“Take Back the Night” is a movement dedicated to ending all forms of sexual violence and supporting survivors. The slogan, “Take Back the Night”, originated in response to the fear of violence that women experience when walking alone at night. Events, protests, and marches occur at universities across the country. The first protest took place in the 1970s at the University of Southern Florida. There, women dressed like witches and demanded a change: a change in improved safety and resources for women walking alone at night.
On March 20, 2025, Rollins College held its first “Take Back the Night” event since 2013, led by campus organization, Voices. Voices is an intersectional feminist organization that works to support, empower, and educate all people.
The event started on Mills Lawn with an opening statement led by Gabriela Tirado (‘25) and Sydney Boswell (‘25), executive board members in Voices. Next, the keynote speakers gave powerful messages with words of bravery and hope for a future where sexual violence is no more. Olivia Oropeza from the Victims Service Center of Central Florida said to “challenge the silence” so that we can all “exist freely and safely.” Olivia Littleton from the One More Child nonprofit group said that “one more victim is one too many.”
Photo by Bella Naples
The walk began down Holt Avenue, took a left on French Avenue, and ended with a march into the French House on campus, where the group gathered for the Speak-Out. There, courageous survivors shared their stories, both anonymously and not, and found support in the Rollins Community. Dr. Briscoe, the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, led the candlelight vigil and a moment of silence for the experience that the group shared. It encouraged the survivors in their healing journey and shared a message of hope for the future. Finally, a closing statement by the organizers was shared.
Photo by Bella Naples
This event opened the conversation on campus about sexual violence and supporting survivors. It is a large part of education, challenging the harmful narratives and refusal to be silent in the face of violence.
Lights dimmed as the dancers were illuminated with blue lights, their figures sharp against the darkened stage. One by one, they followed in a fluid, synchronized sequence, creating a ripple of motion that spread across the stage. Director of Dance Robin Gerchman said the all-female cast explored the theme of satiation in “Enough,” using their bodies as a canvas to examine societal pressures and political struggles. With each movement, they conveyed the weight of the world on their shoulders while gracefully challenging the structures that seek to control them. The performance was met with a standing ovation as the audience erupted in applause.
Liv McCoy
Liv McCoy is a junior majoring in Sociology with minors in African and African American Studies and Communication Studies. She currently serves as The Sandspur's Photo Editor. Her photography and poetry have been published in Brushing Literary Journal.
Service Instead of Surf: How Rollins Students Spend Spring Break Making a Difference
By Ivelisse Rodriguez on March 22, 2025
Graphic by Ivelisse Rodriguez
As snow blanketed the Northeast and cherry blossoms began to emerge in the nation’s capital, Rollins students traded traditional beach vacations for transformative service experiences this Spring Break.
Through the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement (CLCE), participants immersed themselves in diverse communities across America, tackling issues from racial justice in Washington D.C. to indigenous rights in Minneapolis, proving that meaningful change can begin with just one week of service.
“The Immersion program is Rollins’ signature approach to alternative break service learning,” said Sam Justice, Assistant Director at the CLCE who oversees immersions. “Immersions are a high impact practice within higher education and student affairs that allow students to travel and engage in responsible community engagement while thinking critically about global challenges and their solutions.”
To structure these experiences around meaningful action, the CLCE aligns each immersion with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The UN SDGs are a series of 17 sustainable development goals working toward ending global poverty and inequality, protecting the planet, and ensuring healthy and prosperous lives for all.
“Using the UN SDGs as a framework for defining impact work, a group of students will come together with a staff or faculty member and say, you know, I’m really passionate about environmentalism. And then we’ll pair them with other students who think similarly about that, and they’ll put together a trip that focuses on that impact area,” said Justice.
Immersions exemplify Rollins’ commitment to service, preparing students as global citizens by partnering them with nonprofits to address critical social issues ranging from sustainability to racial injustice.
