Hilltopics | University Honors Program | Volume 15 Issue 3 | Summer 2018 Letter from the Editor: Choose Quality Destiny Rose Murphy

Hello from the 2018 Summer Edition After all, in college everything is a first, go grocery shopping it’s super easy of Hilltopics! For those of you who which means mundane choices can to make the best possible decision are new readers (I’m looking at you, be absolutely terrifying. Consider the with little to no thought. You’ll be slightly-terrified new SMU Honors process of buying a tube of toothpaste amazed with the results. Even the student reading this at orientation) for the first time on your own: first smallest of changes in body soap or I’d like to provide a brief explanation. find a store (will you walk to it? Can trash can liner can vastly improve Hilltopics is SMU’s Honors magazine: you drive to it?), then figure out where your life and set you on a path to an independently funded, student-run the toothpaste is (why isn’t it in the becoming a much happier real-adult. publication dedicated to printing high- pharmacy section? It was always there quality material that students, alumni, at the Kroger at home!), then pick a More importantly, focusing on faculty, and staff alike actually want brand (you’ve gotten Colgate in the improving the quality of each part to read. The yearly summer edition is past, but Crest is cheaper, and you’re of your life will make you a more a conglomerate of previous years’ top broke, and do you really know if you questioning adult. If you’ve ever been hits curated by the upcoming year’s should get fluoride or not?), then frustrated at a parent or coworker new Editors in Chief. For this edition, check out (do you try self-checkout or for using an outdated, objectively the 2018-2019 Editors in Chief, Alex risk interacting with another human less effective tool (I don’t know, like McNamara and Drew Sneed, have being in a lane?), then leave and Bing), then you know what it’s like written abstracts for each featured piece find your way back without having a to wish someone was paying more outlining what made them choose that panic attack. That’s a dozen choices attention to improving the quality of piece over others. These abstracts are for that you’ve very possibly never had to their life. By getting into the habit you, new readers, so that you can get a make before, so of course you’re going of constant improvement now, you’re feel for the quality of work Hilltopics to be nervous, and it’s not your fault less likely to end up an old dog with wants from you. As you’ll soon discover, for buying the first toothpaste you see no new tricks. In this way, the habit- that level of quality is high; we’re not just so you can get out of there faster. setting period that we go through in looking for basketball game write-ups college can be incredibly useful to us, here. This is a place for something more. Unfortunately, the choices that we as can every drastic change that we make at the beginning of our adult face later in life. Each time we move, You don’t need to be a current student lives have a tendency to stick with start a new job, or end a relationship, to know that quality and college aren’t us forever. The groceries we buy, the we have the opportunity to rethink all usually synonymous. Popular media way we manage our calendars, and the choices we are currently making represents the college student as a creature the way we dress ourselves during out and to optimize for what we wish of cheap ramen noodles and dirty laundry, time at SMU become habits that will we were doing better. Choose high procrastination and bottom shelf liquor. subconsciously cement themselves quality in every instance that you Having been a student for three years for years to come, which, if we’re not can, and you will find yourself more now at the prestigious and, let’s be honest, careful, will turn us into 40-year-old confident in your decisions and your incredibly expensive Southern Methodist adults that still buy one-ply toilet life than you ever knew you wanted. University, I can confirm these stereotypes paper. The solution? When the terror to be true regardless of socioeconomic of infinite choice dies down (and it That means if you want to write for class. Somehow, even here, Pabst Blue will after a semester or two, I promise) Hilltopics, don’t do it because you Ribbon beer still appears in party coolers, start researching things from the think it’ll look good on a resume (it and oversized, free t-shirts atop Walmart ground up. Want to procrastinate on will) or in an interview (oh boy it sweatpants dominate as the class uniform a chore or an essay? Research that will) or because your family would for any courses starting before noon. toothpaste. Learn what fluoride does. like it (good God they’ll love it; Decide if minimizing plastic waste is they’ll share everything you write For the most part, I think we should be important to your toothpaste decision on Facebook and your grandma will forgiven for these stereotypical forays into and choose once and for all whether bring it up at Thanksgiving). Write the low-quality world of stolen Chipotle or not you want whitening power. Put for Hilltopics because you want to napkins and essays started and finished all the thought you can into that one put quality work out into the world. between the hours of 2:30am and 7:52am. tiny choice, so that the next time you Write for Hilltopics because you have

1 something important to say and you’re of what comes out of your pen. When upset no one else is saying it. Submit you’re done, email what you’ve made to comics, poems, and art to Alex and Drew [email protected] and arsneed@ that capture a feeling you’ve never seen smu.edu and maybe it’ll be printed in captured before. Sit at your desk in that an issue published during the semester, tiny dorm room and write and draw to or even next year for the incoming the very best of your ability and be proud first-years to read and be inspired by. That is, if it’s quality.

