Issuu

volume #78, issue 4

Personal drone sparks new laws

monday, February 22, 2016

Pop culture professional provides Oscar predictions

Playoff position on the line

Your vote is your voice

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VIEW

Bay City Beauticians develop dreams

Shannon Marschall shares a laugh with Shamall Jackson before she works on Jackson’s eyebrows. Students often practice their newfound skills on fellow students at Bayshire Beauty Academy in Bay City. (Delta Collegiate/Josephine Norris)

Read about students’ experiences at Bayshire, and view our extended photo gallery online at DeltaCollegiate. com

New York Times bestseller urges humans to monitor technology

Stephan Clay boards his bus home from Delta. Clay is one of the many Delta students that rely on the Saginaw STARS bus system to get to school every day, and not having a bus system would heavily impact their ability to achieve their educational goals. (Delta Collegiate/Josephine Norris)

road to nowhere Saginaw bus route change hurts student success Greg Horner Imagine paying almost twice as much for transportation and receiving a poorer service for it. That’s what Delta students are currently dealing with after the Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services (STARS) made changes to its routes in October and November of last year. “Some students have had to drop out because they can’t make it to school,” says Bria Smith, leader of Delta’s Black Student Union and a resident of Saginaw. “We’re paying more money now for a longer trip… It’s no longer an express.” According to Sylvester Payne, STARS general manager, the system has been dealing with financial issues for years as the service tries to deal with a declining city population along

with stagnant state and federal funding. Starting in November, STARS consolidated 11 of their routes to seven. “We’re no different than any other government operation, every year we have to review our budget,” says Payne. “It was determined that we needed to make some reductions because our expenses are exceeding the revenue that we bring in.” The Ricker Express is an additional bus route that STARS has provided since 2013. The line used to ferry students from Delta’s Saginaw campus, the Ricker Center, to the main campus and downtown for a one-time semester fee of $56. For the 2015 fall semester, STARS increased the price to $121, then on Oct. 12, changed the route to include two

DCGregHorner apartment complexes and SVSU’s main campus. Originally, a ride from Delta’s main campus to the Ricker Center took about 30 minutes. Following the changes and additional stops, that ride now lasts roughly an hour. Payne says that the Ricker Express line has to pay for itself and that the price increase was necessary. “It did almost double on them. Working with the college we were told that they could get this out of their financial aid package. But, we didn’t realize that was going to put an additional strain on them with other things that they needed to do with that package.”

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harper skrzypczak The seats of the lecture theatre were full. Audience members stood in the wings and sat on the stage’s steps, Feb. 10, during Delta College’s 17th annual winter President’s Speakers Series. Speaker Nicholas Carr, a New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, has been writing about how computers and technology change human minds for over a decade. Carr began his presentation by quoting the first sentence from Collegiate Managing Editor Matt Brown’s opinion piece “Cell Hell.” “To survive in the current social climate, one has to be connected,” Carr reads. He laments that the statement is true. But just 10 years ago, Carr says nobody would have written that sentence. “What we’ve done, I think in recent years, is really changed the way we live thanks to the technology we all use,” says Carr. Going without your phone for more than a couple hours, Carr says, can make people feel panicked. “If you look at studies, if [people] lose their phone… they do feel panicked,” states Carr. “If they’re without it for even three days, they feel they’re missing something really important. After three days they calm down and begin to realize ‘Oh, maybe that wasn’t as important as I thought.’ ” Carr believes that humans are good with technology, and that we adapt it into our lives very quickly without thinking about it. He warns, however, that the screens that we’re constantly looking into can become a “glass cage.” This idea came to him after years of writing about technology. One day, he sat down to read a book and realized he was having trouble. “My brain kept telling me ‘oh, you should go check email… oh, you should go do some Googling,’” says Carr. He believes that the technology was changing the way he thought because he seemed to be losing his ability to concentrate. “I wanted to be kind of stimulated, the way we get stimulated when we’re looking into a computer screen, all [of] the time,” says Carr. This began Carr’s research on our digital dependence and how it shapes our brains. He looked through history to find examples of earlier technologies that “had a deep influence on people’s lives, particularly their intellectual lives,” says Carr. What became clear very quickly was a small, but important, set of intellectual technologies. Carr says these are the tools that we think with.

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FOUNTAIN

TALK

What is something new that you’ve tried recently? Aleisha Jones 18, midland

I got a tattoo. It’s writing and it says ‘I am your’s and you are mine.’

Louis Thomas 27, Saginaw [In] October, I f lew for the first time on an airplane. I went to Atlanta. The f light ac t ua l ly got too overbooked so they put me in first class.

trevaris jones 21, saginaw I put up a waiver to go to the military. When you go off to bootcamp... you get a buzz cut. So, I just cut everything off. I was like ‘I wonder what I look like basically bald?’ So it was basically start(ing) from scratch. I looked like a monk. deron wilson 28, Saginaw

I started back bowling. I’m learning more about t hat.

Monday, february 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

news

Eight things you need to know before the Michigan primary

The following incidents were reported to Public Safety Feb 2 A larceny from an automobile was reported in the J-wing parking lot between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. A student reported that a text book, a pair of tennis shoes and $23 in cash was stolen from his unlocked vehicle. All of the items stolen were inside the vehicle, but plainly visible from outside. Students are reminded to lock their vehicles and secure their valuables at all times. Feb 8 Public Safety responded to a person reporting that they had injured their back in the Fitness Center. No immediate medical attention was needed, but they were referred for follow up treatment, if necessary. Feb 11 Medical Assistance, Pool - Public Safety officers responded to an employee at the pool who had cut his foot with a lane divider. First aid was administered. Feb 11 Public Safety took a complaint regarding some suspicious emails received at the Library. The complaint remains under investigation. Feb 12 Public Safety responded to a medical report of an employee who slipped on a wet floor and injured her ankle. The employee was treated at an area hospital and released. Provided by Public Safety Director Robert Battinkoff

Delta College Spring Play Auditions The Delta College Drama Department is seeking interested individuals to audition for the play "Once Upon a Crime: The Trial of Goldilocks." Auditions will take place on Thursday, March 3 from 6 - 8 p.m. in the Delta College Lecture Theater

(G-160). Scripts are on a two hour reserve at the Delta College Library. Individuals that are interested in helping with tech are also encouraged to come to auditions. For further information, please contact Beth Heyart by phone at 989-686-9248 or by email at bethheyart@delta.edu.

Department offers students the chance to win up to $1000 By Andrew Mason

Volunteering isn’t usually how college students want to spend their free-time, but what if $1000 was thrown into the mix? Delta College’s Multicultural Services Department is hosting the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Project Challenge, which offers clubs and organizations at Delta the opportunity to win up to $1000 if they attain more volunteer points than competing clubs. The task is simple: groups will attend approved volunteer sights to gain points, and the club with the most points by the end of March wins it all. If there is an overall tie in points, then the group with the most amount of volunteer hours will win. “We’re trying to get students more involved in community service work,” says John Neal, supervisor of the event. “When [Delta students] leave here and go off for work, or for play, or to socialize, it’s in the community, so it’s kind of like giving back to the community that gives to you.” Cash prizes are awarded to the top three clubs. The first place winner receives $1000, the second place winner receives $700 and the third place winner will receive $300. All cash prizes won will be put into the club’s account. Every approved volunteer site your club attends will earn you two points. Your group can choose other sites to volunteer at that are not on the approved list, but volunteering at sites not on that list will only earn you one point, and you must get the site pre-approved by the Student and Civic Engagement Office, located in A-003. When attending volunteer sites, clubs must have three representatives who are Delta students present, and attendees must sign forms stating they were there. The competition runs from now until March 31. Contact John Neal by email at johnneal@delta.edu if you wish to enter your group.

Coffee with the

Collegiate February 24 - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Founders Hall in front of the LLIC

Talk with the staff, ask questions and give story suggestions! Free coffee and cookies will be provided.

