What started off as an April Fool’s joke turned social experiment on Reddit has become a source of national recognition for the Institute as a group of students spearheaded a campaign to represent some of Tech’s most iconic symbols on the internet’s largest collaborative art project. 

The internet project r/place, originally developed by Josh Wardle in 2017, is a temporary canvas hosted on Reddit that any user can contribute to over the course of the canvas’ four day lifespan. The only catch was that users could only contribute one single pixel on the canvas at a time and were required to wait five to twenty minutes before placing another. After a five year hiatus, r/place made an unannounced comeback on April 1, prompting active Reddit users in the Tech community to scramble to come together and strategize ways to place and defend their artwork depicting Tech Tower, Buzz and the Ramblin’ Reck. After four days the canvas, which depicts various country’s flags, other colleges’ logos and symbols representing every corner of the internet, was returned back to its original blank state when users were limited to only placing white pixels. 

William “Trey” Page, second-year AE, found himself as the head coordinator of the over 600 Reddit users committed to making Tech’s mark on r/place after the first day of pixel placing had begun. Page, who had been familiar with the 2017 event, helped coordinate the formation of the artwork, along with defense strategies to avoid the pixels getting overwritten by other Reddit users. A notable side mission was the community’s as little representation as possible on the canvas.

“I would essentially go okay, guys, we need to focus on this area of our artwork to make sure that, you know, this isn’t overtaken by another community who’s also working up or something like that,” Page said. 

“We were mostly on the defense side of things, but I mean, every now and again, we would raid UGA, just to make sure they didn’t get anything on there, which was kind of funny. We wanted to keep UGA as small as possible and I think we came out on top of that.” 

In order to accomplish their goals, the group consisting of Tech students, faculty, alumni and prospective students utilized coded bots to place pixels for them overnight to defend against raids while members slept. They also formed alliances with other online communities with artwork in the vicinity, including the Magic the Gathering and One Piece fandoms, in order to help each community complete their pixel art. Page himself dedicated nearly eight hours every day jumping between Discord and school work to help the group stay organized. 

At the end of the four day event, members of the group jumped on a voice call together to reflect on their accomplishments. From there, the plan to print out the canvas and hang it up on campus was born.

“That plan was extremely improvised. We were making it as we were going,” said Page. 

“We got in the voice channel and we mentioned it as a joke, like, how funny would it be if we printed out a giant canvas of this and posted it somewhere at Georgia Tech? And then somebody was like, ‘Hey, that’s possible. That’s actually possible. We have the resources for this.”

Members of the group, many of them meeting in person for the first time, gathered in the library to pool their semesterly printing allotment to print a physical copy of the final r/place canvas.

“We were like, alright, we have four strips of 26 by 92 inches, that we all need to print. That is twenty-four dollars per student…we had four students come down and sacrifice their printing funds,” said Page. 

The group initially wanted to hang the print out in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons but strayed away from the space in fear of it being confiscated by security. They opted to take their chances with posting the r/place print in the Skiles courtyard. The students involved with the project set up a makeshift guard duty to ensure the expensive print held up during the rainy days ahead. 

“Because those days it was especially rainy, and windy, we were like, okay, we just need to make sure that it doesn’t fall and literally the beginning of day two it looked like it was on its last legs and we’re like ‘oh god, we did not use enough duct tape,’” Page said. “So us being engineering students, we decided the best form of adhesion to the wall was duct tape on brick which, if you’ve ever tried that, it literally does not stick so you have to use an absurd amount of duct tape.”

In the meantime, a post featuring a picture of the print on campus made by one of the group members was gaining popularity on r/place, with Page estimating that over twelve million people saw the post that made its way to the front page of Reddit.

“It blew up…like none of us could have prepared for just the sheer amount of up votes that thing got…and then it’s like number one in r/all and we’re like, oh, my God it’s the first thing you see when you open Reddit,” Page said.

After the post reached such a large audience and the print out itself had taken quite the beating from the outside elements, the group reached out to the library to see about getting the piece installed in the library to show not only the resources available to Tech students but also the massive community that came together to represent the Institute during this historic internet event.

Joseph Carragher, fourth-year AE and another major contributor to the project, mentioned his surprise the library’s reception of the idea.

“I thought no one would care about this…in the meeting with the library coordinator I thought he was just gonna be like, give us a pat on the back and then tell us the f*** off. But he actually was like, ‘No, this is like sick, this is student artwork. It’s this digital yet physical piece of art or whatever and we’re going to work to put it up in the library,’” Carragher said. “I was like, holy s***. I’m surprised like I did not at all think anything would come of this. I thought it was just like internet jokes and I thought we were just having fun on the internet. But this has totally has blown up past what I thought this would be.”

In addition to the potential library installation, Nolan Winter, second-year CS, has set out to create a documentary on the Tech community’s experience with r/place. 

“As people were making the plan to print it, I decided that I would bring my camera to the CULC since there might be some cool or funny moments that would happen,” Winter said. “After hanging up the poster and having filmed the activities that whole night, I realized that it would be cool to record people’s reactions to the poster. As I was hanging out by Skiles the next day I realized that we could interview people about their involvement and what they thought about it all. From there, it took off, and now we have a group of people working on making an awesome video.”

