luxury goods to his discomfort with being approached conceal “the shattered spirit.”

Prior to the release of “The Forever threateningly on the street in his youth.

Another notable cut on the album is Story,” JID released “2007,” a seven“Crack Sandwich,” which displays the minute track that was initially supposed changing family dynamic between JID and to be the outro to the album. Due to his siblings over a correspondingly off- sample clearance issues, it lives on kilter beat. Throughout the track, JID raps YouTube, separated from the rest of the about them starting a brawl in New Orleans, work. However, in the announcement and with recordings of his siblings discussing visualizer for the track, JID emphasizes the event interspersed throughout the the song as the crux of the album’s origin verses. The chorus emphasizes his come story.“ “2007” is an autobiographical track that up from poverty with the line “I ain’t got cheeseburger money, make a sandwich,” references the release dates of projects like further relating the lack of resources to J. Cole’s mixtape series, Kendrick Lamar’s his and his siblings’ resourcefulness as “Section.80,” and his own “The Never they make a figurative crack sandwich — a Story” as major events on a timeline of his metaphor for their disorganized closeness career. It follows JID’s journey from starting out as a college and connection to football player each other. on scholarship at The bridge of Hampton University “Crack Sandwich” is also one of the JID’s storytelling, lyricism, to becoming the musician he is today. first times that wordplay and production The track recounts we see how much are all at their peak his meeting with JID’s vocals have EARTHGANG while improved — he throughout ‘The Forever revealed that he got Story,’ an essential release on campus, and even features J. Cole a “singing coach” in a year filled with strong sharing his initial to not only “rap at albums. impression of JID the highest level,” and the start of their but also “sing at the highest level.” The song is also a perfect working relationship. The track cycles display of JID’s signature wordplay with through a number of instrumentals tied lines like “R.I.P., I miss my dawgs like together by a coherent narrative of JID’s Mike Vick,” a ridiculous comparison that history as an artist in a similar manner to refers to both lost friends and former NFL “Last Call,” the outro to Kanye West’s 2004 player Michael Vick’s incarceration for dog debut album.

“The Forever Story” is an excellent fighting in 2008.

“Stars” is a full circle moment for JID, project from JID that recounts his origins who goes from paying tribute to Mos Def while moving his artistry forward into a (now known as Yasiin Bey) to collaborating new dimension. His effort to improve his with him. The track is a great integration singing paid off, adding diverse textures of JID’s singing and rapping with a R&B- throughout the album. JID’s storytelling, influenced instrumental as he reflects on lyricism, wordplay and production are his beginnings trying to make it in rap, all at their peak throughout “The Forever relying on his artistry and pure willpower Story,” an essential release in a year filled to create at the peak of his ability. Bey’s with strong albums.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Munch on these brunches

MORGAN GAGE & MICHELLE GACHELIN

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, A&E EDITOR

There’s an art to brunch, from assembling the perfect group of friends to figuring out a time in the midst of hectic schedules to dine out together. Above all, though, there is an art to choosing the perfect restaurant to visit.

With plentiful options in Houston, even just the array of choices can be overwhelming.

That’s why we visited these four popular brunch spots to offer the inside scoop on the appeal of each.

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery With over fifty locations across the U.S. and a standard of two-hour long waitlists, Snooze is not actually being slept on — in fact, we recommend heading over before 10 a.m. to beat the crowd. There’s something for everyone on their menu, which offers vegan-friendly breakfast classics with unique flavor combinations, in addition to Southern-inspired staples (shrimp and grits, anyone?) and even lattes and cocktails. Seasonal items like the burrata prosciutto toast are also worth a try. Those with a sweet tooth should order the Pancake Flight, which allows you to sample three of your choice — we like the Sweet Potato and Pineapple Upside Down flavors. In honor of International Bacon Day and back-to-

school season, Snooze will be donating up to $25,000 of sales from their Bacon & Egg Pancakes of the Week to No Kid Hungry.

Make sure to head over before Sept. 3 to get a taste while benefiting a great cause.

