On a rainy Thursday evening, Carlos Oliva climbed to the top of a ladder inside The Dandy Lion — a diner and staple of Iowa City. Onlookers — inside and out — followed Oliva with their eyes as he climbed each rung, while they anticipated the guaranteed leap.
Earlier that week, Oliva had just finished waiting tables when he answered a call from The Daily Iowan
“Yes, there really will be an underground, no rules, no ring wrestling tournament on Oct.24 at The Dandy Lion,” he said cheerily.
Oliva was born in Guatemala and moved to Iowa City as a kid. He spent much of his youth observing the worlds of the WWF, WWE, and New World Order wrestling.
It did not take long for Oliva to become attached to the sport.
As it was for many other young adults, wrestling was an outlet of virtue for Oliva. Week in and week out, characters of true good vs. true evil went head-to-head and performed feats of the highest theatrics and most strenuous athleticism. Larger-than-life characters like Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and, for Oliva, John Cena acted as frameworks for behaviors and morals.
“I had no clue what this man was saying, but I felt the aura,” Oliva said of Cena. “I had to do everything in my power to be a professional wrestler when I grew up, and I did.” Iowa has a deep connection to the worlds of both Gre-
Petition prompts accessibility discussion
Kristian Marchand, a wheelchair user, began a petition for an additional elevator in Macbride Hall.
Marandah Mangra-Dutcher Managing Print Editor
marandah.mangra.dutcher@dailyiowan.com
Iowa’s Old Capitol, with its gilded dome, sticks out among the buildings on the University of Iowa Pentacrest. However, they all hold history — especially Macbride Hall.
Home to the Natural History Museum of Iowa, Macbride is filled with artifacts, excelling in telling stories that have long since ended. However, the building and its content have some downsides.
Kristian Marchand navigates Macbride weekly. The trek begins by entering through a door concealed in the building’s landscape.
•
•
Hall more accessible for those with physical disabilities.
The journey continues with a ride to the first floor of Macbride. Using an elevator that screeches the entire way up, Marchand exits only to be met with heavy, old wooden doors leading into history — where a push-to-open button remains unusable.
Rolling through Macbride’s museum, Marchand is followed by taxidermied eyes as they continue on the path ahead.
Passing Rusty the Giant Sloth, Marchand gives the once-thriving creature a nod while their wheelchair slides against the carpet. The brownish-red animal looms over Marchand with pitch-black eyes, feeling almost too large for the space allotted to him.
Marchand continues on. The chirping of the robotic birds greets them as they wheel further into the museum.
Finally, reaching another set of doors — just as heavy as the last — Marchand pauses, garners one last burst of energy, and opens the doors to our century.
All of this? The journey it takes for Marchand to get to their Thursday class.
Accessibility on college campuses
Nationwide, college campuses find themselves struggling with accessibility for campus buildings. Sometimes, a building’s compliance can often be expensive and taxing, especially
Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
Kristian Marchand, a first-yeat at the University of Iowa, travels to their dorm on Oct. 25. Marchand recently started a petition to make Macbride
co-Roman wrestling and professional wrestling.
Dan Gable, Olympic gold medalist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was the head of the University of Iowa men’s wrestling team from 1976 to 1997. Seth Rollins, 16-time WWE Champion and co-founder of the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy calls Davenport, Iowa, home — aspiring professionals from around the world trek to Davenport to study the craft.
“We became friends when we were 16,” Marek Brave, Rollins’ co-founder said. “We bonded through our love of wrestling.”
Beginning their training in the more traditional style, the pair quickly gravitated toward performances like they saw on TV.
Brave and Rollins started humbly, using a trampoline in a friend’s backyard to practice moves. After networking with the Quad Cities wrestling community, they were able to find a makeshift ring in a country barn.
located in the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall, bridged the gap between his two jobs and wanted to implement this newly learned approach to his wrestling practices.
Tommy Connolly, owner of The Dandy Lion, did not hesitant in allowing Carlos to use the venue.
“It sounded like something radically different,” Connolly said. Bright orange flyers offered no information besides a place, a date, and a time: October 24, 8:00 p.m. at The Dandy Lion. Bulletins across the city were dotted with the image of a toothless skull and ominous QR code which linked only to a brief video that offered less information than the thin flyer.
The flyer’s promise of a night of wrestling was finally fulfilled and The Dandy Lion was prepared. The hollowed restaurant was emptied of booths, wall fixtures, and any low-hanging lights that could have obstructed the wrestler’s ability to perform.
Regular Dandy Lion staff braced for the possibility of damage that awaited their restaurant.
“I hate Iowa. I hate all of you,” he said. Similar to how Shakespearean Rounds demanded audience participation, all onlookers played a part in the story. De Oro’s role was one of the Heel — the bad guy of the match. Getting in the face of audience members and directing a pointed finger in their faces depended on this connection.
Oliva, face covered in paint similar to the skull depicted on the flyers he created for the event, commanded the room upon his entrance. It was clear, even as he acted as the Heel, that Oliva was the crowd favorite. Leon soon followed with less attention and fanfare. Walking out and raising his
“We focus on characters, storytelling, in-ring psychology, how to get people to feel how you want them to feel.”
Marek Brave Academy co-founder
Boos and cries filled the room. Following soon after, “The Iceberg” Rusman strode out of the back room with utter confidence and glee. Rusman acted as the Face, the good guy. Immediately “The Cowboy” took haste to slam “The Iceberg” with an elbow to the head. Cheers for the combatants wailed as power shifted from one to the other.
Souris Wrestling championship belt, a league from southeast Saskatchewan, Canada, did nothing to win the support of the audience.
Beginning the fight with multiple slaps delivered to Oliva, the previously stashed props began playing their integral role in the performance. While attempting to antagonize one another from across a table, Leon reached for a fishing net to catch Oliva.
ished when in a twist of fate he caught Leon and placed him on the ground.
Reaching for the ladder, Oliva began his ascent. Each advancement, one foot over the other, caused uproar in the audience. Blood and sweat dripped from his brow and finally, in a fatigued state, Oliva reached the top. Looking out to the audience, pointing at friends and family, waving his arms, Oliva felt that it was his match. The look was in his eyes. After weeks of planning, researching, and training, Oliva was set to win the top-of-the-ticket match for everyone he knew in the audience.
As Oliva took in the praise and admiration from the audience, Leon began rising from the ground. Gripping Oliva by the belt, Leon threw his enemy off the ladder, into the ground once so familiar to him, ending Oliva’s chance at winning.
“Classic good-versusevil story is something that’s been connecting with audiences for thousands of years,” Brave said. “I think all forms of entertainment are storytelling packaged as whatever that form of entertainment is. Professional wrestling is just a different way to tell stories.” WRESTLING from 1A
“Senior year of high school, we started putting on shows in front of live audiences here in the Quad Cities,” Brave said. “I think we were charging $3 a ticket back then, not knowing where it would go from there.”
The duo’s gritty origin mirrors the opportunity they seek to provide for the students now. The Dandy Lion event was populated with hopeful professional wrestlers from the academy. In August 2014, Rollins and Brave opened Black and Brave’s first location in Moline; they moved to the Quad Cities in 2017. Today, boasting more than 250 graduated students, the school is one of five in the country certified by the WWE.
“We focus on characters, storytelling, in-ring psychology, how to get people to feel how you want them to feel,” Brave said. Brave believes this major emphasis on theatrics separates Black and Brave from other schools. Before taking to the ring in Iowa City, Oliva enrolled in the academy to pursue his
Prior to fighting, all six athletes signed waivers for The Dandy Lion. Connolly declined to comment any further regarding the health and safety of the event.
Three hours before the first match, a group of Black and Brave wrestlers began sketching out their performances for the evening. Mimicking possible moves and stashing props such as bamboo torches, steel baking pans, and Samsung televisions, created a dialogue that would shape their performance.
In the audience, retired pro wrestler Heather Ace, of Mount Vernon, said she cheered on “The Iceberg” as he tried to escape “The Cowboy” lasso. During her 15 years in the industry, Ace had never seen anything like this, especially an event without a ring.
As the second event started, Pedestrian Mall attendees crowded around the fogged window to The Dandy Lion, trying to make sense of what they saw.
Now, trapped under the net, Leon placed wooden dowels upon Oliva’s forehead, dropping an elbow into the bundle as blood began to gush. Oliva was almost fin-
PHOTOS FROM FRONT
Barry | The Daily Iowan
(Top) Carlos Olivia poses for a portrait before an underground pro-wrestling event at The Dandy Lion in Iowa City on Oct. 24. “I had to do everything to do everything in my power to be a professional wrestler when I grew up, and I did,” Olivia said. (Grid, top left)
Hector the Cowboy de Oro poses for a portrait before the underground pro-wrestling event. In his opening, Oro said, “I hate Iowa. I hate all of you.” (Grid, top right)
DITV News Director Johnny Valtman johnny.valtman@dailyiowan.com
DITV Asst. News Director Jayce Bertrand jayce.bertrand@dailyiowan.com
DITV Sports Director AJ Reisetter aj.reisetter@dailyiowan.com
DITV Asst. Sports Director Brady Behrend brady.behrend@dailyiowan.com
DITV Tech Director Madison
“Classic good-versus-evil story is something that’s been connecting with audiences for thousands of years .”
Marek Brave Academy co-founder
dream of becoming a professional wrestler. During his training, he was introduced to Dante Leon of Dallas, Texas, and the two established a partnership.
Leon had been wrestling many years before Oliva’s introduction, including several tours of Japan. While there, Leon was exposed to “Bar Shows,” a vérité-esque approach to wrestling rooted in the reality of restaurants and bars. Oliva, also an employee of The Dandy Lion diner
Deonn “The Iceberg” Rusman hails from Wasilla, Alaska, and took on Hektor “The Cowboy” De Oro for the opening match. Rusman dropped everything he knew in Alaska to become a trainer at the Black and Brave Academy with aspirations of going pro. Rusman’s approach to training mixes performance and physicality. The onboarding process takes three months and is “the hardest three months of your life,” he said. In the end, once training is complete, a wrestler may have the chops for a “five-minute fight that feels like a 10-mile run.”
As the wrestlers entered their makeshift arena, an announcer attempted to quell the audience’s anticipation. But their cheers were too overwhelming, and the announcer’s words sank below the roar of the fans.
As the first fight began, the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd gravitated toward the walls as “The Cowboy” De Oro entered.
Calvin “The Rizzler” Kelly of Tampa, Florida, walked out twirling a steel baseball bat.
His opponent, Tarlee Leckie of Melbourne, Australia, made her entrance on an aluminum push scooter. The storyline of the fight found Leckie the subject of “The Rizzler’s” antics.
Quickly disapproving of his attempts, Leckie tossed Kelly around the restaurant. Landing on the bar, dragging him outside the restaurant, and finally on top of an elderly patron’s lap, Kelly was distraught and defeated.
Leckie’s finishing move on Kelly began with a favorable truce that was quickly taken back. Kelly was pushed to a booth with exhaustion. Leckie reached for her aluminum push scooter.
Grasping the handles, Leckie rotated the scooter viciously and released the spin onto Kelly’s ankles.
This fight held no favors to Kelly and the audience’s approval of his punishments made that abundantly clear. At this time, full capacity hit the restaurant. An even greater crowd gathered outside.
The drone of passive music dwindled as the announcer barked information for the final fight.
The headlining bout would put the two idea originators head-to-head. Oliva took on his longtime friend Leon.
Calvin “The Rizzler” Kelly poses for a portrait before the underground pro-wrestling event. Crowds gathered outside of The Dandy Lion to observe through the foggy windows. (Grid, bottom left) Deonn “The Iceberg” Rusman poses for a portrait before the pro-wrestling event. Three hours before the match, wrestlers began sketching out their performances and choosing props to use in their fights. (Grid, bottom right) Tarlee Leckie poses for a portrait before the pro-wrestling event. Dante Leon was ruled as the Souris Valley Champion.