How Freshmen See the University Curriculum Andrew Oh

Self-Explanatory. -Alex

2 Drugs and the Arts: A Perfect Match? Kenny Martin

In this article, Kenny makes the intriguing argument that drugs are best kept away from artists, and not because of any moral or ethical problem with drug use. -Drew As an artist, I must admit to feeling a Why not? All artists struggle to passive experiencer of art (whether certain amount of ambivalence toward perform or produce up to their own an audience member in a concert hall drugs. I’m speaking broadly here, not expectations; perhaps drugs hold or theatre, or an observer in a gallery, just about marijuana, the subject of this the key to a more relaxed, creative, or a reader of poetry) more keen or issue of Hilltopics, but also about alcohol, focused, and clear way of living, to a interested. There’s simply no getting LSD, cocaine, and all other substances more powerful artistic personality. around the hard work of art, no magic that Homo sapiens sapiens commonly pill with the power to make a miracle uses for recreational, mind-altering But, of course, not all artists agree. out of mediocrity. purposes. For it seems to me that art and The late Mark Strand, one of the great artists have a complicated, problematic, poets of the recent age, was once asked The key to art is the, as Keats says, and probably overblown relationship about artists using drugs to enhance “teeming brain” of the artist, along with drugs, one that’s fascinating but their work. I suspect many people with an audience willing to engage troubling at the same time. There’s the will identify with his response: “They with that brain via the artistic product stereotype of the genius, eccentric, mad interfere. I mean, if I’ve had a couple it produces. If drugs are involved, artist (à la Allen Ginsberg and the Beats) of drinks, I don’t feel like writing. I feel great; I suspect, however, that it will who heavily experiments with drugs as a like having another drink.” Moreover, prove, in the long run, even better if means of extended or heightened creative for every artist who has successfully they are not. For chemical-induced expression. The Beatles did it; recent used drugs as an artistic tool, there’s at highs will always fade … on the other discoveries suggest that Shakespeare least one who has fallen, tragically, to hand, the elation, understanding, and might have done it. Drugs play a the very real dangers of drug use. Bill transcendence produced by sound art fundamental role in hip-hop and rap Evans and John Coltrane, two of the are, like diamonds of the mind, forever. music (if not as a player in the creative most important musical geniuses ever, Ours is a world of several pleasures, process, then at least as subject matter), both died partially as a result of drug and none is less valid for being more and taking drugs has long been a part use (cocaine and heroin, respectively). fleeting—I’ll be the first to say that I of the audience experience for jazz and Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger…the embrace them all. But if I had to take rock-and-roll concerts in particular. Even list of artists who have died in drug- just one, I know my choice, and that the copywriters and artists of Mad Men related circumstances is astounding, gives me more pleasure than all the have been known to indulge in a joint on and it speaks volumes about the costs rest ever could. occasion, a supposed route to increased of the marriage of drugs and the arts. productivity that more often leads to For my part, I don’t put much stock strange and totally unproductive episodes in the need for drugs as a part of the of high-induced, faux-poetic folly. creative process. Good art, I believe, is Nonetheless, the mythical association of produced through a particular way of drugs with the arts is there, and it remains looking at the world, a sensibility that strong today. opens itself up to nuance, to gesture, Drugs, we’re told, are a way to connect to possibilities that most people are more intimately (or, perhaps, to connect not aware of. The artists perceives the in the first place) with your “creative side,” world uniquely, and then works hard to see the world in fresh, unprecedented to convey that particular, individual ways. For the poet, or the musician, or the experience in a way everyone can painter—for anyone interested in artistic understand. And while drug use may representation and interpretation of the produce interesting results, it will world, whether physical, imagined, or not turn a non-artist into an artist— psychological—this sounds like Heaven. nor will it make an unperceptive or

3 Stuck Between a Rock and a HardMargaret Place Fegan

Here Margaret shows the entertaining dichotomy that arises when you combine seriously good writing with absurdity. -Drew

It’s that time of year when the green subject will not increase the likelihood be the president of everything. It is of chlorophyll is replaced everywhere that your rock will change its mind perfectly acceptable to not be the by carotenoids and anthocyanins… about you. During finals time, the rock best of the best. Don’t take learning everywhere except Dallas. And with finals is a better bet. or life so seriously – you’re sucking in the not-so-distant future, we can take the joy out of it. Have a laugh and go advantage of the unpredictable weather Also important is a good friend who do something different, like throwing and rainy gray homeliness of the city. will drag your lifeless self out from your study rock out the window and Here’s a nugget of wisdom from someone under the rock at least once a week. reconstructing the glass in mosaic in her golden years of undergrad: find an As cozy and study-conducive as it is, form. Or finding a new hole-in-the- attractive rock, take it to dinner, exchange your study rock can get a little stuffy, wall Froyo parlor. Or making that hole witty banter, and make it your new best and before you know it, you’ll be in the wall by throwing your study more-than-friend. It’s important to find suffocating from your own nihilistic rock into it. one you really like since you’ll be living exhalations. When you and said under it for a good portion of the days friend take your red paint to the town, to come. But make your claim early, since you might stop by one of the Deep good rocks are hard to find. Put a ring Ellum live performances that features on it, if you like... If you’re an intolerable juggling. A crucial ball is about to drama-queen who needs an irrational come into play: creating your spring tragedy to distract yourself from school, schedule. It’s time-consuming and think about how you’ll be away from important and potentially threatening your beloved rock-friend for all of winter to your ability to graduate in four break. Pick the rock, not the new flavor of years. Regardless, take the time now, boy/girl of the month, as your distraction. not in your senior year, to take classes Take a break and let go of the toxic you think sound interesting but “don’t relationships that will surely do a number have time for.” You do. Fight against on your GPA. Just as overextending the urge to finish your prematurely metaphors can kill, beating a moot determined major in three years or

4 1 The Briefalist Papers : Concerning the Woeful State of Affairs and Its Solution Alex McNamara

An enjoyable exploration of style. Just wait until the end, you’ll get it. An enjoyable exploration of style. Just wait until the end, you’ll get it. Read it again and you’ll get a lot more. -Drew It is not unlike the nature of man to seek extremes. On the one hand, man has confusion may be dispelled. liberty in whichever form, whether it be in his honorable pursuit of liberty civil for the animation of those limbs, contorted that noble ideal into You have no doubt guessed correctly, political for an extension to all those shameful licentiousness; his pursuit dear brothers, for we must indeed members, or religious for all components of space in which to find comfort has adorn boxer briefs! That is the only of that great apparatus, in order that he led him into a void. On the other, means by which we can escape the may be so pleased and easily disposed to his no less noble pursuit of order has wanton liberty of boxers and the find the comfort which all such forms distorted into a desire for a security so oppressive restriction of briefs. By so must afford. It must be admitted that absolute that it creates an oppressive combining the spacious compartments man in his zeal has sought liberty in ever bind which affords no room to move. of the former with the elastic structure various and surprising areas, and has so of the latter, we can avoid the ills of often prided himself on his ability to To remedy these effects, I and my time past and at last realize that elusive liberate all things at all times. However, peers propose the great and blessed comfort which man has sought for so experience with his iron rod has beaten UNION of these two ideals, those of long. Since this ingenious solution down that fatal expectation once so liberty and order, so long thought to will inevitably spark controversy, even common and dearly held that liberty can be antagonistic in their natures. This amongst the most benevolent and be pursued for its own sake, and pursued is the only way to ensure both the enlightened of minds, subsequent in the absence of other ends. Such a protection and comfort of man’s most papers will redress all grievances and pursuit has unfortunately brought about sacred condition. Though I am sure resolutely defend the formation of man’s great discomfort, for unchecked that the chief subject of this inquiry such a UNION. has become obvious, and that my astute freedom exposes him to the dangers of -Boxerius Briefalis his peers and the elements themselves. readers have discerned the subject of these papers, I shall render the matter 1. Based, in no small part, on the style and structure If there ever were another end which man explicit so that any resemblance of of Federalist Papers No. 1, 9, and 10. has pursued with equal passion, it is the end of order. Just as man has long sought the alluring pleasure of freedom, he has equally longed for a sense of security which only the ideal of order can provide. Here too, has experience truncated man’s expectations. Our predecessors rightly fled the oppressive and rigid order of previous generations, who had distorted the ideal so that all of man’s capacity was restricted, muted, and in a woeful state of perpetual discomfort. It can therefore be said that the state of affairs in this subject thus far has been most dreadful. The history of man has been a tragic vacillation between

