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News at 6 on WNUR News – October 25, 2021 MARS and Masculinity, Dear Evan Hansen, and Barbara Kruger’s Anti-Retrospective WNUR News broadcasts live at 6 pm CST on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays on WNUR 89.3 FM
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Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:17 Live from w N R news. I'm Allison RA your list listening to the six o'clock news on w N U R 89.3, FM H D one, Evanston Chicago it's Monday, October 25th. Tonight, the possibility of non-toxic masculinity on Northwestern's campus, the controversy behind Ben plat's casting in dear of Hansen, a look at Barbara recruiter's new art Institute, exhibit a look at this week's weather, those stories, and more coming up tonight on w R news at six. Thanks for tuning in on this Monday evening. First on tonight's features the masculinity I allyship reflection and solidarity group also known as Mars is going through a period of change on Northwestern's campus. As Mars distances itself from the inter fraternity council, its members are figuring out how to continue dialogues about masculinity's impact on a college campus. Here's Olivia Lloyd, with the story,
Speaker 2 00:01:21 Please note piece includes discussions of sexual violence and prevention that may be difficult for some listeners, Masculinity, allyship reflection, solidarity. That is what Mars stands for. It continues to stand for that during a period of change for the Northwestern organization, as it reevaluates its relationship with the in to fraternity council, or if C
Speaker 3 00:01:46 It was the first of its kind, when it started, it was essentially an education effort around bringing, um, sort of masculinity workshops into these IFFC spaces. And so, uh, that's kind of how we got started. It was a very IFC type based organization. And since then, um, as our like mission has kind of fluctuated and our membership has sort of shifted we've drifted away from that original purpose and have redefined ourselves
Speaker 2 00:02:11 That's fourth year student Lucas V olive, the director of Mars. The reason the organization is reevaluating its relationship with if C is partly in response to similar events that led to its creation in the first place, the September in the span of less than 24 hours, Northwestern received multiple reports of individuals being drugged at on campus fraternities, Sigma, alpha, LAN, and alpha LAN PI.
Speaker 3 00:02:35 It started on campus, I believe in 2013 in response to a lot of complaints around I C and a few different instances occurring on campus and wanting to talk about what masculinity looks like and how it shows up on a college campus specifically,
Speaker 2 00:02:53 But the recent reports of drugging aren't the only reason Mars is expanding its scope. According to the staff supervisor of Mars Sayid hill. He's also the assistant director of prevention and masculine engagement at the Northwestern center for awareness response and education care oversees, Mars and similar programs.
Speaker 4 00:03:13 Uh, and this has been years in the making. Um, we've been really trying to figure out how we can continue to expand the conversation around masculinity and violence prevention and response. Um, and, and just expand the umbrella of like who we reach with those conversations and to do this work effectively, we wanna do it more on a systems level.
Speaker 2 00:03:34 VI olive explained that Mar should not be a checkbox or a shield for allegations or a replacement for accountability.
Speaker 3 00:03:42 So what Mars isn't doing hosting workshops for IFC moving forward for at least the time being that is not within really our scope of purview at this time. And, uh, that's for a few reasons, the primary one being that at this point, I don't think education is necessarily a response rather, uh, a bandaid. And so really wanting to ensure that any sort of education moving forward is a bit more intentional. And so prior to this year, it used to be that, uh, all pledge classes had to go through a Mars workshop before being able to initiate right now. Yeah, that's just not something that's really on the team able
Speaker 2 00:04:21 This doesn't mean Mars will never interact with IFFC. Again, rather intentionality is key in entering these spaces.
Speaker 4 00:04:27 Potentially we can slow down, provide more support spaces for our students, make sure that our students are being heard and, and really hearing from our students what the needs are. Um, and expectations are before we just provide more education, which education is always there, you know, and outreach is always there. And
Speaker 2 00:04:44 Mars is currently redefining itself and is working on a recruitment effort. It's important to note that Mars hasn't always been all about if C in the past, Mars has done a quarterly book club, coordinated conversations around masculinity with local schools and given members of space to do presentations on intersections of masculinity, that interest them. These workshops are called mini micros.
