April 19, 2017

Since 1919

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

The Emory Wheel

Volume 98, Issue 24

Printed Every Wednesday

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

ELECTION

Ossoff, Handel to Go Head-to-Head in Runoff Young Dems Bolster Ossoff Campaign

By Alex KlugermAn Asst. News Editor/Campus

Democrat Jon Ossoff received more support than expected in his congressional run in a district that has been Republican-controlled for 37 years, but it was not enough to seal the deal.

The 30 year old is now facing a runoff against Republican Karen Handel in the special election to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price.

The New York Times called the election for Ossoff and Handel as the top two candidates netting the most votes shortly after midnight. Ossoff was the top vote-getter, garnering 48.3 percent of ballots cast as of press time.

Since no candidate got 50 percent of the vote, Ossoff will face off against second-place finisher, Republican Karen Handel — who received 19.7 percent of the vote as of press time — in a runoff election June 20, according to the Times.

The special election has drawn national attention, including that of U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

“Just learned that Jon Ossoff, who is running for Congress in Georgia,

See StudentS, Page 4

See SGA, Page 2

emory students and campaign team members table near Asbury Circle for democrat Jon Ossoff this past Sunday. doesn’t even live in the district.

Republicans, get out and vote!” Trump tweeted April 18.

Ossoff defended his decision to reside outside the district to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, stating that he wanted to live within

walking distance of the Emory School of Medicine where his girlfriend of 12 years, Alisha Kramer (18M), is enrolled.

Student group Young Democrats of Emory and other Emory students rallied behind Ossoff, participating in

gration, drug enforcement, taxes and foreign policy.

Approximately 20 people attended the debate, held in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building (WHSCAB). The April 18 special election was held to find a replacement for former U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the newly appointed U.S Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary.

Candidates David Abroms, Mohammad Ali Bhuiyan, Keith Grawert, Amy Kremer and Kurt Wilson participated in the debate.

None of the candidates present had elected political experience.

All of the debaters were eliminated in the April 18 special election.

Nearly all Republican candidates

See CAndidAte, Page 3

CREATIVE WRITING

hannah Conway/a ssoCiate editor

Award-winning novelist Junot diaz (r ight) discusses immigration, identity and the invasion narrative at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts April 12.

See diAz, Page 9

NEWS

canvasses and phone banks for the campaign, in an election that some say represents a test for the Democratic party’s effectiveness in resisting the policies of the Trump administration.

The 51st Legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) convened Monday night to finalize amendments to the Finance Code and vote on updates to the Student Activity Fee (SAF) split.

SGA passed Bill 51sl02, which would cut Executive Agency (EA) budgets by about 20 percent, with five votes in favor and one abstention.

The bill updates the SAF split to reflect the Jan. 31 University-wide referendum that split SGA into autonomous graduate and undergraduate branches, and received five votes in favor and one abstention.

The bill will go through one more round of votes at the next meeting

Jillian a lsberry/staff

Repub. Congressional Candidates Debate at Emory Invited by student group Emory College Republicans, five Republican Congressional candidates for the sixth district of Georgia debated at Emory Thursday night before the April 18 special election.

The candidates discussed healthcare, jobs, national security, immi-

Exec.

Agency Budgets Cut 20 Percent By seungeun cho Contributing Writer

CONGRESS

By richArd chess Asst. News Editor/City

SGA

Emory StudEnt OP-ED SEniorS rEFlEct A&E BorEgArd tAlkS ActiviSt rEcEivES trumAn on thEir timE At Emory originS, FuturE plAnS in ScholArShip ... nivErSity ... u i PAGE 3 PAGE 9 PAGE 6 ntErviEw ...

ADMIN

Students Absent From Third Dean Forum By michelle lou Executive Editor

No student unaffiliated with the Wheel attended the open forum held by the third candidate for the College of Arts and Sciences dean position Thursday morning in Harland Cinema.

Open to all Emory students, the forum was a chance for Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Michael A. Elliott — one of four unranked College dean candidates — to be “introduced to the students as part of the [selection] process,” according to an April 4 College Council (CC) email. Only one student attended each of the previous open forums for two of the other candidates, respectively.

Elliott said he has increased faculty diversity during his term as interim College dean, recruiting three new professors in the natural sciences and extending a job offer to a fourth.

“One of the [College] initiatives this year was to search for four faculty in the natural sciences and mathematics who have expertise in mentoring and advising underrepresented minorities,” Elliott said.

