ECU 2/29/24

The East Carolina University Williams-Ross Purple Pantry is a program designed to decrease food insecurity among ECU students, as well as provide students with access to other hygienic and personal care items.

Housed in the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE), Purple Pantry opened in 2018 and partners with Student Government Association, College of Engineering and Technology, ECU Dining and more organizations.

Jada Barnes is a graduate student volunteer working with the Purple Pantry. Barnes said that the pantry partners with plenty of student organizations and even receives donations from some of those organizations. People who wish to donate have plenty of ways to do so. They can email the pantry and inform it that they wish to donate, they can drop their donations off in person or they can donate through Amazon.

“We partner with a lot of student organizations,” Barnes said. “Whether they do a drive or they just feel like donating, they'll drop stuff off all the time. We also have an Amazon wishlist where people can donate from our wishlist and we pick up those packages.”

Barnes said the items the pantry looks for the most are food items that are easy for students to make and eat in their dorm rooms. This includes dry stock items, easily microwavable items and fresh produce. The pantry also focuses on breakfast items, such as oatmeal, cereal and breakfast bars.

Carolinian Jaelyn Woods

Jaelyn Woods has been a student assistant at the Purple Pantry since January 2021. She said she and some of her peers at the pantry are graduating this semester, and the pantry could use some help for next year. Students who wish to volunteer can register on Gift Pulse using their ECU credentials.

She said a typical day working at the pantry includes monitoring the Amazon packages, organizing shopping trips and planning restocks. She said she also works to organize other community-based food insecurity events that aren't directly related to the pantry.

“It's given me tons and tons of different opportunities,” she said. “You make so many connections, and you see a different side of ECU.”

Woods said the demand for pantry items is exceeding its supply. This is due to a decline in donations, which means the pantry needs to purchase items in order to restock. As an N.C. Central Food Bank partner, the pantry can shop at the food bank, but Woods said they choose to shop at Sam’s Club in order to avoid having to work around the food bank's schedule.

Additionally, the pantry consciously chooses to let other community partners have the food bank’s resources first. In fact, the pantry will often re-donate items that students don’t take. Woods said that the pantry regularly receives items that

Editor's Note: The East Carolinian will not be releasing a print publication on the week of March 3 due to Spring Break. The next printed paper will be published on March 14.

Purple Pantry provide resources to students Justyn Lane TEC STAFF Diego Lerma TEC STAFF

The East Carolina men’s basketball team (1413, 7-7 American Athletic Conference) is set to face off against the University of Memphis (20-8, 9-6 AAC) at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Thursday at 7 p.m.

This is the first game the Pirates are playing the Tigers at home since January 2022, in which the ECU won. In their most recent matchup earlier this year on Jan. 7, Memphis won 69-59.

(11-17, TheEast Thursday, 2.29.24 ECU basketball looks to rebound against Memphis

they don’t need, and those items get passed on to other local charitable organizations, including the food bank.

“We get donated a lot of canned vegetables and unfortunately, our students don't like that, so we have a lot of connections in the community where we can drop them off,” she said.

Woods also said the pantry chooses to let other organizations shop at the food bank because the pantry receives a higher level of support by being an on-campus organization, rather than a community-based one. However, when the pantry buys items that students don’t take, these “bleeding funds,” as Woods said, hurt the pantry’s wallet.

Aside from financial troubles, Woods said the pantry is also currently lacking the manpower to keep up with the demand of students. This resulted in the cancellation of the Homecoming food drive that the pantry usually holds every year.

“We wouldn't have been able to keep up with the competition behind it,” Woods said.

The pantry is completely donation-based, and it received an endowment from two local dentists that Woods said was “huge” for the pantry. As for other support, Woods credits Aramark, SGA and plenty of other organizations for part of the pantry’s success.

“There's a lot of student organizations that would love to participate, which is awesome, but when we call on them to donate or do a drive for us, it's just not the same response that we were getting in the past,” she said. “That might be because they have different philanthropic organizations that they're helping, or maybe they just have different goals.”

However, Woods said that the support the pantry gets from the university itself has helped tremendously in spreading awareness for the pantry. Woods said that since she started four years ago, awareness of the pantry among students has grown tremendously.

3-12 VOLUME 99, ISSUE 20 YOUR CAMPUS NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1925

She said this is due, in part, to a small operation during COVID-19 that the pantry called the Pirate Pack. These were small, 10 to 15 pound bags with several food and hygiene products, allowing students to simply enter, grab a bag, and

leave. Students were also able to order a Pirate Pack and have it delivered to their residence (near campus, of course). Woods said this continued throughout the pandemic and ended in the fall of 2021.