Speaker 3 00:05:06 I've done one around masculine presentation and non-binary and trans folks. Uh, we've had another member do a workshop on masculinity in the environment and what that looks like. Another workshop that we did is like masculinity and self care. Like what does that look like? It doesn't necessarily need to look like what the media says, mask or selfcare looks like self care can be very subjective in talking through what that looks like as a mask identifying individuals
Speaker 2 00:05:33 For now as Mars recruits, new members, the group is trying to identify where it fits into Northwestern's community.
Speaker 3 00:05:39 We're also in the vein of trying to identify as a necessarily what the root of like restrictive masculinity looks like on campus. We're still figuring out our pocket and our niche on campus. We are moving away from Greek life, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we found our footing elsewhere. It just means that we are no longer interested in it in a partnership that might not be mutually beneficial or symbiotic or even productive. However, like what that looks like for us is we're under an opportunity of regrowth and revamping, um, and, and really trying to figure out what that means. Every exec meeting is spent having a conversation around the future of Mars and our vision
Speaker 2 00:06:16 For do w N R news. I'm Olivia Lloyd.
Speaker 1 00:06:26 After the break a look at dear Evan, Hansen's casting an artist, Barbara Kruger's new anti retrospective, w N news will return after these messages stay tuned.
Speaker 5 00:06:45 I mean, she'd no ever tell you that she's humble and perfect. She likes everyone. She even likes her untidy roommates, weird Guinea pig. Allison, wait, are you texting and driving Allison? No, that's the exact opposite of what I was just saying about you. Why Allison? Why texting and driving makes good people bad. Visit. Stop tech, stop. rex.org brought to you by the national highway traffic safety administration and the ad council.
Speaker 6 00:07:13 Okay. What are you wearing right now? Nothing. That's right. So mommy's gonna teach you how to dress yourself. Underwear always comes first name tag of the back, then pan, then shirt. Get the first button in the right hole. Or you have to start all over socks going first, then choose right on. Right left on left with two laces. Just take the ends, cross some over switch. The loops. The rabbit goes down the whole pull tight and left with many ears. Got it. Why you're pantsing your head.
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Speaker 8 00:07:44 You are a waste, a loser. Everyone hates you. Don't you just stay in your car and keep driving. I'm serious drive until you run outta gas and get outta your car and walk until you find someone who doesn't think you're dumber than bricks. It could take a while, but at least all that walking might burn a couple of calories.
Speaker 5 00:08:00 You may not witness bullying like this every day, your kids do, they want to help, but they don't know how visit. Stop bullying.gov to learn safe SIM ways your child can help stop bullying. Be more than a [email protected], a message from the ad council.
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Speaker 1 00:08:47 Welcome back to w N R news 89.3 F M H D one, Evanston Chicago. It's 6 0 9 central I'm Allison RA the new movie adaptation of the hit musical. Dear Evan Hansen has stirred up controversy for retaining actor Ben plat in the principle role here's reporter here's reporter PR proton with more
Speaker 0 00:09:18 Dear
Speaker 11 00:09:18 Evan,
Speaker 1 00:09:19 Hans plat in the principle role here's reporter here's reporter PR pro towards
Speaker 11 00:09:27 Casting of actor. Ben,
Speaker 11 00:09:36 Dear Evan Hansen, a Broadway musical recently adopted for the screen has caused quite a stir due to its casting of actor Ben plat as its leading role. Dear Evan Hansen centers around its particular main character, Evan Hansen, a socially awkward and anxious teenager whose lies about his friendship with his deceased high school bully spiral out of control. The Broadway show touched many hearts through its ex exploration of themes, such as mental illness, isolation, and coming of age. It premiered in 2015 at the arena stage in Washington, DC, and then debuted on the Broadway stage. In 2016, it went on to become a huge success and even won nine Tony awards. One of those awards went to Ben plat, the actor who originated the lead role and played Evan Hanson on stage from the years 2015 to 2017, his performance was highly critically acclaimed and led him to be the youngest recipient of the Tony award for best actor in the leading role in a musical as well as many, many more awards after the Broadway musicals, immense success in classic Hollywood fashion, it announced in June, 2020 that the play would be adopted onto the silver screen with plat reprising his role as Evan Hansen, while fans of the musical may have been excited though, somewhat reluctant considering plot's age when this news first dropped many were appalled.
