Show Notes
News at 6 on WNUR News – November 22, 2021 Drawing a Blank, A&O Blowout, Knitwestern, and Thrifting. 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 00:00:15 Live from w N R news. I'm Allison RA. You're listening to the six o'clock news on w N U R 89.3, FM H D one, Evanston Chicago it's Monday, November 22nd. Tonight it's rewind time. W N R news is taking a look back at some of our favorite stories from the past quarter, drawing a blank with Nick's song, remembering a and O's blowout a look at Northwestern's craft scene and a new story. Hot off the presses, the rise of thrifting. Plus a look at this week's weather, those stories, and more coming up tonight on w N R news at six. Thanks for tuning in on this Monday evening and our last show of the fall quarter. First on today's features for w N R news' special broadcast a few weeks ago, assistant news director, Nick song set out to get an interview from president elect Rebecca blank. What he got instead was an entirely different story. Here he is. With more,
Speaker 2 00:01:24 Before we go any further, I have a confession to make the story you are about to hear. Isn't what I set out to make the story, the theme, the interview. I intended everything to go one way, but things went the other. Let me explain. When we at w Nur news decided on the theme for the special broadcast, I was pumped, fill in the blank on its own. It's a great prompt, but what really made it special were the circumstances surrounding it. Only weeks prior Northwestern had announced, they had found the next university president, the white smoke Villa to top Toine chapel. Here was the Arab apparent to replace Morton Shapiro. The name of that individual, Becky freaking blank, The timing couldn't have been more perfect. An interview with the new and future leader. It would be a show stalker w N R news needed back more than that. I needed Becky. And so like any stark AIST, I pinned a message addressed solely to her and her media team.
Speaker 3 00:02:58 Hello, my name is Nick to I'm the co news director for w N U R news. Northwestern's radio news publication on campus. Is that good? So far,
Speaker 4 00:03:07 We wanted to inquire about professor Blank's availability and interest in being interviewed. We're very interested in learning more about her and think this would be a great opportunity for the student body to hear more about her.
Speaker 5 00:03:17 The interview would take away on 30 minutes and be prerecorded and edited for broadcast. We can conduct the interview over zoom or in person.
Speaker 3 00:03:24 Thank you. And I look forward to hearing back from you, Nick.
Speaker 2 00:03:30 And so I waited And waited some more. I waited seven days before I can it anymore. And then I sent a follow up.
Speaker 4 00:03:42 Hi, I wanted to follow up on this. Please let me know if professor blank would be available to speak in the upcoming weeks. Thanks Nick,
Speaker 2 00:03:48 Lo and behold, I got a response a day later, although the news was far from ideal.
Speaker 3 00:03:52 Good afternoon, Nick. Thank you for your email. President
Speaker 4 00:03:55 Elect blank looks forward to discussing her transition closer to her start summer of 2022.
Speaker 5 00:04:01 We look forward to reconnecting with you next year. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 3 00:04:04 Jerry
Speaker 2 00:04:14 Devastation could begin to describe how I felt here was a chance to interview the biggest blank in the sugar, Chicago metropolitan area. This was what was gonna make the special broadcast special. The heavens had aligned and yet serendipity stumbled with a dagger stuck in her chest. I had failed frantically. I searched for something, anything really to fill the blank size toll an idea occurred to me. Why not try to find the other blanks at Northwestern? I took to the online directory, sending email after email to blanks. I had never met soon. There were no more blanks to send emails to. Once more I waited. I had all been given up on the blanks of the world when a fateful message arrived in my inbox.