5 DrewBon Sneed Iver: 22, A Million

Readers both familiar and unfamiliar with Bon Iver’s discography are treated to a deep dive into the context and production of his work, and into the psychology of the man himself. -Alex It has been ten years since Justin Vernon and other symbols to communicate For every conventional characteristic isolated himself in a Wisconsin cabin these themes, including in the of 22, A Million, Vernon intermixes a after his band and girlfriend abandoned album’s title. His close friend Trever left-field sound such as the distorted him. It has been nine years since Vernon Hagen said, “22 stands for Justin. The drums on “10 d E A T h b R E a s T gave his friends cardboard-bound copies number’s recurrence in his life has ⚄ ⚄,” the wailing vocals that comprise of the raw musical heartache he recorded become a meaningful pattern through “715 – CR∑∑KS,” or the backtracked during his Kaczynski-esque winter in encounter and recognition. A million voice that commences “21 M◊◊N that cabin. It has been eight years since is the rest of the world: the millions WATER.” Nevertheless, 22, A Million a record label discovered and re-released of people who we will never know, gives its audience an unforgettable Vernon’s album, titled For Emma, the infinite and endless, everything peek into its creator’s vision of a Forever Ago, thrusting his band Bon outside one’s self that makes you who delicate life, a world of symbols, Iver into the limelight. It has been five you are.” and the soundscapes that tie them years since Vernon debuted his ethereal together. The title of the album’s first and polished follow-up album Bon Iver, In addition to his new ideology, track begins with the number “22” and Bon Iver, garnering critical acclaim and Vernon took a different approach to the title of the last ends with the word a Grammy. And it has been four years music. “I don’t find inspiration by just “Million,” making for a work that truly since Vernon shocked fans with the sitting down with a guitar anymore. guides its listener on a journey from announcement that he was “turning off I lost that,” he said in an interview “22” to “A Million,” from introspection the faucet” of Bon Iver. with Pitchfork Magazine. Earlier of self to the vast world beyond. this year, Vernon’s friend Francis However, on September 30, Vernon Starlite invented an instrument turned “the faucet” back on with the called the Prismizer; an auto-tune/ release of Bon Iver’s third album: 22, vocoder which, unlike its predecessors, A Million. It would be preposterous to preserves an unbelievably organic say that the Justin Vernon who found sound and works well with both vocals inspiration in isolation ten years ago is and instruments. In its short life, the the same Justin Vernon who wrote 22, Prismizer has seen use by Chance A Million. In fact, Vernon recorded the the Rapper, Frank Ocean, and Kanye first line of his new album in the middle West. Justin Vernon utilized this of a nervous breakdown during a failed technology throughout 22, A Million, attempt to replicate the creative method and most creatively on the track of his cabin retreat. After a harrowingly “____45_____,” in which he bends lonely venture to Greece, Vernon returned a saxophone underneath his vocals home distraught and unable to speak, into an un-orientable Möbius strip of not with an album, but with an eleven- sound. second recording of his voice musing, “it might be over soon.” Vernon crafted an album around this Vernon’s extreme shift in both ideology thought with a focus on the fragility of and artistry produced an album that human life and each person’s relative challenges its listener. With sparse insignificance in the world. Throughout ties to Bon Iver’s previous works, the 22, A Million, Vernon utilizes numbers album tests even the band’s fan base.

6 The Cape Kevin Wang

Kevin submitted this poem his first year at SMU. Although English is not his first language, Kevin displays a mastery of the language that many native speakers never achieve. This poem has both a simple beauty that is evident the first time you read it, and many clever, hidden beauties that reveal themselves each time you re-read it. -Drew

We felt the Cape, deserted, silent, cold. The early summer rain brought back the breeze of winter’s deed. You hid your heart of gold inside your cloak as if it were to freeze. The yonder sea sang songs of her own beach of beauty; yet, I heard the gloomy song of falling rain and saw our growing breach between our lips, our hearts, our journeys long. But Love, could you not hear the rhythms of the gorgeous sea whose waves were kissing our own feet? Our hearts united with the dove who sought with hope another sunny hour. One day we’d walk and feel the Cape again to kiss the waves with lasting love’s reign.

7 Miles Madeleine Case

Madeleine combines a unique format with concise, direct prose to rapidly build suspense. The effect is substantial and the story worth revisiting. -Alex