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The Michigan primary is March 8 and the polls are open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. As long as you are standing in line at 8 p.m., they cannot turn you away. It is too late to register for an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are ballots that will be sent to you in the case that you cannot get to the polls on election day. If you are absentee voting, your ballot needs to be submitted by March 8 at 8 p.m. to your local clerk’s office.

To vote, you need to have picture identification or sign an affidavit. Picture IDs that the state will accept are: driver’s license, federal or state government issued photo ID, U.S. passport, military ID, student ID or a tribal ID. You will be asked for an ID when you ask for a ballot, but if you don’t have one, you just have to ask for an affidavit.

A primary is a process at the state level where citizens get to nominate a candidate for presidency. Basically, it’s a way to weed out candidates down to one person per party. The candidates who win will then be voted for in the presidential election in November.

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If you are not registered to vote, it is too late to be able to vote in the presidential primary. However, there is still time to register to vote in the general election August 9 and the presidential election on November 8. The city you live in is broken up into districts, and what district you live in determines where your polling location is. If you don’t know your polling location, you can call your city hall or go to this website: https://vote. michigan.gov/MVIC/.

By Marisa Loranger

POLL

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When you go to the polls, don’t forget to bring your voter identification card to show with your ID. And finally, remember this is your decision. So, do your own research before voting, and don’t let the media influence your choice for the next President of the United States.

Voting can be a scary process, but you can always ask for help at the polls. There are people there to assist you and they can show you how to vote with a sample ballot. STARS Continued from Front Page... Byron Poindexter, a passenger and student studying criminal justice, says the changes have impacted him tremendously. “I picked my classes around that schedule, and when they changed the buses I wasn’t able to get to my class at a convenient time.” Poindexter now has to arrive earlier for a bus ride that’s twice as long. “Now we go all out of the way, in circles, on a big road and into busy streets.” For Smith, announcing the route changes two weeks after classes started put students in an impossible situation. “They should have told us all at once. They told us about the price increase, but they didn’t tell us about the route change,” says Smith. “We were faced with the decision: ‘do we keep these classes or do we work around this new change?’ ” Smith says that some students weren’t able to work their schedules around the new routes, especially those who relied on the quick route back to get to work. “Two weeks into your semester you can’t change or drop classes because no professor is going to allow that.” With the original route, a late bus wasn’t too much cause for concern;. However, with the new route, students are arriving to their classes 30 - 45 minutes late. For Rosemary Reeves, the Ricker Center coordinator, dealing with STARS has become a regular occurrence. Reeves fears that students could be punished for reasons outside their control. She knows students who have had their grades affected by tardiness, and worries that some of them could get dropped. “That’s a big concern, especially if you’re on financial aid. Because if you get dropped, are you going to have to pay for a class that you didn’t take?” Poindexter says that he hasn’t had an issue with professors, but recalls one classmate telling him, “‘Our teachers don’t care if the bus is late, they don’t believe us, and they automatically mark us absent.’” According to Payne, STARS didn’t reach out to Delta before making the changes. “We did our research internally. Staff looked at the numbers... figured out that for the last run of the day… that there just was very low usage going out to the college.” Staff is dwindling, and Payne admits that he doesn’t have the necessary workforce to manage the struggling service. STARS was recently penalized during a federal audit for several policy

violations which has caused the service to temporarily lose a large part of its federal funding. Payne says the majority of the violations were due to their bare-bones staff. “It’s a bad situation for us to be in… part of the challenge you have when the federal government looks at it, obviously they don’t live in this community, [and] they still don’t quite understand the economic problems that we have here, and are still trying to fight out of to make things work.” Jamie Forbes, of The New Ezekiel Project, an interracial congregationcentered organization in the region, has worked with the community, STARS and the leaders of other public transport systems to deal with the changes. She understands the challenges that STARS faces, but believes that Payne and the service’s board of trustees failed to adequately inform and involve the community. “People have respect for government entities that they feel they’re being listened by,” says Forbes. “Moving on now, I feel that because of this recent crisis there’s been a lot more movement and the whole organization is much more open to change.” According to Forbes, the stops added to the Ricker Express at SVSU, Baypointe Apartments and Waterside Apartments in Saginaw Township were intended to extend the service to international Saginaw Valley students who had higher expectations for public transport. Forbes understands the need for those SVSU students to get to class but at the same time says that since those students don’t live in the city of Saginaw, “They don’t pay [the] taxes. But I pay [the] taxes, and they pay the same amount to ride the bus as I do.” Unlike most surrounding areas, Saginaw does not have a county wide bus system. While the students of SVSU must pay the $121 as well, they don’t directly support STARS like residents of the city. “Which is one of the main reasons why our expenses have blown up too,” says Payne. “We still have to service Saginaw Township, Kochville Township and Buena Vista Township because that’s where our ridership wants to go. But none of those municipalities are contributing anything to the support of the system.” Forbes sees the problem as a catch-22. “Do you just always say ‘no,’ and say ‘no we will not provide the service because you’re not paying taxes into it?’ Or do you provide the service because you want to

show that it’s a good system and important to use?” Poindexter thinks it wouldn’t be difficult for SVSU to accommodate students at the apartment complexes, especially since from his experiences, very few SVSU students utilize the stops at Baypointe and Waterside. “Why can’t they have a smaller bus, a Saginaw Valley bus, because there’s maybe three people at the new pickups? If we can have the Ricker Express why can’t SVSU make a Saginaw Valley Express?” STARS currently has no plans to reverse the changes made to the (now) seven routes or the Ricker Express. “I do apologize to the public for the changes going about the way they did,” says Payne. “But [with] the depth of the reductions that we had to make, we realized that it was not going to make the public happy. But when we were looking at our ridership numbers... they were steadily on the decline. Our expenses were still going up and we realized that there would have to be some deep changes.” Payne is retiring in September, and the board of trustees is currently engaged in a nationwide search to find a replacement. Forbes hopes that new blood will help revitalize the system. “I think it’s an opportunity for some new thinking and some boldness that we’re not seeing now,” says Forbes. “Change is happening, and that means that an opportunity for good things to happen is possible too.” In response to the STARS situation, Delta has appointed Director of Learning Centers Kristy Nelson to act as a liaison between the college and the various public transport systems. “It just kind of hit us unexpectedly, first with the price increase and then with the schedule,” says Nelson. “We’re just making sure that we’re communicating, so we’re aware of any changes and can be more proactive than reactive.” Smith is also working to organize a student committee that can work and communicate with STARS to deal with current and future changes. She’d like a refund, but doesn’t expect one. She, Poindexter and Forbes all hope STARS will return the original Ricker Express route in the future. “If they didn’t have the Ricker Express I don’t know that I’d be in college,” says Smith. “I just want better communication. We have a voice, [and] the next time there’s a decision like this, I want them to just... think about us.”

To view the route changes to the Ricker Express, visit www.DeltaCollegiate.com

monday, february 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

science/technology

Connor Anderson 18, Bay City

FOUNTAIN

Sure, yeah. If someone has a disability or something and doctors can fix it using genomes or something like that, then [I’m all for it.]

TALK

bad to the drone Personal unmanned aircraft sparks new laws DCMattBrown

Matt Brown

The earliest recorded use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) occurred in 1849, when Austria sent bomb-filled balloons to attack Venice prior to World War I. As winged aircraft developed, the cogs of war quickly advanced the technology. Thus, utilizing radio control techniques, pilot-less aircraft began deployment in World War I. It could be that because of this war-born origin, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced in December that all personal UAVs–deemed drones–must be registered with the organization. The FAA raised concerns about the possibility of collisions with traditional aircraft. In the following seven weeks, the FFA says they received over 325,000 drone applications–compared to the 320,000 piloted aircraft that are currently registered. Even the Michigan legislature voiced their concern in the matter, offering Senate Bill 432 and 487, which would prevent most drone operation within 1,000 feet of the Mackinac Bridge and correctional facilities. This comes with due cause, as reports from government officials have exposed drones crashing into structures, and delivering contraband to prisons. Those who fly conventional aviation aircraft are not directly affected by the proposed legislation. Additionally, the FAA continues to urge that their sole statutory authority is to regulate navigable airspace to ensure safety and efficiency. If you own a drone, or are looking to pick up the hobby, here are some basic tips:

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Register your drone on FAA.gov before you take it outside. It costs $5 versus a possible $27,500 fine for operating a drone without registration.