Tiny’s No. 5 This West University gem offers sophisticated American-style eats in a rusticchic, airy venue where we imagined we would host our bridal showers. While their buttermilk pancakes and other breakfast staples may be lacking the creativity Snooze has mastered, the food is neatly presented and comes in sizable portions. Their nextdoor bakery, aptly named Milk & Cookies, boasts the perfect chocolate chip cookie — crisp on the edges but soft in the center. They also make one of the best mint chocolate chip ice creams we’ve ever tasted. Overall, this brunch spot is a must-try for their solid food options, charming outdoor patio and irresistible sweet treats. the breakfast klub The Thresher previously spotlighted this Houston staple on our list of Blackowned restaurants near Rice. With generous portions, we certainly didn’t leave the breakfast klub hungry, and we each had leftovers to take with us. Visitors who drive will be thrilled to find ample parking just a short walk away from the restaurant. If

Review: ‘Pre Pleasure’ compels with introspective confession Top Track: ‘Love, Try Not To Let Go’

MICHELLE GACHELIN / THRESHER

you’re visiting on a weekend, be prepared for a line trailing beyond the building, but it’s more than made up for with prompt counter service as soon as guests make their way through the entrance and water available in the blistering summer sun. Besides that, the menu boasts mouthwatering Southern breakfast dishes.

We had the ‘wings & waffle’ and ‘katfish & grits,’ and they are popular orders for good reason. Each of the dishes was amazing and spoke to exactly why people frequent the restaurant for brunch. Get one of their house made bottles of lemonade — some of the best we’ve ever had — or another drink from their menu, as a treat.

Review: ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ attempts flimsy romance JAY COLLURA

FOR THE THRESHER

COURTESY METRO GOLDWYN MAYER

COURTESY POLYVINYL RECORD CO.

HADLEY MEDLOCK

THRESHER STAFF

Australian indie rock singer Julia Jacklin has returned just three years after her sophomore album with her newest release, “Pre Pleasure.” A bittersweet reflection on self-awareness, sexuality, complicated love and her own motherdaughter relationship, “Pre Pleasure” is another successful product of Jacklin’s introspective and tastefully confessional songwriting.

Jacklin opens the album with “Lydia Wears a Cross,” a song looking back on her Catholic school years and reluctance to believe in God. The lead single of “Pre Pleasure” sets up Jacklin’s album nicely with her lyrical storytelling and simple but effective production. It leads into the upbeat second track “Love, Try Not to Let Go,” a punchy song that captures Jacklin’s simple desire to find and feel love. The bridge’s teasing buildup of harsh guitar and rhythmic drums that falls back into the delicate piano of the chorus instead of a big climax was well done, making this one of the more interesting songs to listen to and one of the best from the album.

“Ignore Tenderness” focuses on Jacklin’s complicated relationship with her own body and sexuality. “Staring at my own reflection / Ever since I was 13, I’ve been pulled in every direction,” Jacklin explains, criticizing the way women are educated about sex and sexuality from a young age. The chimes right before the chorus were also a pleasing touch.

A standout of the album, “I Was Neon” opens with guitars reminiscent of songs from her 2019 album “Crushing,” and juxtaposes the upbeat rhythm with lyrics about the anxiety of losing yourself.

Though the lyrics are simple, they’re still relatable and cutting — “Am I gonna

Avalon Diner As novel as inventive breakfast dishes can feel, sometimes classic is the way to go.

Visit Avalon Diner for breakfast staples or other quintessential American diner food in a classic diner setting. With affordable prices compared to many of the brunch restaurants frequented by Rice students, it hopefully won’t place quite as much of a strain on student budgets. Their omelets, starting at $10.45, were brimming with fillings, and their pancakes and other breakfast items were served deliciously. For a sweet ending to the meal, Avalon Diner also has a selection of milkshakes and other ice cream treats on their menu.

lose myself again?” she continues to ask herself, hoping that she doesn’t.

Although a bit jarring after the more easygoing “I Was Neon,” “Too In Love To Die” is a beautifully flooring piece.

An aching song about intense love with dreamy, serene production, this was easily my favorite of the slower ballads on “Pre Pleasure” and one of my top songs overall.

A brutal ballad about her strained relationship with her mother, “Less of a Stranger” pulls on heartstrings over a simple guitar backing. While a song about her own experience, Jacklin seems to have perfected the art of being just confessional enough that others can see themselves in her music too.