Speaker 11 00:10:55 When the trailer for the movie was released in May, 2021, plat who is now nearing 30, stuck out like a sore thumb when trying to fill the shoes of a teenager, the makeup crew for the film attempted to transform plat into a high schooler by slathering his face and foundation using prosthetics and giving him a big curly wig plat even stated that he shaved his face three times a day over the course of filming to try and make his skin smoother. And younger viewers think that these attempts actually had an adverse effect, however, and made plat look almost scary as opposed to youthful since the trailer dropped in may. So the films theatrical release in September until now the internet has been going wild over plat's appearance in the movie, plat responded to all this backlash by stating where not to do the movie. It probably wouldn't get made. This led to even further backlash against plat. However, as it brought attention to the fact that his father is the co-producer of this movie and likely had a large role in his casting as the main character, I talked to joy to a bean sophomore and a self-proclaimed dear Evan Hansen enthusiast about her thoughts. So joy, you actually got to watch dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. How is that experience?
Speaker 12 00:12:10 I really loved it. Um, dear Evan Hanon is one of my favorite musicals and that experience really helped me bond with my mom. And I thought that it was really special that a musical could do that for an entire audience.
Speaker 11 00:12:25 How did you feel when you heard the play was gonna be adopted into a movie?
Speaker 12 00:12:28 I was super stoked. I thought it was gonna be awesome, but I thought the movie, he didn't really live up to my expectations just because it was a little strange seeing Ben plat act as a teenager while he was in his thirties. And it just seemed like the movie was trying really hard to, to mold him into this character that he really couldn't embody in the cinemas, even though he did a great job as the character in theater, but it just didn't translate well
Speaker 11 00:12:58 Plot's performance as a high school student was more believable when he was still 23 and standing on a stage far away enough that the audience could not count the lines in his forehead. But the general viewer's verdict seems to be that the suspension of disbelief is simply impossible to translate to this green. If the fact that you're a socially awkward teen is harder to believe than people randomly breaking into song. Whenever they feel any type of emotion, there may be a problem if you're interested in making your own judgements on this movie and plats casting, dear Evan Hansen is playing in theaters now and will be released on Fandango after it's run in the cinemas for w R and par proton
Speaker 1 00:13:44 American conceptual artist. Barbara Kruger has a new exhibit at the art Institute of Chicago as a big fan of Kruger's work. I decided to take a look myself, you know, Barbara Kruger, even if you don't think you do, for instance, if you know Supreme, you know, Kruger, this streetwear brand's logo is a rip off of her iconic style, which uses white text in oblique Fu bold type on red backgrounds to create provocative messages. These messages often pasted over black and white photographs use personal pronouns. You, we, I and our to pull the viewer in some famous pieces include 1980 sevens untitled. I shop, therefore I am depicting a hand with a red text box overlaid and 1980 nines untitled your body as a battleground created for the 1989 women's March. It shows a woman's face, a split in positive and negative exposures with the message overlaid again in red and white text, her art addresses themes of consumerism, power imbalances in society and feminist issues.
