Special Projects

Unveiling a character: Kimberly Vetter, journalist at heart

From a remarkably young age, Kimberly Vetter learned how to wave around tape recorders and push microphones into people’s faces. This was a skill Vetter would carry with her for decades, as she soon grew to find out.

Celebrate women in Houston

This year’s Women’s History month is dedicated to the theme of “Celebrating Women who tell our Stories,” and the city of Houston has plenty of opportunities to commemorate the occasion. Here are some fun ways to spend the month of March commemorating past, present and future history-making women.

‘A significant milestone’: Women carve out spaces at Rice

When the then-Rice Institute welcomed its first matriculating class, Nellie Mills was among its ranks. Mills, the first woman to matriculate at Rice, was one of the few women attending Rice in its early days. While students were largely male, Rice was established as a coeducational institution, admitting both male and female students from its inception — though admission was restricted to white Texas residents. 

Women’s tennis narrowly avoids sweep against No. 10 UT

The Rice women’s tennis team fell 6-1 on Saturday afternoon to the two-time defending national champion No. 10 University of Texas at Austin. The sky was clear and the sun was scorching at the George R. Brown Tennis Center where the Owls faced off against their second top-25 opponent in the last month. Despite being swept by now-No. 7 Texas A&M University, the Owls were on a three-match winning streak heading into Saturday’s bout with the Longhorns. According to head coach Elizabeth Schmidt, the Owls hoped to build off their recent form and get a win at home. 

After Title IX: Looking back at early women’s sports at Rice

In 1977, one of the most smuggled goods at Rice was sandwiches. The perpetrators were the women’s volleyball team, forced to sneak food out of the serveries to accommodate for their practice time at the gym, which overlapped with dinner times. Neither Rice nor the athletics department had made any mealtime provisions for female athletes at the time, according to Helen Travis Savitzky (’80), who was on the volleyball and swim teams during her time at Rice.

Red-hot WBB enters conference tourney as No. 3 seed

Last weekend, Edmonds’s Owls swept their final regular season games, defeating Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, conquering the Sunshine State.  According to Edmonds, the Owls are playing their best basketball at the best possible time.

MBB hopes to reverse recent fortunes in C-USA tournament

The Rice men’s basketball team enters this week’s Conference USA tournament in Frisco as the No. 6 seed, as they hope to qualify for the Big Dance for the first time since 1970. The Owls will face off against the University of Texas at San Antonio, the No.11 seed, on Wednesday at 8:30 pm. On a four-game losing streak, the Owls look to turn around their fate at a critical juncture of their season. Despite their recent struggle, head coach Scott Pera is confident that his team will show up in their biggest game of the year. 

Baseball upsets Tech, bats go silent against A&M and TCU

The Rice baseball team got a statement win on a big stage, beating No. 24 Texas Tech University 3-2 on Friday to open the Shriners’ College Classic at Minute Maid Park. But the rest of the weekend didn’t go as planned, and the Owls dropped games to No. 15 Texas A&M University and No. 10 Texas Christian University in lopsided fashion, bringing their record to 4-7.

03-08-2023 Crossword Solutions

03-08-2023 Crossword: "Slippery"

Review: ‘Good Riddance’ cements Abrams’ sad girl persona

Gracie Abrams’ title of bedroom pop princess isn’t up for grabs. After breaking out with “minor” and “This Is What It Feels Like,” Abrams settles into a comfortable tonal register in “Good Riddance.” Her debut studio album is her second project with producer and co-writer Aaron Dessner. Throughout the 12 tracks, the pair holds onto Abrams’ one-note sad girl persona in delicate string riffs and quiet confessions. “Good Riddance” succeeds most when Gracie gives us something to cry to. 

Predicting the 2023 Academy Awards

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Oscar season. The 95th Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the third time and broadcasted on ABC on Sunday, March 12 at 7 p.m. CST. This was a year of fantastic blockbusters, indie word-of-mouth hits and passion projects from Hollywood legends. Without further ado, here’s what you can expect from this year’s Academy Awards. 

ThresHER’s Most Influential: A guide to women-created art

Spring break is within reach, and what better way to spend a week off during Women’s History Month than by consuming women-created media? To guide you in your period of cultural enlightenment, the Thresher compiled some of the most influential artists and creators across music, fashion and literature who identify as women. Since we’re nothing if not thorough, listen to our playlist of women artists as you check it out. 

Trailblazing directors to watch out for

While the male-dominated structures of film industries around the world have worked against women becoming successful, female directors throughout history have created some of the greatest films in history despite the barriers they experienced. Today, the number of women-identifying filmmakers helming acclaimed films have grown thanks to growing support for, and acceptance of, women behind the camera. In that spirit, here is a list of trailblazing women-identifying directors to watch.

Snap a pic with these female photographers in HTX

Are you a senior looking for graduation photos to commemorate your last few months at Rice, in need of a LinkedIn headshot to replace that old high school photo or just want some Instagram-worthy golden hour pictures? These six photographers in the Houston area who identify as women are sure to have you covered this Women’s History Month.

Rice art professor Fabiola López-Durán designs her own path

Fabiola López-Durán didn’t always want to be a historian of art and architecture; in fact, she was first trained as an architect at Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela. 

“Top Chef” finalist Evelyn Garcia talks KIN, college and her grandparents’ cheese

Growing up, Evelyn Garcia was surrounded by two things: family and food. Now, the “Top Chef: Houston” finalist serves her grandparents’ Salvadoran cheese at Jūn, her brand-new restaurant, in hopes of uniting customers through food.

SEXISM REPARATIONS CONTRACT

The Student Association is DEAD, long live the Student Association!

The Student Association in this past year has been disappointing to say the least; the discourse and lack of engagement I have seen reflects that disappointment. The Student Association’s reckoning has been a long time coming. The organization is in need of urgent reform in order to be more receptive to all the students it represents.

Rice should expand free laundry detergent sheets program

Over the past year, Rice has piloted a partnership with Generation Conscious, offering zero-waste and toxic-free, refillable laundry detergent sheets to students during a pilot program at Hanszen College. The program consists of a central dispenser, in which students can refill a reusable container with 10 individual sheets at a time. These sheets are packaging free and plastic-free, and require 97% less water and 95% less carbon to produce and distribute than the average leading detergent.