“Be Careful With Yourself” was another great upbeat song from the album. Back to the more rock side of her indie-rock style, Jacklin asks a lover to be careful because she doesn’t want to imagine life without them. “I’m making plans for my future and I plan on you being in it,” she states simply.

This song really shows how Jacklin’s understatements make some of her most powerful lyrics, and I was a big fan of the drum kit and guitar backing for this song.

Although a little slow and meandering in the second half, “Pre Pleasure” still packs a powerful punch. Her entrancing and deeply personal lyricism shines through in every song, her silky smooth vocals begging you to keep listening.

Each track of Jacklin’s is distinctly its own, and this album is very obviously her own form of catharsis, even within the most simple lyrics. I think I loved this album more every time I listened to it.

Jacklin continues to prove herself as one of the more genius singer-songwriters of our generation.

Seven years after “Mad Max: Fury Road,” filmmaker George Miller returned to cinemas this past Friday with “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” a film distinctly opposite from the genre work Miller is known for. While Miller’s tendency to capture excitement is present in the film, this is a new territory for the director. “Three Thousand Years” is a romance-fantasy drama centered around Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a narratologist, or expert in the study of narratives, who discovers a genie (Idris Elba) while on a trip to Istanbul. After learning of the genie’s powers, Binnie cannot settle on three wishes and listens to the djinn’s tales in search of what she truly desires.

This heady and almost saccharine premise about the power of storytelling is a great setup for a blissful drama, but ultimately becomes messy as Miller’s style and writing are antithetical to the romance at the core of the story.

At the center of the script is a series of stories presented to Swinton by Elba, a device that lends itself well to the film’s exploration of the power of storytelling. Each of the three primary tales spun by the genie are individually very engaging, communicating loss, loneliness and passion through humor and heartbreak. On their own, each of these stories are highlights of the film, providing engaging fairy tales to follow along to, but the context surrounding these flashbacks fails to tie them together in a meaningful way. The purpose of each story is to help our protagonist learn about what she desires and should wish for, but the audience knows very little about the character. As a result, this thread of melodramatic indecisiveness feels as though it is filling time instead of being a primary story.

This problem is compounded as the film begins to postulate a strong connection between the genie and Alithea. I certainly understand the plight of the genie, yet I only

know a handful of our main character’s traits, leading to a lopsided understanding of the relationship. Miller’s propensity to keep everything moving prevents the audience from soaking in any of the yearning that’s supposed to be at the heart of the film.

I should note that the issues I have with the core romance are not a result of the actors’ performances. Both Swinton and Elba do a good job with the material, though both have done better work in the past. Furthermore, the creativity on display in the film is certainly impressive. Choosing to produce a film as visually unique as this one is not very common, and I am glad that Miller was given the opportunity to apply his trademark fastpaced rhythm to a different genre, regardless of whether it was successful.

Just like the structure of the film only achieves part of its goal, the visuals also have some major drawbacks. Notably, the use of CGI is very inconsistent in terms of visual fidelity. Sometimes the effects look beautiful, and at other times they immediately distract me from the story. Similarly, the way some sets were colored felt extremely digital and flat, and some surrealist images felt laughable.

Ultimately, “Three Thousand Years” was equally impressive and disappointing.

The questions it ponders regarding human connection and storytelling are compelling, but the romance that it is centered around falls flat. The visual components staging the story are sometimes breathtaking but oftentimes inadequate. In many ways, Miller’s bombastic approach to filmmaking is applicable outside the action genre, but he should be allowed a greater budget to achieve something truly great. While the story was at times emotional, its shortcomings held the film back from reaching its full potential. I hope Miller takes another stab at this type of filmmaking — with more polish, he could create something very special.

10 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

FOOTBALL PREVIEW

Football heads into make-or-break season

PAVITHR GOLI

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR The Rice football team won just four games last year, their most since 2016.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren, who is entering his fifth season leading the Owls and has an 11-31 record since taking over, said he hopes his squad can finally take the next step that they’ve appeared poised to make for years.

“Our goal is to continue to grow as a football team,” Bloomgren said.

“Obviously, we’re trying to win every game that we get the opportunity to play.

These kids have worked so hard and have positioned themselves to go into these games with the confidence to compete and win these games. We want to go to a bowl game and win and compete for a conference title.”

