{"id":1339,"date":"2016-10-30T17:42:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-30T17:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:18:24","slug":"the-peoples-playwright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2016\/10\/30\/the-peoples-playwright\/","title":{"rendered":"The People\u2019s Playwright"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1339_2ff0bc-65 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1339_a290d4-4c\">WilmU alumnus and adjunct Greg Morris is using his talents to improve life for thousands of Delawareans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>by Bob Yearick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1339_9edd57-3e .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1339_9edd57-3e\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gregmorris1-300x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-14173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gregmorris1-300x300-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gregmorris1-300x300-1-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gregmorris1-300x300-1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Call them epiphanies, strokes of luck, fortuitous events. Whatever label may apply, Greg Morris\u2019 journey through life has been liberally sprinkled with them. In his early years, they helped divert him from street gangs and drug dealing. Later, they took him on a path to the arts, then fatherhood, academia, and finally, to Wilmington University, where he\u2019s an adjunct in the College of Arts and Sciences. Meanwhile, his career as a playwright and activist is impacting an entire community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris is the author of \u201c#BlackJobsMatter, A Wilmington Experiment,\u201d a 45-minute play first presented in February at the city\u2019s Baby Grand Theater. With Delaware Gov. Jack Markell as guest speaker, the production received tremendous response, prompting an encore in July at a larger venue, the World Caf\u00e9 Live at the Queen. Many state and city officials attended both performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was just the latest in a series of plays and short films that have made Morris an important figure, artistically and politically, in The First State, where he took up residence 15 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t rich,\u201d Morris says, \u201cbut we didn\u2019t live in poverty. My father worked 30 years in construction as a carpenter and my mother was a housekeeper. I never knew my birth mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An only child, Morris says Leanna was protective of him. Early on he was into sports, but he soon followed some of his friends into gang life in nearby Inglewood. Situated just southwest of L.A., the city of 109,000 has some tough neighborhoods. \u201cThat\u2019s where my boys hung out,\u201d says Morris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That led to fights and dealing marijuana and eventual expulsion from his high school for carrying a weapon \u2014 a buck knife \u2014 just three months prior to graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI really disappointed my parents,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then another stroke of luck occurred. After transferring to Washington Preparatory High School, Morris met Richard Harris, a music teacher who took the newcomer under his wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was the first person who told me I was smart enough to go to college,\u201d says Morris. \u201cHe asked me what my plan was after high school, and I told him I would probably go into the Army. He said that the service is for people who need to be told what to do, and he asked me if I was one of those people. I said \u2018absolutely not.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harris was an adjunct professor at California State University\u2019s L.A. campus, and he took Morris with him to a class he taught. (\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what an adjunct professor was,\u201d says the man who now holds that post at WilmU.)\u201cHe opened my mind, opened my horizons,\u201d says Morris. \u201cHe was so young then \u2014 22 or 23. He went on to become principal of the school. I went back years and years later and thanked him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe opened my mind, opened my horizons,\u201d says Morris. \u201cHe was so young then \u2014 22 or 23. He went on to become principal of the school. I went back years and years later and thanked him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spurred by Harris\u2019 faith in him, Morris, still a gang member and still dealing pot, enrolled in El Camino College, a community school in nearby Torrance. There, his world view expanded even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUntil then,\u201d he says, \u201cI only knew blacks, Mexicans and a few Samoans. At El Camino, I met whites, Asians, people from everywhere. And they were all like me, trying to figure out what to do with their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:500px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 figure{max-width:500px;}.kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 .image-is-svg, .kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1339_ae8c20-b3\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris2-768x512-1-720x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-14172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris2-768x512-1-720x480.jpg 720w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris2-768x512-1-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris2-768x512-1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Still seeking that answer, Morris spent two-and-a-half years at El Camino without declaring a major. He went on to another two-year school, West Los Angeles College, still without a major. Admittedly an indifferent student, he was successful in at least one area: selling weed. \u201cEverybody in college did drugs,\u201d he says, shrugging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His voice betrays just a bit of pride, touched with irony, when he explains his skill at peddling what he calls \u201chigh-grade marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was charismatic, and I was honest. My partner and I were the only ones I knew who could go into (a sketchy neighborhood) to buy our \u2018weight,\u2019 and bring it back and sell our whole load.