Speaker 6 00:04:59 Hey, sorry about that. I'm actually Madrid right now. And um, but people who like work in our dorm just came up to ask me something, but sorry, what was the question you asked
Speaker 2 00:05:07 According to the online directory, there were four separate blanks other than Becky affiliated with Northwestern. One of them works as a pediatrics physician here in Evanston. Another, a research coordinator at the Cincinnati children hospital. The third is a master student studying data science as for the fourth blank. The last blank I emailed was the blank that replied,
Speaker 6 00:05:31 Hey, what's up Nick? Yeah. Um, I'm Zach blank. I am a junior at Northwestern. Um, I'm from the Washington DC area and, um, I'm studying journalism and IMS such. I mean, people always make jokes by my last name. Um, like, uh, I hear a lot like, oh, you don't actually have a last name. Yeah. Cause it's blank. I, I hear like all the same jokes for like my entire life. Um, and like, some of them are kind of funny, but I I've just heard them all a million times. Um, so I, I kind of always get a little bit for that. Some, some joking for my friends,
Speaker 2 00:06:03 Surprisingly Zach's last name didn't catch a much flat growing up. It wasn't until Zach moved to Evanson for college, that it became such a major part of his life
Speaker 6 00:06:12 At Northwestern. Most of my close friends called me blank. Um, just blank. Um, whereas in high school, most people call me Zach. Um, so I'm, I'm definitely starting to hear it, just like the word blank over and over again. And, and all the time
Speaker 2 00:06:27 In case you're wondering Zach and Becky aren't related, he found out about her about the same time everyone else did.
Speaker 6 00:06:33 It was definitely kind of a funny thing to find out. Um, and me and my friends definitely had a good laugh about it. Just like thinking about the coincidence of me and the new president having the same, like obscure, silly, last name. I don't know too much about her. I know that she comes from Wisconsin and, um, somebody told me that she gets booed at the Wisconsin football games. Uh, which I, I, I don't know if that's true, but I hope that she is. I work out well because, um, we definitely mean a lot for the last name
Speaker 2 00:07:00 In case you're wondering the earliest known blank in the United States, Henry blank arrived in north America in 17. Oh one another blank. Once again, named Henry survived. The sinking of the Titanic, both of these blanks were unavailable for comments.
Speaker 6 00:07:16 There is an Arthur blank who owns the Atlanta Falcons and who's the founder of home Depot. And we have no relation to him. They're actually someone with my exact name, whose name is Zach blank, who is like an entrepreneur, um, as a company out on the west coast, somewhere that actually like I've messaged with him before, because he has on social media, a lot of just like the, at Zach blanks, um, on most platforms. So I have a like, talked to him, um, just like the end at one time, he kind of was doing stuff that I was interested in, like career wise. Um, so I also just asked if we could like, just like have a networking call or something. Um, so I got to talk to him, which was like funny, cause we met him the same name and also pretty cool. I would definitely stick with blank. Um, I liked the last name and, uh, it's true to my family
Speaker 2 00:07:59 After spending so much time around blanks. I had to ask Zach how he felt about the name.
Speaker 6 00:08:04 I, I love the name. I think it's a, it's a good, last name to have. And, uh, it's true in my family.
Speaker 2 00:08:10 I didn't talk to Zach because he's studying abroad in Madrid or that he's interested in entertainment marketing. What brought me to Zach was because of a name, something given to him, birth and attribute out of his control. It felt cheap, almost unfair that this was the reason I was speaking to him. And yet Zach was proud of his last name. He didn't choose it for himself, but he chose to hold onto it. Ultimately, the names we have are arbitrary, they serve as a blank template to build a life arm. A name only travels so far as the person. It represents occasionally though names lead you to people you would meet otherwise. And when that happens, Don't be afraid to send an email
Speaker 7 00:09:15 News.