Despite their lofty goals, the Owls will have to deal with significant losses on both sides of the ball. The Owls’ offense lost several significant contributors including leading wide receiver Jake Bailey, who transferred to Southern Methodist University, and Khalan Griffin, who had the second-most rushing yards on the team last season, transferred to Lamar University.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Owls lost several leaders including their three leading tacklers in defensive lineman Elijah Garcia, safety Naeem Smith, and linebacker Antonio Montero. Both Garcia and Smith graduated, with Garcia signing with the Los Angeles Rams, and Montero transferred to Villanova University.

To make up for their losses, the Owls were active in both recruiting and the transfer portal. The new additions to the squad are headlined by safety Litchfield Ajavon who transferred from Notre Dame to Rice during the offseason and was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school.

In addition, both the defense and the offense have several returning players that will be very important for the Owls this season. On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore defensive back Gabe Taylor, who won conference player of the week honors for his efforts in Rice’s upset win over the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will look to team up with Ajavon and graduate George Nyakwol to make the secondary the strength of Rice’s defense.

Taylor said that the defensive side of the ball can be successful due to the return of injured players and improved chemistry.

“I’m looking forward to our healthy players coming back,” Taylor said. “Our

team has also really bonded together off the field. We think we can go in and take game and roll with that.”

Offensively, the returning players are highlighted by redshirt junior running back Ari Broussard, who led the team in rushing yards this past season, and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, a key offensive do-it-all player.

McCaffrey will be joined by redshirt senior Bradley Rozner, who missed the past two seasons with injuries but led the team in receiving yards in 2019, as the pair look to give redshirt junior quarterback Wiley Green plenty of options in the passing game.

McCaffrey made a significant decision during the offseason as he underwent a position change from quarterback to wide receiver. The early returns have been positive, as McCaffrey led the team in receiving during the team’s spring game, and scored two touchdowns in a recent scrimmage. According to McCaffrey, the position change has been a great experience.

“It’s been a blast,” McCaffrey. “Whether it is at quarterback, at receiver, at running back or special teams, just to be able to use my abilities in a different way in our atmosphere has been a blast.”

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER Heading into his fifth season and still without a bowl game appearance, Bloomgren knows that people outside the program see this as a make-or-break year, but said this pales in comparison to the pressure the team is putting on itself to win.

“I don’t know if there could be any more pressure than the pressure that we put on ourselves,” Bloomgren said. “We want to win every time we come on the field and every rep in practice against each other and we certainly want to win every football game we have the opportunity to play.”

The Owls will kick off their season this Saturday against No. 14 University of Southern California in the season opener.

The Trojans made waves this offseason when they poached head coach Lincoln Riley from the University of Oklahoma, along with his Heisman Trophy-hopeful quarterback Caleb Williams. The game, which starts at 5 p.m., will be played in the venerated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which has hosted several major events such as the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, as well as the first-ever Super Bowl.

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Green machine: Owls’ Wiley quarterback set to start again CADAN HANSON

SENIOR WRITER

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Rice quarterback Wiley Green drops back during a game last season. Green enters the year as the Owls’ starting signal-caller.

After practice Aug. 23, Rice football announced that No. 5 would be their QB1 for the start of the 2022 season. Wiley Green, an Irving, Texas native, who will start the Owls’ opener for the third time in his career, said that he is grateful for another opportunity in the starting role.

“It’s very humbling that I get the chance to continue playing and start for this team,” Green said. “I can’t describe how much it means to be continuing playing here. I am blessed with another opportunity to continue playing and my goal is to give the best of my ability and continue doing that for the rest of the year.”

Green has been a student of the game since he was five years old. He played throughout high school for Prestonwood Christian Academy and was instrumental in his team’s success, leading them to a state title in 2017.

When the college coaches started calling, Green said that he knew that Rice was the best fit all around.

“In my senior year, Rice gave me an offer,” Green said. “I saw [Rice] as the best place for me academically and athletically so I decided to take that opportunity.”

In his first year donning blue and gray, Green made an immediate impact late in the season as he took over starting duties from then-starter Shawn Stankavage. According to Green, the biggest challenge that he faced jumping to the collegiate Division I level was the increased pace of the game. “[My freshman] year was really up-tempo,” Green said. “You don’t really get to experience college speed until you play in college and it was something I had to get used to. I got a lot of good experience and it just helped me become the guy I am today.”

