DePaulia
The
Volume #107 | Issue #8 | Nov. 7, 2022 | depauliaonline.com
NECK & NECK As polls narrow, Democrats are fighting to retain control of Senate
Senate polls in key states
MAYA OCLASSEN | THE DEPAULIA
By Erik Uebelacker Editor-in-Chief
With Republicans likely to win back control of the House of Representatives, hopeful Democrats have turned their attention to the Senate, which is still a tossup just one day before the midterm elections. The GOP appears to be gaining momentum at just the right time. Polls and forecasts suggest Republicans have approximately a 54% chance of winning the Senate; their best odds since July. This trend is not a surprising one, as the controlling party tends to lose seats in both chambers of Congress come the midterm elections. “Every midterm election since World War II, on average, the president’s party has lost 26 House seats [and four in the Senate],” DePaul political journalism professor Chris Bury told The DePaulia. “The dynamic is that there is always some pushback against the party in power, and the opposing party can do a pretty easy job of communicating that whatever the problems of the country are, they can be blamed on the president.”
Considering the Democrats won the House, the Senate and the presidency in 2020, this made it even easier for the GOP to advocate for a change in leadership. “We’re seeing that directly with gas prices and inflation, both of which are largely beyond the president’s control,” Bury said. “That doesn’t matter. In politics, it’s Biden’s fault.” Even with the GOP favored to win the House and slightly favored in the Senate, current polling suggests that Republican gains in both chambers would be modest by the standards of other midterm elections. Barring extreme polling errors, a “red wave” the likes of 2010 or 2014 is looking unlikely. Current forecasts indicate that control of the Senate will likely come down to four key races: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. If this is the case, Democrats have an uphill battle. They will have to win three of these four races in order to retain the Senate’s control, while Republicans need just two of those races to go their way. “It’s interesting that some of these Senate races where it seems to be the closest are in the states that Biden did win,” said
Lucy Moog, Democratic activist and committeeman of Chicago’s 43rd Ward. “The Democrats have some really good candidates in these places who are generally moderate, thoughtful, while the Republicans have some of these extreme candidates who are election deniers.” Two of these races feature Republican candidates who are complete political outsiders. Television presenter Mehmet Oz, better known by his TV alias “Dr. Oz,” is running in Pennsylvania, while former NFL running back Herschel Walker is doing so in Georgia. Both candidates were endorsed by former president Donald Trump. “They’ve never worked in government,” Moog said. “They’ve had incredible careers and are celebrities in their own realm. But have they ever worked on inflation? Do they know anything about prescription drugs and trying to reduce costs?” The races in Pennsylvania and Georgia also happen to be the closest contested, with polls from each falling within the margin of error.
See SENATE, page 11
GOP’s ineffective strategy strengthens Pritzker lead By Amber Stoutenborough Multimedia Managing Editor
Poll data from New York Times/Siena College polls in four states between Oct. 19 to Oct. 27. ERIK UEBELACKER | THE DEPAULIA
As tomorrow’s election day swiftly approaches, the Illinois gubernatorial race is coming to a close. Republican challenger Darren Bailey’s best efforts to recruit independent voters has fallen short behind Democratic incumbent Governor J.B. Pritzker, who now leads by 13.5 points, according to FiveThirtyEight. Many feel any turn around from either party is not possible so close to the election. “Thirteen points is a pretty big deficit to overcome, particularly this close to the election, and that might also explain why we’re seeing more desperation moves, if
you will, correctly, so these fake newspapers are targeting counties around the Chicagoland area,” said Jeff Blevins, a journalism and public affairs professor at Cincinnati University. “We know offhand you might assume that he probably has a lot of support from southern from central Illinois. But Chicago, the urban area, just has so much population that tends to lead Democrats, so [Bailey is] probably not going to win.” Bailey still has a strong following among the rest of Illinois with his reputation as a working class ally. While most of Bailey’s following is among the rest of Illinois outside of Cook County, there are some outliers.
See GOVERNOR, page 5
INSIDE: 2022-23 Basketball Issue
2 | News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
First Look
CAMPUS CRIME REPORT
Oct. 26, 2022 to Nov. 1, 2022 LOOP CAMPUS
LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Erik Uebelacker eic@depauliaonline.com PRINT MANAGING | Nadia Carolina Hernandez managing@depauliaonline.com
4
5
8
Daley Building
Ozanam Hall
1
4
3 9
10
Monroe Hall
1
3
2
McCabe Hall
DePaul Center
2300 block of Kenmore 2 Student Center 6 & 7 Ray Meyer Fitness Center
ONLINE MANAGING | Patrick Sloan-Turner online@depauliaonline.com MULTIMEDIA MANAGING | Amber Stoutenborough multimedia@depauliaonline.com NEWS EDITOR | Kiersten Riedford news@depauliaonline.com ASST. NEWS EDITOR | Vanessa Lopez news@depauliaonline.com NATION & WORLD EDITOR | Ruchi Nawathe nation@depauliaonline.com OPINIONS EDITOR | Samantha Moilanen opinion@depauliaonline.com FOCUS EDITOR | Una Cleary focus@depauliaonline.com ARTS & LIFE EDITOR | Lilly Keller artslife@depauliaonline.com ASST. ARTS & LIFE EDITOR | Jonah Weber artslife@depauliaonline.com SPORTS EDITOR | Tom Gorski sports@depauliaonline.com ASST. SPORTS EDITOR | Preston Zbroszczyk sports@depauliaonline.com ART EDITOR | Alicia Goluszka art@depauliaonline.com ASST. ART EDITOR | Maya Oclassen art@depauliaonline.com PHOTO EDITOR | Quentin Blais photo@depauliaonline.com ASST. PHOTO EDITOR | Erin Henze photo@depauliaonline.com COPY EDITORS | Amber Corkey | Kara Zubo copydesk@depauliaonline.com SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR | Lily Lowndes social@depauliaonline.com ADVISOR | Marla Krause mkrause1@depaul.edu
LOOP CAMPUS
LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS Assault & Theft
Other
Drug & Alcohol
Lincoln Park Campus Crimes: Oct. 26 1) A Graffiti report was filed for markings on an Emergency Call Box on the 2300 block of Kenmore. 2) A Battery report was filed for a person in the Student Center. Oct. 27 3) Emergency services from both DePaul and the City of Chicago responded to an incident in McCabe Hall. There was no threat to the university community. 4) Emergency services from both DePaul and the City of Chicago responded to an incident in Ozanam Hall. There no threat to the university
SOURCE | DEPAUL CRIME PREVENTION OFFICE
community. 5) Public Safety received information regarding a Battery that occurred on an unspecified date in Ozanam Hall. Oct. 28 6) A Disorderly Conduct report was filed in the Ray Meyer Fitness Center. Oct. 29 7) A Criminal Trespass Warning was issued to a person in the Ray Meyer Fitness Center.
Hall. Person was transported to the hospital. 9) An Illegal Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor report was filed for a person in Munroe Hall. Person was taken to the hospital. 10) Public Safety received information regarding an incident of Sexual Abuse that occurred in Munroe Hall in late September.
Oct. 30 8) An Illegal Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor report was filed for a person in Ozanam
Loop Campus Crimes: Oct. 26 1) A Disturbance was reported in the Daley Building. Oct. 27 2) A Criminal Trespass Warning was issued to a person in the DePaul Center. 3) A Theft report was filed at Barnes & Noble in the DePaul Center. Oct. 30 4) An Armed Robbery report was filed regarding a carjacking that took place near 14 E. Jackson. A Safety Alert was issued regarding the incident.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the article "Students Against Incarceration returns, aims to 'ban the box'" stated that DePaul housing and financial aid forms included a criminal history box. The DePaulia has since learned that these forms do not include this box. The story has been corrected to remove the inaccuracy.
CORRECTION: The print issue from Oct. 24, 2022, attributed the pull-out quote on page 25 to Athletics Director DeWayne Peevy but
the quote was actually said by Kassidy Brown, senior associate athletics director of marketing and communications. The quote read: "We are doing a lot to give our women's sports here at DePaul what they deserve" La DePaulia es el noticiero oficial estudiantil en español de la Universidad DePaul, enfocado en proveer una voz para la comunidad latinx. Nuestras opiniones no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones de la administración, facultad o personal de la universidad.
CONTACT US:
JEFA DE REDACCIÓN | Jacqueline Cardenas eicladepaulia@depauliaonline.com
www.depauliaonline.com
GERENTE EDITORIAL | Santiago PosadaJaramillo managingladepaulia@depauliaonline.com
GENERAL PHONE (773) 325-2285
EDITORA DE OPINIONES, ARTE Y VIDA | Andrea Juárez Hernández opinionesladepaulia@depauliaonline.com
OFFICE HOURS Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
EDITOR DE MULTIMEDIA | Frankie Perez multimedialadepaulia@depauliaonline.com
ADVERTISING business@depauliaonline.com
PRODUCTOR DE PODCASTS | Geovani Camarena gcamare3@depaul.edu
NEWS TIPS news@depauliaonline.com
EDITOR DE COPIA | Rodrigo Melgarejo a20181375@pucp.edu.pe EDITOR DE DEPORTES | Santiago Gonzalez Tijerina sagotijerina@gmail.com
ADVERTISING business@depauliaonline.com
FOLLOW US: facebook.com/TheDePaulia
thedepaulia
twitter.com/TheDePaulia
thedepaulia
News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 3
Task force closes in on health insurance plan By Samantha Moilanen Opinions Editor
Alexandro Esparza, a junior at DePaul University studying neuroscience, has been without health insurance his whole life. Because his father is a contractor without benefits from his employers, his family does not receive health insurance as it is too expensive in the open market. “For as long as I can remember we paid out-of-pocket,” Esparza said. “When we go to Mexico, my dad buys a three week supply of his diabetes medication because it is so much cheaper out there.” Esparza is just one of many college students living without health insurance in the United States. “College students constitute probably the single-largest cohesive group of uninsured Americans,” Stephen Beckley, co-organizer for the Lookout Mountain Group (LMG), a non-profit organization dedicated to healthcare reform for college students, told The DePaulia. According to a press release from the LMG, a report found 1.7 million college students remain uninsured in 2018. When Esparza enrolled at DePaul, he looked into receiving benefits from the university, only to find out DePaul does not offer health insurance to students. “I’m not sure why we don’t all have insurance at this point,” Esparza said. Last year, the DePaul Student Health Insurance Task Force conducted a survey using a representative sample of students to assess the need for health insurance at DePaul. The survey found 9% of DePaul students are uninsured, which is more than the national average of 7.9% according to LMG. Now, DePaul students will soon have the option to receive health insurance offered by the university. The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee, which began as the DePaul Student Health Insurance Task Force last winter, has begun the process of finalizing a healthcare plan. According to Jay Baglia, a health communications professor at DePaul currently serving on the health insurance committee, said they will soon approve a healthcare plan which will
“The last thing a 21-year-old needs is a catastrophic health bill. This is not about whether you're healthy or not, this is about the fact that a health crisis appears out of nowhere.”
Jay Baglia
Health communications professor, serving on healthcare committee
SAMANTHA MOILANEN | ART
be offered to students by the 2023 fall quarter. Kimberlie Goldsberry, associate vice president of student affairs said the committee will be reviewing the proposal submissions to evaluate each provider, focusing on price, quality of coverage and references from other campuses using their services. The committee’s overall evaluation of each provider will be submitted to the DePaul President’s Cabinet for their review and decision-making. “The…committee’s primary work of submitting a Request for Proposal (RFP), reviewing the proposals received and offering feedback about the providers to the DePaul President’s Cabinet by mid-December is on track,” Goldsberry said. Once the plan is approved, the university will decide how to distribute the added cost of an insurance charge to the overall tuition fee. “There’s going to be four companies bidding on our set of criteria,” Baglia said. “We
will select a carrier sooner rather than later, and with that carrier decision, will come the price tag.” As long as the cost of tuition does not drastically increase, students are optimistic about the new plan. “If [the plan] is affordable, I think it could be a really good thing because I know a lot of other people don't have insurance,” Esparza said. Baglia said the committee is discussing the financial implications of an increase in tuition costs for students opting to receive health insurance from DePaul. “We ran into a little bit of debate on this committee about the fact that…when we do locate and contract with an insurer, this will affect the total cost that students pay to go to DePaul,” Baglia said. When the university implements a healthcare plan, it will be a requirement for all stu-
dents unless they provide proof of a comparable plan, according to Goldsberry. The committee is unsure whether there will be an exemption option at this time. “The vast majority of universities have student health insurance [and] require students to have health insurance,” Baglia said. “If students do not have health insurance through their parents, they are almost always required, unless an exemption can be identified, to have the university offered student health insurance.” Even though the plan will be a university requirement, Baglia is certain it will be affordable, and DePaul will work with students to factor health insurance into financial aid. “Student health insurance is incredibly inexpensive compared to insurance for the majority of the population,” Baglia said. “Students are young, they don't have a lot of physical issues, so it's easy to insure them.” Baglia said the committee is estimating the health insurance plan will be about $2,000 to $3,000 a year. According to Beckley, most college students without health insurance are from middle-income families that cannot afford the high cost of insurance and do not receive benefits from their place of work. Therefore, Beckley believes it is imperative all universities offer health insurance to their students. “It’s so important to have access to good health insurance, because without it, you can really have trouble financially,” Beckley said. Baglia, who’s role on the committee involves expressing the student need for health insurance, is also an advocate for all students receiving health insurance whether from the university they are attending, their parents or alternative means like the Affordable Care Act. “The last thing a 21-year-old needs is a catastrophic health bill,” Baglia said. “This is not about whether you're healthy or not, this is about the fact that a health crisis appears out of nowhere.” To Esparza, DePaul’s decision to work on providing a health insurance plan for students is a step in the right direction. The committee hopes to make its recommendation and finalize a plan through the board of trustees by the end of this academic year. MAYA OCLASSEN | ART
4 | News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
Students register with Vote DePaul By Michael Boland Contributing Writer
“I was motivated to become a Voter Registration Genius (VRG) because a lot of people take our democracy for granted,” DePaul junior and Vote DePaul staffer Jesus OCampo said. “The great thing about democracy is that it gives us a chance to have our voices heard but it only works if we participate in it. So if the only people engaging are older middle class suburban voters, guess whose opinions the country is going to reflect.” While students are often very vocal in their political opinions, their participation in elections does not often reflect their passion. During the 2020 presidential election, 55% of youth voters between ages 18 and 29 participated, the highest turnout since 1972 according to Statista. Student-led voter registration drives such as Vote DePaul are helping to keep these numbers high and address the gap in participation across age groups. Vote DePaul is a DePaul organization that runs voter registration drives through in-person tabling in both the Loop and Lincoln Park campuses. “Research has shown that students respond much more to fellow students during voter registration and get out the vote campaigns” said Summer Brown, instructor and director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics at DePaul and Vote DePaul’s staff sponsor. “We have successfully registered 411 students since June 2022 and 731 students since the beginning of our program in August 2020.” While voter registration drives are one of the most effective ways to increase student voter turnout, the job does not come without its challenges. “The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was the anxiety I had around public speaking,” OCampo said. “Calling out students just going
about their days is incredibly nerve wracking. Eventually though, you fall into a sort of a rhythm and it gets easier.” Vote DePaul is a non-partisan student organization, so trying to engage with students without engaging in their politics can be difficult. However, their passion for the project outweighs the challenges. “I have really enjoyed working as a Voter Registration Genius, and it feels great to know that we are helping the DePaul community be more politically engaged,” VRG Giorgia Fiorani said. “Another thing I have noticed is that people think the registration process takes a long time, but in most cases it’s a fairly simple process that only takes about 10 minutes.” For VRGS, voter registration drives and organizations like Vote DePaul are one of the best ways to exercise their passion for democracy and create political change by doing more than just casting their own vote. “I have always been passionate about politics in general, but when I heard about Vote DePaul, I thought it would be a great initiative to participate in,” Fiorani said. “Previously, I have worked on voter registration campaigns, and I have really enjoyed that work so I thought working for Vote DePaul would be a great way to continue working in this field.” While the hyper-polarization of American politics is usually considered dangerous, young voter turnout has had a positive relationship with polarization. “We know that if we can get students registered, they are 80% more likely to follow through and vote,” Brown said. “We also know that if we can create a first time voter, we have a much higher chance of creating a lifetime voter. The barriers in our system make it difficult for students to know how and where to register, so they just skip voting or they don’t think their voice will count.” Brown cited two more challenges that pro-voting advocates face: barriers to voting
KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA
Junior Ava Fischer hands an envelope and stamps to a student who is registering to vote. Fischer said some states require people to mail in their absentee ballots.
KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA
Freshman Beka Underhill registered at the Vote DePaul tabling. She said it was a much easier process than she anticipated, only taking about five minutes. and voter apathy. The New York Times argues that barriers such as opportunity cost and habit formation also can be attributed to low student voter turnout. Young people have less flexible schedules and are therefore sacrificing more when they register to vote and go vote. Both Brown and The New York Times also argued that voters are much more likely to continue to vote once they vote once. This habit formation
is a crucial part of voter participation among young people. “Voting does truly impact our political process, not just at the national level but at the state and local level as well,” Fiorani said. “If you are upset about a current political issue, one of the most important ways to take action is to vote.”
Veterans Day celebration events on campus More information about DePaul Veterans Affairs office For the first time, DePaul's Veterans Affairs office is standing alone as its own office. Friday will be the first time a university president will be speaking at a Veterans Day event.
Veterans Quarterly Connect Student veterans are welcomed back to campus every quarter with food and camaraderie. The event takes place during the 2nd week of every quarter in both Lincoln Park and the Loop. The Loop events take place in the DePaul Center in Suite 11014. The Lincoln Park events take place in the Student Center in Room 360.
Nov.
11
Veterans Day breakfast Friday, Nov. 11 at 9 a.m. in the 11th Floor DePaul Club of the DePaul Center. The event is honoring student veterans at DePaul and remembering the journeys of veterans. Guest speakers: Brandon Carroll (USMC), Larry Melton (Army), Liam Turman (Army) and DePaul’s new president, Robert L. Manuel.
Get in contact with the DePaul Veterans Affairs office
To learn more about student veteran benefits and veterans community at DePaul, students can come in person Monday through Friday to the Loop Campus office located in DePaul Center Room 11007 or to the Lincoln Park office in Student Center Room 360. The offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office can also be contacted by calling (312) 362-5656, (773) 325-7088 or emailing veteransaffairs@depaul.edu.
News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 5
PAUL VALADE | DAILY HERALD VIA AP
Northbrook resident Merle Brown [left] and Judy Neumann [right], of Arlington Heights, have a photo taken with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker during his stop to downtown Arlington Heights, Ill., on Monday, Oct. 31. Pritzker has appealed to women's rights as a large portion of his campaign, making many pro-reproductive rights people drawn to voting for him.
GOVERNOR, continued from front page Jeff Fiedler said. “I think he's a good guy. I think it's hard for people that live in Chicago. He comes from a different lifestyle, and he looks at things in a different way. And we're so conditioned in the city and in Cook County to look at things that way and most people in Chicago don't get out and don't see what the rest of the state is like.” Fiedler believes Chicago has fallen from where the city used to be and needs a new approach after Pritzker. “I hope people will warm up to his approach and consider it, rather than just write him off because he's not a billionaire politician from Chicago, but he's a really successful businessman,” Fiedler said. “Even though he's maybe worth a couple million dollars, he's a lot more like the guy on the street than JB Pritzker. Darren called Chicago a hellhole. People use different phrases. I personally probably wouldn't have said hellhole but I would ask anybody, ‘Are you really happy with the way things are?’” While highly controversial to more conservative areas in rural Illinois, Pritzker’s support of reproductive rights has made other voter’s decisions easy. Kelly Stein, who works in Chicago Public Schools, recently switched her political standing due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “I don’t believe I can ever vote for a politician who doesn’t believe in my rights,” Stein said. “I want to like Darren. He seems like a stand up guy, but he’s extremely against abortion, and I just can’t live with myself voting for another candidate who thinks women are second-class citizens.” Stein has recently become a volun-
“I want to like Darren. He seems like a stand up guy, but he’s extremely against abortion, and I just can’t live with myself voting for another candidate who thinks women are secondclass citizens.”
Kelly Stein
Chicago Public Schools staffer teer for Planned Parenthood and hopes Pritzker continues to keep his promise of Illinois as an “oasis for abortion access.” “I don’t understand this sentiment against one-issue voting,” Stein said. “If it’s one of the most important topics for me, why wouldn’t I choose whoever focuses on that?” When hitting the Chicago suburbs last week, Bailey recently recruited the former Democrat, now Independent congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to help campaign for the Independent voters. Pritzker criticized Gabbard for “helping Bailey spread misinformation about [J.B.’s] policies.” One of Pritzker’s and many other Democrats' concerns is that Bailey will object to the election results if they do
TYLER PASCIAK LARIVIERE | CHICAGO SUN-TIMES VIA AP
Republican nominee for the Illinois 6th Congressional District, Keith Pekau, speaks during a Darren Bailey for Governor rally in Glen Ellyn, Ill., on Oct. 31. not fall in his favor. The Pritzker campaign included this in a letter to Bailey’s campaign asking to vow the results are accurate. “Bailey has been an election denier and has refused to accept the results from the 2020 presidential election,” Blevins said. “They're trying to lead themselves out by suggesting that it was stolen, and
that the system was rigged. What's particularly frustrating about this is that none of these claims have been proven in a court of law, and somehow, that doesn't seem to matter. It just casts this shadow of illegitimacy, and maybe you think it's good for you individually. Politically, it has long term deteriorating effects on our belief in the system.”
6 | News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
'Not just how can we cut, but how can we invest'
Enrollment, climate discussed at Nov. Faculty Council meeting By Nadia Carolina Hernandez Print Managing Editor
Across the U.S., colleges and universities are dealing with significant declines in enrollment. As student bodies decrease in size, so do university budgets, prompting university officials to brainstorm solutions, like DePaul’s Faculty Council did on Wednesday. DePaul’s overall university enrollment decreased by 753 students in Fall 2022 from the previous year, according
to an IRMA report. Soumitra Ghoush, vice president of enrollment management, discussed how the decrease in enrollment will affect the university’s budget at the Nov. 2 Faculty Council meeting. The joint council made faculty aware of this year’s enrollment in an email on Oct. 10, stating that this year’s diminishment will “create a budget gap in our current year that will need to be addressed, but is manageable.” The joint council reiterated looking at other areas to fill the gap rather than
at faculty salaries or potentially cutting positions. “We will focus on being as protective as possible of salary adjustments, securing positions around the university, and maintaining the academic quality DePaul is known for delivering,” the statement said. Provost Salma Ghanem attended the meeting to address enrollment and budget concerns. “[President] Rob is looking at investment with budget restrictions, how we can invest,” Ghanem said. “That’s his story to tell. We’re reenvisioning strategically how we want to look at our budget long-term.” DePaul is seeing the biggest gaps in graduate and transfer students, according to Ghoush. The university also saw another historic freshman class. “We are seeing good momentum on freshman four years in a row,” Ghoush said. Matt Ragas, professor of communication, expressed concern at the meeting and asked Ghoush if the university has enough staff and resources in the marketing department to fulfill the needs. Ghoush said that the most significant recruitment strategy is “organic conversion.” He discussed having prospective transfer and grad students come to university events. “We need to tell our unique story,” Ghoush said.
IRMA SURVEY RESULTS
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul Provost Salma Ghanem walks with a group of faculty members during the introduction of the academic convocation on Sept. 1.
Representatives from DePaul’s Institutional Research Market Analytics (IRMA) team attended the FC meeting to discuss the climate perceptions survey sent to faculty and staff. Joe Filkins, associate vice president and Liz Sanders, associate vice president for IRMA at DePaul went over the results, with data suggesting that faculty want to be more involved in decision making. The results also suggest that DePaul continues to struggle with its diversity initiatives, according to Sanders. The amount of responses to the survey also went down from 2019, with a 6% decrease in full time and 21% in part-time faculty. Perceptions of reward recognition and executive leadership were the lowest in the past 11 years, according to the results. Despite the low results, perceptions about chairs, academic climate and FC increased, according to results. Part-time faculty recorded that 39% of them are teaching at other institutions either in person or online. “[There’s] an increase in [part-time faculty] saying they don’t have adequate support for balancing work and life,” Filkins said. Ghanem addressed that the university is undergoing an environmental shift since Manuel came into office. “What I’m seeing in the change of leadership is that there is a cultural shift in DePaul,” Ghanem said. The student perception survey results are underway.
Fast Facts 753
DePaul’s overall university enrollment decreased by 753 students in Fall 2022 from the previous year
6%
the number of responses to the survey decreased by 6% decrease in full time faculty
21%
the number of responses to the survey decreased by 6% decrease in part time faculty
39%
Part-time faculty recorded that 39% of them are teaching at other institutions either in person or online
10 years Chairs, academic climate and faculty council perceptions went up in the past 10 years
10 years Reward recognition and executive leadership perceptions are the lowest they have been in the past 10 years SOURCE | IRMA
News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 7
SGA election results bring new perspectives, passion By Claire Tweedie SGA Beat Reporter
Following a six day voting period for their fall election cycle, the Student Government Association (SGA) announced the winners on Nov. 3 through their new Instagram profile. Six out of the 10 available senator positions were filled, including senator for first year students, senator for sustainability and senator for first-generation college students. Newly elected senator for international students sophomore Kohinoor Pandey is from Nepal and wants to make sure the international student community’s voice is heard in SGA. She believes being at DePaul for a year helped her win, giving her connections to call upon when voting started and a better idea of what issues international students face. After learning another candidate was running against her, she contacted everyone she knew, including professors and got the few extra votes she needed to win. “Just knowing your values won’t be enough, you need to know the people,” Pandey said. “It’s about how you put your values first and how you want them on your side. Networking, your values and how you present yourself, those are the three factors a person needs to be in this position.” Freshman Suzan Arab was elected senator for community and government relations after a successful campaign built off of her goals of involvement in the DePaul community and to be a voice for her peers. “I want to make sure students who are struggling and want to see change can see that through me,” Arab said. “It means a lot to me to have this opportunity, especially to have this identity and have this seat at the table.” Arab is a Lebanese student and believes the new perspectives brought by the incoming senators will help SGA know more about its diverse communities. “I feel like this community is much more culturally and intellectually out there than just one type of person,” Pandey said. “A variety of people are needed to have a diverse solution because it causes a conversation where you can find common ground.” Newly elected senator for mission and ministry junior Gabriel Goldberg is the first Jewish student to hold this position. He structured his campaign around his mission to connect marginalized communities and create dialogue between them.
Goldberg is also interested in creating more accessibility for various religious groups at DePaul, such as introducing more kosher and halal options to the dining hall, a project he has been working on with the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity. “I realized if I’m entrusted with the ability to make a positive difference in my community, do I not have the obligation to stand up and be counted as the one to do it,” Goldberg said. “For the last two years I’ve been networking throughout DePaul, but I’ve also dealt with building bridges and breaking barriers. I get to now serve my community to the fullest I can.” All three senators want to use their new positions to act as bridges for administration and student concerns for their respective groups. Pandey states that to make this possible, she wants to uphold a value of transparency on both sides to avoid miscommunication for the benefit of both. “If I’m just a student, I can say everything I’m saying now, but it won’t have as much of an impact compared to a governmental senator to faculty or to the university,” Pandey said. “This is one of the best opportunities for myself and for my international group of people to be out there. Being in a position of power is where you’re going to be heard.” While the senators want to see change in their own communities and in DePaul as a whole, Arab wants to use her position to make SGA as efficient as possible. “In our day and age, everyone feels the need to agree with each other, which can be good,” Arab said. “Sometimes though, I feel statements are not as efficient, I’d rather push SGA toward pursuing action instead. I want to make myself heard and I want to look for something different.” Going into the rest of the year with new responsibilities, each of the senators must now follow through on their campaign promises while navigating SGA. Goldberg hopes this opportunity allows him to use his position to impact the Vincentian mission and the students that elected him. “This position doesn't define what I can do in it, but rather what I can do defines this position,” Goldberg said. “The DePaul community I believe has a lot to learn from its neighbors and each culture has something very special that applies to the Vincentian cause. I want to make sure this position is seen, heard and felt within my community.”
KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA
Parveen Mundi [right], Student Government Association (SGA) EVP of Student Affairs, participates in a group activity at the SGA meeting.
SGA Election Results Senator for Mission and Ministry
COURTESY OF GABRIEL GOLDBERG'S LINKEDIN
Gabriel Goldberg Senator for First Year Students
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA
Kohinoor Pandey, Student Government Association (SGA) Senator for International Students, introduces herself at the SGA meeting on Thursday, Nov. 3.
Senator for Sustainability
COURTESY OF AMANI AZEEM'S INSTAGRAM
Amani Azeem
Senator for Community and Government Relations
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
Jack Dhein
Suzan Arab
Senator for International Students
Senator for First Generation Students
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
Kohinoor Pandey
NO PHOTO SUBMITTED TO THE DEPAULIA
Victoria Gomez Meza
8 | News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
The DePaulia, La DePaulia staff By Lily Lowndes Social Media Editor
THE DEPAULIA PHOTO
Junior Nadia Carolina Hernandez, print managing editor, won third place for Best General News Story for her article on University Counseling Services last year.
THE DEPAULIA PHOTO
Senior Lily Lowndes, social media editor, won an honorable mention for Best Social Media Main Page.
The DePaulia continues to be an award-winning paper. Our staff came back from Washington D.C. touting markers of our hard work in the form of individual and team awards. With newspapers in hand, editors from La DePaulia and The DePaulia traveled to our nation’s capital for MediaFest22, a national conference for all things journalism hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists. Our editors attended conference sessions to learn about breaking news, designing newspaper spreads and interviewing vulnerable sources. Staff members listened to keynote speeches by legendary Watergate journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, we networked with fellow reporters and submitted our work for awards. The DePaulia and La DePaulia won five College Media Association Pinnacle Awards, two Associated College Press Pacemaker Awards and were named the Best of Show Newspaper/News magazine out of all four-year colleges with more than 15,000 students in the U.S. That’s a big deal! To wrap up the conference, I talked to the award-winning journalists at our paper to reflect on their work. News editor Kiersten Riedford won the first place Pinnacle Award in Best Coverage of Faith for her article “Give us more: DePaul requires religion yet lacks interfaith classes, multiple religions not represented in classes.” The article stemmed from Riedford noticing limited availability for certain religion courses at DePaul last year. She said after talking with several others, there was
not a wide enough span of classes representing people of faith at DePaul. “You're sitting here and you're telling me that [DePaul] only offered [three] Hinduism classes, seven Buddhist classes, seven general Christianity classes and over [130] Catholicism classes?” Riedford said. Because religion is a required course dimension for DePaul students, Riedford questioned the diversity of courses offered. “There's so many other religions that are represented in the DePaul community and it's like, where are they in the classes?” Riedford said. After her article was published last year, several members of the university penned their own articles in response, including former president Father Dennis H. Holtschneider. Riedford did not expect her opinion to start a conversation in the DePaul community, especially as a freshman. “I was asking myself ‘Did I do something wrong, or did I do something right to the point where people were responding?’” Riedford said. “It was my first real experience in the sense of what it means to be a journalist that actually puts things into the open. To win the top prize at the Pinnacle Awards was affirming for Riedford. “It was the realization of like, holy cow, okay, maybe this is what I'm meant to be doing,” Riedford said. Lawrence Kreymer, former editor-in-chief of The DePaulia, was the third-place Pinnacle Award winner in Best Sports Game Story for his article “Men’s basketball: Freeman-Liberty delivers special encore performance in final home game of the season.” “It was against Marquette, DePaul’s biggest rival,” Kreymer said. “It was a pretty crazy game.”