Speaker 2 00:09:16 I'm Nick summer,
Speaker 1 00:09:25 A O's blowout concert was one of the most highly anticipated events of the fall quarter. And it's safe to say expectations were met here's reporters, Maria Huma, Eric and Helen Bradshaw with the story
Speaker 4 00:09:43 On Saturday night, students gathered for Northwestern's first live a and O productions concert since the start of the pandemic, the headliners, the angelic Ravina and genre binding Willow understand students were eager to go back to in person campus concerts. And the finite number of free tickets went fast so fast. In fact that neither I nor executive producer Sarah Kora were able to get them in time. But our local campus editor, Maria, Jim Aragon was
Speaker 7 00:10:12 So Helen, Sarah and I decided to document the concert for in both inside and out. We are living in the well arena with our a editor, miss Maria mano. Hello? How are we feeling? How are we feeling about tonight? Feeling great,
Speaker 8 00:10:29 Very excited.
Speaker 7 00:10:30 This is awesome. I'm so excited. Feeling good, feeling good, feeling good. Are you ready to see Willow perform so nice. Thank you guys.
Speaker 4 00:10:40 Hey, it's 8 33 plus Sarah and I you're driving there now ticket list, but we will have a good time. We are approaching the arena. Now there's some buses up front of people getting out. Honestly. It's not that busy also. Why did they do it indoors?
Speaker 7 00:10:56 As we waited for Vina to come out on stage to perform Helen and Sarah were making the most of their time outside.
Speaker 4 00:11:03 So what we're looking at is airport style secure.
Speaker 9 00:11:08 That's a huge skunk.
Speaker 4 00:11:10 Oh my God. Klingle follow it. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:11:14 What
Speaker 4 00:11:14 We're doing. Okay. So there's a giant skunk over here. <affirmative> just ran into the bushes. It was huge. It was like really big. Why am I so scared? I feel like it's gonna be a jump scare. <laugh> okay. So anyway, what we're looking at is some airport style security, not in like the body scan situation, but like if you have pretech I feel like so some TSA pre-check going in scanning tickets and I don't think we will make it in, but in a few minutes, maybe we can hear music while we were still reeling from our giant skunk siding. RNA was beginning her set inside
Speaker 10 00:11:55 Two.
Speaker 0 00:12:18 I wish
Speaker 10 00:12:18 I could give you all
Speaker 7 00:12:19 A hug. That was
Speaker 0 00:12:20 So sweet. Very awesome.
Speaker 10 00:12:24 Thank you.
Speaker 7 00:12:26 Everyone has their lights up right now and we're just all my In the crowd and having a good time thinking about what's cool. And she sounds heavenly.
Speaker 4 00:12:42 Rav's singing right now. I can't hear her.
Speaker 11 00:12:44 I can't hear that. Don't thing. I wonder if we just like walked inside.
Speaker 4 00:12:48 If we walked around the building, maybe just
Speaker 11 00:12:50 Like in the vestibule. Yeah. You wanna walk around?
Speaker 4 00:12:52 What if skunk sees us? Well, apparently Rav's singing and we can't hear a, a darn things you wanna just walk in?
Speaker 12 00:13:00 Yeah, just,
Speaker 4 00:13:04 It sounds pretty angelic. It makes me cry a little bit. <laugh>
Speaker 11 00:13:11 Please. I don't have a dig. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 00:13:14 See, here's a large group.
Speaker 12 00:13:18 Hey, what are you doing? We left it's why? How do you feel about that
Speaker 4 00:13:23 For those listeners who didn't hear that? They just said it already ended. It's over. Can verify. It's not cuz I was about to cry. Listening to that music
Speaker 7 00:13:31 Right now. We're waiting for Willow form. I am so excited. Not even gonna lie. There are setting up. They're putting some water. The crowd is excited, energetic, ready to wait for her and see her report. So why we wait? Why are you guys here? Why are you excited for?
Speaker 13 00:13:52 We love Willow. You've been lining up since like four.
Speaker 14 00:13:55 So she's my life. I would let her marry. She is amazing. She is a revolution. She's an inspiration. She is the moment I love her.
Speaker 7 00:14:03 I love all her music. I'm so excited to see her. What song are you most excited to see her for
Speaker 14 00:14:07 Grow,
Speaker 13 00:14:07 Grow, grow, grow, grow,
Speaker 14 00:14:08 Grow, grow transparent. Soul me at our spot. Vibe my hair back and forth. It's over.