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Put your FAA registration number on your drone. If you sell your drone, take the number off so you won’t be held responsible for use by future drone operators.

Do not f ly within 5 miles of an airport unless you f irst contact the airport manager or air traff ic controllers.

Do not fly over your neighbor’s property or anywhere else someone might have a “reasonable expectation of privacy.” This is one of the “community standards” the courts will rely on if you are sued for an invasion of privacy or trespassing.

Do not fly over people’s heads at a sporting event, public gathering or park. Stay at least 25 feet away from persons or vulnerable property.

Keep your drone within your line of sight and fly no higher than 400 feet.

Do not operate your drone while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

at Lawrence tech this summer.

Do not shoot down a drone, even if it’s flying over your property. This is the same as shooting at an aircraft, and is a serious federal crime. If it’s close and over your property, you can take it down with a garden hose or “super-soaker.”

Possible is everything.

Earn transfer credits in Southfield, MI Summer Term May 16 – July 22

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Do you think humans should be able to edit their genes? Dominic Sevilla 19, Bay city I personally don’t think so. Let’s say that if you could edit someone’s bone structure or just better overall athletic performance, then they would obviously take over spor ts.

Erica Brandi 20, Merrill

Maybe for a medical reason, but not just because you want a different eye color.

monitor technology Continued from Front Page... “When a new intellectual technology comes along and is broadly adopted, it very much tends to influence the way people’s minds works,” explains Carr. One of the earliest intellectual technologies is the map, according to Carr. “Suddenly, people became more and more aware of abstraction, of the fact that behind the world as we experience it with our senses, there’s patterns. It set off a whole new way of thinking,” says Carr. “Along the way… we lost some of our ability to make sense of nature with our own senses. And this is a common theme. Whenever you adapt to a new technology, there are trade offs. The technology encourages you to think in ways the technology is good at supporting, but it discourages you from using your mind in different ways that the technology doesn’t support.” Maureen Donegan, assistant professor of psychology, attended the presentation and teaches both in person and online classes. In her online classes she tries to, “use new learning technology that encourages engagement and creates a community of learners online.” She uses software called VoiceThread which hosts online lectures that she creates for her students to view. Carr argues that in recent years, we’ve created a new digital environment in which we live more and more. “You can’t even carefully distinguish between the digital environment and what we used to call reality. They’re completely intermingled,” says Carr. He believes this encourages thinking that it is all about gathering information as quickly as possible. “We human beings are naturally geared to want to know everything that is going on around us. Well, you give us this technology, and not surprisingly, we spend huge amounts of time gathering new information.” This information-rich environment is also an interruption-rich environment, according to Carr. Services such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. are constantly pushing information at us and “we’re constantly gobbling it up,” explains Carr. Donegan says that divvying up her time can be difficult. “It’s challenging because so much of our work is online.” Although she wants to be available for online classes and has an “urge to respond to them [students] immediately,” it can be difficult to concentrate when she gets emails from students and other faculty, all while grading online work. Smartphones, Carr says, can be an almost constant distraction. He sites a British study of smartphone users. Researchers asked participants how many times they check their smartphone per day. Participants said about 30 times. However, the app that was tracking user activity showed participants checking their phone 90 times a day. “It turns out that in the U.S., studies show that the average smartphone user looks at their phone 150 times a day, which works out to every five to six minutes of your waking hours,” explains Carr. When you add in everything else, computers, video games, etc., “you very much see that we live in this environment of constant distraction,” says Carr. One thing we’re in danger of losing, Carr believes, is our ability to think deeply. “You have to look at how our brains work… we take information and weave it together into knowledge. Because to be smart isn’t about Googling stuff very quickly. Being smart is about having your own knowledge, about weaving all of this information that you’re gathering into something bigger, to a broader context, that allows you to think conceptually and creatively.”

”

Carr says we have two kinds of memory. “One is a very short-term store of memory called ‘working memory.’ And this is basically the contents of your conscious mind at any given moment… the information you’re trying to make sense of right now.” Our working memory has a very small capacity, and Carr explains that we can only hold three or four bits of information in our conscious mind at any given time. Long-term memory, however, has a huge capacity. “No one’s ever filled it up,” says Carr. The key to building our knowledge is to move incoming information in working memory over to our long-term memory, explains Carr. This process is called “memory consolidation.” “What happens when we’re constantly interrupted… is that we overload our working memory. If you can only fit three or four pieces of information in your conscious mind, and you’re constantly taking in new information, then you have to shove existing information out of your working memory... to make room,” says Carr. Consolidation of information into your long-term memory can’t happen and “you’re not creating rich knowledge,” explains Carr. Our dependence on screens, says Carr, optimizes our brains to shift our attention quickly. However, it also weakens mindful knowledge acquisition, inductive analysis, critical thinking, imagination and reflection. As computers continue to have great influence over our personal lives, Carr urges they’re also affecting our working lives. “No matter what career you go into... that job and that work is going to be shaped by computers,” says Carr. “We’re going to have to constantly figure out what is the best way to divide labor between the human being and the computer.” Carr also claims we’re developing software incorrectly. “The aim [in software development] is to reduce a person’s engagement, to reduce the effort they have to make, to reduce the challenge,” says Carr. “As a result, you get very weak learning, you get very weak skill development. You get trapped into this cycle of dependency on computers. The more the computer does things for you, the less talent, the less ability you develop to do those things yourselves. And then, you become even more dependent on the computer.” Carr explains this cycle of dependency turns us from people who had rich skills and thoughts, to computer operators. Carr believes you can see this with factory automation. People thought the automation of factory jobs would elevate workers to a higher level of thinking and effort, but the opposite happened. Craft skills went away, and people pushed buttons and foot pedals. “I don’t think there is some simple solution I can give,” says Carr. “We become dependent on it, and we begin to allow the technology to determine the way we live, the way we think, the way we act.” If you’re concerned about the loss of rich skills or thoughts, there are things Carr suggests that we do. “If, as a society, we want to challenge the dominance of computers, we have to move away from pushing everybody all the time onto computers,” says Carr. “We have to do it in our jobs, we have to do it in our schools, we have to do it among our friends, as well as family members.” Carr urges us to think of the ways we’re designing software. “We have to be smarter about how can we help people develop the rich skills they’re capable of, and use the computers as a compliment to human skill rather than simply assuming that a computer should be a replacement.”

The technology encourages you to think in ways the technology is good at supporting, but it discourages you from using your mind in different ways that the technology doesn’t support.

monday, february 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

#collegiatelife

Informers Corner

with Greg Horner Justice is dead An ode to Antonin Scalia

was going to write this piece about something important, but then Justice Antonin Scalia died and I just couldn’t resist. There were a lot of things that I didn’t like about the man, his views on gay rights were appalling, his decisions in regard to civil rights were atrocious and his handling of the second amendment was criminal. But the impact of Scalia cannot be overstated, and neither can the impact of his death. When a Supreme Court justice dies, it’s a tragedy. When a Supreme Court justice dies right before landmark cases on abortion, affirmative action and the affordable care act, it’s a catastrophe. When a Supreme Court justice dies during one of the craziest presidential elections in history, it’s a shitshow. Scalia was a celebrity. He earned the praise of Republicans, and the scorn of Democrats. As a leading member of the court’s conservative bloc, he did his best to move the country to the right when casting the deciding votes in cases defending gun rights and limiting abortion access. Now President Obama has the duty to name Scalia’s successor. The idea of Obama replacing the court’s most notorious conservative with anyone more progressive than a corpse, has Republicans frothing. I can’t blame them. Appointing Supreme Court justices is one of the most important (and often ignored) responsibilities of the president, with implications that will affect the country for decades after he leaves office. Scalia was appointed by Reagan in 1986, almost 30 years ago exactly. A lot has changed since the coke-fueled “greed is good” glory days of the 80s, but until last week, one of the things that hadn’t changed was the Supreme Court.