Several factors contributed to the discontinuation of the Pirate Pack. Once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and it became safer to be around others, Woods said there didn’t seem to be a need for a “grab-and-go” service. Additionally, the loss of manpower resulted in a lack of the pantry’s ability to keep up with orders. The pantry still occasionally makes a handful of Pirate Packs and sends them to the Health Sciences campus, where demand is lower.

“Different departments over there have a couple packs,” Woods said. “If they know a student needs it, they can give it to them. We probably won't offer that on the main campus again, it would be hard to keep up with.”

In fact, Woods said demand is so high that word-ofmouth is usually enough to make plenty of students aware that the pantry is full again. Woods said students will often find out that the pantry is restocked, text their friends and clean the pantry out. At this point, the pantry will try to remind students to only take what they need and to leave enough for others.

Barnes said that the only requirement for people that want to utilize the pantry is that they are full-time students at ECU. Although the pantry asks for students' names and banner IDs when they are utilizing the pantry, she said that the process is completely confidential and students' information doesn’t leave the pantry office.

“Names and banner IDs are to keep up with who is utilizing the pantry,” she said. “If we see students that are constantly using the pantry, we might email them about other resources that are available for them on campus.”

Purple Pantry operates from Monday-Friday, from 1 p.m. through 5 p.m. in CLCE Suite 208 in the Main Campus Student Center. Purple Pantry’s “Mini Pantry’s” are located between Mamie Jenkins and Mendenhall on main campus.

March signifies the start of Women's History Month and there are several

ECU SOFTBALL TO HOST PURPLE-GOLD INVITATIONAL A8 HALIE MILLER I PIRATE MEDIA 1 The ECU Main Campus Student Center location of Purple Pantry. The program provides ECU students in need with free to-go meals. PRYOR SHELTON I THE EAST CAROLINIAN Junior guard R.J. Felton leads ECU with 16.5 points per game.

important women to remember and honor for all they have achieved in history. Here is a list of 10 important female figures to recognize throughout the month of March.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com. To start WHM: meet the women of our history Aida Khalifa TEC STAFF > JUMP page A3 ILLUSTRATION BY NIA CRUZ March is Women's History Month and has been since 1987 to celebrate and remember history. > JUMP page A8

streak against the University of Texas at San Antonio (9-19, gaining a slight lead. ECU would try to gain the lead but only manage to tie the score. As the game went on, the Owls would end the half with a 29-27 lead. ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA SGA ticket 2 share campaign messages before voting ends » Check out our website for stories, photo galleries and more. Facebook.com/ theeastcarolinian @TEC_Newspaper @theeastcarolinian

BRIEFS

Student Transitions to hold senior sendoff

On Tuesday, March 12, ECU

Student Transitions partnering with Campus Recreation and Wellness, Dowdy Student Stores and the Financial Wellness Hub will hold a Senior Sendoff event in the Main Campus Student Center across from the bookstore from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will include snacks, helpful resources, a photo booth and prizes.

CRW to provide Breakfast on the Go

March is National Nutrition Month, and Campus Recreation and Wellness will be providing breakfast for students throughout the month, beginning on Tuesday, March 12 at 9:30 a.m. outside of Eakin Student Recreation Center. In addition to picking up a to-go breakfast, students can learn about healthy breakfast ideas they can make themselves.

UPenn professor to lead social justice lecture

Hosted by the ECU School of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania professor of social work Amy Beth Castro will speak for the Carolyn Freeze Baynes social justice lecture series today at 7 p.m. on WebEx. The topic being discussed will be “Renegotiating the Social Contract: The Promise and Limits of Guaranteed Income.” The link for registration can be found through the ECU events calendar.

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

If you feel there are any factual errors in this newspaper, please contact Kiarra Crayton at editor@theeastcarolinian.com.

Donation allows med school to go tuition-free

Students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx will no longer have to pay tuition after a longtime professor donated $1 billion to the school, removing a major financial hurdle to becoming a physician in a historically underserved borough.

The gift by Ruth Gottesman, chairwoman of Einstein’s Board of Trustees, is considered the largest gift made to a medical school in the country, according to a press release.

“l feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause,” Gottesman said in a statement.

Gottesman, a retired pediatrics professor who spent 55 years of her career affiliated with the Bronx medical school, developed a widely used screening test for children with learning disabilities and founded a trailblazing adult literacy program.

Her husband, David S. Gottesman, counted Warren Buffett among his mentors and left his wife a large portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stock when he died in 2022, the New York Times reported. Gottesman thanked him for making the donation possible.

“I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care,” Gottesman said.

Einstein will be permanently tuition free starting next school year. Students in their last year of medical school who already paid

for this semester will be reimbursed, school officials said.

