Return to flip book view
FALL ISSUE 2023The Rise of AI Generated Art & Music Barbie Movie Through a Female Lens
4 1628405064Issues & ImpactSTEMFoodHealth & FitnessArts & CultureStyle431763209758737035284123Table of Contents
5Story and Design by Camille Lueder, Issues and Impact EditorGraphics by Hayleigh Holcomb, Assistant Graphics EditorPhoto by Mads Muraoka, Assistant Photography Editorissues in ways that made it accessible for the public. Conradsen explained that her main takeaway from “Bar-bie” was a raised a cultural awareness that gender roles and stereotypes can be restrictive.“In Barbie Land where women were running every-thing, and men were just delegated to supporting roles like Beach,” Conradsen said. “It just illustrates how it used to be, like in a past society where women weren’t allowed to have jobs.”Those who believe “Barbie” has an “anti-male” feel, might have missed the whole point of the movie. Adams thinks some aspects of the lm went over people’s heads because the overalltheme of the lm was not just that patriarchy harms women, but also men as well. Conradsen said patriarchy enforces men to act a certain way in order to be accepted into society as a whole and prevents them from expressing certain emotions as to not appear sensitive.“There’s a storyline in there about how patriarchy is bad for men as well, and that men are being judged for feeling dierent things,” Conradsen said. “It brings important awareness to some things about gender stereotypes for men too, which I think sometimes people kind of miss.”The dangers of patriarchy can prevent people from having their own identity, like how Ken needed to nd an identity other than being Barbie’s boyfriend. All genders need to be encouraged to fully develop their identities sep-arate from societal norms, Conradsen said. Another theme presented is the double binds women face and feeling like they’re never enough, which America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, expressed in her monologue. Conradsen said the movie also did a great job of highlighting the self-doubt and imposter syndrome women can sometimes feel in the workplace.“Even Barbie, who’s the image of perfection, feels she isn’t beautiful,” Conradsen said. “Whereas, in the Barbie world before the transformation, Barbie felt condent, intelligent, beautiful and she was free of insecurities. But then in the real world, women are consumed because you can’t win, like no matter what you do.”Buoni said she took away a newfound appreciation of girlhood because in a way, “Barbie” is a coming-of-age story. When Barbie enters the “real world” she quickly dis-covers that this world is not made for her which women realize as they grow up, Buoni said.“You realize, this world is not built for me, people don’t want me here, so I need to work extra hard to nd a place in the world,” Buoni said. “Even though it’s not really fair and I’m just as qualied as everyone else... I can use emo-tion and logic to support my argument and that doesn’t diminish it, it empowers it.”Buoni said she believes the message of the lm is femi-nism and there are no hidden meanings.“I think it’s so cool that we get to have a movie where there are no hidden meanings,” Buoni said. “This is about women, so you can like it or don’t like it, but this is about women and feminism and our place in the world. I think it’s great that we don’t need to hide it.”Right, Morgan Whitley, Senior, and left, Ella Moore, Junior, pose in their Barbie outts.Understanding the Barbie Movie Through a Female LensReleased in July of 2023, “Barbie” has been a box oce hit grossing close to $1.3 billion and became one of the only female-dominated movies to rank among the highest grossing lms of all time.The movie was directed by American actress and screenwriter Greta Gerwig who intended the theme to be a critique of patriarchy, explaining that it harms every-one, regardless of gender. Encapsulated in its comedic and existential feel, “Barbie” highlights important themes that target patriarchy and teaches about the journey of self-dis-covery in the modern day U.S.To younger viewers, the lm could be dicult to understand, as many societal issues are presented. Some viewers also believe the lm was meant to diminish the role of men in society and has an “anti-male” feel. How-ever, an educated approach to the lm suggests that both patriarchy and matriarchy negatively aect one’s identity and neither is good for society.Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing, Whitney Adams, appreciates the use of satire in the movie. “When Barbie goes into the real world for the rst time, she’s catcalled, and she experiences things she doesn’t experience in Barbie Land,” Adams said. “It highlights things that I’ve experienced, in a way that was profound for the audience.”Along with gender representation, “Barbie” also raised awareness of things like patriarchy and matriarchy, socie-tal roles and stereotypes and personal identity. However, as Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies, Susan Conradsen, pointed out, seeing Barbie was also a nostalgic experience as she played with Barbies as a kid and found it interesting to see the old outts and dolls.Senior communication major, Emma Buoni, said that she liked the atmosphere of the theater she attended. “When I went to the theater, every single room was play-ing ‘Barbie,’ all the employees were dressed up like Bar-bies and every single girl and anyone that they brought along was wearing bright pink,” Buoni said. “They had photo ops, and everyone was just so kind and the energy was so good.”As the movie discusses dicult topics like gender iden-tity and roles, Adams and Conradsen found it easier to have those conversations after seeing the lm. Adams said the overall feel of the movie was comedic and nostalgic, but she thinks it served a purpose in highlighting dierentIssues & Impact4
6 Issues & Impact 7Keep The Bread To YourselfThe unintended consequences of feeding the animals on campusDesign and Story by Star Pompa, Issues and Impact Assistant EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, PhotographerImagine this…it’s a nice afternoon down at the park. There’s a lake nearby with some ducks roaming around, and as luck would have it, you have an unnished sandwich in the car. You go back to get it and you separate the bread from the rest of it. You start picking out tiny pieces and tossing them to the ducks. It’s a sweet sentiment to feed the ducks, but it’s a misguided one.Bread is high in carbohydrates and can cause a disruption in the duck’s bowel movements. This aects the environment around them as it can foster a place for bad bacteria to live. Any uneaten bread that gets tossed to them can get moldy and create deadly lung infections. If the bread ends up in the water, it can create algae blooms which aects not only the ducks but other wildlife that inhabits the pond.There’s a consensus of those who study animals and the environment that we as people should just leave animals be. Courtney Cooper, visiting assistant professor of environmen-tal science and studies, and Chris Mowry, professor of biology, both share the sentiment that feeding animals causes them to become reliant on humans for food. Human food is not meant for animal consumption. The diet of an animal diers vastly from ours and by giving them our food we can disrupt their digestive systems and unintentionally provide them with toxic substances.Mowry specializes in coyote biology research. He compared the consequences of feeding the animals on campus to that of feeding wild animals, like coyotes. In feeding them, a depen-dence is created on human intervention. It disrupts the animal’s innate wariness of humans and can cause grave consequences when the human they’re dependent on for food is not there, i.e. the loss of pets. A similar event could occur when feeding ani-mals on campus. Students and visitors can create a dependence that causes the ducks, or other animals on campus, to lose their natural abilities to nd food.“It causes unintended consequences and people are thinking that they’re doing the right thing,” Mowry said. “No wild ani-mals need to be fed.”The only exception to the rule would be the feeding of wild birds through the use of bird feeders; however, even this should be done in moderation. The best thing to do for wild animals is to leave them alone and limit human interaction to a minimum. We can examine the beauty of nature from afar. Canada Geese became one of two main geese species found in Georgia after we became a permanent home rather than just a stop in their migration.The male Muscovy duck is the largest duck in North Amer-ica and can be seen on Berry’s own mountain campus. The student to deer ratio on campus is currently 1:7. Deer can see best in low light conditions due to the physiology of their eyes, so the best time to see them is dusk or dawn. 76 Issues & Impact
8 9Issues & ImpactVisiting assistant professor of biology, Ryan Saylor, said, “We consume microplastics every time we use plastic.”Microplastics is a catch all term for tiny plastic debris that appears in the atmo-sphere from the breakdown of larger plastics. Microplastics bleed into every substance that touches plastic. Microplas-tics are often found in toothpaste, plastic water bottles, and food. Microplastics can be found virtually everywhere, especially in water and sediment. Because these parti-cles take thousands of years to decompose, microplastics quantify and greatly aect the surrounding environment, interfering with the course of nature.Saylor is passionate about the eects of microplastics, particularly in sh. Say-lor, with the assistance of Berry students, conducts research on microplastics using sh that come from natural water sources at Berry College. To test for microplastics in sh, they use 30% hydrogen peroxide to melt away the natural material and test the plastic that remains. To eliminate out-side variables interfering with the experi-ment, the scientists only use glass holding vessels when testing to minimize outside microplastics from changing the experi-ment’s outcome. The results have shown that Berry sh do indeed contain traces of microplastics. These plastics can be seen by using a microscope.Microplastics have not been proven to be harmful, though research is pend-ing. However, they can have carcinogenic properties, meaning they can potentially cause cancer. Microplastics can sometimes contain a mixture of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which can be harmful. Saylor said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not regulate the amount of microplastics, thus allowing potentially harmful amounts of microplastics into the environment. Plastic is a cheap, univer-sal substance that is used today for a vast variety of products such as toys, food pack-aging, medicine bottles, beauty products, and sports equipment. When these objects are recycled, microplastics make their way into sediment and water. Saylor added that polyester clothes are an extremely prob-lematic source of microplastics. When the quick-dry fabric is washed, the polyester bers are sucked out with the water and inltrated into the water system. Because they take centuries to decompose, the microplastics build up and make their way into streams, lakes, and revisors, which con-sequentially, aects humans and animals. Overall, the research of microplastics is new, but expanding.Lillian Barnes, Sophomore, Drinking water from paper cup.8Plastic cups released more microplas-tics when serving hot drinks than serv-ing cold drinks.A single tea bag can dump nearly 12 billion microplastics into your drink.9Are You ConsumingMicroplastics ByMistake?Story by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Camille Lueder, Issues and Impact EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, Photographer
10 11Released on Nov. 30th, 2022, ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is a chatbot devel-oped by OpenAI (Articial Intelligence) that allows users to rene and steer a con-versation towards a desired length, for-mat, style, level of detail and language. The chatbot can respond to questions and compose written content including emails, social media posts, essays, code and articles. Although ChatGPT may seem like a saving grace to college students who need answers for assignments fast, the chatbot has been proven to provide false information about certain topics and can be a threat to aca-demic integrity. However, the chatbot also provides many positives when it comes to research, studying and homework help.Provost and Associate Professor of Span-ish, David Slade, describes ChatGPT as a text-based, articial intelligence tool that analyzes and responds to given prompts. Because ChatGPT is an up-and-coming tool in the classroom, Slade said that many schools including Berry College are still testing the waters with AI.“Berry is a member of a group called the Council of Independent Colleges, CIC, so I put the question out there to several of them asking how they are engaging with AI on their campuses, and it was just so inter-esting to read what they had to say,” Slade said. “A lot of places are trying to provide something of a structure to help faculty members think through it and what ways they might use it. Several places have put on their syllabus that there are a range of dierent ways you might use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools.”Associate Professor of History, Christy Snider, has not received formal training on AI, but gains knowledge about the topic by following the ChatGPT Reddit Forum as well as listening to podcasts such as “The Marketing AI Show” and “The AI Breakdown: Daily Articial Intelligence News and Discussions.” Director of the Writing Center and Professor of Rhetoric and Writing, Melissa King, has also gained knowledge about AI through workshops involving other Berry faculty members.“I was a co panelist of a faculty work-shop through CTEFD (The Berry College Center for Teaching Excellence and Fac-ulty Development) in spring of 2023 along with Jen Ngetich and Lauren Heller,” King said. “We talked about the implications, transition, faculty response and just giving people a sense of what they might be up against. We’re all still trying to gure out what the implications will be for us, not just at the college level, but being a small envi-ronment in which we’re pretty connected to our students.”Professors like Slade, Snider and King have had to grapple with either completely ignoring ChatGPT altogether or teach-ing students the responsible uses of AI, its limitations and if it should really be used. Snider allows her students to use AI tools with guidelines.“I’ve given them four guidelines for if they use it,” Snider said. “They need to use good prompts in order to get good responses, they have to check everything that it says for errors, they have to let me know that they used it, and they have to be thoughtful about when it’s a good time to use it.”Snider has integrated an AI assignment in her HON 201 class, A More Perfect Union. It is a paper in which students must run all dierent kinds of prompts through ChatGPT and see what it generates. King believes that a frenzied reactionary approach to AI tools is not helpful and that it’s important to keep it in the context of other technological developments that have felt threatening such as Grammarly and Google Translate. She says plagiarism and academic integrity are her biggest worry about ChatGPT. Slade also believes that academic integrity could be threatened by the chatbot.“Our academic integrity policy, at its core, is about guarding the fundamental trust that exists between students and fac-ulty,” Slade said. “If you turn something in and you use a text generation program called articial intelligence to produce what you turn in as if it’s your own, doesn’t it violate the spirit of academic integrity? Probably.”Along with the possibility of academic dishonesty, ChatGPT may also be under-mining student’s full potential in the class-room. King said that she considers writing to be a fundamental part of thinking, so when a student doesn’t take the time to write they are in turn not thinking fully. She says thinking is a way of processing and creating and with assistive technologies, it’s hard to learn and grow when the answers are being handed to you.“If people are trying to skip the thinking part, they’re depriving themselves of the ability to process, synthesize and create,” King said. “There are a number of poten-tial steps where assistive technology could enhance you, as long as it’s ethically used and you’re producing material with your own brain.”However, the professors do agree that ChatGPT may have benets for both fac-ulty and students. Snider believes that stu-dents need to learn how to use AI tools now because when it comes to applying for jobs and working in the future, candidates knowledgeable about AI will be more suc-cessful. She also believes that by properly using ChatGPT, it can be useful as a study tool by making ashcards, organizing ideas and building on that organization. King said that with AI tools there’s an opportu-nity to teach the process of revision.“I think that it’s an opportunity, as with any kind of assistive technology, to have students work on developing revision skills,” King said. “I think that there’s some real value potentially in starting with something generated by AI and then building on it.”Slade, Snider and King all agree that ChatGPT should only be used if students are fully transparent about using it and they feel comfortable discussing their usage with a faculty member. Snider recommends ChatGPT to her students if they are prop-erly using the chatbot and they don’t vio-late academic integrity. Because the tech-nology already exists and will most likely be around for a while, King recommends that students become knowledgeable about AI technology and experiment with AI uses in the classroom and workforce.With Great Power Comes GreatResponsibility: Exploring the New AI Learning Tool, ChatGPT Design and Story by Camille Lueder, Issues and Impact EditorGraphic by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorPhoto by Mads Muraoka, PhotographerIssues & Impact10Jennifer Dunne, Sophomore, Works on a computer in BC Memorial Library11
