Bod Magazine Spring 2021

BOD MAGAZINE Vol. 14 Issue 1

A Student Media PUblication

+ A disorder distorted Misconceptions of OCD

Getting a job during a pandemic Tips from Kent McAnally

For you page

TikTok and going viral

Vaccinated

My experience with the COVID-19 vaccine

Victoria Smith reflects on her time at washburn

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From the editor I hope those who are reading this find value in this issue of the Bod Magazine, whether it be from learning what OCD actually is or just finding a new cookie recipe to try out. The last year has been nothing like we could have ever imagined, but we persevered and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have received my first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and will be receiving the second dose in the next couple of weeks. I encourage everyone who is able to get the vaccine as well. If not for yourself, do it for the people around you.

As I write this, stories are breaking about the violence against Asian Americans.

We at the Bod Magazine condemn the violence against the Asian American community. Hate has no place at Washburn or anywhere.

We condemn the violence against the black community. Black lives matter.

To all people of color that have experienced any form of hate or racism: it is not okay and we will work to make our world a better place.

Leah

Jamison

contributors

Leah Jamison

Madison Dean

Maggie Cabrera

ethan nelson

Editor-in-Chief • Designer

Writer • Designer

Writer • Designer

Writer

copy editors

Advertising

Donna Whipple Crystal Hendrix Katrina Johnson

Leah Jamison Eric Patterson

Derek Blanchard

Regina Cassell

Photographer

Advisor

Cover photo by Derek Blanchard

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Table of Contents

6 For You Page 8

Getting a job during a pandemic:

11

Monster Oatmeal Cookies

Tips from Kent

McAnally

12 Vaccinated:

My experience with the COVID-19 vaccine

15 Misconceptions of OCD Victoria Smith: 18

reflects on her time at washburn

4 | Bod Magazine

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For You Page

by Madison Dean

In the last ten years, social media platforms have risen in popularity and usefulness.

From LinkedIn to Instagram, people around the world can connect with one another whenever they please.

Creators on platforms such as YouTube are able to make a living from posting content online.

Becoming a successful content creator takes time and dedication.

TikTok is one app in particular that gives regular people around the world the chance to make it big.

TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It started as an app called “Musical.ly.” This app was widely used by younger audiences to lip sync and dance to songs.

After being bought out by ByteDance Ltd. in 2017, Musical. ly was merged with its app TikTok, creating the digital phenomenon it is today. Currently, TikTok has the same amount of video diversity that YouTube does.

Users can watch curated content ranging from how-to tutorials to dancing to Vine-like funny videos.

The options on the app are pretty much endless.

The one aspect that sets TikTok apart from other platforms is its algorithm. The algorithm gives anyone, even the smallest accounts, a chance to go viral and gain followers.

Lily Thompson, a freshman elementary education major, 6 | Bod Magazine

went viral on the app in October 2020. Thompson started TikTok in August of 2019 and has had other videos receive impressive attention, but nothing compared to the video she posted in October.

“[It] was successful compared to my other TikToks. While the number is still growing, I currently have over 1.3 million views and 244,500 likes,” said Thompson.

Thompson’s viral TikTok shows

her lip-syncing the different days of the week from an audio on the app, while posing in different outfits for each day.

The app uses an algorithm to autofilter new and trending videos that people all over the world love. Many users have noticed the accuracy of their algorithms- seeing videos that relate to their own hobbies and interests.

“I think it’s fairly accurate with the things I’m interested in,” said Treven Broxterman, a junior mass media major. “[TikTok] scares me when I search for something and then the thing I searched is on my ‘For You Page (FYP)’.”

This is also widely seen over several other social media apps as well. Companies can buy an individual’s search information, leading to scary accurate ads and recommended posts.

Although the app has had tremendous success in the past few years, the credibility of TikTok was challenged in 2020 by President Donald Trump and his administration as they attempted to ban the app in the United States. Users were scared that the app would be taken away, but the threat turned out to be action-less. There is still scrutiny over the credibility of ByteDance Ltd. due to them being a Chinese company, but no further action has been taken to ban the app in the United States.

TikTok continues to rapidly evolve and add new features such as fun filters. With TikTok’s huge user base, it is safe to say that it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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Getting a job during a pandemic: Tips from Kent

McAnally

by Maggie Cabrera

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Graphic courtesy of Freepik.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world as we know it. One of the more important aspects of the pandemic’s impact is many people’s source of income.

Employment has been hit hard since the start of the pandemic.

Restaurants closed, schools shut down, and stores were forced to take a break. With the halt of many important businesses came unemployment. Kent McAnally, director of career services at Washburn University, spoke with me about the pandemic’s hard hit to the job market.