Tech’s involvement on r/place, and now the documentary, are examples of how online movements can unite people.“I hope the documentary brings more attention to r/place and Georgia Tech and how these opportunities are really cool experiences and not just silly ‘nerd’ things…I hope people can see how well random people can work together when united by a single idea or cause, even though none of us knew each other in person before that weekend,” said Winter.

While the print out has now been featured by Tech’s official social media accounts, the group was initially afraid the project would not be approved by administration, prompting them to avoid showcasing it inside a Tech building. Worries surrounding the decision point towards a larger question of Tech’s openness to host student art on its campus.

“If we had felt comfortable with posting it at the CULC building, we would have done so and that would allow me to know that okay, Georgia Tech is cool with this because it’s an expression of art. But the fact that we didn’t feel comfortable with that means that there’s some level of moderation that Georgia Tech has with regards to posting art,” said Page.

Carragher noted that the piece is an interesting example of the intersection between arts and technology. 

“In its finished state its artwork, but to get there, it wasn’t, you know, like one dude with a, a paintbrush, or whatever. It was us setting up Python scripts, and like, fighting with other people who set up Python scripts…that’s sort of the intersection where it is art in the end but to get to where it ended we had to use Discord and Reddit and all these stupid scripts to try to maintain so much ground,” said Carragher.

Page described the incredible ability r/place had in bringing people from all parts of the Tech community together. 

“You have people that were students and want to be students and current students working together,” Page said. “I guess the best way I think it’s best summed up with what Reddit said back in like 2017. You know, separately you can’t do anything with this. But together you can make something more of it.” 

Those interested in finding out more about r/place can visit reddit.com/r/place.

“And thus endeth our work. Have we accomplished that for which we have worked? Have we given to our readers a paper that was appreciated, or have we merely added another volume to the file of Georgia Techs, and by doing so lowered the standard of amateur journalism?” 

I call on the words of the editors of the 1896 Georgia Tech, the Technique’s predecessor, for my last piece in this publication because they bring me a strange sense of comfort. The fact that I have been a part of something so ingrained in Tech’s history that I can look back on the words of editors who came 120 years before me and find so many similarities in our experiences is incredibly humbling and gives me hope that the work I have put into this newspaper over the past four years have not been in vain. 

As I near the end of my time at Tech — a time I naively thought would never come because up until this week I felt like I was staring down an infinite black hole of deadlines and tasks to complete  — I find myself asking similar questions the 1896 editors asked themselves. Have I done enough? 

Was my work at the Technique impactful, or will it simply be sent to an archive graveyard to be remained untouched until a student stumbles upon my words during a class assignment like I did with the volume of the Georgia Tech I am pulling this existential crisis from? 

Did people (besides my mom, my biggest supporter who doesn’t count because she’s legally obligated to be proud of me) care about the work I put into this, or did I ignore my therapist’s repeated pleas to quit the Technique for nothing? 

To say I have attempted to give my all to the Technique, and as a result the Tech community as a whole, would be an understatement. 

The voices of this campus have consistently hovered below my fingertips as I navigated how to organize them all in a neat and concise twenty page paper week in and week out. 

My computer’s hard drive has been filled to the brim ten times over with photographs documenting the past four years of the Institute’s history. 

People I have spent the night with have filed many complaints regarding the way I distinctly mumble about the Technique in my sleep. I have seen this place at its prettiest and ugliest moments, attempting to fairly report them all while juggling being a student here myself. 

“The trials, tribulation, and triumphs of the editors of a college paper are as uncertain as the colors of a chameleon.” When the retiring board of the 1896 Georgia Tech wrote those words, I do not think they could have imagined how true that statement would become during the wake of a pandemic. 

As much as I wanted to avoid mentioning COVID-19, it is hard to write this final piece without acknowledging the collective trauma the pandemic put us through and the impact it has had on my time at the Technique.

When we got sent home in March 2020, there was no clear candidate to lead the Technique through its uncertain future. The printing presses had stopped, forcing the staff to figure out how to keep this thing running completely online. Without a hard print deadline to work towards, staff morale was at an all-time low and I would argue the Technique was on the edge of a dark age.

It was then I was pushed to run for Editor-in-Chief, a position I had never put serious thought towards considering I had just joined the editorial board as the news editor mere weeks before COVID-19 hit. At the end of April, I was elected and suddenly in charge of making sure this legacy laid down by the EIC’s before me survived through this intense unpredictable period. 

I have a confession to make — and I hope other campus leaders can resonate with this so I can feel less guilty about having this feeling — I often feel cheated out of my time as EIC. The pandemic forced us to host weekly staff meetings online and fear of an outbreak prompted us to stagger the time editors spent in the office working on deadline nights. 

These drastic changes evicted the vital community aspect out of the Technique office, taking out the core fun of the paper and leaving behind only the work that needed to be done. 

I didn’t get to see my entire staff all in person, in one room until the end of the year banquet. I didn’t get to stand proudly next to them at the GCPA awards and watch their faces light up as their work was recognized. 

I lost a year of Wednesday night deadlines surrounded by the soundtrack of my staff members laughing as we tried to decide what we were going to deem “hot” or “not” that week in the opinions section. I lost the spirit of the Technique.

All of these losses factored into the immense burnout I felt at the end of my junior year and led me to consider reducing my involvement with the paper during my senior year. 

Luckily, I made the decision to apply to be Managing Editor, a position that represented an opportunity to experience all of those things I had lost one last time. This year, I was able to experience all of those things and more as the spirit of the Technique came back in full color. Well, not literally because we still can’t afford to print this whole thing in color, but you get what I mean. 

