September 23, 2021 Student Life Newspaper at Washington University in St. Louis

The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, SEPT 23, 2021

VOLUME 143, NO. 4

MORE HIRING How the University is expanding the number of faculty who study race and ethnicity (Scene, pg 5)

WWW.STUDLIFE.COM

TOP THREE

DAY OF SHAME

Two wins in Memphis keep women’s soccer undefeated (Sports, pg 7)

24-hour playwriting festival launches Thyrsus semester programming (Cadenza, pg 8)

KEEN’S FIRST WIN

What do I do if I’m SEE SPORTS, exposed to PAGE 7 COVID-19?

GRACE KENNARD SENIOR NEWS EDITOR After a year of quarantine, isolation, and a “dire” COVID-19 situation last year, a vaccination mandate has allowed many of the safety protocols in place to shift this semester. Here is an overview of quarantine and testing policies and current virus numbers.

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT LIFE

Junior wide receiver Jack Jopes tries to haul in a deep pass from Matt Rush during the second quarter of the Washington University football team’s 41-7 win against North Park Saturday. The blowout was head coach Aaron Keen’s first victory since joining the Bears last January.

Students report difficulty accessing food as Dining Services experiences supply chain and staffing issues KASEY NOSS STAFF REPORTER Some students have reported greater difficulty finding food this semester, citing fewer dining options and food shortages at certain locations.

These shortages come as the University transitions to in-person dining for the fall after a year of GrubHub mobile ordering and exclusively to-go containers.

Nationwide, the food industry is struggling with broader supply chain issues, largely due to interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Associate Director of Dining Operations Andrew Watling said this could account for the difficulties people are experiencing in the dining halls.

“There are definitely supply chain issues,” Watling said.

“We’re getting daily lists of products that are either short or we’re running out of, because we ordered 100 of them and we only got 20 of them delivered. It’s a little hard to trace back why some of these things are happening, but, for example, Tyson chicken was having shortages because they didn’t have enough staff working in their plants, and it caused a ripple effect that eventually reached the people buying their products, like us.”

For sophomore Anna MartinezYang, these supply chain issues have tangibly affected her eating habits.

“Sometimes, I have classes that finish around 5:30, and Ciao Down runs out of pasta, or a

specific type of pasta that I can eat,” said Martinez-Yang, a resident of the South 40 who often relies on Bear’s Den for dinner.

Junior Jada Grant said she has had a similar experience with campus dining this semester.

“Around dinnertime, at least one station in BD is closed and the others tend to run out of food quickly,” Grant said.

These shortages have particularly impacted students with dietary restrictions.

Ellie Perlmutter, a freshman who cannot eat wheat, dairy or corn, expressed her disappointment in the lack of options she encountered upon coming to the University.

“I kind of just vary between a couple things every week that I can eat. I’m usually stuck

between, like, four options.”

Perlmutter said. “It’s definitely disappointing. You realize how much comfort there is in food that it’s harder to get if you have a lot of dietary restrictions in a new place.”

Grant, who is allergic to peanuts and hazelnuts, also reported a decrease in the number of dining options compatible with her dietary restrictions.

“I’ve seen it just decrease over the years, and now it’s almost like there’s only five things that I can and will eat on campus,” Grant said. “It just makes it harder to be a healthy college student and maintain my mental and physical health when everything else is not that great right now.”

SEE DINING, PAGE 2

What do I do if I’m exposed to COVID-19?

One of the University’s top infectious disease experts, Dr. Steve Lawrence, clarified in an email to Student Life that vaccinated students do not need to quarantine and that unvaccinated students will be required to quarantine for 10 days regardless of testing conclusions.

“If a person has a known exposure to a COVID case and is considered a contact, then we perform post-exposure testing 3-5 days after the exposure if they are asymptomatic,” Lawrence wrote. “If, at any time, they develop symptoms, they need to be tested.” Given that students are overwhelmingly vaccinated and that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, these quarantine policies are significantly different from last year. This transition has created confusion regarding quarantine and post-exposure testing protocols.

Both vaccinated and unvaccinated students, if asymptomatic, will be tested 3-5 days after exposure to COVID-19. Vaccinated students need to wear masks indoors at all times around others and closely monitor for symptoms, Lawrence wrote.

How is testing being administered on campus?

Many community members were not previously aware of the free, asymptomatic testing available to all students in Danforth

SEE COVID, PAGE 2

Here’s what’s in Student Union’s platform this fall EMMA GERBER AND RISA CHEN CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS With a continued focus on health, equity and connection, Student Union’s 2021-22 platform prioritizes the same major themes from last year’s platform while expanding to address the student body’s changing needs as campus reopens.

SU’s health platform centers especially around COVID-19 policies, mental health and sexual health.

As the University loosens some

of its COVID-19 safety protocols this semester, SU’s platform commits to helping the Washington University administration publicize their new policies and advocates on behalf of students for accessible testing, quality quarantine housing and transparency.

“Things are a little bit more opened up relative to last year. Our role has changed a bit,” Senate Health and Wellness Committee Chair junior Nicole Leers said.

“There’s not a lot of information about when you have to quarantine, if you can get a test, where you can get a test, when you can

get a test. I think that part of our role has definitely been just acting as a bridge from the administration to students.”

The topic of mental health also featured prominently in about half of SU’s health-related goals and continues to be a major concern for the student body.

“It is absurd that there are students who have to wait weeks in order to schedule an appointment with Habif,” SU President senior Ranen Miao said. “We need to make sure that mental health is prioritized in the same way that we prioritize physical health.”

Miao’s other ideas for improving the quality of mental health care on campus, which did not make it into the platform, included ensuring adequate funding for off-campus therapy, making sure that WashU Cares is able to intervene during mental health crises and providing course credit and compensation to Uncle Joe’s and SARAH counselors.

The second focus of SU’s platform details a plan for promoting equity within the student body, with specific goals focused on antiracism, LGBTQ+ discrimination and socioeconomic equity.

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Regarding anti-racist work, the SU platform also specified plans to combat racism outside of campus, centering student groups and activists.

Senate Diversity and Inclusion Committee Chair sophomore Braxton Sizemore explained that one of the DI committee’s major priorities is to ensure that marginalized students are well represented in the University’s policies.