12 Issues & Impact 13SPEAKINGYOURMINDPOLITICALLYHow often do you engage with political content on social media?Do you ever share political content on your social media platforms?Design and Story by Star Pompa, Issues and Impact Assistant EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorYESNOSOMETIMESIF IT’S IMPORTANT TO MEALWAYSNEVERPolitics govern many aspects of our lives, and as we grow, we realize the importance of speaking out. Being young can feel like screaming into a void. It can be frustrating to be talked down to and have decisions made for us by oth-ers. The best way to ght against this is to become civically active and make the change ourselves.Chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party, Jamie Palmer, shared some of his thoughts. “At some point, you don’t just want to talk about the problem. You want to go and solve the problem,” Palmer said.The best place to start in your civic journey is through social media. There’s been a rise in young people participating and speaking their mind politically through Instagram stories, tweets on X, formally known as Twitter, and Facebook posts. Sophomore Bailey Casey primarily uses Instagram stories to share infographics, which are visual images that represent information or data through charts and diagrams, on topics that are important to her. Casey was hesitant on being vocal about politics, especially after the tense environment during the 2016 election. She didn’t want to get into arguments and discussions for speaking out.“As I got older, I realized having no opinion is impossible and not helping the greater good,” Casey said. “Having those middle ground conversations is what’s going to help us get further along instead of arguing.”Just like Casey was, some students are afraid to post polit-ical content because of the risk of someone sliding up and having a hateful conversation. In a survey of 37 participants, 25 percent reported never engaging with political content and 32 percent report never sharing political content themselves. The best way to get over that fear would be to just start. It’s easy to put ourselves in an echo chamber of like-minded indi-viduals, but to truly grow and be condent in our beliefs and principles we have to engage with all types of people. Com-promise cannot be found if a conversation with the other side isn’t had.Posting on social media, specically Instagram stories, is the most popular method of beginning those conversations for college students. Ashleigh Ewald, Student Government Association president at Oglethorpe University, has only used her platform on Instagram to spread awareness and begin political conversations with her peers. She believes that info-graphics can be the best way to accomplish that as long as the content is something that the person sharing it is passionate about. When done for keeping up with appearances, it can become performative and ineective in the ght for change. The appeal of using infographics are the images and the information being condensed down into a digestible format. It’s easier to get engagement when something is eye-catching. With another student, Ewald began a nonpartisan organi-zation called Oglethorpe University Students for Democracy to replace the partisan groups on campus. This group aims to create an inclusive space where their peers can be civically engaged.“Centrally, we don’t focus on the party. We try to always say people over party,” Ewald said.Political engagement is important for Ewald as she plans to run for oce in the future. She’s begun a partnership with the Points of Lights Foundation, which was spearheaded by former president George H.W. Bush because of her platform on Instagram. She has utilized social media as a platform for free speech and is reaping the benets of it.We’re surrounded by politics from the moment we’re born, so why not get a say in the decisions that aect us and the rest of the world? For those who want to expand their participation beyond social media, there are local partisan groups in Floyd County as well as on Berry College’s campus. Floyd County GOP and Floyd County Democrats are always looking to reach out to college students and can be found on social media platforms. The path to change begins with our-selves and then in the community. Register to vote and make your voice heard. Survey of 37 U.S. adults conducted on Sept. 5-6, 2023 through Instagram stories.1312 Issues & Impact40.5%24.3%5.4%29.7%32.4%67.6%
14 Issues & Impact 15The Davies Shelters in Rome, Ga. has been helping men and women since 2003 by providing a safe place for individuals facing homelessness to stay. The Shelter provides stability and encourage-ment for the residents as well as provides counseling and encourages them in the Christian faith.The houses promote the importance of hard work and encourage residents to hold outside jobs. The Shelters also oer services such as a farm bus which delivers to people who are food insecure, a garden which sup-plies the bus and the houses with nutritious food, and case management assistance in legal matters.Berry students became involved with this lifechanging organization in 2021 through the Academic Community Engagement (ACE) program. ACE classes are unique, as they combine service learning with class material in hopes of beneting the greater community and giving students a chance to serve while learning. As a part of this program, students regularly volunteer at the Shelter through various classes. Acting Director of the Honors Program at Berry College, Coleman Fannin, has taught ACE classes and emphasizes the importance of service for his students. “To be able to reect on and write on [the Davies Shelter] in light of the material we are covering in the course really deepens their appreciation for course material and bridge the gap, real or perceived, between the theoretical mate-rial that we are covering,” Fannin said.Jessica Hawxhurst, a sophomore ani-mal science major, participated in the pro-gram last semester. The program made an impact on her and she gained a refreshed sense of what it means to serve others.Hawxhurst said, “One of them men-tioned, ‘I didn’t go to college, you guys stay in school,’ and it kind of hit me hard, but I denitely felt like I was doing something, even though my part is not huge, I’m still helping someone be successful and put them in the right path.”She emphasizes the importance of ser-vice, regardless of what the given project may be.“Even though my part is small, like doing simple laundry or making a bed, it’s making a bed for someone to sleep in… it’s not about how it’s making me feel, it’s how I can be of service and use my gifts to help someone else,” Hawxhurst said.Sophomore Emily Woodard, an animal science pre-vet major, took an ACE course last semester and the course positively aected her and her mission of service. Her favorite part about volunteering at the Shelter was meeting all the children living at the Shelter.“They didn’t know the situation that their parent or guardian were going through but it was nice to see that they weren’t aware of the situation and that they were still nding joy in the situation,” Woodard said.“The Davies Shelter is an example of creating a loving home. We can build a home, a life, founding a dependable rela-tionship with God, acceptance of others, condition of the self, and community of the world,” Woodard said.The Davies Shelter has positively impacted both the volunteer and the recip-ient. It is a beautiful thing when a commu-nity comes together to help others. “It is not something that has a one-time impact during the class, rather, it becomes a source for students- a vital piece of their expe-rience at Berry that they will be thinking about and applying for years to come.” Fannin said.The Involvement of ACE Classes With The Davies SheltersStory by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Camille Lueder, Issues and Impact EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorKelly Shea, Senior, volunteers at The Davies Shelters. She assits with preparing food and keeping the residents company.1514Issues & Impact
17171716STEM17 Stargazing at Stargazing at BerryBerry Story and Design by Brianna Mitchell, STEM EditorPhotos by Ashley Moreno, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorHave you ever looked for constellations in the stars? Maybe you are a pro at picking out the North Star, or always search for the Big Dipper. Many people enjoy looking at the stars, but don’t get the chance to engage in this activity as much as they may like. According to a study conducted by the peer-reviewed journal, Science Advances, many people do not have the oppor-tunity to stargaze due to their location on the planet.“More than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Ameri-cans. Moreover, 23% of the world’s land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S, 88% of Europe, and almost half of the United States experience light-polluted nights,” Science Advances says.However, Todd Timberlake, professor of physics and astron-omy here at Berry College, shared some fortunate information for those in the Berry community who enjoy looking at the night sky.“The skies are pretty dark [on Berry’s campus]. On a good night, a nice clear night, we can see the Milky Way. If you’re in the metro-Atlanta area, you might be able to see a few bright planets and a faa bright stars, and that’s it. So it’s denitely much better than that,” Timberlake said.few bright stars, and that’s it. So it’s denitely much better than that,” Timberlake said.He shared an opportunity that the Berry community has to take advantage of these optimal conditions, and how the department of physics, astronomy, and geology puts on “star parties” with assistance from the Society of Physics Students. “Typically what we do with a star party is that I have the observatory open for an hour and a half or two hours and I have a plan to look at certain objects through the telescope,” Timberlake said. These objects of interest range from the moon to galaxies, stars, and nebulae. “I let everybody who’s there look through the telescope and once everybody’s seen it, we’ll move on to a dierent object. A lot of times I’ll also do a tour of the night sky, like looking at the constellations, talking about how the stars move over the course of the night, and things like that,” Timberlake said. “It’s open to everyone in the Berry community, so any student, faculty, or sta can come. I am totally ne with people bringing friends. We don’t advertise it o campus, but if people have friends or family members that they want to bring with them, that’s totally ne. A lot of ofthe faculty and sta will bring their kids out there.”Timberlake also gave directions to get to the slightly hid-den observatory for anyone who wants to join in on a stargaz-ing event in the future. “It’s on mountain campus. If you go out past the Gunby Equine Center towards the Possum Trot Church, between those two there is what looks like a storage shed sitting up on the right on a hill, and that’s actually the observatory. The roof of that building slides o on rails, and then we’ve got the two telescopes set up inside, and so, slide the roof o and you can see the whole sky,” Timberlake said.The next time you’re searching for an interesting activ-ity to do on campus, maybe make some time to stop by one of Timberlake’s star parties. With a view of the galaxy and the stars beyond, you’re sure to see sights that are out of this world.Berry students attend a Star Party at PewObservatory.
19STEM18Season’s Harvest Story and Design by Brianna Mitchell, STEM editorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorGreens, beans, tomatoes, or potatoes: Season’s Harvest, one of the student-run enterprises at Berry, has it all. “It used to be Martha’s Herbs, I believe, is what it originated from”, Hunter Fos-sett, the Farm Manager for Berry Farms Student Enterprises, said about the organization. Fossett recently answered some questions about the enterprise to share with the rest of the Berry commu-nity. Among the information shared was the story of the way Sea-son’s Harvest came to fruition. “They started doing plant sales in the greenhouse over here by Westcott, and eventually someone had the idea of turning it into a student enterprise,” he said.He explained what types of plants and products Season’s Har-vest sells as well. “It’s normally seasonal. We do have unseasonal potted plants and succulents that we’ll sell all year round. Right now, as far as produce is concerned, we’ve got a variety of pep-pers. We’ve got bell peppers, jedi jalapeño peppers, some banana peppers, cayenne and habanero peppers. We’ve also got okra, and then we’ve got tomatoes as well.” These are the crops Season’s Harvest works with throughout the summer and early fall season, but there is also a dierent vari-ety for the middle to late fall season.“We’ve got spinach for the fall, we’ve got broccoli, we’ve got cilantro, we’ve got a variety of turnips, and then we’ll have carrots as well. We’re expecting to have a pretty full fall garden as well,” Fossett said. When asked about the best-selling product, he had an immediate answer: tomatoes. “We grow them and then we’re instantly giving them to cus-tomers,” Fossett said. He also mentioned the African Mask Plant and hanging baskets as popular houseplant items.As for where to buy the products, there are multiple options, located both on Berry’s campus and o. “We’ve been doing mar-kets,” Fossett said. “I know Rich Ferry is a big one we’ve been going to pretty consistently. We were doing the Georgia’s Rome Market as well throughout 19STEM18the summer for about a month and a half, and then we have markets here at Berry at the Westcott building. We’ve got our Berry Farms farmer’s market, where you can have a variety of what we sell at Season’s Harvest as well as our products from Jersey Milk and Angus Beef and Berry Bees and Blue Hen Eggs as well. We also routinely check and restock the Shipyard as well, so it’s available to sell over there. I’ve had students and faculty also just stop by my oce at Westcott and we can do transactions there as well.”Fossett then walked me through the process of growing plants and produce. “We’ll till the garden, we’ll pick the loca-tion in which we want to plant, we’ll till the land, add some natural, organic compost…to add nutrients to the soil, and then we’ll begin planting.”“We’ll have direct sown seeds, which are mostly more sturdy root plants that can go straight into the ground, and then the more delicate crops like broccoli and cabbage and things like that that need time to sort of acclimate so that they’ll be trans-planted into the ground after a couple of weeks. And then, once it’s in the ground, you’re looking at, depending on what the crop is, sometimes a few weeks, sometimes a month or so until it’s ready to be harvested and then we’ll harvest and then immediately sell it at markets.”Fossett explained the steps the enterprise takes to make sure the crops are safe, fresh, and nutritious for eaters to enjoy. “We are constantly maintaining the produce that we have, so after we harvest we’ll wash them, we’ll store them in our walk-in freezer that is kept at a temperature of about forty degrees; that’s typically the tem-perature that will maintain freshness for the produce. We constantly have people checking on the freshness, so we’ll bag them up, we’ll put them in these fridges, and then we’ll have people come in. Our students will come in and take them out of the bag, inspect them, make sure they’re fresh… anything that has blemishes or anything like that will not be sold,” Fossett said.Fossett then told me more about how Season’s Harvest enriches the soil to naturally enhance their crops. They use a compost of leaves and organic matter to give the soil an extra boost of nutrients. “We’re making sure that everything is done naturally…that’s the way to ensure that it is safe and clean, while it’s being raised in the dirt, and then once it’s harvested, we do our part by maintaining and inspecting and making sure the produce is fresh,” Fossett said.Research studies show that local produce, as opposed to typical supermarket produce, is better for overall health. Foodrevolution.org says that local food retains more nutrients than food that is shipped from long dis-tances since it is allowed to ripen naturally rather than being picked prematurely for the sake of time. In black-berries, for example, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that anthocyanin pigments, which have multiple human health benets, increased by 400% as the fruit ripened to its full extent. Additionally, local farmers use a signicantly decreased amount of pesticides than those used on mass-produced farms, if any at all. The lack of chemical substances makes for healthier food products, and for a healthier consumer. This type of food is both more natural and substantial, for the environment and for your body. Luckily for us here at Berry College, we have home-grown produce just around the corner at Season’s Harvest. Succulents from Season’s Harvest Plant from Season’s Harvest