Despite the seemingly common beef between SGA and our editorial board, the computers that never seemed to work despite IT claiming they finally had them fixed, the occasional emergency article that had to be written when a writer ghosted us on deadline, the time all of the physical copies of my EIC volume of the Technique accidentally got donated to the Atlanta Humane Society and all the other moments that made me feel like this place didn’t love me back, I would not have traded this experience for the world. 

The Technique has made me into a stronger person and I can walk across the graduation stage knowing that I can handle whatever the world has to offer. Ending my time here is bittersweet, but I can confidently look back at the questions presented in the beginning of this and find solace in the fact that despite all of the odds, I did everything I physically could to make this paper the best it can be. 

In turn, I hope to have inspired those coming after me to continue to make this place better and better.

While many football players anxiously await to be drafted to the NFL in the coming weeks, one Tech alumna is already making waves on the Falcons sideline. Lauren Piper, IE ‘21, capped off her first season as a Falcons cheerleader earlier this year after making the 2021-22 team. 

During her time at Tech, Piper was a member of the Goldrush dance team for four years and served as a senior captain during her senior year. Piper, fueled by her passion for dance, was prompted to try out for Goldrush in order to keep her activity levels up throughout college. “I wanted a way to continue to stay active and continue to dance after high school which is something that usually stops for most people, and being on a college dance team seemed like the perfect way to combine the two,” Piper said.

Prior to becoming a AFC cheerleader, Piper got to experience a professional sports stage during her first year on Goldrush. “One of my favorite memories on Goldrush is freshman year when I was selected as the rookie representative from the team to travel to the ACC Men’s Basketball tournament in New York. I got to dance in Barclays Center where the Brooklyn Nets play,” said Piper. 

Piper’s time on the sidelines of Bobby Dodd helped prepare her to make it to the field of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “My Goldrush experience helped me so much for my Falcons audition,” said Piper. “I had never even held pom poms before I came to college, so learning about pom motions and the sideline style dance was extremely helpful. I had also never danced on turf before or with my hair down which is definitely something to get used to.”

The former Goldrush dancer started preparing for her audition during her final semesters at Tech. The months-long audition process consists of prep classes, first-round and semifinal round video submissions and a two day final round bootcamp where the prospective cheerleaders polish their technique and learn a field routine. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed back the 2021 auditions process, which required the cheerleaders to learn an additional ten sideline routines prior to the final round. 

Piper put in hours of work ahead of her audition, often spending eight hours a week dancing and spending additional time working on building her endurance. “Game days are 11 hours long, and we dance for 5 of them, so you have to be in really good shape in order to keep up and not look exhausted on the field,” said Piper. 

The long hours spent practicing and perfecting her routine had paid off. After advancing all the way to the final round of auditions, Piper was finally announced as a member of the 2021 Atlanta Falcons Cheerleading team. “The coaches announced the team the second day of finals, and we had just performed the dance in pairs and were waiting in the endzone while the judges deliberated,” said Piper. 

“After 2 hours they called everyone to the center of the field, read off the names of everyone that made the team, and we did the finals routine all together. That moment was so special to me because it was the first time we danced together as a team, and you could feel everyone’s energy and excitement for the season to come.”

Piper has had a memorable first year as a Falcons cheerleader. At the end of season banquet for the team, Piper received the “Rookie of the Year” award, an honor voted on by her fellow teammates.

Piper’s favorite moment from the season was her first game day in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “Running out onto the field for the first time for player intros with the roaring crowd, blinding lights, and cameras showing my face on the 360 halo board was surreal,” said Piper. 

During the day, Piper works full-time right outside of Tech’s campus as a Business Analyst for NCR. On game days, Piper runs around Mercedes-Benz stadium, arriving five hours ahead of kick-off to rehearse routines and formations for the game ahead. The cheerleading team does not get to practice at Mercedes-Benz, so these precious hours before the game are often the first time the cheerleaders get to practice their choreography on the field. 

Before kick-off, Piper spends time making appearances around the stadium with her teammates and interacting with fans. 

After making final hair and makeup touch ups, the team heads back down to the field for their pregame performance and lines the field to create a tunnel for the Falcons players to run through. After the game ends, Pipers retreats back to the locker room for a team meeting before heading home to rest and recover for work at the NCR office the next morning. 

The world of dance plays an important part in Piper’s life and her job as a Falcons cheerleader allowed her to continue her passion after graduating from Tech and leaving her Goldrush team. 

“Dance has impacted my life immensely. It has given me so much confidence and has always been an outlet for when other things in life get me down,” said Piper. “If I’ve had a hard day or am in a bad mood, walking into practice and getting to dance with these amazing men and women totally turns my day around. I always leave fulfilled and grateful that I have the opportunity to do what I love with my friends who support and believe in me.”

For those dreaming of one day making it to the NFL sidelines, Piper encourages others to seize opportunities without fear of failing. “My best advice would be to go for it, live in the moment, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else. So many times I won’t try things because I’m afraid of failing or not being good at it, but you really never know until you try. Going for this has been the most I have ever put myself out there, and I have been nothing but rewarded for it.”

Our Take: 3/5 Stars

Alexander James O’Connor, the man behind indie sweetheart Rex Orange County, concluded his 2020 run of “The Pony World Tour” at Atlanta’s Tabernacle venue in February of 2020. 