The Immersions
“A Racial Legacy” was set in Washington D.C. and tackled the topics of racial justice and equity. Participants engaged in direct service and education aimed at advancing racial justice, encouraging them to think critically about their own identities while learning about the diverse communities in the D.C. area.
“ABC’s in Action,” stationed in Boston, Mass., focused on youth and educational equity. This program allowed participants to connect with and empower underserved youth while partnering with non-profit organizations and educational institutions to advocate for equal access to education.
“Together We Rise” led students to Minneapolis, Minn. to learn more about Native American heritage. Participants were able to serve while learning about Native American heritage, working to become social justice activists for indigenous rights.
All 3 experiences lasted 7 days and 6 nights, costing students $400 to cover all transportation, housing, and meals.
Justice spoke to how scholarships are available for participants in an effort to make these experiences more accessible. “Rollins doesn’t have necessarily many quote unquote field trip options,” he said. “And this is one of those opportunities that is incredibly accessible to all students.”
Why Immersions?
“I think that it first and foremost gets students out of the Rollins bubble and the central Florida community,” Justice said. “We are an incredibly diverse city, an incredibly diverse community. But there are places where different impact work shows up in different ways.”
The Immersion program aims to select a diverse team of participants, composed of students from CLA, Holt, and Crummer as well as faculty and staff. Immersion facilitator applications go out before participant applications. Participants from all years, majors, and Immersion experience levels are considered.
“The thing with immersions is that they’re intentional about the partnership piece with community partners,” said Justice. “They’re intentional about the education piece and using critical reflection as a means of learning. It’s a means of learning about yourself as well as the community you’re visiting.”
Immersions aim to continue Rollins College’s commitment to service-learning, supporting students to engage in outside communities and come back to Rollins to create change within their local Winter Park community.
“Immersions are about saying let’s prepare and learn about what this means, let’s go do service, and let’s come back and continue to make that change,” said Justice.
For more information about the Immersion program or future application processes, students can contact sjustice@rollins.edu.
Ivelisse Rodriguez
Ivelisse is a senior majoring in English and minoring in Secondary Education. She currently serves as a Staff Writer and this is her first year working for The Sandspur.
Op-Ed: Wisdom is Better than Strength; Advice from Knowles Chapel While the Liberal Arts and Global ‘Soft Power’ Go Grossly Undervalued
By Arabella Lilleslatten on March 22, 2025
Photo by Kathleen Beard
The adage “Wisdom is Better than Strength” adorns the stained-glass Rose Window in Knowles Memorial Chapel—a surprisingly controversial phrase. To value knowledge and critical thinking over posturing and displays of power is becoming quite the novelty in a world increasingly overrun by unqualified, impulsive, power-hungry authoritarians (see Russia, China, India, the United States).
In a sense, the stained glass is a window into the past. It was installed in 1934, the year Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany. Later, it was refurbished for Rollins’ centennial celebration in 1985, the same year Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, also when music’s biggest stars recorded “We Are the World”. It’s safe to say this window has been around for a good deal of time.
Rose windows, originating in medieval Gothic cathedrals, are named for the rose petals that used to adorn them. They typically feature geometric patterns and divided arches. But the Knowles window is unique, incorporating human figures and lettering as well.
Francis Knowles Warren financed the chapel, and his sister Mabel pitched in to cover the rose window designed by Wilbur H. Burnham, a world-renowned stained-glass artist. Vibrant hues of white and gold are surrounded by shades of blue, red, and green.
In the center sits Sophia, the female personification of wisdom. She is flocked by symbols of the liberal arts; to the right are the scientific quadrivium (astronomy, music, arithmetic, geometry), and to the left are the trivium of humanities (grammar, rhetoric, logic). The liberal arts represent the well-rounded education of ancient Greece, or “knowledge worthy of a free person.” The liberal arts are the pathway to liberating the mind.
This is why Rollins College has a general education program that incorporates Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts (RFLA) courses: to teach students collaboration, interdisciplinary subjects, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. As Rollins says, “We’re not just preparing future leaders—we’re future-proofing education.”