20 21STEMWritten by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Brianna Mitchell, STEM editorPhoto by Tanner Huey, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorBoyd gave great advice when asked about internet safety tips. He said that getting a password manager is a fantastic way to keep passwords secure and unique. Plus, you only have to remember one password. Other advice included treating every email as suspicious, until proven otherwise. Being wary of unexpected emails is especially pertinent. He warns against clicking links and downloads—cyber criminals can steal your information if you do so. Oftentimes, hackers will pretend to be banks needing their customers to click a link to take care of important business. Boyd said that your bank will never email you asking for you to click links. He said to instead go to your bank portal and see if there is an action that needs to be taken if you get an email from your bank. “Email is like a rearm,” Boyd said. “It is great when it works, but extreme damage comes when it is misused.” Internet safety is vital in order for sensitive information not to be leaked to hackers with malicious intent. Boyd gave many practical tips to help ward against hackers. Overall, internet safety is a serious matter and major consequences come when security is neglected. STAY SAFE ONLINE!ACCEPTCOOKIES? Internet Safety: From Tracking Cookies to Cloud Storage“If the service is free, you’re the product.” These words were spoken by Berry’s director of security, Daniel Boyd. Boyd, director of security who has worked at Berry for 29 years, talked about the importance of internet safety and the importance of staying secure online. He explained internet cookies and how websites use them to entice viewers into buying assorted products that cater to their interests based on the algorithm of their search history. Boyd said that information, such as search history and where you have been on the site, is stored inside of the cookies as a string of data. Regarding if it’s okay to hit ‘accept’ or ‘deny’ all when prompted about cookie preferences, Boyd said if the website is credible and you desire for your experience on the website to be directly catered to you (I.e. ads), then it is perfectly acceptable for you to ‘accept all.’ If you do not desire for your information to be stored, then be sure to ‘deny all’ when prompted. He warned against allowing uncredible websites to store personal information and he strongly advises against allowing cookies on these sites. Boyd said that cloud storage is a useful and lifechanging inven-tion. According to an article from Amazon.com, storage is dened as “a cloud computing model that enables storing data and les on the internet through a cloud computing provider that you access either through the public internet or a dedicated private network connection.” enExamples of cloud storage are Google Drive and Micro-soft OneDrive. The invention of cloud storage has changed the world of interconnectivity and provided universal understanding. Boyd emphasizes that cloud storage is secure if passwords are kept complex and private. by Berry’s director of security, Dan-iel Boyd. Boyd, director of security who has worked at Berry for 29 years, talked about the importance of internet safety and the importance of staying secure online. He explained internet cookies and how websites use them to entice viewers into buying assorted products that cater to their interests based on the algorithm of their search history. Boyd said that information, such as search history and where you have been on the site, Story by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Brianna Mitchell, STEM EditorPhoto by Tanner Huey, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorSTEM20 STEM
22 23STEM Story By Brianna Mitchell, STEM EditorDesign by Brianna MitchellPhotos by Mads Muraoka23STEM2222Even if you’re not a science major, you have probably walked through the campus’ McAllister building, commonly called “Mac”, and observed the large, swinging structure in the middle of the building’s lobby. While many of us have observed the pendulum and watched it sway side to side, how many of us know why it is there? McAllister’s pendulum, which was installed in January 2001 in conjunction with the opening of the building, is what is called a Foucault pendulum, and Dr. Timberlake, professor of Physics and Astronomy, happens to know a great deal about its’ signicance and mechanics. “The kind of interesting thing about the Foucault pendulum is that, when you think about a pendulum swinging back and forth…it swings in a plane, and what happens with the Foucault pendulum is that over long enough periods of time, that plane will rotate. That’s what we call the procession of the plane of rotation of the pendulum,” Timberlake said. “It kind of turns so that instead of swinging back and forth in the same plane, that plane that it is swinging back and forth in is sort of gradually turning, and that actually demonstrates the rotation of the Earth.” Dr. Timberlake further explained some of the terminology he uses to teach the science behind the pendulum. “If I talk about procession, then I’m talking about [how] if the pendulum is swinging back and forth in the plane, then that plane slowly rotates. If you were at the North Pole, then it would take twenty-four hours for that to go all the way around. At Rome, it takes something like forty-something, forty-two hours to go all the way around. You’ve got the two things going on at once; you’ve got the oscillation of just the pendulum swinging back and forth, but then also the plane in which it is oscillating is rotating around.”Timberlake then explained more about the time span of the oscil-lation and procession. “Our pendulum swings back and forth in about eight seconds, but it takes over forty hours for the procession to go all the way around. It’s kind of hard to see those things at the same time. The procession is so slow that you’d really have to stand there and watch it for hours in order for it to noticeably shift.”“If you were at the North Pole, it would basically take twenty-four hours for that plane of oscillation to process all the way around. The Earth is rotating underneath it once every twenty-four hours. When you get away from the North Pole it gets a little more complicated because now not only is the Earth rotating, but the pendulum itself is being dragged around in a big circle by the rotation of the Earth.So, that aects the motion a little bit, such that it takes longer for the plane of the pendulum’s oscillation to process all around. Here at our latitude in Rome, Georgia, we’re at about thir-ty-ve degrees north latitude, it takes a little over forty hours to go all the way around, so longer than the twenty-four hours it would take at the North Pole. If you were to go all the way to the equator, then on the equator the pendulum doesn’t process at all, so you can think of it as it takes an innite amount of time to process all the way around. So it goes from a minimum of twenty four hours at the North Pole to maximum of innity at the equator. If you continue into the southern hemisphere, then it actually just starts processing in the opposite direction, and again, twenty-four hours at the South Pole, and then innity at the equator. So basically, the procession of the oscillation of the pendulum demonstrates the rotation of the Earth,” Timberlake said. The Focault pendulum was invented by a French physicist and instrument designer named Jean Bernard Léon Foucault. The rst demonstration of the instrument occurred in the Paris Observatory in 1850, followed by another in the Pantheon of Paris a few weeks later. It was revolutionary in demonstrating the rotation of the Earth and easily educating the general public. Over time, the Focault pendulum has been incorporated into many dierent academic buildings and museums throughout the world, including Berry College’s McAllister building, to teach spectators about the phenomenon of the Earth’s rotation. McCallister Pendelum (top view)Michael Simmons, Freshman,admires pendelumKatrina Mack, Sophomore, observes pendelum
24 25STEMResearch onthe Wildlife of Berry CampusBerry College is the largest college campus in the world, measuring around 27,000 acres. Much of Berry College’s land is made up of the natural environment, ranging from forests to rivers to mountains. Within these environments lives an extremely biodiverse collection of ora and fauna. As a center for learning and education, many science departments at Berry College have studied dierent species living on Berry College’s land. Chris Hall, associate professor of biology, leads research on the raccoon population at Berry College. Hall specializes in parasites and disease ecology, specic parasites in the Southeast, the cycle of transmission, and vertical transmission of diseases. As wild raccoons are often aected by parasites, Hall is able to compare gen-erations of raccoons as well as raccoons to other marsu-pial animals. Hall’s research often works with the Center for Dis-ease Control and Prevention. Students at Berry are able to learn valuable lessons about diseases and the inter-connectivity of the environment, as well as learn to col-laborate with others during research. Chris Mowry, professor of biology, works on research on coyotes. Mowry’s research focuses on the broader ecosystem of Berry. Mowry looks at how dierent ani-mals interact and how each species is critical to Berry’s ecosystem. The research looks at the diet, home-range, and behavior of the local coyotes. Mowry has used this research to put protective measures into place for the coyotes during hunting season. Mowry’s main focus while researching is the importance of each species at Berry College, and how they all impact each other. George Gallagher, past animal science professor, had studied white-tailed deer at Berry College. Gallagher researched the behavior of deer, and how the deer’s behavior changed when being observed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Gallagher’s research was criti-cal in discovering how human interaction and technol-ogy can impact deer. Gallagher’s research helped pro-vide future researchers with new ways to observe deer populations. Over the years, Berry has been host to several other studies on the local wildlife. The population of snakes has been measured using cameras as an indicator of the health of Berry forest’s health. The migration pattern of birds is tracked by tagging birds and using a machine to record when tagged birds pass through Berry’s campus.birds and using a machine to record when tagged birds pass through Berry’s campus. Berry College has been an ideal place for students and professors alike to research, given the wide range of biodi-versity. Due to these studies, Berry is able to help contrib-ute to the overall knowledge of wildlife and ecosystems and provides unique opportunities for students to expand their knowledge.Story by Anna Wade, WriterDesign by Brianna Mitchell, STEM EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, PhotographerDeer on Berry’s CampusMother and FawnWhite-Tailed Deer
26 27STEM.ECLIPSE ON THE MOUNTaINStory and Design by Brianna Mitchell, STEM EditorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, Asst. Photography EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorAlthough in that case, it will be closer to 90% coverage of the sun’s disc. So sort of a more substantial partial eclipse, but still just a partial eclipse, but that eclipse in April will actually be a total eclipse as seen from other locations,” Timberlake said. He then explained why you partial eclipses occur in some locations as opposed to total eclipses. “The reason you get those two kinds of eclipses is that the distance between the Earth and the moon changes. So the moon’s orbit around the Earth is an ellipse, and depending on where it is in that ellipse, it can be either a little bit further away from us or a little bit closer to us. On October 14th, the moon was on a part of its orbit from Earth, which makes it look smaller, and that means it wasn’t big enough to completely cover the sun, and so you get the annular eclipse,” Timberlake said. “On April 8th, it’s going to be on a part of its orbit that’s a little closer to Earth. That makes it look bigger, and so it will actually be big enough to completely block out the sun if you’re standing right in the middle of the shadow,” Timberlake said. In other words, if you found the eclipse on Mountain Day interesting, make sure to check out the one this spring on April 8th as well! On Mountain Day this year, there was an unusual occurrence. While the annual grand march and picnic hap-pened, there was also an event occurring in the sky. Todd Timberlake, professor of physics and astronomy, shared information about the eclipse that marked this year’s Mountain Day. “The [eclipse] on October 14, on Mountain Day, is an example of what’s called an annular eclipse, which means if you were in the right place, what you would see is…the silhouette of the moon… blocking the middle part of the sun, but the outer edges of the sun would still peek out around the moon with what some people call a ‘ring of re’”, Timberlake said. “In order to see that annular eclipse, you would’ve had to be in just the right place, right on the path of the center of the moon’s shadow, and we were not right on that path. We were a fair way’s o of it, so what we saw instead was just what you would call a partial eclipse, where the moon kind of at most ending up blocking about half of the disc of the sun,” Timberlake stated. “There will be a similar thing in April. So April 8th of next year, there’s another solar eclipse that will be visible from here, but again it will just be a partial eclipse as seen from Berry.Mountain Day goers watching eclipse.Attendees used special glasses to watch the eclipse.STEM2726
28 29FoodBUDGETING BITESStory by Princess Anderson, WriterDesign by Lauren Yelverton, Food Editor and Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics Editor and Hayleigh Holcomb, Assistant Graphics EditorAlmost every Berry student is familiar with the currency known as Flex Bucks that can be used to purchase items from the Viking Court or coee shops on campus. Their main purpose is to provide students with a specic amount of money in addition to their Din-ing Hall swipes to purchase snacks, meals, or beverages. The ways that students choose to spend their Flex Bucks and their reasons for doing so vary greatly. The Viking Court consists of a Chick-Fil-A, Freshens, Berry Bean’ry, Subway, and P.O.D. Market. The other place to spend Flex Bucks on Berry’s campus is Java City, which is the coee shop located in the library. According to a poll conducted on Instagram among Berry students, the way that students spend their Flex Bucks varies, but there are a few leading favorites. The results concluded that, out of the 50 students who voted, 38% of students spend the majority of their Flex Bucks on Chick-Fil-A, 10% spend theirs on Freshens, 0% spend theirs on Subway, and the other 52% spend theirs on a combination of the Bean’ry, Java City, and snacks. While some use their Flex Bucks for the convenience, others said that they spend them when they don’t want to eat at the Dining Hall that day.Another freshman, Victoria McCalep, explained her experience with Flex Bucks so far. “I’ve only used it once, and it was for Chick-Fil-A”. McCalep said. “I was just craving it, so I went.” Not only do Flex Bucks oer a quick and easy way to buy food and drinks on campus, they also give students the opportunity to enjoy some of their favorite foods more often and take a break from the Dining Hall. No matter what individual preferences students may have, they’re almost guaranteed to nd something that they enjoy. Whether you’re looking for an afternoon pick-me-up from Java City, a grilled cheese and smoothie at Freshens, or are craving some Chick-Fil-A, your Flex Bucks are ready for you.Freshman Olivia Johnson said that she mainly used her Flex Bucks to purchase Chick-Fil-A, Subway, and the Bean’ry. “I go to D-Hall most of the time and use my meal plan, and I only use my Flex Bucks when I have to go somewhere fast,” Johnson said. She explained that she usually goes to Viking Court or the coee shop in the morning before classes. “For me, it’s like early morning right before my 8 a.m. classes, so I get here around 7 a.m. and get some stu and then eat it quickly before I run out of time.” Another freshman, Kris Williams, is also adapting to the routine of using Flex Bucks. “When I go to the Viking Court, I get apple juice or something else to drink for the day. I don’t really use it for snacks,” Williams said. “I did use it for Subway because I didn’t want to go to the Dining Hall that day, but it’s like once a week or every other week”. CHICK-FIL-A (38%)FRESHENS (10%)SUBWAY (0%)BEAN’RY, JAVA CITY, SNACKS (52%)
30 Food 31Soup for the SoulStory by Lauren Yelverton, Food Editor, and Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorPhotos by Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorSoup is a quintessential food for the fall and winter seasons. It is both a warm and comforting meal, making it perfect for consumption on cold days. Some people may wish to try dierent types of soup than they are used to, however. With that in mind, here are three soup recipes to try during these cold seasons.Vegetable Soup 16 oz can Crushed Tomatoes 1 can Water 1 large Onion, chopped 1 Carrot, thinly sliced 4 stalks chopped Celery 4-5 washed, peeled, and chopped Potatoes 8 oz can Tomato Sauce 8 oz can Whole Kernel Corn 8 oz can Green Beans 4 cups of Water, if needed 1 teaspoon Season Salt ¼ cup (½ a stick) of Butter Optional: 1 lb. Ground Beef* and 1 tablespoon Olive Oil*Cooked separately before being added to the soup. For the crockpot, add it in with the rest of the ingredients. For the stove, add it in after the onions.Cooking with a Crockpot: Combine ingredients into a crockpot and cook on high for 5-6 hours.Cooking on the Stove: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions a sauté while occasionally stirring for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients a stir to combine. When the soup comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the soup. Allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Italian Pastina Soup 10 cups of Water, OR 6 cups of Water and 4 cups of Chicken or Vegetable broth 2-3 Celery Stalks, halved 3 Carrots, peeled and halved 5 peeled Cloves Garlic, whole 1 Yellow or White Onion, peeled and halved ½-1 teaspoon Salt, to taste Grated Parmesan Cheese Pastina of your choice, boiled separately. In a large pot, heat broth and/or water and add all vegetables. Boil on medium-high heat. Once boiling, bring the heat to a medium-low and partially cover the pot. Cook the soup for 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Scoop the vegetables into a blender with 2 ladles full of the cooked broth. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Without a blender, scoop the vegetables into a bowl and mash until they reach the desired consistency. Return the vegetables into the cooked broth and mix until combined. Serve on top of a bowl of cooked pastina and sprinkle with parmesan if desired.Chicken Tortilla Soup 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 1 Yellow or White Onion, diced 1-2 Jalapeño peppers, diced 3 Cloves Garlic, minced or pressed 4 cups Chicken Broth 14.5 oz. can Diced Tomatoes Juice of 2 Limes 2 tablespoons Hot Sauce 2 tablespoons Salsa Verde 1 tablespoon Dried Cilantro 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin 2 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts or Thighs ½ cup Sour CreamServed with: Fresh Cilantro Shredded Mexican Cheese Tortilla Strips Sliced Avocado In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and jalapeños and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, or 1 minute. Add chicken broth, diced tomatoes, lime juice, hot sauce, salsa verde, dried cilantro, and cumin, stirring well. Add chicken and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and allow it to cool slightly before shredding it. Once the soup has cooled slightly, whisk in sour cream until combined and return the shredded chicken to the pot. Serve with cheese, cilantro, tortilla strips, and/or avocado.