With the pandemic canceling the Asian, Australian and New Zealand legs of the tour, O’Connor was able to sit down and work on his newest album release “WHO CARES?” over the next two years.

While lingering on the outskirts of the alternative scene since the release of his freshman album “Bcos U Will Never B Free,” Rex Orange County gained momentum after being tapped to feature on Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 Grammy-nominated album “Flower Boy.” 

O’Connor’s popularity reached a new height after his songs “Best Friend” and “Loving Is Easy” littered the For You Page’s of TikTok users for months during the summer of 2019; earning him a dedicated fanbase as users sifted through his discography to find even more hidden gems such as the heartbreaking track “Untitled” off of his 2017 album “Apricot Princess.” 

With the eleven song album running just under thirty-five minutes, the fourth album from the English singer-songwriter is a short and sweet addition to his existing trio. 

Despite the short run time, “WHO CARES?” packs some tremendous high point singles between some predictable tracks that fall victim to O’Connor’s tendency to oversimplify his instrumentals in favor of attempting to convey the seemingly perpetual melancholy of his life. 

Prior to release, fans speculated that parts of the album would be influenced by Rex Orange County’s breakup with fellow musician Thea Morgan-Murrell, who goes by Thea on stage. With Thea’s nickname “Apricot Princess” serving as the title for O’Connor’s aforementioned sophomore album, their relationship has been cited as a source of inspiration for Rex Orange County before. 

Perhaps inspired by the breakup, “WHO CARES?” is filled to the brim with existential dread as Rex Orange County vaguely describes a loss that leaves him questioning who he is anymore. 

The album’s title song cements this nearly nihilistic theme with the first verse stating “all the things I used to dream about/got too far from reach/now I don’t know what’s happened to me.” 

This lost dream O’Connor speaks about is a prominent subject that remains pervasive throughout the album, with the song “ONE IN A MILLION” claiming that it is “the only thing I need/it’s the most important thing/it’s my one and only wish.” 

It is clear that Rex Orange County is missing something that has made him lose his way, and that feeling translates to the production of the album itself. 

The album brings some new sounds into O’Connor’s artillery, with “SHOOT ME DOWN” introducing a heavy dramatic drum beat that heavily contrasts with the cheery 50’s stratocaster strums that became a defining characteristic of his most popular singles. Rex Orange County also makes frequent use of an army of strings, adding a layer to the overall dramatic, woebegone bedroom pop feel of the album. 

Absent from the album and sorely missed are moments where Rex Orange County shows off his British accent by talk-rapping a verse or two, a feature prominent on one of his most popular songs “Television / So Far So Good.” The inclusion of his speaking voice may have helped break up the flow of the album, adding some much needed distinguishable elements between the songs that start to blend together after a while. 

Despite the escapist lyrics of the album insinuating a crisis in O’Connor’s life, he still managed to slip in some upbeat bangers in the album that distract listeners from his lack of life direction. 

The album’s high note is “OPEN A WINDOW,” a song that heavily benefits from the neo-soul sound contributed by Tyler, the Creator’s verse. 

“WHO CARES?” sends a flare signal that Rex Orange County is clearly working through a period of uncertainty in his life. Luckily, the title track and finale of the album offers listeners some assurance after Rex Orange County claims that he knows what he is supposed to do now that he knows who cares about him. 

After straying away from what works for him and clearing his system with this album, O’Connor can hopefully leave behind the self-doubt soon in hopes of one day producing an album that will promote him from angsty sad boy to a full-fledged indie artist.

While Tech students work on their physics homework or learn how to integrate, they may not realize that their technical education can be applied to more creative projects. 

Horizons, a make-a-thon event hosted by the student-run nonprofit organization HexLabs, hopes to bridge this gap. Horizons will take place from March 12–13 on Tech’s campus.

“I’m particularly fascinated by the intersection of art and technology, which is what drew me to help direct Horizons – a 24-hour art and technology make-a-thon that serves as a platform for people to express themselves through art while using technology to augment its impact and welcomes a diverse range of projects and majors,” said Shirling Xu, second-year CS and co-director of Horizons. 

Similar to a hack-a-thon, which would involve software development, a make-a-thon is focused on collaboratively designing and building a project in a short timespan. 

“It’s a fun and relaxed version of a hackathon, so students have the opportunity to try out new technologies and materials to build anything they want,” Xu said.

This year, there will be two tracks that participants can work under, digital or physical. Additionally, there are four challenges their projects can address: Sustainability, Educational, Storytelling and Music Tech. 

While working on their projects, participants in Horizons will have access to a wide array of resources. 

“Horizons will be hosted at the Instructional Center and Mason Building, so students can take advantage of those spaces and the materials we provide to make their projects,” Xu said. “Materials include acrylic paint, cardboard, wood, metal and more. We’ll also be working with the Hive and Invention Studio, so students will have access to Peer Instructors and mentors.”

There will be a range of events and workshops. 

“When our participants are taking a break from their projects, they can come hang out with fellow makers, paint tote bags, fold origami and even make terrariums,” Xu said. “We’re also offering workshops that teach students how to design with Figma, build with React and code digital art with p5.js.”

Participants will work on a team of up to four people to complete a project. 