More than 1,000 students attend Einstein’s medical, PhD, and postdoctoral research programs. They join a small but growing number of medical students, including those at New York University, who will graduate without the steep debt of tuition.

“This donation radically revolutionizes our ability to continue attracting students who are committed to our mission, not just those who can afford it,” said Dr. Yaron Tomer, the dean of Einstein, an affiliate of Montefiore Health System, the largest hospital in the Bronx.

“We will be reminded of the legacy this historic gift represents each spring as we send another diverse class of physicians out across the Bronx and around the world to provide compassionate care and transform their communities,” the statement continued.

The Bronx experiences some of the worst health disparities in the state. In annual county health rankings, the borough came in last out of 62 counties in New York based on a variety of health factors and outcomes, the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute found.

According to the study, 21% of Bronx residents reported that they consider themselves in fair or poor health, compared to 12% in the state overall. The average life expectancy in the borough was 78 years old,

more than two years younger than throughout New York.

Gottesman said well over 100 students enter Einstein each year, who graduate with the skills necessary to serve patients in the Bronx and elsewhere.

“They leave as superbly trained scientists and compassionate and knowledgeable physicians,” Gottesman said, “with the expertise to find new ways to prevent diseases and provide the finest health care to communities here in the Bronx and all over the world.”

In 2020, there was just one primary care physician for every 1,540 people in the Bronx, compared to a ratio of one doctor to 1,170 New Yorkers throughout the state, according to the University of Wisconsin study.

Jasper Sim, 24, told the Daily News that the free tuition will be a “tremendous help and a weight off the shoulders of students,” especially for his classmates from low-income backgrounds. He plans to go into internal medicine and said he would consider staying in the Bronx after he graduates in the spring next year.

“I hope the free tuition attracts an ethnically and economically diverse student body,” he said “that is … motivated to address the health disparities in the Bronx.”

ECU Pursue Gold campaign concludes

As of this week, the ECU Pursue Gold fundraising campaign has concluded, raising a total of $526.9 million in donations from over 30,000 donors.

“The ECU community has demonstrated a willingness to invest in our future in a remarkable way through the Pursue Gold campaign,” Chancellor Philip Rogers said. “Every contribution makes a direct and positive difference in advancing the upward trajectory of our institution. To all our donors and advocates in Pirate Nation, I say thank you.”

According to an ECU News Services release, the 2022-2023 fiscal year was the most successful year of the long running campaign.

Over 2,250 separate university funds have been supported by fundraising through

the campaign, according to the release, and over a quarter of the donations will go toward student scholarships. “It is clear that ECU alumni, friends and donors are all behind our great university. We had nearly 90 individuals, families and organizations who have committed more than $1 million each during the lifespan of Pursue Gold,” Christopher Dyba said, vice chancellor for University Advancement. “The campaign has served as a momentum builder for the university. Through this effort donors have seen how their gifts are fueling student success, alumni have reconnected with ECU, and the university has rallied support from every corner of Pirate Nation.”

East Carolina’s fundraising efforts will not end with the Pursue Gold campaign, according to the release, and many foundations still work to support Pirate Nation.

University Advancement and the ECU Foundation will continue to prioritize students through scholarships, according to the release, and ECU Athletics will continue in their independent Pirates Unite campaign.

“There will be a return on investment for years to come,” Dyba said. “As a result of this campaign, funds provided to the university will further increase as pledges are paid, endowments grow and other commitments are fulfilled. Funds from Pursue Gold will continue to make ECU affordable and accessible to students.”

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.

N.C. senator’s gun shop traced to crimes by ATF

For the third year in a row, the gun shop owned by U.S. Sen. Ted Budd was among hundreds across the country flagged by federal authorities in 2023 for selling weapons that

that they would remain on the list because they continued to sell a high number of so-called “crime guns.”

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the gun safety group Brady obtained two consecutive years of these notifications to

were later traced to crimes, according to newly released records.

at 3:10 a.m.

ProShots, the gun store and indoor shooting range near Winston-Salem that Budd has owned for 14 years, is on a list maintained by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that tracks gun dealers that sold at least 25 guns that were used or suspected of being used to commit a crime, or were in the hands of someone who couldn’t legally possess a weapon, over the course of a year.

The ATF sent letters to ProShots in May 2022 and April 2023 notifying them

gun dealers in the “Demand 2” monitoring program that triggers additional ATF scrutiny when 25 or more crime guns a year trace back to a dealer that had sold them within the prior three years.

The ATF focuses on that time frame because it’s an indicator that the guns might have been trafficked through straw purchasers who are buying on behalf of a third party, or other illegal means. But many gun shops on the list are high-volume sellers that would easily surpass the 25-gun threshold, one gun store chain president told USA Today, which published the list this month.

