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A&E 11/15/22 11:22pm

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo grapples with life, death and art

By Bonnie Zhao

America’s first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, stopped by Rice’s Brockman Hall for a reading of her newly published poetry collection, “Weaving Sundown in a Scarle Light: 50 Poems for 50 Years,” on the rainy evening of Monday, Nov. 14. Following  the reading was an on-stage conversation with 2022 Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez, during which Harjo shared harrowingly intimate details of her view on art, life, death and loss.

SPORTS 11/15/22 11:15pm

Volleyball gets final chance to reverse the C-USA tournament curse

By Cadan Hanson

Even though they’ve won 48 of their last 50 conference regular season games, the Rice volleyball team has not won a Conference USA tournament since 2018. After three straight years as the conference’s runners-up, the Owls will finally look to reverse their fortunes in what will be their final postseason in C-USA. This year, the No. 22 Owls enter the tournament with an almost perfect conference record of 13-1, and 23-3 overall. According to head coach Genny Volpe, the team is excited to jump into postseason volleyball.

NEWS 11/9/22 12:34am

Sewall voting location sees hour-plus wait times

By Ben Baker-Katz

Rice’s Sewall Hall served as an Election Day voting location for around 900 voters on Tuesday. According to Vivian Zheng, the presiding election judge, people waited in line for one to two hours before casting their ballots, though wait times dropped off significantly as it got closer to 7 p.m.

SPORTS 11/9/22 12:12am

Volleyball heads to No. 22 Western Kentucky for rivalry’s potential final chapter

By Daniel Schrager

The last time Rice volleyball lost a conference regular season game, back in 2019, it took Western Kentucky University two match points to knock off the Owls in a five-set battle that ultimately decided the regular season conference title. The two teams would meet again that year, this time in the conference championship game, but the result was the same: a five-set Hilltopper victory. Only three players from that Owls team are still with the program, but according to fifth-year setter Carly Graham, the losses still haven’t faded from memory.

A&E 11/8/22 11:53pm

‘As wonky as possible’: Rice Chorale finds joy in music

By Shreya Challa

Every Monday and Wednesday, music director Tom Jaber shepherds the Rice Chorale, a group of students plucked from various majors and years, into a practice room to sing choir music. Currently, the chorus is preparing for their upcoming show on Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Edythe Bates Old Organ Hall at the Shepherd School of Music. This is Jaber’s 35th year as a professor and director of choral music at the Shepherd School of Music. Throughout the years, he has led the Chorale through multiple changes in the voice department and revived the group after disbanding during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

SPORTS 11/2/22 12:45am

Nightmare on South Main: Football blown out by last-place Charlotte on Homecoming

By Cadan Hanson

In the true spirit of Halloween, Rice Stadium resembled a haunted house with proverbial carnage all over the field following Saturday’s loss. Going into the game as 15 point favorites against the last-place team in Conference USA, who had fired their head coach six days prior, all indications pointed to the Owls celebrating Homecoming with a resounding win. But not only did the University of North Carolina at Charlotte spoil the Homecoming festivities, they did so with a 33 point victory, defeating the Owls 56-23. Head coach Mike Bloomgren was very disappointed with the loss after the game.

A&E 11/2/22 12:32am

Senior Spotlight: Kenzie Pickett brings life to museums

By Michelle Gachelin

Kenzie Pickett accomplishes the impossible — she revives centuries-old artifacts for the modern world. As a Camfield fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, she spends 10 to 15 hours each week researching historical objects, preparing for the museum’s new traveling exhibit and writing tombstones, which are 100-word labels that describe each artwork. At Rice, Pickett is double majoring in art history and ancient Mediterranean civilizations and double minoring in museum studies and cultural heritage. Her interest in curatorial work and museums was first ignited as a child, when she watched “Jurassic Park” and “Night at the Museum,” in which characters are magically resuscitated, reentering the 21st century as new beings.

NEWS 11/2/22 12:23am

Rice prepares for Election Day

By Bonnie Zhao

Early voting for the midterm elections ends on Nov. 4 in Harris County. On Election Day, Nov. 8, Sewall Hall’s Welcome Center will be Rice’s on-campus polling location, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

NEWS 10/25/22 10:25pm

DesRoches inaugurated as Rice’s eighth president

By Viola Hsia

Reginald DesRoches was officially inaugurated as the eighth president of Rice University on Saturday, Oct. 22. The ceremony, which followed a two-day series of events leading up to the investiture, included student and faculty representatives, in addition to delegates from around 150 universities and organizations. 

FEATURES 10/18/22 11:28pm

Laymon’s terms: Writer, Rice professor named MacArthur Fellow

By Riya Misra

Last week, celebrated author and Rice English professor Kiese Laymon was announced as one of the 2022 winners of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. According to the MacArthur Foundation’s website, the fellowship provides a five-year grant and a no-strings-attached stipend to a selection of exceptionally creative individuals. A self-described Black Southern writer, Laymon has authored works such as “Heavy: An American Memoir” and “Long Division.”

NEWS 10/18/22 11:25pm

Campus reacts to first EOE, NOD in three years

By Hajera Naveed

Wiess College’s public party, Night of Decadence, and Chi Alpha’s Evening of Elegance returned after three years this past Saturday. An estimated 1,100 people were in attendance at NOD this year, according to Wiess Social Vice President Christina Chen, and around 350 went to EOE, according to Robin Whitehead, an Evening of Elegance organizer. 

SPECIAL PROJECTS 10/5/22 12:35am

Rice’s Innovation District Joins Third Ward Community

 

The Thresher is launching its Special Projects team with a thorough examination of Rice’s Innovation District. As part of Rice’s push beyond the hedges, the Innovation District is under construction in Third Ward, one of Houston’s historically Black neighborhoods. We spoke with the Rice Management Company and with community members, who expressed both hopes for resources and fears of gentrification and displacement. We dove into the data, and we researched the history of Black art in Houston.

SPORTS 9/27/22 11:39pm

Close but no Bucket: Owls lose back-and-forth battle with UH

By Pavithr Goli

Rice football lost their seventh-straight Bayou Bucket Classic to the University of Houston on Saturday night by a score of 34-27. The back-and-forth affair with the Cougars dropped the Owls to 2-2 on the year. Head coach Mike Bloomgren said that regardless of the result, he is very happy with the effort his staff and players put into the game.

NEWS 9/27/22 11:31pm

SA resolutions introduced on reproductive health, disability accommodations

By Maria Morkas

At the Sept. 26 senate meeting, students presented two resolutions: one for the creation of a student reproductive health coalition and one for improving the accessibility of disability accommodations. If passed, the first bill would establish the Student Reproductive Health Coalition, a task force that would meet at least once a month throughout the academic year. 

SPORTS 9/21/22 12:17am

Volleyball upsets No. 17 Creighton, jumps into top-25

By Cadan Hanson

On Sunday, a flock of birds rose victorious above Tudor fieldhouse and it wasn’t a band of blue jays. After five intense sets, the Owls team took down No. 17 Creighton University on a second match point, capping off a tournament which started off with a reverse sweep of Big 12 opponent Kansas State University. After missing out on the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Top 25 last week by one spot, the defining weekend was enough to jump the Rice volleyball team to No. 23 on the rankings. 

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