“Collaboration is absolutely key to making the best ideas come to life,” Xu said. “Each person has their own unique perspectives and skill sets that they can share with others … Working on a team for a make-a-thon fosters a growth mindset because everyone can try something new and learn from each other.” 

Xu pointed out how important this growth mindset, combined with hands-on experiences, is to making new and innovative solutions. Xu herself has always been interested in the intersections of science and art, and often makes art through various mediums. 

“Combining my creative and technical sides to work on projects in the sustainability and education spaces is super meaningful to me,” Xu said. “… I’m motivated to tell a story through my artwork, touching on important themes such as culture and identity. I’m also currently writing a book about the ethics of science and technology for high school students, which is something I’m very excited about.”

She believes creativity is a skill that can be cultivated. 

“By investing time into exploring the real-world applications of art and technology and just tinkering around, I think anyone can become more creative. It all starts with a good idea, and then it flourishes into something more,” Xu said. “… Personally, I can’t imagine STEM without art because creativity is the foundation of any ground-breaking technological or scientific innovation.”

Besides the Horizons event next weekend, HexLabs will be hosting an environmental make-a-thon in the fall, thanks to Xu’s efforts to add an event focusing on developing solutions to environmental issues. HexLabs also hosts HackGT, an annual 36-hour hackathon. 

For students who are interested in getting involved, registration for Horizons is open until March 4 and is free. Anyone who is a Tech student, or a Georgia university student 18 years or older, can attend the event. 

“It’s a one-of-a-kind experience, so come out and make some stuff with us,” Xu said. “Not only do we have free food and swag, but you can also meet a bunch of cool people and win prizes.”
To learn more and register for the event, visit horizons.hexlabs.org.

For many, the world of puppetry arts has become synonymous with Jim Henson, the puppeteer responsible for creating and voicing Kermit the Frog. 

While Henson has traditionally served as the face of modern puppetry arts, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts shone the spotlight on the history of Black and African puppetry during a conversation with notable Black theater artists on Feb. 17. 

The all-star panel, hosted by Brian Harrison of the Center for Puppetry Arts, featured S. Renee Clark, Chris Thomas Hayes, Tarish Pipkins, Spencer Stephens and Paulette Richards. The discussion kicked off with Harrison framing the conversation with the long tradition of African puppetry. 

“Many people may not know that there was puppetry in Africa long before the European colonization,” Harrison said. 

“And puppetry was documented. I believe it was as early as 1829 was the first documented puppetry and we know there was probably puppetry long before that because puppetry was huge, and storytelling was a big part of the oral tradition of Africa. The area of Egypt is believed to be where puppets originated from.” 

With that context in mind, the conversation shifted towards the panels’ journey to becoming puppeteers and actors, with many citing the ways pop culture led them to appreciating the art of puppetry. Pipkins, also known by his artist name Jeghetto, referenced his love of horror and science fiction films such as “Gremlins” and “Predator” as his introduction to puppetry. 

“I was doing these abstract sculptures and that led me to building my first puppet and putting clothes on it and moving it around,” Pipkins said.” So I tripped and fell into puppetry. When I built that first puppet a friend of mine gave me the movie ‘Being John Malkovich’ and I popped it into my VCR and watched that opening scene and I said ‘this is something I want to do.’”

Richards, a puppeteer and former Tech professor who got her start making stop motion art with Barbie dolls and G.I. Joe action figures, spoke on the technical side of puppetry.

“[At Tech,] I taught a class where I guided students through their undergraduate thesis,” Richards said. 

“So I was reading all of this cutting edge research from every scientific discipline at the university, and as a volunteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts, I was working in the Hansen gallery next to all these cool robotic puppets and it started to click that this is what my students were doing. I’m also hanging out with the Decatur Makers with people that play with Arduino and I’m like ‘oh, that’s how they made this movie.’ So from there I started making my own animatronic puppets.” 

Richards continued on to talk about how her experience at Tech and playing with different software has led her to integrate technology and artistry into her teaching. 

“What I saw in that experience was I can inspire kids who would never think of themselves as robot scientists to be interested in puppets,” Richards said. “Because, if someone had showed me you could use this program to make your dolls move when I was a kid, I would have paid more attention to those math classes. So my goal as a puppet artist teaching artists is to bring the STEAM disciplines to kids through the art of puppetry,”

The latter half of the hour long discussion regarding the differences the artists had noticed between the face forward acting world and the puppetry world. Hayes, who is known for his work on Sesame Street, described how acting roles would often limit him to certain types of characters, while puppetry allowed him to push against that. 

“When I’m auditioning, I’m constantly aware of what kind of roles are put in front of me, and I just noticed a lot of stuff comes up where it’s like, okay this guy is a gangster, this guy is a thug and after a while you start to go ‘oh, my God, what is out there? Is there any kind of positive representation on TV for us?’” Hayes said. 

“In order to take steps up in certain kinds of mediums, I have to become this kind of dark and gritty character. The levity of puppetry is that it opens the door a little bit. When I look at auditions for puppets, I’m like a bird, or a couch. Those roles allow me to dig a little bit more into different characters and it frees you up a bit.”

Harrison pointed out the importance of representation in theater and puppetry arts for minority children.

“Those Black children, Spanish children are going to see that and they’re going to connect to that and they’re going to feel like they have a place in that theater,” Harrison said. “They can go see a performance and at the end see a Black performer and see themselves on stage.”

