Best of April 2021

BEST OF APRIL

IN THIS ISSUE

NEWS

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First Week of Witness Testimonies in Derek Chauvin’s Trial Ends The first week of witness testimonies in Derek Chauvin’s trial ended.

FEATURESNEWSFEATURES

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Dark Secrets of Disney Channel Ever wondered what Disney Channel was hiding from us? Find out the messed up rules Disney stars had to follow!

Earth Day, Everyday Tips on how to promote sustainability on Earth Day and beyond.

THE TEAM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF·············································· Sadie Romeo MANAGING EDITOR········································· Nicole Littlefield ENTERTAINMENT WRITER···························· Cody Wagner STAFF WRITER···················································· Kevin Ashley STAFF WRITER···················································· Gabriella Gallardo STAFF WRITER···················································· Liam Sheriff STAFF WRITER···················································· JoJo Baker MULTIMEDIA EDITOR······································ Danny Olivares GRAPHICS EDITOR··········································· Jessica Tapia PUBLICATIONS EDITOR································· Brenton Russo ADVISER································································· Jim Fuller

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FEATURES NEWS OPINION

How the pandemic helped one teacher adapt, modernize his methods Teachers have had a lot to handle. One of the positives however is a better way of reaching and engaging students.

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Stop AAPI Hate!

Atlanta shooting brings rise to overdue condemnation against AAPI violence

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NEWS FIRST WEEK OF WITNESS TESTIMONIES IN DEREK CHAUVIN’S TRIAL ENDS Nicole Littlefield, Managing Editor • April 5, 2021 The first week of witness testimonies in Derek Chauvin’s trial ended Friday afternoon.

Chauvin is on trial with charges of the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, who was killed in police custody.

On May 25, 2020, a 911 call was made by a convenience store employee claiming Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes and police officers arrived on the scene. However, 17 minutes after the arrival of the first squad car, Floyd showed no signs of life.

The four officers who arrived on the scene were arrested the day after Floyd’s death.

Chauvin is on trial with charges of seconddegree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On Friday, a veteran Minneapolis police lieutenant testified it was “totally unnecessary” for Chauvin to put his knee on a person’s neck, let alone someone who is already handcuffed. “[P]ulling him down to the ground facedown and putting your knee on a neck for that amount of time is just uncalled for,” said Lt. Richard Zimmerman in Hennepin County District Court during the trial.

Department policy requires police officers to remove suspects from their chest as soon as possible when they are prone and handcuffed, said Zimmerman, the longestserving police officer in the Minneapolis Police Department. The high level of restraint should’ve stopped after Floyd was prone and no longer resisting.

During cross-examination, Chauvin’s lead defense attorney, Eric Nelson, attempted to make Zimmerman seem out of touch with the crime on Minneapolis streets.

Nelson pointed out that when an officer is involved in a fight for life, they “are allowed to use whatever force necessary.”

When the prosecution re-questioned the lieutenant, Zimmerman told the court that the police training regarding potential dangers for a suspect in the prone position has not changed. In his review of the body camera footage, Zimmerman did not see Floyd resisting the officers.

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher questioned a Minneapolis Police Department sergeant, Jon Edwards. Edwards received a phone call from Sgt. David Pleoger, who told him he was “at the hospital and was with a male who may or may not live.”

Edwards arrived on the scene and began canvassing for witnesses. Even after talking to officers J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane, Edwards didn’t have a good understanding of what occurred. It wasn’t until later that night that Edwards learned Floyd was dead and Chauvin was involved.

Pleoger testified Thursday. Pleoger was responsible for reviewing the officer’s use of force after receiving a call from 911 dispatcher Jena Scurry, who testified earlier in the week.

Pleoger said, “When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended their restraint.”

Hennepin County Paramedic Derek Smith noticed Floyd was not moving, was handcuffed and was not being given medical attention when he came to the scene. He noted that

Floyd’s pupils were large and dilated.

“In lay terms, I thought he was dead. I told my partner, ‘I think he’s dead, and I want to move this out of here,’” said Smith.

Smith checked for a pulse and could not find one. Smith administered a shock to Floyd and ordered an officer to do chest compressions.

The court also heard from Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend for about three years. She broke down in tears on the witness stand when talking about the athletic, “mama’s boy,” who was a struggling drug user.

“Floyd loved playing sports with anyone who wanted to, including neighborhood kids.

He’s that person who’d just run to the store,” she said. “Floyd and I both suffered from opiate addiction. We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck. His was in his back. We both had prescriptions. After prescriptions were filled, we got addicted, and we both tried, very hard, to break the addictions, many times.”