[From left to right] Lily Lowndes, social media editor, Jacqueline Cardenas, La DePaulia Editor-in-Chief print managing editor, Marla Krause, advisor, Erik Uebelacker, The DePaulia Editor-in-Chief, Amber Sto managing editor and Kiersten Riedford, news editor, received both pinnacle and pacemaker awards on
News. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 9
ffs receive national recognition A combination of factors made this story different from other sports game coverage Kreymer had done in the past. The conditions seemed serendipitous, with it being the last home game for graduating players, a big come-from-behind win and great energy from the players and coaches. “That's what probably made it a good story was that there was so much action,” Kreymer said. Print managing editor Nadia Carolina Hernandez’s story “DePaul counseling services outsourced to a third-party app, leaving students in limbo” won a third place Pinnacle Award in Best General News Story. Hernandez began reporting about DePaul’s decreased in-person counseling support because she felt it was a topic that needed to be talked about. “I kind of knew that there was something that had to be done about it,” Hernandez said. “The situation, in my opinion, was just so unusual for this private university who has this huge endowment to come back from a year of isolation to not have these student services already lined up.” After her article came out, community members at DePaul started a wider conversation about student support at the university, leading to a redesign of counseling services at DePaul. “I never really did it with this idea that it was going to come out as this huge thing,” Hernandez said. “But I'm glad I helped people. That's really the most I could have asked for.” Hernandez never wrote the story in hopes of earning accolades. She reported on the counseling services crisis so that students could get the resources they needed and the problems could be resolved. “[University Counseling & Psycholog-
THE DEPAULIA | PHOTO
f, Nadia Carolina Hernandez, outenborough, multimedia n Oct. 27.
ical Services are] making progress on fixing some systemic issues that counseling underwent, but I hope when people see that award, that doesn't mean [...] I'm done with this,” said Hernandez. Hernandez hopes that community members will continue to acknowledge what happened to counseling services at DePaul. She says the reporting is not over. Several former and current staff members, including Nika Schoonover, Amber Stoutenborough, Hernandez and Riedford won an honorable mention Pinnacle Award in Best Special Section - More Than Four Pages for The DePaulia’s Gender Issue. According to Schoonover, the former print managing editor of The DePaulia, The Gender Issue was planned far in advance. “Last year, I wanted to do some type of special issue every quarter we had,” Schoonover said. “We had the basketball issue in the fall, so in the winter, I really wanted to do The Gender Issue because that's something the staff was excited about and was talking about.” The idea for the issue was born out of staff conversations about identity and gender. At first, the special issue was going to be about women specifically, but it slowly expanded to encapsulate all different perspectives about gender. “I don't think our issue would have been as successful as it was if we didn't include the overarching idea of gender and not just women,” Hernandez said. Nonbinary people, men and women told their stories about how their gender played a role in their lives. “All the pieces were diverse and the writing was impeccable and I thought that visually it was beautiful,” Schoonover said.
Stoutenborough said that she would go into the office every day to work on the issue with Schoonover, Hernandez and Riedford. They produced the issue amid limited support, long days and the stress of finals during Winter Quarter. “I think it just shows that like for our first ever special issue, the fact that it was even nominated during finals week and all of his other stuff was happening, that if we wanted to do this again, we can and it will be even better than before,” Stoutenborough said. Editor-in-chief Erik Uebelacker won a Pacemaker Finalist Award in Best Story: Column for his article “I joined Truth Social so you don’t have to.” Uebelacker said that he went on former president Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social every day for a week to write his story. In order to immerse himself in the world of Truth Social, Uebelacker said that he restricted himself to only using the app’s features to write the story. Because Truth Social didn’t have DMs, he had to communicate by replying to other users’ posts. “It was really easy to write because it was a lot of fun,” Uebelacker said. “It was all kind of first person and I like writing like that so writing it didn’t take very long.” Schoonover said that it was the style and the angle that made the opinion great. “I think Truth Social was just kind of quirky and kind of fun,” said Schoonover. “It was unique because no one was really joining it; like no students are really doing the thing where they're joining it and writing about it.” In addition to individual awards, The
THE DEPAULIA PHOTO
Graduate student Amber Stoutenborough, multimedia managing editor, won an honorable mention in Best Special Section for the Gender Issue.
DePaulia and La DePaulia were honored with staff-wide recognition including Best of Show in the nation and a Pacemaker Finalist Award for Best Newspaper. Schoonover said that the awards are a testament to the drive of student journalists at the paper. Despite having limited resources compared to other universities, The DePaulia and La DePaulia produce work that gets national recognition. “I think DePaul's journalism program is really great at making great journalists and I think that The DePaulia has so many of those on staff,” Schoonover said. “And, you know, we are a smaller staff. We don't have a lot of the resources and the personnel that a lot of these other publications do.” Hernandez said that the awards affirmed the hard work created in the office. “I think it also just kind of reaffirms our passion for everything because we were doing this issue and like the idea of an award wasn't on our minds,” Hernandez said. “It was about putting together something we could be proud of.” For some staff members, the hard work and the opportunity to produce meaningful journalism drew them to join the paper. “I think something that's really cool is being able to win and knowing that you did something well, because a large part of why I came to DePaul as opposed to going to a different school was because I was given the opportunity to do something big here,” Riedford said. Congratulations to The DePaulia and La DePaulia. Stay tuned for more high-level student journalism and meaningful reporting.
THE DEPAULIA PHOTO
Sophomore Kiersten Riedford, news editor, won first place in Best Coverage of Faith for her article on faith classes not representing the student body equally.
10 | Nation & World. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
Nation & World K-pop band BTS vows to honor South Korea’s draft requirements
MAYA OCLASSEN | THE DEPAULIA
By Lilly Keller Arts & Life Editor
If there is one thing fans of prominent Korean pop group BTS do, it’s back their boys. With the recent confirmation of all seven members hiatus from music in order to serve their required two years of military service, fans remained loyal in light of the announcement. While the group plans to reunite in 2025 after all members complete their duty, the announcement effectively settled the dispute regarding whether or not the band should receive exemptions for their musical achievements. Under South Korean law, all non-disabled men are to serve a minimum of 18 months in the military by age 28. However, athletes, musicians and artists who exhibit global excellence, such as professional soccer player Son Heung-min have received exemptions. Outside of South Korea, 48 other countries require mandatory conscription, meaning those within a certain demographic have to enlist within the military. The vast majority of countries with a draft often require males to serve a minimum of two years between the ages of 18 and 30. The band’s eldest member Kim Seokjin, better known as Jin, received a two-year delay in his service when he turned 28 back in 2020, partially spurring the recent announcement. However, even with exemptions, individuals such as Heung-min still complete their required service. CedarBough Saeji, assistant professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University, explained how military service runs deeper than being an act of civic duty. “In Korean society, going to the military
is becoming a man,” Saeji said. “Like they [BTS] haven’t gone yet and there are still Korean people who still think of them as kids, they are not adults. And they go to the military, and they come back and it’s like, OK, now you’re a man.” Notably, the group did not attempt to avoid conscription, with government officials initiating the conversation regarding their exemption. Rep. Sung Il-jong of the main opposition People Power Party proposed a bill absolving service for men who prompted countrywide prestige. Beyond South Korea, other notable musicians who also experienced the effects of the military service range from Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. “If members of BTS didn’t go, they would literally have to spend the rest of their lives justifying not going,” Saeji said. Yet, many speculated whether or not the boyband would receive immunity based on their economic contributions to South Korea’s economy. In 2018, the Hyundai Research Institute stated that BTS was responsible for more than $3.6 billion to the country’s economy, the equivalent of what 26 mid-sized companies nationally contribute. Furthermore, analysts have projected that BTS would have provided over $29.4 billion to the economy between 2014 and 2023. However, Saeji explained how little the country’s artistic production compares to other forms of revenue within South Korea’s economy. “When we’re talking about cultural content and export of cultural content, almost 60% of the money is made by games, K-pop only makes 7% of the exports of cultural content,” Saeji said. “It [BTS hiatus] is not going to stop tourism, it’s not going to stop money coming in from all of these things they already produce.” Fans of the group, also known as the
“ARMY,” have expressed a mixture of reactions to the band’s temporary departure. Jay Zamiska, a senior at DePaul and a member of the university’s K-pop Dance club, applauded the group’s decision to go forward with their service. “I’ve been into K-pop for eight years now and have followed BTS the entire time,” Zamiska said. “I always knew they’d enlist, especially before they were the sensations
“In Korean society, going to the military is becoming a man. Like they [BTS] haven’t gone yet and there are still Korean people who still think of them as kids.”
CedarBough Saeji
Pusan National University Professor of
Korean and East Asian Studies
they are today. Even if the government made things optional for them, they’d want to serve since being in the military is more than an obligation to most Korean citizens.” Despite South Korean celebrities almost always serving noncombatant roles within the military, many idols have struggled with assimilating to their new demands and expectations. Most notably, Yoo Seung-jun, one of the country’s biggest pop stars in the 2000s, at-
tempted to obtain American citizenship to avoid service. “While some may argue that they were coerced or forced into service, I think they’re following in the footsteps of previous idols and proving they don’t think of themselves as better than others due to their status,” Zamiska said. “At the end of the day they are South Korean citizens, and it is admirable of them to enlist.” DePaul junior and casual BTS fan Olivia Martinez expressed initial astonishment at the announcement. “I was surprised when I first heard that some of them aren’t exempt,” Martinez said. “I would think because of how globally huge and how culturally impactful they are, the government would exempt them from going.” Since its 2013 foundation, BTS has broken over 20 Guinness World Records, from being the first K-pop group to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 charts to producing the most streamed track on Spotify within 24 hours. Although the group’s hiatus may seem sudden, Martinez remained adamant that no matter where the band’s future takes them, their fans will always remain. “I believe that the ARMY will be there for them when they come back because of BTS’s impact on them,” Martinez said. “Plus, the ARMY has a lot of content on the internet to remember and reminisce on while they wait.” While the future of the K-pop sensations remains unclear, it is evident that their estimated 90 million fans will remain loyal to the band, no matter when they decide to return to the stage. “There’s like an incredible belonging-ness that’s gonna come out of this, and hopefully nobody is gonna violate their [BTS’s] privacy,” Saeji said.
Nation & World. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 11 SENATE, continued from front page
Italy’s plunge into the right By Michael Boland Contributing Writer
Journalists and political opponents have labeled Giorgia Meloni’s election as the most far-right government since Benito Mussolini’s fascist rule that characterized Italy’s government from the early to mid 1900s. Meloni leads a conservative populist party known as the Brothers of Italy, which was co-founded by Meloni in 2012. 45-year-old Meloni has been part of neo-fascist political movements since 1992 when she joined the Italian Social movement. Meloni, a Catholic conservative, has held a number of positions prior to her election as Prime Minister, including her position in the Italian parliament where she was elected in 2006. Meloni has been widely criticized for her support for religion-informed politics, her comments threatening the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, her anti-immigration platform and her anti semitic values. While it is easy to compare far-right politicians to fascist rulers, Erik Tillman, associate professor and faculty advisor at DePaul, said that “comparisons between Meloni and Mussolini are flawed in one very crucial respect. Mussolini was a dictator who seized power violently, used repression to maintain, and pursued an imperialistic foreign policy.” Meloni’s party has been attacked for its failure to renounce former Prime Minister Mussolini’s fascist rule, but comparisons between the two governments often fail to recognize that Meloni’s position was born from the democratic process. On Sept. 25, 2022, Meloni’s coalition took 44% of the vote in the general election. While Meloni’s election was legitimate, there are still plenty of policy stances that are receiving grounded criticism. According to Reuters, Meloni has argued that “compatible migrants” should be welcomed to Italy, while “boat migrants” should not. There are; however, a number of established laws that prevent Meloni and her party from implementing such a discriminatory migration policy. DePaul professor and chair of International Studies and Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at DePaul, Shailja Sharma cited a number of protocols, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, which protects the rights of displaced people to be granted refugee status. In order for the Brothers of Italy to implement discriminatory migration policies, they would have to completely reassemble the legal structures of Italy, a feat which Sharma believes will not occur.
ROBERTO MONALDO | LAPRESSE VIA AP
Meloni’s election follows the trend of other European countries’ shift to the right. Sharma recognizes the many problems with Meloni’s rhetoric. “[A selective view of immigration] is a view that’s very common to far-right nationalist parties in Europe,” Sharma said. “There are similar politicians in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Greece, England, France, and now Italy. I think it’s pretty much a part of European right-wing discourse.” While migrants are crucial to European economies, anti-immigrant attitudes continue to ignore this in favor of xenophobia. “Migrants are important not just because they’re doing jobs that other people don’t want to do, and it’s not that Europe has never had migrants and is suddenly undergoing migration,” Sharma said. “Europe was never as exclusive as these politicians are making it out to be. Europe is in a demographic decline. There are not enough people to do the jobs that are needed. They are welfare states so they need people to pay into the welfare system for older Europeans to actually get their benefits.” Italy is a prime example of a problem that exists in many European states: a declining young population that will be unable to support the economy and welfare system that older generations have enjoyed. Anti-immigration policies like Meloni’s are controversial, not only because they are discriminatory in nature, but because they do not make sense in countries undergoing such intense demographic change. Meloni has also been widely criticized for
her religious nationalist view of government. “[Meloni] is indicative of a troubling trend we’re seeing in the United States and abroad where Christian nationalists and religious extremists attack church-state separation and seek to use religious freedom as a license to discriminate, threatening everyone’s ability to live as themselves and believe as they choose and widening inequality in society” said Rob Boston, senior adviser at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. For many, the danger of Meloni’s leadership is not a return to fascism, but a reversal of rights for women, LGBTQ+ identifying individuals and migrants. There are clear similarities between Meloni and Trump, in that these populist nationalist leaders ran on platforms that attacked the separation of church and state, a position that leans into the conservative need for a strong national identity, one of religious faith. In Italy, the U.S. and beyond, nationalist attitudes persist due to a need to feel exclusive. Populist leaders like Meloni feed on this nationalism to create policy platforms that make citizens feel as though their identity is being protected. “[Anti-immigrant nationalist attitudes persist] because people don’t want to give up national identities or their ideas of what makes them different,” Sharma said. “[Anti-immigrant nationalist attitudes persist] because people don’t want to give up national identities or their ideas of what
campaign issues: cybersecurity, sexual rights and ending the war in Ukraine. Releasing the tape has done little to his chances of winning the election against the established politician, but it certainly drew eyes to Itkis’s campaign. According to Ballotpedia.org, Jerry Nadler, the Democrat incumbent, has a clear edge and the race is not competitive. “I mean I guess it is good that he’s sex positive, but this method just seems like a way to get people to pay attention to him,” said Columbia College Chicago student and New York native Lou Bagget. Itkis said that he released this tape to prove how much he cares about the sex-positive causes in his platform. “If I would just talk about it wouldn’t demonstrate my commitment to the issue,” Itkis told City and State New York. One of Itkis’s opponents, Republican Mike Zumbluskas, expressed understanding as to why Itkis would release the tape.
“You gotta do what you gotta do,” Zumblaskas said to City and State. “The media ignores everybody that’s not a Democrat in the city.” Reactions to this unorthodox move are mixed, with many agreeing that this is not more than a publicity stunt. “I get that he’s trying to be sex-positive, but a stunt like this will make the public take sex based issues less seriously,” DePaul junior Elijah Valter said. “He probably had some good intentions by doing this, but I think in the long run that it will hurt policy that wants to help with sex issues.” While the release of the tape certainly earned Itkis his 15 minutes of fame, the effectiveness of this strategy is yet to be seen. With the midterm elections on Nov. 8, voters will soon find out if this “sex-positive approach” resonated with voters. “I think this is awesome actually,” said DePaul junior and stand up comedian Zach Liss. “When politicians do things
The races in Pennsylvania and Georgia also happen to be the closest contested, with polls from each falling within the margin of error. Walker’s race in Georgia against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock has been close since the beginning of his campaign. The Walker campaign briefly took a hit in polling after the anti-abortion candidate was accused of paying for at least one woman’s abortion in the past. Forecasts have swung back in Walker’s favor in recent weeks. “The idea that a truly underqualified candidate is poised to unseat an incumbent senator, even though [Warnock] has only been senator for two years, is shocking,” Bury said. Meanwhile, Oz gained significant ground on his Democratic opponent, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania John Fetterman, following Fetterman’s stroke in May that dissuaded some Pennsylvania voters. With both races still a coin-flip and several others nearly as close, Democrats like Moog are preparing for the possibility of a Republican-controlled Congress. “It’s a very real possibility,” Moog said. “I just don’t think Mitch McConnell is open to working with President Biden for any sort of compromise or any sort of change.” If this was to happen, however, the GOP’s power to further their own agenda would still be limited with Biden controlling the presidency. “They won’t have a veto-proof majority in either chamber,” said Oren Jacobson, reproductive health activist and founder of Men4Choice. “They’re not going to be able to do any more damage, but they can write bills that are going to feed their base,… maybe try to pass something like a national abortion ban. But even if they pass it through both chambers, the president’s not going to sign off on that.” In fact, Jacobson believes that Republicans are actually underperforming their expectations. One reason for this, he says, is the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year. “We’ve seen when people have gone to vote recently is that pro-choice voters are showing up to vote,” Jacobson said. “They’re showing up to vote young. More women are showing up to vote.” Still, the race for the Senate is neck and neck. As the country awaits tomorrow’s election results, fixed to their TVs, Jacobson wants voters to know that the most important races are not the ones getting the most media attention. “Focus on your own backyard first,” Jacobson said. “Everybody wants to focus on the United States Senate or some House district in some other part of the country. Job number one is in your own backyard… They’re the most important races in America.”
