Reporting
A collection of Nappier's own written works, including features from The Webster Journal and the Metro Trans Umbrella Group (MTUG).
Torrin Greathouse Highlights Trans and Disabled Voices at Webster Reading
Photo by Jaci Bethel
Torrin Greathouse, an award-winning essayist and poet, presented her work to Webster students and faculty on Nov. 11 as part of the David Clewell Visiting Writers Series. Fingers snapped around the room as participants resonated with Greathouse’s words, some seeing someone like them on a stage for the first time.
​
Their most recent book, a collection of poetry titled “DEED,” received the 2025 Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings POETRY Award. The book explores intersections of disability, love, lust and transgender identity.
Finding Freedom in America
At 13 years old, Norma Alicia Zamora Garcia’s father was murdered after being targeted by cartels. She and her mother then fled from Mexico to the United States, seeking asylum to escape the violence.
​
Now 47, Zamora attends Webster University as a double major in legal studies and Spanish.
​
“One of my reasons to pursue a degree in legal studies is I want to help people with immigration issues,” Zamora said.
Photo by Styx Nappier
The Case for Embracing Uncertainty
Graphic by Zeyad Ghounem
I never thought my 20s would be spent familiarizing myself with a dorm toilet. Its white, porcelain shape staring me down as I spend most mornings trying not to heave up last night’s dinner, terrified by the world.
​
My phone screams the newest headlines, interpolated with reminders of my loved ones. I grip my skin, rock back and forth and try to remind myself things will be OK. This routine has become part of my wake-up call, allocating time to ground myself amid … everything.
​
The taunt of uncertainty haunts me. But I must persist.
Dining revamp receives mixed student reviews
Dining looks different this semester as Sodexo, the university’s previous provider, has been replaced by American Dining Creations (ADC). The change follows a nearly two-year review and selection process and has resulted in new dining stations, ordering systems and menu options across campus.
​
Read more about the most recent changes below.
Photo by Emma Sprung
Photos by Styx Nappier
Students lead world’s largest student audio summit
Over a hundred footsteps echoed across the Sverdrup halls, unusual for the typically quiet Friday evenings. A hearty crew of students flew around, flagging down one another as they ensured everybody was on the same page about an event over eight months in the making — the world’s largest audio student summit.
CRASS, the Central Regional Audio Student Summit, is an annual, weekend-long event that aims to further the interests and education of young audio engineers. Hosted by Webster University’s Audio Engineering Society (AES) student section, 18 officers organized the event. Its most recent iteration, from March 28 to 30, had over 180 participants.
​
Featured at CRASS were networking opportunities, live studio demonstrations and educational experiences with 40 panelist speakers — including industry professionals like Toby Scott, an audio engineer who previously worked with Bruce Springsteen.
‘Mean Girls’ star announced as spring headliner
The bonfire crackled in the background as roughly 35 students gathered around Madison Cox, a member of Campus Activities.
​
“The headliner will be…,” Cox began, pausing for dramatic effect. “Daniel Franzese, from the original ‘Mean Girls.’ He plays Damian.”
​
And the audience was… quiet?
A few claps and cheers began to crescendo out of respect, students turning towards their friends trying to remember who exactly that was. It wasn’t until the explanations of “the gay one from ‘Mean Girls’” that students began to connect the dots throughout the week.
Photo courtesy of Campus Activities
Webster’s Zine Scene
Graphic by Marian Vordtriede
As simple as a folded piece of paper, yet enough to cause a stir on campus: zines.
​
Typically made from a singular piece of paper, zines appear as a small booklet that shares information and art. The first ever zine, “The Comet,” was created in 1930 and primarily discussed science and science fiction. For the next four decades, science fiction “fanzines” skyrocketed in popularity, influencing cultural and media trends. In fact, it was these very same zines that helped convince studios to keep “Star Trek” going.
​
Today, in an even more digitally-accessible world, zines have become all the more prevalent, including on campus.
Webster Singer/Songwriter Releases ‘Doublespeak’
It was a cold winter’s day when Cameron “Cam” Burns performed at Urban Chestnut Brewery in Midtown St. Louis. His set included one of his newest songs, “Doublespeak,” a song he needed to stand out. So, he asked Webster University dancer Reuben Thomas to perform with him – a dance that featured Thomas jumping up and stomping on a table.
​
“I want to surprise people, just because [being] behind a piano, singing, it gets monotonous,” Burns said. “So I want people to be expecting the unexpected.”