“I think my job as DI Chair is to support [grassroot organizations] and make sure that what they’re

SEE PLATFORM, PAGE 3

2 STUDENT LIFE

GRACE KENNARD & ORLI SHEFFEY | SENIOR NEWS EDITORS | NEWS@STUDLIFE.COM

theFLIPSIDE THU 23

FRI 24

SUNNY 74/51

SAT 25

MOSTLY SUNNY 82/56

TUES 28

MON 27

PARTLY CLOUDY 86/59

SUNNY 90/63

SUN 26

PARTLY CLOUDY 77/54

SUNNY 87/62

WED 29

MOSTLY SUNNY 82/55

EVENT CALENDAR THURSDAY 23 School of Medicine Farmer’s Market Hope Plaza at the School of Medicine, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Community members can expect to find local produce and other products at this weekly farmer’s market in the Central West End.

FRIDAY 24 Texas and the Future of Abortion Law and Reproductive Justice Virtual Event, 1 p.m.

Chair and Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Wanzo will facilitate this discussion with panelists Marie Griffith, the Director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics; Zakiya T. Luna, the Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in the Department of Sociology; and Susan Appleton, the Lemma Barkeloo & Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law.

SATURDAY 25 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival 2021 A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in Mallinckrodt Center, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The 2 p.m. performance will feature Zachary Stern’s play “Kent Styles,” directed by Pannill Camp, while the 7 p.m. performance will feature J. Myles Hesse’s “Decadents Gone Wild,” directed by Annamaria Pileggi. A discussion with the playwright and guest dramaturg will follow each performance.

TUESDAY 28 Kemper Art Museum 1 p.m.

A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in Mallinckrodt Center, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

This workshop, which is the second one the Sam Fox School Fairness and Diversity Committee has planned for this fall, will provide Sam Fox students, faculty and staff the opportunity to discuss topics of diversity, equity and inclusion. Interested people can sign up on the Sam Fox website.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF: Washington University is getting wealthier: The managed endowment pool grew from $9.6 billion in 2020 to $15.3 billion this year, the University announced this week. Be sure to check out next week’s print edition of Student Life for a full explainer on the endowment’s growth and what it means for the University community.

The STEM libraries have closed: The Physics, Chemistry and Earth & Planetary Science libraries have all closed, the University announced last week, with most of the collections moving to Olin Library.

If you have thoughts or reactions on the closures and want to be featured in an upcoming article, you can email news@studlife.com.

COVID, from page 1 University Center 239 because the University chose not to advertise it.

The asymptomatic testing center in the DUC is open 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 a.m.

Monday through Thursday and Fridays 8:30 a.m. 11 a.m, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Support and Wellness Kirk Dougher wrote in a followup email to Student Life.

According to Lawrence, the University administered 144 optional asymptomatic tests and 75 student surveillance tests last week.

Surveillance testing is currently only administered for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated students, biweekly, though some community members have questioned the lack of widespread testing. Several peer institutions conduct regular surveillance testing for some portion of their vaccinated student population, but Washington University has been reluctant to adopt similar measures.

“We want to encourage good behavior and the surveillance testing itself does not necessarily give us that and in fact that might psychologically actually prevent good behavior,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Anna Gonzalez said in an interview with Student Life earlier this month.

“The short answer is the public health approach is more about the entire

population rather than focusing on the health of any one individual,” Dougher said. “For the entire health population, testing more frequently doesn’t really help you to do the things that we pretend like it does,” The University is administering both nasal and spit tests. The nasal test is generally used for symptomatic individuals while the spit test is used for asymptomatic students, regardless of an exposure.

Dougher wrote “there are some nuances that would necessitate that nasal tests be used for asymptomatic folks as well,” depending on the contact tracing team’s assessment.

What are the current COVID-19 numbers and what’s the plan if they spike?

Washington University reported four active COVID-19 cases among faculty members and staff and 23 active COVID-19 cases among students in Monday night’s update to the Danforth Campus COVID-19 dashboard, bringing the total number of cases since Aug. 30 to 14 for faculty and staff and 74 for students.

Dougher wrote last week that there were no students in quarantine housing but that the University was “following nearly 100 cases, 50 of which are on campus.”

“We are monitoring

cases and transmission very carefully,” Lawrence wrote. “There are no signals yet that we will need to alter the mitigation strategy. Large clusters or transmission regularly occurring in situations where we don’t expect it could lead to targeted changes.”

Other peer institutions have already had to implement additional safety precautions including temporarily closing indoor dining, instituting a mask mandate and increasing testing frequency. After a high number of vaccinated students tested positive, Brown University and Duke University both recently announced stricter protocols to curb the spread of the virus.

If a similar situation occurs at Washington University, Dougher said that the University would be able to increase testing quickly, though staff shortages might cause delays.

“We’re as prepared as we can be, but there’s no mistake that there are staff shortages out there, and we did scale back our staffing to be able to accommodate that,” Dougher said.

“It would take us a minute to be able to spin it back up, but you saw what we did last year. I’m sure we would be able to do the same again this year.”

Orli Sheffey contributed reporting.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

WU rises from 16th to 14th in U.S. News ranking for best national university MEHEER COMMURI STAFF REPORTER Washington University is now ranked the 14th best university in the United States, two places higher than the previous year, in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking, which is published annually every September.

The rankings are based on a variety of factors including graduation and retention rate, class size, faculty compensation and more. The factors themselves often change or shift in weight each year, so it can be very difficult to predict how the rankings will shift from year to year.

“With U.S. News, it’s always a surprise,” Vice Provost of Admissions & Financial Aid Ronné Patrick Turner said, adding that she was unsure of which factors caused the University’s higher ranking.

Nevertheless, Turner acknowledged that the admissions office closely watches college rankings and the University’s place on them. “We pay attention to any information that prospective students and their families might be paying attention to, so that we understand the market perception of WashU,” she said.

For college applicants, the U.S. News rankings can be a major factor in their decision-making process.

Freshman Jackson DaPuzzo

said that college rankings played a greater role in his college application process than he would like.

“Honestly, [rankings] were probably more important than they should have been,” DaPuzzo said. “They played a large part for me when I was applying to schools.