Some of y’all might be asking, “Greg, what’s the big deal? Obama has appointed other Supreme Court justices before?” Oh you stupid, stupid fools. I know this isn’t Obama’s first rodeo, but I also know he’s never ridden a bull this big before either. Replacing two old liberals with two younger (slightly less) liberals is easy. Replacing a conservative gargoyle with a (slightly more) liberal justice could swing the court closer to the left and impact government policy for another 30 years to come. It’s no wonder Republicans are losing their minds. From Presidential wannabes like Cruz to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, every Republican who’s any Republican is demanding that the president abstain from appointing a nominee until someone else is in office. It is the president’s constitutional duty to appoint new justices and for the Senate to approve them in a timely fashion. You don’t get to hold off on this process because the timing’s bad, or because you’re desperately trying to keep a grip on power. The GOP isn’t going to be satisfied with any of the president’s picks, so Obama should just go all out. He should nominate the most left-leaning justice imaginable, if nothing else he should at least use this chance to troll Republicans one last time. Nominate Oprah, nominate Lenin’s freezedried corpse, nominate Kim Kardashian for all I care—the point is that it’s up to the president, and that isn’t going to change. Also, there’s no reason to think that a Republican will ever serve in the White House again, they’re certainly doing their absolute worst to win the presidency this year. Seriously, it’s pretty presumptuous and a little delusional for Republicans to think that delaying the nomination will make a considerable difference.

Watching for Foxes performs at The Country in Nashville, Tenn. (Delta Collegiate/Alex Kostka)

On the Road

February Tour Day 1 - Feb. 3

WITH ALEX KOSTKA

ell here we are… All set and ready to start my February tour tomorrow. This time around, it’s going to be a little different. I’m not touring by myself this month, I am touring with Grand Rapids based indie/folk/rock band Watching for Foxes. We’ll be sharing two of their vehicles, due to the band’s van having some troubles. I’m really excited to tour with another band for the first time, as well as sharing the show with them. Tomorrow we start at Pats In The Flats in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, I am adventuring to East Lansing so I can stay with my girlfriend, and make it easier for me to be picked up by Watching for Foxes. An interesting fact about this next run of shows is that I don’t really know the band that I’m touring with at all. I’m a fan of their music, I just don’t personally know them yet. Their lead singer Joey and I have been communicating through booking this tour on Facebook for a few months now, that’s about it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but at the same time I’m ready to get back on the road and play some shows. These next 10 days are going to be a wild ride.

Day 8 - Feb. 11

onight is our last show of tour. I’m going to say right now, meeting Watching for Foxes has been one of the greatest things that has happened to me musically in a while. These seven guys and I have built a solid friendship, and I can’t wait to see them again. We woke up in Huntsville and made our way to Anniston, Ala. Tonight we are playing the Caldwell Tavern. I played here last year. It’s a solid room with local talent that enjoys playing here. For a majority of the day after arriving, we walked around town and just hung around at the venue. We were exhausted. These past few days were amazing and a lot of fun, but after feeling the amount of exhaustion, I think we can all agree that we’re excited to sleep in our own beds. By the time 8 p.m. rolled around, it was time to begin the show. We had a small crowd, but we were ready to give it our all for one more night. Levi Hunter performed first. She is a local musician from Anniston that plays acoustic/blues and has fantastic lyrics. It was a great opportunity to play a show with her as well as networking with hopes of bringing her up to Michigan to perform sometime. It’s been a pleasure watching these guys play every night and I’m going to miss it, but I’ll be excited to see them once again. The show ended by 11 p.m. and we were loaded up and out the door by 11:30 p.m. We decided to drive back to Michigan after the show. A 13-hour trip with plenty of driving shift changes, sleeping on and off, and shitty gas station coffee. We made it though. It was rough, but we did it. I will end with this: I am forever grateful for the people that I meet, and the adventures I get to experience. I’m excited to keep bringing you along.

Read about Alex’s whole tour online at www.DeltaCollegiate.com

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS

FEBRUARY - MARCH 2016 MON

Jinwon Chang and Jae Yong Kim exhibit

Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free

Bowie on Ice Hosted by Counter Culture

Hoyt Park, Saginaw 7 - 9 p.m. Cost: Recommended $5 donation to Friends of Hoyt Park

Full Moon History Snowshoe Walk

Chippewa Nature Center, Midland 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Cost: Free

Yes We Can! Exhibition

Creative 360, Midland 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: Free

Midland Artists Guild 32nd Annual Juried Art Exhibit

Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, Midland 9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Cost: Free

African-American History Month Celebration

Hoyt Library, Saginaw 6 p.m. Cost: Free

TUE

WED

Teenworks and Kids Kreations

Studio 23/The Art Center, Bay City 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free, but donations are accepted

Coloring and Cocktails: Adult Coloring Club

Tavern 101, Bay City 6 - 8 p.m. Cost: Free

“Stars”

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors, military

Jinwon Chang and Jae Yong Kim exhibit

Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free

Teenworks and Kids Kreations

Studio 23/The Art Center, Bay City 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free, but donations are accepted

“Stars”

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors, military

THU

Coffee with the Collegiate

Founders Hall by LLIC 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Cost: Free

Women’s Basketball vs. St. Clair County CC Pioneer Gym, Main Campus 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Cost: $5

Men’s Basketball vs. St. Clair County CC

Pioneer Gym, Main Campus 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Cost: $5

FRI

23rd Annual Mardi Gras Auction

Horizons Conference Center, Saginaw 5:30 - 10 p.m. Cost: $75 per ticket

“Mysteries of the Great Lakes”

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors, military Disney On Ice: Dare To Dream The Dow Event Center, Saginaw 7 p.m. Cost: $15 - $47

Teenworks and Kids Kreations

The Great Lakes Bay Body

Yes We Can! Exhibition

Jinwon Chang and Jae Yong Kim exhibit

Studio 23/The Art Center, Bay City 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free, but donations are accepted

Creative 360, Midland 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Cost: Free

Midland Artists Guild 32nd Annual Juried Art Exhibit

Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, Midland 9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Cost: Free

Counter Culture, Saginaw 6 -8 p.m. Cost: Free

SAT

Free Tax Preparation A-121 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Cost: Free

FAFSA Help Day

LLIC 5 - 7 p.m. Cost: Free

Intercultural Night

SVSU 7 p.m. Cost: Free

Comedian Michael Kosta

The Dow Event Center, Saginaw 8 p.m. Cost: $20

Butterﬂies in Bloom

Dow Gardens, Midland 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Cost: $1 for students / $5 for adults

Come in from the Cold: Concert & Chili Series

Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Cost: Free

Creative 360, Midland 7 - 9 p.m. Cost: $15 prepaid or $22 at the door cash/check / $18 prepaid or $25 at the door debit/credit

“Mysteries of the Great Lakes”

“The Best Man”

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors, military

Bay City Players 8 p.m. Cost: $10 for students / $16 for seniors / $18 for adults

SUN

Wandering With Wildlife

Green Point Environmental Learning Center, Saginaw 10 - 11:30 a.m. Cost: Free

Led Zeppelin Music and Light Show

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors and military

Cesar Millan Live!