BUSINESS
Business Manager Debra Plath debra.plath@dailyiowan.com 319-335-5786
Advertising
Jordan Barry | The Daily Iowan
Dante Leon celebrates after defending his title of Souris Valley Champion after pinning Carlos Oliva during an underground pro-wrestling event at The Dandy Lion in Iowa City on Oct. 24. The event featured three matchups between pro-wrestlers of the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy based out of Davenport, Iowa, which was founded by Seth “Freakin” Rollins, a five time world champion in WWE.
Jordan
OPINIONS
UI should be more involved with animal shelters
The university should do more to encourage and facilitate animal interactions with students.
Coming to college can be hard, especially when it means leaving behind beloved pets.
Fortunately, the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center is nearly overflowing with animals and is always looking for volunteers. Unfortunately, the center isn’t incredibly accessible to students, particularly those without a car.
In the best interest of the students and animals, the university, along with the adoption center, should aim to become more intertwined.
Animals are good for mental health. Pets can increase dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin levels while reducing feelings of loneliness and depression. Students struggling with difficult class loads, work, and activities could benefit from some furry friends.
Since these interactions could also count as service hours, it would be an excellent way to meet any volunteering goals or requirements.
The interaction is equally beneficial for the animals, as it would help socialize them, provide exercise — which also benefits the students — and reduce their stress levels. All of these benefits increase their chances of adoption.
Although the University of Iowa has a licensed therapy dog, Drax, a lovable St. Bernard, it can be difficult for students to see him. Drax’s handler holds office hours for him from 12-2 p.m., but this is a limited window for students taking classes. The office hours are held at the Field House, which isn’t close to most classrooms. Additionally, one dog for nearly 25,000 students isn’t exactly a fair ratio.
Jennifer Read, programs director at the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center, said they were at capacity for dogs and nearly at capacity for cats, underscoring the need for more volunteers.
The process of becoming a volunteer at the center is relatively simple. It begins with an orientation and an orientation
quiz, which can be done independently when the student has time. This is followed by an application and training.
Some sororities, some fraternities, and the Animal Health Club do volunteer and engage more intimately with the center — a step in the right direction. However, this involvement needs to be expanded.
Only about 14 percent of the undergraduate student population is involved in Greek life, and even fewer visit the center. The Animal Health Club doesn’t visit the center as frequently as would be ideal for both students and the animals, focusing more on other aspects of the club.
Although the club is open to all majors, it is more heavily advertised to students on pre-veterinary or pre-health tracks, which may discourage other students from joining, especially when activities are more health-oriented than focused on animal interaction.
Ideally, a system or club should be established to provide students with rides to the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption center once a week. Establishing a club at the university, like becoming a volunteer for the shelter, is easy.
The entire process is laid out in eight concise steps under the UI Division of Student Life page, which includes ensuring the proposed organization does not already exist, identifying five students who are willing to be members, scheduling and attending a pre-registration meeting, joining the Engage platform, a review of the application by the Student Organization Review Committee, or SORC, and a follow-up SORC meeting if necessary. Finally, at least one member must attend an orientation led by staff.
Additionally, perhaps bringing a few animals to campus occasionally for visits would be beneficial.
Penn State is one university that implemented a club like this: Penn State Animal Volunteers.
“I love volunteering at the animal shelter because I love being around animals,” Taylor Frank, the club’s president, said. “It relieves my stress levels and takes me out of my studies.”
The club’s treasurer, Cara Casilli, added “When you’re stressed out and miss your pets at home, it’s great to see how happy the dogs at the shelter are to see you.”
For now, student involvement with the center needs to be encouraged until long-term, accessible solutions can be implemented and perhaps expanded to other shelters in the Iowa City area.
Iowa should become a no-kill state
Several states have moved toward no-kill shelter policies. Iowa needs to do the same.
Buddy is a mutt. He is nearly 10, his vision is poor, and he has a rough black-and-white coat. He’s seen hundreds of other dogs come and go through his shelter. But now space is cramped, and Buddy has had his chance. The shelter decides it’s too much to keep supporting him and determines it’s best to put him down. This is the reality for many shelter animals in Iowa. Space, age, health, and other factors force shelters to euthanize animals. But states such as New Hampshire, Delaware, and most recently Utah have moved statewide toward no-kill shelters, and Iowa should join them.
I understand why shelters feel the need to euthanize animals. These shelters often have policies to not turn away any animals. As a result, they take on the burden of housing, cleaning, and feeding animals rejected by other shelters, and sometimes they feel the most financially or ethically responsible decision is to euthanize. Best Friends, a no-kill organization, defines “no-kill” as saving 90 percent of the animals taken in by a shelter. We have seen cities and states transition to no-kill and succeed. Since 2010, Austin, Texas, has met this benchmark by promoting cooperation between local government, shelters, and the community. This includes increasing foster homes, government funding for spaying and neutering, and shelters providing free microchips to pet owners. Achieving no-kill status in a state or city requires community participation and responsibility from pet owners. Many pet owners don’t have their pets spayed or neutered, leading to owner surrenders and fueling puppy mills.
A 2022 Humane Society report found that Iowa had 17 of the top 100 puppy mills in the country.
Responsible laws and pet ownership will help to reduce the number of unwanted pets ending up in shelters. Stricter laws can crack down on inhumane puppy mills. The government can also support shelters by providing spay and neuter services, like in Austin. We must remember that animals are living beings dependent on us. Many are born and abandoned due to our neglect, abusive practices, and desire for “perfect” pets. A society that values animals as much as ours does must collectively holds the responsibility that comes with it.
Iowa must become a no-kill state, but achieving this will require active participation from both the government and the community. Other states and cities have done so through government support for pet owners and shelters, along with responsible pet ownership. For now, dogs and cats like Buddy in Iowa are at risk of being euthanized simply because they were born in the wrong part of the country. But with a shift in government and community philosophy, they might get to live another day.
Romanticizing bed rotting: a dangerous trend for students
Bed rotting is not what you think. It is not helping you relax and, in some cases, it is making your stress worse.
Lying in bed surrounded by pillows and scrolling mindlessly on social media — a typical “bed rot” may sound like a harmless way to unwind, but the negatives outweigh the benefits. Bed rotting is another form of procrastination. It refers to spending excessive time in bed, often on phones or watching television. The term gained popularity on TikTok, where users romanticize spending countless hours holed up in their rooms with ambient lighting and snacks. Filming time lapses of napping and relaxing in bed has become a norm on the platform. This portrayal resonates with the desire for comfort and relaxation, especially during stressful periods. College students, in particular, are prone to burnout. Forty percent of college students reported being so stressed they found it hard to function. So, with the demands of extracurricular activities, social lives, and most importantly, academics, it’s easy to seek comfort in one’s room.
With midterms concluding at the University of Iowa, many
STAFF
Jami Martin-Trainor | Executive Editor
students are looking forward to any break they can get. For some, that break means retreating to their beds for a few precious hours.
Second-year pre-med student Riley Asselin has a lot on her plate. Between studying for organic chemistry and biology midterms and balancing a research position, her academic life is truly demanding.
“After my classes are over, I love to stay in bed and decompress. Either I watch my show, scroll on TikTok, or read a book. I usually stay there until my roommate comes back and we need to eat, but I don’t really find the urge to get up and do anything else,” she said.
While the occasional rest is important, this form of relaxation may not be as restorative as it seems. Prolonged bed rotting has been linked to declines in mental health, including social isolation, depression, and lack of motivation.
“I remember I was so tired after my psychology midterm that I laid in bed for the rest of the day,” first-year student Madeline Anklam said. “The only other person I saw that day was my roommate, but even then, I didn’t have the motivation to get up and do the rest of my work.”
The brain thrives on stimulation and engagement, but too much passive activity can create a cycle of low mood and seclusion. If done to an extreme, social isolation can lead to a higher risk of depression and other mental illnesses.
When I was in high school, I brought my studying into my
Editorial Board: Jami Martin-Trainor, Marandah Mangra-Dutcher, Jack Moore, Stella Shipman, Carson Hartzog, Charlie Hickman
COLUMNS, CARTOONS, and OTHER OPINIONS CONTENT reflect the opinions of the
EDITORIALS
bed. For hours, I’d do my homework in the comfort of my blankets, but I’d end up getting less than six hours of sleep each night.
When I got to college, I changed my habits and started to study at my desk, which helped me get more than eight hours of sleep every night. A bed should be a sanctuary — a place to relax after a long, productive day. Bringing stress into this sanctuary affects not only your mood but also your sleep.
The same goes for bed rotting; “rotting” in bed diminishes its appeal when it’s actually time to sleep.
Balancing rest and activity is essential. Students can refresh their downtime with simple adjustments, like setting a timer to limit screen time or creating a cozy reading nook away from their bed. Taking your work to places like Java House or Prairie Lights might boost productivity and keep you away from bed rotting. If you want to stay in your dorm to relax, take a little time to create a space for yourself, whether it be investing in a futon, chair, or a comfy rug to sit on.
Another effective way to counter bed rotting is to connect with study groups, attend campus events, or hang out with friends.
Soon, finals will take over our lives. But we shouldn’t let the stress and prolonged study sessions overtake our downtime. Get enough sleep and set a routine. Procrastinating in bed won’t solve your problems; it’ll likely just create more.
Caden Bell Opinions Columnist opinions@dailyiowan.com
Jerod Ringwald | The Daily Iowan
A cat sticks its paws out of its enclosure at the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center on Feb. 21, 2022.
Abigail Jones Opinions Columnist opinions@dailyiowan.com
UNDERGROUND AT THE DANDY LION
Jordan Barry | The Daily Iowan
(Top) The crowd reacts during an underground pro-wrestling event at The Dandy Lion in Iowa City on Oct. 24. The event featured three matchups between pro-wrestlers of the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy based out of Davenport, Iowa, which was founded by Seth “Freakin” Rollins, a five-time world champion in WWE. (Above left) Dante Leon lands a chest stomp against Carlos Oliva during the underground pro-wrestling event. Oliva has been consumed with all things wrestling ever since his childhood after he moved here from Guatemala. (Above right) Tarlee Leckie punches Calvin “The Rizzler” Kelly during the underground pro-wrestling event at The Dandy Lion. Leckie hails from Melbourne, Australia, and entered the match on an aluminum scooter that later became a prop in her takedown of Kelly. (Above middle) Hector “The Cowboy” De Oro attempts a headlock against Deonn “The Iceberg” Rusman during the opening match at the underground pro-wrestling event in The Dandy Lion. Rusman is originally from Wasilla, Alaska, but moved to Iowa to be a trainer at Black and Brave Wrestling Academy and go professional.
See more online The Daily Iowan attended the underground wrestling event at The Dandy Lion on Oct. 24. To see more photos and coverage of the event, visit dailyiowan.com.
Young voters shift right, following national trend
Trump won young male voters by 14 points, while Harris won young voters overall.
Young voters were key to Donald Trump’s path to the White House, with the demographic following national headwinds shifting to the right. The change dealt a critical blow to Democrats, who led the group by double digits in 2020.
In the race for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Trump fought for young voters, aged 18-29, as they battled for the Oval Office.
Trump won his second term in office on Nov. 6 when the Associated Press called enough states for the former president to have a majority of electoral votes.
Trump won all seven key battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He carried the Electoral College with 312 electoral votes, compared to Harris’ 226. Trump also won the national popular vote with final results still waiting to be reported as of Sunday.