Speaker 7 00:14:17 Thank you guys.
Speaker 4 00:14:19 Oh, she said now she said, she's performing now.
Speaker 10 00:14:25 I love you.
Speaker 7 00:14:29 She's letting the crowd cheese, which she wants to do for part, but never went to us. Wait a minute.
Speaker 0 00:14:34 Now
Speaker 7 00:14:35 We're about go off.
Speaker 0 00:14:43 Oh,
Speaker 4 00:14:55 You wanna watch some Willow performance videos? So it feels like we're inside. Yeah. Maybe whip my hair.
Speaker 11 00:15:02 Iconic.
Speaker 4 00:15:27 I think morals. The story is yeah. You high on people to get tickets to a concert, but sitting outside can be really entertaining in other ways. And you might see a scope.
Speaker 11 00:15:38 I don't think you could have put a better Helen. Yeah. Um, I, I just like to say that I had a, a really good evening. Is it different than if we had been inside? Absolutely <laugh> but in my humble opinion, I have won any other way.
Speaker 4 00:15:53 I agree. Well, I would've wanted to see Willow <laugh> but then in one last ditch effort, I decided to test my luck getting through security.
Speaker 11 00:16:07 I did get it.
Speaker 4 00:16:34 I didn't,
Speaker 7 00:16:35 I'll be honest. That went from zero to hundred. She came out and performed her iconic song with my hair and then everyone started piling up getting onto the buses. It was pretty hectic, but now we're making our way back to foster Walker Plex. It was a very exciting night. Now on a typical Saturday night, you see here on Northwestern, but a good one nonetheless, signing off. This is Maria Jima Aragon w on your news,
Speaker 11 00:17:02 I'm
Speaker 4 00:17:02 Sarah and I'm Helen Bradshaw w Nur news
Speaker 1 00:17:10 Still colder than ever. Students are turning to knitted winter gear to stay warm and in perfect timing, knit Western has made its return from the pandemic here's reporter pause bombs, look into the club
Speaker 16 00:17:23 Today. We are getting into the nitty gritty of knit, Western Northwestern's knitting club Knit. Western is a tight knit group of people that come together every day night to stitch and chat. I sat down with nit Western's founder and former president Weinberg, senior, Sarah, to learn more.
Speaker 12 00:17:43 How did knit Western start? So it's kind of a long story. Actually, when I was looking for colleges originally, I was really interested in whether the schools that I was looking at had a kniting club. Like that's something that was on my list. Um, and if they didn't, how easy was it going to be to, for me to start a club because kniting has always been important to me. I learned how to knit when I was like nine. Um, and I've always used it as a way of creating community with other people and make things for other people to use. I, um, I was looking and I was thinking like, okay, so if there's not a kniting club, I really wanna start one because I have this passion and I want to continue doing it. And so when I toured Northwestern and I asked about the knitting club and they didn't have one yet, but they had this old faculty and staff kniting club that was called compassionate, that had gone dormant a couple of years before.
Speaker 12 00:18:31 Um, I arrived here and so I emailed the old faculty advisor and I was like, Hey, is it gonna be possible for me to restart this in a more student centered capacity? And she was like, yeah, if you get in, let me know. Um, and we can discuss, you know, how to, how to go about starting it. And so long story short, I ended up here and I started did the club because there still wasn't an knit club. Um, and I really wanted to make that happen for Northwestern, cuz again, that's really important to me. And so I talked to that advisor and I found a couple of friends that I had made, um, through classes and in my dorm and together we started the club in October of 2018, my freshman year. That's a great story. I really like a, so what's the goal of the, of knit mustard.
