This semester, Bwog has a new Board! Get to know Isabel Sepúlveda (Editor-in-Chief), Eva Sher (Managing Editor), and Vivian Zhou (Internal Editor).
- Name, Position, School Year, Major
- Isabel: Isabel Sepúlveda, Editor-in-Chief, CC ‘21, English and Comparative Ethnic Studies
- Eva: Eva Sher, Managing Editor, BC ‘22, Psychology
- Vivian: Vivian Zhou, Internal Editor, BC 21, Neuroscience & Behavior
- What is your favorite Bwog article of all time? (written by you or someone else)
- Isabel: I’ve been part of Bwog too long to pick only one because people are constantly coming up with such new and innovative ideas. A few perennial faves: A Tale Of R And Regret, The Rat King of Lerner Hall, A Sober Person’s Ethnography Of A College Party and How the Other Half Lives. And a few of my own pieces that I’m proud of: reporting on the Latinx community on campus, ranking the Ivy League’s lesser Bwogs, and covering the recent Sexual Citizens book launch. I’m also a women’s basketball stan so profiling Camille Zimmerman was a dream come true.
- Eva: I genuinely can’t pick just one. The pitches that Bwog Staff comes up with every week both baffle and amaze me. Off the top of my head, I thoroughly enjoy Fare Evasion Crackdown, What If All The Doors On Campus Stopped Working?, and Dismantling “Dismantling Big Gay.” My favorite posts that I’ve contributed to include PeopleHop: Marti Cummings, Book Culture In Jeopardy of Closing, and Columbia And Barnard Administration Respond To Anti-Semitic Vandalism At Teachers College. I also want to use this platform to (not so subtly) plug BwogLetter, our weekly newsletter that I helped grow last semester. My Little, News Editor Lauren Kahme, is succeeding me and I am looking forward to seeing her cultivate BwogLetter even more in her new role.
- Vivian: I feel very pressured to list a bunch of articles because they both did. My favorite articles that I wrote is my love letter to Marlow, Diana changes, and all my food reviews (La Salle, Dos Toros, Fumo, Hula Poke.. etc. Articles I liked that other people wrote include the one about giving birth on campus, and trying every dessert at Ferris, and back of the envelope with surf and turf (I also technically wrote this, but it was mostly Andrew).
- What are you most excited about in your new role?
- Isabel: I’m most excited to see Bwog grow and become more reflective of the Columbia community at large. I grew up in a small, white town and I chose colleges in large part based on the diversity of their student bodies. Bwog itself has students from every school, from different backgrounds, and with different experiences but we still have a ton of work to do to make sure that growth continues. Part of this is making changes to our internal culture (such as establishing a strong sexual respect policy) to make sure our organization is a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Part of this is making sure our content is inclusive; by recommending STEM classes in “Classes to Take Before You Die”, covering events and issues pertinent to students of all schools, majors, backgrounds, and identities, and making sure our coverage always punches up, no matter if its a shitpost or investigative pieces.
- Eva: I’m really excited about the organizational aspects of Managing. I get to hear and tweak pitches and put the schedule together, so I now have a big say in what goes on our site and when. Bwog has played a crucial role in my college experience, and I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to influence its ways I think will improve our organization.
- Vivian: throwing partiez and resolving internal drama bitchezzzz
- What would the acronym of Bwog stand for? Wrong answers only.
- Isabel: Bog Water, Our God
- Eva: Brought Washed, Our Grapes
- Vivian: Blease Welcome all to come to Our Great open meetings
- What is your favorite trio of all time, besides of course yourselves?
- Isabel: Nine, Jack, and Rose from series 1 of the Doctor Who reboot
- Eva: Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof from Fairly Odd Parents
- Vivian: Powerpuff girls forever
- The most entertaining channel on the Bwog Slack is #overseen_overheard. In your time at this institution, what have you overseen, overheard, or oversmelled that has stuck with you?
- Isabel: This is more of an overfelt but there’s really no words for how connected to the campus community I felt whipping out my trombone in Butler 209 for Orgo Night in Fall 2017 or screaming my own jokes outside a year later. As any Bwogger will tell you, there’s a sense of community and catharsis that comes from performing for your peers, poking fun at an administration that too often fails its student body, and laughing with people you love even when laughter was the last thing on your mind an hour ago.
- Eva: I’ll never forget the time that Columbia/Barnard scheduled two large lecture classes to take our Final Exams in the same room during the last scheduled time slot of finals week. Those twenty minutes when our professors were trying to figure out what to do were CHAOTIC. Rumors spread around the room: “I heard Professor X is going to cancel the exam,” “No, that’s Professor Y,” “No, I think they’re going to split us up into different classrooms.” It was also quite the sight to see my lone professor defend our class remaining in this particular room to about eight TAs and the other professor.
- Vivian: Every time I oversee a cute dog. One time, I oversaw a gigantic dog outside of coronets that basically looked like a small horse. I also love Halloween because that’s when the dogs dress up as things like hot dogs and run around the lawns. I also love it when I’m in class and I oversee someone bringing their dog to come to do some learning too.
- What is your favorite Bwog tradition?
- Isabel: I love Bigs/Littles but I think Eva covers that better than I can. So I’m going to go with Bwog’s commitment to openness and inclusion. My first Bwog post was about “what to do when you’ve been rejected from every club you applied to” and it was definitely a…non-fiction concept. Being accepted to Bwog was a dream come true, and I love that anyone can come to write for us any time, even if they don’t apply for a staff position. This allows campus news (and campus memes) to be open to anyone—I didn’t do any news reporting before I got to Columbia and now, I’m in charge of a student news publication. I’ve also met some of my closest friends in Bwog and having this community has gotten me through some very dark times, so keeping this community as accessible as possible is important to me.
- Eva: I really appreciate our tradition of assigning Bigs and Littles. It provides a comfortable way of making connections with people in different class years with similar interests or personalities. The Board has always done a good job of setting up compatible pairs, and you have the chance to pick your Big/Little, unlike in Greek life. My (and Isabel’s) Big, Betsy, was always more than willing to answer any questions I had about Bwog or Barnard/Columbia at large and I’m so grateful to have had that connection early on during my time at Barnard.
- Vivian: I honestly love all the social events which is a large part of why I have the position I have. When I first joined, I looked forward to every social thing so much, because I really love meeting new Bwoggers or getting to know old Bwoggers better!!
- When you’re not editing a Bwog article/purchasing green grapes for meetings/reaching out to some obscure university department for a comment, what can we find you doing?
- Isabel: You can find me playing trombone (or helping out with joke writing) for the Marching Band/Wind Ensemble, researching time travel, crying over podcasts, ranting about queer temporality, working at the libraries/with high school seniors and reading as much speculative fiction as possible. Of course, while doing all of these, you can also catch me on Bwog’s Slack.
- Eva: I’m usually studying, planning my courses for next semester (even though it’s only February), spending time around Morningside Heights with my Bwog friends, defending Plimpton as a dorm, refilling my water bottle, or ogling over my dog on Facetime.
- Vivian: Cooking food (recent creations: an entire Chinese new year dinner, hojicha ice cream, homemade pesto, a daily avocado toast with everything but the bagel seasoning and truffle oil), discovering new restaurants, working out at the gym, swimming, working at the Columbia Medical Center, bartending at fancy homes downtown, or fighting with my boyfriend.
Board at the Butler Pajama Party via Eva