Clark ended the discussion by recounting a story of a time when students from her elementary school visited a show of hers the night after Obama was elected president. 

“I was the narrator, so I’m not covered. I’m sitting at the piano. And I’m not going to say she said it because I was a person of color. I don’t know why she said it. But I immediately took it because I was a person of color. But this little girl sitting about the fourth row points at me and she screams to her
mother ‘I don’t like her. Mommy, I don’t like her’ and I just had to remember my lines for the rest of the show,” Clark said.

“I was devastated. I was like, ‘what do you do with that?’ Because she was not a person of color and all of these things that had happened overnight and at the point that at the time, Georgia was still a red state. And I had no idea what had just happened in that moment of celebration.” 

Clark used the story to remind the audience that being a performing artist and especially a Black artist, requires a lot of vulnerability on stage. 

“Sometimes we are at the mercy of these beautiful little minds that are growing up, and as performers and artists we’re very vulnerable while we’re on stage,” Clark said. 

“We celebrate all the beautiful things to come at us, but sometimes when harsh days come for us we have to override it. It’s not just behind the scenes. It’s not just the audition that didn’t want us. We made it to the stage and we rehearsed, we did everything we were supposed to do and then somebody can still say something really mean. So just know we’re human beings and we’re people with heart.”

To learn more about the Center for Puppetry Arts and their upcoming programming, please visit puppet.org.

As Black History Month ends and Women’s History Month begins, one initiative on Tech’s campus is focusing on the intersectionality of race and gender, not just during one month, but year-round. The Women of Color Initiative (WOCI), part of the Office of Minority Educational Development (OMED), is comprised of three cohorts: the Black Women’s Initiative, Latinx Women’s Initiative and Afro-Latinx Women’s Initiative, all of which seek to uplift and empower women of color at Tech through various means.

This includes housing graduate and undergraduate ambassador programs, supporting research about women of color in academia and hosting events and workshops for career development and well-being. 

Sybrina Atwaters is the director of OMED and is a three time graduate of Tech: BS EE ‘94, MS HSTS ‘09 and PhD HSTS ‘14. During her time at Tech, Atwaters frequently used OMED as a resource.  

“OMED was a staple here in undergrad. I was a Challenge counselor for a while … I definitely relied on OMED as both a space but also [for] tutoring, [to] get support and mentoring as an undergrad,”
Atwaters said. 

After graduating with her Bachelor’s degree, Atwaters worked in the wireless design industry at Sprint and AT&T, and then returned to Tech for her graduate studies. Atwaters was asked by the then-director of OMED Cynthia Moore to help with the African-American Male Initiative, a grant-based initiative to support Black men at Tech.

Starting in 2016, Atwaters worked as the assistant director of OMED and in 2019, was chosen as the director of OMED. Atwaters has played a large role in launching WOCI. 

“For WOCI, for us, recognition and uplift is significant, and that is because we know women and women of color are doing the work. It’s just they don’t get recognized, right,” Atwaters said. “It’s no one uplifts that, so we’re very intentional about that.”

Each and every cohort has undergraduate and graduate ambassadors to support their peers. A large role the ambassadors take on is nominating women of color for awards by utilizing a database WOCI keeps of potential talented candidates. Additionally, they work to increase awareness of how OMED can support students. 

“OMED offers a lot of resources, services, opportunities, things like that, and so they have mechanisms where they will communicate that out to women of color, making sure they’re aware ‘hey, this is going on, you can participate,’” Atwaters said.

The final main task of WOCI ambassadors is mentorship. 

“As the numbers have expanded a little bit, we wanted to do more of high-touch mentoring and so now, each ambassador has a list of mentees that they are assigned to and they do everything from more cultural [and] social engagements … as well as academics,” Atwaters said.

A large part of WOCI’s initiatives is to support research focused on women of color in academia. 

“It was important that the research initiative be a part of the women of color initiative and really broaden that experience,” Atwaters said, who believes research should be an accessible experience for both undergraduate and graduate students. 

Upcoming research being done by Atwaters and the WOCI team includes looking at financial barriers for African Americans and how they intersect with gender and race.

Specific to supporting women of color in STEM, Atwaters explains that taking a broad approach, such as institutional wide initiatives, is best right now.

“You’re operating in very small spaces in very small numbers,” Atwaters said, who believes that disaggregating data into sub-fields of STEM would not be as effective right now. 

She points out that counting the number of women of color in certain fields does not always tell the full story. 

“What we look at is then the impact of the experience because that’s what we’re really trying to address, more so than the numbers, right?” Atwaters said. “… I look more so at percentage because that tells me a little bit more about impact.”

Besides research, WOCI hosts numerous events and workshops, including game watch parties for women’s basketball games and bootcamp fitness events. The bootcamp events typically take place at the end of the semester before finals. 

“We intentionally partner with women of color in the community that run fitness clubs and things like that, and we go to them rather than, you know, keeping our students isolated in this Georgia Tech bubble,” Atwaters said. “It is important again, if you’re building the ecosystem, and you’re in Atlanta … go out and connect.”

This bootcamp helps participants stay healthy, both mentally and physically, before finals. In terms of upcoming events, on March 11, WOCI will be hosting a Day in the Life event where participants can learn about career paths by shadowing and engaging with women of color in academia and industry. 

Atwaters hopes that the topics discussed during the event can be applied to some of WOCI’s research.