McAnally has been at Washburn for more than 14 years and has helped to guide students in their career choices.

“At Washburn, career services is what I refer to as a comprehensive career services office,” McAnally said. “We work with students who are trying to decide what to major in, what they want to do after college, or in some cases, they are looking for a part-time job. Beyond that we work with

preparing students for what comes next after Washburn whether that may be looking for a job or additional education.”

Beyond working with students, career services is willing to do its best to make sure each student succeeds.

“What we spend time on is working with students individually on resumes, cover letters, interviews, networking, class presentations on career and development topics, and sponsoring events that allow students to network with employers,” McAnally said.

Being able to understand how the business world works is always useful, pandemic or not.

College students are always looking for jobs with flexible hours and a wage that will help support them. Taking these factors into consideration, there is nothing better than an oncampus job.

With schedules to accommodate classes and many departments to choose from, on-campus jobs are an easy way to build a resume and earn money while doing so. I have two on-campus jobs. Both of them are filled with supportive staff and learning experiences.

One of the most important aspects of finding a job is networking. Networking is interacting with others to exchange information and to build professional or social contacts.

“Networking doesn’t have to be face-to-face anymore,” McAnally said. “LinkedIn revolutionized this idea about what networking actually was. At the same time though, we saw that the primary networking events were career fairs or job fairs. You show up in your suit with your resume in your hand and you go around and talk with employers you are interested in and leave your resume.”

Career fairs are an important

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aspect of job hunting as well.

Finding employers that you are interested in and being able to make a good first impression is essential. Career fairs open doors for those looking for jobs after college and are good for finding paid internships.

Washburn holds career fairs that are open to all students. Due to the pandemic, many career fairs, including Washburn’s own, have switched to a virtual format.

Virtual career fairs make it possible for employers that are on the other end of the country to participate in virtual career fairs and have the opportunity to meet with students from all over.

Finding a job opportunity is only half the battle. You have to make a lasting impression on employers.

“You have to look good on camera, you have to pay attention to your background, and you still have to be able to introduce yourself effectively and speak well about your abilities and 10 | Bod Magazine

accomplishments,” McAnally said.

“We have a ton of employers that are scheduling their own kind of get to know us events and those are all on Handshake under the ‘your events’ tab and you can register to attend those,” McAnally said.

Washburn offers a Handshake account to every Washburn student at no additional cost.

“We are connected to around seven thousand employers and that grows every day,” said McAnally. “Those employers are from coast to coast and even some programs and organizations are from overseas.”

With Handshake, seeking employment is easy and fast.

HandShake is just one of the resources that career services provides to job-seeking students.

“We have lots of resources that cover a variety of topics that have to do with employment,” McAnally said.

Going virtual last spring took a toll on everyone, but career services was still there for students. “We created a set of links that we thought were particularly helpful for the situation,” McAnally said.

“When you go to the home page of career services, right in the middle of that page is a link to a page of resources for looking for a job during COVID-19. There are two different sections for looking for internships and looking for jobs.”

Despite the current challenges, McAnally was positive about the job market’s outlook.

“We will get a lot of people back to work, but in the meantime, you have to be persistent and patient and that’s really hard to do,” McAnally said.

With the slow decline of COVID-19 cases and the increase in people who are getting vaccinated, the world seems to be getting back on track and the job market should soon follow.

Monster Oatmeal Cookies Ingredients • 1/2 cup Butter • 1 cup Brown Sugar • 1 Tbsp Dark Molasses • 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract • 1 & 1/2 cups Rolled Oats • 1 Cup All Purpose Flour • 1 tsp Baking Soda • 1/2 tsp Salt • 1 tsp Cinnamon • 2 Tbsp Milk • 3/4 cup Raisins • 1/2 cup chopped Pecans • 1 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions • Preheat oven to 350°F • Cream the butter & brown sugar together in a bowl then mix in the molasses & vanilla • Add the rolled oats, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon to a mixing bowl then mix together • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until the dough crumbles • Mix in milk then add raisins, pecans & chocolate chips • Roll dough into balls, place on a baking sheet & bake for 15 minutes

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Vaccinated:

My experience with the COVID-19 vaccine

by Madison Dean I have been a volunteer at Stormont Vail Health in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for three years now. Never before had I been asked to stop volunteering until COVID-19 made its way to Topeka, Kansas. Like most during this time, I was devastated that I could no longer continue to do what I love.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, people have been waiting for a vaccine. How long would it take? Would it even work? Who gets the vaccine first? It took time, but all of these questions would eventually be answered.

In December of 2020, just one year after the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, the first COVID-19 vaccine was given to a healthcare worker in New York City (BBC News). Frontline essential workers would be among the first to receive the vaccine along with those age 75 and older, according to CDC guidelines.