Speaker 13 00:14:54 Uh, the original context in which I first saw her artwork was at that, um, broad installation. And it was about feminist artwork. It was right about the same time the me too movement was going around. And the piece that I saw, um, was one of her most famous ones, the, your body as a battleground. Um, and it just struck me. I mean, I think with a lot of feminist artwork, obviously you have to be pretty anti-establishment in order to, to really pull off the message. You know, it has to be something that breaks the established systems of artwork that have been in place for so long by a male dominated art world. And it was striking and it was huge and it was bright red text. And it just like the text too. You, you see so much artwork in a museum that doesn't have text in it and there she was just so absolutely unafraid to just use it and create this, just this experience that you're just sucked into when you're looking at it.
Speaker 1 00:15:48 That's Samantha RA, my sister and second year design student at Carnegie Mellon university. We both love Kruger's art, but I wanted to know what she thought of it from a design perspective.
Speaker 13 00:15:58 Well, it's interesting being a design student, I come from a primarily fine arts background and you kind of learn as a fine artist. That words are tacky. Words are also in the realm of design communication, design, advertisements, that kind of stuff. So oftentimes used to just ever so subtly manipulate you. But what Barbara Kruger does is she takes that archetype of advertisement and using words to direct thought and just completely breaks it. And she uses words to open thought and to free thought and to talk to you directly, rather than like you as a consumer and just make you break out of a mind frame instead of like inserting yourself into one, you have to be in the artwork when you're looking at it, you don't have a choice to be at just a, a passive bystander. She just pulls you into her world. And there's, there's no choice whether you want to or not.
Speaker 1 00:16:48 Kruger came to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, but many of her messages still resonate today on September 19th, 2021, her exhibit thinking of you. I mean me, I mean, you opened at the art Institute of Chicago. It's the first museum survey of her work in the United States since 1999. It's also arguably one of her biggest exhibitions thinking of you Phil's 18,000 square foot Regine hall, as well as Griffin court, an 8,000 square foot atrium, still more of her art spills over into other places in the museum. There are pieces designed for the ticketing office, the museum cafe, the stairs, leading up to the exhibit, even a sound installation in the gift shop. Kruger's art even transcends the museum itself, seeping into the city of Chicago with pieces on billboards, CTA, bus shelters, and a video projection played nightly on the merchandise Mart building as a part of their art on the Mart series
Speaker 14 00:17:44 Left on contain three miles to jealousy drive go right on Chelsea 2.5 miles to revenge,
Speaker 15 00:17:51 But there's construction on her revenge. Staying on jealousy.
Speaker 14 00:17:56 Your run is usual.
Speaker 1 00:17:57 The exhibition is an anti retrospective. According to associate curator, Robin Farrell. It does not take a chronological look at her career, but instead engages all her pieces in the present moment as they resonate in the present. The exhibit also re-exams older iconic pieces on giant L E D screens that flash different meanings, exploring new layers. I shop, therefore I am becomes I sext. Therefore I am, I die. Therefore I was. And so on. So given a rainy Sunday and free wild card access to the art Institute, my good friend, Jacob mill Endorf and I took the red line down to see thinking of you for ourselves.
Speaker 17 00:18:39 Yeah. A very like encompassing experience. You walk into the first room there's stuff on every wall. There's a screen. You walk in even more there's text on the floor on all four walls. And, uh, so initially it was overwhelming in a good way.
Speaker 1 00:18:56 The installation begins with a room full of collages in black, white, and red flanking, an L E D screen venturing farther into the exhibit. You come across a room covered in black and white text messages are written on every wall. I, the floor, other rooms reveal multi-screen video pieces, collections of older art sound bites, repeating through speakers in the ceiling and a room that asked for viewers' consent to be filmed, displaying the room's footage on screens. In other parts of the museum. What was your favorite piece? Did you have a piece that stood out to you?