Courtesy of Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office

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FEATURES DARK SECRETS OF DISNEY CHANNEL JoJo Baker, Staff Writer • April 19, 2021

Hi, I’m JoJo Baker and you’re watching Disney Channel! Do you remember when stars were required to do that before their show aired? The viewers believed it to be one of the coolest rules that Disney Channel inflicted on their stars. The thing is, we never stopped to think about the additional rules that Disney Channel demanded from them. According to a January article on The List, there are 12 rules that Disney Channel stars had to do all the time.

PRESSURED MUSIC FROM THE STARS Considering that almost every single Disney Channel program has some form of singing, this rule isn’t a huge surprise. Even singers with huge careers, such as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus couldn’t handle the pressure of balancing music and the multiple projects they’ve done. However, Shia LaBoeuf told MTV News he was one of the only stars who denied Disney’s request for him to sing. “I went a whole different route,” LaBeouf began explaining. “I never came out with a music thing, even though [Disney will] push you that way.”

He continued, “I didn’t just want to be a churn-’em-out guy. I never really felt like I fit in there.”

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WORK, EVEN THROUGH PERSONAL ISSUES

Disney put constant stress on a lot of underdeveloped minds, which caused a lot of their stars to become trainwrecks. Even while the stars were dealing with personal issues, the rules and work Disney required did not lessen. Miley Cyrus had recently spoken about this during an interview with Marie Claire regarding how she got her first period while wearing white pants, and she still had to show up on set. “It was so embarrassing, but I couldn’t leave,” Cyrus said. “And I was crying, begging my mom, ‘You’re going to have to put the tampon in. I have to be on set.’” Constantly being ready to go on set is probably one of Disney’s strictest rules; be ready with no issues. Cyrus also mentioned NO RISQUÉ LYRICS in her interview that she would begin to get hot flashes and anxiety Disney Channel was big on influencing their stars to sing as I’ve attacks. “I’d feel like I was about to pass up or throw up. It would happen mentioned. However, the artists were not allowed to sing risqué lyrics. a lot before shows, and I’d have to cancel.”

The Jonas Brothers are a prime example, the brothers recently spoke to Us Weekly about how Disney influenced them to have the purest YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE LOOKING YOUNG music and keep it low. Nick Jonas added that while they were filming One way that Disney Channel kept their stars looking young was by Jonas season two, they had to sing a song called “Pizza Girl,” regarding banning beards. This was a major deal breaker with Disney If you the boys falling in love with an actual pizza girl. “I’m actually ashamed had a beard or a mustache you’re in trouble. Disney was known for of my lack of creativity in the song-writing department, because they reprimanding or even fining their stars for having any sort of facial hair. said, ‘We need you to write a song about how you fall in love with the Joe Jonas recently wrote an essay for Vulture explaining how strict pizza girl, and then you eat pizza every day,’” Jonas explained. “And the Disney Channel really was and how fed up he was with it. “But the chorus is literally that [‘I fell in love with the pizza girl; now I eat pizza thing about the show was that some of the writing on it was terrible,” every day].”

Jonas started off. “It just ended up being some weird slapstick humor that only a 10-year-old would laugh at. They took out the kissing scene DRESS CODE that Nick had. I had to shave every day because they wanted me to Not only did Disney continuously choose what the stars would say, but pretend like I was 16 when I was 20.” He noted, “When the show was they also chose what the stars would wear. Disney personally bought done, I cut my hair off and grew as much of a beard as I could.” clothes for their stars and insisted they wear them rather than their own choices. Disney chose clothes specifically to keep their pure THEY OWN THE STAR’S NAME image. Disney demanded stars wear branded clothes and be modest. Disney stars who used their real names could easily lose the rights to it.

Much like a high school’s dress code, Disney’s dress code mainly limits Miley Cyrus thought playing pop star Hannah Montana would increase females. her stardom, which it did. However, what Cyrus wasn’t aware of was that Disney now owned her name. They asked her to use her name for THEY CAN DEMAND A CERTAIN TONE IN YOUR the show, and she was very much willing to do that. However, by using VOICE ALONG WITH THE SPEECH her name on the show Disney now owned the name “Miley” and could Bella Thorne is most likely one of the wildest former Disney stars there use it with further branding. She had to go through a significant amount is. Disney completely altered her entire personality by creating a red- of legal debates in order to get her name back, which she successfully headed angel. Disney forced Bella to alter her voice to a high pitch has. tone rather than her “husky rasp” tone to be deemed “innocent.”