77,433: I start the car after closing the trunk and climb palms slip on the steering wheel. My eyes dart from the into the driver’s seat. Glancing at the odometer, I notice mirror to the windshield and back again. I take gulps of the car has 77,433 miles on it. air, and on the last one, hold it. 77,450: Getting used to the car is difficult. Compared to 77,487: He passes on my right and turns down a street. I a broken-down Chevy, the car drives smoothly, like glass. roll down my window. The breath from my deep exhalation I think for a moment that maybe I should have chosen whisks outside and is left alone on a country road. something less ostentatious, but time placed restraints on my actions that I could not accommodate. My shoulders 77,500: Had to stop for gas. I can definitely smell relax slightly into the leather of the Maserati. something now. It is pitch dark outside. 77,573: Dawn is at the edge of the horizon. My hands are dried but they 77,452: I pass a stoplight and notice two police cars on reflect the red light from outside. I still have not looked at the right. I look forward and stay below the speed-limit. the passenger seat. My mind is strikingly empty. I continue I don’t look down at my hands. I don’t look at what is to stare at the road. Softly, the knife next to me slides in lying in the passenger seat. 77,458: Turn right. Left. Right and out of view. again. Two more lefts. 77,580: Almost there. A few miles left to go. I can’t stand 77,480: Have been driving for a while now and I think that the stench coming from the trunk. I can’t look forward an odor is emanating from the trunk in the back. I inhale anymore. I have to do something. The emptiness in my deeply. Soft leather. The remnants of a strong cologne. mind is starting to fill with things I do not want to think And something else…I return my attention to the road. about. The smell. I can’t stand the smell. 77,483: A police car has been following me. 77,697: Here. I pull up to the abandoned warehouse by the wharf and get out of the car. I walk around to the 77,485: Still following me. His lights aren’t on. trunk, open it, and begin to pull out the body. 77,486: He begins to advance. He’s right behind me. A layer of cold sweat breaks out on my forehead and my

8 Elizabeth Ridgway Safe Spaces Stifle Intellectual Development This is a prime example of serious political writing. It presents a defensible but not uncontroversial thesis in thoughtful and combative fashion. -Alex

Growing up with overprotective New York Times article by Judith of this caliber is a privilege we all helicopter parents and surrounding Shuleviz regarding safe spaces earlier share. There is also no place for ourselves with trigger warnings, this year, protested firmly against narrowing our perspectives to exclude current college students—and more them, asserting that he would make and mute those who either have broadly, Millennials—are labeled as his dorm room a “dangerous space.” differing opinions or look to clarify hypersensitive by older generations. In As he argues, “I don’t see how you can and question an issue. College is about contrast to the Free Speech Movement have a therapeutic space that’s also intellectual growth, both inside and of 1964, when college students fought to an intellectual space.” Are we willing outside of the classroom. The social have their voices heard on current events to hazard the chance that others have atmosphere of a university should like the Vietnam War, college campuses potentially valid ideas, even if those reflect the intellectual rigor that is today tend to police speech to protect ideas contradict our most deeply held, present in directly academic settings. those who might be offended. In light personal philosophies? When we In any volley of ideas, coherent and of the recent events at the University dehumanize those who disagree with respectful discourse is of paramount of Missouri, is there a place for what us and fail to seek to understand other importance. Conversations require has been termed the “safe space” in the paradigms, we divide ourselves; we questions—when those questions can’t twenty-first century? begin to see others not as individuals be asked, the conversation closes. but as adversaries and opponents. If we Perhaps safe spaces have a place can remove our focus from ideology If we are cognizant that others have somewhere—but college campuses are or identity and rise above cultural valid ideas, take the time to consider not that place. While racism, sexism, stratification, we will expand our the significance and merit of them, and all other forms of discrimination horizons and become more informed and then perhaps rethink or adjust are never appropriate in any forum, safe citizens. our own perspectives as a result, we spaces do not prevent marginalization; can be assured that our ideas account rather, they inhibit dialogue on campus, There is no place for maltreatment of for all facets of an issue to form well- breeding misunderstandings by shaming any individual on the basis of identity, constructed, thoroughly developed some out of clarifying their confusion and and some may attempt to misconstrue arguments based purely on reason, not discouraging others from participating in this opinion piece as an excuse for emotion. As Judith Shuleviz wrote in a rational debate in which to contemplate hostile, belligerent, or disrespectful a New York Times oped earlier this controversial issues. Safe spaces, instead behavior toward minority groups, or year, “While keeping college-level of stimulating a clash of ideas, serve to as a jibe against political correctness. discussions “safe” may feel good to the encourage clashes of identity. Political correctness is often used as hypersensitive, it’s bad for them and a pejorative term, but it is a concept for everyone else. People ought to go Together, we are SMU—a group of that deals directly with respect for to college to sharpen their wits and individuals coming together from those who differ from us. Every broaden their field of vision. Shield different cultural, socio-economic,space on campus should be a place of them from unfamiliar ideas, and and geographic backgrounds. Your courtesy, consideration, and civility, they’ll never learn the discipline of background should neither validate nor but it’s important to distinguish seeing the world as other people see invalidate your ideas. Only a dangerous between those characteristics and the it.” The concept of safe spaces as we space, where ideas are exposed, challenged, censorship in the name of sensitivity currently know them is incompatible and questioned, will enable us to develop that dominates safe spaces. with the objective of a college campus. our thoughts, explore other perspectives, As SMU students, let’s unite to foster and critically examine our conclusions. We are all at SMU, and while we all an environment of respect and regard Adam Shapiro, a student at Columbia have different experiences here, the as well as open-mindedness instead of University featured in a controversial mere ability to attend an institution

9 cocooning ourselves—and, by extension, our ideas—in a facade of safety. To create an optimal learning environment, college campuses need to develop a compromise between mutual respect and willingness to engage intellectually.

Give Me a Ceiling Cole Thomas

This satire was selected for its treatment of an ever-hot political issue. It is as silly as it is clever. -Drew

I often ask myself: Where is my ceiling? and all, and important too, but I can’t or staying in an abusive relationship. even get my healthcare taken care of Blame them all you want, but don’t All the time, women are praised for on an ordinary basis. To be blunt about blame me for needing a Snickers at one breaking through a glass ceiling. That it: my sex life is lacking compared to in the morning to satisfy my raging leaves me feeling left out as a man a lot of my male peers, which leaves appetite. A raging appetite almost as because women will always be able to do me feeling left out. I understand the strong as my desire for a ceiling. something I can’t. Look, you don’t even need to get women healthcare so have to make my ceiling glass. Honestly, they can take care of their body. But So, what I’m trying to say is: Just give I’d be happy settling for a brick ceiling. when I’m denied the opportunity to me a ceiling. Sure, there won’t be glass shattering when visit my own general practitioner to I break through my ceiling like Tom complain about some painful green Cruise in Mission Impossible, but at least discharge, why should I feel pity for I’ll be able to claim, as a man, that I did the woman who is denied healthcare something reserved only for women. that will prevent a little nuisance I also feel left out when it comes to the called pregnancy? Really, before I can wage gap. People are always talking about start to value women’s health, I have the struggle women have as they make got to be taken care of myself in that about seventy-seven cents to every dollar department. a man makes. Well, forget that “struggle” Finally, there is the lack of protection for a second and remember there are from violence women face. Or rather, people out there, men included, who don’t the lack of it for me. I got beat up and even have a job. As a male, I’m currently mugged and left on the side of the making zero cents to every dollar every road because I was walking alone to a working man makes! Why worry about gas station at one in the morning. Sure the struggle of women, when not all men enough, people started blaming me for are making one hundred cents to every my condition, just like people blame dollar a man supposedly makes! women when they’re raped for being Then there’s the “tragedy” women face in the wrong place at the wrong time with a lack of healthcare. That’s great or being too nice to the wrong guy,