Dealers in the program have to provide the ATF quarterly reports of firearms they

purchased from unlicensed sellers. Only 2% of the nation’s licensed gun dealers are in the monitoring program, Brady reported.

Spokespeople for Budd and ProShots told The News & Observer the gun store has “fully complied” with the law. A representative for ProShots also said the ATF’s list lacks important context about the traced crime guns that result in dealers being monitored. The representative said ProShots is confident it will be removed from the list.

The letters do not say how many guns ProShots has sold that turned up in criminal cases, and a ProShots representative said the ATF has not told them how many guns were involved.

What does it mean for a dealer to be included in ATF’s list?

The records show ProShots has been flagged for at least three consecutive years, said Tess Fardon, Brady’s senior counsel for programs and policy. The oldest letter Brady obtained, for guns traced in 2021, notes ProShots’ “continued participation” in the monitoring.

“While a dealer’s presence on the Demand 2 list does not necessarily in and of itself indicate that dealer is doing something illegal or reckless, it does indicate that they deserve heightened scrutiny, not only from the ATF and law enforcement agencies, but also from the public,” Fardon said.

The scrutiny can help reduce trafficked weapons, she said. A gun shop in Milwaukee stopped selling cheaply made handguns after being identified on the list in 1999, and that alone caused significant drops in gun crime and gun trafficking, a study found.

But such information had been hard to come by in years since, after Congress passed laws in 2003 prohibiting the ATF from spending money on publicizing gun trace data.

OBSERVER

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx borough of NYC. Former professor Ruth Gottesman announced a $1 billion donation to the school.

Sen.

Philip Rogers

Arts & Entertainment

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Native: a mix of fine dining and blue collar

“This Must be the Place!” is spelled out in black and white mosaic tiles in the doorway of Native Fine Diner on Dickinson Avenue in Greenville. The diner is on a quiet block littered with abandoned tobacco warehouses around the corner from Greenville’s “Intersect East” – a future commerce hub in a historic train and tobacco district.

At 907 Dickinson Ave., Native’s V-shaped building has housed over three different diners since the original Carolina Grill Diner was built there in 1903. The spot was a place where workers hopped off the train and popped in for a cheap bite to eat at a local diner.

Chef and owner Luke Owens is a 6-foot native of Greenville with a long, tamed red beard that reaches over his collarbone and sits softly on his chest flanked by gauge earrings and dreadlocks wrapped up in an olive-green headband with tattoo sleeves hiding under his black and orange ramen noodle hoodie.

Owens and his wife Brittany

gutted and redesigned the building’s interior with plump booths and contemporary wooden chairs while preserving the worn exterior brick and panel ceiling, plus the original blue and white support beams from its time as the Carolina Grill Diner. The restaurant’s triangle shaped dining room merges with the kitchen and bar at a white countertop base extending almost the entire width of the restaurant.

Native Fine Diner opened in 2021, giving Greenville a bluecollar fine dining experience in an area and style central to the staff’s backgrounds.

“Our vision is to create a hospitable place, a neighborhood feel for Greenville,” Owens said. “I grew up pretty blue-collar and ate diner-ish food anyway. Whether it was eating at blue-collar spots or my parents cooking at home, you know, I grew up that way and wanted to tell that story. I felt that a diner was a great place to tell the story of all types of food.”

Owens grew up in Greenville and worked for several years at Chef

and the Farmer in Kinston, North Carolina, a restaurant that focuses on bringing local products straight from the farm to the table. Owens weaves his farm-to-table cooking background into Native’s identity and fosters an environment of likeminded, motivated employees who share his passion for good food and great hospitality on a changing menu with local ingredients. “We want to showcase as many North Carolina products as possible, whether it be meat, produce or different grains,” he said. “That helps me dictate the menu along with some really talented and great people that I work around. The sous chefs, line cooks, everyone that works here has a similar drive and want to showcase where we live.”

In the “Smalls” section of the white menu with orange lettering is a dish featuring fresh lamb tartare from a local company in Washington, North Carolina, on a piece of toast topped with shaved cheese, fried onions, chives and a broccoli verde sauce served on a round white dish.

In the “Large Plates” section is a

rendered duck breast with a pumpkin puree, butternut squash, pickled rye and a citrusy duck sauce listed just above the phrase…

This Must be the Place!

Sous Chef Kyle Hobbes prepares the duck dish by peeling and cutting fresh butternut squash and cooking them on the stovetop before braising them in an oven. Hobbes renders the duck in a Dutch oven on low heat, producing a crunchy skin over a perfectly tender duck breast that’s finished with a fermented pumpkin miso puree and a duck sauce with hints of orange.

