The Weekly Rose

When people imagine knitting, they picture their grandma hunching over in a rocking chair, not, this author, a nonbinary teen with a mullet. But since the pandemic, fiber arts have seen a dramatic rise in popularity with younger generations. Knitting and crochet have been dismissed as “grandma hobbies;” slow, domestic, and too feminine to be taken seriously. However, that dismissal is misogynistic, and misses the point entirely. Knitting uses intergenerational knowledge and community as a quiet rebellion against a world obsessed with speed and profit. Basically, I’m saying my knitting is punk as hell.

Sometimes, I find it helps to ask ourselves how we got to where we are now. My freshman year at Unionfest, as I was bobbing and weaving through a sea of barely-adults, I came across a table for the Sunrise Movement. I knew about the organization from its work with the Green New Deal and AOC, but I didn’t know that KU had a chapter! I scanned a QR code to join their GroupMe and eventually started showing up to meetings towards the end of my first semester.

I used to write opinion pieces for the University Daily Kansan. I say used to, because I no longer do. The story of why that is the case, written here in four parts, I hope will be illustrative of how journalism functions today and what it means for those with vocal, principled stances on ongoing crises.

Donald Trump has added his name after Grover Cleveland as the second American president to be elected for non-consecutive terms. Let’s talk about what we can do now.

After (barely) surviving my first few weeks of college, I was very much looking forward to coming home to rest for fall break. Dropping my bags on the floor and massaging the ones under my eyes, I plopped down on the couch to watch some YouTube. However, something was out of the ordinary- even for my eclectic recommended. As I clicked on the out-of-place video, the first thing I saw was hundreds of people, elementary-school age children included, parading through the streets of East Jerusalem and screaming “death to Arabs!” and “the only good Arab is a dead Arab!” Looks like fall break wouldn’t be too relaxing after all.

In American presidential elections, we are told we have two choices of candidates, a Democrat or a Republican, neither of which seem to adequately represent the views of most Americans. Why, then, is it absurd to suggest voting for neither of them?

There are many fears which come to mind when considering the paths a declining American empire may take, yet none stand out as so empty, so colorless and lifeless, as our political system following the way laid out by the United Kingdom. By this, I mean American politics now runs the risk of an already center-right Democratic Party modeling itself after the British Labour Party of recent years, responding to the empire’s continuing crisis and the tides of fascism with a blanket right-wing pivot, promising a cold, managed decline for the nation while surrendering to reactionaries on an issue most personal to me, transgender rights.

The hit 2010 action role-playing game Fallout: New Vegas opens with a cutscene in which minor antagonist Benny remarks, “Truth is, the game was rigged from the start,” before shooting the player character. This harsh introduction to a game set in an inhospitable and post-nuclear Mojave Desert perfectly captures the feeling of voting in modern America. At least, it captures the dread of getting ready to vote for the first time in this imperial core.