32 Food32 33Beyond the Coffee CupStory by Princess Anderson, WriterDesign by Lauren Yelverton, Food Editor and Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorPhoto by Tanner Huey, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorCarolyn Reilly added that dripped coee has more benets compared to coee that is traditionally brewed. So, while there are detriments to drinking coee, there are some known and positive benets as well. Coee is a source of energy for many people (mostly college students who have the unfortunate experience of going through nals week), but it is not always the healthiest option. Due to the ridiculous and sometimes even amount of caeine in coee that poses a health risk if not taken seriously, coee is not the dependable energy providing drink that many have come to heavily rely on. Though, there have been viable alternatives drinks in the form of energy drinks and tea.Energy drinks are the prime example of a coee alternative. Junior Juliette McKinley said she has come to rely on specic energy drinks for the most high productive activity on campus: working in HackBerry Labs. For her, specic energy drinks like Monster Energy, get her through the day and the night as this specic brand oers a variety of avors while also being in a safe caeine range to where you won’t immediately feel like your head has been kicked by tomorrow morning. She added that certain drinks like Red Bull is one on the weaker range of energy drinks. Though she did add a bit of caution since consuming too many energy drinks could lead to certain health problems, especially since everyone has a limit to how much caeine they can intake before problems arise. One drink named Reign is dangerously close to that limit of 400 milligrams of caeine, and drinking too much of it (seeing that it is 350 milligrams) can cause your attention to zzle while also causing heart problems. However, as long as you are careful about how much you drink on a daily basis, energy drinks are a solid alternatives to coee. Coee should still be considered helpful in its own right. Carolyn Reilly provides a more positive perspective on coee and its lesser well-known benets. Going beyond the aspect of caeine, another aspect in coee caused a group of women in an experimental study to experience a 20% reduction in strokes and symptoms heart disease thanks to drinking coee in a moderate fashion.Coee and its alternatives have their advantages and disadvantages, but that is not to discourage you from drinking them. As long as you are conscious about how much you are drinking on a daily basis, you are ne to drink it. But coee alternatives are always a nice substitute when your coee is starting to have a less than positive eect on you once nals week is over with.Dr. Carolyn Reilly holding a cup of coffee
34 35FoodAround the World and Back AgainEssentially, all one has to do to cook pescado a la sal is take a (preferably fresh) sh and completely cover it with salt, to the point that the sh is no longer visible. You then bake the sh, melting the salt into a hard outer layer that insulates the sh and cooks it in its own juices and vapors. Once it’s nished, you need only break the salt crust, and you’ll be left with a fresh, surprisingly not salty sh. “You can do this with other meats,” Sarrion said, but because Mallorca is, again, largely maritime, sh is a staple of Mallorca’s diet. Furthermore, a signature pastry of Mallorca rarely found anywhere else is known as Ensaimada. This can be made by mixing the dough, “letting it sit overnight, then spreading it very thinly, adding lard on top, rolling it up and baking it.” The resulting Ensaimada can be served plain year-round but is often served with fresh fruit in the summer, and with sausage and dried fruit during Lent. Funny enough, despite usually being baked with pork lard, according to Sarrion (and many culinary historians), this pastry is believed to be of Jewish origins.A similarly fascinating type of baked good comes from Germany, a sort of dumpling known as knödel. Despite being called a dumpling, it tends to be much more homogenous than the name suggests, with the ingredients mixed throughout the dough rather than stued in the center. According to German professor (and native-born German) Christine Anton, they’re “often served with a roast,” but they come in a wide variety for almost any occasion, from desserts to side dishes to ingredients in soups. Anton further states that “dierent regions of Germany are often inuenced by nearby countries.” Polish sausage is not unheard of in German soups, for example, and in the Black Forest region of Germany, bordering France, there is a particular dish popular in both countries called Flammkuchen. This Flammkuchen is quite like pizza, using a thin dough crust as a base for other toppings, but said toppings often include fromage blanc, Munster cheese, thin-sliced onions, and sometimes small bits of meat. It’s easy to assume that nations’ cultures are locked within their modern-day borders, but Flammkuchen is one of many dishes that point to a far more nuanced gradient and exchange of cultures all throughout history and all throughout the world. Similarly, there’s this tendency to pigeonhole a given culture as a monolith, when every one of the nations discussed in this article (as well of the ones that aren’t) contain a diverse, heterogenous array of subcultures, and a variety of foods from dierent sources, dierent ingredients, for dierent occasions and tastes. No culture can be summarized in a single standard of cuisine, according to English professor Shinjini Chattopyay. “I don’t miss many dishes from Bengal,” she said. “Because so many regions of America, like Atlanta, are so multicultural that I can easily nd almost any type of food.” Indeed, she said that America consists of so many regional, native, and migrant cultures, that “it calls the idea of ‘American cuisine’ into question.” There are still a few rather uniquely Indian dishes and methods of cooking that she is partial to, such as wrapping sh in a banana leaf to insulate it while steaming it (not unlike the aforementioned pescado a la sal), but she’s also pointed out a surprising variety of similarities between Indian cuisine and others from the Americas. She compares many chicken curries in avor to many Mexican chicken dishes (likely due to the prominent use of cumin and paprika in both), and much of Southern cuisine’s use of fried okra and sh to similar methods used in India. These points of convergence between dierent cultures speak to much greater possibilities in the culinary world, weird new combinations of methods and ingredients like those above that are just waiting to be discovered. Thus, while most of these above-mentioned dishes and cooking methods are not known to many Americans, America has more access to them than ever before, and the ‘melting pot’ is a perfect place to cook up new foods. As Chattopyay said best, American cuisine should be considered “an open invitation” for all the world to contribute and invent new foods never seen before.Story by Connor Coltrane, WriterDesign by Lauren Yelverton, Food Editor and Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, PhotographerGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorNoemi Sarrion, MallorcaChristine Anton, GermanyShinjini Chattopyay, BengalOf all the many facets that dene a culture, food is all too often neglected and ignored. And yet, it is almost as vital a component to a culture as food itself is to the body, reecting factors from economic prosperity, to climate, to nearby natural resources. And each culture presents not only its own unique ingredients in its recipes, but its own methods of preparing food. Because the diversity of cultures in the U.S., let alone the world is staggering beyond comprehension, it is impossible to comprehensively list every possible method of cooking every dish humanity has conceived. So, instead, presented here are a sampling of methods of cooking employed in nations beyond the United States. Berry College’s own Director of Financial Aid, Noemi Sarrion recalls her born-and-raised background in Mallorca, an island o the coast of Spain. Due to its ready access to fresh sh, Mallorca gives rice to a particularly fascinating form of baking for a dish she Sarrion calls “pescado a la sal,” roughly translated as “sh in salt.”
36 37FoodSatisfy Your Sweet ToothStory by Lauren Yelverton, Food Editor, and Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorPhotos by Abbie King, Assistant Food EditorGraphics by Alyssa AbramsWhile dessert is an enjoyable experience for many, some may instead desire a healthier version of their favorite sweet treats. Luckily for them, this article is here to provide three healthy dessert recipes that are easy to make.3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies 1 cup of Almond Flour 1/3 cup of Pure Maple Syrup or Raw Honey ½ cup Peanut Butter or Nut ButterChocolate Zucchini Muns 1 ½ cups grated Zucchini 1 ½ cups Rolled Oats 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon 2 teaspoons Baking Powder ¼ teaspoon Salt 1 large Egg 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract ¼ cup Coconut Oil, melted ½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce ¼ cup honey Dark Chocolate ChipsBerry Smoothie Pops 2 cups Frozen Mixed Berries ½ cup Unsweetened Plain Almond Milk 1 cup Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt 2 tablespoons Hemp SeedsPreheat your oven to 350° F. Combine the almond our, peanut or nut butter, and maple syrup or honey in a bowl. Roll the dough into teaspoon sized balls and line them up on a baking sheet. To create a hatch pattern, press down on each ball with a fork. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the smoothie into ice pop molds and insert sticks. Allow the pops to freeze for 3 to 4 hours or until rm.Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease the cups of a mun tin or line with paper baking liners and set it aside. In a blender, process the oats until they resemble our, then add to a mixing bowl with the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix well. In a sepa-rate large bowl, combine the egg, vanilla, coconut oil, applesauce, and honey. Grate the zucchini and rinse in a colander. Press to drain remaining liquids before adding it to the wet mixture. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and fold in the chocolate chips. Fill each cup at least halfway and cook for 16 to 18 minutes or until the muns are lightly browned.37Food36
38 39FoodCollege students lead very busy lives, juggling classes, homework, jobs, extracurriculars, and social lives. With so much going on in their daily lives, students are often left with little time for a proper meal. So, students have adapted with creative recipes for meals that are quick to prepare and quick to eat.Egg Drop Soup RecipeBy Em Buoni1. Pour 3-4 cups of chicken broth into a saucepan and turn up to medium heat. Season broth with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.2. As the broth heats, beat two eggs until smooth.3. When the broth begins to boil, swirl the broth clockwise to create a whirlpool. 4. Slowly and carefully pour the eggs into the whirlpool, letting the boiling broth cook them.5. Stir slowly for 1-3 minutes, letting the eggs solidify. Season with green onions, and serve!Avocado Toast RecipeBy Zahabi Ahmeedi1. Get out whatever kind of bread you like.2. Toast your bread.3. Peel the avocado.4. Slice up the avocado.5. Place the avocado slices on your toast and season to taste.6. Enjoy!(G(oatmeal RecipeBy Addison Howard1. I love using any regular avored oatmeal packet, Quaker brand is usually the best, but any brand works. I pour the contents into my dollar store bowl. 2. Then, I use an alternative milk, preferably soy, but in this case vanilla almond (which may or may not have been acquiesced from D-hall), to ll the bowl. I don’t like it soupy, so I pour barely enough to cover the oats and avoring. Boiling water works, too, but I side more with the cream team.3. I pop that puppy into the microwave for 45 seconds to reach the ideal temperature, but it’s very important to hit “STOP” right as it turns from “1” to “0,” because nobody wants to hear all that hooting and hollering from the microwave. 4. Then, I grab some granola, (I’m loving this Cascadian Farm organic granola at the moment), and sprinkle some on top. Optional: a swirl of honey, especially if using original unavored oats. 5. I then thoroughly mix my (g)oatmeal and consume it with immense pleasure.Meals in a Hurry 5 Minute Dorm MealsStory by Anna Wade, WriterPhotos by Addison Howard, SeniorGraphic by Lauren Yelverton, Food EditorPhotos courtesy of Addison Howard, Senior.