Self-described as an alternative pop singer and songwriter, Burns is majoring in music composition with an emphasis in songwriting. Determined to do everything he can to further his music career, he picked up a second major: sound recording and engineering, as both contribute to his journey of emphasizing the value he finds in his work with experimentation and collaboration.
Photos courtesy of Cam Burns
Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence
Local domestic violence agencies receive an average of 54 hotline calls a day, more than 20,000 a year.
These 2023 numbers are from the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MOCADSV), which counts over 300,000 individuals who sought help from nonprofit organizations, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline or Alternatives to Living In Violent Environments (ALIVE) in St. Louis.
ALIVE serves St. Louis and Franklin counties, providing a variety of services like court advocacy, counseling, housing assistance and its own 24/7 hotline and chatline.
Photo by Eden Rolves
Photo by Skylar Powers
Photo by Bayley Rowe
Ziwe Fumudoh announced as fall headliner
Photo courtesy of Campus Activities
Photo by Emerson Goelz
Not ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race,’ Webster’s drag ball showcases a variety of performances
The entire audience stood, clapping in synchrony as the performer strutted across the stage. Guests were encouraged to join in, with each clap adding to a sense of community among the crowd. An all-embracing, gospel-service ambience surrounded Webster University’s Winnie Moore Auditorium as drag queen Ming Lee held the gaze of audience members eagerly awaiting her next move.
“A Really Gay Drag Show,” Webster’s LGBTQ+ Alliance’s first drag ball since the pandemic, took place April 17. The ball was previously hosted for 20 years prior to 2020; and after three years without a drag ball on campus, many in the audience got to experience their first show featuring different artists, styles and inspirations....
Photo by Styx Nappier
Photo by Styx Nappier
‘Founders, Keepers’ comes home
“Founders, Keepers” is a play written by Webster graduate Aurora Behlke. She began the piece in her sophomore year at Webster for Professor Taylor Gruenloh’s playwriting class and hasn’t put it down since.
The passion project tells the story of five girls in 5th grade banding together to rewrite the U.S. Constitution and save the nation. Since its creation, it’s been performed in Texas and Washington with a full production in the works in Scotland.
Campus resources work to educate, tear down sex stigma
Sex. For many, it's an uncomfortable topic to talk about - if mentioned at all. But it's necessary for providing support and resources to those who may need it, like individuals sexually experimenting or those victimized by power-based violence. Gorloks Aware, a campus organization, aims to provide a more comprehensive sexual education to students, sharing violence-prevention methods for stalking, dating and sexual abuse.
I’m the queer of my hometown
“I’m tired of fighting battles just to survive school when I should be focusing on the high school experience … Instead, I’m here because school has hurt me and others, where we can no longer pretend that there is safety for us when we go to school.”
​
Learn more about my experience growing up queer in my midwestern hometown and how it changed me.
"But how do you know?":
A journey of self-discovery and acceptance
A common question to members of the LGBTQ+ community is how they ended up learning and feeling confident in their identity. Whether it's self-doubt or being asked by a friend, this reflection encompasses the journey and celebration of identity. Styx Nappier explores how he ended up finding, learning and accepting their labels.​
Ziwe Fumudoh has been selected as Webster University's fall headliner. Fumudoh, a satirical commentator and writer, will visit the Loretto-Hilton Center on Oct. 8.
​
Campus Activities announced the news to students at their Headphone Disco event on Aug. 23. Freshman Park Moser screamed at the announcement, as he had seen videos of Fumudoh on YouTube.
​
"Is it the girl with the talk show," Moser asked, awaiting confirmation before cheering out "Oh my.. god!"
Newsrooms need more transgender journalists
My existence is a patchwork quilt: tearing pieces off, then rearranging and adding new colors and textures to redefine me. This fluidity is the very basis of my being, never being tied down to just one idea of a gender or self as I take what the world gives me and make it my own.
But there are plenty who are ignorant to the art of sewing, so to speak. Imagine admiring a quilt but not knowing how to make one on your own. Just glancing at the surface of a quilt does not tell you the stories behind every piece, each inner lining or the labor of love that went into making it.
So, too, can many overlook the experiences that have shaped the transgender community and the manners in which we sew and mend together each “hole” or “imperfection” with a new fabric.
To tell transgender stories accurately, it must be ensured there are trans voices within the newsroom.