With the pandemic ongoing and being initially unable to visit schools, the ranking of a school meant a lot more to me.”

Turner said that while rankings are important for creating a list of schools to apply to, they matter considerably less when a student is deciding which school to attend after being accepted to different institutions.

“Rankings can be important when students are making their lists of schools to explore, but we rarely hear students tell us that ‘I chose WashU because of the ranking.’ They are typically choosing an institution for a whole bunch of other reasons,” Turner said.

DaPuzzo and freshman Jacob Song echoed Turner’s sentiments, citing factors other than college rankings in their ultimate decision to attend the University.

“After getting in [to WashU], I visited the campus, and it was only then that I realized how great it was,” DaPuzzo said. “That ultimately tipped WashU into being my first choice…

Rankings didn’t enhance

that.”

“Part of the reason I chose WashU was definitely the prestige,” Song said. “But I’d say the most important thing for me was the amount of advising that is offered here.

That was the main thing.”

The U.S. News and World Reports college ranking list is often criticized for perpetuating the overvaluation of prestige, an approach that overlooks other more holistic approaches to evaluating universities. Still, many students find themselves taking prestige into account when applying to colleges, and the emphasis on rankings can add to this decision.

“Prestige was definitely something that I had to think about,” Song said. “I think prestige does matter. For example, when employers choose between candidates for job openings.”

However, Song and DaPuzzo both stressed that prestige should not matter more than other factors, such as fit.

It is unclear whether the University’s climb in ranking will have any tangible effect for admissions. Turner admits that it would be hard to predict if this will lead to an increase in applicants, but she also said that “it certainly won’t hurt a student’s decision to explore WashU. Any positive news about WashU, nationally or globally, is a positive thing for us.”

DINING, from page 1 “Usually, everything’s kind of gone except for Grizzly Grill,” Martinez-Yang, who is a vegetarian, said. “I could get the Beyond Burger, but I can’t get it every day.”

Despite these reports, Watling said the specialized dietary stations “seem to have been slightly more stabilized as far as supply chain.” He does, however, recognize that limited menu options and reduced hours related to staffing issues may make it more difficult for students with dietary restrictions to find alternatives outside of specialized menus. “I recognize that students who are relying on the Kosher dining program or on the allergen friendly program have less changes that can be made, and it’s a little harder to source alternate products for some of those areas,” Watling said.

A lack of specific information from students, however, has made the problem difficult for Dining Services to address.

“We have heard about it, but we haven’t been able to get a lot of specifics from any students,” Watling said.

“I’ve heard some general, ‘we’re running out of food,’

but I don’t necessarily know where they’re running out of food or what they’re really looking for. So we are aware of it, but it’s been challenging to address with the information that we have available.”

“We’re trying to find out if it’s a recurring problem or if it’s an isolated event, or to find out the problem so we can really address it and prevent it from happening,” Assistant Director for Nutrition & Dietary Wellness Rebecca Miller said.

Miller recently met with a student who said the Top 8 Allergy Friendly station had run out of certain menu items. “For this one example, it’s one day at eight o’clock, and I just learned that they are out of protein for the meal. So I asked if there were other similar situations like that, and they weren’t able to give me more information because they weren’t there at that time on the previous day,” said Miller. “It’s hard to know if it’s a continual problem or if it’s an isolated event.”

Some students have not noticed any food shortages on campus, further

demonstrating the difficulty of defining and solving the problem.

“Honestly, I haven’t noticed much of a difference in terms of shortages of food with WashU specifically,” Junior Amanda Thompson said. “Maybe other people have been noticing it, but I really haven’t.”

While the supply chain shortages are out of their control, the Dining Services team is currently working to address the issue in the ways they can, including finding extra storage space to stock up on items that might be an issue and working with alternative suppliers.

“This is something that we’re very aware of and are trying to make sure that we’re proactively addressing the concerns,” Watling said. “Our goal is to make sure that whatever supplier issues we have impact our community as little as possible.”

In the meantime, both Watling and Miller encourage any students who are struggling to find food to reach out to Dining Services directly so they can better understand the issue.

ZOE OPPENHEIMER | STUDENT LIFE

Students wait in line in the Danforth University Center at the WashU Wok station.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

PLATFORM, from page 1 trying to communicate is being brought to administrators,” Sizemore said.

“And there’s actual physical change happening.”

SU’s platform also advocates for the abolition of fraternities and sororities at the University. The number of students in sororities dropped from 1234 in spring 2020 to 294 in spring 2021, while the number of students in fraternities fell from 661 to 598.

“For so long, students on this campus have felt unheard, marginalized and have experienced violence because fraternities and sororities on our campus have been allowed to run amok without accountability and without constraints,” Miao said. “We have created a university social ecosystem where an exclusive and

NEWS

GRACE KENNARD & ORLI SHEFFEY | SENIOR NEWS EDITORS | NEWS@STUDLIFE.COM

disproportionately white wealthy collective of students are able to monopolize a lot of the party space on campus and a lot of the social life on campus.”

The final theme of the Student Union platform is connection, especially after a year of hybrid learning.

SU plans to host in-person office hours this year so that student representatives can better engage with the student body.

Miao also spoke of the University’s connection to the St. Louis community.

“As part of the WashU campus, we have to reconcile with the harm that we’ve done in the community through things like gentrification, but also ways that we can contribute to the community in ways that are not rooted in saviorship but

in solidarity,” Miao said.

Leers said she was hopeful that students could start to see SU as a vital link to all of the resources they might need throughout their tenure at the University.

“Something that I’ve really enjoyed about being on Senate is helping students and actually making an impact in their day to day lives,” Leers said.

Miao shared a similar hope about SU’s role at the University.

“I hope that we’re able to educate, to work together with members of our community to bring people along in our activism, to make people feel included and heard and to build an SU that, in perpetuity, will continue to serve students in the way that it was originally intended to and was founded in 1967,” Miao said.

STUDENT LIFE 3

Read about the University’s new data science major at studlife.com

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4 STUDENT LIFE

FORUM

REILLY BRADY & JAMILA DAWKINS | SENIOR FORUM EDITORS | FORUM@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

STAFF EDITORIAL

T

Make an effort to support campus events

he stress of the semester is starting to pick up; we’re going to start entering testing periods and crunch times. A great way to relieve some of that stress, even just for a few

hours, is by supporting student activities in whatever way you can. It’s been well over a year of barely being able to watch our friends participate in what they love to do. Let’s take advantage of that now.