41 41Health and Fitness Story by Rosemary Chesney, Asst.Health & Fitness EditorDesign by Rosemary Chesney, Asst. Health & Fitness EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, photographerDeep Dive into Hidden Campus Sports Touchdown! Everyone knows when a football game is going to take place. Tailgates are held hours before, cheerleaders and the dance team perform on the eld, and even alumni sometimes return to get in on the action. While sports such as football, baseball, and basketball are certainly a blast, there are other campus sports that may not get as much of a spotlight but are just as exciting. One such sport is the Ultimate Frisbee team. Currently comprised of about a dozen girls and 30 guys, this team prepares for the spring season by practicing and playing in various tournaments in the fall. This lively sport follows seven players on each side of the eld as they attempt to score points by passing the frisbee into the opposite side’s defensive end zone. Junior Gavin Zielke joined the team in his rst week of freshman year. “Ultimate is a really fun game that I think not a lot of people know about,” Zielke said. “I think you have to see it to truly understand it, but it’s a lot of fun and one of my favorite things I do on campus.” The team is looking forward to the spring season, after winning regionals and making it to nationals last year, Zielke said. Junior Kenadie Turner joined the team at the beginning of this semester and says her favorite part of it is the positive campus community it provides. “You’re all moving like a unit, so you really have to learn to trust the other girls on the team,” Turner said. “The other girls are some of the most supportive girls I’ve ever met; if anything, I wished I’d joined freshman year.” Another lesser-known sport on campus is the Rowing team. Consisting of 17 members now, the Rowing team not only does weekday practices at the Cage but also does water practices on weekends by putting boats in at the Eco Center. As competitions begin in the spring, the team is currently preparing the novice rowers for the upcoming season, according to sophomore Mary Lara Hardesty. “My personal favorite part is the comradery. Being on the team is like being part of a little family,” Hardesty said. “One of our (biggest) challenges is getting the word out that we exist and that we are a club sport.” Beginning two years ago, beach volleyball is a sport that may be lesser known but is highly competitive. The program began after being strongly advocated for by the indoor volleyball coaches, said sophomore Kara Schmit. With the coaches for beach volleyball being the same as the coaches for indoor volleyball, the majority of the players compete on both the beach and indoor teams. Schmit said one of her main reasons for choosing Berry was because she had the opportunity to play both beach and indoor volleyball here. “Getting to play both sports in college was an opportunity I could not pass up,” Schmit said. “My favorite aspect of being on the team is how close we are. We all love to be together and spend quality time with each other outside of volleyball.” Ultimate Frisbee, Rowing and Beach Volleyball are only three of the less visible sports on campus. Pickleball, Flag Football, Cornhole, Kickball and Esports also fall into this category. If you’re interested in being involved in a sport, but unsure of the commitment you’d want to put in, any of these sports could be a great option for you.4041Health and FitnessStudents playing ultimate frisbeeStudents playing volleyballStudent playing tennis
42 Health and Fitness 43Benets of Outdoor ExerciseStory by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Rosemary Chesney, Assistant Health & Fitness EditorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, PhotographerIllustrations by Alyssa Abrams“There are so many benets to working out outdoors!” said Coach Karmen Stephenson, who often goes by Coach K. She has been working with Berry students for six years, teaching walking, jogging and running classes. Coach K is a Berry alum (‘02) and ran on the cross-country and track teams. She has been running much of her life, and it has changed her for the better. Her passion for helping stu-dents better their lives through physical exercise was evident throughout the article. Coach K said that she began running because she found herself to be rather clumsy when it came to coordination. Many students may face this predicament and may feel “unathletic” as a result. Coach K emphasized that regardless of skill level, outdoor cardio activities, such as running, walking, or a combination, are a fantastic way to increase positive mental and physical health. Coach K said that for her personally, running has positively aected her in ways she never would have expected. She has experienced increased patience, her emotional state is more even keeled, and she can cope better in challenging times. Running, spe-cically, has a way of breaking down egocentric paradigms, but it builds you back up stronger than you ever thought you could be. As an ultra-marathon runner myself, when goals are set and you work hard to reach them, it shows you that you are capable of much more than you believe. Of course, it is not easy to jump into rigorous physical activity. Coach K, when asked for advice for someone who is new to outdoor physical activ-ity, advised to start slow and consistent. She said that getting out the door is the hardest part! Running, walking, or a combination, 2-3 days a week is a won-derful place to start for someone who is just starting out. Coach K suggests running for a few minutes and walking for a few, to build endurance and strengthen your cardiovascular system, without burning out. The benets are immediate, even if the workout is only 15 minutes. Outdoor cardio has been proven to decrease stress by 58%, it can make you happier (89% of runners agreed), and it gives you a sense of control because workouts are completely customiz-able (Runners World). The specic benets of out-door cardio go even further. Vitamin D from the sun has been proven to increase bone density and being in nature provides benets such as appreciation for the world, solitude, and an increased immune sys-tem. Nothing beats the wind in your hair, the sun on your face, and the birds chirping in the trees. Leine Burke, a sophomore exercise science major, runs for Berry on the cross-country team. She, too, said the benets of running and believes that the repetition of her shoes hitting the ground is therapeutic. She said that outdoor activity helps clear her mind of stress and helps her brain to feel sharper throughout the day. “Give yourself grace, but don’t let yourself o the hook,” she said. Leine emphasizes the importance of sticking to outdoor activity and believes you will see benets if you persevere. Outdoor cardio, such as running and walking, are great ways to burn calories, refresh your mind, and spend time with friends—all while enjoying nature and reaping the health benets. Sophomore, Riley Whitmore, running.Sophomore, Noah Osterhage, running.
44 45Health and FitnessCatching Up on Z’s Story and Design by Reese Chatman, Health & Fitness EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic DesignerIt is common knowledge that sleep is vital for the human body to function properly. However, seemingly more often than not, when the typical college student feels they have more on their plate than they can handle, sleep is often amongst the rst sacrices they are willing to make. Usually, this is in the name of productivity and done out of a fear of otherwise not accomplishing work, but in reality, this might not be productive at all. According to the Sleep Foundation, most college students should aim to achieve 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Without adhering to this advice, students risk suering from drowsiness during the day, a lack of con-centration in class or when studying, mood swings, among a variety of other health defects.Senior Johnathan Deagle opened up about his fre-quent struggles with sleep. “I really try to get about 8 hours every night,” he said. “I would say on most days I’m usually pretty successful in that goal, but there are for sure some days where I have too much on my plate and I am very quick to sacrice sleep.” In 2019, research conducted at King’s College Lon-don found that 38.9% of college students are experienc-ing an addiction to their phones. Additionally, this study found that of this percentage, 68.7% of students consis-tently received less than an adequate amount of sleep.“For me, it is very easy to accidentally stay up too late and be on my phone,” Deagle said. “There have been plenty of times where I tell myself that I am going to go to sleep earlier than normal and that ends up being pointless in the long run because I spend over an hour on my phone. Every once in a while, I will put my phone on the other side of the room somewhere when I get in bed to keep myself from being on it. Then, when my alarm goes o in the morning, it forces me to get out of bed to turn it o”Establishing a proper sleep schedule and improving one’s mental health can feel like an uphill battle. Fortu-nately, through the counseling center, Berry students do not have to undergo this struggle by themselves. Director of the Counseling Center, Carley Price sheds some light on sleep and its relation to a student’s quality of life.“Sleep is incredibly important but so underappreciated,” Price said. “Research has consistently shown that sleep plays a pivotal role in improving mental health. Also, If someone already has depression or anxiety, a lack of sleep is only going to worsen those symptoms. Even apart from these diagnoses, lack of sleep makes concentration, prob-lem solving and emotion regulation way more dicult.”Price insists that one’s health should never be sacriced for e-ciency, no matter how much it might feel like there is not enough time in the day.“I would never want to invalidate how overwhelmed a student might feel, because at the end of the day, I do understand, and can relate,” Price said. “I don’t want to make a blanket statement and say just to take something o of your plate because obviously that can’t always happen. However, if a student feels like there just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done, there has been research to suggest that it might not always be the amount of time slept that is the problem, but more so the consistency. In other words, it might be better to get six hours every night, rather than three one night, six the next, and then ten on the weekends. Aside from the counseling center, there are plenty of resources at a student’s disposal to assist them in mak-ing the most out of their semester, both physically and academically.“At the end of the day, I would suggest that students just use all their resources,” Price said. “The Academic Success Center is more than willing to help you with something like making a schedule and time management to hopefully put you in a position to get more sleep. Just listen to yourself and to your body and address the issue.”Overall, sleep is essential to leading a high quality life. Although it is often quite easy to sacrice, with the proper resources, one can set themself up to eciently accom-plish all of their day tasks while also achieving a sucient amount of sleep.44 Health and Fitness 45
46 47Health and FitnessStory by Reese Chatman, Health & Fitness EditorDesign by Reese Chatman, Health & Fitness EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorSip, Sprint, and Soar: Athletes and the Energy BoostIn the whirlwind life of a college student, where stress often takes center stage and time feels like the most elusive resource, energy drinks have become a lifeline. They oer that quick energy x to help you stay awake and active, whether you're burning the midnight oil for an upcoming exam, pushing through a late-night work project, or gearing up for a gym session."I rely on energy drinks big time, especially during nals week," said Grace Price, a senior student. "They help me stay focused and alert when I need it most. My top pick is Celsius. they've got some awesome avors."Beyond the ashy cans and catchy slogans, energy drinks have stirred up controversy and raised serious health concerns. You'll nd them everywhere – convenience stores, gas stations, and vending machines – all targeting young folks as the solution to fatigue and low energy. These drinks typically pack a punch with caeine, sugar, and a mix of other ingredients like taurine, guarana, and ginseng, all claim-ing to enhance mental sharpness and physical performance.Victoria Yatkos, an athletic trainer at Berry College, oers a pro-fessional take on the energy drink scene among students: "I haven't noticed too many Berry students using energy drinks."The core of the energy drink debate revolves around caeine con-tent. While a regular coee cup delivers about 95 milligrams of caf-feine, many energy drinks go way beyond that. Some popular brands go as high as 300 milligrams of caeine per serving, equivalent to downing three cups of coee in one go. Such caeine levels can lead to a heap of health problems – racing heart, soaring blood pressure, and in extreme cases, caeine overload."I think they can give athletes that extra push for better performance," Yatkos said. "But if athletes decided to skip them, I doubt it would have a huge impact. Your body's got its natural energy mechanisms that kick in after a short while, even without the energy drink. So, in a way, these drinks may just help mentally prep for the big game."Moreover, the blend of caeine and sugar raises con-cerns about long-term health. Too much sugar spells trou-ble – obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic issues. When caeine joins the party, it can mess with your body's blood sugar control.Yatkos added, "Energy drinks may not be the healthiest choice due to all the added chemicals. The more chemi-cals, the bigger the risk. And if you're not keeping up with hydration, an energy drink might contribute to fatigue or, in some cases, more serious issues like a racing heart or palpitations. Your heart isn't wired to handle that much caeine."Despite these worries, the energy drink industry thrives with billions in annual sales. The competition remains erce, with companies continually launching new avors, formulations, and packaging to keep customers hooked.Energy drinks can oer a quick pick-me-up, but they're not without their health concerns and controversies. While they can be part of a balanced lifestyle when used moderately, it's essential to tread carefully, especially if you're young or have underlying health conditions. As the conversation on energy drinks contin-ues, one thing remains clear: making informed choices is the key to striking a balance between the need for an energy boost and maintaining good health.4746Health and Fitness
48 49Health and FitnessBalancing Act: How to Structure a Workout for Optimal Health and FitnessStory and Design by Reese Chatman. Health & Fitness EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Gtraphics EditorAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only about 28% of Americans consistently exercise. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a common goal for many, and working out consistently can contribute to achieving this. However, the vast array of workout routines available can often lead to confusion and indecision. Before embarking on any workout journey, it is crucial to dene one’s goals. Are you aiming for weight loss, muscle gain, improved endurance, or overall tness? Having clear objectives will guide your exercise selection and intensity. Additionally, goals may evolve over time, so being prepared to adjust a routine might be necessary at times.Senior Michael Johnson embarked on a weight loss journey last year, improving both his physical and mental health along the way. “Last summer, I wasn’t necessarily in the best position mentally,” Johnson said. “I was going through a lot personally, and was really starting to think a lot about what my future looked like. I was sitting at about 360 pounds, and fast forward to this morning, I just weighed in at 192 pounds. I feel like that’s a very comfortable weight for me.”Johnson says that physical health and mental health work hand in hand. “I’m in a lot better of a place now. I feel better. I’m still looking toward the future. I’ve got friends around me who are constantly supporting me.”Johnson comes from an athletic background, playing a variety of sports throughout his upbring-ing. He used the skills he gathered from his childhood as a base for beginning his workout journey.“I was already going to play ultimate frisbee that upcoming year, so I really started thinking about what kind of shape I wanted to be in by the time the season came around,” Johnson said. “I started doing more cardio, shedding as much fat as I could, to be an ecient runner on the eld. I went to the gym and did a lot of stationary biking, walking and running, and tracked my daily calorie loss along the way.”Johnson insists that anyone can do what he did and getting started is not as dicult as it might seem.“The beautiful thing about the gym is that everyone there is at dierent stages,” Johnson said. “Everyone is more or less working towards the same thing. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you see someone doing a workout you might want to try, ask them about it. Also, one bad day or cheat day doesn’t make you a bad person or failure. Just take your time and stay determined.”BENEFITS OF DRINKING WATER DURING YOUR WORKOUT: 1) AIDS DIGESTION2) BOOSTS SKIN HEALTH3) HELPS WORKOUT4) KEEPS YOU ENERGIZED5) PREVENTS HEADACHESAssociate Professor of Communication, Kimberley Field-Springer nds herself in the gym very frequently.“Working out is like my mental health counseling,” Field-Springer said. “It is time that I carve out to work on myself. I just put my Airpods in and block out everything else that’s consuming my thoughts.”Field-Springer has taken advantage of a variety of what Berry has to oer in the athletic department, including Zumba classes.“Zumba is nice because it kind of breaks up my workouts,” she said. “It also provides a sense of community. There are other faculty and sta members there that I get to have fun with for an hour. Other than zumba, I typically will do cardiovascular for about 20 minutes and then lift for 20 minutes. One thing I wish I did a better job at is stretching.” Stretching is a critical but often neglected component of a well-rounded workout routine. Research from the American College of Sports Medicine emphasizes the importance of incorporat-ing stretching exercises into tness regimens to enhance exibil-ity, reduce the risk of injuries, and improve overall performance. Neglecting stretching can lead to muscle imbalances, decreased range of motion, and increased susceptibility to strains and sprains. Therefore, dedicating time to proper stretching before and after workouts is essential for maintaining physical health and optimizing workout eectiveness.“I do love yoga, though,” Field Springer said. “When I do that, I usually do it on the weekends, and try to do it for about an hour, and that way I let my body stretch and relax.”From an outsider looking in, working out can seem daunting. However, one does not have to walk into the gym with a “one size ts all” mentality. With a routine being curated to meet needs and a determination to reach goals, anyone can start working out.