Speaker 12 00:19:13 Yeah. So broadly speaking, the goal is kind of, there's kind of two parts of this goal. So the goal is to teach people how to knit and use those skills to make items in need and also create community. So maybe a three part goal instead of two <laugh> the items that Northwestern, uh, members knit are donated, um, as it says, like inter description and as you've mentioned, uh, what organizations do you guys partner with? Yeah, so, um, in the past we have worked with inspiration corporation, which is a really cool org in the city that helps folks who are, um, unhoused and, or sort of navigating this space of potentially being, just being released from incarcerated. And so they're kind of trying to figure out how to get on their feet. And so inspiration corporation is really dedicated to taking those folks in and helping them develop the kinds of skills that they need to be successful in the jobs that they wanna do.
Speaker 12 00:20:04 And so we've donated it to them and we've also donated to the Howard brown youth center. Um, and it's the Broadway youth center of Howard brown health, excuse me. Um, it's been a while since we had a donation for them, but they're a really, really great organization also in the city, um, that helps queer and trans youth. So like 12 to 24 year olds who are experiencing varying levels of like housing instability, um, potentially family issues. They might not have a access to the kinds of medical and social services that, um, people who have more straightforward relationships with that kind of thing, especially with money tend to have. Um, and so the center will allow folks to just come in and, and get what they need basically. And so we've also worked with them in order to provide really colorful, fun items for those folks as well. So you can, you can go to that center and get a knitted item and you can get your HIV test and you can get help with school or with your job applications. You can get a checkup, you can get mental health care. It's a really great organization. Um, and then most recently last year we partnered with students organizing for labor rights, Northwestern to support Northwestern service workers and their families as the university really, um, did not step up and help them in the way that we felt that they should
Speaker 16 00:21:18 Needles to say nit Western's foundation and initiatives are admirable to gain another perspective. I then spoke with new member who was a first year in Weinberg.
Speaker 12 00:21:29 What made you wanna join at Western?
Speaker 17 00:21:32 I have been knitting for a while. It's something that I use to decompress something that I really enjoy doing. Um, it always gives my hands something to do when I need to, you know, read a long paper or if I wanna watch TV,
Speaker 12 00:21:49 Nit Western offers a lot the chance to learn a new skill, a break from studying even philanthropy. What aspect of the club do you like best?
Speaker 17 00:21:57 Oh, that's a really good question cuz I like all those aspects of the club, but I think the one thing that nit Western does a really good job of doing is emphasizing the, that knitting is a way to bring people together as a community, um, be that, you know, working towards the goal of creating things to donate, um, or just kniting together and making an activity that is usually considered a solo endeavor into something more, you know, communal
Speaker 16 00:22:27 I don't know about you, but knit Western has me hooked. You can join the club by DMing them on Instagram at nit Western that's K N I T Western emailing [email protected] or showing up to a meeting anytime before letting my interviewees go. I had to ask them one last thing. What is their favorite item they have ever knitted for? It was
Speaker 12 00:22:50 A sweater with a really pretty cable detail along the sleeves. Um, and it took me a really long time to make that. And that's probably what I'm most proud
Speaker 16 00:22:57 Of. And for Maya,
Speaker 17 00:22:58 A knit heart with this super thick yard. So it was huge. It was probably like three feet tall and like two feet wide. You
Speaker 16 00:23:05 Heard it here. Listeners, if you're ever looking for a new hobby or a way to procrast a knit on your homework, join knit Western.
Speaker 1 00:23:15 Some Northwestern students are getting thrifty to find funky clothes, cheaply and sustainably capping off rerun AZA with a brand new story. Here's Katherine OUM.
Speaker 18 00:23:25 75% of her wardrobe is thrifted. She is just one Northwestern student buying closed. Second hand in Evanston, Chicago and online.
Speaker 19 00:23:34 I would say I first got into thrifting actually like the beginning, I would say honestly like the end of middle school
Speaker 18 00:23:41 In her hometown, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She said she and her friends got into buying and selling secondhand clothes in an effort to be more sustainable. Demato started selling items on online resale platforms like Poshmark and Depop and she said she has made hundreds of dollars in sales. She recommends these platforms for people looking to get started in thrifting.