Maybe it’s watching an a cappella performance or cheering on a friend at a soccer game. Perhaps it’s watching medieval sword fighting on a Saturday afternoon for the whimsical spirits among us. People have been waiting so long to do what they love, and many have waited even longer to do what they love in front of people they care about.

Now’s our chance to be as

supportive of our peers as possible and acknowledge the difficulties we’ve all faced and the patience we’ve shown throughout the last year and a half.

Many shows now include a virtual option for viewers, which is a great alternative for students who are unable to attend in-person performances or for students who feel more comfortable viewing online. And unlike the expensive Ubers and entry fees for off-campus events, many events on campus are free for students and don’t require costly transportation to reach. The accessibility of the events, coupled with the incredible talent of our community, should encourage us to look to student or other campus performances for entertainment on school

nights and weekends. If you’ve never watched a women’s soccer game or seen WU-SLAM perform poetry, now’s the time to change that. Even if you’ve never liked jazz, why not check out jazz performances at Holmes Lounge or at the WashU Jazz Festival? There is, as the saying goes, something for everyone.

This is the first year that both freshmen and sophomores have the opportunity to attend most events on campus. The same is true for juniors who were sent home before experiencing many of the springtime events on campus. So, seniors (and juniors when possible): Take the lead in showing underclassmen how to support our community. Encourage friends and classmates to

attend performances and games that you know from experience are fun or interesting. Upperclassmen are always charged in certain regards with leading student culture on campus, but this year they face the unique challenge of ensuring that traditions don’t get lost and that school spirit is brought back to all the places it once existed on campus. Underclassmen, too, have an incredible opportunity to reimagine what an energized school community looks like. A blank blueprint is thrilling in many ways. So, underclassmen, go above and beyond in attending events and supporting your peers. It’s been a while for many of us since our hands have turned red

GRAPHICS BY TUESDAY HADDEN

from clapping or our throats have become sore from cheering on our friends.

Now’s the time for red hands and (non-contagious) sore throats.

OPINION SUBMISSION

Let’s be great customers, on and off-campus EVAN JENNESS CLASS OF 2023

A

s I managed my way through the crowds to retrieve my chicken club sandwich at the Parkside Cafe one recent afternoon, I had a sort of epiphany: There are a lot of people trying to get lunch.

And yet I didn’t have to wait very long. Which means the dining staff prepares the food really quickly. I suppose it’s necessary, given that most students, faculty and staff may only have 30 minutes to eat, or are scarfing something down on their way to their next class or meeting. But this shouldn’t stop us from being understanding customers.

Recent stories of students being rude to dining staff

aren’t unique to Washington University; there have been numerous stories of rude customers in the news during the past several months. Items of frustration have included limited menus and slow service, among others. However, what many people don’t consider is that there is a national labor shortage (a problem too before COVID-19) with foodservice and hospitality being among the most impacted industries. While customer volume has largely returned, restaurant employment is still down about 12% compared to pre-pandemic levels, equating to 1.5 million jobs. Relatively lower pay scales, additional government benefits and unpredictable hours have left a dearth of staffing in the restaurant industry specifically.

The economic impact of the

coronavirus is real and only just beginning. Vice President Kamala Harris recently quoted in June that about a third of U.S. small businesses had closed since January 2020.

Well over 100,000 businesses have closed overall in the country during this time period, with Missouri and the St. Louis region hit hard because of low vaccination rates and the recent termination of eviction moratoriums. The on-campus Subway has had a sign asking for patience while they are understaffed. The custom ordering at the Bears’ Den stir fry and pasta stations has not yet returned due to a staffing shortage. At these and other on-campus dining locations, we need to be mindful of this and avoid complaining simply that the lines are too slow or that “there is nothing

good to eat.” We also need to remember that more of us are on campus than have been in a year and a half –– I know I got used to the convenience of not waiting in line last year.

But there are more concerns than what we might observe.

As a result of the labor shortage, many cooks, servers and other food service staff in our community and across the country are overworked. This can lead to diminished mental health and physical tolls, especially with the pandemic still raging. To add insult, some customers are making things more difficult as they venture out for the first time since March last year. One restaurant on Cape Cod, the popular Massachusetts vacation destination, decided to close for a “day of kindness” after an incident with some

particularly abusive customers made staff cry.

These examples all lead to a conclusion: that WashU needs to pay its staff better. This isn’t all, though. Consistent schedules are just as important: on one jobs site, the job description for one back-ofhouse position includes that “hours will vary,” giving few additional details about pay or schedule. Having worked in foodservice, I can vouch that inconsistent hours are not only an inconvenience, but cause stress when planning life away from work. For working parents, consistency is clearly necessary to arrange childcare. If an employer pays employees fairly, there should be no problem with advertising wages or salaries. As you may have noticed, prices of most campus food increased

due to rising supply costs and inflation. When employees are well-paid and well-treated, there will be less turnover and greater efficiency. We can hope that WashU will fill its staffing gaps and not unfairly leave the burden on the current staff.

In the meantime, we can appreciate the great dining options on (and off) campus.

I’m certainly excited to try the different dining locations on campus with in-person classes taking me away from the South 40 for most of the day.

At WashU, we are very fortunate to have such a choice.

While we ultimately can’t control the economy or the University’s hiring decisions, we can be great customers, supporting our foodservice staff by being patient, courteous and friendly. And always tip well!

Our modern-day Icarus: Girlbossing a little too close to the sun GRACIE HIME SENIOR CADENZA EDITOR

W

hat started as a seemingly harmless term of women’s empowerment in the field of business has turned into a phrase facetiously used to describe a woman doing literally anything in the name of femininity. Whether that be girlboss Kamala Harris being the first woman to have the opportunity to bomb the Middle East or Kim Yo Jong girlbossing her way to dictatorship in a one-party state, the term has bred a toxic notion of what it means to be a woman. As a society (maybe excluding millennial women), we

have officially moved past the point of using girlboss seriously, and I could not be more happy.