New York House candidate releases his own sex tape By Jacob Costello Cheif TV & Film Critic
Usually, when a sex tape involving a political candidate is released, their race comes to an end early. But not for Mike Itkis. Itkis released his own sex tape to demonstrate his “sex-positive approach.” The tape was uploaded to a porn site four months ago, but has only recently received traction. Itkis is running as an independent against a Democrat incumbent and a Republican challenger in a New York Congressional race. Independent candidates tend to struggle for coverage; however he has gained some attention with the tape’s release. Itkis is a major in the U.S. Army reserves where he has worked as a cyber operations officer. Itkis, who is running as an “independent liberal,” has built a platform around sex issues and reproductive rights. His website lists three main
MIKE ITKIS | ITKISFORCONGRESS.COM
Mike Itkis is an Independant in New York. like this, it makes writing jokes so much easier. I do think the only reason he did this was for publicity, but it made me and comic friends laugh quite a bit.”
Opinions 12 | Opinions. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
It's time for the government to prioritize the needs of migrants By R aena Bents Contributing Writer
Thousands of asylum-seekers from Venezuela are being used as pawns in a domestic political game over immigration policy, and the federal government needs to do something about it. The first bus of migrants from Texas arrived at Chicago’s Union Station on Aug. 31. Since then, over 3,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago. This is all happening by order of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in an initiative he has coined “Operation Lone Star,” an attempt at countering, what he considers, unwanted immigration across the Texas-Mexico border. Abbott is sending buses of migrants from the border to sanctuary cities like New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago. “They’ve landed in Chicago without much preparation of where they were going,” Laura Starr, director of external affairs for Community Health in Chicago said. “And the buses keep coming.” The real kicker for sanctuary cities like Chicago is no basic communication or funding is being provided from Abbott’s administration. What Chicago needs right now is financial backing from the federal government, allowing the city to provide substantial care for these individuals that have fled severe danger and hardship. To help combat this crisis, local organizations have been working with the city to offer resources for migrants. The 43rd Ward Alderman, Timmy Knudsen, is hosting a donation drive for newly arrived refugees to help them settle in Chicago. Immigration agencies and nonprofits in sanctuary cities that are receiving these busloads from Texas do not know when the buses are arriving, how many individuals these buses will be carrying or what kind of aid these individuals will require. Starr and the rest of the Community Health network are providing these migrants with physical health aid. “Right now, we are really just starting with vaccinations,” Starr said. “We are going to the hotels to provide the adults with Covid-19 and flu vaccines and we’re partnering with Lurie Children’s Hospital to come in and give vaccines to the kids, whether it’s Covid-19, flu, or other vaccines they need for school.” However, providing aid to these migrants is not just a matter of ensuring that they are physically healthy. “We do know there is a huge need for behavioral health support because they’ve been through trauma,” Starr said. “Most of them are fleeing Venezuela, they’ve passed through some really dangerous areas where many of them, even the children, have seen dead bodies.” In addition to the need for counseling services, these individuals need shelter, food, education, job opportunities and more. They need to create an entirely new life. Abbott has decided to focus his attention on getting rid of these individuals as soon as possible without any humanitarian regard, rather than putting organizational efforts toward a network
@KNUDSENFOR43 | FACEBOOK
Timmy Knudsen, 43rd ward Alderman hosts a donation drive for newly arrived migrants. Some of the donations include food, clothing and toiletries.
of immigration agencies and nonprofits that would provide aid for these asylum-seekers as soon as they reached Texas. “One can hope that maybe once we get through the elections some of the attractiveness of sending these migrants will die down and that it becomes less politically important for those on the other end,” Starr said. “But it’s hard to say.” The amount of migrants entering Chicago, compounded by the amount of aid just one of these individuals requires, means a lot of money and human effort goes into providing support and resources to help this crisis. “It’s a pretty massive effort by a lot of agencies to help everyone get settled,” Starr said. Federal aid for this migrant crisis would also be an opportunity for the U.S. to begin making strides toward a more just and humane immigration system. “The federal government would be showing their support for [progressive] border policies by financially supporting the influx of immigrants,” Kendra Fischer, a junior and political science major at DePaul said. Chicago is experiencing an engineered crisis that was intentional on behalf of the Texas government. Abbott is attempting to incite resentment toward refugees and asylum-seekers in the cities that have pledged to do all that they can to help these immigrants. “These are asylum seekers, this is important,” Shailja Sharma, head of the international studies department at DePaul said. “They ask for asylum and, under [the] laws and international treaties the U.S. has signed, we must listen to their credible fear appeal.” We, as a country, have an obligation to extend safety to asylum-seekers. It is against, not only U.S. law, but also international law to not do so.
SAMANTHA MOILANEN | THE DEPAULIA
“These are asylum seekers, this is important. They ask for asylum and under [the] laws and treaties the U.S. has signed, we must listen to their credible fear appeal.”
Shailja Sharma
Head of the International Studies Program at DePaul Extending asylum entails, not only offering the protection of our borders, but also offering humane treatment and acknowledgement of basic human rights. If Chicago is going to continue to uphold the United States’ legally-instated responsibility of providing sanctuary to asylum-seekers that Texas so willingly neglects, the federal government should
provide Chicago with the means to continue doing so. Living in a city that is willing to extend any of the resources necessary to individuals that are seeking a safe home is immensely pride-inducing. But Chicago’s resources are not limitless.
The opinions in this section do not necessarially reflect those of The DePaulia staff.
Opinions. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 13
Sun-Times' decision to drop paywall is long-awaited By Yazen Barakat Contributing Writer
The Chicago Sun-Times, under new ownership by public broadcaster Chicago Public Media, is dropping its website’s subscriber paywall making its news accessible to all readers. The anticipated move by the Chicago Public Media partner will help the financially struggling newspaper, which has been through various ownership changes in recent years, potentially recover from fallouts. In the midst of economic and personal business struggles, the Sun-Times intelligently made the move to partner up with a well-established and financially stable company in Chicago Public Media. The merger makes sense on both ends as both companies get to utilize each other's strengths and grow more popular while maintaining journalistic morals. The prestigious newspaper has the second-largest circulation among Chicago newspapers after the Chicago Tribune and claims to be the city's oldest continuously published day-to-day newspaper. “We strongly believe that everyone in the Chicago area should have access to the news, features, and investigations we produce, regardless of their ability to pay,” the newspaper declared in a statement on its website after the announcement. “Instead of a paywall, we are launching a donation-based digital membership program that will allow readers to pay what they can to help us deliver the news you rely on.” On Jan. 31, The Sun-Times became
a part of NPR’s global news gathering service when Chicago Public Media (WBEZ) acquired them. Under the deal, the SunTimes, whose financial stability had been questioned for decades, would get a new, long-term lease on life. “It is an outstanding decision on the part of The [Chicago] Sun-Times that you want to make your product as available to the public as possible,” award-winning sportswriter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune Fred B. Mitchell said. “You don't want to have people jumping through hoops to see what you have to offer.” WBEZ, National Public Radio’s (NPR) non-commercial educational radio station in Chicago looks to capitalize on the newspaper’s more prominent digital and print presence with this acquisition. “Now they have much greater resources,” DePaul journalism professor Christopher Bury said. “They have not only reporters from the Sun-Times but also [still have] reporters and producers from WBEZ, so that combined staff is much bigger.”
NPR’s merger with such a historic paper is an addition to its brand that only provides positive connotation. “This is an important step to grow and strengthen local journalism in Chicago,” CEO of Chicago Public Media, WBEZ and now the Sun-Times Matt Moog said in a statement. According to the Medill School of Journalism, 360 newspapers ceased operations in the United States between late 2019 and May 2022. Communities that lose local news coverage see increases in crime, pollution, poverty and a drop in voter turnout. The study also found that two newspapers close weekly, and Illinois has lost the most outlets of any state during this period. “The Sun-Times has had many owners, lots of financial problems, and many rounds of layoffs in the past,” said Rachel Hinton, former chief political reporter for the SunTimes, and now an investigative reporter for the Better Government Association. “CPM/WBEZ is financially stable and will hopefully ensure the pa-
per remains afloat for a long time to come.” Reporting the news is expensive, and in the current economic climate, the SunTimes and other newsrooms fear further financial peril. Rather than turning a blind eye to journalistic ethics and reaching for a broader audience from shock value, the SunTimes attempts to keep it professional. The Sun-Times said in the statement about why they took down their paywall, “We know it’s the right thing to do.” “I know that money drives all businesses, and particularly in the journalism field, that money has been drying up for the last decade or two,” Mitchell said. “I think it's incumbent upon them to maintain a standard of objectivity to maintain that reputation of being reliable.” Journalistic morals rely on the ability to pursue the truth. The transition into the nonprofit world will amplify the principles this Chicago newspaper exhibits for its large community. “A membership program connects our revenue model more closely to how well we serve our community, holding us accountable to you, our readers,” Sun-Times CEO Nykia Wright said regarding the transition to a free-to-read structure. In a city with as much influence and popularity as Chicago, a paywall restriction should not barricade the ability to serve the community with up-to-date and trustworthy news. The Sun-Times' disposal of its paywall is a promising step forward for both the city of Chicago and for journalism.
ALICIA GOLUSZKA I THE DEPAULIA
The attack on Paul Pelosi shows how far America has fallen By Zach Elliott Contributing Writer
The U.S. Capitol building attacked, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer threatened with kidnapping, California man Nicholas Roske plotting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and now Paul Pelosi’s skull fractured by a hammer according to USA Today. Political violence in the U.S. is on the rise, and it is unacceptable. “Violence goes against the grain of constitutional democracy,” DePaul political science professor Susan Burgess said. But this problem is only growing and the extremists on the right side of the aisle are fanning the flames. “Political violence is on the rise,” ABC anchor and DePaul’s senior journalist in residence Christopher Bury said. “It’s well documented by scholars, by the Anti-Defamation League and the Capital Police. The Capitol Police report, ‘in the five years since Trump’s election, threats against members of congress increased tenfold.’ There’s no question we are in an era of political violence that we haven’t really seen since the Civil War.” Burgess explained how violence of this kind is not uncommon in transitional times when the country is deciding if it is going to swing left or right. Regardless, while times of violence do not last forever, it is dangerous when public figures come under attack. Burgess stressed this fact. She said it is not just an attack on a person but the government itself.
“I think we should be worried,” Bury said. “I don’t like to predict the future. We have a problem that we must deal with, and it's up to our political leaders to make it clear that political violence won’t be tolerated.” The issue presently is that the right is not denouncing the growing violence. Both Burgess and Bury agree that at this point in U.S. history, the right is the seedbed of violence and misinformation. “My concern is on the right, the political leaders are not standing up, in fact they are fanning the flames with misinformation and rumors and language of violence,” Bury said. “In my mind, there is a direct line from Jan. 6 to the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. Jan. 6 was incited by Donald Trump. The rhetoric of false claims over the election, the idea that Nancy Pelosi is some kind of a demon, all of this comes from the right.” Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Al Riley also echoed this idea of right wing groups fanning the flames of violence in an interview. “One party and a lot of its members and a lot of the people who aspire to be elected officials in this entire country seem to countenance political violence as a means to an end,” Riley said. “That’s about as un-American as you possibly can get. People on one side, basically Democrats, some Republicans, specifically Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger really talked about how reprehensible something like that is. Many of the top Republicans basically gave it lip service.”
While much of this worrisome rhetoric is coming from the right, it does not represent the Republican party as a whole. Bury explained how much of this violence is sparked by a right wing fringe. “I want to make it clear that I am talking about a fringe on the right,” Bury said. “I’m not talking about the minority leader Mitch McConnell who’s actually spoken out consistently against violence since JEFF CHIU I AP NEWSROOM Jan. 6. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is escorted to a vehicle outside her home. “But only the right has armed militias that that’s really important,” Bury said. “The other are in the business of intimidating people,” thing they can do is vote. Vote for people who Bury said. “The Oath Keepers’ leadership is on are standing up against violence regardless of trial right now for seditious conspiracy. The the party and get involved to whatever extent Proud Boys have been involved with political they can in encouraging a civil society where intimidation. In Arizona we’re seeing armed we can have disagreements politically without men intimidating people who are trying to tearing each other down and tearing each vote. This is all coming from the right.” other apart.” Despite all of this, the end of democracy is Despite all of America’s flaws, it is still far from neigh. Burgess, Bury and Riley have worth fighting for. all stated that giving up on the political pro“We should try to fix our democracy but cess, especially for the college age generation, we should never say that it’s no good or it is not the right step to take. doesn’t work,” Riley said. “We all have to pitch “I think if young people are critical in, identify the problems, and try to make it thinkers and critical readers and consumers of work better. You know, a more perfect union.” news media and call out bad behavior, I think
Focus
14 | Focus. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
chicago ma
Opened in 1929, the two theaters at the Music Box remain in their original design. Located on Southport Ave. in the LakeView neighborhood, it hosts current and classic films. Com
By Jacob Costello Chief TV & Film Critic
Chicago, a city renowned for its music, art, and theater has become a hub for the international film community. There is no better example of this than Chicago’s wonderful independent theaters. These theaters not only show trendy new releases, but they are some of the only places to see international and independent movies on the big screen and not streaming in your living room. Some host festivals or retrospectives are focused on specific directors, which are experiences you can not get at a chain theater. Here are some of the best theaters near DePaul’s campuses.
Facets
Located at 1517 W Fullerton Ave., Facets is by far the closest theater to
DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus. Facets concentrates on the independent and obscure where viewers can see movies that no other theater is playing. Open on weekends only, Facets is not an option for a weeknight movie. The programing at Facets is artful, with many film festivals to give independent filmmakers an opportunity to shine. Starting Nov. 4th and running through the 20th, Facets is hosting the 39th International Children’s Film Festival, which they created to show children unique and international films. The theater will occasionally show classic movies and some more obscure new releases. Facets was one of the few theaters in the city that showed Phil Tippett’s stop motion fever dream “Mad God” when it was released over the summer. While Facets is the most niche theater on this list, the people who resonate with the artistic and unique programing will absolutely love it and its proximity to the Lincoln Park campus.
Davis
Located in Lincoln Square at 4614 N Lincoln Ave., the Davis Theater is one of the oldest movie theaters in Chicago, built in 1918. The Davis usually shows first runs of movies and occasionally shows second runs and older films. The theater has comfortable seats for such an old venue due to renovation in 2016. This might not sound like a big deal, but when you are spending two hours or more sitting in one place you want to do so in comfort. “I saw ‘Tár’ at the Davis recently and had a great time,” DePaul junior and film major Haydon Mayer said. “It was a super nice theater but not in a very showy way. The only movies screening that day were ‘Tár’ and ‘Black Adam,’ which I thought was a pretty diverse selection.” The Davis shows movies played at bigger theaters such as AMC with the advantage of a smaller theater. This makes it a great option to see the newest superhero blockbuster while still supporting a local business. As much as the other theaters on this list are amazing, it is very unlikely that you would be able to see the new “Fast and the Furious” or “James Bond” at them. The Davis Theater gives you the great independent theater experience while showing things that appeal to most people, not just arthouse or cult movies.
Siskel Center
MAYA OCLASSEN | ART
The Gene Siskel Film Center is located right across the street from the Chicago Theatre at 164 N State St. The Film Center was built in 2001, making it the newest theater on this list. The Film Center is a part of The School of the Art Institute. It is always open to the public for the many screenings it hosts. “We want to show movies that have beautiful cinematography, amazing characters, and all the other things that make us love the art of movies,” said Jean de St Aubin, executive director at The Gene Siskel Film Center. The Siskel Center has two screens housed in medium-sized theaters, which are some of the swankiest in Chicago. The seats are very comfortable, the sound system is state of the art, and the theaters project on both film and digital. Jean de St. Aubin is the executive
Prices at local theaters compared to mainstream director of the Siskel Center and has been working there since 2003. “Since the pandemic, we have noticed a lot more people coming to our new releases, but our retrospectives still have the best turn out,” de St. Aubin said. “We reopened with a Fellini retrospective in 2021 and were very happy to see such a mixed crowd of people young and old coming to see some great movies. We just wrapped up a Del Toro Retrospective in October that was a lot of fun.” The Siskel Center’s programming is a huge draw to the theater. New releases, film festivals, restorations, and retrospectives make up the screening calendar. Whether you want to see a restoration of a classic, like the 50th anniversary re-release “The Godfather” in April, or Park Chan-Wook’s new movie “Decision to Leave,” the Siskel Center has you covered. De St. Aubin feels that a place like The Siskel Center is important for the film community and casual moviegoers alike. “Particularly for film students, it informs your own work to see what the masters have done,” de St. Aubin said. “As you develop your own voice, it is very important to experience well made and relevant movies. And to everyone that isn’t a film student, we just show good movies that are worth watching.” The Siskel Center is truly a theater for people who love movies. The pro-
Focus. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 15
ade cinema UNA CLEARY | THE DEPAULIA
mmunity events such as film festivals are frequently held at the site.