Midland Center for the Arts 8 p.m. Cost: $36 - $84

Midwest Skies!,

Rebuild & Rebound, stop.drop.rewind, Call Your Shots, Aric Timm Counter Culture, Saginaw 7 p.m. Cost: $8

Led Zeppelin Music and Light Show

Delta Planetarium, Bay City 7 p.m. Cost: $7 for adults / $5 for students, children, seniors and military

“The Best Man”

Bay City Players 8 p.m. Cost: $10 for students / $16 for seniors / $18 for adults

The Bay City Noon Optimist presents “Big Hero 6”

State Theatre, Bay City 2 p.m. Cost: Free with food donation

Disney On Ice: Dare To Dream The Dow Event Center, Saginaw 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. Cost: $15 - $47

Women’s Voices

SVSU 7:30 p.m. Cost: Free

Butterﬂies in Bloom

Dow Gardens, Midland 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Cost: $1 for students / $5 for adults

An Afternoon at the Sugarhouse

Chippewa Nature Center, Midland 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. Cost: Free

“The Best Man”

Bay City Players 3 p.m. Cost: $10 for students / $16 for seniors / $18 for adults

monday, February 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

arts/entertainment Illustration by De’Asia Brown

REVIEW

Deadpool: Seen the trailer? You’ve seen the film By lindsey schibelhut

’m going to live to 102 years old. And then die...Like the city of Detroit." Laced with action, sarcasm, foul language and crude humor, Deadpool is the latest Marvel comic book character to make his official debut on the big screen. “Deadpool” directed by Tim Miller, with a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, tells the story of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) who is a mercenary working out of a bar in New York. Wilson meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), only to find out a year into their relationship that he has terminal cancer. One night, at the same bar where he works, Wilson is solicited by an agent who tells him he knows of a cure for his cancer. Wilson decides to take the offer where he then meets Ajax (Ed Skrein) who injects Wilson with a serum and tortures him. This leads Wilson to later become Deadpool. I don’t want to be disingenuous. Before this film I had never heard of the character Deadpool. On that same note, I am also not a comic book enthusiast, so I can’t speak on how this film relates to the source material. However, I will say what aspects I enjoy. First, is the portrayal of Deadpool done by Reynolds. He seems to embody the personality of the character really well, and when he dons the red suit all f***ks are left at the door. Reynolds also gives the sadder moments, such as his reaction to his cancer diagnosis, heartbreaking tenderness. The action of the movie was also done well, and I was completely mesmerized by the martial arts moves done by Deadpool and the opening highway car fight scene. You could also tell the crew was having fun, even the opening credit attributions were different such as, “overpaid tool,” “a CGI character,” “some hot chick” and “the real heroes here.” I will also give a nod to the original source material, because whoever imagined the Deadpool character, wrote an interesting one. I really did fall in love with Deadpool’s sharp wit and sarcasm, his personality is refreshing in the arena of superhero films and lives

GRAPHIC S E I T L E V O N By Cameron Kerkau

Who needs realism?

n my experience, many adults require certain qualifiers in order for them to enjoy media entertainment. For example, there is a certain kind of comic book fan that demands material that is darker and grittier, and is therefore, somehow, more “realistic.” They’re quick to scowl at the campiness of the 1960s Batman show while they shove Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke” in the faces of anyone that dare think the character is meant for children. It’s as if they need to prove to everyone around them (and themselves) that a man in bat pajamas is something to be taken seriously, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. You can say what you will about Adam West’s Batman, but at least he knew what he was. Ironically, Moore made headlines back in 2014 as an angry old man when he denounced the adult superhero fan saying, “To my mind, this embracing of what were unambiguously children’s characters at their mid-20th century inception seems to indicate a retreat from the admittedly overwhelming complexities of modern existence.” While Moore is clearly an old man (and very clearly angry), I wouldn’t say that he is entirely incorrect. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that comic books and their related media are largely a form of escapism. Though, to me, demonizing escapism is a waste of time. After all, no form of entertainment could distract the public so dramatically that it truly neglects modern existence. I would argue that Moore’s sentiments are almost backward. It seems to me, that much more often than allowing escapism, superhero stories as a whole have been overwhelmingly drowned in the “complexities of modern existence.” Just because the world is a shitty place sometimes doesn’t mean that we need to be sad all of the time and make art that makes us sadder. Superhero comics have always held commentary on society without being drenched in blood, realism or global politics. Take, for instance, the X-Men, who, since their creation, have dealt with prejudice in stories that were as emotionally charged as they were fantastical. Minorities of any age could relate to the struggles of the X-Men while enjoying their trips through space or to the living island Krakoa. Realism is the strangest thing to ask of a comic book. Grant Morrison says it best in his book “Supergods” when he writes “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it’s not real.” Details like these only burden comic books and their related media. The more time that is spent explaining the minutiae of Superman’s powers, the less time is spent on examining what a flying man with a paragonal moral compass can say about ourselves and the world around us. The only realism that should be necessary in a comic book is emotional realism. Give us characters that we can relate to and root for while they do impossible things and go on unreal adventures. Screw the details. Ultra violence and long-winded scientific explanations aren’t realistic anyway and a Spider-Man comic that’s too dark for your kid brother to read is pointless.

up to the tagline of “The Merc with a Mouth.” Not everyday do you get a character interacting with the audience, who addresses you through the camera lens. But unfortunately, this is where the rubber meets the road, and my love affair with the movie ends. The biggest complaint I have with the film is the fact that I really didn’t need to pay to see it. If you’ve watched the trailer, give yourself a pat on the back and say “wow, I saw ‘Deadpool.’” I can’t tell you how many times as I was watching the movie I said to myself, “gee, I saw that in the trailer, and that, and that too.” Nothing makes me more angry than getting roped into seeing a movie (based on the trailer) and then upon viewing said movie, wishing I would have stayed home and saved my money. Approximately 90 percent of the movie was trailer material and the other 10 percent was new. My other four complaints were the assembly of the film, the jokes, language and unnecessary nudity. I wasn’t sure I liked how the movie was cut together, partly because they go back and forth from present day to the past then back again. I would have preferred a progression from the back story of the character to present day. For jokes, there is just so much masturbation and balls humor one can take before it gets old. I’m also not one for constant foul language in a movie, when it’s not necessary. Finally, for unnecessary nudity, there was a stripper scene that could have been cut out completely, it added nothing to the storyline. Overall, I did enjoy being introduced to a new Marvel character through this film, whose sarcasm knows no bounds. I also enjoyed the martial arts and action, it’s one of the better action films I’ve viewed in a while. I just don’t feel it’s worth the dollars spent on it. If you feel the pressing need to see the stunts on the big screen or see your favorite comic book character come to life, then this film is for you—but honestly you could watch the preview for the film and get the whole story or just patiently wait until it comes out on DVD.

2016 Academy Awards Pop culture professional provides Oscar predictions

i! I’m Megan Escamilla and I believe I was put on this earth to live-tweet every major thing that happens in pop culture. I know someone has to do it, so I gladly accept the responsibility. I love everything pop culture related, from television events, movies, all the way down the spectrum of award shows: The Emmys, SAG Awards, Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, and my Christmas, The Oscars! I’ll be live tweeting this event, along with random 140 character gems, so follow me for some live coverage at: MeganEscamilla

Best Motion Picture – Drama: “The Revenant” Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance is riveting and emotional. The directing from Alejandro González Iñárritu, along with the stunning cinematography, is Oscar-worthy. The visual aesthetics, combined with the editing, soundtrack and post production work make for what The Academy wants in a production. Best Performance by an Actress – Drama: Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn” Ronan’s performance in “Brooklyn” lets her bring out her born and raised Irish accent, and it’s a pretty heavy one. Not only that, but she has the most emotional facial expressions out of everybody in this category. If she is sad, you know it and feel it with her. Feeling the emotions of a character are what movies are all about, and Ronan does it wonderfully. Best Performance by an Actress - Musical or Comedy: Jennifer Lawrence in “Joy” Jennifer Lawrence, a.k.a JLaw, is definitely a fan favorite and sold me more than just a miracle mop. The movie itself doesn’t seem like it offers much, but JLaw’s performance brings out the best of it. She’s compelling and sells herself as a 30-something with two kids. Lawrence, with the direction of David O’ Russell, definitely takes you on an emotional journey with this role.

