Keona Dordor is the student recipient of the Heartland Journalism Fellowship and a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in urban studies, with a double-minor in writing and in religious studies, all in Arts & Sciences. She is also a Chancellor’s Career Fellow and a Gephardt Institute Fox-Clark Civic Scholar. Born in Accra, Ghana, Dordor was raised in Nashville, Tennesee, since age nine, when her family relocated to the United States. Her writing explores themes and issues of religion and the challenges facing her generation.
Greenwood Cemetery welcomes historians just as it welcomes first-grade classes learning about significant people in history. It welcomed Shelley and Raphael Morris in 1999, now leaders of the cemetery, and it welcomed me in the summer of 2023 as I sought to learn more about this burgeoning Saint Louis stronghold.
Each year, as the Christmas season approaches, I find myself instinctively measuring the present against a backdrop of my Ghanaian childhood.
The fact that a place like Greenwood had to exist in the first place reveals much about the profound implications of racial dynamics at the time. The history of its desecration and neglect, followed by the necessity of its revival, poignantly illustrates the enduring struggle and resilience of African Americans in our pursuit of equality and acknowledgment.
Taylor’s concerts serve as sacred places where fans come together and experience collective effervescence with fellow fans. One may not have any Swifties in their day-to-day life; thus, an occasion like this allows us to band together with those who also cling to Taylor’s lyrics. Every lyric, every melody is chanted with a fervor that surpasses mere admiration; it is a manifestation of devotion.