To really understand the term “Girlboss” we have to go back a few years to 2014, when Sophia Amoruso wrote a memoir titled #Girlboss. At the time, the term was exactly what it implied: a name for a woman who became the CEO of a company. But as time progressed and the “she”-E-O accolade became more widespread, the term was broadened to include all badass women attitudes.

It no longer represented a woman who hustled in her work place and broke boundaries but instead encapsulated any woman

with a driving attitude.

The most obvious critique of the girlboss movement is that it distinguishes a female boss from a “regular” boss: male. Not only does this support the problematic binary of cis man and cis woman, but it also reinforces there being a “main” group and an “other group.”

This is different from the notion of “man or woman” by instead focusing on “man or NOT man.” The gap between these two points is widened by linking “male” with “boss” instead of striving to diversify the word.

The girlboss movement seems to do the complete opposite of empowering women by bolstering this dichotomy.

and capitalistic narratives weren’t enough, the term also has uncomfortable racial undertones. The girlboss is a white, cisgender woman, and the “strong Black woman” is the empowered title for Black women; girlboss never included POC. It never included the intersection of race, and instead it focused its war strictly on gender.

Racism was someone else’s battle to fight. The movement was also tone-deaf to efforts towards women who wear head veils like hijabs, behavior likely influenced by misconceptions provided by the American War on Terror. Because the term lacks intersectionality, it’s common for the

self-espoused girlboss to also be the woman who focuses on the religion and “culture” of Afghanistan instead of assessing the US’s role in the region and the history of oppressive regimes. The girlboss movement justified white, westernized women pushing their views of what feminism is on others.

We’ve progressed past the girlboss movement for the most part, but we must be careful not to use another trendy term to the same effect. Social movements aren’t supposed to follow social trends. We’ve passed the dichotomized point of distinguishing between a leader and a woman leader, and to me, that is pretty girlboss.

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OUR VOICE: EDITORIAL BOARD Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.

Senior Scene Editors: Olivia Poolos, Julia

Editor-in-Chief: Matthew Friedman Managing Editor: Jayla Butler Senior Forum Editors: Reilly Brady,

Hoffmann, Jaden Satenstein

Jamila Dawkins

We’ve also used this term to justify capitalizing off of social justice movements and female ambition. It promoted the idea that if you work hard enough, you will get what you want, never taking into account generational poverty, education inequality or the unfair economic system (just to name a few). Corporations ran with this concept of womanly “grind” to perpetuate the capitalistic cycle. They were making money off of underpaid workers, but of course, it was in the name of feminism. The exact maledominated corporations that women strove to dominate were benefiting from this.

Way to stick it to the man.

As if the implicit sexist

Robbins

Senior Sports Editor: Grady Nance Senior Copy Editor: Grady Nance Senior Multimedia Editors: HN Senior Social Media Editor: Sabrina Spence

We welcome letters to the editor and opinion submissions from our readers. Submissions may be sent to forum@studlife.com and must include the writer’s name, class and email or phone number for verification. We reserve the

right to print any submission as a letter or opinion submission. Any submission chosen for publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Student Life, nor does publication mean Student Life supports said submission.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

SCENE

OLIVIA POOLOS & JULIA ROBBINS | SENIOR SCENE EDITORS | SCENE@STUDLIFE.COM

STUDENT LIFE 5

WashU’s race and ethnicity cluster hire continues 'We're out there looking for the best people in the world' ANDREW KASTELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER After four faculty members were recruited or promoted in the first round of Washington University’s race and ethnicity cluster hire initiative, the second round is well under way as the University continues pushing toward its goal to build a world class research program on race.

Co-chair of the second round of the initiative Rebecca Wanzo, who also chairs the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies department, said she was confident that the

University is committed to the program.

“I think they want to be a leader in studies of race and ethnicity, nationally and internationally,” Wanzo said.

The University will likely know this spring how many people will be accepted in the second round of hiring, Wanzo said. Several departments are participating in the process, including a pitch from the School of Law, a joint proposal from the departments of African and African-American Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality

Studies and a joint proposal from the departments of Anthropology, Biology and Architecture.

“I think that a commitment to hiring in these fields is a commitment to the fact that there needs to be more knowledge and scholarship in these areas because so many people are not informed about the history of race in this country,” Wanzo said.

One specific aim of the initiative is to hire people whose work is relevant to the unique challenges of St. Louis.

SEE HIRES, PAGE 6

COURTESY OF THE SOURCE

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Chair Rebecca Wanzo is helping to lead the second round of the University’s race and ethnicity cluster hiring initiative.

New sociology professor Zakiya Luna’s faith in sustained efforts of social change OLIVIA POOLOS SENIOR SCENE EDITOR Associate Professor of Sociology Zakiya Luna has early memories of her mother bringing her to anti-apartheid rallies and other protests.

“From a pretty young age, I was exposed to the idea that it’s important to speak up for issues that are affecting the world,” she said.

Luna carried that sentiment with her throughout her youth, eventually coming to study and write about social movements throughout history. In September of last year, Luna released a book about the intersection of reproductive rights and the often glossed-over activism championed by women of color, titled Reproductive Rights as Human Rights.

In spring 2022, Luna will start teaching undergraduate and graduate sociology courses at Washington University.

She is one of four new hires that joined the University’s faculty as part of the first round of the race and ethnicity cluster hire initiative launched in 2020.

Luna comes to Washington University

from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she worked as an associate professor of sociology and feminist studies.

She continues to be passionate about the history and future of societal and political development.

“I study movements, because to me movements are always about hope,” she said. “Because there’s some level of imagination that’s involved, because you’re imagining a different world than what is present right now.”

At heart, Luna is an optimist about social change — noting that even though not every protest happening today will bring immediate change, “sustained action over time” is what really counts.

“Something that might look like a defeat now, you don’t know [whether] in five years, it could actually have been a catalyst for a major policy,” she said. To illustrate her point, Luna pointed out the tumultuous path taken by Stacey Abrams — who went from electoral defeat to heading a major voting rights movement — and how protests about the Vietnam War eventually led to a lowering of the federal voting age.