In 1931, The American philosopher John Dewey chaired Rollins’ first national curriculum conference on the liberal arts. Dewey had characterized the purpose of the liberal arts as “The organization, transmission, extension and application of knowledge” for democratic citizenship. The recent Dewey Conference held at Rollins in February brought this to light, as college presidents, educators, and leaders gathered on the Rollins campus to discuss the future of free inquiry, democracy, and the liberal arts. Employers value the skills that accompany liberal arts degrees—skills that are often portrayed by political forces as indulgent or impractical, even though adaptability, knowledge of the humanities, and critical thinking are as practical as it gets.
Rollins teaches its students to value interdisciplinary perspectives. Even its mission statement is rooted in the liberal arts: “We provide opportunities to explore diverse intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic traditions. We are dedicated to scholarship, academic achievement, creative accomplishment, cultural enrichment, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. We value excellence in teaching and rigorous, transformative education in a healthy, responsive, and inclusive environment.”
The architect of Knowles Chapel, Ralph Adams Cram, also believed that religious instruction was integral to the liberal arts, and he wrote that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, as seen in the doves, “signified the sanctification of the Liberal Arts by spiritual force.”
When it comes to global power politics, strength is certainly viewed as more impressive than sagacity. And power is systematically measured incorrectly by scholars and the public alike—a country’s influence is gauged through economic and military indicators like gross domestic product (GDP), military spending, and resources, without accounting for investments in its own peoples’ welfare. We therefore see strength exaggerated for populous countries like India, the United States, and China based on their wealth.
This form of physical strength translates well to “hard power” tools like military force and sanctions at a country’s disposal, whereas “soft power” refers to a government’s use of cultural influence through things like music (like the U.S. improving its image through jazz ambassadors during the Cold War), food, sports events (Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022), and co-opting in negotiations rather than coercing.
A few days ago, Joseph Samuel Nye Jr.— the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs of the United States, who co-founded the well-known theory of neoliberalism—spoke with Network 20/20 about threats to U.S. influence when “soft power is on the line.” The Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions of pausing foreign aid, closure of USAID in over 100 countries (The United States Agency for International Development), withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and lack of nuanced negotiations skills all imply that U.S. soft power influence is waning. (The United States Agency for International Development), withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and lack of nuanced negotiations skills, all imply that U.S. soft power influence is waning.
Nye defines power here as the ability to “affect others to get what you want” through coercion, payment, or attraction (soft power). Soft power can rarely work alone, but it fluctuates more than hard power, and when it is undervalued as it is under the current administration or at particular moments in U.S. history (the Vietnam War or the Iraq War), it tends to have negative effects for the entire world.
“AID and particularly humanitarian assistance do produce a good deal of ‘attraction.’ When you get the medicines that say ‘gift of the American people’ or the bag of grant flour that says ‘gift of the American people,’ that helps, and ironically we spent very little on it, something in the range of $50 billion as compared to over 800 billion for our Pentagon ‘hard’ power,” said Nye.
But alas, we live in a “hard power” world where strength is valued over wisdom or attraction; the liberal rule-based order founded by the United States is being degraded by the same country that claims to be a global leader, ruining America’s image in the eyes of Western European allies. Pew Research Center found that credibility and trust in the U.S. declined during Trump’s first stint and returned in the Biden-era.
As Ohnesorge and Oppenheimer say in the Fletcher Forum, “America’s transatlantic allies have long been a vital factor for her position of power—and attraction is a strong tie to keep them close, much stronger than coercion or payment could ever be.”
There is a danger to this as well: authoritarian regimes like China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela have hijacked the concept of soft power by manipulating the internet and creating state-run propaganda outlets. This happened when democracies decided to engage with authoritarian states in the post-Cold War period, optimistically thinking it would lead to their political reform. Soft power is stronger than some might think.