10 An Excerpt Nihilistmas:Alec Petsche

It’s no easy thing to write a good play. Harder still to convey the complexity and subtlety of the medium in brief fashion, but the excerpt below succeeds on both fronts. -Alex

An excerpt from Nihilistmas, by Alec Petsche, a play about Christmas, family, hatred, and all the horrible problems that mixing them can cause.

MARY: THOMAS: THOMAS: So, Thomas, how’s Matt? A what? Yes, I do. MOM: UNCLE CLOVIS: Mary! I forgot that we still need to hang Relax kid, you know I don’t give a shit. MOM tensely begins hanging up the up stockings! stockings. THOMAS: THOMAS: I’d really prefer it if you used a different He’s fine. He’s doing Christmas with his word. UNCLE CLOVIS: family in Mexico. He says hi. UNCLE CLOVIS: Come on Tommy; you know I don’t mean anything by it. Hey, be cool fruity, it’s funny, I’m just MOM reaches into a stray box and pulls kidding. THOMAS: out several oversized stockings with names stitched on them. THOMAS: Well if you don’t mean anything by it, then you won’t mind using a different Then stop kidding. word. MOM: UNCLE CLOVIS: UNCLE CLOVIS: Come on everybody! Time to hang up I was just fooling, it’s not a big deal. Come on, don’t make a whole thing our stockings! THOMAS: out of this. It’s not a big deal, and we’re all friends here. UNCLE CLOVIS: You don’t get to decide that. THOMAS: Who’s Matt? MOM: Are we though? MOM: Let’s not talk about politics on MOM: Really, it’s no trouble. Christmas. THOMAS: Clovis, why don’t you help me with… THOMAS: why don’t we go to the kitchen? Politics? My boyfriend. UNCLE CLOVIS: MOM: UNCLE CLOVIS: I don’t see what the big deal is- Right, I forgot all that drama when you You know what I mean. told us you were a fruit-cake.

11 MOM: MOM: to POP-POP; THOMAS and MARY are trying not to listen to him out of Clovis, come on. Are you trying to claim that we had discomfort. a good relationship with our parents? UNCLE CLOVIS: UNCLE CLOVIS stands and follows POP-POP: her to the kitchen. POP-POP turns to Ummm…no? THOMAS. -so all I’m saying is, I know that the MOM: bonds between two men can be- Exactly! I invited you here to prove POP-POP: that I could make it work. That I could do the one thing Mom never could. UNCLE CLOVIS clears his throat. You know, a queer saved my life in the A real family Christmas with all of us THOMAS, MARY, CAROL, and war. here, even you. POP-POP all look at him. UNCLE CLOVIS: In the kitchen, MOM slaps UNCLE That’s messed up Margie. UNCLE CLOVIS: CLOVIS as the lights go down in the living room. MOM: I’m sorry. I was out of line. It’s been a rough year, and it’s been hard for me to Of course it’s messed up! We’re messed think straight. up! We were raised by an idiot and a UNCLE CLOVIS: lunatic! But I did a slightly better job with my kids, and you’re ruining that Shit! It’s not like I called him a faggot or No one is impressed. anything. Anyway he’s not even really a by bringing up all of this bullshit with queer, he still likes girls. his little experiment with other boys into the light. MOM: THOMAS: UNCLE CLOVIS: Shut up Clovis. Hey, it’s fine. After all, I never think You really need to learn to let this shit straight. UNCLE CLOVIS: go, Margie. What did I even do? I was having a reasonable debate about language. It’s not fine, but UNCLE CLOVIS MOM slaps UNCLE CLOVIS again laughs and sits down. MOM: and yanks him close to her face by his collar. I don’t know and I don’t care; you made him uncomfortable and you’re going to UNCLE CLOVIS: apologize to him. MOM: Oh, so it’s okay for you to make jokes UNCLE CLOVIS: but not me? Shut! Up! I need my kids in my life. For “fruit cake?” You sobbed when he And I don’t approve of his lifestyle, but THOMAS: came out of the closet. You even called I keep that to my god damn self, and Yes. me! That’s a sign of desperation. I’m not going to let your need to be a disruptive jackass ruin my Christmas. MOM: UNCLE CLOVIS: I don’t know why saying “fruit-cake” I didn’t say I approved. I said you’re going hurt his feelings so much, but I don’t There we go man; just when I was to apologize. Do you know how many give a shit if he says you have to talk starting to think I was the only one in times I’ve seen him in the last two years? in the third person. If he does, then this family with any wit. Three. I’ve seen my son three times in the you’ll go out there and say “Clovis is twenty-four months since he came out. very sorry.” Got it? UNCLE CLOVIS: Are you trying to tell me you visited UNCLE CLOVIS nods, turns around, Mom and Dad more than that at his age? and grabs a liquor bottle as he enters the living room. CAROL listens intently

12 Evicted: The SMU Version Lorien Melnick

In this interview, Lorien proves that SMU’s Common Reading always impacts the campus. -Alex