In the same vein,

Luna is also optimistic about change on a smaller scale — namely, within WashU’s sociology department. In 2015, the University revived the then-dormant department and has since continued efforts to expand it, partly through the cluster hire initiative. Luna said she was glad to witness and be a part of this process.

“When you bring together people who have experiences from so many different types of institutions and different types of projects, and you’re committed to using that wisdom of experience, it’s really exciting,” she said.

Apart from the hours she spends teaching, writing and reading over graduate and faculty applications, Luna doesn’t have much free time. In fact, she laughs at the term came up, joking that as a professor, she isn’t familiar with it.

When she does get free time, however little it may be, Luna focuses on centering herself.

She enjoys baking, and spent a few years perfecting her pie crust, inspired by the Instagramaccount-turned-cookbook “Pieometry.”

SEE LUNA, PAGE 6

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6 STUDENT LIFE

OLIVIA POOLOS & JULIA ROBBINS | SENIOR SCENE EDITORS | SCENE@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Rooted in St. Louis: Professor Gayle Fritz illuminates the history of St. Louis human-plant relationships at Cahokia THOMAS HUMPHREY STAFF WRITER Humanity and plants have been partners for millennia, and every crop has its history. But not all of our leafy partners get their due credit; indeed, many of them have been lost to time.

Gayle Fritz, professor emerita of archaeology at Washington University, has conducted extensive research to uncover the history of these “lost crops.” Fritz is a retired anthropological archaeologist with a specialization in paleoethnobotany — a branch of archaeology which studies human-plant relationships.

How does one study plants that no longer exist?

In short: burnt seeds.

Paleoethnobotanists sift through ancient dirt at archaeological dig sites to find seeds preserved by partial burning. Once back at the lab, they spend much of their time studying minute differences in seed morphology.

Fritz’s interests lie primarily in eastern North America, but her studies have crossed the globe.

Her book, “Feeding Cahokia: Early Agriculture in the North American Heartland,” outlines the agriculture of the preColumbian Missouri Mound Builder society, which was located near

modern-day St. Louis.

Research into contemporary Native American societies, the descendants of the Mound Builders, has informed Fritz’s research.

She has been able to reconstruct some of the dishes that might have been eaten at Cahokia, including approximated recipes in her book.

“We go back thousands of years in our appreciation of societies in North America,” Fritz said.

Before the development of the “Eastern agricultural complex” of crops and the plant domestication in North America 4,000 years ago, she explained, Indigenous people lived in highly mobile

COURTESY OF GAYLE FRITZ

Sumpweed seeds were among the ancient plants that made up the Cahokia peoples’ diet.

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Fritz at Plum Bayou Garden at Toltec Mounds, Arkansas.

meals.

Domestication of chenopods happened independently in North America, though these varieties do not come down to us today.

Even as these crops have been lost to time, their relatives live on as weeds.

Lambs quarters, also members of the chenopod family, will especially prevail; you can catch growing up from the cracks in the sidewalk on Delmar Boulevard.

The line between weed and crop has not always been as clear cut as it is now, and Fritz suspects that these edible weeds were tolerated up to a point.

“The impact that it had on the diet was huge,” she said. “There would have been much more nutrition that was added to the diet from these plants.” Fritz

HIRES from page 5

.

HA PP I

hunter-gatherer groups.

In analyzing contemporary northeastern tribes’ cultural relationships to farming, Fritz has determined that farms of Cahokia came to be dominated by female labor.

“They were the botanists; they were the ones who understood the plants.”

Fritz recounted an interview with a woman of the Hidatsa tribe, a culturally similar tribe in South Dakota.

When asked if men ever help on the farms, “she laughed as if it were the funniest thing she ever heard.” Young men did go out into the fields sometimes, she added, but it was usually just to flirt with women.

By 2,000 years ago, the agricultural system used

by Cahokia was firmly defined and standard across the highly developed Hopewellian Mound Builder society, the wider cultural group to which the people of Cahokia belonged. At its height, this group — named for the Hopwell mound group in Ohio — stretched from the Great Lakes to Florida.

Some of the crops that made up this complex are still grown today; sunflowers made up a major part of their diet, as well as squash. Others are less familiar: sumpweed, little barley and erect knotweed did not have the staying power of corn and beans.

One of the unsung heroes of Mound Builder agriculture was the chenopod. These seed crops have made a comeback in modern years, with Andean quinoa now regularly available in campus salad bars and healthy vegetarian

Adrienne Davis, former vice provost for faculty affairs and diversity and co-chair of the first round of hiring, said that St. Louis’ diverse cultural history is a benefit of the program.

“Frequently when we think about race in St. Louis, we always think about the deficits, but when you look at the cultural aspects you really see race as an asset,” Davis said.

WashU is not alone in attempting to build a research program on race.

University of Michigan will hire 20 tenure-track faculty over the next three years who are well-versed in structural racism and racial inequality. Indiana University created a Racial Justice Research Fund to support staff in their research and host a Racial Justice Research Workshop series. Davis

stressed that WashU will have to compete for the best professors.

“We're out there looking for the best people in the world, but so is everybody else,” Davis said. “We’re going to have to really, really up our game, not only on the recruitment, but also on the retention piece of it as well.”

The program’s goal is not only to hire the best talent, but to hire scholars that can build connections, do collaborative work and be a support system for each other. While African American representation on the University’s faculty has generally risen over the past decade, Olin Business School had zero African American fulltime faculty in fall 2020, according to data released

by WashU last year.

The ultimate goal of the cluster initiative is to build up the learning

tolerates these plants in her own garden as well, adding that “it’s a lesson for our food production of the future, right here in Missouri and Illinois.”

Alienated as many living in modern urban and suburban areas are from farming, it is difficult to overstate the centrality of agriculture to ancient peoples. Fritz described the cultural attitudes toward farming as “a highly spiritual connection to individual plants.”

While spending hours looking at burned seeds underneath microscope magnification may seem like tedious work, Fritz makes it sound romantic.

“I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than some of these seeds,” she said “Frequently, you find wonderful surprises.”

and teaching of race at WashU. Wanzo believes that this goal will come to fruition.

“We've had fantastic faculty who teach classes that are incredibly popular, and students who've had a chance to do research and learn from them,” Wanzo said. “This is something that we hope will continue, and we know will continue with this cluster.”