50 51Arts and CultureCaptivatingthe crowdStory and Design by Mikenna Gaukel, Arts and Culture EditorPhotos curtesy of Audra Berends and Veronica KillefferGaphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorTaylor Swift’s Era’s Tour has been the one of the most trending topics this year. Starting in Glendale, Arizona on March 17th, 2023, this is Swift’s sixth concert tour with 146 dierent stops. With nearly 56,000 tickets sold per show, this tour has made huge economic impacts as well as broken multiple records already, such as being one of the highest grossing tours of all time. Among the hundreds of thousands of people who attended were many Berry students as well. But what is it about Taylor Swift that draws so many people in? What made this tour so unique? Kenadie Turner, a Junior Communications major talked about her experience at the second Atlanta concert held on April 29th. She talked about the dierence between the Eras Tour concert and others that she has been to in the past and how Swift has made the show feel more inclusive to the audience. “She had, like, risers so that she could go up higher or she would run to complete opposite sides of the stage…” Turner said, speaking about how Swift utilized the stage to engage with as many of her fans as she could. Swift’s attention to her fans is one of the big reasons why people continually come back to her and support her career. The audience itself felt like a family, according to Senior Communica-tions major Veronica Killeer. “Everybody knew every word, and everybody dressed up,” Killeer said. “It was a community.” The dressing up was just one aspect of the tour that made it so unique and fun for everyone involved. Friendship bracelets also became a huge, unocial part of the concert that contrib-uted to the inclusivity. Before the concert, fans would spend the time to hand make friendship bracelets to be passed out and traded among other audience members. One could walk into the venue with nothing on their wrists and leave with an arm full of multi-colored accessories. Junior Public Relations major Audra Berends talked about her involvement with the fan project. “I made handmade friendship bracelet style ones,” Berends said. “And they had each color of every album.” Berends went on to talk about how traded her bracelets and wore the ones that she received for a while even after the concert, just to keep the memories with her. One part of the show that Swift has continued to do at every concert is that she performs a surprise song. Because of the vast amount of music that Swift has written, she is not able to perform every single song, so as a gift to her fans, she chooses two songs that are not on the regular setlist to perform and it’s dierent for every show. This not only adds an extra layer of anticipation, but it shows how much thought she has put into what her fans want. Berends went on to talk about how unique every show was and how “it’s got its own identity,” because of the special surprise songs. She talked about how incredible it is that Swift has been able to keep her fans this engaged in the shows through this tactic. “Who else can keep their fans engaged for an entire three-month tour at a time?” Berends said. From the community that Swift has created to the small things that she does to make her fans feel special, one can see how this tour will forever and always live in the hearts of those who attended.Audra Berends friendship bracelets from the Era’s Tour concert. Audra Berends (middle) and friends out-side of the concert venue.Veronica Killeffer and her girlfriend Ruthie Smith at the Era’s Tour concert.Photo of Mercedes Benz Stadium at the 2023 Taylor Swift Eras Tour, curtesy of AudraBerends.An Era’s Tour Review
Articial Imagination: The Rise of AI Generated Art andMusicArt and music have been a huge part of culture for as far back as history goes. As the centu-ries have passed, art and music have evolved. New tools and styles were being introduced into art and music, such as the artistic era of Dadaism, where ordinary objects were declared pieces of artwork, and the musical Romantic Era, when the piano became popular. The evolution of music is still happening to-day. Recently, the use of articial intelligence in art and music has become common. However, the rise of AI in art and music has raised many questions about the ethics of using AI-generated art over human-made art. AI has become very popular in art and music due to its easy accessibility and its extensive creation capabili-ties. Anyone, regardless of their artistic ability or skill in computer programming, can simply enter in a prompt and receive a new piece of art or music that they can claim as their own. The issue with this is that AI creates new pieces using what it nds on the internet. So, AI is able to create art and music without crediting the works that inspired it. Fortunately, it is unlikely that AI will ever completely replace professional artists and musicians. Chris Whit-mire, a visiting clinical professor of creative technology with a master’s degree in articial intelligence spoke on the limitations of AI-generated art. “AI needs well-made human data to generate good art,” Whitmire said. Since AI needs inspiration from human art and music to continue to create new things, there will always be a need for human-made art and music. Dennis Ritter, assistant professor of art, discussed how AI can be used as a tool. “We can benet from it but also think about the implications of not making something by hand,” Ritter said. AI can be used to inspire and support, but there is no replacement for emotions that people put into their art and music.Story by Anna Wade, WriterDesign by Mikenna Gaukel, Arts and Culture EditorPhotos courtesy of Mikenna GaukelGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorThese are art pieces generated by the AI App “Wonder,” using promts like “cat riding skateboard” (above) and “AI creating music,” (left).52 Arts and Culture 53
54 55Arts and CultureFrom Seoul to From Seoul to Center Stage: Center Stage: The Phenomenal Rise of The Phenomenal Rise of K-pop in the Western WorldK-pop in the Western WorldKorean pop, or K-Pop, has been slowly making its way into Western media and its popularity only seems to be continuing to grow. With its mix of catchy melodies, perfectly-timed choreography, and glossy, booming production, it’s no surprise that the sensation is starting to catch the eyes of people in the West. K-Pop as a genre is relatively new compared to the Western pop music industry, seeing rst light in 1992 when the group Seo Taiji and Boys performed for the rst time. After the breakup of the metal band Sinawe, of which Seo Taiji was a member, he decided to switch gears completely and form a dance/pop group with two other boys. Their music was a mix of experimentalism with Western genres, and this led to the foundation of what is known as modern K-Pop. Today, K-Pop is known for its unique combination of various genres of music as well as its polished choreography, big-budgeted music videos, and theatrical performances, which dier greatly from the dominant style of music in the West. Much Western mu-sic is focused on the compositions of songs and in most cases the lyrics as well, with the performance aspect taking the back seat. The artistry and the individuality of the artists are what shine through the most instead of the performance quality. While there are exceptions to both sides of this, there is a clear distinction between the two industries. Morgan Parish, a senior English major, explains that she got into K-Pop when she was 14 and details dierences she sees in the industries. “There’s not a lot of groups in Western music.” Parish said. “So I think that that is a big part of K-Pop.” Parish said K-Pop is so much more than music and discussed how choreography plays a vital role in the identity of K-Pop. In the K-Pop industry artists are referred to as idols. Before they can debut in a group, they must go through intense training. The amount of training time diers from idol to idol, but the training includes everything from dancing, singing, language, facial expres-sion practice, media training, and much more. This is all done to ensure that the idol is well prepared for the intense, yet dazzling industry. K-Pop found its footing in the West with the now well-known group BTS. BTS made their debut in South Korea in 2013 with their rst album “2 Cool 4 Skool”. Contrary to popular belief, they did not nd mainstream success easily. They were signed to small Korean music label Big Hit Entertainment (now known as HYBE) and, after releasing a steady stream of music for four years, they nally began to top charts in the United States. In 2016, they became the rst Korean Pop group to perform at the VMA’s and won the rst award in the newly added “Best K-Pop Group” category in 2019. Since then, they have released multiple songs that have topped the Billboard charts in the United States such as“Dynamite” and “Butter”. Because of the gateway that BTS provided, the popularity of K-pop groups has begun to explode in the West. In 2016, the well-known girl group Blackpink was the rst K-Pop group to per-form at Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the West. In 2023, they were invited back to be headliners, making history once again as the rst K-Pop group to headline the festival. Their performance was very well-received by both K-Pop fans and non-K-Pop fans alike. In 2023 at another well-known music festival, Lollapalooza, the newly popular girl group NewJeans performed, and the boy group TXT headlined for the second day, both groups each drawing in crowds of over 100,000 people. Grace Turner, a senior nursing major talked about the sig-nicance of K-Pop groups performing and headlining at these events. “I think it denitely globalizes the artists,” Turner said. “Now more people are seeing it. And I think that a lot of people before, it wasn’t that they didn’t like it, they just didn’t really know about it.” The growth of K-Pop in the Western music industry has been rapid and well received. If the trend continues to grow, Korean Pop may one day become one of the most popular genres in the Western world. Stray Kids 2023 Maniac Tour Atlanta stop at State Farm Arena. Morgan Parish and Grace Turner (L to R) at the Duluth TXTconcert in May 2023.Stray Kids stage set for their Maniac Tour in Atlanta.Story by Mikenna Gaukel, Arts and Culture EditorDesign by Cheyenne Anderson, Asst. Arts and Culture Editor Graphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorPhotos provided by Morgan Parish
56 57Arts and CultureDon’t let fear dictate what you do,” said Clinton Peters, the assistant professor of cre-ative writing, regarding following your passion in choosing a major you are passionate about. Peters is noticeably passionate about creative majors and the unique, fascinating career opportunities that are avail-able. He has always been passionate about creativity, specically writing, since a young age. Reminiscing the past, Peters said that he “published” his rst book at 6 years old on stapled construction paper decorated with markers. Many other students have similar stories of passion for creativity from a young age and choose to pursue creative majors in college. Examples of creative majors at Berry are theatre, ceramics, writing (both ction and non-ction), music, creative technology, and more. These majors are common majors among students and continue to grow in popularity. Unfortunately, there are many students and their parents who are hesitant to pursue such careers because of the false stereotypes. Discussing the misconceptions concerning creative majors, Peters easily disputed that there are limited career opportunities and creative majors will not be nancially prosperous. Emphasizing following your passion, Peters attested that if you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life. Fear of the future, in salary and career path, will inhibit your real passions in life and you may settle for a career that you are not passionate about. Peters added, “Competing with people who love what they do, you will always lose”.Careers For Creative MajorsStory by Olivia Pope, WriterDesign by Mikenna Gaukel and Cheyenne Anderson, Arts and Culture Editor and Asst. EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorPhoto by Tanner Huey, Photographer Today, employers are looking for more than book knowledge for their employees—they are looking for well-rounded, passionate individuals. “The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well, possessing insights into others (including others dierent values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of ones colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connec-tions across complex ideas” according to a Valerie Strauss, Washington Post story. These qualities are all integrated into creative majors, thus making them fantastic candidates for the workforce. This again reiterates why creative majors should not be looked down upon, but rather upheld as majors that provide a platform for students to display their gifts, learn valuable skills, and become contributing employees. Peters proudly discussed the work his students had endeavored with their creative majors. Examples of students’ work is being published in the Paris Review, teaching courses in Japan and get-ting a master’s degree in poetry abroad in Scotland. All of these accomplishments have been achieved by former Berry students with a creative degree. Those who have misconceptions against these majors are uninformed of the vast number of jobs and higher education options available. Creative majors are vital to society by providing new ways of viewing the world through a innovative lens. Clinton Peters, a creative writing professor, working in his ofce.