Speaker 17 00:19:28 It was a fairly small room with a TV on three or four walls. Uh, and each one had a, uh, well known passage. Yeah, yeah. The pledge of Allegion. Um, and there was one that was like the marriage union speech. Um, and it basically went word by word, like typing it out as you would on a computer. So you're seeing the words kind of appear in real time and each time, uh, they got to a noun or some word that she wanted to kind of break down and think about better. Uh, it would flash, uh, quickly to another word, like a synonym or something that she was critiquing. So, um, we, the people of the United States and then United States was changed to different words like questioning what is the United States?
Speaker 1 00:20:23 My favorite piece from the exhibit was untitled. In the beginning, there was crying, which was part of a three image series in a room with red and white text on the floor. The piece shows a visceral image of the brain overlaid in tiny white and red text. With the words quote in the beginning, there was crying in the middle. There was confusion. In the end, there was silence end quote, thinking of you as Mel Endorf said is encompassing. It's immersive. Like Kruger's art sucking you into her world and it's overwhelming her declarative statements and her direct questions demand an answer from the viewer. Something the typical museum goer may not be used to, but stepping into this discomfort is rewarding.
Speaker 18 00:21:04 I said, die, heritage, stop and push them off.
Speaker 1 00:21:09 Thinking of you runs at the art Institute until January 24th, 2022 for w Nur news. I'm Allison RO. After the break, a weather forecast for the next few days and a news briefing to start your week, w Nur news will return after these messages stay tuned
Speaker 19 00:21:39 On the sun. That's why sunscreen and other safety measures are key to protecting your skin from aging and cancer. The FDA recommends using a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. Also look for broad spectrum on the label. That means both harmful ultraviolet, a and B raise our blocked. Remember SPF plus broad spectrum equal healthy fun in the sun. Visit www.fda.gov/sunscreen. For more information, a message from the us food and drug administration.
Speaker 20 00:22:08 There are those who dedicate themselves to a sense of honor, to a life of courage and a commitment to something greater than themselves. They have always defended this nation and each other. They still do The, the
Speaker 21 00:22:36 Every 20 seconds. Another kid drops out of school. If we do nothing, 3.5 million kids won't receive a diploma over the next four years. United way knows that kids who have a caring adult in their life are more likely to make it. And the difference between a dropout and a graduate be you take the pledge to volunteer [email protected] Brought to you by United way. And the ad council
Speaker 22 00:23:09 Amnesty international is a worldwide organization dedicated to promoting human rights, amnesty conducts letter writing, camp and pains, and tries to raise public awareness about capital punishment, police brutality, and torture in the United States and abroad. For more information about amnesty international, you can check their national [email protected]. This message brought to you by w Nur,
Speaker 1 00:23:43 Welcome back to w N U R it's 6 24 central I'm Allison RO here's the weather tonight expect cloudy weather and some isolated showers with a low around 46 degrees. The national weather service has issued a lake shore flood advisory until 7:00 PM central tonight. The rest of the week brings scattered showers with temperatures hovering around the 40 to 50 degree mark. And now some general news updates. The city of Evanston announced today in a press release that COVID 19 booster shots are available to residents. They urged community members interested in getting a mad or Johnson and Johnson booster to fill out a vaccine booster to register for upcoming vaccination clinics in Evanston. At this time, the city is not offering Pfizer boosters and Northwestern saw positive COVID 19 cases double this week with over three fourths of the positive tests being from non undergraduates of the 57 positive cases, 40 are attributed to non undergrads.
Speaker 1 00:24:47 The university just finished its first week of required testing for a third of undergraduates, which yielded only five positive cases. The rest were faculty and staff. That's all for w Nur news at 6:00 PM. For more news updates and reports. Follow us on Twitter at w N you are news. You can listen to these and other stories of the day on our Spotify, Google podcasts, and SoundCloud. Check us out too on our brand new website, w N r.news on behalf of our producers, Zach McCreary reporters, Olivia Lloyd, and par proton, and all of us here at w N R news. I rap. Thank you so much for joining us. Catch us next time on Wednesday, October 27th at 6:00 PM. Good night.