Trump’s decisive win in the Electoral College and the national popular vote was driven by voting shifts in many key demographics, including young voters. Young voters made up approximately 14 percent of all ballots cast in the 2024 election, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Research and analyzed by Tufts University. The analysis found a focus on the economy among young voters, where Trump had a distinct advantage, as a key driver of this rightward shift for young voters.
Young men were a key component of the shift, with Trump winning the group by 14 points, according to the Tufts University analysis.
Trump made major gains among young voters in Iowa, leading Iowa youth voters by 14 points and contributing to his decisive lead in the state where he won by approximately the same margin, according to the same analysis by Tufts University. The lead was a massive shift from 2020 when Biden was favored by one point among young voters in the state.
Nationally, Harris won young voters by six percentage points in 2024, down 15 percentage points from Biden’s 25-point lead in 2020. This was Harris’ best performance among any age demographic. Trump gained 19 percentage points, loosening Democrats’ grip on young voters in 2024.
“That’s really catastrophic, of course, for Democratic candidates,” said Mack Shelley, an Iowa State University political science professor. “That’s probably a couple of million votes right there. That’s enough to do in any presidential campaign and drag a whole lot of local or statewide candidates down [in] the process, too.”
Not only did Trump carry the White House, but Republicans also clinched control of the U.S. Senate and are poised to narrowly hold onto their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shelley said young voters’ drive toward Trump was one of several key demographic swings that doomed Democrats’ performance on Nov. 5. Young voters were one of the groups that helped deliver Biden his narrow victory in 2020 and now helped Trump clinch control of the Oval Office.
“The impact of younger voters was much, much different than
it had been before,” Shelley said.
“So, the Democrats, I think it’s obvious, were hoping that they were going to be able to ride a bit of a youth revolt against Trumpism and extremism, but it turned out to be almost the exact opposite.”
Trump’s improvement among young voters can be attributed to large gains made among white voters, where he was favored by 10 points in 2024. Biden led the group by six points in 2020 — showing a 16-point swing toward Trump in 2024. More specifically, white male voters were driving the gender gap, with 63 percent of the group voting for Trump compared to 35 percent who voted for Harris.
Gender gap drives small lead for Harris
A large part of this shift was young men’s swing away from Democrats to Trump. He won young men by 14 percentage points, compared to Biden’s 15 percentage point lead over Trump among the demographic in 2020 — a 29 percentage point swing.
Trump also made gains among young women in 2024. Harris still leads the group but by less than Biden did in 2020. Trump gained seven percentage points among the demographic in 2024, despite Harris still holding a lead in the group.
The Tufts University analysis shows the gap between young men’s and women’s votes in 2024 is stark, nearly 32 points, but on par with the overall gender gap this election. This stark difference was driven by young white men’s preference for Trump with him having a 28-point lead among the group. However, young white women and Latino men were evenly divided between Harris and Trump.
There were several drivers of this gender gap including the issues that each candidate focused on in their campaign, said Timothy Hagle, a University of Iowa political science professor.
“Democrats focused heavily,
again, as they did in 2022 on the abortion issue, and I suppose that might be something that directly affects young women [more], for a variety of reasons, than it does young men,” Hagle said.
The economy was a top issue for a large share of both young male and female voters, but young men were more likely to say it was their top issue than young women, according to the Tufts University analysis of AP VoteCast exit polling.
Shelley said because the economy was a more important issue for young men, it drove the group’s preference for Trump.
degrade men, to bring women up,” Riddle said. “And I believe Republicans believe that we should all be equal.”
Economy drives youth vote for Trump
The economy has consistently ranked as one of the key issues this election, and that rings true even for young voters, 40 percent of which said it was their top issue, according to a Tufts University analysis of AP VoteCast exit polling.
Other key issues ranked high among young voters’ responses;
“The chickens really came home to roost this time around, just because of the national obsession with inflation.”
Mack
Shelley Iowa State University political science professor
“The thing that seems to be at the top of mind for, well, younger male voters, but a lot of women voters as well, who were supporting Trump, was about the economy,” Shelley said. “The economic doldrums were pretty much what kept Harris and Democrats in general from getting very much traction.”
However, the messaging that each candidate featured on the campaign trail also influenced how much young voters swung for Trump in 2024.
Hagle said Harris’ surrogate speakers were negatively messaging young men, and polling showed the vice president losing the group at the end of her campaign.
Former President Barack Obama chastised young Black men for their reservations about a female president.
Drake Riddle, the secretary of the UI College Republicans, said the negative messaging has made young men put off by Democrats.
“I’ve seen men being treated as less than women, as was pretty much the campaign of Kamala Harris was to almost
immigration ranked second at 11 percent and 13 percent said abortion was their top issue.
Those top issues correlated to an advantage for Trump. Those who chose the economy and immigration were very likely to choose Trump, and those who chose abortion favored Harris.
“The chickens really came home to roost this time around, just because of the national obsession with inflation,” Shelley said.
Erich Profeta, a first-year UI student, said he voted for Trump mainly because of immigration but also because of the former president’s record on the economy.
“Look at groceries going up, gas going up — maybe some of those things do or don’t have to do with the president, but I think a lot of it does, or a lot of it can be affected by the president,” Profeta said.
“From what I know, the last four years, it’s all gone up. When Donald Trump was in office, it might have gone up once, and then back down and then steady for the rest of his term.”
Under Biden, inflation has skyrocketed to the highest it has been in decades, collectively 20 percent from the start to end of Biden’s time in office. Experts attribute the inflation mainly to supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and only partially to federal spending during the pandemic.
For voters who chose the economy as their top issue, 60 percent voted for Trump and 38 percent chose Harris. On abortion, a keystone issue for Harris’ campaign, voters who chose it as their top issue favored Harris by 59 percentage points.
“To the extent that the economy was a higher priority for voters, they were going to trend towards Trump rather than Harris, just because of the state of the economy these days, and what we’ve experienced over the last couple of years,” Hagle said.
The gender gap is also clear when looking at issue preference among young men and women. Young men were more likely than young women to say their top issue was the economy, with 42 percent of men and 39 percent of women saying as much. Young women were more
likely than men to say abortion was their top issue, with 17 percent of women and 8 percent of men indicating so in AP VoteCast surveys.
Of those young voters who said abortion was their top issue, 79 percent voted for Harris and 20 percent voted for Trump. Shelley said the issue helped Harris’ performance among young women who are affected more directly by the issue.
“Abortion was a main thrust, and that’s rather obviously a gendered issue, which will help get support from whatever chunk of the electorate who really attuned to that as a primary issue,” Shelley said.
Stella Logsdon, a fourth-year UI student, said she voted for Harris because of the state of reproductive freedoms in Iowa after Iowa Republicans enacted a near-total abortion ban last summer. Logsdon said Harris represents her beliefs on reproductive rights and abortion.
“I just like the idea of having a government system and a health care system that enables that kind of safety, and it provides me with that sort of empowerment to let me do what I want with my body,” Logsdon said.
Harris focused on Trump’s celebration of overturning Roe v. Wade , a federal precedent that protected the right to an abortion, and his role in overturning the precedent.
Trump appointed three of the six conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn the case. Harris said Trump could not be trusted not to sign a national abortion ban after he said he would leave it up to the states.
Youth voter turnout comparable to 2016
Overall youth turnout is down from 2020 but on par with 2016 levels, according to the Tufts University analysis. Turnout for 2020 is estimated at 42 percent, down from roughly 50 percent in 2020.
However, the analysis of swing state youth participation found that it averaged about 50 percent through the seven key battleground states.
Youth voters had a marginal share of the total vote this election compared to 17 percent in 2020 and 19 percent in 2016. This is a large change in voting behavior, as young voters are considered some of the least likely to consistently vote, compared to other age groups.
Shelley said youth voters being a large group of the voting population is a relatively new phenomenon that has risen since the 2016 and 2018 elections where young voters made up large shares of the voting population.
“That very large spike in voting by young people was probably the single major reason why Republicans got clobbered in that midterm election,” Shelley said, referring to the 2018 midterm election in which Democrats gained control of Congress.
Hagle said the new age of information from podcasts to social media has helped engage young voters in politics and engage traditionally low-propensity voters.
dominant position before the start of caucus night proved to be true as 51 percent of Republicans voted for Trump’s appearance in the 2024 presidential election as of 10:20 p.m. At the event, Trump spoke to over 300 supporters at his watch party about his goals and putting America first.
Megan Nagorzanski | The Daily Iowan
Vice President Kamala Harris, D-CA, addresses supporters at Backpocket Brewery on September 19, 2019.
in cases where old buildings need modifications, like in the UI’s case, where a majority of the buildings were made before the American Disability Act’s passing in 1990.
Richard Sternadori, a senior program director at Great Plains ADA Center and professor of architecture at the University of Missouri, said accessibility compliance is a two-part system.
“We’ve got this bifurcated system. We’ve got the International Code Council, who write the building codes that would then be adopted by your local government,” he said. “[There is also] the ADA, and the ADA is reliant on a book called the ‘2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.’”
Sternadori said buildings made before 1990 are allowed to remain as is 99 percent of the time, but there are a few stipulations. He said buildings are allowed to remain as is until the facility is altered or updated.
Macbride was built in 1908.
Navigating campus
Marchand, a first-year student at the UI, struggled to find their class in Macbride on the first day of school. They enlisted the help of nearby students, only to discover the single route to the north side of the building was through Macbride’s Natural History Museum.
While able-bodied students can just go around the building to reach those classrooms on the first floor, or initially enter on the north side, Marchand is left going through the museum because of the location of the building’s single elevator.
Another concern of Marchand’s is the museum is closed to the general public on Mondays and Tuesdays. On those days, the other side of the building on the first floor appears to be inaccessible to those who rely on the elevator.
“What strikes me about Macbride is their very obvious disregard for the ADA requirements,” Marchand said. “Just the fact that if my class were on a different day, just by chance, then I would not be able to attend class; it’s callous.”
After this experience, Marchand began a petition in early October, which has 346 signatures as of Nov. 5, to make Macbride more accessible for students and add an elevator to the north side of the building.
When asked about Macbride’s accessibility and the petition, Tiffini Stevenson Earl, the university’s ADA coordinator wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan, the petition had some inaccuracies, and the issue of accessibility through the museum gallery is unique to the first floor.
experiences that were had,” Nolte said.
The need for a space for young artists led Nolte, along with other artists and professionals in the area, to create that space.
The Iowa Conservatory for the Performing Arts, or ICON, is a performing arts high school that has been a part of Iowa City for around a year and a half. Opening its doors on Linn Street for the 2023-24 school year, the school was finding its footing in the arts scene at Iowa.
ICON was and still is a passion project, founder Nolte said.
“Our community is, of course, the greatest small city for the arts, and I’d like to also say arts education,” Nolte said.
Over a seven-year period, after finding the right residence halls, staff, and location, ICON was created. The school’s core values of “Caring, Innovating, and Preserving” brought a small batch of students through its doors in its inaugural year and, in its second year, has seen more students joining.
Nolte said students aren’t only coming to ICON for a performing arts education but
“Access to the north side of the building from the elevator is possible via an open, connected ground floor level or the accessible pathway through Macbride Auditorium on the second and third floors,” she wrote. “The issue of accessibility via the museum gallery is unique to the first floor, where the museum regularly opens for access upon arrangement/ request outside of normal hours.”
Earl also wrote that Student Disability Services often works with the museum staff to allow access through the first-floor gallery in Iowa Hall upon special arrangement outside of typical museum hours. Earl wrote this could happen officially with classroom scheduling, if necessary.
According to the university, the museum hours for UI faculty, staff, and students are:
Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
For the public, the hours are: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Even though Marchand is pursuing a petition for Macbride Hall specifically, they have experienced barriers all over campus.
Marchand lives in Catlett Residence Hall. One of the two elevators reaching the dormitories had been out of commission for two weeks in mid-October.