Operating based on wisdom and cultural influence need not be selfless. The European Union is an intergovernmental organization whose membership offers collective security, with the reward for honoring its human rights and peace regulations being that other countries will also honor these agreements. When America engages in volunteer work overseas, it helps to promote human rights, democracy, and social capital, which boosts global security for Americans. For example, the U.S. expanded its influence in Africa through bilateral trade agreements tied to political and social reforms like the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Soft power is intangible yet more effective in the current international system where trust and understanding are integral to U.S. security. Their combination, coined “smart” power, reinforces the reality that these approaches must be used in tandem.
It matters that we assess power and strength accurately; theories of war and democratization depend on it. Look to the Rose Window: if major leaders continue to abandon wisdom in pursuit of strength, global democracy will shatter. Students of the liberal arts are uniquely positioned to fight for critical thinking and collaboration over violence and isolationism—the more we have in positions of power, the better.
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandspur or Rollins College. Have any additional tips or opinions? Send us your response. We want to hear your voice.
Arabella Lilleslatten
Arabella hails from Sanibel Island, Florida, and is a senior double majoring in Political Science and Music/vocal performance. She started as a Staff Writer for the Sandspur and is now a columnist.
A Bloody Good Cause: Students Lead Menstrual Equity Event at Rollins College
By Ivelisse Rodriguez on March 22, 2025
Graphic by Ivelisse Rodriguez
From raffle baskets filled with self-care items to candid conversations about menstrual stigma, Rollins College students Embry Burton (‘26) and Madison Proctor (‘28) are leading the charge on advocating for menstrual equity on campus.
The two-day event, scheduled for March 21 from 5-7 p.m. and March 22 from 1-5 p.m. in the Kathleen W. Rollins Hall Galloway Room, aims to educate the campus community about menstrual equity—the principle that individuals who menstruate should have equal access to menstrual hygiene products as well as a right to education about reproductive health.
“With equity, you’re working to eliminate disparities and give everyone the access to resources they deserve,” said Burton. “When we talk about menstrual equity, we need to hold that same image of justice, dignity, and respect, but as they specifically relate to menstrual health,”
A 2019 study by Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 64 percent of women are unable to afford needed menstrual hygiene supplies. Period poverty—insufficient access to menstrual products, education, and sanitation facilities—is no new issue and impacts women across the globe. Individuals in poverty or who are incarcerated are particularly susceptible to receiving inadequate menstrual healthcare.
The two-day program will feature guest speakers across the campus community.
Friday’s speakers include Heather Surrency, Associate Director in the Rollins College Title IX Office, discussing menarche, stigma, and advocacy, and Sierra Mitchell, an ABA graduate student at Rollins College, presenting on periods and autism.
Saturday’s program features Anne Zimmerman, professor and senior lecturer in the English department, speaking on “Gen X vs. Gen Z: menstruation in American culture.” Following her will be Meya Martin (‘28), addressing maternal mortality and inequity in obstetrics. Finally, Grace Staudenmaier, youth and teen prevention manager at Harbor House, will be discussing the organization and its work.
Raffle baskets will be available for attendees to win self-care items, chocolate, jewelry, and off-campus activity vouchers. Free food will be provided throughout the event.
Organizers encourage attendees to bring donations in the form of cash, card payments, or unopened boxes of menstrual products. All contributions will benefit the Harbor House of Central Florida, a nonprofit organization supporting survivors of domestic violence.
“Achieving menstrual equity is important because it is a basic human right,” said Burton. “Whether it’s education, medicine, or menstrual products, it all comes down to the ability to achieve and maintain personal health.”
Ivelisse is a senior majoring in English and minoring in Secondary Education. She currently serves as a Staff Writer and this is her first year working for The Sandspur.
Eltavious Johnson (‘26) and Joseph Pool’s (‘26) SGA “Co-Presidents” leadership journey began during their freshman year in 2022 when they attended an SGA interest meeting. Both had served as high school student government presidents, and they quickly formed a friendship.
Now, Rollins College’s SGA is entering a new chapter under the leadership of President Pool and Vice President Johnson. For next year, the two leaders chose to switch roles.