In honor of the SMU Common Reading any money and no way to get there. I Why do you think it’s important book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the missed out on a lot of things—I felt that students at SMU learn about American City by Matthew Desmond, trapped. homelessness? SMU students were interviewed about Student 2: No. The only people we told Student 1: Because it’s a very real issue, their experiences with homelessness. were very close family friends. We and it’s swept under the rug a lot. A What was your experience with being never wanted to tell people because lot of people think that the only ones homeless? being homeless makes you an outsider. who are homeless are the ones who It also causes a shift in the power live on the street, begging for money. Student 1: When I was little, my parents dynamic in a relationship, and some of But there [are] a lot of people who couldn’t afford housing, so we were our friendships never recovered from don’t have a real home, but who live in forced into my mom’s parents’ house. that. When people help you, you’re all some kind of housing or shelter, and Usually in Hispanic families, no one lives of a sudden beneath them. they often can’t get government help. on the streets; they’re taken in by family. We need to continue talking about it, The experience helped me to appreciate Did you get any help from the government so that people understand these issues family more and made me very reliant while you were homeless? are more diverse than you might think. on my family, even now that we’re not Student 1: No. homeless anymore. I’ll always remember Student 2: Most people here have had how, when I was little, I always really Student 2: No. no contact with this issue and have wanted candy bars, but even [the] candy no idea what it’s like. Going through that was twenty-five cents, they said was How do you feel being at SMU now, this experience taught me about how too expensive. One day, after we moved where most people can’t relate to your much worse it could have been. In the out of my grandparents’ house, I asked experiences? moment, there was always something for a candy bar, and my parents said yes. off about the situation, but I was never Student 1: Alienated. Lots of people That’s always stuck with me. absolutely miserable. It’s such a big here grew up knowing [that] they part of who I became, and most people could ask for anything, and I always Student 2: When you’re homeless, you here have never gone through that feared that I would ask for too much. always feel like you don’t really have an experience. Everyone has problems, I still feel that way, like we don’t have anchor or belong anywhere, like you’re but having something disturb your enough, whereas people around me floating. Home is a place where you can home is on such a different level that always seem to have too much. be yourself, and when you don’t have a it’s impossible to understand. Evicted home, you have to find that familiarity in Student 2: To be honest, it wasn’t until was such a good book because it somewhere else. Because we didn’t have I got to SMU that I admitted to myself put faces to the issue. Some people a place to relax, my mom and I became that I was ever homeless at all. I always tell me, “But I couldn’t keep the each other’s home. We’re really close now, thought that the word “homeless” was characters straight,” and I think that and I see that as one of the highlights of for people who lived under a bridge. I reflects the general view of the issue. our experience. thought that, since we had friends and To lots of people, homelessness is just While you were homeless, did other people places to stay, we weren’t homeless. a general mass of people who don’t in your life (classmates, teachers, parents’ Once, though, we were over at a family have personalities and lives. Evicted coworkers) know about it? friend’s. Their son was a little older is important because it gives identities than me, and he asked, “Mom, why to homeless people so that readers can Student 1: Not really. It only came up are these hoboes here?” For a while, I sympathize with them. when my friends wanted to go do things, tried not to acknowledge that that ever and I had to say no because we didn’t have happened.

13 Cecilia Weigman Poetic Reflection on the Common Reading This poem was inspired by the 2016 Common Reading, Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Every student had a lot to say about this book, but perhaps none so unique as Ceci’s contribution. -Drew

Each one of us is like a piece of broken All over the floor. Will you bring your brokenness and glass, add it to mine? We are beautifully broken apart; Delicate shards resting in nooks and Will you join me and together we can crannies all over the world. We are broken together. be whole? Shining, twinkling where we lay, bright But we can also be whole together. Can you do it? spots in dark places. Your piece and mine, we make a new But in joining us, you must first Some hidden away in the rough. whole. embrace your own brokenness Others out for all to see. Their pieces and ours, we create Because it is our brokenness that something greater. makes coming together meaningful in We each have sharp edges that protrude. More and more broken pieces. the first place. Some sharper than others. Together forming something better. And we can’t stop here, A foot lands on one of them and bleeds. It’s like a puzzle. For we need all the pieces of the puzzle. The blood covers all of us. Each piece is unique and different on We need everyone, every person, every We are now like rubies—red and glowing, its own. piece, Grotesquely captivating. Each piece necessary for the puzzle. Even the tiniest shards, But we still sparkle. Each piece more beautiful together To make us whole. than apart. It is a beautiful mess, all of our pieces But first, I just need you.

14 Decolonizing Africa Through Literature Cecilia Weigman

Event commentary is very much an art. There are many ways to bore, and very few to entertain and enrich. Cecilia places her readers in the room next to her, and teaches them as she herself is taught by the speaker. -Alex While many of the students present in by Dallas’s own Deep Vellum. language of Africa’s colonizers (French, Room 100 of Hyer Hall on October German, English, etc.). Written in Bellowing loudly, he began with a few 2nd merely came to the “Globalization, French and German, Mujila’s works bars of singing (to exercise his voice, Translation, and African Literature” belong to the colonial written tradition, he claimed). Then he began in earnest, lecture for extra credit, they exited yet his spoken-word performances French words pouring quickly from his with much more than a few bonus with strong musical elements speak to mouth. His facial expressions at times points. Listening to the words of Fiston an influence of African oral tradition. carried even more meaning than the Mwanza Mujila, everyone quickly In this way, Mujila blends the original words, which his translator faithfully realized that his gift for writing has the African literary tradition with the echoed. At one point, he began power to influence peoples and cultures newer colonial influence, creating repeating one single word, , over and far beyond the individual readers of his works that reflect and comment on the over, and he began laughing. Lugubre novels and poems, and it made for a truly larger situation in Africa today and the went on for about two full minutes, exhilarating experience. conflict between the area’s rich cultural the laughing continuing sporadically. traditions and the destructive effects Hailing from the Democratic Republic Those of us who could not understand of colonization. Through his writing, of the Congo, Mujila at first did not find French waited in anticipation as to Mujila tries to come to terms with an encouraging society in which to share what this passage and the laughing this conflict by utilizing his African his literary works. In order to perform meant. When the French translator culture to redefine colonial influences. readings of his pieces, he resorted to began speaking, we heard him say, He truly represents an important and standing in hair salons, web cafes, “Mournful,” then again, “Mournful,” dynamic movement which the literary and bars. Unfortunately, these places and again, “Mournful.” Soon, Mujila world will be watching closely in the (especially the bars) offered competing joined in, “Mournful,” he would laugh, coming years. attractions: some people came to listen to “Mournful.” And, standing there Mujila speak and others came for music minutes after his performance, Mujila and drinks, so Mujila learned quickly to said one last time, “Mournful,” while shout his works into the din so that he still laughing. At the end of his lecture, would be heard. Interestingly, the bars in I realized that his performance gives which he performed would oftentimes just as much meaning to the story as play the famous Congolese Rumba, and the words on the page; the laughing Mujila began using the music in his wasn’t just part of the show but also an performances, later embedding it directly extension of the text itself. For Mujila, into his works. writing does not end with a published, bound book, but continues to evolve Mujila compares his pieces to jazz concerts, and move people with each word each part of the story contributing, like spoken at each reading. each instrument, to the whole song. He has collaborated with jazz musicians and As a new voice in the young generation performed his readings set to music, and of African writers, Mujila holds an his writing has a musical quality rarely interesting position. As he told us in seen in contemporary literature. Mujila’s his lecture, African literature consists unique fusion of music and language was of both oral and written tradition. The certainly on display during his reading of written works fit into two categories: a selection from his new novel Tram 83, those written in native African translated from the French and published languages and those written in a