“Class is hard enough to get to, but being down one elevator makes it that much harder,” Marchand said.
Elizabeth Fuentes, a UI undergraduate who lives off-campus, has only recently
also a unique high school experience. She said half of the students ICON has brought in have dreams of attending a conservatory or getting a performing arts degree. The other half just want a different high school experience.
Caylon Hull, a second-year at ICON, wanted a little of both worlds.
“I chose ICON because me and my creative dance brain doesn’t necessarily jive with public school brains, because normally they just want to go to school and get it all done,” Hull said.
Hull, who has been a dancer for 11 years, is originally from Creston, Iowa, a town of about 7,400 that is approximately three hours from ICON’s doors. Hull boarded with just one other student during his first year at ICON.
Now in their second year, there are a total of five boarding students. This means Hull lives with another roommate, but he said his parents helped prepare him to live by himself at such a young age.
Being a boarding student for the second year, Hull continues to focus on his future and passion for the arts, specifically dance.
“All of my classes are focused on my future and how I want to develop in the world and with my creativity. And I can express myself
Edited by Will Shortz No.
1009
become a wheelchair and rollator walker user after a chronic illness worsened.
Her college experience has been somewhat tumultuous, as her diagnosis of a chronic illness impacted her ability to attend classes. She has reenrolled after a few semesters off. She and her husband live in Cedar Rapids. Fuentes is only on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester for her class in the English-Philosophy Building.
“The EPB is notoriously difficult,” she said. “It’s never created a situation where I am stuck, trapped, or unable to get somewhere, but it’s created situations where I’m going to be a little late.”
The EPB was built in 1966 and made to be riot-proof.
A couple of moments that came to mind for Fuentes when she had problems included when the wheelchair lift to the basement of the EPB was out of order.
The lift itself is slightly daunting and moves up and down at a concerningly slow pace, but that was the first time it had been completely out of commission since she started using it.
When an elevator or lift is no longer working in buildings with their classes, both Fuentes and Marchand never receive any notification from the university. They both discover the issues when actively trying to get to class.
Getting to campus
The UI prides itself on being a walkable
so much [more] at the conservatory here at ICON than I can in a public school,” Hull said.
ICON utilizes a combination of Iowa City Community School District online school for basic education classes and a project-based learning curriculum that allows students to explore different facets of the arts. From
“I chose ICON because me and my creative dance brain doesn’t necessarily jive with public school brains, because normally they just want to go to school and get it all done.”
Caylon Hull
Second-year student at ICON
makeup and hair to lighting, acting, dancing, visual arts, and more, ICON offers many areas of exploration.
“The voice aspect, the backstage, the lighting, how everything is built, is what we are learning here at ICON, and I adore it so
campus; however, when walking is no longer an option, getting to campus and around campus in a timely manner can pose an issue. One resource the UI created to curb some accessibility concerns is known as the Bionic Bus. The paratransit service, run through the CAMBUS office, offers an on-demand and door-to-door transportation option for people with disabilities — both temporary or permanent — according to the CAMBUS website.
The riders have to apply for certification through the university by submitting medical notes and requests to the coordinator to use the resource.
Marchand said while useful in some cases, the service is often hit-or-miss.
Fuentes sometimes uses the Bionic Bus to get to campus when she can’t get a ride from family or friends, and she wants to avoid parking fees. She said she is fortunate enough that, most of the time, her husband drives her. However, to use the resource, she has to drive into Iowa City and park at a friend’s house so the bus can pick her up. Both CAMBUS and Iowa City transit are wheelchair accessible, but Fuentes said the “fiasco” isn’t always worth it.
“It can be really difficult sometimes to watch a bus driver tell [students] they have to move to put a wheelchair on the bus,” Fuentes said.
Campus complaints
The Office of Civil Rights Compliance in the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity handles the majority of complaints surrounding the ADA on campus.
Earl explained in an email to the DI how a complaint or concern is handled.
“When our office receives a reported concern, our first step is to provide outreach to the impacted individual and offer them an opportunity to share their concern[s] and hear about resolution options,” Earl wrote. She further explained that she works with facility management to address concerns if she is made aware of a building being inaccessible to students and urged students to report any barriers or accessibility issues on campus to her.
Marchand has some reservations when it comes to complaints, as individuals have spoken to them about the lack of action surrounding complaints in buildings, including Macbride.
Marchand hopes to spur the addition of another elevator in Macbride with their petition. They want to make campus accessible for all, so if petitioning changes things, Marchand said they will petition as much as necessary.
“I won’t stop,” Marchand said. “I won’t.”
much. I was actually able to learn how to use a lighting console last year during our spring musical,” Hull said.
In ICON’s second year, the school has been adapting and adding courses to its course catalog as its student population grows. Although Hull’s primary focus is dance, he has been able to explore different areas at ICON.
“I really love our new class that we added this year. We added photography, and I got into photography during COVID, and it was such a tiny hobby of mine. And I developed a love and a passion for it, and that has been really fun working with our arts teacher,” Hull said.
Nolte and her staff of around 11 have been working in their second year to ensure their curriculum and vision evolve. Parts of the improvements, besides adding courses to their catalog and increasing their student populations, have been more monumental.
“We’ve certainly grown in our student population. We have kids in their second year now. So, we’ve added classes to our course catalog, and then this coming fall, we will be
masala go-with
have a choice
end? ”Down 1 Friend on “Friends”
“Fair point!”
Ixnay
Jackson 5 song that begins “You went to school
11 Queen Victoria has one named for her 12 “___ the Voice of the Lobster” (Lewis Carroll poem) 13 Pale wood 19 Fedora fabric
as with flour
is a deep cut
the lead
e.g. 28 Grammy category
might be out for a spell?
sort
name in tourism
Horned Frogs of the N.C.A.A. 39 Common clown name 40 “Doctor ___” 44 Agile
brownie, e.g.
engineer 49 Kitchen cover-up 50 “Catch my drift?” 51 Was part of a series, say
sign word
with “down”
PUZZLE
Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
Kristian Marchand, a first-year student at the University of Iowa, travels to their dorm on Oct. 25. Marchand recently started a petition to make Macbride Hall more accessible for those with physical disabilities.
ICON from 1A
ICON | 8A
Former Army nurse focuses on psychiatry and primary care at UI after service
Professor Teresa Judge-Ellis now focuses her work on holistic patient approach.
Brianna Brands News Reporter news@dailyiowan.com
Former Army nurse turned University of Iowa family and psychiatric nurse practitioner Teresa Judge-Ellis has dedicated a great deal of her time and talents to addressing mental health and the primary care of people with serious mental illness.
A Mental Health America study showed that 25.4 percent of Iowans with any mental illness reported an unmet need for required treatment in 2022, compared to the U.S. at 28.2 percent.
While Judge-Ellis did not originally plan to go to school for nursing, several of her peers at St. Louis University were nursing majors and eventually influenced her decision to switch to nursing.
After declaring her nursing major, Judge-Ellis took an Army ROTC scholarship to help her pay off nursing school, after which she became an Army officer in the Army Nurse Corps. Over the course of the next four years, she spent time working in general surgical postoperative wards and emergency departments in Augusta, Georgia, Honduras, and Korea.
After leaving the military, she obtained her master’s degree from Pacific Lutheran
accredited. So, that’s a big deal in the state of Iowa, as well as within the United States,” Nolte said.
An accreditation in the state of Iowa means ICON would have official school status. According to educate.iowa.gov, schools must meet the standards in Iowa code 256.11 to become accredited.
Not only have faculty been working toward these changes, but Hull, who has believed in the mission since he first stepped into Iowa City, is excited about ICON’s development.
“I’ve noticed a lot of growth and a lot of change with ICON, especially the environment we had. We had a lot of seniors last year, so coming back with the same three students and adding at least six other students was really nice to get to know so many different people,” Hull said.
Although the student population is not what ICON had initially expected in 2022, which was a student population of 150, ICON still houses full-time boarding students, half-day students, gap-year students, and has had new and returning faces to their halls this year.
Hull explained his excitement for the new students joining after many graduated last year.
“Me being here and until my senior year was just the goal. I’m going to meet so many new faces and so many nice and creative brains along the way, and I’m so excited,” Hull said.
Melia Bohn is currently working at ICON as a student life coach while preparing for
University before becoming a nurse practitioner at the VA Hospital in Iowa City.
Judge-Ellis has been on staff at UI since 1999, where, as a dual board-certified family practice and psychiatry mental health nurse, she focuses on serving people with mental illness and underserved populations.
She does most of her work with patients at Shelter House and Chatham Oaks, a residential care facility for people with severe mental illness who are in the process of stabilization and transitioning to community living, as a part of the College of Nursing Faculty Practice. On Wednesday mornings, she also brings nursing students to a free breakfast at Agape Cafe, where they have a nursing outreach table set up.
“Tess listened to one of her patients, checked out the Agape Cafe, and started a program with the UI nursing students of Health Education Outreach at Agape in 2022 that is still going strong,” Agape Cafe Co-Director Jennifer Britton wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. “Her basic brilliant idea is that the more different people students get to meet during their education, the better they will be at taking health histories throughout their careers. Genius!”
Judge-Ellis’ inspiration for her current focus came from external donors to the College of Nursing who supported holistic care
an intense audition process ahead of her for musical theater programs. After graduating from Linn Mar High School in 2023, Bohn took a gap year through ICON to find the best fit for her future.
“I have always not felt as confident in my acting, at least before this year, as maybe my singing and dancing, but I have gotten so much more confident in my acting,” Bohn said.
Bohn was able to hone in on a performing arts education and get more clarity on what she wanted to do. Heading into an intense audition process, she reflected on her growth at ICON in the past year.
“They are trying to make it more acclimated to what each student’s major is. So, last year, we were basically doing and are still doing every aspect of the arts. You will just be doing more of your major,” Bohn said.
Nolte understands that gap years might be looked down upon, but with real-life examples like Bohn, Nolte is looking to flip that narrative.
“It’s not traditionally the way it’s done, but we have seen some real success with our gap-year students, and I have a feeling that in our example of the gap-year students, we might even see less changing of major or dropping out,” Nolte said.
With all aspects of ICON being finetuned in their second year, the small school is looking to continue providing a new approach to education.
“When you put real faculty members and real students into your idea, there are little changes along the way, of course, but to see it come and move from pretend to real has been pretty fantastic and magical,” Nolte said.
and working with underserved populations.
“I was interested in working with people who had a hard time getting in to see their health care provider or a doctor,” she said. “That led me to relationships with people in the community that were doing that sort of work. It seems that severe mental illness and substance use disorder [and] housing instability all kind of coalesced, and that’s where I found myself in those practices.”
Judge-Ellis said the holistic approach is often driven by what the patient has.
“So, if they come in and their mental illness is stable, but they have a problem with their knee or with their breathing or diabetes, then I will kind of let the patient’s needs drive the appointment,” she said.
She also works closely with case managers and social workers, as they can help address the concerns they see from working with the patient more often and bring them to Judge-Ellis’ attention.
“I can look at people through a lens of both psychiatry and primary care,” she said.
Her work is different than working in a clinic situation, she said, as it is more community-based.
“Because these are populations that sometimes have a hard time engaging with health care, anytime I can get somebody to come in and engage with me and work on health care-related issues that are important to them, that’s a win.”
Chatham Oaks Administrator Lydia Olson-Kelley said Judge-Ellis conducts a clinic every Tuesday to address the residents’ primary care and psychiatric needs.
“For many people that we provide services to, their mental health needs and some of their physical health needs are so intertwined that having someone who can take a look at both provides better outcomes,” Olson-Kelley said. “That’s kind of Tess’ whole philosophy — she wants to help advocate for that to be the norm instead of an exception that she does.”