“We made a pact to run together for student government at some point during our college journey,” Johnson, incoming President and 2024-2025 Vice President, said.
During their first year, they served as Freshman Senators, with Johnson later becoming Senate Parliamentarian. In their sophomore year, Pool joined the E-Board as Academic Affairs Chair, while Johnson became President Pro-Tempore of the Senate.
“By then, we felt equipped and ready to take the reins and deliver on that freshman year pact,” Johnson said.
SGA serves as a bridge between students and administration, advocating for policies that enhance academic experiences, campus life, and student resources. Beyond event planning, SGA allocates funding for student organizations, addresses campus concerns, and promotes institutional change.
“As the current Vice President, I wanted to focus on creating a Senate culture that is welcoming and engaging for all students—a space where senators feel connected to real legislation and college governance, rather than just event planning,” Johnson said. “This switch will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of both sides of student leadership and position SGA for long-term success. We’ll be Co-Presidents.”
“If I could snap my fingers and change something, it would be to expand SGA’s role in college governance. Other similar institutions allow their SGA President to serve as a Trustee, sit on Cabinet meetings, etcetera. If this magic key could unlock all the doors, then we could advocate for and improve policies at every level,” Pool, current President and future Vice-President, said.
Pool and Johnson hope to introduce policies that improve academic flexibility for students managing work, leadership, and coursework. They also advocate for clearer communication about how student fees are allocated and want to expand mental health resources, including more counselors and peer-support initiatives. Strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion policies is another priority for them.
With Pool focused on policy reform and Johnson committed to strengthening the campus community, their combined leadership reflects their shared mission of “pursuing progress and creating community.” They are determined to leave Rollins better than they found it.
Julia Henderson
Julia is a freshman intending to major in chemistry and double minor in art history and English. She currently serves as a Freelance Writer for The Sandspur.
Rice Family Pavilion Shut Down for Over 2 Hours Due to Gas Leak
By Jack Kelly on March 22, 2025
Rice Family Pavilion taped off. Credit (with permission): Anonymous YikYak post
On Tue., March 11, a construction company hired by the city of Winter Park struck a gas pipe on Holt Avenue. According to Jeremy Williamson, Director of Facilities at Rollins College, the company was engaging in directional drilling in order to install new underground electrical power lines. The pipe rupture occurred just to the northeast side of the Rice Family Pavilion.
Following the Emergency Operations Plan, Rollins contacted the Winter Park Fire Department (WPFD), who temporarily clamped the gas piping. TECO Gas arrived on the scene and completed the pipe repair within approximately two to three hours. According to Williamson, gas service was restored, and at the time of writing, no further action is anticipated. While repairs were being conducted, the R-Alert emergency system was used to send a new emergency alert message approximately every 15 minutes. A total of nine messages were sent throughout the duration of the incident, starting at 2:21 p.m. and finishing at 4:40 p.m. EDT.
Ken Miller, who oversees emergency operations at Rollins, explained that the response was “consistent with our emergency operations plans.” He added that although “the fire department was able to quickly crimp the line, it took some time for TECO Gas to arrive on the scene and make it completely safe,” requiring the ongoing alerts until the situation was fully resolved. The R-alerts were noted to be of higher frequency than what students had received in the past. Students took to YikYak to express confusion and frustration over the incident. Miller emphasized, however, that the rate and interval of messages sent is consistent with the Rollins Emergency Operation Plan.
Miller also added that members of the Rollins community who wish to modify how they receive emergency messages in the future can do so through MyRollins under the Security heading. There, email addresses, cell phone numbers, and landlines can be added or removed at the user’s discretion.
Jack Kelly
Jack is a senior double majoring in English and Sociology. He currently serves as an Assigning Editor at The Sandspur and has previously served as a Staff Writer and Managing Editor.