15 GOP Debate Nicknames: The Best of the Bad Madeleine Case

Amidst the political swirl of an election year, Madeleine managed to inject a little bit of humour into an environment which too often turns conversation sour. Readers don’t know which side of the aisle she’s on, and they certainly don’t need to in order to laugh alongside her. -Alex

Almost a month after the second 8. Mike Huckabee: “Duck Hunter” What more can you ask for? Republican presidential primary debate, Not quite as inspiring as Rand Paul, 2. Carly Fiorina: “Secretariat” A quick people still talk about what went down but true to Huckabee’s passions review: Secretariat was the racehorse at the Ronald Reagan Presidential nonetheless. Am I the only one, who, against all odds, won the Triple Library. Hint: on never attacking Rand though, who foresees this name as the Crown in 1973 and inspired the Paul’s looks, Donald Trump said “I never butt of many Elmer Fudd jokes? movie you’re probably envisioning attacked him on his looks, and believe 7. Jeb Bush: “Eveready” Following in in your head right now. I’m not sure me, there’s a lot of subject matter there.” the tradition of his older brother whose Secretariat would have approved of Hey, I can’t exactly say I disagree. People designated Secret Service code name his name being used by Fiorina for like to talk about Jeb Bush admitting was “Trailblazer,” Jeb chose a two- the benefit of her campaign…perhaps he smoked marijuana, or Carly Fiorina word-smashed-into-one name which he’ll join Steven Tyler (or, well, his smoking the competition in general, but he hopes will relay his “high energy.” ghost or something will, seeing as my personal favorite question from that Donald Trump high-fived him for it. he’s dead) ((RIP, kind horse)) as the debate was “If you were president, what It also might be a subtle allusion to his latest celeb to sue a GOP candidate would your Secret Service code name drink of choice in college, Everclear. for unauthorized use of intellectual be?” As great as that question was, the After all, he’s already admitted to property. responses were even better. I’ve ranked smoking marijuana. FEEL THE them from worst to best. BURN, JEBBY! 1. Donald Trump: “Humble” I mean, come on. This name had to be either 11. Scott Walker: “Harley” It’s a clean 6. John Kasich: “Unit One” I commend first or last. For the sake of comic choice—one word, two syllables— Kasich for this name because it flows relief, I stuck “Humble” at the top. reminiscent of high power and plenty of so well with “Unit One is on the move.” Maybe someday Trump will actually style. There’s just one problem. Walker is It gets 6th place because he threw in live up to his name. no longer in the running. Since Harley’s a cheesy wife reference too: “My wife dreams will never become a reality, would probably say I’m Unit Two.” Walker’s name takes last place. 5. Chris Christie: “True Heart” “Heart” 10. Ted Cruz: “Cohiba” Because, get isn’t exactly the first word I would it, he’s from Cuba. Also, if I smoke a associate with Chris Christie. He bunch of Cohibas in one sitting, can I strikes me as more passionate (about get my voice to sound like his? WHAT policy) than compassionate. I’m sure IS YOUR SECRET TED? Even better, the residents of Fort Lee would agree. what he would select as his wife’s Secret Service name: “Angel”…because…you 4. Ben Carson: “One Nation” “There guessed it. She’s his is no freedom without bravery.” A quote from one of Ben Carson’s 9. Rand Paul: “Justice Never Sleeps” many published works. The title of Paul gets points here for trying to be the book where you can find this inspiring with this name, but I can’t help quote is, incidentally, One Nation. but imagine a scenario involving a tired Coincidence? I think not. president on Airforce One: “kssshhh. Justice Never Sleeps is…sleeping. Over. 3. Marco Rubio: “Gator” One word, Kssshhh.” fierce image, personally connected.

16 An (Employed) Engineer Reflects on the Honors Program Nicholas Saulnier, SMU Class of 2015, 2016

Current students often forget the vast community of alumni that they will soon join. This piece offers the 20/20 hindsight of an alumnus regarding the benefit of the Honors Program to his career. -Alex