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DISNEY GETS PAID FOR THE DEATHS OF STARS

FORCED TO COMPETE

Disney gets paid millions of dollars when a former star passes away.

Now, this isn’t to be spiteful or plain rude, this is to compensate for any losses of production. According to Insurance Insider, Disney received $50 million after the unfortunate passing of Stars Wars actress, Carrie Fisher. During the Star Wars Force Awaken franchise, Fisher had a severe heart attack on December 27th.

The epic friendship duo, Zendaya, and Bella Thorne came out to speak the truth. They were pitted against each other because Disney wanted to create a bit of tension. In an interview with J-14, Thorne explained what really happened by saying they were “put in a very unfortunate position where we were kind of forced to compete against each other, which made the whole first season of the show just very awkward for us,” Throne said. “We wanted to love each other, but yet we were constantly being put against each other. It was, ‘Who’s better at this?’ and ‘Who’s better at that?’”

DURING INTERVIEWS, THEY HAVE TO PLAY DUMB When it comes to a question regarding Disney Channel or an actor’s personal life, every actor had the same answer: Play dumb. The actors would have to change the subject to avoid conflict. Whether that’s talking about their dog or the classic “here’s a funny story” line.

YOU HAVE TO STAY IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Who was your favorite Disney couple? Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas? Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas? Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron? According to ALWAYS BE IN CHARACTER the article on TheTalko, Disney encouraged their celebrities to date and influenced them to date within the Disney crew. Although Disney The Disney stars were persuaded into continuing their roles when the would have loved to restrict them from dating altogether, they would cameras were off. If your favorite star was the kindest person there influence them to stay in relationships to maintain their image. was, they would have to continue being that kind when meeting fans.

Multiple former Disney stars have confirmed that this was a problem they all faced. Based on the article, The Talko, some even mentioned that if their characters were a bit rude and arrogant they would have to continue that role towards their fans.

COD student Kaitlyn Arnold said her favorite Disney shows are “That’s So Raven” and “Hannah Montana.”

“Both shows had a lot of life lessons that influenced me growing up as a child,” she said.

“Also, they were both hilarious in different ways.”

Like many Disney fans, Arnold also has favorite characters she idolized.

“It’s definitely Raven or even Corey, her, brother because they have this sense of humor that was everything I wanted for my brother and me,” Arnold said “They were absolutely hilarious, and I definitely thought that those lessons were so much better than Hannah Montana’s.”

Arnold also said she looked up to Selena Gomez’s character, Alex, from Wizards of Waverly Place.

“I was like I wanna be that funny and aggressive.”

Arnold said if she knew what was going on between Disney and her favorite stars while she was still an avid fan, she probably would have kept watching anyway.

“The Disney shows I watched definitely shaped my childhood and shaped who I am as an adult,” she said.

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FEATURES EARTH DAY, EVERYDAY Liam Sheriff, Staff Writer • April 19, 2021

Thursday, April 22 will mark the annual celebration of International Earth Day. The holiday acts as a reminder for citizens everywhere to give back to their communities, their favorite natural areas and the planet they call home. Yet, as climate change runs rampant, and the world’s undisturbed natural lands disappear, does one day of Earthly recognition really make a difference in the future of the planet? Remic Ensweiler, the manager of COD’s prairie and natural areas, doesn’t think so.

“We don’t do as much as we can, in my opinion, in the way of contributing to the health of the Earth,” Ensweiler said. “I think we can do a lot more.”

As the prairie manager at COD, Ensweiler is in charge of the ecological restoration of all natural areas on campus. In a typical year, Ensweiler would work with hundreds of student volunteers, community members and STEM students to facilitate workshops, restoration programs and work in the biology greenhouse.

Volunteering is a quintessential way to give back on Earth Day. Volunteer programs and initiatives give people a chance to make lasting improvements to their community and on the planet. Over the course of the pandemic, however, Ensweiler and the college have been unable to work with volunteers on campus.

“I’d love to utilize [the students’] man and women power here,” Ensweiler explained.

“We will as soon as we can, but we’re being very cautious.”

“I’m definitely not the only one facilitating these sorts of things,” Ensweiler continued. “[Students] can definitely do their part locally even if it’s not right here on campus.”

Although students won’t be able to volunteer directly with COD this year, those looking to get their hands dirty can look no further than the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. The district is offering over 15 different volunteer events over the entirety of Earth Week. From April 19 to 24, environmental enthusiasts are able to aid in restoration projects, litter clean up, general beautification and invasive plant removal all across the forest preserve district.