Best Director – Alejandro Iñárritu: “The Revenant” “The Revenant,” in my opinion, is one of the most beautifully shot movies this year, due to the brilliant eye of Alejandro Iñárritu and their cinematographer. Not to mention “The Revenant” has already won three Golden Globes and has 12 Oscar nominations. The fantastic job done by Iñárritu comes through every little aspect in this movie including acting, the camera work, the script and of course the graphics.

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: “The Martian” Yes, “The Martian” is a comedy. There is humor in it, but along with the humor, the graphics and post work are stunning and captivating. Even the Mars landscape looks convincing. This is definitely up director Ridley Scott’s alley, though I don’t think it holds a candle to his other work, it definitely is worthy of an Oscar. Best Performance by an Actor – Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant” I’m going against every bone in my body to make this prediction. Leo has had some pretty bad luck when it comes to The Academy but this year I truly, truly believe he deserves it. How can they not give an Oscar to someone who stayed the night in a animal carcass? He took the direction from Alejandro Iñárritu like it was a natural breath coming out of his body. He lives that character, and you can feel his passion. Best Performance by an Actor - Musical or Comedy: Matt Damon in “The Martian” Though Matt Damon in “The Martian” didn’t scream musical or comedy in this category, he still does an excellent job portraying his character. Playing an astronaut who is trapped in space all alone can’t be easy, especially when you only get to act with yourself, but he makes it believable. Best Screenplay – Aaron Sorkin – “Steve Jobs” This one was hard for me. I so badly want to believe that Emma Donoghue will win for “Room,”but I don’t think that’s the case this year. Sorkin wrote (yet another) screenplay about Steve Jobs and got away with it, with limited heckling from the user reviews online (note that I said limited, there were definitely some negative reviews). This time he focused more on Jobs’ personal life, and maybe that is what the brilliant difference is.

monday, february 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

health/sports softball preview

Looking to get back on track EthanMooreDC

Ethan Moore

Forward Tenesha Blair, 24, of the Delta Pioneers, makes a fast break past Henry Ford College guards. The Pioneers beat the Henry Ford Hawks at home with a f inal score of 76-71 on Feb. 13. (Delta Collegiate/ Noah Surbrook)

Brooke Schutte helps the Lady Pioneers pull away late, 76-71, over Henry Ford Ethan Moore

EthanMooreDC

Delta handily beat Henry Ford last time they met on Jan. 16—the visiting team was ready for them this time and really tested the Lady Pioneers. “This time Henry Ford really stepped up,” says starting Point Guard Brooke Schutte. “We struggled more on defense this game which allowed them to stick with us for most of the game, but this game we played really well overall and as a team.” The Lady Pioneers struggled to get a rhythm going on offense. They shot 36 percent from the field and an abysmal 28 percent from three—the shot the team typically relies on. “Today the girls just played hard and pushed each other as they did all week in practice,” explains Assistant Coach Jason Brown.

Schutte had 20 points and five steals and Jayde Abenth added 17 points and seven rebounds. The game was close; it was not until Schutte scored seven unanswered points that Delta had some breathing room. “I saw that we were struggling offensively,” explains Schutte. “I knew that I had to do something to get us going so we could build on our lead. Once I hit the first shot, I was feeling it. I wanted that win so badly and I could tell everyone else did. We needed a good game like this as we head into the last few weeks of our season.” The win puts Delta at 8-5 in conference play on the year. The Lady Pioneers will celebrate Parents’ Night on Feb. 24 against St. Clair Community College.

Martel Handley explodes for 25, leads Pioneers over Henry Ford, 90-78 EthanMooreDC

Ethan Moore The last time these two teams met on Jan. 16, Delta escaped with a six point victory. The rematch provided Delta a chance to show how much they had improved since their last meeting. The Pioneers started off with a quick lead and never relinquished it in a game that wasn’t as close as the score implies. Martel Handley has been on an absolute tear lately, scoring in double figures in nine of the last 10 games, with six in a row. He had 25 points to go with 11 rebounds in this one. Jacob Thomann added a career high 13 points, including a monster reverse dunk in the second half that really put away the game.

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“Martel has been playing really well lately, and Jake came off the bench and gave us great minutes through the game,” says Head Coach Carlos McMath. Delta played a complete game from start to finish, with playoff position on the line, every game still has plenty of meeting for the Pioneers. “We’re coming into every game mentally in tune and practicing better than ever,” says Handley. The win puts Delta at 8-5 in conference play on the season, with three games left to play. The Pioneers have Parents’ Night Feb. 24 against St. Clair Community College.

To cut, or not to cut? That is the foreskin

ircumcision has been a widely debated topic in recent years. In America, circumcision has become more of an aesthetic choice, as opposed to a health concern. Circumcision is the process of removing extra foreskin from the penis. The first written account of the practice appears in 2400 B.C. when Egyptians used flint knives to remove the foreskin on young men, according to Stephanie Pappas of the Discovery Network. It symbolized leaving boyhood and entering adulthood. Circumcisions happen in three different methods, the Mogen Clamp, the Plastibell and the Gomco Clamp, according to the US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health. The Mogen Clamp uses a clamp on the foreskin which stops blood flow, once the blood flow stops, a scalpel is used to cut off the foreskin. The Plastibell is a plastic device held under the foreskin. A string is tied around the foreskin to cut off circulation until the foreskin falls off. The Gomco Clamp is inserted between the head of the penis and the foreskin. This cuts off circulation, the blood around the clamp starts to clot and a scalpel is used to cut off the foreskin, but this will also leave a scar on the top of the shaft. “Circumcisions are usually done in the first 10 days of birth. They are a quick procedure, and are done in approximately 15 minutes. Children usually heal within 10 days,” explains Nicole Boelter, an ER registered nurse at Covenant and nursing graduate student from Delta. Circumcision first became popular in religions such as Jewish, Muslim and African tribal communities. Since then, Western culture started to adopt the practice, according to the US National Library of Medicine. In the 1800s, doctors thought that circumcision could cure fevers, paralysis and brass poisoning. As people started giving birth in hospitals, circumcisions started to rise, according to Pappas. Only wealthy women were able afford hospital births. Circumcision became a status symbol, so only the wealthy had circumcised children. As hospitals became the most popular place to give birth, circumcisions started to rise. The foreskin is the female equivalent of the clitoral hood. There are 20,000 nerve endings just in the foreskin, according to the National Institute of Health. The foreskin makes sex more pleasurable and the glands produce lubricants that help during sex. Only 2 percent of circumcisions have complications that include bleeding, infections, psychological and sexual problems. Circumcision seems to be on the decline in the U.S., according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, with just 56 percent of men undergoing the procedure. In countries like Sweden, only 2 percent of children are circumcised, according to the Swedish Medical Center. Sweden has made cosmetic surgeries illegal until someone is old enough to consent, and they consider the practice to be genital mutilation. If there are medical issues, doctors try steroid creams, stretching methods and less invasive surgeries before circumcision is an option. According to Boelter, there are both positives and negatives that come with being circumcised. Pros of circumcision: • Easier to clean • Decreased risk of urinary tract infection • Decreased risk of std (including HIV, genital herpes, human papillomavirus and syphilis.) • Prevention of penile problems Have a burning question for M aris a? S end suggestions to DeltaCollegiate@Gmail.com

Cons of circumcision: • Bleeding • Infection • Foreskin cut too long/short • Foreskin fails to heal properly • Remaining foreskin may re-attach to end of penis • Loss of nerve endings which creates less pleasurable sex. • Infants glans aren’t protected from feces and ammonia in diapers. • No protection from friction and chafing

The softball program at Delta has been in transition for a while now. The school just hired on their seventh head coach in the past 10 years. So, will Randy Mullard, the newest head coach of the softball team, be the one to bring the program back to prominence? He is certainly laying down the foundation for it. “We started out with 12 players, and now we’re up to 19,” explains Mullard. “We’ve recruited an additional seven players since I took over in September and the culture’s improving around here. We’re definitely growing.” This job comes with many challenges at first, but the challenge is part of what attracted Mullard to the job in the first place. “After having a comfortable job at John Glenn as both a softball and football coach, I was ready for more of a challenge,” explains Mullard. “It’s not about my ego; I don’t even care if they call me coach, but the kids in this area deserve a coach that’s going to be here for them.” This year’s squad has nine freshmen on the roster including one player, in particular that Mullard is excited about. “Shelby Bailey, a pitcher from Bullock Creek, is a great player and I can’t believe somebody didn’t scoop her up before us,” says Mullard. The team also has 10 returning sophomores ready to make an impact. “I think we have a core group of sophomores,” says Mullard. “They were all starters last year, and so I’m really excited for what they can do for us this year.”