Even though administration started the initiative and will make the hirings, Davis noted that students jump-started the process with their activism and advocacy.

“The students are the ones who are pushing us to get this done,” Davis said. “The students are the ones who understand that the future of liberal democracy in America depends on figuring out this original founding sin of structural racism.”

LUNA from page 5 Luna also centers herself through color. Her blue nails, blouse and keyboard cover remind her of water, where she always finds comfort.

“Water is life,” she said.

“Any body of water for me is calming, whether it's the Mississippi River or [the] Pacific Ocean.”

Lastly, Luna finds herself rooted in the people

around her. “Wherever I go, I build community,” she said. “And the reason why those things — like building community and sharing resources, for example — [are] important is that that’s what is building relationships.”

Luna sees herself as a part of a community that will work to create a sustained effort to educate

about race and society at WashU. “I think it’s really exciting that I’m part of an initial cluster hire, but there’s additional cluster hires happening,” she said. “It’s not just a one time commitment. . . there are people that came before me, but also there’s people coming after.”

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

SPORTS

GRADY NANCE & CLARA RICHARDS | SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM

STUDENT LIFE 7

Weekend sweep powers women’s soccer to No. 3 GRADY NANCE SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Keep taking shots and they will eventually go in — that’s been the strategy all season for the No. 3 Washington University women’s soccer team. So far, it has worked brilliantly. The Bears traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, over the weekend and came home with dominant 3-0 and 4-1 wins against the University of WisconsinWhitewater and DePauw University, respectively, improving their record to 5-0-1 on the season.

Consistent with their play all season, the Bears outshot both opponents. Especially against Depauw, whom they outshot 22-1, WashU pushed the ball downfield, created opportunities from their midfielders and relentlessly pressured the opposing defense. Slow first halves in both matches gave way in the second halves, when WashU’s shots started landing and confidence began growing.

The Saturday match against UW-Whitewater,

started with quality shots that couldn’t seem to find the net, as has become a theme for the season. Senior Emily Kaufman bounced a shot off the post, and Whitewater’s goalie made multiple quality saves to keep the game scoreless going into the half.

But coming out for the second half, the Bears looked the most polished they have been all season.

Goals from three different players, each one more spectacular than the last, showcased some of the best offense WashU has played, boding well for their upcoming University Athletic Association matchups. “You miss all the shots you don’t take,” emphasized senior Gabbie Cesarone.

“That’s going to be how we put away teams. The more shots we have that means the more opportunities we have.”

A particularly bright spot came in the 53rd minute when, after a Whitewater defender headed a WashU corner kick in the box, Cesarone headed it back to junior Riley Alvarez, who

herself headed it into the net for a circus-style goal for the Bears. “I saw Riley was still onsides but kind of lingering right in front of the net, so I tried to find her with that second header, and then she just got the end of it and redirected [it] in, which is huge,” Cesarone said.

WashU again came out slow in their Sunday match against DePauw University, falling behind 1-0 in the 13th minute after sophomore goalkeeper Sidney Conner got a hand on, but could not fully deflect, a shot into the top-right corner from DePauw’s Whitney Wells.

Starting with a chip-in goal by freshman Nicole Gulati in the 35th minute, though, the Bears took control of the game and never let go.

Senior Ariana Miles stood out on the day with two goals coming within four minutes of one another (66’, 70’) to put the game out of reach at 3-1. Junior Jolie Carl added another goal in the 86th minute to bring the final score to 4-1.

While the competition so far this season may not have

ZOE OPPENHEIMER | STUDENT LIFE

Sophomore Tyler Wilson (left), who has scored three goals and notched an assist so far this season, chases after the ball against a Loras defender earlier this month. been stiff, WashU has put attack game. The defense said. Still, the Bears have away teams they know they has also remained strong, yet to face a strong attack are better than all season in anchored by Cesarone at game that will stretch the an efficient and command- center back. “Thus far, defense. ing manner. As the schedule we’ve done a pretty good There remains much to gets tougher down the road, job of only allowing a cou- be seen about this WashU however, it will be interest- ple shots and really shutting team, but early signs show ing to watch how the team people down in the middle them maintaining the adjusts to teams who can of the field and not having program’s scintillating counter WashU’s strong to defend in our 18,” she reputation.

Football dominates North Park for Keen’s first win ATHLETE OF THE WEEK as a WashU head coach JOSH KUTLER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

In the Washington University football team’s first home game of the season (and since 2019), the Bears thoroughly dominated North Park University Saturday with a 41-7 victory.

The Washington University football team dominated its first home game of the season (and since 2019) Saturday, securing a 41-7 victory over North Park University. The team rebounded after a tough loss to the University of Chicago in their season opener, bringing their record to 1-1.

The win was the team’s first victory under head coach Aaron Keen, who undertook head coaching duties in January 2020 but did not step onto the field with his team until earlier this month.

WashU put up over 600 yards of total offense, with key contributions from junior quarterback Matt Rush, senior tight end Sam Fenske and senior tailback Emmanuel Ebirim.

The team played stingy defense, allowing only 202 total yards, limiting big plays and forcing key turnovers throughout the game.

Senior defensive back TJ

Perusek came up big with two interceptions while senior defensive lineman Noah Bryson finished with seven total tackles.

Rush threw for an efficient 313 yards and three touchdowns, completing 21 of 31 pass attempts. He showcased excellent ball security and awareness, throwing zero interceptions and making smart reads all game.

Keen commended Rush’s performance. “He puts the work in to prepare himself, he knows what he’s looking at and has done a really nice job with putting the ball on receivers and giving them the ability to make plays,” he said.

After the pandemic canceled last year’s season, Rush has stepped up after an extended period off and taken the reins of the WashU offense.

Fenske was his favorite target, recording seven receptions, 94 receiving yards and a touchdown. Junior Cole Okmin also played a huge role in the passing game, ending with 82 yards on four receptions and a touchdown. His 57-yard catch kickstarted the team’s offense after a slow start, allowing the team to put their first points on the board in the second quarter.

The rushing game consistently gained yardage, with 274 yards on 5.1 yards per carry.