Theater prices Music Box:
$11 & $9 for a midnight screening & $ 8 for a matinee
UNA CLEARY | THE DEPAULIA
m theaters are far more accessible. gramming is chock-full of amazing shows with student discounts that can not be beat.
Music Box
At 3733 N Southport Ave. in the Lakeview neighborhood, Music Box has become the premiere place to watch movies in the city. The theater opened in 1929 and boasts two screens, the first of which is in the original theater space and the second is in a smaller, more intimate screening room. Music Box shows just about everything, from first run movies to old film prints of classics and a plethora of festivals and special events throughout the year. Music Box shows a great mix of old and new, where you can watch a newly released movie in the same place where you can see a 70mm print of “2001 A Space Odyssey” during Music Box’s annual 70mm film festival. Every night in October, the theater screened horror movies in the Halloween spirit, giving horror fans a rare opportunity to experience these movies in a theater. “In May I got to see ‘28 Days Later’ on film,” DePaul junior and criminology student Alyson O’Leary said. “It is one of my favorite movies and seeing it in a theater was really cool. I think my favorite part about Music Box is that they will
UNA CLEARY | THE DEPAULIA
The Music Box Theater is located off the Southport stop on the brown line. always have some cult or horror movie playing, and I’ve had fun every time I go.” This commitment to showing new movies and classics is why many Chicago residents love Music Box. The David Lynch Complete Retrospective this past April was a week long event where almost every Lynch directed project was shown to sold out audiences. Music Box provides a new imaginative way to watch movies on the big screen. Additionally, Music Box partners with DePaul for some of their events, giving free admission to DePaul students who show their student ID. Previous examples of these events were Highs and Lows, a series of double features that paired high brow art movies with low brow comedies, and Hell on the Homestead, a series of unconventional and revisionist Westerns. Music Box has also hosted DePaul student film festivals in the past, like the 2019 Premiere Film Festival. Music Box is truly an experience. The gorgeous theater sets the mood perfectly for seeing a rare film print of some cult movie from the ‘80s. The movies shown here are definitely catering to the invested film nerd crowd, but it is hard to go there and not have a good time.
Siskel:
$12 & $7 with a student ID
Davis:
$12 & $9 before 6 p.m.
Facets: $10
UNA CLEARY | THE DEPAULIA
16 | La DePaulia. The DePaulia. 7 de Noviembre 2022
La DePaulia
Cempasúchiles siguen guiando las almas de seres queridos fallecidos By Stephania Rodriguez Escritora, La DePaulia
Viviendo en el estado mexicano de Guanajuato, Ubertino Soto alquiló un terreno para construir una granja y cosechar flores de cempasúchil para venderlas a una empresa como alimento de animales. Durante tres meses, Soto cosechó flores de cempasúchil y cada semana las llevaba a la ciudad de Celaya, Guanajuato para entregarlas a la empresa. Él no recibio ningún pago hasta el final de la temporada de cosecha. Un día, volviendo a casa después de cobrar su sueldo, Soto resultó involucrado en un accidente automovilístico y falleció. Varios años después de su muerte, Juliana Soto, la nieta que jamás conoció, y una estudiante de DePaul, lo recuerda y cuenta la historia de su muerte a sus compañeros del grupo DePaul Tepeyac. “Es extraño que él estuviera cosechando y vendiendo flores de cempasúchil, y que muriera poco después,” dijo Juliana Soto. A pesar de ser una de las celebraciones más populares en México, Juliana Soto, al igual que muchos otros mexicanoestadounidenses de primera generación, creció con poco conocimiento sobre el Día de los Muertos. Ella no conocía el significado de la tradición de las flores de cempasúchil en relación con las ofrendas. Las flores de cempasúchil son originarias de México y su nombre proviene del náhuatl “Cempoalxochitl” que significa “varias flores,” según el Gobierno de México. La relación de las flores de cempasúchil con el Día de Los Muertos empezó por La Leyenda de la Flor de Cempasúchil. La leyenda cuenta la historia de amor de un par de jóvenes Aztecas, Huitzilin y Xochitl, que existieron hace mucho tiempo, y crecieron juntos en la infancia y más tarde se enamoraron. Después de la muerte de Huitzilin en una batalla, Xochitl le pidió al dios del sol, Tonatiuh, que la uniera con su amado en la eternidad. Tonatiuh le concedió su deseo y la convirtió en una flor de cempasúchil. Huitzilin después fue convertido en un colibrí y se posó en el centro de la flor, y así fue como se reunieron él y Xochitl. En el Día de Los Muertos, la tradición dice que el aroma de la flor de cempasúchil guía a las almas de los difuntos en el camino hacia la ofrenda que les espera en el mundo de los vivos. “Esta es una clara referencia a que el aroma de esta flor guía con amor a las personas que se fueron, y que esperamos regresen a visitarnos año con año, y así reencontrarnos con nuestros seres queridos, tal como lo hicieron Xóchitl y Huitzilin,” dice el Gobierno de México. El aroma de las flores sigue a Maria Guadalupe Olea, quien ya lleva 15 años vendiendo flores cempasúchil en el vecindario de Pilsen, en frente de Panaderia Nuevo Leon en la Calle 18. Este año empezó a venderlas el 25 de octubre y seguirá hasta el 2 de noviembre. Gracias a la publicidad que le han dado
STEPHANIA RODRIGUEZ | LA DEPAULIA
Rocio Olea a la izquierda y Maria Guadalupe Olea a la derecha paradas en frente de Panaderia Nuevo Leon en Pilsen vendiendo flores de cempasúchil. las redes sociales, Olea ha vendido muchas flores en los últimos dos años. Un día, mientras ella trabajaba, una empleada de Panaderia Nuevo Leon le preguntó a Olea si le gustaría hacerse viral en internet. Desde entonces, Olea dice que le ha ido bien en las ventas. Dice, también, que el aumento de éstas se debe en gran parte a la popularización del Día de los Muertos gracias a la película de Disney, “Coco.” “Gente de todas las razas empezó a venir a mi puesto a comprar cempasúchiles,” dijo Olea. “Querían intentar seguir la tradición porque les gusto mucho la forma en que la película presentaba cómo celebramos el Día de Los Muertos con nuestras familias. Eso abrió la puerta a muchas ventas”, ella dijo. Otros años, Olea ordenaba solo unas pocas cajas de flores para vender, y ahora dice que ordena más de 65 cajas. su hermana, Mirna Romero, no estuvo presente para vender las flores con ella, pues falleció hace unos pocos meses. “Me siento sola,” dijo Olea. “Siento que una parte de mi corazón se ha ido. Estaba tan acostumbrada a que ella estuviera cerca de mí – siempre estábamos juntas.” Olea dice que planea seguir vendiendo STEPHANIA RODRIGUEZ | LA DEPAULIA flores de cempasúchil en su mismo puesto La tradición del Día de Los Muertos dice que el aroma de la flor de cempasúchil guía a en Pilsen, pero nunca será igual sin la las almas de los difuntos en el camino hacia la ofrenda que les espera en el mundo de compañía de su hermana. los vivos.
La DePaulia. The DePaulia. 7 de Noviembre 2022 | 17
OPINIÓN: Siempre miramos a la muerte en los ojos
By Santiago Posada-Jaramillo Gerente Editorial, La DePaulia
Recuerdo el último funeral al que fui. El aire se sentía pesado. No era un familiar mío, pero era el abuelo de mi pareja de aquel momento. Recuerdo pensar mucho cada movimiento o gesto que hacía, pues lo que menos deseaba era que algo que yo hiciera fuera tomado como un irrespeto o una muestra de falta de interés. Así se enfrentaba al tema de la muerte para mí: se lo trataba con solemnidad, tristeza y mucho tabú. Pero, sea como fuere, no importa el modo, cada humano debe enfrentar la muerte en algún punto. A pesar de ser latino, solo hasta hace unos días fue que conocí sobre la tradición mexicana alrededor del cempasúchil y era muy poco lo que conocía sobre el Día de los Muertos. Aunque la relación entre flores y la muerte me era familiar; los colores vivos, las ofrendas con comida, el ambiente alegre y de celebración alrededor de la muerte no lo era. Me pregunté: ¿De qué modos diferentes los humanos nos relacionamos con la muerte? En mi búsqueda de responder esta pregunta, hablé con la profesora de filosofía de DePaul, Elizabeth Rottenberg PhD. Se ha especializado en autores como Freud y Derrida, y actualmente dicta clases sobre filosofía francesa contemporánea y teoría psicoanalítica. “La vida es siempre supervivencia”, dijo mientras resumía el enfrentamiento entre el eros, o pulsión de vida, y el tánatos, o pulsión de muerte. “La muerte surge como el camino para ir hacia atrás, así que en cuanto [la muerte] falla [la vida] va hacia adelante”, dijo Rottenberg explicando cómo el fallo
de la muerte, y la victoria de la vida, es lo que nos mantiene con vida día a día. Ella admira la forma en que la celebración del Día de los Muertos es “más aceptadora, menos combativa” hacia la muerte, en comparación a otras culturas. Pero esta no es la única forma de enfrentarse a la muerte con una sonrisa. Rottenberg contó como los chistes, incluso sobre eventos oscuros relacionados a la muerte, son comunes al interior de algunas familias y comunidades judías. Como humanos, buscamos formas de lidiar con el dolor que se adecúen a nuestra experiencia y a nuestra forma de relacionarnos con nuestra comunidad. Este fue un tema importante en la conversación con Juan Pablo Duarte, psicólogo colombiano y con experiencia en psicología hospitalaria. En su experiencia, hay muchas formas en que los pacientes enfrentan la muerte. Duarte recordaba sobre un paciente que le recordaba este segundo tipo de persona: “Decía: Soy Roberto, tengo tantos años, soy comunista y me quiero morir. Así, simple y sencillo. Y, a pesar de que no se veía tan mal, a la semana falleció.” También relataba que algunos pacientes se negaban a aceptar su situación después de que les había sido dado un diagnóstico el cual aseguraba su muerte. Duarte sabía que era una noticia difícil de recibir e intentaban hacer lo posible para que los últimos motivos de la vida de una persona fueran lo más agradables posibles. “¿Qué quieres ahora que te podamos cumplir?”, le preguntaba Duarte a sus pacientes terminales, buscando poder cumplir algún pequeño deseo de ellos.
A veces debían romper algunas de las reglas del hospital, pues algunos pedían ver a sus mascotas o comer alguna comida específica, que comúnmente son restringidas en hospitales. La muerte en la cultura colombiana también fue uno de los temas importantes. Para Duarte, en Colombia la muerte está muy normalizada, sea por el conflicto armado o por la historia de violencia en el país. “Creo que estamos tan acostumbrados a esta idea de la muerte, que no creo que sea un tabú… siento que no la valoramos, ” dijo Duarte. Nuestras culturas han desarrollado diferentes estilos de interactuar con la idea de la muerte según lo que nuestra realidad nos permita. Mi última conversación fue con Jennifer Sandoval, profesora de la Escuela de Enfermería de DePaul, supervisora nocturna en el Hospital Jesse Brown del Departamento de Asuntos de Veteranos y candidata a un doctorado. En su experiencia, especialmente en el pabellón de oncología, se ha enfrentado mucho con el tema de la muerte. Como parte de su trabajo, ha visto la reacción de muchos pacientes luego de que les anuncian que van a morir. Sandoval también ha visto diferentes tipos de afrontamiento en sus pacientes, como aquellos que se niegan a aceptarlo, aquellos que lo aceptan y sienten que ya han vivido lo que debían vivir, y aquellos que lo toman como una decisión que es de su dios y no de ellos. La relación de Sandoval con la tradición del Día de los Muertos, regresa hasta su infancia, en la que veía a su abuelo preparar la ofrenda. “Celebrando a las personas que han fallecido y que amamos, entre risas y recuerdos, poniendo sus cosas favoritas
MAYA OCLASSEN | LA DEPAULIA
en el altar. Me encanta que nuestra cultura tenga esto”, dijo Sandoval A pesar del tabú que tiende a acompañar a la muerte, el Día de los Muertos trae un acercamiento que está ligado a los recuerdos de aquella persona amada que ya no está, pero que no por su ausencia también han desaparecido su influencia, sus enseñanzas, ni su amor. “Para nosotros no es una cosa mórbida, estamos celebrándolos”, dijo Sandoval. Esta tradición nos muestra una forma de ver la muerte que, a pesar del dolor que implica, también tiene una forma más positiva de ser interpretada. El duelo es parte del proceso de perder a un ser querido, pero también es importante recordar su vida. Como humanos, buscamos encontrar el mejor modo de lidiar con el fin de nuestras vidas y por ello hemos creado tanta diversidad en nuestra relación con ello. Sea desconectándonos, riéndo o celebrando, siempre encontraremos modos de mirar a la muerte a los ojos.
La exposición de Día de Los Muertos invita a los visitantes a reflexionar sobre la violencia armada
By Andrea Juarez Hernandez Editora de Arte y Vida, La DePaulia
El Museo Nacional de Arte Mexicano abrió sus puertas a su galería más popular en Pilsen, la exposición del Día de los Muertos. En lugar de entrar en un cuarto luminoso, los visitantes se encuentran con la oscuridad este año. Con solo cinco esculturas de niños, el coordinador Mario Hernández dijo que muchos de los visitantes “se callan por completo cuando entran al espacio”. Hernández dijo que esta es la primera vez que los visitantes no son recibidos por obras de arte coloridas y ofrendas. La oscuridad y la escultura creada por la artista californiana Claudia Alvarez fueron diseñadas para honrar a los afectados por la violencia armada en todo el país. Hernández dijo que los curadores del museo querían que los visitantes se detuvieran y reflexionaran sobre cómo poner un fin a estos actos de violencia ‘sin sentido’. Las ofrendas se exhiben en toda la galería principal, incluido el homenaje a los estudiantes y maestros que murieron durante el tiroteo escolar en Uvalde Texas en mayo. Algunas obras de arte conmemoran a las víctimas del tiroteo en Highland Park, así como a las personas afectadas por la guerra entre Ucrania y Rusia. Alex Alvarado, el Director de Operaciones del museo dijo que es importante
ANDREA JUAREZ HERNANDEZ | LA DEPAULIA
Una ofrenda conmemorando a las víctimas del tiroteo escolar en Uvalde, Texas.
recordar a aquellos que fallecieron trágicamente. Tambien dijo que muchos eventos trágicos son ‘puestos en un segundo plano’. “Estamos trayendo al frente durante nuestra época más popular del año, gente de todo el mundo viene y visita nuestra exhibición, y debemos recordar a los que han fallecido”, dijo Alvarado. El Día de los Muertos es una fiesta indígena mexicana que se lleva a cabo el primero y segundo de noviembre. Aunque la muerte aparece en el centro de la fiesta, este día celebra la vida. Es una oportunidad para que la gente recuerde a sus familiares, amigos y seres queridos que han fallecido. Los famili-
ares suelen decorar un altar con objetos que representan al difunto cuando estaba vivo, que van desde sus comidas favoritas, velas, fotografías, flores y más. Gabriela Rojas, visitante del museo, la forma en que percibe la muerte ha cambiado gracias a esta celebración. “De niña le temía a la muerte, pero mi familia celebró el Día de Muertos y he llegado a la conclusión de que la muerte es más que un simple dolor, y estas obras de arte muestran lo hermoso que es recordar la vida de los que han fallecido”, dijo Rojas. La 36° exhibición anual del Día de Muertos también recuerda a varias personas
de México y Estados Unidos que fallecieron el año anterior a causa de la pandemia y otras calamidades. La exhibición muestra un poderoso monumento en el altar de Uvalde que recuerda las vidas de los estudiantes asesinados el 24 de mayo de 2022 durante el tiroteo masivo en la Escuela Primaria Robb. Alvarado dice que su altar favorito es el dedicado a las víctimas de Uvalde porque “trae a la luz” a los niños inocentes afectados por la violencia armada. Esta cautivadora instalación crea conciencia sobre la violencia y expresa la importancia de recordar a las personas que hemos perdido a lo largo de los años. La “Ofrenda puertorriqueña al cine mexicano en blanco y negro: de Santa a la Roma” creada por Antonio Martorell han sabido dejar huella en los invitados. Esta pieza muestra tanto una ofrenda tradicional, como el uso de la tecnología interactuando en un solo lugar. A través de este museo, te sumerges en el Día de los Muertos, antes de ingresar a la tienda de regalos, te enfrentas a un altar interactivo donde los invitados pueden escribir el nombre de un ser querido fallecido para recordar su vida. En general, vale la pena ir y ver la exhibición en persona, ya que su importancia no se puede capturar solo con fotografías.
a
Arts & Life
18 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
STEPHANIA RODRIGUEZ | LA DEPAULIA
Rocio Olea (left) and Maria Guadalupe Olea (right) stand in front of Panaderia Nuevo Leon in Pilsen selling cempasúchil flowers in preperation for Day of the Dead celebrations.