Mullard has had six months to start implementing his coaching philosophy and his offseason workout program to get the team ready for their first year with him as coach. “You have to think and act like a champion long before you become one,” explains Mullard. “The softball skills are obvious and we’ve been working hard on our communication for this season.” The new coach did not have a problem finding recruits for this season, and as he explains, good season performance may be the most important part of recruiting. “The more you win, the easier it is to recruit,” says Mullard. “The more stable the program gets, the more word will get out to schools in the area that Delta has a growing program that’s getting exciting.” After a 6-18 season last year, the team is ready for a fresh start, and they have the goals to back up their newfound confidence. “I believe our goal for this season as a team is to win the conference, and qualify for postseason play,” says Mullard. “We also have lots of daily goals so we can continue to get better every single day. That’s our goal, to get one percent better every day.” The softball team is ready for a fresh start this season. According to Mullard, the talent is there, they just need the right coach. “When I first saw the girls practice, I realized that these kids are really good, they just need to be guided,” says Mullard “Position by position, we have enough to win. Now we’ll see if I’m a good enough coach to get them there.”

Baseball preview

Gearing up for championship run Ethan Moore It’s no secret that the constant turnover of players at the junior college level can affect teams in both positive and negative ways. It affects who and how you recruit, along with development of the players you do get. As baseball Head Coach Daniel Smith explains, the team has a specific way they deal with recruiting. “We handle the high rate of turnover by abiding by one constant, know the philosophy and execute it,” says Smith. “We recruit players that fit that philosophy, and we seldom stray from it. Player development at two-year schools Smith is truly a 50/50 effort. Our coaches provide as much information and coaching as possible during those two seasons, but the players themselves must commit to getting better on their own.” If most of your team was made up of sophomores last year, then you’re in for more of a rebuilding year. If your team was mostly freshman, then this is your year to really compete. The second scenario is where we see the Pioneers baseball team this year as they gear up for a title chase. “On paper, this is the most talented team we’ve had here at Delta,” says Smith. “And it’s not just because of the returning sophomores that all saw a ton of time last year, but because of the talent we were able to attract for this season.” Last year the team finished 31-22-1, but struggled to close out the season “We were sitting at 30-12 and dropped nine of our last 10 games to end the season in 2015,” explains Smith. “We need to finish strong and not stray from our ultimate goal and that’s a national championship.” The starting rotation for the Pioneers is bringing back four starters from last season, including league All-Freshman team member, Matt Sahr. “[Sahr] collected wins over two teams [Frederick CC and Kellogg CC] that both... ranked in the top 10 in the country as well as... made appearances in the college World Series,” says Smith. “Cody Orban, one of our team captains, was our closer last year and moves into

EthanMooreDC the rotation this season while Austin Dingee has thrown lights out thus far, as has Colin Meacham.” The offense is anchored by returning sophomores, but with an infusion of talent from this year’s freshmen class. “Derek Clyde is our other captain and was the shortstop on the league AllFreshman team, and is back to lead our offense,” says Smith. “Brady Marwede is a returning starter that hit over .300 and played great defensively in the outfield. Also back is Dean Marais, one of the best hitters we’ve had here at Delta.” Smith had nothing but high praise for the incoming freshmen. “Tyler Robbins and Ty Jones will both be in the lineup with their power from the plate while Zach Booth and Justin Jachens are both tough outs as well,” explains Smith. “I’m most excited, overall though, to see how Justin Jurek performs from the freshmen class.” Smith says that, “If we had to pick a team from just our freshmen class, I believe we would still contend for another post-season berth and 30 win season, that’s how highly I think of them.” Smtih’s coaching philosophy comes down to one basic phrase that the team uses as motivation. “Our motto is ‘Nine Guys Named Joe’ because we never want to rely on just one or two ‘names’ to lead us, but constantly take an approach that everything we do is for the team,” explains Smith. The team obviously has goals on the field, but they’re all about academics first. “Our number one goal is to have a team GPA of 3.00 or higher, also, we want our sophomores to matriculate to a four-year program and continue their academic careers if possible, ” explains Smith. “We’ve had 29 players sign at four-year institutions to play baseball over the past four seasons while many other players have graduated with their associate in a program that has instantly placed them in their career field.” As always, the team is here to win titles and represent Delta College “On the baseball field, our goals are unwavering from one year to the next,” says Smith. “Win an MCCAA title, qualify for the post-season and win a national championship.”

Monday, february 22, 2016

www.deltacollegiate.com

opinion

OPINION

Black history is American history By Marisa Loranger

he whole month of February, my social media feeds are filled with complaints about Black History Month. “Why isn’t there a White History Month?” asks the whiny white boy who isn’t used to feeling left out. What white people fail to realize is that we’ve been celebrated every day of every month of every year since the beginning of time. Even during Black History Month, how much do we actually hear about black people throughout history? I agree that Black History Month isn’t taken seriously, and it’s history that we should have been learning about since grade school. Look in any K-12 history book and you’ll read about Thomas Edison, Christopher Columbus (the white explorer who didn’t discover, but invaded America), the founding fathers and the 43 white presidents we have had. I never read about Jane Bolin, the first African American woman to graduate from Yale, or Otis Boykin, the inventor of the pacemaker. Our education system fails us. During Black History Month, kids are taught about Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and the infamous ‘I have a dream’

In response to our editorial “Auction blocked: Q-TV needs public more than ever” Dear editor, Public Broadcasting has long behind the curve in attracting younger audiences. Other than of course the Sesame Street crowd. While I have noticed them making strides with Downton Abbey and switching some of the music programs to bands of younger appeal. (When I worked at Delta, you would never see a band like the Foo Fighters on Austin City Limits); But if you look to other cities like Detroit, you see a lot of interesting local production taking place. Such as Detroit Performs. But even then the problem remains that all broadcasters face, the total saturation of the market from cable, Internet, streaming services, and even the DVR which allows people to view TV on their time. It’s tougher than ever to make your voice heard in all the noise. Yes I suppose you could put in a promotions department and give them the funds needed to expand awareness and engage people on social. But for them to do that, you need a product first younger viewers would be interested in. To do that isn’t cheap either. Perhap taking the kids channel and in the evening create programming that appeals to teens to 20’s crowd? On the local level find programming that good for wide audience including younger people 20-30, but what is there left really in mid-Michigan for younger (teens to 30’s) people entertainment wise outside of bars? -Charlie Forbes, Former Collegiate Photo Editor

In response to Informers Corner “Delta College: Where dreams go to die” Dear editor, The college and student body you described in “Delta College: Where dreams go die” is unrecognizable from the one I know. You ask “how are these 20-nothings going to motivate anyone into action?” Implicit in that question is the assumption that Delta students are apathetic about their communities and events unfolding in the political realm. However, when I asked 229 students, “Do you pay attention to politics? Why or why not?” only two students said they don’t pay attention because they “don’t care.” They vast majority simply feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of problems in the public sphere, and because they don’t believe their action would make a difference anyway, they simply avoid it all together. However, if there were steps they could take to make a meaningful difference, they would get involved. Enter Change Your World Week. More than just “a few tables and some poster boards” this involved about 50 displays on 30 tables over 4 days last November. At every display was a creative, meaningful way for passersby to take action, from signing petitions, sending letters to lawmakers, to becoming more informed in advance of the next election. A questionnaire indicated that nearly 70 percent of passersby said they were more likely to pay attention to the issues because of the event, and more than 50 percent said it would make them more likely to vote in the next election. Beyond CYWW, every election year, The Democracy Commitment holds a voter registration drive, and with the help of students, registers between 300 and 500 students to vote. Did you know that in the last two national elections, Delta students turned out to vote in rates higher than other comparable community colleges? I think this answers your question about how “20-nothings” (your words) can motivate their peers into action.