Ebirim ran for a team-high 79 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Senior tailback Tennyson Holmes contributed as well, parlaying 14 carries into 58 yards. Freshman tailback Kenvorris Campbell also showed potential toward the end of the game, turning his eight late-game carries into 50 yards, dominating the team’s late touchdown drive.

While the offense consistently racked up yards, the team’s defense also did an exceptional job limiting the offensive output of North Park. The team was able to stop the run in early-down situations, placing pressure on North Park quarterback Matt Eck in long-yardage situations.

“We did a better job this week of stopping the run game and putting ourselves in a position where we could rush the passer,” Keen said. “That resulted in pressure, resulting in interceptions downfield.”

North Park was uncomfortable offensively all game, with only 4.0 yards per play.

The defense did an excellent job of coming up big in key opportunities, restricting firstdowns and creating takeaways.

The team continues their CCIW play next Saturday with a matchup at Elmhurst College at 2 p.m.

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT LIFE

Senior running back Emmanuel Ebirim runs over a North Park University defender Saturday.

Ebirim led the Bears with 79 rushing yards on the day.

LIFE

Collin Hoyhyta Year: Sophomore Hometown: Arden Hills, Minn.

Favorite campus meal: Wings from the DUC

Scan the QR code to learn more about Collin!

8 STUDENT LIFE

CADENZA JORDAN COLEY & GRACIE HIME | SENIOR CADENZA EDITORS | CADENZA@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Thyrsus’ Day of Shame creates theatrical magic in 24 hours LYDIA MCKELVIE STAFF WRITER Twenty-four hours, especially for a student, can sometimes pass in the blink of an eye. There are Canvas modules to complete, presentations to prepare for, family to call, online shopping to do and crushes to text, not to mention that ever-growing semester sleep deficit. But, for a few intrepid theatre lovers, 24 hours is plenty of time to make something special.

Thyrsus is an experimental theatre group on campus that specializes in site-specific productions and student-written material.

A hallmark of the Thyrsus campus presence is their annual Day of Shame, a 24-hour playwriting festival open to those with any theatrical background. In this edition of the Day of Shame, participants wrote, directed and performed four different short plays centered around the theme of a “galaxy-colored macaron.”

The weird and ever-changing theme is one of the elements that makes the Day of Shame so unique, according to senior Reese Toomre.

“My favorite part of the whole thing is how you never know what’s going to be the theme when you

show up,” said Toomre, who directed one of the evening’s plays. “I think the process of unpacking that is really fun.”

Experimentation seems to be the name of the game for many Day of Shame participants, who often take on new roles in the theatrical world as part of the event.

Senior Ren Klein directed theatre for the first time during the festival, as they felt it would be a low-stakes way to try something new.

“I’ve directed film before, but never theatre,” said Klein. “This format really gives everyone the chance to take the pressure off. It gives freedom to be experimental.”

For others, the Day of Shame is a way to fit their passion for theatre into their busy lives, as it was for senior Alice Nguyen, who acted in one of the plays. “[Day of Shame] is less of a commitment, and it’s a lot of fun! I really wanted to give back to the community and do some acting, which I love so much,” Nguyen said.

The audience seemed to share in the joy that the performers, writers and directors took in putting on their short plays. There was constant laughter at the witty writing and impeccable comedic timing. I found myself pleasantly surprised at how

HOLDEN HINDES | STUDENT LIFE

Freshman Sierra Milligan performs a monologue written by junior Marisa Daddazio at the 2021 performance of Day of Shame.

polished the final products were, especially knowing the state of my own writing done under a time crunch. Most

importantly, at least to me, was that everyone was allowing themselves to let go and have some fun with theatre.

The Black Rep’s ‘Sweat’ is more than just a season opener

SABRINA SPENCE SENIOR SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

The feeling of anticipation that comes with waiting in a theater for a show to start is one that can’t be replicated.

After a year of virtual performances, sitting down and watching a performance in person feels almost sacred; the walk to Edison Theater was like a religious pilgrimage and the act of sitting in your seat waiting for the curtain speech was like a prayer.

This is what it felt like to be back at a Black Rep show.

The Black Rep opened their 45th season with Lynn

Nottage’s play “Sweat,” directed by Black Rep founder Ron Himes. The show follows a group of people — some related, some not — as they navigate the interconnectedness of race and class in the midst of the 2008 recession. The characters must contend with less-than-ideal working conditions, the looming threat of job insecurity and work-place dynamics, but that’s not all.

The play begins with two separate but connected parole meetings featuring Chris (Brian McKinley) and Jason (Franklin Killian), the sons of Cynthia (Velma Austin) and Tracey (Ami

Loui), whose relationship is a primary focus.

From this first scene, we are then transported to the bar, where the show spends the majority of its time.

The local bar serves as a grounding place. The wooden bar with the beer on tap and the running theme of birthday celebrations with friends sitting around sticky tables with gum underneath them drives home the idea that the bar is a place to be connected with the people you care about. Within the world of “Sweat,” the bar is where family is, and nothing can seemingly break that bond. At the bar, there

are no individuals; it’s a collective. The myriad of storylines all meet here, because this is where the heart of the show and the heart of the characters live.

As an audience member, I found comfort in this; it made the overarching conflict seem manageable and less daunting. Yes, the uncertainty was there — and augmented by the inclusion of news coverage from the 2008 recession — but it was confined to a space that felt accessible, especially as someone whose memory of this time in American history is made up of playground disputes. I found

myself hyper-focusing on the characters themselves and their relationships. When they succeeded, I felt like I was succeeding, and when they failed, I took it to heart.

“Sweat” puts the role of the working-class individual under a microscope and asks us the question: What would you do if you had to fight to survive?

How would you respond?

The primary focus is on the journey and the aspects of the human condition that carry us to our final destination, whatever that may be.

It’s an examination of what happens when people are desperate, how that changes

people and what they do when they are changed.

After watching performances on Zoom or just not at all, “Sweat” comes at the perfect time. We’re adjusting to new realities and what it means to be an individual but also part of the collective. We’re thinking about what it means to be human and how we deal with uniquely human experiences—triumph, loss, disappointment. This season opener isn’t just the first show of The Black Rep’s season; it’s an example of how we make do with what we’re given and how we continue to make do.

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