For students interested in learning more about WOCI and getting involved, they can reach out to Atwaters at sybrina.atwaters@omed.gatech.edu or Denise Ocasio Thomas, the assistant director of retention initiatives of OMED at denise.ocasio@omed.gatech.edu. Additionally, they can follow
@gtwoci on Instagram.

After ending last season with a heartbreaking 11th inning where the Jackets fell to the then No. 4 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores during game six of the NCAA regional tournament, Tech baseball is ready to take the field on Friday Feb. 18 during their opening day matchup against the Wright State Raiders.

The Jackets hope to continue the momentum of last season, which included notable regular season wins over No. 3 Louisville and an away weekend sweep of No. 13 NC State who later knocked Tech out of the semifinals of the ACC tournament after the Jackets won their division.

Sophomore pitcher Zach Maxwell recounted his favorite win that he attributes to last season’s postseason success. “The win I loved the most was the weekend series against Clemson,” said Maxwell. “It was a good sweep at home to really get us going in the right direction before playoff baseball started. It felt like a turning point for the team to take down a division rival with a sweep. It sent the message that we may have been down the week before but you know, we’re still here and we’re still coming to play.”

Last spring’s official opening of Mac Nease Baseball Park, a much needed facelift for the stadium, was the first step in the baseball program’s attempt at creating an unbeatable atmosphere. With the team set to host over thirty home games this season, a call has been put out for students to join the “Macs Maniacs,” the official student section to help support the team throughout the season. Maxwell says that having the support of the fans helps not only the morale of the home team, but can deter the focus of the visiting team as well. 

“The student section has a bigger impact and more of a hold of the other team than they do us. It creates a much harder environment for other teams coming in to play,” said Maxwell. “Of course, you know, we feed off you guys and you guys feed off us too. We make a good play and y’all get loud and you know, it goes back and forth. But when you look at other programs especially like in the SEC and with Mississippi State they got cowbells and they’re screaming and have all their antics and you just see how hard it is for other teams to come in and play.”

Fans will be introduced to a few new faces this season, with Maxwell highlighting sophomore Chandler Simpson, a transfer from UAB, and Aeden Finateri, a first year pitcher recruited out of Connecticut. 

“You definitely have to watch Simpson. He’s lightning quick and he’s going to be an impact player. He’s fun to watch in practice so in real games he is going to be a special pitcher,” said Maxwell. “Another guy to watch is Aeden Finateri. He’s going to throw a lot of innings this year, he’s throwing really well in the preseason so he’s definitely going to be a guy to watch out for on the mound. He’s spunky and he’s a true competitor.” 

Among the veterans, sophomore catcher Kevin Parada will be a key player to watch as the Jackets play through the season. Parada has already racked up multiple preseason accolades, including a spot on the Golden Spikes Award watch list, one of the highest honors amateur baseball players can be awarded. 

Maxwell noted that chemistry and commitment to each other will be the key for the team to plot course for Omaha. With their last appearance in the College World Series being in 2006, Jacket fans are anxious for the talented team to hopefully break through this season. 

“I’m here with the team. I can’t go anywhere without the other guys in the locker room and they can’t go anywhere without me, so it’s kind of a very mutual relationship. We all want to play deep into June, we want to go to Omaha, but we have to take it one day at a time,” said Maxwell.  

“It’s really hard in this game to look ahead because it’s very, very easy to get turned upside down in a span of a couple days. But, we want to win the ACC conference tournament, we want to win the Regional, the Super Regional and we want to go to Omaha to compete. We want to show that this place really belongs on top of the discussions of baseball programs in the country.” 

The recent approval of Tech’s Black Media Studies minor, a program made up of many classes I have taken through my own LMC degree program, has let me reflect on the immense impact those classes have had on me. 

Prior to coming to Tech my required reading repertoire was dominated by the works of white men who primarily wrote about the traumas of war.

Only one of the books studied throughout my four years in my high school honors and AP Literature classes was written by a Black person: “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston’s celebration of female femininity and sexuality was the first literature I really felt connected to as I sifted through the slew of Hemingway, Salinger and Frost I was forced to work my way through. 

My bookshelf is increasingly more diverse since coming to college and I have the professors of the LMC department, and specifically the Black Media Studies professors to thank for that. 

When I came to Tech, I chose to pursue a social justice thread within my major because I knew coming from a conservative high school that I had a lot of catching up to do. 

For context, when I was transplanted to Winder, GA in the eighth grade, I attended a middle school named after former Georgia governor Richard B. Russell Jr. He authored the Southern Manifesto and filibustered civil rights legislation during his time as a senator. 

You may ask, what what did I learn about this man who aggressively advocated for racial segregation during my social studies classes? I learned all about how he helped strengthen our military by bringing more bases to the state, with his racist legacy swept under the rug for me to uncover many years later on my own. 

My first exposure to Black Media Studies from an Intro to Gender Studies class during my second year. It was taught by Dr. Susana Morris, a feminist and Afrofuturism scholar who has since then held the coveted spot in my life of being my favorite professor of all time. 

This was not your normal gender studies class, it was a gender studies class taught through a science fiction lense, which provided for unique opportunities to decipher gender in fictional worlds where the bounds of the gender binary are pushed by alien species. 

Since that summer, I have attempted to take every class Dr. Morris has to offer, including African American Literature and Media, Culture and Society. 