Green was named the starting quarterback going into his sophomore year, but struggled with injuries – including one against Wake Forest University that resulted in him being taken to the hospital – and was eventually replaced by then-graduate transfer Tom Stewart. On the year, Green started seven games and racked up over 1,000 passing yards. Green said that his trying season allowed him to grow both on and off the field.

“I grew up as a person,” Green said.

“Going from 18 to 19 years old was a big step for me because I started to find out who I was mentally. People don’t realize how much of a

mental toll [football] can take on you. I battled through injuries that year but I learned a lot about college football from [that season].”

After being demoted to the third string quarterback in 2020, Green once again won the starting job to open the 2021 season.

Green showed flashes, keeping the team within striking distance of the University of Arkansas for most of the opener, and leading them to an upset win over 24-point favorites in the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In an all too familiar sequence of events, Green’s season was once again cut short when he went down with a leg injury against the University of North Texas. Green said that although the season was over for him, he was determined to get back to his former self. “[Head] coach [Mike Bloomgren] talks about [it] all the time: adversity is the next step in how to become a better person and a better man,” Green said. “It’s not about how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up. [The injuries] gave me that drive and that fire to come back and play again.”

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022 • 11

SPORTS FROM FRONT PAGE

ANDERSON

“I spent my first two years, it was me, [Thomas], and Andre Caldwell, who was another great teammate of mine, always at each other’s house, whether it was learning the playbook, playing FIFA, or playing pool,” Anderson said. “DT was just a joy, fun to be around, smile was always great, can always cheer you up if you’re going through it.”

Anderson would spend two more years in Denver before moving on to the Panthers, who had apparently forgiven him for his role in their heartbreak three years earlier, where he would take on new responsibilities. Anderson started just one game for the Panthers and ran for 104 yards, but according to the 31 year old, it was in Carolina where he discovered his talent for coaching.

“I remember talking to running backs coach Jim Skipper, and he was like, ‘you’re smart, coach the room,’ so I kind of coached the room how I was coached from my running back coach Eric Studesville in Denver,” Anderson said. “I saw Christian McCaffrey doing some of the things that I was talking about, and I was like, ‘man, I might have knack for this.’”

Following his stop in Carolina, Anderson would then go on to play for the Los Angeles Rams, who signed him after star running back Todd Gurley went down with an injury. After closing the regular season

with two 130-plus yard games, Anderson led the Rams in rushing during the playoffs as they reached Super Bowl 53, where they lost to the New England Patriots. According to Anderson, this provided another opportunity to mentor a promising young running back in Gurley and further hone his coaching skills.

“I got to LA, and Todd Gurley was in his third year,” Anderson said. “So then I got to put Todd on those same things and be that vet backup role, and that’s when I was like, ‘you know what, I can probably do this.’”

Anderson would officially retire from playing in 2020 and immediately go into coaching football back in his home state of California. According to Anderson, he was able to pick up some coaching pointers from an old friend of his, Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.

“A lot of my football I learned from [Manning] and sometimes that even intimidates some of the coaches we have here,” Anderson said. “When I retired two years ago, I spent some time with him just learning a lot about the quarterback position and a lot about different things since I was jumping into coaching so I could be a better coach at all positions just because he saw the game so well.”

Fast forward to the present day, Anderson enters this season as the running backs coach for the Owls, his first position in the collegiate ranks. According to Anderson, the similarities to NFL playcalling that Rice offers is what drew him to the job.

Volleyball wins three games in two days to open season

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Running backs coach C. J. Anderson leads a drill during a recent practice. A Super Bowl champion, Anderson starts his college coaching career this year with the Owls.

“It is an NFL-like style from the playbook to how we practice to how we prepare, and those things are projected to help you for the next level,” Anderson said. “I always said whenever I got into coaching, whether I’m running my own program, which, that’s my goal one day, or whether I’m a coordinator or a position coach, I would want it to be in an NFL-like feeling because obviously that’s the top of the top of football.”

Anderson will look to build off of his mentorship experiences in the NFL as

Collins breaks assist record as soccer gets first win of the year DIEGO PALOS RODRIGUEZ

FOR THE THRESHER

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Junior libero Nia McCardell digs a ball during a recent scrimmage. McCardell was named C-USA defensive player of the week as the Owls opened their season with three wins.