CEMPASUCHIL UNITE CHICAGOANS WITH DECEASED LOVED ONES Mexican marigolds continue to guide the souls of the departed during Dia de los Muertos By Stephania Rodriguez Staff Writer
Living in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, Ubertino Soto rented land to build a farm and harvest cempasúchil flowers to sell to a company as animal feed. For three months, Soto harvested cempasúchil flowers, and every week took them to the city of Celaya, Guanajuato to deliver them. He would not receive any payment until the end of the harvest season. One day, when he was returning home after receiving his salary, Soto was involved in a car accident and died. Several years after his death, Juliana Soto, the granddaughter he never knew, and a student at DePaul, remembers him and tells the story of his death to her fellow members of the DePaul Tepeyac group. “It is strange that he was harvesting and selling cempasúchil flowers, and that he died shortly after,” Juliana Soto said. Despite being one of the most popular celebrations in Mexico, Juliana Soto, like many other first-generation Mexican-Americans, grew up with little knowledge of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. She did not know the meaning of the cempasúchil flower tradition in relation to the offerings. Cempasúchil flowers are native to Mexico. Their name comes from the Nahuatl “Cempoalxochitl” which means r “several flowers,” ac“twenty flowers” o cording to the Government of Mexico. The relationship of cempasúchil flowers with the Day of the Dead began with The Legend of the cempasúchil Flower. The legend tells the love story of a pair of young Aztecs, Huitzilin and Xochitl, who existed long ago, grew up together in childhood and later fell in love. After Huitzilin's death in battle, Xochitl asked the sun god, Tonatiuh, to unite her with her beloved in eternity. Tonatiuh granted her wish and turned
STEPHANIA RODRIGUEZ | LA DEPAULIA
Hundreds of people adorned their offerings with cempasuchil for the Day of the Dead event at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen.
STEPHANIA RODRIGUEZ | LA DEPAULIA
The Day of the Dead tradition says that the aroma of the cempasuchil flower guides the souls of the deceased on their path to the offerings made in the world of the living.
her into a cempasúchil flower. Huitzilin later turned into a hummingbird and perched in the center of the flower, and thus he and Xochitl were reunited.
On the Day of the Dead, tradition says that the aroma of the cempasúchil flower guides the souls of the deceased on the path to the offering that awaits them in the world of the living.
Originally translated from La DePaulia
“This is a clear reference to the fact that the aroma of this flower lovingly guides the people who left, and that we hope to return to visit us year after year, and thus reconnect with our loved ones, just as Xóchitl and Huitzilin did,” according to the Government of Mexico. The aroma of flowers follows Maria Guadalupe Olea, who has been selling cempasúchil flowers for 15 years in the Pilsen neighborhood, in front of Panaderia Nuevo Leon on 18th Street. This year, she started selling them on Oct. 25 and will continue until Nov. 2. Thanks to the publicity that social networks have given her, Olea has sold many flowers in the last two years. One day, while she was working, an employee of Panaderia Nuevo Leon asked Olea if she would like to go viral on the internet. Since then, Olea said she has done well in sales. She said this increase is due, in large part to the popularization of the Day of the Dead thanks to the Pixar movie, “Coco.” “People of all races started coming to my stand to buy marigolds,” Olea said. “They wanted to try to continue the tradition because they really liked the way the film presented how we celebrate Día de Los Muertos with our families. That opened the door for a lot of sales.” Others would order just a few boxes of flowers to sell, and now, Olea said she orders more than 65 boxes. Unlike other years, her sister, Mirna Romero, was not present to sell the flowers with her, as she passed away a few months ago. “I feel lonely,” Olea said. “I feel like a part of my heart is gone. I was so used to her being around me. We were always together.” Olea said she plans to continue selling cempasúchil flowers at her same stand in Pilsen, but it will never be the same without the company of her sister. “She was the best mom, sister, friend,” Olea said.
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 19
MEET ME AT CHICAGO TAYLOR SWIFT SMASHES RECORDS, BREAKS BANKS
By Jake Cox Staff Writer
On Oct. 21, Taylor Swift released her long-awaited 10th studio album, "Midnights.” Her first release of new music since 2020 is a return to her days of pop perfection with beats reminiscent of her earlier albums, which makes perfect sense based on her explanation of the concept of the album. “The story of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life,” Swift said on her Instagram. “A collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.” In typical Swift fashion, the tracks are steeped in self-loathing, gut-wrenching honesty, and undeniably relatable narratives. You will get a different analysis from every “Swiftie” you talk to, but I think this album is about Swift’s experience with love in the public eye. “Midnight” isn’t anything we haven’t seen before from Swift, rather it is a more refined version of her previous work. Track two, “Maroon”, is the perfect union of earlier tracks, “Red” and “Clean”, with all the maturity she’s gained over the years from mastering her craft. The lead single on “Midnights” is “Anti-Hero”, which Swift described as her most honest song yet. “I don't think I've delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” Swift said via Instagram. “I like "Anti-Hero" a lot because I think it’s really honest.” This track is the epitome of the self-loathing and anxiety Swift described the album as covering. Calling back to Swift’s 2017 album, “Reputation”, the track “Karma” embraces a darker side of Swift. “Karma” embraces the subversive teasing lyricism of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”, from a mature perspective. Swift is able to poke fun at her own history with karma as an idea. On the flip side, “You’re On Your Own Kid,” is situated in the coveted track five slot, traditionally reserved by Swift for her most vulnerable lyricism, and is everything I’m looking for in a ballad. Delving into the wisdom Swift has gained through growing up in the spotlight while being painfully relatable, Swift puts all of her insecurity and The mysterious Couch Mausoleum
melancholy on display with this track. The only letdown of this album is the sad excuse of a feature on the track “Snow on the Beach”. It claims to feature Lana Del Rey; however, she just appears in the form of a vocal harmony rather being than a awarded full verse. I expected more especially after Swift called Del Rey “the influmost ential artist in pop,” in her 2019, Woman of the Decade speech. The song is haunting and beautiful but it
could’ve been so much better if she actually included Del Rey. “Midnights'' concludes with “Mastermind” a strong conclusion to a hell-of-an album. A retelling of Swift’s current relationship with long-time partner actor Joe exAlwyn, pressing why were they meant to be, in addition to the scheming on her part to make sure they ended up together. If I had to describe Swift in one word, mastermind would not be a bad one. This is unhinged Taylor in the best, most
relatable way. It also serves as a nice end to the original edition of the album, bringing the audience back to the present, just recounting her relationship. Taylor Swift does seem to be a mastermind, leaving trails of Easter eggs for her fans, and this is a reclamation of that title. After listening to this album, I am more enamored with Swift’s work than ever before. Every album she has released culminates with this record. It runs through all the emotions and experiences of her life with the talent and ability of present-day Taylor. In its launch week “Midnights” has already achieved critical acclaim. Metacritic, which averages reviews from critical publications, rated it 85/100. Rolling Stone gave the record the instant classic distinction, stating “like many of her purely “pop” releases in the past, Midnights leaves more and more to be uncovered beneath the purple-blue synth fog on the surface.” As part of the album's release, Swift announced a worldwide tour, titled “The Eras Tour.” Swift described the tour as “a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!),” via Instagram. Currently, Swift is scheduled to perform 35 shows in 19 cities nationwide with international dates coming soon. Two of these shows will be taking place at Soldier Field on June 2 and 3, with the musical talent girl in red and OWENN opening on these dates. This is the first time Swift has performed for fans since The Reputation Tour in 2018. Tickets will range from $49 to $449, with VIP packages from $199 to $899 via Variety. Tickets go on sale to the public on Nov 18. Fans are also speculating due to the nature of an “Eras” tour, if the artist will release the rest of her re-recorded discography prior to March 18th, the first date of the tour. IMDB | PHOTO
Taylor Swift presents her album of the year Grammy in 2020 for "Folklore." Swift will be on tour in the United State's for her latest album titled "Midnights" starting in March of 2023. is located on the southern end of Lincoln
20 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
CUTEST PUP-KIN IN THE PATCH By Ruchi Nawathe Nation & World Editor
Humans and dogs alike dressed to the nines in a variety of Halloween costumes on Saturday, Oct. 29. From cartoon characters to farm animals to tacos, dogs of all ages and sizes were welcome to attend the 35th Annual Streetsville Doggy (and Kitty) Halloween Party. Dog owners woke bright and early to dress themselves and their dogs in elaborate costumes, before heading over to the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The event was free to the public, but attendees were urged to bring dog toys as prizes for the participating dogs. Whitney Counts and Jared Rogers loved putting their 13-year-old mini Schnauzer Nora in costumes since she was a puppy. This was Nora’s second year attending the event. “A lot of these costume parties, it’s hard to not do something again because everybody’s done everything, so you really got to try and think out of the box,” Counts said. Counts, Rogers and Nora were dressed in a “raining cats and dogs” group costume, complete with matching yellow raincoats and an umbrella decorated to look like a storm cloud with faux raindrops shaped like dogs and cats. “We love a good pun, that’s why,” Counts said. “We were thinking of something clever that someone maybe hadn’t done before.” Counts was mainly excited to spend time with Nora and look at other dogs’ costumes. “We’re happy that Nora’s with us,” Counts said. “She’s 13, and we are just so happy that we get to spend this time with her.”
This year, more than 250 dogs showed up for the event, a record turnout. Among them was 3-year-old Goldendoodle Lionel and his owner, Katie Nikolajuk, dressed as a lobster and a squid, respectively. This was Lionel and Nikolajuk’s first time at a dog Halloween event. “It’s walking distance from where we live,” Nikolajuk said. ‘The museum is beautiful, and I thought it would be nice by the lake to check it out.” Maria Gonzalez and Johnathon Hilden are no strangers to dog Halloween costume parties and contests. “We go to as many as we can throughout the whole month,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez, Hilden and their Shiba-Inu Sir Woofles Wigglebottoms were dressed as a construction crew. Gonzales was a traffic cone, Hilden was a “shiba crossing” sign and Sir Woofles Wigglebottoms was a construction worker. Hilden was pleasantly surprised with the other costumes he saw. “The other events that we’ve gone to are not as challenging,” Hilden said. “It’s nice to see other people here step up and be a little more creative.” Helena Shroyer moved to Chicago earlier this year with her mini Aussie Olyve, who was dressed in a pink sweater and fairy wings. “I think it’s good to have dog events for people who have dogs, cause we’re always trying to find stuff to do with her, so we found this, and it was free, too, which was nice,” Shroyer said. Cats did not attend the event in person but were welcome to submit their pictures to the Virtual Cat Costume Contest.
RUCHI NAWATHE | THE DEPAULIA
Whitney Counts and Jared Rogers alongside their Mini Schnauzer Nora won the costume contest with their group costume based on the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs." Cocker spaniels Leo and Ranger were dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Suess’s “The Cat in the Hat,” with their owners John Sheridan and Elizabeth Ortner, who were dressed as the Cat in the Hat and the goldfish, respectively. Ortner, Sheridan and their cocker spaniels attended the Streeterville Doggy Halloween Party for the past couple years. “It was definitely missed during Covid,” Ortner said. Ortner and Sheridan appreciate being
able to spend time with and celebrate Halloween with their pups. “[The dog Halloween party] gives people who don’t have children an opportunity to trick or treat with their little ones,” Sheridan said. The majority of people at the event were there to spend time with their dogs and look at all the other dogs’ costumes. “Nowadays, I’d rather party with the dogs than with the humans,” Counts said.
Can we separate the art from the artist? By Una Cleary Focus Editor
Kanye West, Travis Scott, John Lennon and R. Kelly are all considered to be some of the most famous musical artists of all time, constantly topping the charts for decades at a time. Yet with their fame, scandals, accusations, trials and hate crimes have followed in their trail. Corporate partners like Adidas and Balenciaga recently pulled out of brand deals with West after his association with white supremacists and antisemitic comments. Listeners are asking how to engage with music without supporting the artist. “This question is more often than not asked when the musician has done something problematic, and it seems like this is happening more and more often each year,” said senior Brandon Lee. “I think music is separated from the musician all the time, but we don't realize it because it's not for problematic reasons.” The range of problems leading to controversy with artists can be from marijuana charges to sexual predator accusations. “I think we need to consider the range of problematic behaviors and what those behaviors could or should mean for music fans and music companies,” said professor of Communication Daniel Makagon. “Izzy Stradlin from Guns N' Roses urinated in the aisle of an airplane in 1989. That's not acceptable, but not something that I would think deserves banning their music from record stores and streaming services. R. Kelly would be a very different situation.” Fan attachment and personal connection to music play an important role in the
MAYA OCLASSEN | ART
judgment of artists. Even after West’s anti-semitic comments, the number of user playlists on Spotify with songs by West has shot up in recent weeks to nearly 1.3 million, according to Chartmetric, a company that tracks streaming and social media. “When the reality of the artist’s moral character is shattered most recently with Rex Orange County and Ye, people try to cling onto the idea that their favorite artist probably isn’t a good person,” said freshman Zackary Klein. “While the person isn’t good, the emotions of experiences they’ve had, I can connect to beyond their moral character.” Deciding how to listen to music ranges from person to person, making it a person-
al decision that people have to make. Many listeners decide to engage in fan remixes, pirate music or buy albums secondhand as to not add to the streaming numbers. “Some people can’t separate the two— music and musician—and that often happens if you’re someone who’s personally affected by the view,” assistant professor in media and cinema studies Samantha Close said. “For me I tend to ask, is that still benefiting that person, especially economically, and if it's not, then I kinda go with it.” Social media has factored into the musician-to-listener relationship, with creators being much more dependent on audiences than they were before. Musicians continue to navigate this
exposure, as this media medium continues to shift. “I wouldn’t say that this is a new thing, I think we are just seeing more of it,” Close said. “Unfortunately there are some people that make a brand out of being hateful, I think we will see that grow as well.” Drawing the line with artists is subjective to every person as the music industry can hold their actions to a higher level of accountability than ever before. Listeners are taking a step back and speaking up. “It should be a call for reflection. People should say, am I seeing these views in this art,” Close said. “Am I seeing this kind of thinking in the lyrics? If you are, maybe that changes the relationship with it.”
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 21
By Amber Stoutenborough Multimedia Managing Editor
Take this advice with a grain of salt, I’m still in my early 20’s and have much to learn. I wanted to write about some
advice I wish I knew when I first turned 18 and moved to Chicago alone so everyone else doesn’t have to make
the same mistakes I did. Heres my four pieces of guidance.
AMBER STOUTENBOROUGH | ART
22 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
'The Car' Review: A melancholy ballad of moving on By Claire Tweedie Staff Writer
Arctic Monkeys’ newest album “The Car,” released on Oct. 21, is a 10-track avant-garde narrative through the glitz and glamor of 1970s aesthetics. That is to say, it is definitely not for everyone. It has fallen deeper down the rabbit hole that their album “Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino” began to dig in 2018, characterized with synthesizers and booming orchestras. Yet, lead singer Alex Turner’s sharp lyrics and the cohesive sounds backing make it a hit for those brave enough to give it an unbiased listen. At its core, this is an album of longing and disillusionment without any extreme stance on the joy or despair of these disoriented feelings. Turner puts it best in “Big Ideas,” where he mourns for “The ballad of what could’ve been” and in “Mr. Schwartz,” when he finally concludes that it is “As fine a time as any to deduce / The fact that neither you or I has ever had a clue.” This album is another lyrical phenomenon that strays away from their previous tones of love-struck poetry and instead shifts toward an introspective stream of consciousness. There is a maturity here, highlighted by the shifting sound Arctic Monkeys have capitalized on for their two most recent albums. They are no longer the punk-rock newbies they once were, and the new tones of the band reflect that. Both “The Car'' and “Tranquility Base
MAYA OCLASSEN | ART
Hotel and Casino” have similar retro feels, but while the latter may have taken us to space with otherworldly riffs and star-studded ideas, the former has grounded us back on Earth. Now, we are in for a smoky nightclub feel, with Turner as our melancholic lounge singer and a carefully cultivated background track to his questioning ramblings. This album has received more mixed reviews than past hits, but while some may be disgruntled at the aforementioned pivot
in the band’s tone, it is simply time to move on. Expecting them to keep the same sound from their first album or from “AM” would only result in overdone songs lacking originality and passion. Growth, even in a profit-focused music industry, requires change. Our beloved Arctic Monkeys have long since left the days of aggressive headbangers, maturing to orchestral surroundings. Within ten songs, Arctic Monkeys have managed to fit not only a story depicting
their rise and fall in the rock genre, but also detailed diary entries of this struggle. The band is no longer holding themselves to the standard of 2014 Tumblr trends and are learning to live with that decision. This use of narrative within the album is beautifully done, transporting us into their minds, with lulling metaphors and swirling symphonies. The jazz tone is personal, and the album is not meant to torture us with any accusations, but rather take us along for the journey they have experienced. One downfall, yet possibly the reason for its seamless cohesion, is the monotony of some songs. A few tracks, namely the mellow similarities between titular song “The Car” and “Big Ideas,” cause a lack of musical diversity that may stifle the ambition the album attempts. It is hard to focus on this closely though, when the flow is so enticing and intermixed with groovier, upbeat songs like “Body Paint” or given a grandiose send-off with “Perfect Sense.” “The Car” is an album that is entirely dependent on personal taste because of its stark differences from the band’s previous hits. Due to its overarching themes of growth though, it is unreasonable to hate the album for this development and equally as unreasonable to expect every fan to love it. Time has done wonders for Arctic Monkeys, and this album is a testament to focusing on oneself and the consequences of success. Whether biased by love or hate for these themes, take a moment to intently listen. The self-reflection may surprise you.