Kathleen Lech, the stewardship technician for natural resources at the DuPage County Forest Preserve District, and the coordinator for the environmental restoration volunteer workdays, said participation in the forest preserve workdays are very important this Earth Day. “I think Earth Day gives focus right back to the planet,” Lech explained. “We’re all here [on this planet]. It’s serving us as a place to live. We should be taking care of it. There’s so much that we’ve already done, so much to destroy it, that we can try to make small steps in the right direction [to repair it].”

Volunteering, however important, is not the only way to get involved this Earth Day. In fact, according to Lech, there are plenty of ways individuals can promote sustainability from the comfort of their own homes.

“Do some research about what you can plant at home if you have a garden,” Lech

said. “I know there’s plenty of litter pretty much everywhere. You can always do litter clean up around your neighborhood. Watch for the things that you’re buying. If you can’t recycle it, if you can, or if you could do things in a more practical way where you’re not using as many resources. The list goes on.”

Getting involved in activities like composting used organic materials, upcycling (the reuse and restoration of thrifted objects) and having an overall mindfulness of consumption habits is a great way to make a difference this upcoming Earth Day. However, in order to truly maximize environmental effectiveness, according to Ensweiler, these Earth Day activities need to become habitual practice 365 days out of the year.

“Once you start getting into habits, they’ll become second nature,” Ensweiler explained.

“Maybe it’s going to cost a little more. Maybe it’s going to take a little more time. Take that time. Pay that cost, and you’ll feel better because you’re doing your part, and the Earth will be happier too.”

“Everything starts with the students,” Ensweiler said. “The more support we can get from students to help along these Earth Day efforts, the more successful we will be [in protecting this planet].”

For information on COD’s prarie and natual areas, visit: cod.edu/ academics/programs/biology/ natural_areas/prairie_tours For information on the DuPage County Forest Preserve, visit: dupageforest.org

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NEWS HOW THE PANDEMIC HELPED ONE TEACHER ADAPT, MODERNIZE HIS METHODS Kevin Ashley, Staff Writer • April 19, 2021

When Christopher Aquino started teaching English at Wheaton Warrenville South High School nearly 30 years ago, the classrooms set up and teaching methods looked very similar to when he was a student.

“When we were given an assignment, we just did it, and a lot of the time no one was given any special accommodation except for special circumstances. In the beginning, I don’t remember having to break down assignments into really small steps. You would just say go home and make this poster for me over the next three days and dazzle me. Now it is go home and make this poster for me. Here is exactly what I want on it, here is exactly the criteria for it and here and what I want you to get out of it.”

As time went on, he found himself having to change his teaching style. Aquino adapted to help students with different needs to achieve the goals of the class.

The longer he teaches the more he learns to be more efficient. This way he can get the most out of students without having to add extra steps.

“I can do one assignment here and have those skills be used over and over again down the line,” Aquino said. “We call it scaffolding. My style has

changed in order to play towards my students’ strengths.”

However, nothing could’ve prepared him for the sudden shock of the pandemic.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it caused massive shockwaves throughout the nation. In the early days, everything was shutting down and no one knew what was next. Teachers had to face new challenges because they had to completely redo their lessons for online learning.

“No one in my generation went to school to teach live-streaming, right?” Aquino said. “No one knew how to teach hybrid and remote kids at the same time. Besides technical challenges, I think one of the biggest challenges was how do we adapt and overcome.”

This led to a whole new way of teaching and a new challenge for keeping students engaged. Inperson learning makes it easier for teachers to notice when a student is having difficulties in class.

Now that most things are online teachers are having trouble trying to find possible solutions.

“We had to learn how to achieve our goals for the class in different ways,” Aquino said. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh I’ll just lecture you across the screen,’ because that doesn’t work. Just because

you say it doesn’t mean they learned it.”

This has led Aquino to be more mindful of his students. In order to make online learning work, teachers had to start from the ground and build up, which has led him to reconsider a lot of what he used to teach and how he taught it. Aquino has come to the conclusion that although the pandemic has been terrible it has helped him get better at using his time in class to touch upon everything. “From a logistics standpoint, better use of time because one of the things I’ve noticed over the years is it seems like it is more difficult to get through the same amount of material.” said Aquino.

On top of that, he has found better ways to not only deliver his lessons but has also become more understanding of students’ situations because if someone doesn’t turn in their homework on time it’s not the end of the world.