Olson-Kelley said Judge-Ellis displays an abundance of empathy in her work and is excellent at being open to the ideas and perspectives of others, helping them support people with chronic mental health needs.
“I’m really grateful to have somebody in a partnership with me to really keep us moving forward to make the mental health services more innovative and supportive,” she said.
Judge-Ellis said she hopes her work encourages others to think about nursing in a new light.
“We always think about nursing as working in the hospital, [but] we need nurses to work in the community-based settings too,” she said. “Nursing is just a phenomenal career, and people can start in nursing as a CNA, they can work as an LPN, but the nursing profession is so vast and wide.”
Hannah Neuville | The Daily Iowan
Tess Judge-Ellis, clinical associate professor and nurse practitioner, poses for a portrait in front of the College of Nursing Building on Nov. 8. Judge-Ellis is a former Army nurse and focuses her work in mental health and holistic approaches to health care.
ICON from 1A
MEN’S WRESTLING
Trio of transfers take to the mat
The Iowa men’s wrestling team picked three highly ranked transfers from the portal.
4
Trey Benson
Colin Votzmeyer
Through the murky waters of the transfer portal that rules college athletics today, the No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling team has pieced together a championship-caliber program. After a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten
championships and fifth-place finish at the NCAA championships last season, something needed to change. No longer able to fall back on the Hawkeyes of times past Spencer Lee, Jaydin Eierman, or Alex Marinelli — head coach Tom Brands needed more than development of the talent he already recruited. He needed experienced additions and tough-minded fighters as he once was in his career — and he needed to adapt or die amid the nature of college wrestling today. Through the smoke emerged transfers
Jacori Teemer, Kyle Parco, and Stephen Buchanan, each top-ranked individual championship contenders in search of something more.
Teemer, a 5-foot-7, 157-pounder from Long Beach, New York, leads the pack as he made the jump from Arizona State after five years of accomplished wrestling there.
The former Sun Devil came out of high school as the No. 1 recruit wrestling at 126 pounds upon winning five high school state championships — his first as an eighth grader.
During Teemer’s time at ASU, the wres-
Earning her confidence
First-year Iowa women’s wrestler Valarie Solorio has proven she can compete at a high level.
Olson
Iowa women’s wrestling head coach Clarissa Chun makes the recruiting process simple. Her goal is to find the women who want to be challenged — the athletes who aren’t particularly the most talented but willing to fight and compete for spots in the lineup.
That mindset is the exact embodiment of first-year Valarie Solorio, a 110-pounder from Panama City Beach, Florida. Solorio had been a lifelong advocate of Iowa wrestling years before the university installed a women’s program. She knew the level of competition she would face while being at Iowa during her recruiting process, as the Hawkeyes returned an abundance of talent in their lightweight classes. However, Solorio was determined to compete for a position on the Hawkeye roster regardless of the challenges she faced.
“She knew what we had, especially at those lightweights,” Chun said. “We have returning national champions and returning runner-ups. But she didn’t care. She wanted to earn her spot and be in a room to continue to grow and develop.”
Chun said Solorio’s history in multiple different wrestling backgrounds has given the freshman a different attitude both on and off the mat.
“She’s from Florida, so she has a different swag about them I think,” Chun said. “But she also has been trained in Pennsylvania. That’s a lot of great ability to scramble and wrestle through positions. Her swag from her Florida upbringing, and her technical aspect of what she has brought from Pennsylvania, makes her unique.”
This was tested immediately when Solorio stepped foot on the mat for her first collegiate competition at the Luther Hill Open in Indianola, Iowa, on Nov. 2.
tling phenom red-shirted his first year and added almost 30 pounds of muscle mass during the process, rising to 149 pounds before finding his groove at 157. There, Teemer established himself as one of the greatest Tempe has ever seen. He compiled a 77-15 record, a 29-13 record against ranked opponents, four All-American nods, and four Pac-12 Championships one of just seven wrestlers in Pac-12 history to do the latter.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Mallegni finding rhythm with Iowa women’s basketball
The first-year was one of the two leading scorers in Iowa’s victory over Missouri Western.
Jack Birmingham Sports Reporter sports@dailyiowan.com
Though the Iowa women’s basketball team lost many stars last season, it has the potential to increase it’s offensive firepower in 2024-25 with first-year Teagan Mallegni, one of several newcomers to the program.
Standing at 6-foot-1, Mallegni showcased her talent with an impressive performance in the exhibition contest against Missouri Western on Oct. 30. She posted 18 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 5-of-11 shooting, leading the Hawkeyes to a 110-55 victory. Mallegni’s total tied for the team lead with third-year forward Hannah Stuelke and garnered plenty of excitement from the Hawkeye faithful. Head coach Jan Jensen credited Mallegni’s confidence for her success.
“She is a really good shooter, as you can tell,” Jensen said. “Usually, you’re a good shooter. You just don’t think about it. When she gets on a roll, she can be pretty fun. I’ve seen her over the high school years and in AAU — everybody was recruiting her because she has the ability with that really quick trigger.”
The first-year also credits her Iowa teammates for enabling that strong confidence on the court.
“I really think my teammates have just given me so much confidence,” Mallegni said. “They’re just so happy for me. They’re amazing. They’re always talking to me and giving me pieces of advice. I love them all so much.” Jensen also explained that Mallegni, while still learning the landscape of college basketball, is a true competitor.
“That whole class is really filled with competitors, but certainly Teagan has been shining this summer,” Jensen said. “I think you caught a glimpse of what we hopefully can look forward to from her.”
Hailing from McFarland, Wisconsin, Mallegni starred at McFarland High School holding numerous school records, including all-time points, most points in a season, most points in a game with 62, second-most rebounds in a game with 19, and tied the record for most three-pointers in a game with nine.
Mallegni also received numerous accolades and nominations throughout her high-school career. The
Isabella Tisdale | The Daily Iowan
Iowa No.
149-pound Kyle Parco celebrates after winning a match against Stanford 149-pound Jaden Abas during No. 2 Iowa’s first home dual against No. 20 Stanford at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Nov. 9. The Hawkeyes defeated the Tree, 32-9. Parco defeated Abas, 15-0.
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
Iowa 110-pound Valarie Solorio wrestles Quincy University’s Sereena Baca during the Luther Hill Open Titles at the Blake Field House in Indianola, Iowa, on Nov. 2. Iowa ended the tournament with six champions and an overall record of 58-17.
Women’s Wrestling
Brendan Sullivan should have been the starting quarterback all along
A two-game sample size proves why Sullivan should have been leading the Hawkeye offense for the 2024-25 season from day one.
Chris Meglio Pregame Reporter sports@dailyiowan.com
Hawkeye fans have been calling for more of Brendan Sullivan after seeing flashes of his game as a designated red zone quarterback. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the fans got what they wanted. We never want to see a player get hurt. But there’s a clear difference between how the offense operates when he or Cade McNamara is under center, and saying the quarterback change should remain permanent is warranted.
Head coach Kirk Ferentz expressed his confidence in McNamara’s ability to lead the Iowa football team to success week-in and week-out. If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t have been recruited to come to Iowa. We have seen glimpses of McNamara’s ability to deliver timely passes and make plays when needed.
However, like all sports, the game evolves. As a quarterback in today’s game, you need to have the ability to make plays with your legs. Enter Sullivan.
Sullivan impacted the game with his legs in the three or four snaps he was getting in the red zone. During a play against Michigan State, he turned a funky snap that made him do a 360 into a two-yard rushing touchdown — something we haven’t seen McNamara come close to doing this year.
WHAT YOU’VE MISSED
While fans and spectators were excited to watch the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team return to action at the Luther Hill Open in Indianola, Iowa, on Nov. 2, all eyes were glued on Kennedy Blades as she stepped onto the mat for the first time in her Black and Gold career.
In her first competition since the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, in which she won a silver medal, Blades established herself quickly as one of the most dominant presences in women’s wrestling — a threat to contend for an individual championship.
“It’s just that super competitive part I have,” Blades said. “Off the mat, it is such an easy switch, and I just love that I am like that.”
In the final round of the event, Blades took on a familiar foe in first-year Rose Cassioppi, also of the Hawkeyes, for a chance to earn her first collegiate tournament win. Indeed, it was a series of firsts for Blades across the day. Blades capped off her impressive debut by edging Cassioppi in a first-period technical fall victory. Despite the immediate success Blades has seen since coming to Iowa, she is always trying to improve her craft. Being under the guidance of head coach Clarissa Chun has given Blades more opportunities to fine-tune her skills and grow in aspects of the game she never expected to.
“We work on things that I don’t even think about,” Blades said. “The one thing that surprised me, but in a very good way, was that we actually work on getting off our back. I don’t remember the last time I did that. The fact that we are practicing small things, thinking about being a huge impact, is what makes it really special.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
In the Ohio State game, the only scoring drive Iowa put together was the last drive of the game — Sullivan’s lone drive where he completed a 12-yard pass and took two rushes for 27 yards, capped off by a Kaleb Johnson touchdown.
Game after game, it was moments like that that had the Hawkeye faithful questioning why he wasn’t QB1 sooner.
It’s been nearly two weeks since we got to see Sullivan in the role we so desperately wanted for him, but not in the fashion we hoped for. In the second quarter of the Northwestern game, McNamara
Q&A | CONNOR COLBY
got popped while throwing the ball downfield. He got up and ran to the sidelines, where he was diagnosed with a concussion after testing.
Sullivan subbed in as a result.
Upon his appearance, Iowa was trailing, 7-5, just minutes before halftime. Johnson couldn’t break through the defense as teams centered their focus on him.
By the end of the game, the Hawkeyes won, 40-14 — an explosion in the second half sparked by the dynamic rushing attack led by Sullivan and Johnson. He completed 9-of-14 passes for 79 yards and took eight carries for 41 yards and a touchdown.
“That’s a clear contrast,” Ferentz said after the Northwestern win. “ I think that’s one of Brendan’s strengths. He’s a really good athlete. And the other thing is he
commanded the game. No matter what your style is, you have to do that.”
In the 42-10 win against Wisconsin, Sullivan led four straight scoring drives in the third quarter to the early fourth quarter. He finished the game completing 7-of-10 passes for 93 yards and one passing touchdown along with nine carries for 58 yards and one rushing touchdown.
The number of plays he extends due to his rushing ability is uncanny.
“He’s an incredible athlete,” Iowa wide receiver Jacob Gill said, who has been roommates with Sullivan since the two were freshmen at Northwestern. “He’s always been that way. Always been one of the faster guys, one of the more explosive guys.”
Iowa offensive lineman talks team dynamic
Jake Olson Sports Reporter sports@dailyiowan.com
The Daily Iowan: How do you feel about the team this year and how it’s coming together? Connor Colby: I feel like every day at practice, we are setting a standard on what we want to see and how we want to play. I think each day out here at practice, we are just building on that.
Tim Lester is coming in with a new plan for the team. What are you seeing from him as a coach or as a person that you like?
Just his energy coming into the building every day. He’s always excited to install new plays and
“You want to play for a guy like that, so I love seeing that. You don’t see quarterbacks do that very often.”
Iowa starting center Logan Jones on quarterback Brendan Sullivan’s physicality and blocking
STAT OF THE WEEK
Steals from Iowa women’s basketball guard Kylie Feuerbach in the seasonopening win over Northern Illinois — a career-high
The Iowa basketball season is underway, and preseason predictions from a handful of college basketball media outlets have mixed feelings about the Hawkeyes’ upcoming campaign.
Ken Pomeroy, a statistician who developed an advanced analysis of college basketball, has slotted Iowa as the 37th-best team in the country. This is ahead of other conference teams such as USC, Indiana, and Northwestern.