ALICIA GOLUSZKA | ART
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 23
What’s Fresh Cate Blanchett rises to the occasion in 'Tár' By Jacob Costello Chief Film and TV Critic
Writer and director Todd Field has not directed a film in 16 years. This is not due to lack of trying. Field has tried to produce multiple projects in this span but none came to fruition. “Tár” marks Field’s return to the movies; it was worth the wait. “Tár” stars the Oscar winning Cate Blanchett as the titular Lydia Tár, the most celebrated composer and conductor of the fictional world the movie presents. Despite being a woman with everything, Tár is incredibly self-destructive. As she prepares for her crowning achievement as a maestro, conducting her orchestra in a performance of a very important symphony, her world begins to crumble around her due to her own hubris. The first thing that needs to be said about this movie is that Cate Blanchett absolutely kills as Tár. As I mentioned in a previous review, Brendan Fraser is my lock for Best Actor so far, and after watching “Tár” twice, I can say with confidence that Blanchett is my lock for Best Actress. Her character is undeniably an awful person with her arrogance and unfaithfulness to her partner just to name two things, but Blanchett plays her in such a way that I was absolutely engrossed. Despite her despicable actions, or maybe because of them, Tár is one of the most compelling protagonists I have seen this year. The combination of Field’s masterful writing and Blanchett’s incredible performance make for a character that I will not forget anytime soon. “Tár” is more than a show stopping performance from Blanchett. The technical aspects
Cate Blanchett stars as renowned musician Lydia Tár in Todd Field's latest biopic, " Tár," which is currently in theaters. of this movie do not give the impression that the director just returned from a 16-year hiatus. Everything is meticulous and tight, from the muted color pallet to the sound design to the punchy dialogue. Being a movie about a conductor, I was looking forward to the music and sound of this movie. My excitement grew when I saw that Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar for her score of 2019’s “Joker,” was the composer. Guðnadóttir’s score does this subject matter justice, and her work combined with Tár conducting Mahler’s 5th Symphony make for a powerful auditory experience. “Tár” thrusts the viewer into the story head on. The only exposition we are given is a New Yorker bio for the conductor before
she gets interviewed. This might sound like it would detract from the movie, but on the contrary, it makes the world and story of this movie all the more believable. The lack of explanation and trust in the audience to figure it out is refreshing in a world where every movie is an origin story or a retelling of a story we all know word for word. “Tár” is a showcase of every element of movie production firing on all cylinders. When watching, it is evident how much effort and talent went into creating it. From the performances, to the camerawork, to the editing, every aspect is handled with such skill and care that I became fully engrossed into the world of conductors and orchestras with little-to-no care about this
IMDB | PHOTO
niche before watching. When a movie is able to make me care so much about something I had never given a second thought about, that is the sign of a masterfully crafted production. I had no real expectations going into watching. I knew it did well at the festivals, but I have been bored by festival darlings before, so I tend to take the praise with a grain of salt. “Tár” blew me away. I thought about “Tár”so much that I went to see it again, which is rare for me. Thought-provoking, striking and incredibly unique, I urge you to see “Tár” in theaters. Waiting for streaming would be a disservice because of the amazing sound, and you will just make yourself wait longer to see one of the best performances of the year and my second favorite movie of 2022 so far.
WRIGHTWOOD
CHICAGO
TWO OF ARTFORUM’S
“MUST-SEE”
The word “homosexual” was coined in Europe in 1869—unleashing stunning depictions of same-sex desire in the visual arts world. Discover how artists across five continents expressed queer identity in this pioneering survey of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, film clips, and many national treasures—from public and private collections around the globe.
EXHIBITIONS NOW ON VIEW
Michiko Itatani has grappled with the mysteries of the universe in her work throughout her prolific career. This exhibition of 50 works celebrates the Chicago-based, American artist’s determination to “know the unknown.” Spanning two floors and myriad decades, the exhibition includes breathtaking, never-before-seen works.
GET TICKETS NOW! wrightwood659.org PLEASE NOTE: The First Homosexuals contains sexually explicit content. For mature audiences only. IMAGE CREDITS: (LEFT) Louise Abbéma (1853—1927, France), Sarah Bernhardt et Louise Abbéma sur le lac au bois de Boulogne, 1883, Oil on canvas, 160 x 210 x 3 cm (framed), Collections Comédie-Française (detail). (RIGHT) Cosmic Returning” painting from Quantum Chandelier 21-D-02, Michiko Itatani, 2021, 78” x 96,” oil on canvas, courtesy of Michiko Itatani (detail).
SUPPORT FOR THESE EXHIBITIONS IS PROVIDED BY ALPHAWOOD FOUNDATION CHICAGO
24 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
St.Vincent’s
D e JAMZ
“Spinning fresh beats since 1581” By Una Cleary & Ruchi Nawathe Focus Editor & Nation & World Editor
As DePaul students, many of us are trying to escape from our current realities. Music is a trusted medium to break free from these everyday truths. The psychedelic genre has tested the trials of time as Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and many others sampled South Asian sitar and tanpura in the 1960s. Now, the likes of Tame Impala and MGMT reflect the new technological era of music with synthesizers and phasered vocals. These five songs reflect the dreaminess of the genre and will melt your troubles away. One More Year- Tame Impala “One More Year” is the quintessential psychedelic song on the “Slow Rush” album, and arguably Tame Impala’s trippiest track. It sounds as though strobe lights are wrapping around your ears and seeping into your brain, ready to transport you into a different plane of reality.
The concept of time and freedom of youth are temporary yet fluid, as Tame Impala reminds listeners with lyrics, “One more year/ Of living like the free spirit I wanna be.” One More Hour- Tame Impala Driving down Highway One, windows down while salt air fills the car replays over and over in my head when I listen to this symphony of sounds. It is hard for me to pick a Tame Impala song that encapsulates that feeling of freeness yet tranquility about the future, but this song can absolutely do both. The rush of beats and the build up makes it feel as if you are surfing down an alternate wave of consciousness, ready to take on the current reality. One Rainy Wish- Jimi Hendrix Waking up in a meadow of dandelions and sunshine fills the first minute and twenty seconds of the song. As the electric guitar picks up in the background, slow head-banging and hip-swinging might take place as worries stay at the front door.
Crossword
Even on the harshest winter days Hendrix fills my ears with warmth as I feel myself confidently strutting down the street. Scenes from a Midnight MovieBlood Cultures Good songs have layers, but some songs are so good that the music can feel all-encompassing. There is nothing more fulfilling than being able to blast this song on your headphones or in your car and let the music move through your body and scratch all the right parts of your brain. Are You Even Real?- James Blake At the start of the pandemic, there was little else for me and my friends to do other than get boba, or drive up the Northern California hills and watch the sunset and the city lights. James Blake’s haunting vocals and soft, experimental instrumentals is the perfect background for looking at all the stunning beauty that NorCal has to offer.
ACROSS 1. Smidge 4. Shade of blue 8. Do a sailor's job 12. Wrath 13. Sneaking suspicion 14. Fine 15. Dowel 16. Fringe benefit 17. Michigan college 18. Scratches 20. Cooking utensil 21. Kind of history 23. Home of the brave 25. Bull-riding show 27. Headlight setting 28. Hunter's quarry 31. Rubicon crosser 33. Largeheaded sea bird 35. Recipe
instruction 36. Biblical no-no 38. Winchester, e.g. 39. Army doc 41. Invoice info 42. Acts the couch potato 45. Trig. function 47. Old flames? 48. Fall through the cracks? 49. Stipulations 52. Quartet voice 53. Run for it 54. Born in France 55. University V.I.P. 56. Watch 57. Go right
COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA | PHOTOS
Scan here to listen to this week's DeJamz on Spotify
DOWN 1. Start to fall 2. "The best things in life ___ free" 3. Demoted 4. Chills 5. Skilled 6. Accom -plished 7. Tie up the line? 8. Booby trap 9. Cunning 10. Meridian 11. Tolerate 19. Porters 20. Leg part 21. Boat in "Jaws" 22. Highway 24. "Great Expectations" boy 26. They might be springloaded? 28. Obliterating 29. Bounce 30. Kind of pad 32. Purged 34. Bona ____
37. Designer Miller 39. Quarkplus-antiquark particle 40. Swindle 42. Show the way 43. Wagon rod 44. Fraternity letter 46. Lentil, e.g. 48. Many a time 50. Service charge 51. Figure out
Sports
Sports. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 25
Behind the Chicago sports legend:
Professor in the College of Communication shares journey you went to cover them on a road game, you would expect throngs of fans in hotel lobbies Asst. Photo Editor and mobs when they stepped off the bus. When it comes to sports, Frederick You knew you were a part of a special sports history at that time.” Mitchell has left no stone unturned. Mitchell spent 41 years at the Tribune, From setting NCAA records authoring garnering much admiration from readers books with the likes of Gale Sayers and Billy and colleagues alike during his tenure. Williams, the trailblazing journalist has seen “Fred is the kind of guy who sources just and done it all. really genuinely like and trust,” said MelisMitchell began demonstrating his joursa Isaacson, a former Tribune coworker of nalistic prowess at just 7 years old when he Mitchell’s. “That’s not an easy thing to obinterrogated NFL legend Ollie Matson in his tain, and it takes time and patience to defriend’s living room. velop relationships. His lowkey manner “My friend Paige Smith would always attracted both management and athletes bebrag and say he was related to Ollie Matson, cause he was just genuinely nice and people and one Saturday morning, he called me up really respected him. ” and told me Ollie was sitting in his living Mitchell remains the only writer in the room,” Mitchell recalled with a smile. “The history of the Tribune to cover the Chicago first thing I did was grab my Ollie Matson Bulls, Cubs and Bears as a main beat assignfootball card and run over there. On the ment. His legendary career won him the back of the cards they had all of his facts: Chicago Union League Club’s Ring Lardner height, weight and what college he went to. Award for outstanding sports journalism in So I started quizzing him to make sure it was 2015. really him.” But what stands out most to those who Born in Cincinnati, Mitchell attended know Fred Mitchell is his character and kind Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, heart. from 1965 to 1968 and played football. “Watching him from afar taught me that There, he set the NCAA record for most caif you were just a good person and a good, reer points scored by kicking. honest reporter that eventually your sources When recalling his youth, Mitchell would get to know that about you and begin points out the significance of his father’s into trust you, ” Isaacson said. “Watching how fluence. he sustained respectability and decency over “He was a voracious reader and a great the long haul was very instructional for me.” sports fan who read the newspapers all the Now, Mitchell spends his weeknights time, so naturally I followed suit and would standing behind a podium in DePaul’s Magread all the time,” Mitchell said. “I don’t gie Daley Building, sharing his decades of know whether it’s just a natural curiosity journalistic skill and sports knowledge with but I always followed all the sports minutiae, students and making an impact on a profescollecting baseball cards sional and personal and cutting out magazine level. articles like I was putting “Although he’s together a book. It was had so much sucjust fascinating to me to cess in the Chicago chronicle what was going sports world, he alon.” ways takes an interAfter graduating, est in every student Mitchell played semi-pro and wants to be a football for the Columresource to all,” said bus Bucks and the Chirecent DePaul gradcago Heights Broncos, all uate Ashley Gimbel. while teaching English “When I got hired at and coaching football my first full-time job and track at Grove City post graduation, he High School in Ohio. was one of the first “I always tell people people to send me a that if there was enough note and congratutime in the day, I would do all of those things,” Former colleague of Mitchell’s late me.” professionMitchell said. “Be a footat the Chicago Tribune al inAny the College of ball coach, a track coach, C o m m u nication a high school English will likely tell you teacher and a sports writer. There’s just not that Professor Mitchell is a valuable asset to enough time in the day.” the university. After five years of teaching at Grove City, “Fred has institutional knowledge of Mitchell realized he wanted to do something journalism and the sports industry in Chidifferent. He just wasn’t sure what. cago that’s hard to match,” said College of Enter the Chicago Tribune in 1974, Communication journalism chair Jason where Frederick Mitchell became the newsMartin. “He brings his own perspective as paper’s first ever African American sports a pioneer in sports journalism to class in a writer. way that resonates with students from all “I told my friend Bill Lowry, ‘I’d really backgrounds and inspires them. He’s such like to be a sportswriter, but I don’t think an outstanding instructor and one of the that’s possible,’” Mitchell said. “But the only most respected journalists in the history of reason I was saying that was because I didn’t the city. ” see any African Americans ahead of me who Mitchell has recently expanded his role had done that.” in the College of Communication, becomMitchell was the beat writer for the Chiing a representative on the Adjunct Faculty cago Bulls during part of the Michael Jordan Advisory Board. era, an experience that he isn’t likely to for“Fred is very generous with his time, get anytime soon. often volunteering as a guest speaker in “They were treated like rock stars,” other classes or on panels devoted to the Mitchell said about the late ‘90s Bulls. “If
By Erin Henze
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
Fred Mitchell worked at the Chicago Tribune from 1974-2015. He began teaching at DePaul in 2017 and started as the executive producer at Jordan & Jordan Communications in 2019.
“The way he just seamlessly makes his stories and experiences translate to good teaching is incredible.”
Melissa Isaacson
ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA
Mitchell has authored 12 books to date with a variety of former athletes and coaches.
challenges and opportunities facing journalism today,” said Alexa Murphy, Dean of the College of Communication. “He has a proven dedication and passion for students, and I have no doubt that, in his new role, he will work equally hard to make sure other adjunct faculty feel well-supported and inspired in teaching their students.” But Professor Mitchell isn’t just a teacher. He’s also a storyteller. “The way he just seamlessly makes his stories and experiences translate to good teaching is incredible,” Isaacson said. “Having a lot of experience does not make you a good teacher. He has a million stories, a vivid memory and really great journalism skills. So it wasn’t hard for him to turn that into being a really good teacher.” Mitchell is the namesake for one of the most prestigious National Football Foundation awards. The annual Fred Mitchell Award, established in 2009, goes to the top placekicker among 750 non-FBS colleges in America and is awarded based on kicking performance and community service. “It means an awful lot to have my name
associated with the award,” Mitchell said. “We created it to recognize non-FBS college kickers because they deserve recognition too. I remember asking my colleague Chris Karney, ‘There’s no award for these guys?’ And he said, ‘No, but we should make one and name it after you.’” At the end of the day, Mitchell wants his students to benefit from the many lessons he has learned from his decades spent in the industry. “I know that there will always be a need for responsible journalism: well researched, factual accounts,” Mitchell said. ‘This is what I try to train my students with today. Have integrity, be responsible, stress the importance of relationships and people skills and always feel that you can improve and become the best version of yourself. In the many years and decades that I’ve been involved in writing, I’ve never gotten to the point where I can say I’ve finally perfected it.” But, those who know him best can say he’s come pretty darn close.