I also managed to slip in a class with Dr. Joycelyn Wilson, Tech’s renowned Hip Hop Culture expert. Coming to the end of my Tech career, I can safely say that my Black Media Studies classes had the biggest impact on my education and have greatly influenced the way I look at the world. 

From analyzing the ways news outlets covered the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas testimonies in the 90s, to diving deep into the poetic ways hip hop artists depicted class struggles, to learning about how modern gynecology was built on the backs of exploited Black women, Black Media Studies has shown me a world I would never have known about had I not gone out of my way to take social justice oriented classes. 

Without understanding intersectionality, I would not be able to confidently go into the professional world after graduation and ensure that I am doing everything in my power to make decisions that take into account the impact they will have on people that don’t look like me. 

What excites me about this Black Media Studies minor coming to fruition is the access the minor will provide for students outside of the LMC major to experience the classes that have taught me the most. 

What terrifies me is that students may not see the merit of minoring in Black Media Studies. 

Tech is sending thousands of students out into the world every semester that have had minimal interaction with a proper ethics or social justice education. 

We are sending mechanical engineers into the world that are designing robots to automate the ways rural minority farmers make a living. We are sending future doctors into the world who do not understand the nuances of medical misogyny, racism and fatphobia and how their intersections lead to Black women experiencing three times higher maternal mortality than white women. We are sending people in the world that still question why Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize, ignoring the deeper messages in his culturally significant snapshot of modern American Black life. 

The Institute touts the “progress and service” of our engineering students while favoring teaching equations over equality. 

This mindset is reinforced by many students outside of the liberal arts college refusing to think critically about anything that is happening outside of the confines of this campus. 

The roots of the Civil Rights Movement are just down the street from our Institute, yet many students will never interact with the rich history and cultural currency Atlanta has to offer because they are too busy stressing out over heat transfer and differential calculus.

I strongly urge any student reading this to minor in Black Media Studies. If you do not have the time or credits to do so, use one of your humanities or free elective credits to take at least one class from some of the most brilliant professors Tech has to offer. 

I am tired of sitting through registration every semester and watching STEM students ask around for the easiest humanities class to take. Stop looking for “easy A’s” and taking “history of chairs” because you are afraid of your worldview being challenged. 

Tucked away on the third floor of the Skiles is an education opportunity that will easily supplement any major here in incredible ways and I sincerely hope to see more students take advantage of it.

Who you live with in college can be just as important as where you live. Finding compatible roommates, getting along with them and learning how to share spaces with others are critical to having a enjoyable living situation. Although it may seem daunting, the Technique has several tips to lessen the stress of finding and getting along with roommates. 

Look around. 

Sometimes finding good roommates means looking beyond your closest friends. Not everyone is compatible to live together, even if you are the best of friends. There are numerous ways to find roommates online. The Tech Housing portal contains a roommate search tool where you can search other students planning to live in on-campus housing and send them messages after reading their profile.

For off-campus housing, take advantage of the Georgia Tech Subleases, Roommates, Housing & Apartments Facebook group, where other students in the Atlanta area share apartments they are subleasing. Many are looking for roommates for the upcoming year, so this is a good place to find the right fit for you. Posting on your social media is also a good way to get the word out that you are looking for roommates. 

Besides looking online, ask around among your acquaintances, either from your classes or extracurriculars, to see who might be interested in living with you. 

Discuss expectations.

As awkward as it may be, being upfront with potential roommates about your expectations for the next year is the best way to find roommates you will get along with. Important things to discuss include COVID-19 expectations such as masking, having guests over and getting tested. 

Comparing schedules and daily routines is also a good idea. Depending on your apartment or dorm arrangement, you may have your own bedroom, but if there are shared spaces, it is a good idea to discuss expected quiet hours. 

Other topics to discuss are whether you plan on grocery shopping and cooking at the same time, if you will have shared appliances like a coffee machine, vacuum or TV, and whether you are okay with music being played out loud. Will you do most of your studying and socializing in the dorm? Do you have allergies your roommates should be aware of? How frequently do you plan to have guests over?

Talking about these things long before you will even move in together reduces the chance of arguments and surprises later on. 

It might not be as fun as discussing how you want to decorate your room but will save you from future headaches. 

Respect boundaries.

Respecting your roommates’ space and time is very important. Treat your roommates how you would want to be treated. Understand that not everyone has the same habits, and living with other people is an important experience in getting along with others.

However, that does not mean you should never communicate with your roommates about things that you want to change. It can be difficult to confront the people you live with about issues that may arise, but being able to communicate with your roommates and starting discussions is an important part of maintaining a good relationship. 

Clean up.

Doing your dishes, wiping down surfaces you frequently use, taking out the trash and throwing out expired foods are just a few of the many ways to clean up after yourself and respect your roommates.

Discuss with your roommates how you expect to clean communal spaces, like the living room and kitchen. Things like vacuuming and cleaning a shared bathroom could be split up by each person or could be rotated between people. Writing down your cleaning schedule is a good idea.

Set time to socialize. 

Not everyone wants to be best of friends with their roommates — and that’s perfectly fine! 

Getting along with your roommates does not necessarily mean you have to constantly be doing things together.

However, there are things you can do if you do want to improve your relationship with your roommates, like setting aside time to socialize, whether that be watching a movie together or going dorm shopping can be a great way to get to know your roommates.