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Everyone needs a little positivity in their life, but the news can be such a bummer. Join Danny, Kevin and Nicole as they talk about current topics but always leave you with a silver lining.

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MATH ASSISTANCE Use Google Hangouts and call mathassistancearea@gmail.com WRITING APPOINTMENTS Reserve an appointment at cod.mywconline.com.

PERSONALIZED TUTORING Join sessions for specivic courses on Blackboard. bb.cod.edu Learn more at cod.edu/LearningCommons

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CALL FOR CALM Free-of-charge, anonymous, emotional support text line for Illinois residents experiencing stress related to COVID-19.

Text “talk” to 552020 MEDITATION Weekly sessions on Zoom.

Contact mindfulness@cod.edu Learn more at cod.edu/coronavirus/ mental-health-resources

OPINION STOP AAPI HATE!

Sadie Romero, Editor-in-Chief • April 6, 2021 For over a year now, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has faced documented cases of hate crimes including verbal, mental and physical abuse. This is largely attributed to “Asian virus” or “Chinese virus” slurs that had been frequented by former President Donald Trump and his supporters in reference to the coronavirus. If a leader pushes his people to adopt these ethnic slurs, violence, in the eyes of a supporter, could very well embody their loyalty.

This same violence was demonstrated on March 16 in the Atlanta-area shooting rampage that killed eight people. Six of the victims were Asian women.

As the shooting displays concerns of race and gender-based violence, the 21-year-old suspect has since claimed addiction and other mental health issues as his underlying motive leading up to the incident.

Law Enforcement Reporter for New York Times, Nicole Hong, explained the difficulty in classifying violent acts against the AAPI community as hate crimes under U.S. law. Absence of verbal aggression, condemning the victim’s race, ethnicity, origin, etc. creates a grey area and raises the question: “How much did race play a factor?”

Law enforcement is, thus, unable to qualify a hate crime without this verbal affirmation because of its inability to further support these charges in court.

Similarly, the lack of an anti-Asian symbol makes these allegations increasingly difficult to prove.

History has shown the role that symbols can play in similar hate crimes. For example, Hong examines the Swastika as a key determination in anti-semitic crimes.

While deep-rooted, racial motive in the Georgia shooting has not been explored due to the absence of symbolic and/or verbal affirmation,

dismissing race as a factor ignores the impact of blaming a race or even a country for the pandemic rather than specific actions or individuals.

Instead, the shooting surfaces long-overdue conversation surrounding anti-Asian violence, largely produced by this same hateful rhetoric.

Researchers call this language the “Trump effect,” says founder and director of demographic data and policy research nonprofit AAPI Data, Karthivk Ramakrishnan.

As the College of DuPage launches forums identifying ways to have productive conversations about diversity and race while identifying personal bias, it must also uphold these same standards in condemning acts of racial violence, particularly against the AAPI community.

As this violence continues to heighten, awareness and support for the Asian community, including the 11% of COD students who identify as Asian, is essential now, more than ever. While the lack of immediate action from the college may have lessened the magnitude of the statement, David Goldberg, College of DuPage Faculty Association president, writes it off as the first institution-wide effort to condemn these violent acts. He is hopeful that, in the future, this can be improved upon in accordance with the Board of Trustees and President Brian Caputo.

“In my sense, and I think many of my colleagues’ senses, you cannot have a sincere conversation about equity and access if you are not also condemning race and gender-based violence that are mass shootings. That rings hollow,” said Goldberg. “Anything that is not seriously linking the intersectionality of these things and then talking about what happens in our college and across the country is untrue to me. The tone of it [the college’s statement] and some of the phrases being linked to the values that the college puts

on its website is a good start. I think it is overdue, but I think it is a good start.”

While this statement must reflect the institution and its values, it is not limited to that.

It must also become a launching point for critical conversations in and around the classroom on systemic and institutionalized violence and hate.

Anything asymmetrical to the college’s explicit core values is failing the community and Asians suffering from these issues.

Historically, World War II brought rise to anti-German violence and Japanese-American internment camps alongside anti-Irish sentiment created during early immigration in America, but that time is not now. Current numbers show alarming, intensified violence against Asians.

While we uphold realities of other communities, the focus on AAPI hate does not have to be diluted in exchange.

Report violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Stand in solidarity with them, and #StopAAPIHate.

On a recent Courier survey, students and community members shared their thoughts on a College of DuPage statement addressing this race and gender-based violence nine days subsequent to the Atlanta-area shooting. Read the responses on our website.

Our communities stand united against racism. Hate against Asian American Pacific Islander communities has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together, we can stop it.

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