5859Arts and Culture Should there be a fully universal aspect of the human experience, music is a top contender. There is little in our world with the power to connect, inspire, and better lives like music does. No matter your back-ground or lifestyle, the impact of music is unavoid-able; it is a part of our everyday lives in some form or fashion. And with nearly innite genres, artists, and songs, everyone can nd their place in the musical world. Within the Berry Bubble is a smaller,closer-knit community, yet it feels the same eects music has on the rest of our world. Music plays a role in our lives just as much as anyone else. In a short, optional survey through Google Forms, 46 out of 48 students (96%) said they listen to music occasionally when studying, and 42 students (88%) said they listen to music most of the time. 27 students (56%) said they listen to music when they sleep. 25 students estimat-ed they listened to music at least four or more hours out of their day; one student even said they listen to upwards of ten hours. The top genre among these students is split evenly between pop and rock. A close second was country music, while the rest of the stu-dents said they preferred one of over ten other genres. These genres include, but are not limited to, R&B, Hip-Hop, K-Pop, Jazz, Indie, and Metal. Despite the incredible diversity of musictoday, its mere existence fosters community and friendship. This fact rings especially true for Berry College Sophomore Beth Tovarez. When talking about how music impacts her relationships, she described how music helped form some friendships. “Suriel Hess is actually a friend of mine whoproduces music, and it’s been cool to meet people through him,” Tovarez said. She also remarked that dierent aspects of her taste in music come from those around her. Some of her close friends intro-duced her to a band called Why Don’t We; she even attended one of their concerts in her home state when they toured in 2019. Forming friendships is not the only accomplish-ment of music; it can also foster fellowship within existing relationships. Tovarez and Freshman Ella Daniel discussed how music weaves itself into their family relationships. Tovarez said a lot of her music taste comes from her dad because he listens to a lot of rock music, an anity she shares. Daniel described her family as “a very musically inclined family.” She said they listen to a little bit of everything, which gave Ella an appreciation for all genres of music. Along with music’s ability to connect people comes its ability to bring division. It is not inherently due to the characteristics of music but to ourperceptions and reactions. This division occursprimarily because of how we collectively labeldierent genres. These labels can be helpful; theyallow everyone to nd a place within the musical world and surround themselves with music they enjoy. However, using these divisive descriptions causes division, no matter the intention behind them. Frequently, as Tovarez said in her survey response, most songs do not t one genre and are “a mix of genres and styles.” Daniel held a similar opinion and said she believes many people choose not to listen to music they could potentially enjoy solely because of the genre we label it as, which may not accurately represent the song. In addition to the interpersonal impact of music, there are plenty of intrapersonal eects. Students who take any psychology course learn that we are a product of our nature and the nurture we receive from the world around us. The presence of music in our lives means that music plays a role in the nur-ture we receive. That is to say, music can aect our personality, morals, mood, and more. Freshman Anna McVay shared how she has seen this occur; she said, “I’ve noticed thatlistening to more aggressive genres can create an aggressive undertone in your life . . . in myself and in others.” Daniel also discussed how music can impact her mood every day. She said, “[Music] has a lot to do with what I’m feeling.” Daniel mentioned she tries to avoid sadder music because it makes her sad. She listens to more upbeat music when she is getting ready to hang out with friends or to hype herself up. In the Berry Bubble, we can nd ourselves slightly secluded from the community around us, lost in the ow of college life. Music allows a slight refuge from the stress of classes and work and helps us remain connected to the world and with others. Itenhances our lives at a time when our lives arechanging. A Peek IntoYour Playlist: The Impact of Music on Berry StudentsMarquedon Watkins (‘25) listening to music and walking to class.Natalie Menikoff (‘27) listening to music outside the Memorial Library.Story and Design by Cheyenne Anderson, Asst. Arts and Culture EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorPhotos by Mads Muraoka, PhotographerThe graph shows the results of a Google Form survey question answered by 48 Berry students asking how many hours per day they listen to music.The chart shows the results of a Google Form survey question answered by 48 Berry students asking whether or not they study with music.57
61Arts and Culture Besides the Shakespeare shows in the summer, the festival also puts on other shows as fundraisers during the rest of the year. Last season, they put on shows in a variety of places around Rome, including “Romeo and Juliet and Zombies” outside at The Labyrinth, “Proof ” in the Wilder Center dining room at the Rome First United Methodist Church, as well as “Sanders Family Christmas” at the old Trinity Church. The goal of these performances is to help raise the funds needed to put on the summer festival, as well as putting on performances from professionals who love doing their craft. There are also many things to look forward to. This summer, they are putting on their own adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and twisting it to be “The Real Merry Housewives of Windsor”, parodying “The Real Housewives” reality television series. They are also putting on a production of the classic Tennesee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” which is sure to amuse all. One of the main goals of the Rome Shakespeare Festival is to take Shake-speare plays, something that is a very important part of culture, and adapt them into something that is more accessible to the regular viewer. This is the only free outdoor Shakespeare festival in the state of Georgia and not only does it help bring the community together, but it spreads and shares the art of theater. Shakespeare in RomeStory and Design by Mikenna Gaukel and Cheyenne Anderson, Arts and Culture and Asst. EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorPhotos provided by Drew DavidsonShakespeare is still alive in the Rome community through the eorts of the Rome Shakespeare Festival. This nonprot organization is dedicat-ed to the theatrical excellence that will benet the lives of all who come to see its performances. Their vision is to encourage and involve the Rome community in theater and empower people to use their voices and solve their own problems. The outdoor festival has been putting on performances since 2016 and is free for anyone who wants to come. It runs for three to ve days at the beginning of June and showcases Shakespeare shows on the town green in downtown Rome, right in front of the Forum River Center. The President of the Rome Shakespeare Board, Indra Thomas, talks about the family-friendly atmosphere of the event. “It is a great time and it’s a great family outing,” Thomas said. “We have food trucks that come out and feed you food and things like that. We try to give away prizes and it’s a really good time for the family.” The main emphasis of the festival is that it is free and open to anyone and everyone. People are welcome from all over Georgia to participate and enjoy quality performances from talented actors and culture themselves in a way that they might not be able to anywhere else. Parents can bring their kids and enjoy all of the entertainment or people can meet up with friends to enjoy a nice picnic on the green. It is a great way to bring the community together and share this special art form with one another. Drew Davidson, the artistic director of the Rome Shakespeare Festival speaks about how it has impacted the community. “White, Black, Hispanic, all people of all demographics come and there’s no barrier of entry because there’s no money,” Davidson said. “You just walk in, bring your own chairs and enjoy.” It has also impacted the community by bringing in more tourists to down-town Rome. The festival usually brings in around 2,000 people, and because it is a multiple-day event, people tend to get hotels and shop around, which has helped bring more attention to the city of Rome. Berry College has also been involved in the festival in numerous ways. Thom-as is not only the President of the board, but she is also a Berry College profes-sor as an Artist-In-Residence. Berry has also helped out by providing spaces on campus for auditions and rehearsals which is an important part of the prepara-tion process. Berry students have also been involved in some of the productions that the festival has put on. They hope to one day put on a show on campus here at Berry as well since there is such a nice outdoor venue. A performance at the Rome Shakespeare Festival during the summer.60Arts and Culture61
62 63Arts and Culture For every avid reader, it is a dream come true to see their favorite characters, who previously exist-ed only in their imagination, in the esh on the big screen. book to movie adaptations have a unique power to bring almost any story to life, a power mostly unavailable to other forms of visual media. How-ever, turning a written work into visual media is not as simple as it seems. As a result, many readers are often disappointed when they watch the adaptation of their favorite book and nd one or more aspects of the story either are not how they pictured or entirely dierent from the original. This poses a question: if lmmakers change so many details when creating the lm adaptation, what is the true purpose of book to movie adaptations? Books and movies are two very dierent forms of media, so it is logical to assume lmmakers must make some adjustments to the original storyline to convert seamlessly between the two media forms. These changes sometimes lead readers to have a more negative opinion of movies based on books they en-joyed. When asked for his thoughts on book to movie adaptations, Dr. Curt Hersey, the Department Chair of Communications and lm professor, said, “When you have an audience who loves a book, you’renever going to make them happy.” He also addedthat the reason many people enjoy the book moreis that reading a book “makes us more activeparticipants” versus watching a movie, whereall aspects of the story - the characters’appearance, setting, etc. - are provided, not left o our imagination. This is not to say that book to movieadaptations are unnecessary or poor quality.In fact, some people prefer that movieadaptations not be entirely loyal to the originaltext. Dr. Clint Peters, a creative writingprofessor at Berry, said, “Movies are a dierentart form . . . I want some lmmaker’s artisticspin on the material.” However, this may not be a sentiment shared by most people. Sophie Croker, a freshman at Berry, says she enjoyed the movie adaptations based on Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien because of their accuracy to the books. She said, “The movie adaptations were very focused on making them as close to the books as possible.” She also appreciates that the lmmakers tried to include important details that Tolkien put in the books. Dr. Hersey and Dr. Peters did not outwardly admit they liked the Lord of the Rings movies better, but they each mentioned that they are a perfect example of book to movie adaptations done well. From Page to Screen:The Magic and Challenges ofBook to Movie AdaptationsStory by Cheyenne AndersonDesign by Mikenna Gaukel, Arts and Culture Editor & Cheyenne Anderson, Asst. Arts and Culture EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphic EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, Photographer As with anything, there are instances where a movie adaptation of a book may be unnecessary. Many movie adaptations of popular books exist because there is a platform that studio executives or lmmakers want to prot from. When there is an audience who loves a book, similar to what Dr. Hersey mentioned, lmmakers assume a movie based on that book will do well; they “see money,” according to Dr. Peters. Though a well-written, popular book does not guarantee a high-quality movie. For instance,Dr. Peters discussed The Goldnch by Donna Tartt, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014 and became an “abysmal” movie. So, like any other movie, the quality of a book to movie adaptation comes down to the time, eort, and money lmmakers are willing to contribute. Turning a book into a movie is not a perfect pro-cess. Converting between two dierent forms of me-dia means there must be a compromise, a requirement some people do not want to submit to. However, when done right, book to movie adaptations can wonderfully demonstrate how an original story can come together with creative freedom and expression.Laerissa Dowling (L) and Asiel Castillo (R) watching “The Hunger Games.”Valeria Figueroa reading “Little Women.”
SWEATERS AREN’T JUST FOR GIRLSMEN’S RETRO FASHION AND HOW TO STYLE IT Story and Design by Abby Grace Shrader, Style Editor Photos by Ashley Moreno, Photo EditorThis may come as a shock, so grab on to a steady sur-face, but there is a large disparity between the number of fashion articles written about women versus those written about men. Does this imply that fashion is something only for women to consider? That society believes men are not putting as much eort as women into their style? Maybe. But take one look around Berry College’s campus and you will see that men are aware of their sense of style, and they are absolutely killing it. Junior Jake Patton said, “I think men’s fashion is really important, especially on campus, because it shows that men really can care about how they look and that they can present themselves well.” For boys on campus, the walk to Ford is their runway, and man are they strutting. Look closely and you will see some common themes in their fashion choices - some annels, some boots, maybe a beanie here or there. Retro fashion is currently trending heavily in men’s wear. But what exactly is it, and how can you incorporate it into your fall wardrobe? What it is: A great way to get a feel of retro fashion is by opening up a Ralph Lauren magazine from the 90s. It is a mix of rustic, warm comfort with an elevated hipster feel. When asked to dene his sense of fashion, Patton said, “My sister would say ‘retro cozy with a little spice’ and I would have to agree.” This look is becoming more and more popular within big brands like L.L. Bean, Patagonia, REI, American Eagle, and more. Men dressed head to toe in this outdoorsy retro fashion can frequently be seen hitting thrift shops, picking apples at an orchid, and chilling with some Henry David Thoreau in locally owned coee shops. How to style it: You simply cannot mess this look up. It is as simple as pairing an oversized cream cardigan with your favorite pair of dark jeans and your go-to boots. Since it is mostly neautrals, don’t overthink how well every-thing matches. The best way to put your perfect look together is grabbing pieces you know you feel great in, and wearing it with condence. Patton said, “When I am putting an outt together, I go into my closet and decide if the day feels neutral or in need of a fun fall color, like the Converse I’m wearing. I also try to pull a annel for fall because who doesn’t love a good annel?” Patton’s look is the perfect example of how to style retro fall fashion. So guys, next time you go to the Goodwill, keep an eye out for these cornerstone pieces:• Knit polo shirts • Wide legged jeans (Also see: bell bottoms!) • Oversized graphic tees (Bonus points if it says Martha’s Vineyard or has tennis racquets on it) • Corduroy pants (and jackets- the more corduroy the better) • Flannels (Take Jake’s advice on this one) • Cozy sweaters (Think When Harry Met Sally) • Fur lined jackets (Think That 70’s Show) • Converse • Denim jackets • Plaid • Overalls (Embrace your inner farmer with this one) • Turtlenecks • Shades of green, brown, red, cream (You’ll need a beanie in basically every color) • Reebok sneakers • A comfy cardigan • Birkenstocks (To avoid frosty toes, try the currently trending Boston Clogs)• Sweater vests • Blundstone boots• More annels • Dark jeans • Glasses (Blue light can be accepted) • Graphic tees Pictured: Jake Patton, Junior, Theatre Major 65Style64