The Hawkeyes were met with less favorable recognition in the annual Big Ten preseason media poll. College basketball journalists placed Iowa near the back half of the conference at 11th, two spots lower than the 2023-24 squad.
Iowa loses key players such as Tony Perkins, Patrick McCaffery, and Ben Krikke, but I still believe the key returners and transfer portal additions will propel the Hawkeyes to their first 20-win season in two years.
Highlighting the returnees is
get out here at practice. Even at walk-throughs, he’s excited, so it’s nice.
Why did you grow a mullet?
I have had a mullet since junior year of high school. I cut it off a couple of times, but it just doesn’t look right without it.
The eye test has proven the Iowa offense has looked more fluid allaround — especially in the run game. As if Johnson couldn’t get any better, Sullivan adds another layer of ground attack that opens more gaps for the Heisman candidate.
Numbers don’t lie. Sullivan sits third among quarterbacks in the country in points per opportunity with 0.57 minimum 100 snaps taken, per Cody Nagel of 247 Sports. I speak for all Iowa fans by saying we can’t wait to see another Sullivan-led offense on the gridiron for the year.
“Just a lot more confidence being built,” Sullivan said after the win over Wisconsin. “Obviously, knowing that you’re going to start, you gotta have some confidence.”
What’s one food that you don’t like but everyone else does like?
I feel like a lot of people like mushrooms, but I’m just not a big mushroom guy.
What’s one drink that you don’t like but everyone else does like?
I feel like a controversial one is milk. I like milk, but I just don’t drink it every day — only when I’m back home and my dad makes me drink it.
If you could build your dream sandwich, what are you putting on there?
I’m just going to go to Subway two footlongs, Italian, ham, turkey, American cheese, lettuce, pickles, black olives, mayo, and pepper.
What’s your favorite movie of all time?
The “Fast and Furious” series.
Turf or grass when it comes to football?
Probably turf — just so, if it’s raining, it’s not muddy, and I don’t slip and fall all over the place.
If you could move anywhere in the world for free, where would you go?
I’ll probably just set up in Cabo, Mexico, and just go fishing every day.
fourth-year forward Payton Sand fort. After testing the NBA waters, Sandfort returns to Iowa after his most successful year in the pro gram. Another big name to watch is second-year center Owen Free man. After earning Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors last year, Freeman looks to continue his development.
Head coach Fran McCaffery and the coaching staff also dipped into the transfer portal to replenish some of the talent he lost.
Morehead State transfer Drew Thelwell adds veteran leadership at point guard, averaging 10 points and 6.2 assists per game for the Eagles last season. Manhattan’s Seydou Traore is a lengthy 6-foot-7 wing who also brings athleticism to the Hawkeye roster. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Freshman team member notched 11 points and eight rebounds a game for the Jaspers. Traore also has a defensive aspect of his game that can immediately impact the Iowa roster, as he averaged 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game for Manhattan. Iowa is set up to have a successful season under McCaffery with these transfers. Eclipsing the 20-win plateau and staying competitive in a loaded Big Ten conference is what I expect from the Hawkeyes this season.
Iowa men’s basketball head coach Fran McCaffery finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 19-15 record, disappointing many fans and missing the NCAA tournament in his 14th season as head coach.
After reviewing this year’s schedule, the 2024-25 season will likely be another sub-20 win season for McCaffery McCaffery recorded only six seasons under 20 wins during his Iowa tenure, but this season brings many challenges that Hawkeye basketball has not seen before.
With two of Iowa’s top five scorers from last season transferring to other programs — Patrick McCaffery to Butler and Tony Perkins to Missouri — the Hawkeyes are going to be heavily reliant on veteran Payton Sandfort and Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year winner Owen Freeman.
Iowa fans know this, opponents
know this, and McCaffery definitely knows this. If opponents can neutralize Sandfort and Freeman, then the Hawkeyes will have to look for another offensive alternative to win games. While their non-conference opponents seem fairly manageable — in an already intense Big Ten conference — adding the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington makes the already grueling league that much more difficult.
Additionally, last year’s team went 4-9 in away games, and Iowa will have to face respected programs such as Michigan, UCLA, Illinois, Ohio State, and Maryland on the road this year.
The Hawkeyes will also have to face in-state rival Iowa State in Carver, who was ranked No. 5 in the preseason Associated Press top-25.
Iowa’s roster is also very young, with only four fourthyears on the squad. With the lack of veteran leadership on the team, the Hawkeyes will have to grow up fast to succeed in the lengthy college basketball season.
Add in the gauntlet of the Big Ten and Iowa’s lack of experience on the court, and it sets up a challenging season for Iowa.
Connor Colby Offensive lineman 6-foot-6 310 pounds Senior Kennedy High School
Jake Olson Sports Reporter
Trey Benson Sports Reporter
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan throws the ball during a football game between Iowa and UCLA at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif. on Friday Nov. 8, 2024. The Bruins defeated the Hawkeyes 20-17.
TRANSFERS from 1B
Such success culminated in a runner-up finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships last season, falling to No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State, 5-0, in the final. But with Haines making the jump to 174 and Teemer to a championship-contending program, Teemer is the top-ranked 157-pounder this season.
Decorated in accolades, Teemer is no stranger to success. He hopes by coming to Iowa, he can contribute to the long-standing tradition of successful Iowa wrestlers.
“It means a lot — it played a big part of why I came here,” Teemer said at media day. “This is the mecca … I want to go out
SOLORIO from 1B
Solorio dominated her first match against Quincy University’s Sereena Baca in a 12-0 technical fault victory. This win displayed the talent she brings while reassuring Solorio she has the attributes and skills to compete at this level.
“It kind of felt like freshman year of high school again where you are walking into your first room questioning if you should be there. I had a really big imposter syndrome,” Solorio said. “I was really happy to make it to the finals and prove to myself that I can do this and that this is just like any other day.”
Solorio battled adversity over her next two rounds, earning comeback victories in matches against Grand View’s Tristan Nitta and Lindenwood’s Kate Cooper via decision.
Solorio claims that wrestling from behind is never ideal, but her experience at Iowa has prepared her for any situation or position she may find herself in.
“Thankfully, all my partners here are amazing and put me in situations where I have to fight for every single point,” Solorio said. “Whenever I was down by four, five, or six, I felt fine and never out of it. I felt like I could come back because I do this in the room every day. I train with the best every day.”
The pair of victories earned a spot in the championship bout with a chance to win the first championship in her Iowa career. Standing in her way was reigning National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship winner Ava Bayless, a second-year with a career record of 34-1, who is also her Hawkeye teammate.
This moment felt surreal for Solorio. Since she started her wrestling career, Solorio said Bayless had been a pioneer of the sport in Pennsylvania and someone she has looked up to growing up.
While they may be competitors on the mat, the two grapplers are close off of it,
with a bang, so I was like, ‘Why not Iowa?’” Teemer is not the only Sun Devil to keep the gold but exchange the maroon for black, joining former teammate Kyle Parco in Iowa City. Parco played a role in the former’s decision to take the leap and keep the energy they built together rolling.
“[We’re] just coming over and being ourselves, man,” Teemer said. “That’s the only thing we could do: being ourselves, keeping a good energy for the team. And we hope everyone carries it.”
Parco, a 5-foot-7 149-pounder from Danville, California, brings just as much experience as Teemer across two seasons at Fresno State and another three at Arizona State.
And likewise, Parco compiled a 94-18 career record with a 37-17 record against
ranked opponents, including four All-American nods and three Pac-12 championships in his three seasons in Tempe.
Parco has seen it all, wrestling against the best in the likes of Ridge Lovett and Tariq Wilson. The experience he, now ranked No. 4 in his weight class, brings to Iowa wrestling will surely aid in his favor during a grueling Big Ten wrestling season — his toughest yet.
“They want to be here. There’s energy,” Brands said of Parco and his transfer teammates. “But the thing that those guys have, that super competitive wrestlers or athletes have, is they want to win.”
Rounding out the trio, though arguably the most impressive thus far, is Buchanan by way of Wyoming and then Oklahoma. Buchanan is one of the more physical wres-
tlers in the Big Ten, aided by his 6-foot and 197-pound stature, and is perfectly positioned to win a national championship this season.
While it may have been an easier choice for Teemer and Parco to transfer as a duo from Arizona State in pursuit of the biggest accolades of them all, it was not as easy for Buchanan.
The grappler from Loyal, Wisconsin, highlighted how, because of Iowa’s dominant tradition, the Hawkeyes are often disliked by many schools across the country. But if you can’t beat the competition, join them.
“Once I got here, meeting Tom and Terry [Brands] and how they just added on to my wrestling and giving me the confidence to wrestle the way that I’m going to wrestle on the mat is something that I’m just grateful for,” Buchanan said. He produced quite a career over his four years of NCAA wrestling thus far, earning All-American status three times throughout his career — twice at Wyoming and once at Oklahoma.
Buchanan compiled a 98-26 career record, a 35-19 record against ranked opponents, three All-American nods, a Big 12 championship in 2022, and two third-place finishes at the NCAA championships.
In a stacked and aggressive weight class, including AJ Ferrari and Jacob Cardenas, Buchanan stands out as the top-ranked wrestler favored to make a run at a national title of his own.
Altogether, coaching staff will look to utilize the talent brought from these transfers to steer Iowa in the direction of winning a NCAA national championship as a collective.
“The good thing about the transfer portal is if things get stale where you’re at, you can leave, and nobody can keep you out,” Tom Brands said. “Whether or not things were stale where they were or for whatever reason, we’re the benefactor of their decision to want to be an Iowa Hawkeye.”
Upon Parco and Buchanan picking up strong wins against No. 23 Oregon State on Nov. 2, Buchanan hustling out a ranked win over No. 5 Trey Munoz with a late takedown and some riding time, glimpses of hope are there that such an impact can bring some hardware back to Iowa City. And when Teemer hits the mat to open his season and get into his groove, the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team will be dangerous.
often hanging out at each other’s homes and bonding.
“She really has taken me in as a big sister figure,” Solorio said. “Not only am I with her every day here [at thewrestling facility], but I want to say Thursday through Sunday I’m staying at her house
MALLEGNI from 1B
in the basement on a spare bed. I’m with her all the time.” Solorio didn’t come away with the firstplace finish, dropping to Bayless in a 5-0 decision. Although this wasn’t the outcome she desired, Solorio proved that she can compete at the highest level of women’s
Wisconsin native won first-team All-State and Rock Valley Player of the Year honors twice.
Fourth-year guard Sydney Affolter is expected to be one of Iowa’s key pieces in the 2024-25 season, but she has battled a knee injury during the offseason. Affolter praised Mallegni for her strong play throughout the summer.
“Teagan’s been playing exceptionally well,” Affolter said. “I’m super proud of her, and I’ve been seeing that since the summer. Her talent is through the roof, and she’s been playing a lot of the four position, so I think that perfectly fits her. I think she’ll get more comfortable and confident within our offense, and we’ll just keep seeing her out there, shooting some threes.”
Similar to Jensen and other Hawkeye teammates, there was one word that Affolter used to describe the young sharpshooter: confident.
“I think she brings a lot of confidence to the table,” Affolter said. “She knows what her skill set is, and she’s been very big on that. I see her in the gym all the time and she’s getting up shots left and right, so I think doing that, knowing what she does well and also listening to the upperclassmen on what she can do well to be successful.”
wrestling.
“It shows just because I’m a freshman doesn’t mean that I should count myself out,” Solorio said. “I deserve to be here like any other wrestler at any age. I know I deserve to be here. I do my best and I prove that on the mat.”