“The cool thing about (Native) being a diner is we can really make anything we want from fancy duck dishes to sweet and savory pancakes to chicken sandwiches and everything in between,” Hobbes said.

Native’s menu has something for every mood and as 6 p.m. rolls around.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala is a Pakistani woman who is an advocate for women’s education and fundamental social and economic rights. She was forced to quit school in 2008 when the Taliban took over Pakistan and banished all girls from school so she began speaking out on behalf of girls and their rights to learn. This made her a target and at 15 years old she survived an assassination attempt from someone trying to stop her. At 17 years old she won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and she continues to be an advocate today.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. She was an advocate for women’s rights and gender equality and has become a prominent figure in the feminist movement. She was only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and the first Jewish woman. She is most well known for her support of cases against sexual discrimination and fighting for equal pay for women.

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a scientist who is most well known for her discovery of polonium and radium. These discoveries allowed the introduction of

radiation into medicine and revolutionized cancer treatments. Her team discovered radioactivity, she completely changed the world of modern medicine and won several nobel peace prizes for her work.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous American pilots. She is a record setting aviator and the second person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic, with her being the first woman. She won awards such as the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the Cross of the French Legion of Honor.

Greta Thunberg

In 2018 Greta Thunberg rose to fame for organizing a school walkout to protest inaction on climate change. Her strike was called “School Strike for Climate” and it inspired thousands of students across the world to join her in #FridaysForFuture-- skipping school on Fridays to protest climate change. Greta Thunberg is an environmental activist who is so upset about climate change that at age 11 she temporarily stopped speaking, as of the time of this story Thunberg is back to actively speaking.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin was a well known singer and songwriter who was also a prominent civil rights activist. She was the first woman to be inducted

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and held the record for Billboard Hot 100 Songs by Women for 40 years. Aretha had an astonishing four-octave vocal range and was rated number one in Rolling Stone magazines list of the Great Singers of All Time.

Patsy Takemoto Mink

Patsy Tamemoto Mink was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress. She was known for her work on legislation advancing women’s rights and education including the Early Childhood Education Act and the Women’s Educational Equity Act.

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a Pulitzer prize-nominated poet and civil rights activist. Her first autobiography was “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings” received high praise and critical acclaim for its strong messages about racism and sexual assault. She was a leader in black feminism and worked alongside Martin Luter King Jr. and Malcom X during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Thursday, 2.29.24

OUR VIEW

East Carolina University provides students with limitless opportunities and resources for its students, staff and faculty. However, this often goes unnoticed due to lack of awareness among college students.

We, the editorial staff of The East Carolinian, believe students should be aware of the resources available to them and encourage each student to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible.

There are multiple opportunities that ECU provides for its students, including employment, resources for academic success, library databases, workshops and access to mental health services.

We believe students can gain valuable insight and skills in order to prepare them for the workforce or other important areas of their life. As a student, you should take advantage of what you are offered during your time here.

Whether you are utilizing ECU’s Career Services to update your resume or participate in a workshop about how to improve your mental health, ECU gives students the opportunity to receive additional access to support. It is important for universities to implement these types of programs to show their enthusiasm for student success and participation.

Outside of the excellent academic programs offered, it’s clear that ECU goes a step beyond to show their support to students through its helpful resources and activities. There are several opportunities available to you as a student, you just have to look for it!

PIRATE RANTS

The

To those complaining about Out of State Tuition Prices...go to a school in your home state or pay N.C. taxes like the rest of us! You are getting a deal at ECU!

I get more excited for Pirate Baseball than football...it feels great to WIN for change!

Can the dude who be snoring loud af in the library please just stop.

The ECU Transit tracker is down which is really inconvenient. I like being able to see where the bus is on my phone so that I can make sure I catch it!

I feel like some people still label ECU as a party school, and many do not recognize the excellent academic programs that are offered here. There are so many amazing programs that aren’t recognized or appreciated as much as they should be.

The Wi-Fi at my apartment is so aggravating. Most of the time it will not work in my own bedroom but yet works perfectly fine in the living room area. It’s such a shame I pay this expensive rent just to not be able to use the Wi-Fi in my own room.

The small store in the Main Campus Student Center was completely wiped out of sandwiches. It was only a bit after 3 p.m. on a Tuesday too. I was so frustrated by it.

After Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection landslide, his inaugural committee advertised for “attractive, clean-cut, all-American” performers to dance and sing at various celebratory events. The description ignited a firestorm on any number of grounds, not the least of which was race: Activists feared that the committee wanted no Black performers — in particular, that “clean-cut” meant not having distinctively Black hair.