Speaker 19 00:24:00 I'm surprised more people at Northwestern don't use Depop it's something you can like get on your phone and do like while walking to class or like those few minutes you have before class and look at like your curated style pick
Speaker 18 00:24:15 As for thrift stores in Chicago, Demato recommends Buffalo exchange and the brown elephant in Anderson though Weinberg sophomore, EV Berg's favorite thrifting spots are crossroads training post on Sherman avenue and stepping out on faith consignment on Orrington avenue. I like to pop in whenever I'm downtown super fun. Um, they always have like good things or like fun things at least to look at. Berg said she first got into thrifting in her hometown of Berkeley, California, but kind of just like grew up like going to like fun, quirky vintage stores. And so I've always wanted to check them out in Evanston Weinberg junior, Julia Ortiz also got into thrifting at home. She is from Denver, Colorado. And she said she started thrifting in high school to find unique vintage t-shirts and sweatshirts Ortiz said she and her friends like to go to village discount, which is a chain of resale outlets with locations in the north shore area. For people interested in starting to thrift or tease recommend stores like crossroads, which offer a more curated experience.
Speaker 19 00:25:12 Also with thrifting. It's good to go in with like a couple like goals. Otherwise it's like kind of easy to get overwhelmed
Speaker 18 00:25:20 Demo cautions against going in with overly specific expectations.
Speaker 19 00:25:24 I try to keep them really open mind because I'd like to experi experiment with texture, um, and shape a lot of the time.
Speaker 18 00:25:33 Thrifting also allows students to find unique pieces and shop more ethically. My rule of thrifting is I always buy furs and leather thrifting Berg said she has found leather belt at stepping out on faith. Consignment Ortiz said she to avoid the waste of fast fashion by thrifting.
Speaker 19 00:25:50 The amount of waste that the fashion industry produces is like very much like fueled by a lot of the stores that like college kids can afford. So it's kind of nice to have like offset that by like not over consuming, like fast fashion.
Speaker 18 00:26:04 One of demo's favorite thrifted pieces is a pair of cowboy boots who found on Depop this summer. She said she loves the element of surprise and thrifting.
Speaker 19 00:26:12 My favorite part about thrifting is that you never really know what you're gonna find. Like you never, I never really walk into a thrift store having a precise idea,
Speaker 18 00:26:24 Whether they're taking a day trip into the city to thrift or swiping through deep up on the way to class. Some students at Northwestern are thrifting to find interesting clothing, more sustainably for w Nur news. I'm Katherine NOTAM.
Speaker 1 00:26:39 Wow. Zach, how about those reruns?
Speaker 20 00:26:42 Yeah, they're really cool. I really like the Willow one. That one, it was fun. I enjoyed it a lot.
Speaker 1 00:26:49 I liked Nick's and I'm sorry for getting your name wrong. Um, anyway, here's the weather tonight. You can expect mostly clear skies on a low around 24 degrees. Temps will rise a bit Tuesday and Wednesday with highs around the forties and reaching into the fifties. There will also be a small craft advisory in effect from 3:00 PM, Tuesday till 9:00 PM. Wednesday expect slight breezes as well. Thanksgiving day will be cloudy with the high of 40, but things will clear up heading into the weekend with a slight chance for snow Saturday night. That's all for w Nur news at 6:00 PM. For more news updates and reports. Follow us on Twitter at w N R 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 nur.news on behalf of our producers, Zach McCreary report, Nick song, Maria Jima, Aragon, Helen Bradshaw, PA Baum, and Katherine OUM as all as well as all of us here at w N news. I'm Allison RA. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been our last broadcast of the quarter, and we've loved doing these shows for you. We'll begin broadcasting again in the new year. So again, you happy holidays and goodnight.