Logan McCaw | The Daily Iowan
Iowa No. 2 197-pound Stephen Buchanan flips Stanford No. 17
197-pound Nick Stemmet while wrestling during No. 2 Iowa’s first home dual against No. 20 Stanford at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Nov. 9. The Hawkeyes defeated the Tree, 32-9. BuChunan defeated Stemmet, 18-1.
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
An official holds up Iowa 110-pound Valarie Solorio’s arm during the Luther Hill Open Titles at the Blake Field House in Indianola, Iowa, on Nov. 2. Iowa ended the tournament with six champions and an overall record of 58-17.
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
Iowa guard Teagan Mallegni goes up for a shot during a women’s basketball game between Iowa and Northern Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Nov. 6. The Hawkeyes defeated the Huskies, 91-73.
AN UNFORGIVING ROSE BOWL
The UCLA Bruins defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes, 20-17, on Nov. 8 in Pasadena, California. It has been 65 years since Iowa has won in the Rose Bowl.
LOOKING BACK IN TIME TO 1959
The last game Iowa won in the Rose Bowl was in 1959 against the California Golden Bears.
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
(Top) UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer
left)
Sleep well this winter
Want to maximize the effectiveness of your bedtime routine? Here’s how to start.
Flynn Milligan Arts Reporter arts@dailyiowan.com
After coming home from a long day of school, practice, work — whatever it may be — the last thing you may want to do is do more work before you can finally sleep. However, with daylight savings time and the incoming winter months, the mental health of people every where can begin to decline.
A 2022 Healthy Minds Poll found that almost 40 percent of Americans experiance a decline in mood in the winter months. Having a consistent routine that helps combat phys ical and mental ailments can help prevent this sudden mood change this winter.
1. Moisturize
Moisturizing: likely the word you hear the most when it comes to recommendations for maximizing your bedtime routine. That’s for good reason. Moisturizing has numerous benefits. It hydrates your skin, which prevents water loss that leads to redness and dry skin. Your skin works most actively at night, so it absorbs the ingredients in your products much easier, and the skin’s repair process is at its best while you’re asleep — making for the perfect time to combat issues with moisturizer.
I recommend Hanacure for a more advanced option, but a basic CeraVe cream works great. After applying one of these products, try applying a few drops of oil over it — Main stay Everyday Oil is a great choice. Apply these products by rubbing in a circular motion to increase blood flow under the skin. Side note — lotion is best applied to damp skin, contrary to popular belief. I recommend applying your body lotion after showering instead of before bed.
Roller
2. Gua Sha/Jade
Perhaps my favorite part of my routine before sleep — and in my morning routine, as I like to do this twice a day — is using my gua sha and jade roller on both my neck and face. These tools have both mental and physical benefits. They relax you before bed by relieving tension in your face and neck as well as promoting blood flow. Also, they give you a few minutes of reflective and meditative time before sleep.
‘Conclave’ tackles the politics of religion as chaos unfolds
Secluded cardinals turn against one another in hopes of power ascension to maintain their ideal future.
Both the gua sha and the jade roller reduce puffiness, increase circulation, lessen dark circles and wrinkles, and help ease tension and pain. They can also help to sculpt your face; I especially enjoy using the gua sha along my chin and jawline. There are specific strategies and methods for using these tools, and there are many fantastic guides on the internet. Pro tip: Try storing your tools in the fridge (not the freezer because jade stones crack easily) to enhance their effectiveness on puffiness and dark circles. Or, try warming them to increase blood flow and product absorption.
3. Hair Care
Rule number one of your nighttime hair routine: Do not go to sleep with damp hair. Oh, the horror. This can cause damage to your hair as it will stretch and break easier — especially if you move a lot in your sleep — increased chance of scalp infections and dandruff, and a guaranteed chance of tangled hair in the morning. Instead, especially if you have longer curly hair like me, I recommend brushing your hair out as much as possible before sleep and making sure it is completely dry. Your hair and scalp will thank you in the morning.
4. Your Pillow
Yes, you should be thinking about your pillow as a part of your skin and hair care. First, silk pillow cases are better for your hair, as there will be less friction, meaning less knots, tangles, and frizz. Silk fabric will keep your skin far more hydrated than other fabrics will, which will also help prevent face wrinkles and lines.
Bonus: Silk pillowcases are far more comfortable. They will keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter with their temperature regulation, plus they don’t collect as much dust as other fabrics. Finally, silk pillowcases have less of a chance of soaking up the products you just applied to your face, meaning they’ll be working into your skin and not your pillow. Your nighttime routine is important for both your mental and physical health. Do what you can to guarantee a better mood this winter.
REVIEW
‘Arcane’ season two is magic
The first part of “Arcane” season two tops its own already high standards and leaves fan-favorite characters in precarious positions.
Stella Shipman Managing Editor
stella.shipman@dailyiowan.com
Streaks of neon colors, strobing lights, and curly comic book bubble letters. Tortured characters in the midst of war, splintering loyalties against a backdrop of wild magic, and the most epic one-liners ever.
On Nov. 9, the first part of the second season of “Arcane” dropped on Netflix. A day later, it was among the top 10 shows watched on the platform, and it will doubtlessly retain that rating within the next few weeks.
Ever since the animated League of Legends video game-inspired series hit Netflix on Nov. 6, 2021, it has been the subject of critical acclaim for its enthralling and emotional storylines as well as its jaw-dropping visuals.
Adapted by co-creators Alex Yee and Christian Linke, the show follows two sisters navigating a steam-punk fantasy world torn apart by politics, crime, and magic — also known as “the arcane.” Quite a few characters, including sisters Vi and Jinx, are League of Legends characters who receive complex and fleshed-out storylines in the show.
As an avid fan of the series myself, I have high expectations for its second and final installment, and the first three episodes do not disappoint.
The first episode picks up right where the show left off three years ago, and it certainly felt like no time had passed. I was immediately immersed back into the insane graphics and flashy editing. The parallels of how each season begins in the wordless aftermath of destruction sets a dark and tense tone for the episodes ahead.
I was overjoyed to be reunited with the familiar faces of this fantasy world and pleasantly surprised to see Piltover enforcer Caitlyn step into a pivotal role. After suffering a painful loss and watching Undercity Zaunites attack Piltover, Caitlyn acquires a taste for revenge against Jinx, which makes matters complicated with Vi.
Caitlyn’s story is flawlessly told in the first three episodes and reinforces the show’s thematic messaging: Violence feeds violence. Jinx’s hateful acts turn Caitlyn into a monstrous version of herself, just like Vi’s abandonment of her sister created Jinx’s monstrous and slightly insane identity.
The storytelling shines especially in the third episode with a showdown between Vi and Jinx that goes awry when a child throws herself between the sisters, a symbol of their lost innocence.
Meanwhile, Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger attempt to make sense of the elusive Hexcore, which has infused Viktor with healing powers. I’m guessing those will be used in future episodes to rally the Undercity behind a savior.
Based on seamless narratives alone, “Arcane” is a masterpiece, but what elevates it to a cinematic feat is the added layer of spectacular illustrations.
While the first season of “Arcane” successfully explored multiple styles of animation in one episode, animators took this season to an entirely new level. Animation styles intersect in every episode thus far, from comic book graphics to graphite still images, making for a gorgeously chaotic harmony of artistic media.
The second part of the season drops on Nov. 16, and the last part a week later on Nov. 23, so I have something to look forward to these next couple Saturdays. I am already salivating for part two.
Part one leaves all of our beloved, traumatized characters in precarious positions, setting up several possible plotlines for part two and simultaneously leaving me directionless.
I think it’s safe to say, though, that the short clip of goth Vi in a bare-knuckles boxing ring makes a lot more sense now.
Charlotte Ericson Arts Reporter arts@dailyiowan.com
“The throne of the Holy See is vacant.”
The newly released film “Conclave” begins with a bang, hooking audience members with the unexpected death of the pope. As the former pope is taken away in a white body bag, the cardinals grapple with the new issue in front of them: Who will take his place?
Director Edward Berger centers his story around a British cardinal, Lawrence, who is also the dean in charge of the election of the next pope, called the Conclave. Lawrence, who wrestles with his faith throughout the film, scurries through the twists and turns of the drama unleashed by the sequestered cardinals.
Prior to the pope’s passing, Lawrence was declined resignation by the pope, who asserted that he is not a shepherd, but rather a manager. At first disappointed with the role, Lawrence finds himself quite comfortable within it when the Conclave begins.
On the night before the first day of the Conclave, Lawrence delivers a speech. In this speech, he asserts that his audience cannot be afraid of certainty because faith grows in the crevices of uncertainty — faith walks hand-in-hand with doubt. “Conclave” embraces uncertainty in times of division, speaking to politics beyond the Vatican.
The cardinals have varying opinions on the future of the church. Cardinal Bellini is more progressive and openminded, while Cardinal Tedesco embraces the traditionalist side of the church, hoping to reinstate the Latin Mass. Cardinal Adeyenini remains hostile toward homosexuality, and Cardinal Tremblay was apparently asked to resign in his last meeting with the late pope.
These contrasting personalities lead to morally corrupt behavior in times of crisis. Regardless of their shared faith and dedication to the church, the cardinals find justification in the church’s future to perform questionable behaviors. Even
those closest to moral and religious high ground get caught up in the dynamics of greed, power, and legacies.
As the days and nights pass without decision, schemes and tactics unfold. The cardinals begin turning against one another in hopes to gain more electoral support for themselves. Berger unleashes secrets among the cardinals as he constantly reshuffles the narrative throughout the film.
The high-contrast lighting and dull color palette embrace the film’s ominous tone. The church has a life of its own as the shadows allude to the hidden secrets in the institution and its characters. The combination of the mise-en-scene and intense violin music creates a suspenseful atmosphere as Lawrence grapples with managing the tasks in front of him. While this film is talk-heavy and thematically driven, the mise-enscene prompts urgency and suspense, investing audiences in the thriller. The slowness of the film allows the audience to engross themselves in the ominous and sinister environment while the characters talk to one another. There is an overarching sense of darkness and mystery due to the environment that surrounds the characters and plot. Furthermore, Berger utilizes a fascinating cinematography style. He does not depend on close-up shots; instead, the majority of his camerawork involves the camera being farther away from the characters. There are a lot of slow-moving shots, which promote a sense of voyeurism. Through these techniques, the audience is given the role of being the fly on the wall; we are able to watch the chaos unfold from a distance.
A thematically driven piece, “Conclave” evokes questions regarding the relationship between power and corruption.
Released around election week, “Conclave” embraces discussions regarding division through power ascension, as well as tradition versus modernity. In times of division, how can we unify in hopes of bettering our community?
Cody Blissett | The Daily Iowan
A projector is seen in Iowa City on May 4, 2023. “Conclave” is a thriller drama film directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes.
AI in education sparks hope and hesitation
While some professors cite optimism in the face of AI research and development, others worry about the impact it could have on the education of students.
Riley Dunn Digital Editor riley.dunn@dailyiowan.com
Charlie
Hickman Arts Editor charlie.hickman@dailyiowan.com
In a narrow office four floors above the freshly renovated Seamans Center, one engineer is optimistic amid an uncertain industry.
Sitting at a desk with four screens and a colorful keyboard, Tyler Bell assists in a research project that aims to change how teachers are trained forever. Using virtual reality powered with ChatGPT, education students can train in how to deal with potential problems with students.
Bell is a University of Iowa assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and isn’t new to tinkering with machine learning. His past research projects led him to become a finalist in the Innovation of the Year award at the 2018 TechPoint Mira Awards in Indiana.
This project, which he is collaborating on with College of Education Associate Professor Seth King, has been long in the making.
Back in 2020, the project began with researchers working remotely to develop a virtual classroom for future educators to place upon their heads using VR headsets. Originally, the program was run by observing an education student and providing feedback on their responses to the virtual student in person.