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also took a business-like approach to his avocation. \u201cI didn\u2019t do drugs when I was dealing so that I could keep track of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris never lacked ambition. While dealing and going to class, he also held a couple of part-time (legitimate) jobs, thus achieving a kind of ideal trifecta for the street-smart college kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, he was without career goals. Then came one of those epiphanies. A fellow gang member who was on a college basketball scholarship showed Morris a book he had been assigned to read. \u201cFor whatever reason,\u201d says Morris, \u201cI picked it up and starting reading. It was actually a play, \u2018The Piano Lesson,\u2019 by August Wilson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fourth play in Wilson\u2019s \u201cThe Pittsburgh Cycle,\u201d it won the playwright his second Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1990. It deals with African-Americans\u2019 approach to their cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris immediately identified with the people and the dialogue in the play. \u201cWilson was writing about something that was going on in the community, going on in the hood,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He returned the book to his friend, then went to a West L.A. library, discovered other plays by Wilson, and devoured them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until then, his knowledge of theater came from church plays touring productions heavy on gospel music and a Christian message. But Wilson\u2019s plays were entirely different. \u201cHe was telling stories about people\u2019s lives, like the people that I knew,\u201d says Morris. \u201cThat was more like what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris says he had always had \u201ca hidden gift\u201d for writing, and he began scratching out plays of his own that were performed at his Pentecostal church. He says they received \u201creally great responses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His new-found passion led him to an internship with Michael Matthews, a touring gospel playwright from Michigan whom Morris labels \u201cTyler Perry before Tyler Perry.\u201d Matthews came to L.A. and conducted a workshop on acting, writing and producing plays, and Morris attended. From the workshop, Matthews selected him and another person as interns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He stayed with the Matthews company while it was in L. A., picking up invaluable experience. Over the next few years, he continued to write while working with other productions in and around the city. And he gave up his pot-selling sideline.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1339_799da7-8f.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image1339_799da7-8f .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:300px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1339_799da7-8f.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image1339_799da7-8f .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image1339_799da7-8f figure{max-width:300px;}.kb-image1339_799da7-8f .image-is-svg, .kb-image1339_799da7-8f .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image1339_799da7-8f .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1339_799da7-8f\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"348\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris3-360x496-1-348x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-14171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris3-360x496-1-348x480.jpg 348w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris3-360x496-1-181x250.jpg 181w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GregMorris3-360x496-1.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, he got married, and in 2001 his wife\u2019s employer transferred her to Philadelphia. That brought them to Wilmington, where they settled because of the more affordable cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris began working as a contractor in various social services areas, counseling special needs kids at William Penn High School, running the Central YMCA\u2019s summer youth program, all while continuing to write plays in the evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, as if he wasn\u2019t busy enough, he decided to complete his college education. WilmU\u2019s flexible schedule fit his lifestyle perfectly. With the 21 credits he had managed to accumulate during his California junior college days, he enrolled in the Behavioral Sciences curriculum in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWilmington\u2019s block system was my ally,\u201d he says. \u201cI was able to go all year round and I got my course work done in three years. <em>And<\/em> I got a tremendous education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A college degree finally in hand, Morris seemed to blossom, diving headlong into the academic world. He enrolled at Temple University, studying screen and television writing and earning an MFA in 2012. And in January of the following year, he was hired as an adjunct at WilmU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He credits Katherine Cottle, assistant professor and Literature and Humanities chair for the College of Arts and Sciences, for her support and guidance. \u201cShe helped shape me as a professor,\u201d says Morris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cottle calls Morris \u201ca conscientious and empathetic teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe teaches basic writing, which gets students ready for college writing. Often, his students feel discouraged from their previous writing experiences, but Greg is really good at getting students enthusiastic about writing. In his class, they want to persist because he teaches them with kindness, firmness, and reminders about who is responsible for their successes: themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cottle also praises his work outside the classroom. \u201cHe is tireless in telling people\u2019s stories \u2014 the stories that often don\u2019t get heard \u2014 in his films and plays. And that shows his students how persistence and advocating for one\u2019s vision can pay off in really concrete ways, like being able to make and produce art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really glad to have Greg teaching for us because he is an exemplar. Most people have a vision or a dream; Greg works to make his concrete and shows others how to do so in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris says he enjoys working with students, and he has found that he can draw on his life on the streets and in the arts to effectively communicate with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has found inspiration not only from his past but also from some of his recent jobs. That includes a stint at Child Development-Community Policing soon after he came to Wilmington. At CDCP, he says, \u201cI would meet the kind of families I would be writing about later. I heard horrible stories: a grandfather who was stabbed to death when he tried to defend his granddaughter against an abusive boyfriend; a mother who was beaten to death by the father in front of their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stories resonated with Morris, the father of a 10-year-old son, Jaymen, and 7-year-old twins, Meira and Gabriel. Now divorced, he is very involved in raising them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His writing during his time at CDCP took on new energy, and he won the Albert Benzwie Fellowship in Playwriting for \u201cThe Belly,\u201d a play about life in the inner city. Produced by Temple University, it ran for 14 shows to sellout crowds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also wrote, directed and produced his MFA thesis, \u201cSecond Chances\u2026An American Tale,\u201d which premiered at The Wilmington Drama League in September 2012. Similar in tone to \u201cThe Belly,\u201d it\u2019s infused with the raw language of the streets and represents, according to Morris, \u201ca microcosm of major cities throughout the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, a seminal moment in his career occurred when he met Bob Elder, a local businessman and member of the Caesar Rodney Rotary Club. Morris screened his short film, \u201c20 Minutes \u2014 an American Tale,\u201d for the club at its breakfast meeting. The film follows the lead character, Evan, who is released from jail and calls his older brother for help. The brother tells him he has 20 minutes to get home or not to come home at all. On the way, Evan must run a gauntlet littered with temptations from his past: drugs, money, a married woman, gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon after the meeting, Elder, who is director of marketing for the Santora CPA Group, wrote an op-ed for The News Journal titled \u201cJobs for Wilmington\u2019s Black Men Really Matter.