The Pfizer vaccine arrived in Topeka toward the end of December. After all frontline health care workers were offered the vaccine, they began offering vaccines to volunteers. I made an appointment to get vaccinated the same day it became available to me.

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On Dec. 22, I received the first dose of the two-shot vaccine.

Saying I was nervous was an understatement. After all, it was only issued for emergency use authorization and had yet to be approved by the Federal Drug Administration. However, I knew this was the best way to help others and hopefully get to start volunteering again, so I went and got the vaccine.

After the initial shot, I felt fine until I woke up with a headache and a very sore arm the following morning. It felt like I had worked out the day before and only lifted weights with my right arm. Thanks to some ibuprofen and sleep, I felt completely normal 36 hours after the shot.

My second shot was scheduled and given to me on Jan. 12, exactly 21 days after the first shot.

The next day I experienced the same symptoms I did the first time, only slightly more enhanced and they went away 36 hours after my second shot.

Contrary to what some claim, you are not putting “poison” into your body. In fact, the Pfizer vaccine administers mRNA that holds the instructions for the spike protein carried in the Coronavirus which your body sees as foreign, so your immune system attacks it (FDA).

Like most vaccines, mass vaccination is what will help stop the extreme spread of COVID-19.

Nobody knows for sure what the future will look like, but I am hopeful that the new year brings us even closer to the end of a pandemic that has plagued us all for well over a year now. Until we reach the light at the end of the tunnel, I encourage others to continue to wear masks and to strongly consider getting the vaccine when they are able to.

According to the Federal Drug Administration, the Pfizer vaccine is 96% effective against COVID-19 after both shots. Other vaccines are making their way onto the market and each day more people are able to receive a vaccine.

Although it may seem scary, the actual virus is not in the shot.

Photo by Madison Dean

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Graphic courtesy of Freepik.com

14 | Bod Magazine

A disorder distorted:

the Misconceptions of

OC D

by ethan nelson 15

If you were to take a look at the desk where I am writing this, you would see sheets of paper spread out with no organization, random textbooks from past semesters lying around, pens dried of their ink rolling all over the faux wood, and a paperweight shaped like a typewriter that has been turned on its side and is full of dust. Don’t even get me started about the innards of my backpack or the front seat of my Honda Civic.

Does this sound to you like someone with obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD)?

Probably not. When my therapist told me that she wanted me to take a diagnostic test for OCD, I was taken aback. I was messy, cluttery, and notoriously disorganized. I didn’t hate cleaning, but I certainly wasn’t a fan of it.

When we think of obsessivecompulsive disorder, our initial impression comes from pop culture references that have made the disorder seem like it is simply a penchant for being clean and neat. We might also hear the frequent jokes people make about being “so OCD” when they say they want their shirt buttons to line up just right. If that’s all OCD is, who wouldn’t want to be “a little OCD,” like some people claim we all are.

As a result, and like so many other mental health conditions, OCD is misunderstood. The National Institute of Mental Health’s website defines obsessive-compulsive disorder as a common, chronic, and longlasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or 16 | Bod Magazine

behaviors (compulsions) that a sufferer feels the urge to repeat continuously. From this definition alone, it should be apparent that this is something distinct from a mere fondness for cleaning.

My therapist took the time to explain to me a version of this definition, but I still felt hesitant to take the diagnostic test, called the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Survey (Y-BOCS). I had been dealing with intrusive thoughts for months, and they were getting to be severe in terms of frequency and the distress they were causing me. However, I didn’t see myself as being a “typical” person with OCD given my messiness.

Fortunately, my therapist was able to go over with me how my perception of OCD could be skewed by popular ideas of the disorder, and I soon realized that taking the Y-BOCS would be the best direction going forward for my mental health.

About one in a hundred adults in the U.S. have obsessivecompulsive disorder, which means there are hundreds of thousands of people facing the same stigma and misunderstandings that I have had to endure.

The biggest harm, in my view, that the popular view of OCD creates is that it potentially prevents a sufferer from seeking treatment.

Another issue is that even if someone is able to get treatment in spite of the stigma, their loved ones and friends might not be supportive because they buy into the myths. A sufferer might hear the same tired jokes about the disorder or the usual pop culture tropes distorting OCD and end

up questioning if they should continue getting treatment.

Dealing with untreated OCD could have serious consequences.

The Australian mental health organization SANE mentions that those with OCD face a risk of ending their life ten times the rate of the general population.

In addition, those suffering from OCD are five times more likely to attempt to end their life.

As a result, it’s imperative that those with OCD are able to find treatment for their symptoms.

At the same time, society needs to end the stigma and skewed perception of this disorder.

