Fall 2022

• Catherine Bayly
• Nia Crawford
• Andrew Howard
• Katherine Joshi
• Mike Kolakoski
• Roberto Leon
• Alan Montroso
• Samantha O’Connor

Dear Reader –

And so, we begin again in these strangest of times, continuing to live and work through the Covid-19 pandemic, with Interpolations, which continues to showcase some of the best writing and most original thinking our exemplary students have to offer. This year’s edition represents, primarily, work composed during the 2021-2022 academic year – a year marked by the return to face-to-face instruction and a College Park campus that felt familiar but bore the weight of our collective trauma and the “new normal.” As we approach the 2022-2023 academic year, much remains uncertain – the Covid-19 pandemic is still very much with us, but Terps everywhere continue to show their tenacity and community spirit. Our exceptional students have once again produced exceptional work, work which tackles some of the most urgent issues of our time on both a global as well as a local scale. I’m pleased to present this work to you here in the latest edition of our showcase of student writing.

This issue of Interpolations sees the publication of a new rhetorical analysis of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TED Talk “The Urgency of Intersectionality” from Reid Spaans, and, indeed, intersectionality is perhaps the watchword of this issue of Interpolations as a whole. In it, you will find Bryan Ho’s concise and effective summary of Tara Houska’s TED Talk “The Standing Rock Resistance and Our Fight for Indigenous Rights.” From there, you might continue on to Emma Hubbard’s exceptional essay arguing for a different lens, that of indigenous peoples, through which to view the great crisis of our time – climate change – and what we can do to support tribal sovereignty. This intersectionality continues to inform other pieces in this issue – Mia Benitez also looks at environmental issues, this time with urban planning, redlining, and historical inequality in her position paper and public-facing remediation of her argument. Tobi Hammond has produced a remarkable digital forum looking at strategies for bee conservation, taking the global issue of climate change and looking closely at how we might be able to begin tackle aspects of this overwhelming issue on a local level. Maryam Jameel looks at a vital local issue in her inquiry presentation – that of means testing, the poverty line, and free and reduced meals in American public schools. And finally, we showcase two examples of the 101 curriculum’s newest assignment: the Literature Review. Kristin Perry’s focuses on a “local” issue – the difficulties and stigma faced by students with invisible disabilities. Conversely, Michael Lurie’s turns to look at a massive issue, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but focuses not on the conflict itself but the rhetoric that is used to describe that situation, emphasizing the importance and slipperiness of language in how we shape our understanding of the world. These Literature Reviews, and indeed all of these pieces, should prove invaluable to 101 students and instructors alike in understanding how these assignments are constructed and the kind of work these essays are capable of.

In closing, I want to thank my exceptional editorial board, who worked tirelessly and joyfully with students to prepare these pieces for publication: Catherine Bayly, Nia Crawford, Andrew Howard, Katherine Joshi, Mike Kolakoski, Roberto Leon, Alan Montroso, and Samantha O’Connor. They have been, and continue to be, an amazing group of people I am proud and grateful to work with. Additionally, anyone who has ever worked on Interpolations knows none of it would be possible without the extraordinary work and contributions of its managing editor Scott Eklund. His importance to Interpolations cannot be overstated, and it’s been my great privilege to work alongside him in preparing this issue for publication.

It's my hope that, whatever brings you to this issue, you find something that challenges, inspires, and motivates you. The 101 classroom is committed to social justice issues, and it’s clear that our students are, too. Living and learning where we do, in the shadow of the rhetoric that surrounds our nation’s capital, it has been a great joy to see our students focused on the local as well as the global issues of our time, and to know that their passion for justice in all its forms will inform the good work they do moving forward.

With that, I invite you to see what our students can do – what they value, what troubles them, and how they want to change the world. I promise: you, too, will be inspired

-Joshua Weiss