FCA started back up in fall of 2022 at Rollins, after what FCA’s current Rollins director said had been a 30 year pause of it being a part of campus. Rollins Baseball coach Chuck Schall has been the director of the organization since its return. Schall has been a baseball coach at Rollins for 13 years.
Schall’s passion for growing a faith community started back in 1997. The baseball team organized “Baseball Chapels” on Sunday, where guest speakers came and the baseball team participated in the religious community gathering.
In 2022 Schall met with the former Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life Rev. Katrina Jenkins to start the organization. “We started with a small group of kids 20-30 for the first huddle, and from that point on we have grown tremendously and gained momentum,” he said.
“FCA has a mission to provide a community of faith where athletes and students share their faith with each other and know they are cared for and loved,” Schall said. “Spiritual life is going to carry over to one’s whole life, and FCA believes in creating good teammates and playing for and focusing on a true sense of purpose other than just themselves, glorifying God and helping students grow together.”
FCA’s Vice President Mary Morgan Howell (‘25) said, “[FCA] has given me the opportunity to grow in my faith, build an amazing community, and serve others in a meaningful way.”
Rollins FCA currently has twelve leaders and around 75 to 120 students who are actively engaged in the organization. One of the key events that the organization hosts is Monday Night Huddles. During the huddles, food is provided to the students by Haystax Restaurant , who donates the meals to the students. Students gather to participate in any of the activities offered by FCA, including ice breakers, guest speakers, and student led Bible studies for the Rollins community. FCA also offers coaches Bible studies once a week.
Schall explained that FCA provides leadership and development opportunities for students by giving them the chance to run the organization. These leadership positions are vital for the prosperity of the organization as well as for engaging with fellow like-minded students in leading Bible studies, reaching out for support, or worship teams.
“It’s incredible to be part of a group where everyone contributes in their own way to help others experience God’s love,” Howell said.
Schall “[feels proud to have] put together an organization that the students get excited to come and provide a connection for students with similar faiths and grow in faith together.”
Although FCA was initially meant for athletes, all students on campus can be a part of the organization regardless of whether they are a part of a Rollins sports team. FCA’s current treasurer and soccer player Briyah Drayton (‘26) encourages the whole student body to attend a huddle. “They are life changing and an opportunity to meet some great people!” she said.
Rollins College does not follow any particular religious affiliation. FCA welcomes any student who wants to partake in their activities. While the messages are Christian based, everybody is welcome to come, learn, and engage with the community regardless of religious background.
There are two huddles left for the rest of the spring 2025 semester. April’s huddle will be a senior night to congratulate all the graduating seniors. FCA will also welcome NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins as a guest speaker on April 14.
Schall organized the event after reaching out friends he has at Discovery Church, where Cousins’s father Don is the pastor. Schall said that the event “will host a night of celebration and encouragement in which Cousins will be able to share how faith has guided him throughout his life.” This will be a reserved seat event open to the Rollins community, and invitations will be extended to UCF and local Church communities.
Op-Ed: ‘Anora’ Wins Big at the 97th Academy Awards
By Amit Sewnauth on March 22, 2025
Graphic by Karina Ekholm
Note: Spoilers ahead for “Anora”
“For almost a century, we have paused every spring to elevate and celebrate an art form that has the power, at its very best, to unite us,” Conan O’Brien says, folding his hands as he wraps up his opening monologue at the 97th Academy Awards. Reflecting on the Oscars as an enduring ritual, he adds, “The magic, the madness, the grandeur, and the joy of film worldwide are going to be with us forever.”
Out of all the films that contributed to the “magic” at the 97th Oscars, one stood above the rest: “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikey Madison), Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
While I expected “Anora” to win several awards, I was not expecting a sweep, especially competing with films like “The Brutalist” and “The Substance.” So what makes “Anora” special?
In “Anora,” the title character, who calls herself Ani, is a sex worker from Brooklyn who agrees to a spontaneous marriage proposal from a client named Ivan, the son of a Russian oligarch. Rotten Tomatoes describes the story’s premise as a variation on a “modern day Cinderella story,” as Ani’s marriage initially seems like a chance at a better life.