DANIEL SCHRAGER

SPORTS EDITOR

The Rice volleyball team didn’t let a double-header on Friday or an abysmal first set on Saturday phase them, as they started their season with three straight wins over the weekend at Louisiana State University’s Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge. The team opened the tournament with a pair of sweeps before fighting back for a 3-2 win over LSU to close out the weekend. According to head coach Genny Volpe, while their offense is still a work in progress, the team was strong in all other facets of the game.

“We are still working out our offensive rhythm but I was very pleased with our defense and serve receive for the most part,” Volpe said.

The Owls’ first game, against the University of Houston, was something of a logistical question mark as the two teams, normally less than four miles apart, traveled over 250 miles to face off at the Maravich Assembly Center. The first set was close throughout, as Rice never led by more than five points, but the Owls managed to win it by a score of 25-22. That would be the closest the Cougars got all night to securing a set.

Rice won the second set 25-18 behind five kills from fifth-year senior middle blocker Anota Adekunle. The Owls repeated the trick in the third set behind another five kills from Adekunle and 15 assists from fifth-year senior Carly Graham to seal the win – the 350th of Volpe’s career.

The Owls took the court just three hours later against Samford University. Whatever fatigue the team might have had from the quick turnaround certainly didn’t show

as they took a 10-1 lead and won the first set 25-15. According to Adekunle, the team had prepared for the double-header and managed to avoid its worst effects.

“It wasn’t as tiring as I expected it to be,” Adekunle said. “I felt really good physically after playing our last game Friday. I think the training we did in practice prepared us for that.”

The Bulldogs kept the second set close, getting out to a 17-12 lead at one point, but the Owls managed to come back behind a slew of late kills from sophomore outside hitter/right side Lola Foord. A dominant third set saw the Owls complete their second sweep of the day.

After winning their first six sets of the weekend, hosts LSU provided Rice with a bit of a shock when they won Saturday’s first set 25-13. According to Adekunle, the Owls were taken aback by LSU’s quick start, but once they settled into the match, they were able to take back the momentum.

“The game of volleyball is often a game of momentum,” Adekunle said. “LSU came out with so much fire, it just took us a minute to adjust to it. Bad sets happen all the time and unfortunately we were on that side of things.”

The Owls’ deficit didn’t last long however. Rice won the next two sets by 7 and 9 points respectively to take a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers managed to force a fifth set, but three unanswered points from a 12-12 tie gave the Owls their third win in three tries.

After the comeback win, Volpe said that the turnaround was more a result of the team’s composure than any tactical changes.

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he will lead the Owls’ running backs this year. According to Anderson, his agenda is not about the money or the position, he is focused on helping his players grow.

“I want to let them know that I care, truly care,” Anderson said. “I know a lot of people say that, but I will go out [of] my will and my way to do it because I don’t need the money, I don’t need the job, I’m not playing a kid because it saves my job.

[I’m] truly getting to evaluate them, truly can develop and grow them and truly care about them on and off the field.”

It took just 29 minutes for Grace Collins to make Rice history on Sunday night. The graduate transfer who joined the Owls from Texas Christian University dished out a whopping four first-half assists, before adding one more in the second half to set a conference record as the Owls beat the University of the Incarnate Word 5-2 for their first win of the season.

After starting the season 0-3, Collins said that her record-breaking performance was sparked by the three unfortunate games.

“I think our team played really well and we bounced back after three games of being unlucky,” Collins said. “It was really awesome for us to come back and get a good win like this.”

Another Rice standout wrote her name in the history books in the second half. After her second save of the game, senior goalkeeper Bella Killgore broke the record for most career saves in Owls’ history with 301.

Before Sunday’s historic game, however, the Owls struggled to capitalize at home against Loyola University Maryland.

In the first ten minutes, both Killgore and sophomore midfielder Mikala Furuto threatened the Greyhounds with shots close to goal, but they were not able to break the score. Shortly after Furuto’s chance, Loyola had a free kick opportunity ten yards from the top of the eighteen-yard box. Loyola’s shot went just high of Killgore, deflecting off the crossbar, bouncing off the back of Killgore and rolling into the Owls’ net.