66 67StyleIf you thought deciding which color metal to frost your wrists and neck with was merely an after-thought, you could not be more wrong. Wearing gold jewelry versus silver jewelry has become a bit of a debate online, with social media telling people that you must fall into either category. So, be-fore you go buy new earrings, take the quiz below to nd out which will look better on you, as well as which better suits your personality. Don’t overthink it - circle A or B and count up your answers to gure out if you are a silver or gold jewlery person!1. When you look at your reection, are you are a warm toned or cool toned person? (Hint: If your veins have a green tint to them, you are probably warm toned. If your veins are more blue or purple, you are cool toned) A. Cool toned B. Warm toned 2. You have a free weekend. Do you go for a hike on Mountain Campus or go shopping on Broad Street? A. Hiking all the way! I love the outdoors! B. Who wouldn’t choose shopping? 3. When browsing through a bookstore, you realize that Berry paycheck did not go very far, and you have to pick between two books. A. I’m picking something with some fantasy element to it – maybe Stephen King. B. Anything with romance. 4. Is your hair on the darker or lighter end of the spectrum? A. Darker. B. Lighter – Blondes have more fun. 5. Do you stack your bracelets and rings? A. Oh yeah! I usually have a ring on every nger. B. Less is more. 6. What color are your eyes? A. Light – blue, green. B. Dark – brown, hazel. 7. When you open up your closet door and stare inside, what colors do you see the most? A. Blue, white, black, gray, beige – it looks very crisp and clean. B. Brown, green, yellow, orange, purple, to name a few. It’s very warm and a little chaotic.Are You a Silver or Gold Jewlery Person?Story and Design by Abby Grace Shrader, Style EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorIf you answered mostly A....You are more suited for silver jewelry! Your favorite jewelry pieces are probably the funky ones you picked up in an antique shop. You have been described as eccentric, mysterious, and a little hard to pin down. You may be more of an introvert, but that just means you nd the people you love most and stick with them. You have a natural coolness to you, and other people constantly wonder how every-thing rolls o your back. Wear those silver rings with pride – you shine like the milky way. If you answered mostly B... You are destined for a life of gold jewelry! Better get that checkbook ready, because one common complaint about being a gold jewelry girl is how expensive everything is. But that doesn’t matter to you! You always see the glass half full, and you would much rather invest in higher quality necklaces that are going to last years longer than your silver jewelry friends. You have always had a taste for the ner things in life, after all. One of your philosophies in life is “better late than ugly!” You are the sunshine on a dark day – let your jewelry reect it! If your answers are a mixed bag... Then you should mix metals! While this used to be taboo in the fashion world, more and more people have begun to elevate their looks by mixing silver and gold jewelry. Simply wear one gold ring and one silver, or layer dierent necklaces together to create a cohesive look. That shouldn’t be a problem for you – you are naturally creative, with an eye for combining colors and patterns that the normal person would shy away from. Lean into your condent side and wear your mixed metals with gusto – don’t let anyone stick you into one box! 6667Style
68 69StyleThe Summer I Turned Pretty has taken everyone by storm weather it is love triangle drama, fun fashion trends, everyday life on the coast, and more. We asked Berry students how they felt about certain aspects of the show weather it was fashion in season one versus two, which character they resonatted with better, and which team they were, Conrad or Jeremiah. What season did Belly dress better in?What sweatshirt team are you?69% season one31% season two35% Team Finch65% Team BrownWhich would you wear on a summer beach day?Is your fashion vibe Belly or Taylor?Do you like Taylor with or without bangs?38% shorts and top38% Belly 62% Taylor65% dresses82% Bangs19% No bangsStory and Design by Lindsey MacDiarmid, Assistant Style Editor Graphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics Editor
To Loft or Not to Loft?Story and Design by Lindsey MacDiarmid, Assistant Style EditorPhotos by Alana Burcaw, PhotographerIt’s your freshman or sophmore year of college and you are living in dorm housing for the year. You are struck with a critical descion to make about your dormroom. Do I loft or unloft my bed? This is an improtnat descion to make becasue there are so many pros and cons to each. You question whether you want to climb up to your bed each night or if you just want to slide right into bed hastle free. You question whether you want to have maximal storage under your bed that can be seen or if you want less stoage under your bed but pretty much hidden. All these questions are rushing through your head as you try and solve the biggest college drom mystery. To loft or not to loft?Freshman and sophmore Berry students were in-tervied acrossed campus about whether or not they like lofted or unlofted dormbeds. Most rst year students talk about how they made the right choice for them and are happy with lofting or unlofting their beds. Second year students talked about what they did dierently, how they maxi-mized space better their second year, and what they advise other students to do and not to do. Kat Kelyman, sophmore Berry student, said “I was not a fan of the lofted bed from my freshman year. I like the set up of both beds on the oor. My roomate and I gave up oor space but we prefer not lofted beds over having more oor space with lofted beds”. Steven Slezak, sophmore Berry student, said “I do like my lofted bed. I would not change anything about my room setup, lofted beds provide enough room underneath for studying”. If you are planning on unlofting your bed, getting under the bed organziers or something to make storage not as cluttered is key. Some students recomend getting plastic drawers from stores like Target or Walmart to store clothes under their bed in a organized way. Students also recomend unloft-ing their beds for those who not want to climb up a ladder every time they want to get into bed. Also, other things to consider when unlofting your bed is if there is any extra furniture you want in your dorm room. If you and your roomate both have an unlofted bed, it is unlikely you will also have room for extra furniture. If you are planning on loftting our bed, you can do a couple of dierent things. One way to do it is loft it on top of your dresser and desk. This way your desk and drawers are under your bed and you max-imize oor space as much as possible. Another way to do it is to half loft your bed. This means lofting it to where you still have a lot of space under your bed for storage, but your dresser and desk are seperate from the bed. In dorms like Morten-Lem-ley Hall, half lofting is the the only type of lofting you can due in that building, whereas dorms like Dana and Ford, you can loft, unloft, or haloft. 70 Style 71Unlofted bed in Berry Student’s DormLofted bed in Berry Student’s Dorm Lofted Bed Example
72 73StyleYou have seen it on supermodels prancing down the runway but are barely-there brows something for Berry? Even though your eyebrows take up very little space on your face, there are plenty of ways to style them to your liking. Re-cently, barely-there eyebrows have been trending in a variety of ways. Bleached eyebrows have been gracing the cover of Vogue and the faces of many celebrities, like Kylie Jenner. In addition to bleach blonde, some celebs, like Doja Cat, are shaving o their brows completely to draw more attention to their dramatic eye makeup. Some, like Bella Hadid, are over-plucking and over-shaving to follow the trend of having super skinny brows. They’re edgy, they’re modern, and they are listed step-by-step below. Barely-There BrowsBLEACHED BROWSBleached brows have been popping up quite recently over the last couple of years thanks to celebrities like Kim Kardashian. By taking some bleach to your forehead and turning your eyebrows white, you create a look that screams “I don’t care what you think of me.” If you have gotten into the punk-rock genre lately, then these brows are for you. How to bleach your brows in your own dorm: 1. Make sure those brows are spiy-clean. Swipe a cotton swab over them to ensure no products are on your face. 2. Apply a barrier cream or risk irritating your brows. Aquaphor or vaseline will get the job done. 3. Mix equal amounts of bleach and developer together in a plastic bowl. It should form a paste. (Tip: The lighter your natural hair color, the less percentage of developer you should use.) 4. Using a spoolie that you can get at any beauty store, evenly apply the paste to your eyebrows. Be sure that it coats every last hair. Then lay plastic wrap across your forehead. 5. After 10 minutes, check and see if the hairs have lightened enough. If not, check back in every 2-3 minutes until they reach your desired punk-rock look. (Tip: It can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to bleach your brows, depending on how thick and dark your hair is.)6. Wash with soap and water and ta-da! Barely-there Berry brows. However, if you are scared to make such a drastic change that isn’t very easy to undo, below is a hack for achieving bleached brows without busting out the chemicals. 1. First step is canceling out the dark undertones of your brows. Use a full-coverage concealer in your skin tone for the best results. 2. Next, cover your eyebrow hairs with a concealer two or three shades lighter than what you would usually use. ThisBeauty is pain? Abagail Hill, Junior, tweezes away straw hairs to keep her eyebrows perfectly arched.Story and Design by Abby Grace Shrader, Style Editor Photo by Tanner Huey, Photographeris to really make them pop. 3. To lock the product in place, go over your brows with a setting powder or light powder. Leave the product for 3-4 minutes, then sweep away any excess.4. And just like that - bleached brows without the com-mitment. SHAVED BROWSWant to take it a step further and open up your face completely? 1. Use a shaving cream that is face-friendly. 2. Hold the skin taut as you shave. 3. Move the razer upwards, against the growth of hair. 4. Use an after-shave cream to prevent your skin from reacting negatively. 5. Presto! You have captured a straight-o-the-runway look sure to turn heads while walking around campus. SUPER SKINNY BROWSOkay, maybe you don’t love the idea of taking bleach or shaving cream to your sensitive brows. Maybe you don’t love the idea of looking like you just stepped o the set of an AC/DC music video. If you prefer the eyebrows that dominated the 90s and early 2000s, then the super skinny eyebrow look is for you. 1. Brush your eyebrows through with a comb. 2. Use small, sharp scissors to cut any hairs that hang out above the comb. 3. Use a spool to brush your eyebrows upward, then begin tweezing until your eyebrows are two pencil thin lines. 4. Simple as that, you are a dead ringer for Gwen Stefani.
74 75StyleCoastal Cowgirl Style Guide This past year, the coastal cowgirl aestetic has taken every beach and country lover by storm. The owy summer dress and cute cowgirl boots have consumed the media and become a style craze. This theme is not only in clothes but also in homes with fun wall art, cowgirl boot nick-nacks, pastelle wall colors, light furnitre, and lots of pretty blues. Below is the ideal style guide to achieve the ultimate coastal cowgirl aesthetic. Clothing and Accessories:• Cowgirl boots are key • Flowy dresses or owy skirts• Flower prints • Denim, denim, denim • Cowgirl hat makes the look• Graphic tees or simple tops • Midi dress or skirt • Pearl drop earings • Sea glass jewelry • Bandana • Frindge Handbags Color Scheme:• Lots of dierent shades of blue• Pastel colors • Blue and white paired CMYK 15/0/9/0CMYK 13/2/0/0CMYK 69/43/9/0CMYK 42/1/0/0Furniture:• Light blue decrotive pillows • White or cream sectional couch • Blue rug • Coee table with beachy and west-ern decorations Message Goals:• Western style • Beachy Vibes • Flirty personality • Flowy style • Timeless • Simple Story and Design by Lindsey MacDiarmid, Assistant Style EditorGraphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorDecorations:• Surfboads hanging on the wall• Flowery or paisley printed lamps• Anthing with cowgirl boots on it • Etsy wall art you can order or print out
7677StyleStory and Design by Abby Grace Shrader, Style Editor Graphics by Alyssa Abrams, Graphics Editor Photos by Ashley Moreno, Photo Editor The positively preppy shade that is sweeping the nation Here’s a fun fact you have probably never heard - Pantone color #e0218a is called ‘Barbie Pink.’ You don’t have to Google it to know what it looks like. Barbie Pink is a color that is very easily recalled, so much so that it has its own Pantone color. It is a color that is commonly associ-ated with femininity, youthfulness, and irtation. But above all, Barbie herself. Professor of Communication Brian Carroll said, “The Barbie pink is at a very particular intersection of saturation, and a concentration of vividness, of pinkness, whatever that might be...Its attributes are also often histor-ically applied to femininity.” Junior Holly Jordan said, “Pink makes me feel feminine and condent. Like I can just dance like nobody’s watching, you know? I feel like maybe ten years ago there were bad feelings associated with pink but now, especially with the Barbie movie, pink is now seen as a powerful color. Before it was associated with girls, and thus with weakness, but now it is still associated with girls, but also with power and fun.” Jordan begs an interesting question: Has the suc-cess of the Barbie movie impacted the way that we see the color pink? The color pink has denitely spiked in popularity. This is in part due to the non-ocial dress code for seeing the movie. When the Barbie movie, starring Margo Rob-bie and Ryan Gosling, came out in summer of 2023, inu-encers were suddenly posting the outts they had picked out just to wear to the movie theater, and all of them were the iconic Barbie pink. This quickly picked up speed and before you knew it, everyone had accepted that if you were going to watch the Barbie movie, you were going to go head to toe in pink. When asked if she dressed up to go see the lm, Jordan said, “I wore my pink Barbie t-shirt. Everyone else was dressing up, so I wanted to also support the movie and just have fun with it. I think the movie is very important for women everywhere, and wearing pink to go watch the movie sort of created a sense of solidarity.” The societal expectation to wear pink to the the-atres could be due in part to the marketing behind the movie. In an article written by Rebecca Rubin, Variety Magazine stated that Warner Bros pulled o the “mar-keting campaign of the year” with Barbie, especially with their use of the color pink. Variety stated that pink became the “color of the movie.” This is thanks to the set, specically Barbieland, which was so drenched in pink that it almost caused a nation-wide shortage of pink paint. The wardrobes in the lm featured various shades of pink throughout, on mul-tiple characters. There is simply no Barbie without pink. Carroll said, “I don’t think you can patent or trademark a color, but Mattel has locked down the market meaning of that particular pink.” Now, following the success of the movie, Barbie pink is everywhere. Carroll said, “I saw it in malls the day after the lm was released. There were already Barbie branded sweatshirts and t-shirts in stores everywhere.” Barbie pink is trending so heavily that you can nd the preppy shade in pillows, athletic clothes, back-packs, tennis shoes, high heels, skirts, phone cases, and even water bottles. It is one of the most popular colors of the year. There is no denying that it is everywhere you look. It has taken over fashion trends, as well as trends in home decor. Walking around Berry’s campus, you will see girls in head-turning pink dresses and sweatshirts. Maybe it is an expression of their femininity, a reection of the female empowerment that the Barbie movie gave them. Maybe it is a way for girls to reclaim some of that childhood magic and go back to the days where their idea of fun was making their Ken doll cheat on their Barbie doll. Or maybe, they just love the trendy, fun color. No matter, Lizzo said it best in her hit song that played in the beginning of the Barbie movie: “And pink goes with everythingBeautiful from head to toeI’m read’ to go, you know, you knowIt’s pink!Good enough to drinkWe like all the colors, but pink just looks so good on us.” We asked on the Valkyrie Instagram and 44 Berry students answered: Jordan said, “Barbie pink specically makes me feel happy, girlie, just like...energic and joyous. All the fun feelings.”7776Style
7978 Staff PageKevin Kleine,AdvisorSylvie Wages,Editor-in-ChiefAudrey Bennett,Managing EditorCamille Lueder,Issues & Impact EditorStar Pompa-Correa,Asst. Issues & Impact EditorBrianna Mitchell,STEM EditorAbbie King,Asst. Food EditorMikenna Gaukel, Arts and Culture EditorReese Chatman,Health & Fitness EditorRosemary Chesney,Asst. Health & Fitness EditorCheyenne Anderson, Asst. Arts and Culture EditorLindsey Macdiarmid, Asst. Style EditorAbby Grace Shrader,Style EditorLauren Yelverton,Food EditorHayleigh Holcomb,Graphics Asst.Ashley Moreno,Photo EditorAlyssa Abrams, Graphics EditorTanner Huey,PhotographerAnna Wade,WriterBella Ardell,Content CreatorMads Muraoka,Asst. Photo EditorPatrick Knight, Copy EditorOlivia Pope, WriterCarolina Mendoza,Digital EditorAlana Burcaw,PhotographerConnor Coltrane,WriterPrincess Anderson,WriterA HUGE THANK YOU TOOUR STAFF!Letter from the editorsSylvie Wages, Editor-In-ChiefAudrey Bennett, Managing EditorFor most of us, this semester has been quite an adventure whether it be with peers, new opportunities, learning new things, stress, or new experiences. While it can be quite hectic at times, we can all come together to reect on the unforgettable memories and times we have had this Fall semester.With how crazy life can get, it is important to stop and notice the little things. This varies for everyone, but it could be a great cup of coee, watching the leaves change, or having dinner with friends. Our hope is that this magazine can give readers a chance to not only kick back and relax as they enjoy ipping through the pages, but also allow them to reect on their semester and all that they were able to experience and accomplish.Moreover, we are so thrilled to be able to showcase our amazing sta’s variety of talents through the magazine whether it be in the photography, graphic designs, or writing. Our team has worked so hard to make this magazine so spectacular.We have had an incredible time putting together Valkyrie this Fall and have made so many great memories in the process. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we do!
Berry College Valkyrievalkyriemagazine.comBerry CollegeMt. Berry, Georgia 30149@ 2023