There are many reasons students decide communication, interpersonal, and is a powerful interpersonal tool for to avoid or to drop out of the University problem solving skills that were honed the workplace. The Honors Program Honors Program (UHP): It is too hard. over the course of four years. While all throws you into subjects far out of It might lower my GPA. I think poems three were built up in the UHP, I will your depth so that you may learn from are dumb. As an engineering student, I focus on the first two as the skills that SMU’s subject experts (i.e., faculty) participated in the UHP to explore diverse were almost exclusively developed in and other students. Be conscious, not topics inaccessible in the engineering Honors rather than in my engineering just of your search for knowledge, curriculum (studies on gender, race, curriculum. but of the process you take when and psychology are curiously lacking searching. Observe the mindset you from circuits class) and to strengthen Communication, both verbal and assume, the questions you ask, the role my communication and interpersonal written, is the single most important you take in a group discussion, your skills. At the time, I considered the UHP skill an engineer possesses. The sheer facial expression and word choice and nothing but a fun addition to a strong complexity of the real world means follow-up to clear and unclear answers. technical degree. you can only become an expert in a Consciously modify your internal tiny slice of any one problem. In order mindset and how you externally Now that I work as an engineer at Texas to develop and test the entire solution, broadcast your mindset to others. Instruments, I have discovered that my you need to collaborate with many Make sure you broadcast a respectful, Honors experience was perhaps the most other subject experts. With technical curious, and positive mindset. At work, important part of my technical education. expertise I may personally solve 1/6 your communication skills will allow Yes, my work involves programming of the issue; succinct emails, carefully people to understand you and provide code and creating circuits; however, crafted meetings and presentations, the resources you need; however, your the complexity of real-life engineering and probing questions unlock the interpersonal skills will make them systems renders nearly all technical other 5/6 of the solution. want to set aside the time to respond information learned in school obsolete. and to teach. My only usable tools from college are the The curious and open mindset that is required when taking honors classes

Nick graduated with his Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from SMU in 2015 and Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from SMU in 2016. His Master’s thesis involved researching smart phone applications for screening for cervical cancer. He took part in many UHP activities, including a travel course to New York and many Honors courses and events.

17 Here Kenny reminds us of the ancient wisdom that there is a time to be silent and a time Letter from an Old Editor to speak. Fittingly, it ends this Kenny Martin issue with a reflection on what keep telling us might be. I remember current state of affairs, political and Hilltopics is and ought to be. sitting under the night sky with my cultural and otherwise. A great divide -Alex and Drew friends, not talking—after a certain has seized us all, and we are more point, with very good friends, there is likely to lamely quip about how “we simply no need to talk in a place like don’t like talking politics” when what Silence is a powerful thing. I’m thinking that—and all of a sudden hearing a we really mean is “we don’t like talking of a striking image that has recently been pack of coyotes howling close by. The politics with people we don’t agree making the rounds on social media and silence of the night that had enveloped with.” This has to change. Such change the web; it shows a small boy standing us was broken, but we really didn’t does not mean hedging on radicalism, with his arms spread in front of a protest mind. The coyotes and the nocturnal or whatever positions one chooses to march of thousands of people (the photo stillness were part and parcel of the take. It does mean refusing to give recalls the famous image of “Tank Man” same organic whole; one without the into the temptation to ignore or spurn in Tiananmen Square). The march, other would be strange and unnatural. others and cease discourse simply to which took place in Celaya, Guanajuato, So, we took what we were dealt, and avoid vulnerability and discomfort. in Mexico, was organized by the Frente relished in it all. That’s not the silence I’ve come to Nacional por la Familia in order to protest love; it is at most its bastard child, recent same-sex marriage proposals in I also spent much of the summer its maimed and forced and barely the country. in Spain; I remember sitting on a recognizable form. gentle park hill in the city of Santiago What the child (who is only 12) did de Compostela, overlooking the This, then, is an appropriate mission is astounding: astoundingly brave, Cathedral to which pilgrims have been statement for Hilltopics: to be astoundingly precocious, astoundingly coming for well over 1,000 years to vulnerable so that we might learn. human. What is perhaps more astounding make the final leg of St. James’s Way. To make ourselves and others is the way his action has emotionally This is a silence of a different sort, uncomfortable for the sake of impacted millions of people around the one heavy (though not overburdened) enlivening the discourse of every world. Indeed, that such a brief moment with the weight of history, of countless sort that occurs on this campus. To of courage can be taken up as a point people long since gone who, just relish in words, those mysterious of unity by so many diverse people is maybe, were in many ways like me, and miraculous things that, for us, surely one of the greatest testaments to like us. I remember, too, the cloisters constitute the world, and make our the power of photography, and of social of the monasteries; even in the busiest minds interesting places in which to media, of recent times. But it is also a of cities, those four walls create an live. To do things that please us, however testament to the power of silence. The interior tranquility that puts even the strange or quirky or controversial. To kid didn’t have to say a word to bring all least religious among us in some sort be inspired by people like the boy of this about; he didn’t write an article of spiritual way. It is no surprise that from Celaya and declare ourselves or a philosophical treatise or a personal we often connect most intimately openly in support of movements we anecdote about why he thinks same- with ourselves through silence; find important, and against those we sex marriage should be legal. He simply paradoxically, it is also through silence find abhorrent. More than anything, stood up in the face of something he that we find connections to others, to use our words smartly, strongly, and didn’t like; he simply made it be known to the human community as it has sparingly, so that our silences might that he was entering the ideological expressed itself since the beginning be more fruitful, powerful, and full of arena, and not on the side of the Frente through art, religion, history, poetry, the wondrous delight of looking at the Nacional. There is also much pleasure beauty. stars and feeling that they are looking to be had in silence. I recently spent a back at us. We hope you will join us weekend at SMU’s campus in Taos, New Silence cannot do everything, however. for the ride. Mexico, and was moved, as always, by I’m thinking here of the great Simon the immensity of the stars, the milky way & Garfunkel lyrics: “People talking opening up like a brilliant scar above, without speaking / People hearing so wet with possibility you can almost without listening / No one dared / reach out and touch, even taste, the other Disturb the sound of silence.” This planets that might be, that the scientists seems to pretty well describe our

18 Cells Print 6 in. by 9 in. Stejara Iulia Dinulescu

Staff and Contributors Editor in Chief...... Executives Destiny Rose Murphy Cover...... Images Stejara Dinulescu Tech and Layout Editor...... Stejara Dinulescu Copy Editors...... Alex McNamara and Andrew Sneed Online Editor...... Alec Mason hilltopicssmu.wordpress.comFind us online at:

Andrew Oh Contributors Kenny Martin Margaret Fegan Alex McNamera OrSMU on HilltopicsFacebook: Drew Sneed Kevin Wang Madeleine Case Elizabeth Ridgway Cole Thomas Alec Petsche Lorien Melnick Cecilia Weigman Nicholas Saulnier Dr.Special David thanks Doyle andto Sally: Spaniolo