That episode comes to mind in the wake of this week’s decision by a Texas judge to uphold a public school’s suspension of a Black student for refusing to trim his hair. The question before the court was whether the (aptly named) Barbers Hill Independent School District had violated a new state statute forbidding racial discrimination on the basis of hair. Because the district’s rules address length but not style, ruled the judge, the statute isn’t violated.

Where to begin? Perhaps with the New York Times’s delightfully deadpan description of the hair in question: “locs, or long ropelike strands of hair, that he pins on his head in a barrel roll, a protective style that his mother said reflected Black culture.”

What the Times calls “locs” were traditionally “dreadlocks” or simply “locks” — once a symbol of Black rebellion, later a flashpoint for arguments over cultural appropriation, and nowadays simply a way some people wear their hair.

Black people especially.

Texas school districts seem to have gone out of their way to specify that locks are not acceptable, as the sociologist Patricia A. Banks notes in a recent analysis. And Barber Hills, intentionally or not, has plunged willy-nilly into one of the most complex and painful aspects of the nation’s long, tortured history: attitudes toward Black people and their hair.

The nation’s relationship to hair has

always been complex. In her excellent book Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America, the historian Kathleen M. Brown notes how during the 18th and 19th centuries, hair was thought to carry disease; keeping hair clean and groomed in public was a way to show that you were safe.

Black hair was considered especially dangerous, a fear often shared even by slavery’s opponents. Brown tells us how the abolitionist Fanny Kemble despaired at the way that female slaves covered their children’s “poor little wooly heads” with “half a dozen hot, filthy coverings.” Kemble decreed that on her husband’s plantation, at least, enslaved children would be permitted to wear hats only if their heads were shaved.

True, during the era of enslavement, hairstyling was one of the few areas in which most owners left their human property to decide for themselves. But what appeared atop the head remained a key marker of racial distinction. An 1858 article in a medical journal set forth differences between Black and White hair as evidence that the two races were separate species. In 1896, a Southern newspaper solemnly reported that African hair was curly to “deflect the rays of the tropical sun” and thus prevent “more severe penetration into the brain.” Ten years later, W.E.B. Du Bois would publish The Health and Physique of the Negro American, part of which was devoted to illustrating, with copious photographs, the enormous variety of black hair and skin.

Another observation about phones, this time about voicemail.

I have a ton piled up; I’ve mostly quit listening to them or even bothering to delete them. I feel guilty about that, but a couple of conversations lately have made me realize I’m not alone.

First, some background. For those of you a generation younger, there was once a world in which you could call a person’s landline and, if they weren’t home, there would be no answer at all. It would ring forever if you let it. It was the tree falling in a forest that nobody saw.

Then along came answering machines, a technological breakthrough. The point is that a person calling you could leave a

recorded message. You’d get back home and check the answering machine, listen to the message, usually return the call. Yes, it was still a missed connection, but it was a big leap forward. If you were lonely or otherwise disconnected, it could be a giant thrill just to see the blinking light on the machine, telling you somebody had called. Maybe it was her or him, or that guy about the job.

The next big jump was the cell; once they reached critical mass, you could assume that everyone always had phones on them. Those phones had voicemail storage built in; no wire, no machine. This part you already know, but it was likewise a breakthrough at the time.

Texting didn’t immediately seem like as big a deal as it really was. Because the

point is you could convey information immediately to somebody (or several somebodies) without actually talking, without anybody having to stop doing what they were doing.

Voicemail? A work colleague said the other day: “I don’t do voicemail. Just text me.”

Felt liberating to hear it that way. I asked around a little: My wife doesn’t listen to them. My friends don’t. My kids? Pfft. For my 28-year-old son, leaving a voicemail is an immediate disqualifier.

The dustbin of history fills up ever-faster. Voicemail is pretty much already there.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

— Today is a 9 — Leap into profitable ventures. Keep up the good work. Collaborate behind the scenes for lucrative results. Fortune blesses connection and communication. Contribute together.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Today is a 9 — Talk about passions and dreams. Forgive miscommunications. Ignore rumors or gossip. Focus on personal priorities. Determine the plan and put pieces in place. Act strategically.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) — Today is an 8 — Maintain your work, health and exercise practices. Choose stability over illusion. Discipline and experience make a difference. Get expert support with a physical goal.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Today is an 8 — Follow your heart. Take advantage of lucky conditions. Develop creative ideas into something beautiful. Talk about what you love. Discover valuable connections in conversation.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

— Today is a 7 — Infuse your home with love and beauty. Communicate with family. Increase levels of peace, beauty and comfort food. Rediscover the elegance of simplicity.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