“You’re sitting across from a virtual student who might exhibit some challenging behaviors that might either harm themselves or the teacher,” Bell said. “We give students exposure to these situations in
controlled, reproducible manner rather than just waiting for the students to encounter such situations in their student teaching.”
As the program evolved, AI software did, too. Once OpenAI, the company that operates ChatGPT, opened its servers for anyone to use, Bell seized an opportunity. Instead of transcribing the student’s speech and then analyzing it, the new software could adapt on the spot.
Just as you would type into ChatGPT’s textbox, headset wearers could speak their answers to the virtual student’s questions, and the student could react within moments. Thus, training teachers receive immediate, immersive feedback and can adapt their teaching style in the moment.
The program the team has developed is universal enough that it could be transposed on any field. It’s a process Bell is excited about, but not because he thinks he’s stumbled on the next Silicon Valley goldmine.
“We would love to have it deployed at a nationwide scale like that, but for now it’s been deployed as part of a course,” Bell said. “It would be awesome to translate any research to wide-scale use, whether that’s through commercialization or just open source. I think for the open source, it’s better for the greater good, especially when so much of the AI community is built on the back of open source anyway.”
This freedom of use is vital to the development of AI software. As more and more people learn how to use it, the better it becomes. Bell, however, said many people are hesitant to invest too much into AI.
“It’s an unknown entity and unknowns are scary. I encourage people to play with it. Play is fun. Play is safe. It allows for failure,” Bell said.
Even though the AI in Bell’s research is analyzing the teacher’s responses, a subject expert is still necessary to ensure the program operates smoothly. This is where Seth King comes in, working as the guide rails to make sure the research results are sound.
King, like Bell, believes that AI can have a place in education and be used as an effective instructional aid and as something used for professional development. However, he acknowledges that harnessing it can sometimes be a real challenge.
“I think that it sort of presents a challenge in how we [professors] teach,” King said. “But at the same time, I think it can be used to supplement some of the things we do and create opportunities for students to engage in practices that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.”
King does not believe people should be scared of AI, stressing both uncritical optimism and pessimism should be avoided when discussing the topic.
“There are a lot of real, practical challenges that need to be addressed,” King said. “And if you want to use it as a tool,
you’ve got to think about how just because it exists, that doesn’t automatically make it a source for good, and a lot of development in this area is very irresponsible.”
At the same time, when used correctly, AI can help make some teaching instruction more accessible through chat bots or instructional aids that can prompt ideas and concepts.
personally worried about cheating in his classes, however, he does worry that culturally, all the money and time being poured into the development and marketing of AI tools is helping convince people that art and writing are less human than they actually are.
“The point of writing in college is not actually to produce great writing. It’s to learn how to produce great writing.”
David Gooblar UI English Professor
While innovations continue to be made, professors try to contend with a changing classroom landscape. Even though ChatGPT has continued to grow over the years, UI English Professor David Gooblar hasn’t seen much of a notable increase in the software’s usage in his classes. However, the software’s very existence has led to some questioning.
“It’s really tricky and I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some people used ChatGPT and it got through. I don’t trust the detectors online,” Gooblar said.
Gooblar attempts to reduce the usage of ChatGPT and other generative AI sites by working closely with his students on their writing assignments throughout the year.
“I usually see drafts and talk to them about their ideas in class,” Gooblar said. “So very often, it’s clear to me when a student’s work isn’t in their own voice. So, that’s one thing that will set my alarm bells off.”
According to Gooblar, the writing that ChatGPT produces isn’t quality writing, so he doesn’t concern himself with catching cheaters too much, believing that poorly written essays will cause students’ grades to suffer anyway.
That being said, as a professor concerned with the state of education, Gooblar considers AI tools to be entirely inappropriate in the college classroom.
“The point of writing in college is not actually to produce great writing. It’s to learn how to produce great writing,” Gooblar said. “That’s a huge distinction from my point of view. What I tell my students and what I really believe is that these AI tools save you from doing precisely what you’re here to do.”
A large part of taking a teaching job is to do the difficult work of trying to convince students that the actual writing of papers is where learning really happens. Many students get drawn in by the flashiness and promise of different AI generative tools, but in reality, they are often simply used as yet another way for students to cheat.
When considering AI’s place in a learning environment, Gooblar draws on theories from professor and author James Lang and one of his books, entitled “Cheating Lessons.”
The book states the desire to cheat comes from a classroom environment that is not working for students.
“My job as a professor is to create a teaching environment that works for students,” Gooblar said. “I want to give them the conditions and the tools so that they can learn skills and content that they wouldn’t otherwise. But I can’t do the work of learning for them.”
Looking toward the future, Gooblar is not
The further development of these products could lead to the belief that art and writing are creative endeavors that can be easily produced by an algorithm, leading to a devaluing of human work and creativity, things that bring meaning to many people’s lives.
“I worry that, in the interest of selling more products, we’re going to be convinced that the things we produce are cheap and are not worth our time and effort,” Gooblar said. “We can talk about craft all day long and the right way to write sentences, but ultimately what you’re looking for in writing is the human being who wrote it. That’s what good writing is made from.”
Gooblar encourages everybody, especially professors, to adapt a healthy skepticism to anything produced by big tech companies. Bell, too, encourages people to come to their own conclusions but also strives to remind students and faculty alike that products like ChatGPT are tools. Alongside his VR research project, he also teaches a course in how to use AI.
The class isn’t a simple step-by-step in how to manually use the program, but rather a more general exploration of how the tool can and should be used responsibly.
“AI as it relates to the students is going to be as fundamental as teaching people how to use their computer,” Bell said. “Learning how to use AI or work with AI or just the general understanding of how these systems work, not the technical details of how they work, is incredibly important.”
While the professor does reflect Gooblar’s concerns for cheating, Bell points out there have always been outlets for students to take shortcuts.
“We don’t tell the accountant to stop using Excel and to go back to their pocket calculator. We expect them to do their job, but with the modern tools of the day,” Bell said. “The Internet existed. Google existed. YouTube existed. The back of the book existed. There’s always been the potential to cheat.
“The people who always considered cheat
ing are still going to consider cheating,” he continued. “But if that means thousands of more people can be connected and engaged with the content that they desire, be it educational, professional, personal, it’s worth it.”
Initiatives across the university are being implemented to help students better understand where AI fits into their personal and professional lives. Whether it be Bell’s course or workshops through the department of education, opportunities are popping up everywhere.
“At the end of the day, I understand where the fears are coming from,” Bell said. “I hope by addressing those fears we can dissuade them and add more nuance to the conversation.”
Illustration by Amy Scott | The Daily Iowan
UI alum awarded MacArthur Fellowship
“He is like the full package of an artist and activist,” Juan Felipe Herrera’s editor said.
Haya Hussain Arts Reporter arts@dailyiowan.com
In recognition of his pioneering contributions to Chicano poetry and activism, University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Juan Felipe Herrera has been awarded the MacArthur Fellowship.
His is notably the first Latino U.S. Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, alongside his Pushcart Prize, Latino Hall of Fame Award, and 30 individual works, including the notable “Akrílika,” which was released in 2022.
Among the three editors and translators of “Akrílika” was his longtime friend Carmen Giménez, an alum of UI’s Creative Writing MFA program and now — director of Graywolf Press.
“‘Akrílika’ went out of print for a decade, and I thought it was necessary to bring it back. It was a very exciting, engaging political voice that was both personal and playful and political,” she said.
Spearheading the efforts to bring the dual-language poetry collection back into print, the reissued translation honored the revolutionary ethos embedded in his work. It now includes archival photographs from the Chicano Movement of the 1970s, artfully connecting the early decades of Herrera’s activism to presentday readership.
“His work is timeless in its subject matter,” she said. “He’s brilliant, he’s quick. The images are dense, they’re pleasurable, and I think of him as a trickster. Often, the trickster knows more than anybody else in the room but is able to just kind of illustrate and mirror back in a really dynamic [way]. Not entertainment, but edification.”
An unusually creative spirit lives inside of the Chicano poet’s voice, which is concerned not only with legibility. The MacArthur Fellowship most certainly addresses the unorthodox syntax and the dual languages dancing side by side in his work.
Herrera finds many of these skills to be correlated with the enrichment he received at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1988 after spending around three decades exploring poetry on his own.
One of the devices he learned and greatly relied on afterward is the idiom. Unique to him, though, is his ability to interweave idiomatic expressions from the Spanish-speaking community with English lines.
“I feel like I learned a lot about what is possible in a sentence and how it can be delivered. His idiom is cultural and is connected to how we envision the world and the country it comes from,” Giménez said.
“Akrílika” and Herrera other works are littered with wordplays. The raw
Englert Theatre to step down as host of Mission Creek
The venue will host the 20th Mission Creek show in April before permanently stepping down.
Charlie Hickman Arts Editor
charlie.hickman@dailyiowan.com
Mission Creek Festival returns to Iowa City next spring, running from April 3 through April 5. 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the festival, which has been produced and hosted by The Englert Theatre since 2014. The Englert announced Friday that it will not be hosting the festival going forward.
The festival has been integral in bringing diverse and talented artists to
the community, but it has only grown after 20 years. While the lineup has yet to be announced, such a milestone has sparked excitement over who could perform.
Spokespeople from the festival have asserted that both returning friends of the festival and fresh faces alike will populate Iowa City’s music venues come April.
Fans can expect the full lineup to be announced on Dec. 13. To celebrate the occasion, Mission Creek Festival and IC Flea Market are teaming up for a holiday market inside the Englert from 5-9 p.m.
and playful character of these idioms is what allows Herrera to encapsulate Chicano lives and struggles so wholly. He is not at all limited by the rules and literal contours of language, whether it be English or Spanish.
“The first time I read a Latino writer was in college,” Giménez recalled.
“Then, you no longer feel separate. These cultural things, language, the way we approach family — to just even see them legible was important.”
Students are now able to experience the impact of Herrera’s accomplishments as well. First-generation college student Linda Pineda said she was raised by her Chicana mother, and this identity has been largely impacted by Latin studies at the UI.
“My mother was born in Mexico and made her way to America. I feel a great sense of pride for my culture,” she said. “And this is encouraged by my professor Jorge Guerra. I have been exposed to plenty of Chicano literature through his class ‘Introduction to Latin/o/x studies,’ with Juan Felipe Herrera being one of few writers that write about our perspectives.”
Jorge Guerra, a lecturer in Latin/o/x Studies and the Magid Center for Writing at UI lived parallel to Herrera. He, too, was raised in California, finding himself at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His courses are dedicated to the evocation of Mexican
American life, ranging from the work of Sandra Cisneros to Juan Felipe Herrera. Through linguistic intervention and a deep entanglement with Chicano culture, Herrera has established himself at the forefront of a legacy that leads thousands of young Chicano poets and artists through self-expression and activism.
“It empowers me, and I’m sure other Latin people as well, to use art and creativity as forms of activism. Our culture is beautiful and colorful, and that can’t be captured with simple documentation,” Pineda added. “They put into words moments from our lives that don’t always feel easy to communicate.”
The grant allows Herrera to invest more into his life’s endeavor of uplifting Mexican-American culture and stories in improvisational, innovative, and vernacular ways. It is not that Herrera is joining many other elite thinkers and creatives — he has always been one himself, but now, more people and cultures are invited to take part in his legacy.
“He was always this young, revolutionary poet,” Giménez reminisced. “He’s always paired community activism and art. He doesn’t see them being separate entities. That and the generosity of his spirit and multimedia work make him the full package of an artist. I can’t think of anyone that better embodies that identity.”
Kathy Le | The Daily Iowan
Osees drummers Dan Rincon and Paul Quattrone performs for the crowd during the Mission Creek Festival at The Englert Theatre on April 6. The festival in 2025 marks the final year