26 | Sports. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022
From high school sensation, to Blue Demon rising star By Preston Zbroszczyk Asst. Sports Editor
From Delmont, Pennsylvania in a town with just over 2,000 people, sophomore Aly Kindelberger took the leap when she committed to DePaul a year ago. At 6’1”, Kindelberger’s number has been called early and often since she first put on a Blue Demon uniform. Kindelberger appeared in 28 matches her freshman year, accounting for 91 kills to go along with 74 block attempts. Once Kindelberger was able to try out for her middle school team in seventh grade, she immediately began her interest and career in volleyball. “Once I made the team, my family hired a personal trainer and I would practice with them multiple times a week,’’ Kindelberger said. “That’s when I really started to enjoy volleyball, and kept wanting to get better.” When Kindelberger arrived at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, volleyball was still her main interest. She quickly became a two sport athlete after discovering her talents as a high jumper in her freshman year. With her commitment to both volleyball and track & field, Kindelberger became a four-year letter winner for her accomplishments in both sports. After her 0-12 start in her freshman season, she followed up the remaining season at Franklin Regional with a 46-10 record. She led the team to the section championship her junior year finishing second in state and walking away with the WPIAL title. Kindelberger left a lasting memory at Franklin Regional, she recorded 1,000 career kills and holds the school record in the high jump event. She was named Pennsylva-
nia All-State twice, named 2020 AAA Player of the Year and qualified twice for the WPIAL meet. Kindelberger was asked if the combination of the high jump event helped her become a better middle hitter. “Not really, at first I thought that would be the case,” Kindelberger said. “When I went out for track my freshman year, that was just the event I was the best at and coaches thought the same thing.” There comes a time when an athlete realizes they have the potential to play collegiately and for Kindelberger, this was after her junior year when she began to be heavily recruited. The decision was not the easiest, as Kindelberger wanted to stay home and be closer to family. After taking her visit to DePaul and sitting down with head coach Marie Zidek, Kindelberger was invested in making the trip to the Midwest. Originally, Kindelberger’s plan was to not be so far away from Delmont, but her family relocated to North Carolina and her worry of staying closer to home no longer put her in a dilemma. “I am actually so glad I moved farther away from home,” Kindelberger said. “Chicago is amazing, with so many things to do and eat.” In year two, Kindelberger has already made an enormous leap. In the first 20 games of the 2022 season, she has already eclipsed her kill and block record of 91 to 137,along with currently tying her total blocks of 74. This season, Kindelberger has taken on a role that has allowed her to make a more significant impact on offense, while being a reliable middle at the net for the block. “I think what makes Aly special is she’s physically gifted with her vertical,” Zidek
DEPAUL ATHLETICS
In her second year with DePaul, Kindelberger has shown tremendous growth on the court.
said. “She is a very agile mover, she has great instinct on the block and one thing that we accounted on her a lot for this year versus last year is to put together a little more offense to match the strength of her defense.” Kindelberger is not the only sophomore who has been able to contribute to DePaul so early on in their career. Maggie Jones and Ashley Cudiamat, the two setters have played just as much as Kindelberger since they arrived. Defense specialist junior Julia Nagy said she really got to know Aly off the volleyball court when they were both roommates last
school year. “She is one of the hardest workers I know. She’s is someone that will kind if just give her all to the team,” Nagy said. “Even in relationships too, living with her last year whether she was having a rough day she would just give it her all. She’s always there to listen. I’m really proud of her because I think she’s stepped up to be a huge leader of this team and someone you can count on.
MEN’S SOCCER, continued from back page apply to DePaul’s seniors in their finale. Richards played with poise and notched a goal in his closing game. Brickman displayed toughness, zeal and leadership, as an imposing force, stymying Wildcats’ attackers. Gripman was everywhere, beating Villanova wings to the ball and slashing through STEVE WOLTMANN | DEPAUL ATHLETICS defenders in counter Senior left back Jake Fuderer fires a free kick in the second half attacks. Fuderer’s play of DePaul’s match against Villanova on Wednesday. on Wednesday could be teams, as well as take from the examples called heroic, converting set by their graduating teammates. a free kick in a tense moment. “I’m glad the younger guys had the After the final whistle blew, Fuderer hugged his teammates and coaches, bid- opportunity to learn from our [seniors],” ding farewell in the wake of a match in Plotkin said. “Character is contagious, and when you have guys like Matty, Jake, which he left it all on the field. “I’m emotional because it’s all over,” Jack and David competing in your proFuderer said. “I’ve been here for five gram, your culture is going to be in a good place.” years and now I’ve got to move on.” While Plotkin’s departing players may The 2022 season did not go how DePaul would have liked. The Blue Demons not have gotten their storybook ending finished with an overall record of 4-6- Wednesday, their inspired play could be 7. Still, they competed in nearly every taken as a silver lining. If his returning match, losing just two Big East games by players put forth the same passion that more than one goal and drawing against Brickman, Fuderer, Gripman and Richthe league’s best teams of Georgetown ards did this season, Plotkin has a promising opportunity to write a brighter next and Xavier. The underclassmen on DePaul’s ros- chapter for the story of DePaul men’s socter can improve from this season’s narrow cer. losses and close matches against good
Sports. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 27
Blue Demon newcomers look to make a difference By Preston Zbroszczyk Asst. Sports Editor
WILL KLEIHEGE | THE DEPAULIA
Junior middle blocker Sara Griffith celebrates with teammates during the Blue Demons’ victory over Villanova in three sets on Friday.
Women’s Volleyball sweeps the Wildcats in dominant fashion By Max Rayman Staff Writer
Entering Friday night’s match against the Villanova Wildcats, the Blue Demons had their eyes set on snapping a twogame losing streak. Tied with Villanova for eighth in the Big East Conference, DePaul quickly jumped out to an early lead but were never able to pull away. After taking an 18-15 lead and in control of the momentum, the Wildcats took a much-needed timeout. They immediately responded by taking a 19-18 lead, before DePaul responded in kind, going up 22-20. Tied at 22, the Blue Demons were finally able to put the match away, scoring three quick points. Junior outside hitter Jill Pressly led the scoring for the Blue Demons with six kills, while freshmen pin hitter Taylor Underwood and sophomore middle blocker Aly Kindelberger added three kills apiece. The beginning of the second set was eerily similar to the first, with DePaul jumping out to a quick lead. Yet, this time around the Blue Demons were able to build upon their lead. “We made a serving sub switch,” head coach Marie Zidek said. “We had Sierra Ellison enter the match, and she provided a nice spark for us from the service line. It put Villanova in a lot of difficulty with their first swing offense, and we were able to dig a lot of easier balls when she was back behind the service line.” Villanova took the first point, but DePaul quickly took control of the driver’s seat and never looked back. They scored five straight points to go up 5-1 and were able to grow the lead to 16-9. A few plays later, Villanova took a timeout in an attempt to regain momentum but to no avail. The Blue Demons
WILL KLEIHEGE | THE DEPAULIA
Outside hitter Jill Pressly goes up for a kill againt Villanova blockers during Friday’s game.
went on to win the second set 25-19 in dominant fashion. “First set we made a few unforced errors, not what we normally do,” Pressly said. “In the second set, we said we needed to tighten things up, get the errors fixed and make sure everyone’s doing their job.” With their backs against the wall, Villanova scored the first three points of the third set and took an early 6-2 lead. Unfazed, the Blue Demons scored five straight to take a 7-6 lead. From there it was a back-and-forth affair with neither team backing down. “Momentum is huge,” sophomore setter Maggie Jones said. “I think when you are down like that [6-2], you just have to work on staying calm and getting the momentum back as fast as you can.” Up 15-14, DePaul scored a quick point, but Villanova head coach Josh Steinbach challenged the call, which was upheld. The failed challenge marked a changing of momentum as DePaul immediately took a 20-15 lead. Down 2218, Villanova took a timeout and scored two straight points, but DePaul slammed the door shut, winning the third set 2520.
Pressly led the scoring for DePaul with 19 kills, while senior right-side hitter Bailey Nelson also finished in double digits with 14. “When it comes to attacking, it depends on where the blockers are,” Pressly said. “Sometimes I’ll go where the blockers aren’t just to find open seams… I’m just trying to find different ways to score and keep my opponents on their toes, so they don’t know where I’m going.” Behind the scenes of DePaul’s unrelenting attack was Jones who was facilitating the ball with ease. “I’m just trying to get all my hitters involved as much as I can,” Jones said. “I like to look at the blocking match ups across the net, and if there is a weak blocker, you want to attack it. Then, making sure to switch up the play calls so the defense doesn’t see the same play twice.” Full of confidence, DePaul was able to build upon their momentum, sweeping Georgetown 3-0 on Saturday evening. The Blue Demons will be in action again next Saturday as they travel to take on Connecticut at 12 p.m. CST.
The 2022-23 DePaul men’s basketball roster will look different in head coach Tony Stubblefield’s second season. Stubblefield was more active in being able to land higher talented players, as the Blue Demons look to be more competitive in the Big East. As old faces exit, new faces prepare to start their DePaul basketball careers, whether those players are fresh out of high school, or are coming in through the NCAA transfer portal. This offseason, Stubblefield and his staff started restructuring the roster, landing fourstar shooting guard Zion Cruz, from Simi Valley, Calif. Cruz is DePaul’s highest rated recruit since the days of Mac Koshwal and Wilson Chandler. The transfer portal has been friendly to the Blue Demons, giving them added depth for the upcoming season. Guards Umoja Gibson and Caleb Murphy both transferred to DePaul for the upcoming season, giving the Blue Demons more depth and experience to a thin back court. Gibson comes from Oklahoma University, where he spent his junior season posting new career-high stats. He posted highs in points, averaging 13.3 per game, minutes with 32.1 and shooting percentage at 43.5 percent from the field. After two seasons at the University of South Florida, Murphy led the team in scoring with 11.4 points. As a combo guard capable of running the offense, Murphy can get to his spots and attack the basket. The Atlanta, Ga. native struggled from three in his first two seasons, which kept him from expanding his game. In his freshman season, he shot 19.4 percent and followed up his sophomore season shooting 20 percent from behind the arc. DePaul also added De’Sean Nelson, a Kilgore Community College commit in Kilgore, Texas. Nelson can work alongside Brandon Johnson and develop into a stretch-four forward who can be aggressive on both ends and have the ability to shoot the three. KT Raimey, a Division II guard at 6-foot4, has lots of length and scoring abilities. Transferring from the College of Southern Idaho, Raimey received offers from other big schools in West Virginia, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. Eral Penn is another newcomer to DePaul’s roster. The Long Island University transfer averaged 17.1 points per game while shooting 42.8 percent from three. Penn was also active on the defensive end, averaging nearly two steals and a block per game. The DePaul roster took a hit losing Javon Freeman-Liberty to the NBA draft and David Jones to St. Johns. The Blue Demons will still maintain returning players Jalen Terry, Javon Johnson, Nick Ongenda, Ahamd Bynum, Philmon Gebrewhit Along with the returning players, the Blue Demons will get to see Chicago native Ahamad Bynum, a four-star recruit from the Chicago area, in action for the first time. Bynum redshirted for the 2021-22 season. With a good portion of players returning for their second season together, the focus for Stubblefield and the Blue Demons is to be more of a competitive team in the Big East conference play. The Blue Demons fell short in plenty of games last season after a strong first 10 games that fell apart in the second half of the schedule. As the season gets under way, Stubblefield and the coaching staff will have roles for all newcomers, lots of which will be included into the starting lineup. Experience is a large part of why DePaul will see the newcomers making a big impact in the Big East as they hope to change the overall culture of DePaul men’s basketball.
Sports
Sports. The DePaulia. Nov. 7, 2022 | 28
‘Bittersweet’ finish STEVE WOLTMANN | DEPAUL ATHLETICS
Senior left back Jake Fuderer shoots a penalty kick to put DePaul up 2-0 in the first half against Villanova on Wednesday. Fuderer finished the season as the team’s leading scorer with four goals.
Fuderer, seniors cap off careers in emotional 3-3 draw with Villanova
By Patrick Sloan-Turner Online Managing Editor
As the final minutes of DePaul’s season ticked away on Wednesday, the team looked to have its storybook ending on senior day at Wish Field. The Blue Demons had snatched the lead from Villanova to go up 3-2 in the 68th minute from a gutsy free kick goal by graduate senior left back Jake Fuderer in his final game in royal blue and scarlet. But as life and sport often go, the result isn’t always the one that’s wanted or deserved. In the 90th minute, Villanova rewrote the script. A header by senior midfielder Marcus Brenes on a Wildcats corner kick tied the score at 3-3 with 42 seconds left. The gut-punch of a goal left DePaul and its departing seniors in shock. Their redemptive finale had been stolen. “It was tough, how it ended there,” said graduate senior forward Jack Richards. “I thought we were going to be able to pull it out… but I’m just happy to at least get a result on the final day, senior day.” Despite the bittersweet draw, DePaul’s seniors played with inspiration and effort all match. Though the result wasn’t what they wanted, the team’s veterans seized the day. Richards set the tone early on a composed goal in the 24th minute. Using his chest to control a cross from junior midfielder Omar Ramadan, Richards found himself with plenty of time near the back post on the right wing. An additional touch was all that was needed for Richards to fire it into the back of the net to give DePaul an early 1-0 lead. “I saw Omar get the ball and I was kind of peeling off the back post,” Richards said. “I [was] able to take a good touch and had enough time to finish it.” All three of DePaul’s goals on Wednesday came from the feet of departing seniors. Fuderer put his team up 2-0 just two minutes later with a penalty kick
STEVE WOLTMANN | DEPAUL ATHLETICS
Fifth year seniors (from left) Jake Fuderer, Matty Brickman, Jack Richards, and true senior David Gripman receive honors prior to their senior day game against Villanova on 11/2.
goal, his third of the season. Graduate senior midfielder Matthew Brickman and senior right back David Gripman did their parts too. Through the full 90 minutes, the speedster Gripman engineered several DePaul runs along the right wing, finding teammates with long balls and outpacing Wildcats all game. Brickman, who head coach Mark Plotkin has called “an extension of the coaching staff,” made his presence known in the middle third of the pitch with physical play. The defensive-minded midfielder dispossessed the Wildcats numerous times in his DePaul finale. The 2-0 halftime lead wouldn’t last long, as Villanova scored twice from set pieces in the first 10 minutes of the second half, with DePaul having trouble with the Wildcats’ tactics on corners all match. With the score tied 2-2, DePaul began to push back. A Villanova foul on a dangerous DePaul attacking chance sent DePaul’s bench into a frenzy. A step ahead of his
defender, Freshman winger Felipe Corral raced up the right side of the pitch near the Wildcat’s penalty area. Before he could receive a teammate’s pass, contact with Villanova senior defender Viktor Benediktsoon sent Corral to the ground at the edge of the box. Plotkin and his staff cried out for what many thought should have been a red card, but Benediktsson would only receive a yellow, leaving DePaul players and coaches visibly frustrated. The resulting free kick was set about 22 yards out at the top of the box near the right corner of the penalty area. A wall of five Villanova players stood tall between the ball and the goal as Fuderer stepped up, took a breath and surveyed the defense, readying himself to take what would be his final collegiate free kick attempt. “I was just focusing,” Fuderer said. “I saw the keeper and the wall shift over to [their] left a little bit too far, so I was like, ‘yeah, that’s my corner.’” Under pressure to come through for
his fellow seniors and teammates in his final game, Fuderer delivered. A picture-perfect strike with his left foot lifted over the wall, apexed, and curled down just inside the upper left corner of the goal. DePaul’s bench erupted as Fuderer darted to Richards to embrace and celebrate the 3-2 lead. “It was bittersweet for sure. To get one like that on senior day,” Fuderer said. Wednesday’s performance was enough for Fuderer to be awarded Big East Defensive Player of the Week, a noteworthy accolade to cap his collegiate career. Villanova’s goal in the game’s final seconds would steal a winning result for DePaul on Wednesday. Still, it didn’t spoil the departing Blue Demons’ play in the match, nor their play throughout their DePaul careers according to Plotkin. “The tone of the game was going to be set by our seniors,” Plotkin said. “If they wanted to finish on a high note, they were going to have to play well, and they were going to [need to] lead the team. They did that today.” Fifth year seniors Brickman, Fuderer and Richards were Plotkin’s first class of players as DePaul’s head coach after being hired at the end of 2017. Gripman, a true senior, arrived in Lincoln Park the following year. “Matty [Brickman] and Jake were already committed to the previous coaching staff… and they were [already] bought in on DePaul,” Plotkin said. “That was really important to me. I want guys here that absolutely love the university, love the program and believe in it.” Wednesday’s draw stung for Plotkin and his team’s seniors who hoped to end the season on a high note. In the words of a fictionalized Oakland Athletics GM, Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt: “If you don’t win the last game of the season, nobody gives a s---.” But the “Moneyball” sentiment is tough to
See MEN’S SOCCER, page 26