It would be helpful if people realized that obsessivecompulsive disorder is not a personality quirk. Research suggests that there could be real brain differences between those with and without OCD. According to the International OCD Foundation, those who suffer from OCD may have problems in terms of their brain communication wiring; the Foundation also mentions that there is likely a genetic component to the development of the disorder.

Another topic I wish more people would understand concerning OCD is the nature of obsessions.

Obsessions can relate to a vast slew of concepts: relationships, harming oneself, sex, harming others, health, and morality are some of the more common obsessions. There are individuals with OCD who compulsively clean; however, they do not want to clean—they feel like they must clean to alleviate the obsessive, intrusive thoughts they

suffer from relating to germs and contamination. Unfortunately, and paradoxically, the more an individual tries to perform compulsions, the worse the obsessions develop. This leads to more compulsions, which can then start to interfere and even derail a sufferer’s life.

This last point relates to another misconception I want to dispel— that it is okay to reassure someone with OCD about their obsessions.

People think reassurance is acceptable because, after all, you are making another person feel better in the short-term.

However, if you know someone with OCD, please do not reassure them.

A major part of treating OCD involves getting used to uncertainty, and so sufferers of OCD need to accept that perhaps whatever it is they have obsessions on might be true: they might be an evil person, their significant other might not really love them, they could die the next day from germs on that doorknob they just touched.

Overall, I hope this article has been both informational and inspirational. Those without OCD can help us with the disorder by fighting against the misconceptions that have slowly surrounded what we face. Removing these myths and stigmatizations can help encourage those with OCD to seek treatment, knowing that their mental health concerns are valid.

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Victoria Smith

reflects on her time at washburn

18 | Bod Magazine

by maggie cabrera Victoria Smith is a fifth-year senior at Washburn University. She is a music double performance major with an emphasis in violin and voice. In addition to working, reading, playing video games, and hanging out with her four-yearold Rottweiler, she is the president of the Washburn Student Government Association or WSGA. “I am really passionate about social rights and social justice, music, making change and just making sure my life has purpose instead of me just floating by,” Smith said.

To make sure she did not float by, Smith became involved through various clubs and organizations throughout her college career.

“I did four years in Sigma Alpha Iota and went to alumni status to focus on WSGA,” Smith said. “I am the vice president of Mortar Board Senior Honor Society and I am the vice president and noble founder of Gamma Phi Omega International Sorority Incorporated. I was also a peer educator for a while.”

From these involvements, Smith was able to gain experience in leadership and life.

“One of my biggest goals is to sing at the Metropolitan Opera- that is the biggest goal for most opera singers,” Smith said. “I want to break the stigma that music has for people of color. A lot of people of color, especially in Kansas, don’t go into music because they feel like classical music is not for them since it is a white-dominated genre. I want to break that stigma with voice and violin and show Photo by Derek Blanchard

“I want to break that stigma with voice and violin and show people that it is possible for people of color and women of color to do this.”

-Victoria Smith people that it is possible for people of color and women of color to do this.”

Smith has also broken down barriers as the president of WSGA. “[Victoria and I] are the two first people of color to hold the presidency and vice presidency [at Washburn],” said Mayela Campa, former vice president of WSGA. As a woman of color, Smith was able to confide in vice president Campa until she graduated.

“It is pretty great and is a big step for Washburn, especially because we lack diversity,” Smith said. “To be able to be the first [woman of color president] is saying something. It is a huge step forward for Washburn.”

On top of having to battle stigma and precedents, Smith and Campa also had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and classes going virtual.

“Victoria and I had a rough semester. We really relied on each other throughout our campaign and she often stuck up for me.

Victoria has been the biggest aspiration for my role, she pushed me and we were able to overcome many obstacles,” Campa said.

A big part of being president is all the tasks and effort you have to put into it. Smith compared her

role as president to a boss in a video game.

“If you think of my job in terms of a video game, there are all these different levels and there is an overhead boss. I’m that last boss you have to beat to defeat WSGA,” Smith said.

Coming from the position of budget director, Smith had noticed problems and was determined to fix them.

“I think I saw myself in this position and whenever I see myself in something I go for it,” Smith said. “I definitely pushed myself, but I also had a lot of support from people.”

Smith said the hardest part about being president was that there are hard decisions you have to make and hard conversations you have to have. Through being president of WSGA, she was able to grow as a leader.

A goal of WSGA has been to make Washburn more diverse and inclusive.

“We are really trying to make Washburn better and more welcoming for people of color and international students,” Smith said.

Smith is looking forward to taking with her what she learned about her leadership abilities.

“One thing I would take away from my position is the fact of how I got here,” Smith said. “I am not afraid to speak my mind and voice my opinion. I got here because I was not afraid to tell people how I felt.”

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