OPINION

Numbing one pain to cause another Some people can’t handle the responsibility that comes with drinking

By MaCayla Jablonski

speech by Martin Luther King Jr. A month of learning about three or four influential African Americans isn’t really teaching kids anything. We get such a broad history of white people throughout time, but we really miss out on the important effects that African Americans had on our country. My childhood was filled with stories of black America, of how an entire oppressed group of people beat the odds and became scientists, activists, teachers, inventors and explorers. My grandfather would tell me stories of the oppression that he and so many of his friends had suffered through. He would explain in detail the MLK Jr. march that he was apart of. How thousands of people would come together linking arms so that when they marched through city blocks and white people would throw things onto the marchers, knocking them unconscious, they could hold each other up. So no one was left behind. It's awful to think other kids are missing out on the stories that made me feel like I was capable of anything I put my mind to. That's what Black History Month is about. It teaches us that we can beat the odds, that America is a great nation and nothing can hold us back if we fight hard enough. So until we decided to implement black history into the history books year-round, February will remain Black History Month. Instead of complaining, take the opportunity to learn about different people and cultures.

very year for Christmas, I get a Barbie doll from my uncle. I’m almost 20 years old, but in his mind I’m still the 7-year-old girl he knew before his accident. When my uncle was 18, he and a few of his friends made the decision to get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol. My uncle was able to make it out with his life—others in the car were not as fortunate. Rather than starting his first semester of college, he spent his time in a hospital bed recovering from multiple brain injuries and broken bones. He will never regain full-function of his brain. As college students, we witness irresponsible alcohol consumption by other students nearly every day. It doesn’t phase us until someone we love suffers from a decision they made with unclear judgement. The Washington Post article, “The often-repeated claim that 1,800 college students die from ‘alcohol-related causes,’” says that binge drinking isn’t killing students, it’s

Further, that characterization is a far cry from the students I see in my classes. They are creative, passionate and hard-working. They want a better life, and they are using their education to get there. Your piece also signaled out Citizens In Action, the student club that last year won “Club of the Year.” Every semester this club invites the student body to vote on what issue they think their state lawmakers should prioritize. Last December, following the voting that took place at Change Your World Week, about 25 students shared these issues with lawmakers in Lansing. CIA holds this event because they are passionate about raising the voices of Delta students. Lastly in response to your column, we don’t say it enough, but The Collegiate is an incredible part of the Delta community. And your reporting on the Q-TV story was a great resource for helping people understand what was going on and the choice facing the college. Thank you for your great work. My life’s work is politically empowering young people. I do this because I believe higher education is about more than producing workers. It’s about helping individuals gain the skills to shape the world in which they live. Trying to convince young people to become interested in politics, much less engaged, is tiring work. If I did it all for show, I would have quit long ago. I do it because this work matters. For democracy’s sake. -Lisa Lawrason, Associate Professor of Political Science Enjoyed an article and want to express it? Vexed and need to vent? Send a Letter to the Editor. Let people know what you think! Send your material by e-mail to: DeltaCollegiate@gmail.com

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the decisions students make while intoxicated that are killing them. More students are dying from drunk driving, drunkenly falling down the stairs and starting fires while drunk, rather than alcohol poisoning. If my uncle and his friends would’ve stayed at home and been responsible, odds are they would all still be alive and well today. With drinking comes a tremendous amount of responsibility—responsibility some college students aren’t capable of handling. When classes get unbearable and we need to tune out of reality before losing our sanity, most college students turn to partying. It’s the one stereotype about college students that tends to stay consistent over time. I also know that being a college student in the 21st century is taking a toll on most students’ mental health, because of how difficult it is to work enough hours, keep your grades up to maintain scholarships, find enough money to eat that day, etc. According to Healthline’s article, “Depression in College Students,” one in four college students suffer from mental illnesses, and around 75 percent of those students don’t seek help. Instead, they turn to binge-drinking alcohol to numb themselves, and suffer through it. It scares me that so many of us turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms when stressed. Too many of us consider alcohol as “liquid courage,” and as a solution to our problems. I don’t think college students should be drinking as much as we are. It’s hurting us more than it’s helping us.

VIEW

Ballot vox

Your vote is your voice

hen the land of the free was founded in 1776, only white, protestant, property-owning men could make decisions concerning the freedoms of all with their vote. Throughout the 19th century, all white men, not just protestant property owners, were given the right to vote, while poll taxes effectively stripped that right from minorities. White women were allowed to vote in 1920, and finally, in 1964, this right to vote expanded to everyone—sort of. This terribly tragic information shows how much unnecessary suffering women and minorities had to face in order to gain the right to vote. Frankly, your apathy is no excuse. Civil right leaders are rolling in their graves. Look, this a democracy. Your right to vote should be as cherished as your right to open carry your AR-15 in line at McDonalds. It is a national right. Over the last three decades, the polls have been disproportionately led by the wills of the one percent. Juxtapose this with the widening participation gap between the young and old, with apathy increasing among the youth. Just think of how different the world would be if everyone participated. If your community has poor voting attendance, elected officials pay less attention to your neighborhood, thus decreasing the political weight your own voice has. Whoever votes has a powerful impact on public policy. Whoever doesn’t vote isn’t heard at all. Even though the current political system is disheartening, it is the only route one can take toward change. Progress takes dedicated, deliberate action over time. The system of government we have is, for better or worse, what we are stuck with until enough people go out to change it. Sometimes the system is made to be frightening, and makes you feel small—enough so that you don’t try to change it. Until enough people go out to vote, we will all continue to be disheartened by the way our government is working. The government needs you to go cast a vote, and tell the country what you want. We understand this sad truth: our government is set up so that we are stuck with two parties. There are thousands of people who would rather support the green party or the independent party, but they won’t vote for that party’s candidate because they feel like it’s a loss. And it’s true: voting for a candidate outside of the main two parties is like throwing away your ballot. We understand the disillusionment that comes with voting. The slight feeling that we aren’t given much of a choice, and that you are stuck between the candidates that party bosses pick for us. Regardless, in the face of all of these challenges, every vote you and your peers don’t cast, your political opponents are casting. Casting a vote is the one guaranteed record of voicing your opinion (I’m sorry, but those politically driven reblogs on Tumblr don’t count). It also gives the unique right to moan about politics, to proudly proclaim in defiance: “I didn’t vote for ‘em!”

FOUNTAIN

TALK

Do you think your vote matters? david wheaton 21, bay city

nathan bernthal 20, munger

Yeah, I think so. Because if you don’t end up voting you don’t know if it could have ended up really mattering.

ashley demo 22, midland

Of course. ‘Cause, I mean that’s how our country works and that’s how we decide who our president is.

danielle muszynski 22, bay city

Well yes, only because if everyone that didn’t vote who thought their vote didn’t matter voted, the election could easily swing either way.

I feel strongly about who is running for president but in a larger picture, does my vote matter? I don’t necessarily think it does. Because I feel like a lot of people that are voting are elderly and their votes outweigh our generation.

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monday, February 22, 2016

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FOUNTAIN

TALK

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