\u201d The piece caused a stir in the city, and Elder decided to reach out to Alan Levin, who had recently stepped down as director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, to discuss possible solutions to black unemployment. He also told Levin about Morris and his work in films and plays. \u201cI want to meet this man,\u201d Levin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A breakfast meeting in the Green Room of the Hotel du Pont ensued, and there the three men decided that Morris would use his talent to expand on the op-ed and dramatize the need for black jobs. Levin and other leaders in the community agreed to back the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result was \u201c#BlackJobsMatter: A Wilmington Experiment,\u201d which has become perhaps Morris\u2019 most well-known work. The one-act play, comprising three stories about the issues of unemployment, job discrimination and felon re-entry, was presented free of charge to packed houses at both the January and July performances at the Queen Theatre in Wilmington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris puts the unemployment figure for African-American males in Wilmington at 9,000, a number that came from Elder\u2019s op-ed. The Delaware Department of Labor, however, reports that number at less than 3,000 (This doesn\u2019t include many who are classified as \u201cnot in the labor force,\u201d a catch-all category that largely comprises the young, elderly, homemakers and military, as well as others who are either unwilling or unable to be employed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elder and Morris say that although their number may be high, they are referring to jobs that provide a living wage<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhatever the number,\u201d says Morris, \u201cwhether it\u2019s 9,000, 4,000 or 2,000, it\u2019s too many, and unemployment is what leads to crime\u201d \u2014 Wilmington\u2019s most pressing problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The play suggests one possible solution: enterprise zones, where government tax incentives to businesses provide jobs for underserved residents. Proponents believe this would increase employment, reduce crime and lead to more stable black households. \u201cIt\u2019s not <em>the<\/em> solution,\u201d says Morris, \u201cbut it\u2019s <em>a<\/em> solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WilmU Magazine\u2019s Digital Editorial Assistant Britney Gulledge attended the July 13 show and found it powerful. \u201cNot only did Greg outline the need for jobs,\u201d she says, \u201cbut he gave simple solutions that seemed to resonate with the audience, which was comprised of supporters and city officials. And although the focus was on jobs in the African-American community, the audience was diverse, and that brought a feeling of unity and togetherness in tackling the issue of employment in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1339_87cbc6-6b .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1339_87cbc6-6b\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/BlackJobsMatter-300x200-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-14170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/BlackJobsMatter-300x200-1.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/BlackJobsMatter-300x200-1-250x167.png 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A resident of Wilmington\u2019s West Side, Morris says his \u201cart and advocacy\u201d thrust him into a new arena \u2014 politics \u2014 during the heated race for mayor of Wilmington. \u201cIn my play, I\u2019m talking about issues that anyone we elect needs to address,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris says he has been criticized on social media and in the newspaper because his play focuses on the black community to the exclusion of other groups, such as military veterans and Hispanics. \u201cMy response is that I write about what I know,\u201d he says, \u201cand I used my opportunity to advocate for my community. I invite others to do the same for their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris calls the critics \u201cmisguided\u201d when they conflate \u201cBlack Jobs Matter\u201d with \u201cBlack Lives Matter,\u201d and characterize the play as anti-white. \u201cMy play is about employment, not police brutality or inequality,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople see \u2018Black\u2019 and \u2018Matter\u2019 and everything in between is irrelevant to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The criticism hasn\u2019t deterred him. Calling himself \u201can urban ethnographer,\u201d he is expanding his oeuvre. Plans are in the final stages for \u201cSecond Chances . . . An American Tale\u201d to tour five cities \u2014 Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Newark, N.J., then back to Wilmington \u2014 late this fall. Morris hopes it will be the first of several five-city tours for the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the arc of his career as both an artist and a teacher seems to be reaching its zenith, his most important role, he told both audiences at \u201c#BlackJobsMatter,\u201d is father. \u201cMy children are the best part of me, and everything I\u2019m doing is to leave them something they can benefit from,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen they\u2019re old enough, I want them to know their dad did work that was important, even if it might not have been popular. And I want them to know that I cared about people.\u201d WU<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WilmU alumnus and adjunct Greg Morris is using his talents to improve life for thousands of Delawareans. by Bob Yearick Call them epiphanies, strokes of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[145,135],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-magazine","tag-magazine-fall-2016"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":145,"label":"ALUMNI NEWS"},{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":666,"label":"Magazine Fall 2016"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Natalie Ridgeway","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/natalie\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":145,"name":"ALUMNI NEWS","slug":"alumni-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":702,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":113,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":145,"category_count":113,"category_description":"","cat_name":"ALUMNI NEWS","category_nicename":"alumni-news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":666,"name":"Magazine Fall 2016","slug":"magazine-fall-2016","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1223,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16308,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/16308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}