—— Today is a 9 Communication channels flow with ease. Listen respectfully. Observe from multiple perspectives. Express what you’re learning. Network and collaborate. Invent possibilities together. Sign contracts.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)— Today is an 8 — Maintain lucrative routines. Disciplined efforts contribute to growing income. Bargain, trade and make deals. Provide consistent, reliable value. Generate silver flowing into your coffers.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Today is a 9 — Visualize yourself winning. Practice self-discipline for lasting benefit. Remain true to your word and yourself. Talk about what you love. Develop a personal passion.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Today is a 7 — Look back for insight on the road ahead. Imagine rising love, beauty and joy. Clean and organize. Make plans to realize an interesting possibility.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

—Today is a 7 — Develop team strategies. Come up with a winning plan together. Friends offer advice, resources and support. Stick to basics. Do what you said.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

— Today is an 8 — Professional projects benefit from communication. Clarify objectives. Let people know what you need. Polish your pitch. Disciplined actions advance on your target. Discuss possibilities.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

— Today is a 7 — Widen your perspective. Explore to discover new views. Write what you’re learning. Disciplined steps can realize your educational dreams. Research and document your investigation.

BREWSTER ROCKIT

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WHERE’S PEEDEE?

TEC spertZ'

The East Carolinian Sports experts predict this week’s events

Nick Bailey Sports Editor

ECU VS. Memphis Score Prediction?

ECU 64-58

Why? ECU needs this win desperately as conference tournament time comes closing in, and I see Brandon Johnson and R.J. Felton stepping up big to bring home the close W on black out night.

Garett Skillman

For the East Carolinian

ECU VS. Memphis Score Prediction?

Memphis 72-61

Why? Historically, the Pirates haven’t had a good record against Memphis, but it may be closer than people think with the support of the home crowd. I think the first half will be a close one, but coming out of the half Memphis will make the necessary adjustment and drop East Carolina to 14-14 on the season.

Kiarra Crayton Editor-in-Chief

ECU VS. Memphis Score Prediction?

Memphis 76 - 68

Why? The Tigers are coming into the game with a three-game scoring streak of 70 points or more, while ECU averages 69.2 on the season. The Pirates are also coming off one of their lowest scoring games of the season. While I would like to see ECU stay above .500, I don’t think they’ll win this one.

Pirates sweep baseball weekly conference honors

Ashleigh Cash TEC

East Carolina University’s baseball team (5-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) is coming off of arguably their best win in years – a ninth-inning walk off against a ranked in-state rival.

No. 11 ECU and No. 15 University of North Carolina (5-2, Atlantic Coast Conference) faced off in a three-game series for their second series of the year. The games are always highly anticipated, with sellout crowds and back-and-forth gameplay. This series was no exception. After dropping game one 2-1 in Chapel Hill, thanks to a couple defensive woes and a go-ahead home run from junior outfielder Vance Honeycutt, ECU only had a quick turnaround before their neutral site game on Feb. 24.

But whatever they did, it worked, as

offense came out swinging and starting pitching was solid. Pirates evened the series with a 7-4 victory at Segra Stadium, in front of a crowd of 6,228. The Pirates racked up 15 hits, taking advantage of two UNC errors. Despite UNC threatening in late innings, the ECU pitching held it together and the Pirates won.

Bristol Carter, clinching the series.

Starting pitching was absolutely dominant in the series, none more so than the second game starter, sophomore lefty Zach Root, who has been named the American Athletic Conference’s Pitcher of the Week.

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Game three was from many reports, the best game played at Clark -LeClair Stadium in recent history, and it unfolded in front of a record crowd of 6,017. Game three saw five lead changes, with both teams going back and forth all game. Every time one team scored, it seemed the other would match it in the next frame. It all finally ended with a walk-off single from true freshman outfielder

Root, the top AAC prospect for the 2025 MLB draft, had one of the best outings of his career on Feb. 24. He pitched a career high seven shutout innings, giving up only three hits, striking out seven batters and walking none. Root not only sat down the first nine batters he faced, but he also faced the minimum through five innings.

Root’s had an excellent start to his sophomore season, striking out 14 through 11.2 innings and holding batters to a .150 average.

ECU Softball to host Purple-Gold invitational

The East Carolina University softball team (16-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) is off to its best start since the turn of the 2000’s as they prepare to host three teams at Max R. Joyner Stadium for the Purple-Gold Invitational tournament on Friday through Sunday.

Before the weekend filled with matchups, ECU hosts inner-state rival North Carolina State University (12-3, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Feb. 28 for ECU’s Morgan Message game. The Pirates and the Wolfpack split their season series last year to one game a piece.