When Ivan’s parents disapprove of the union, they send their personal assistants, Igor, Garnik, and Toros, to recover their son and see that the marriage is annulled. When the henchmen arrive at Ivan’s family mansion, chaos ensues: the young groom escapes, leaving his newlywed wife behind.
After Ani attempts to escape, she is violently restrained, and her wedding ring is torn from her finger while she screams, making for the most disturbing sequence in the film.
At this point, the film officially transitions from its glitzy, raunchy introduction to a more serious drama, as Ani is forced to assist the agents in the search for Ivan, who now is ignoring her calls. From here, the odd group visits iconic locations in Brooklyn, like the Coney Island Boardwalk, and searches through shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. This second half of the movie is entertaining but a bit repetitive, as Toros shows different sets of strangers a photo of Ivan on his phone and asks, “Have you seen this guy today?”
Despite its tragic tonal shift, “Anora” incorporates humor throughout, mostly with random one-liners, such as when Toros says, “I don’t have Instagram. I’m an adult, man.”
Although Ivan’s obedience to his parents and disregard for Anora’s emotions make for a predictable plot, that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking when Ani realizes that the man she married and envisioned a future with never saw her as more than her profession.
Perhaps what makes “Anora” special is its ability to balance extremes, as it shifts from an awkward “romantic dramedy” to somewhat of a suspenseful thriller.
In an interview with The Film Stage, Baker said, “My actors understood that there was going to be this balance of different tones and they made it a part of their performance.” I would argue that the quippy shouting matches between Ani and the henchmen carry the film and allow the story to be secondary to their performances.
Whether someone claims to love or hate “Anora,” it is undeniable that the film makes for a memorable viewing experience.
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandspur or Rollins College. Have any additional tips or opinions? Send us your response. We want to hear your voice.
Amit Sewnauth
Amit is a junior majoring in Critical Media & Cultural Studies with minors in Political Science and Film Studies. He currently serves as a Staff Writer with the Sandspur.
The People Behind the Media: Jade Newman-Hohenstein
By Rachelle English on March 20, 2025
Photo courtesy of David Palacios
“This job has been the first to make me feel as if my work was making a difference and wasn’t just another hourly position to support myself,” said Jade Newman-Hohenstein (‘27), the new station manager for WPRK.
Taking her passion for music and her desire to get involved with broadcasting, Newman decided to take a chance and started out as the assistant station manager in her freshman year, quickly finding herself enamored with the work and environment.
Following her first year, she was soon presented with the opportunity to advance and apply to be station manager in her second year.
“I wanted to continue supporting the station in any capacity,” said Newman. “Everyone was so supportive and encouraging, which gave me the confidence to step up into this role.”
In her current position, Newman oversees day-to-day operations of the station, most often spending time in meetings and managing content.
Outside of everyday duties at the station, Newman finds herself assisting collaborations between the branches of Student Media and contributing to them, currently hosting two radio shows. Aside from Student Media involvement, Newman assists with the Rollins Fashion Society events and enjoys “anything related to uplifting female voices on campus.”
Through the interactions and opportunities and being rewarded with “overwhelming love” and “newfound confidence” in her skills, Newman has seen the ability to create a new path for herself.
Currently majoring in Public Relations, Newman wants to be as close to journalism as possible, while also hoping that it helps her gain skills necessary for her future career.
“After graduation I would like to continue my career in broadcasting or work for a publication that aligns with my interests,” said Newman. “Majoring in Public Relations will ensure a solid career because it is now a necessary function of any successful business… I feel confident that I can support others and create an environment where everyone can share their passions for music and community.”
Working behind the scenes of basement radio, Newman has found lasting connections. “I have made so many friends and connections in this community that I wouldn’t give up for anything,” she said.
Rachelle English
Rachelle is a sophomore majoring in Business Management. She currently serves as a Freelance Writer for The Sandspur.
Comments are closed.