The rest of the game was an offensive show from the Owls. The team had some late chances on goal, but the Greyhounds’ goalkeeper was able to parry them away and keep a clean sheet. After twenty-one shots for the Owls, three times that of the Greyhounds, the squad walked away with their third straight loss to start the season.

Despite the slow start, head coach Brian Lee was confident going into Sunday’s bout against UIW. “We just needed to have a response when the game started. Those first three games, we played well enough [to have] results and [they] just haven’t gone our way, so we asked for a response tonight,” Lee said.

Sporting a 3 - 5 - 2 formation, the Owls got off to a fast start in the first ten minutes.

In the sixth and seventh minute, Furuto, playing as an attacking midfielder behind Collins and senior Madison Kent, found the back of the net for her first two goals of the season. Both goals were hand-delivered

by Collins after impressive runs threading through the Cardinal defense and setting up Furuto for both short goals down the middle.

UIW answered quickly with goals in the twelfth and twentieth minute, one from outside-the-box and another off a corner kick, but the Owls punched back just as fast. After a few missed chances from close, Collins set up for a free kick near the corner of the box. Looking wide, she crossed the ball towards the far-side post, finding fellow graduate transfer and midfielder Madi Allen for a header over the keeper and into the side netting. Only a few minutes later, Collins made her way through the Cardinal defense yet again and set Kent up for a shot to the top left corner.

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COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Graduate forward Grace Collins runs during a recent game. Collins tied the C-USA singlegame assist record on Sunday as the Owls beat Incarnate Word 5-2.

12 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

BACKPAGE

How do I get into the public?

Missed the twelve-second window for a wristband? Worry not! Here are some foolproof ways to sneak into a public: • • • • •

Camp out the night before in the host college’s mailroom Hire a freshman in COMP 140 to hack into the mainframe (open the spreadsheet on a Social coord’s computer) and add you to the guest list Counterfeit a ticket by bringing your finger paints to the line and painting your wrist the color of the wristband Challenge the bouncer to a game of Battleship—if you win, you get to go in; if they win, you have to take over their security shift Have your friend smuggle you past security in their party suitcase

What should I do while w aiting in line?

Typically, lines at publics can be quite long, so we recommend cutting off your pregame early to get a good spot. To pass the time, we suggest the following: play Word Hunt on iMessage, post something mid on Fizz, count to ten thousand, write your autobiography, raise a family, grow old, die surrounded by loved ones, be reincarnated as a mischievous hamster, or play I Spy with your friends.

WORD BANK party suitcase Item commonly brought to parties including party essentials such as: Chex Mix, gummy bears, marbles, silly spray, crayons, iPad charger, toothbrush, and sleeping bag.

What should I wear?

If you’ve ever been to a public, you’ll know what we’re talking about. A classic Rice tradition is to wear a ruff. From here, some choose to work within the constraints of a Revolutionary War-esque fit by putting a feather in their cap, while others mix and match styles. Just remember: Do not wear deodorant. This is inconsiderate of others who may not like the smell of deodorant, or those that really like the all-natural smell of an average Rice student: sweat, tears, and 1,200 mg of caffeine.

How do I bust a move?

public Rowdy, open-invite parties at Rice University, renowned party school.

pregame Preparatory gaming; occurs before publics.

At these events, you play a variety of games such as dominos, tic-tac-toe, and checkers.

Typically, the winner of the games gets first pick in the candy bowl. Important: do NOT consume alcoholic beverages at pregames, as you might end up being arrested on the spot by RUPD when they do their deep-sniff breath checks at the door.

Fizz Home of “piss papa” and people who try too hard for GroupMe likes.

loved ones Myth perpetrated by the government to sell greeting cards.

Contrary to popular belief, hand-eye coordination is not a requirement for busting it down sexual style at a Rice public. Here are three simple but essential dance moves to have in your repertoire: • Jump up and down! In the same spot! Do it again! Again!!

• Bend your knees! Straighten them! Bend them again! Faster!

• (ADVANCED, BEGINNERS DO NOT ATTEMPT) Wave your hands in the air, as one does when they do not care.

Pro Tip: Beg the DJ to play your O-Week dance song! Everyone will high five and thank you for starting the flash mob.

The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.