Following its midweek game against the Wolfpack, the Pirates will host Appalachian State University (7-5, 0-0 Sun Belt Conference), Youngstown State University (7-3, 0-0 Horizon League Conference), and Saint Joseph’s University (3-7, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) for the Purple-Gold Invitational, with ECU facing the Mountaineers and Penguins at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively, on Friday. Fans get free admission.

The Pirates are in the middle of their 25 game homestand to start off their 2024 season, and it couldn’t be going any better for the Purple and Gold. The Pirates are off to their finest start in program history, dating back to the 2000 Pirate softball team, which started 17-1 in its first 18 games and went on to win a school-record 60 games.

ECU concluded last season with a 27-28 overall record and 14-14 in the AAC. Their eventual demise was conference play, since they began strong, going 14-3 in their first 17 games. With conference realignment occur-

ring before the start of the 2023-2024 athletic year, the Pirates may find themselves on the winning end of more conference games this season.

ECU is fresh off a 5-0 week in which the Pirates continued to tally up runs while shutting down their opponents’ offense. ECU has earned a shutout in its previous three games before N.C State.

Junior left-handed pitcher Jordan Hatch, freshman right-handed pitcher Taylor Applefreshman right-handed pitcher Devin Long,

and graduate student right-handed pitcher Payton Hudson combined for the first no-hitter since Toni Paisley’s on April 2, 2011, earning Apple a place on the AAC Honor Roll.

According to the ECU Pirates, ECU is one of just four teams in the country with a top-10

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During the second half, Rice would take over. The Pirates would only be able to tie the game in the first 30 seconds, 29-29. The Owls would dominate and, at one point, have a 21-point lead.

Junior guard RJ Felton would lead the team with 15 points, six rebounds and one assist. This would be Felton’s 19 straight double-digit scoring game. Junior guard Jaden Walker, sophomore forward Ezra Ausar and redshirt junior forward Brandon Johnson would also lead the Pirates in scoring with seven, six and six respectivelly.

The Pirates streak of forcing opponents into 10 of more tunrovers was extended to eight games after Rice’s 10 turnovers. ECU

The Owl’s senior guard, Travis Evee, dropped 34 points during the game against ECU, a season-high. Evee would shoot 12-19 for the field and 7-12 from three.

The Pirates have fallen short eight out of the past nine games to the Tigers, with their last win coming on Jan. 15 2022. Overall, ECU’s record all time against Memphis is 5-23.

Memphis is riding a two-game win streak going into the matchup on Feb. 29 with those wins coming against the University of Charlotte (17-10, 11-4 AAC) and Florida Atlantic University (21-7, 11-4 AAC).

In their most recent win, the Tigers beat

ERA (0.83/No. 5) and batting average (.373/ No. 7). Sophomore outfielder Emma Jackson leads ECU at the plate, batting .534 with 31 hits (No. 1 in AAC/NCAA) and 13 doubles (No. 1).

Graduate student utility player Morgan Johnson leads the AAC and is No. 3 nationally in RBIs with 27. ECU right now leads the AAC in runs scored (90), hits (126), on-base percentage (.438), and doubles (27). The Pirates at the moment have four girls hitting .400 or higher at the plate. ECU leads the all time Appalachian State Series 4-0. This weekend marks the first meeting between the two programs since the Pirate Classic on Feb. 24, 2008, when ECU defeated Appalachian State 8-2.

The Pirates lead the all time Youngstown State series 3-0, having last played the Penguins on Feb. 8, 2019, when ECU defeated Youngstown State 11-4 in the Spartan Classic.

ECU leads the all time Saint Joseph’s series 6-0 over Saint Joseph’s, having defeated the Hawks 8-0 twice in five and six innings at the Charleston Invitational earlier this month.

After the Pirates host their second weekend tournament at Max R. Joyner Stadium, they will host Duke University (13-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Wednesday or a black out themed double header. The games will be at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

FAU 78-74 in a back-and-forth game. Memphis would drop the first half by one point but would rally in the second. The Tigers would manage to outscore FAU and come away with the victory.

After the game against Memphis, the Pirates will make their way down to Denton, Texas, to play against the University of North Texas on March 3 (14-12, 7-7 AAC). The game can be viewed on ESPN2, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. versity (21-7, 11-4 AAC).

In their most recent win, the Tigers beat FAU 78-74 in a back-and-forth game. Memphis would drop the first half by one point but would rally in the second. The Tigers would manage to outscore FAU and walk away with the victory.

After the game against Memphis, the Pirates will make their way down to Denton, Texas, to play against the University of North Texas on March 3 (14-12, 7-7 AAC). The game can be viewed on ESPN2, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Nick Bailey TEC STAFF