Although Elliott acknowledged that an external hire could bring a new perspective to the University, he said that an internal hire has already established relationships and an under-

standing of the Emory community.

“I can talk about what it’s like to be in an Emory classroom because I’ve been in an Emory classroom,” Elliott said. “I can talk about the Clairmont campus because I lived [there] as a Faculty in Residence. I can talk about different departments because I’ve worked with those department chairs.”

Michael A. elliott, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Courtesy of emory Photo/Video

Elliott maintained that he would push himself to review Emory’s practices, such as the pre-major advising system and the pathway for Goizueta Business School students. He added that Emory could improve the transition for Oxford College students to the Atlanta campus, increase undergraduate research opportunities and improve Business School course accessibility for College students.

The interim College dean said he

See elliOtt, Page 2

EMORY LIFE how thE SPORTS mEn’S tEnniS

South korEAn drAFt AFFEctS tEAm winS Sixth StrAight StudEntS ...

Back Page PAGE 12 compEtition ...

2

NEWS

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Roundup

Crime Report Compiled By Monica Lefton

Compiled By Joshua Lee mAn Killed in live BroAdcAst Buford highwAy reopens AtlAntA — A debris fire started under Peachtree Creek Bridge around 9:30 p.m. April 17, causing the affected portion of the highway between North Druid Hills and West Druid Hills to close while firefighters verified the highway’s structural integrity, WSBTV reported. The firefighters verified the highway’s structural integrity, and the bridge reopened shortly before midnight that evening.

CleVelAnd — Steve Stevens, 37, shot Robert Godwin Sr., 74, in a Facebook Live video Sunday, according to The New York Times.

Stevens was spotted April 18 in Pennsylvania, after which he shot himself following his car spinning out of control during a police pursuit, The Guardian reported.

The incident sparked debate over Facebook’s role in crimes committed over live video, The Times reported.

The Emory Wheel Volume 98, Number 24 © 2017 The Emory Wheel

Dobbs University Center, Room 540 605 Asbury Circle, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editor-in-Chief Julia Munslow (404) 727-0279 Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.

The Wheel is printed every Wednesday during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions. A single copy of the Wheel is free of charge. To purchase additional copies, please call (404) 727-6178.

The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration.

The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.

Corrections

• The “Ty Dolla Sign Steps in Last Minute” article in last week’s issue incorrectly stated that about 500 students attended Dooley’s Ball. According to former Student Programming Council President Ria Sabnis (17B), about 1,436 Emory students attended the concert. The article has been corrected online.

• In the “A Response: Give Greek Life Due Process” op-ed in last week’s issue, Tyler Zelinger was incorrectly identified as a College senior. He is a senior in the Goizueta Business School.

• In last week’s correction, Ana Lee Pokrzywa’s name was misspelled as Anna Lee Pokrzywa.

The Emory Wheel

On April 10 at 5:51 p.m., EPD responded to a call regarding a theft at White Hall. The officer spoke with an Emory student who reported her wallet missing April 9. The student told the officer she was in the second floor lobby of White Hall by the snack machines at 7:30 p.m. before entering classroom 208 at 8:15 p.m for a meeting. After the meeting, she returned to her room around 11 p.m. and realized she was missing her wallet.

She canceled her Wells Fargo credit card at 12:20 a.m. She was notified via email that someone attempted to make a $3 purchase on her credit card, but the transaction was declined because the card had already canceled at 12:45 a.m. The wallet contained her credit card, driver’s license, insurance card, Emory ID, social security

card and room key. The wallet is valued at $10. Campus Life was notified.

The case has been assigned to an investigator.

On April 16 at 10:18 p.m., EPD responded to a call regarding burglary, criminal trespass and simple battery at 10 Eagle Row, the Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) fraternity house.

EPD spoke with an Emory student who discovered two white males in a room of the house at 3:10 a.m., holding a picture of one of Pike’s founders and various posters and rummaging through the occupant’s belongings.

The student yelled at the two subjects, who then dropped the items, pushed the student and ran through the house.

One of the intruders exited through the kitchen, and the other through the back door. While pursuing the

two subjects, the student saw a third subject jump off the balcony and run toward 20 Eagle Row, the Kappa Sigma fraternity house. The student said that the balcony doors and windows on the second floor are always left unlocked. The majority of the Pike brothers were away at formal for the weekend.

There was a Wii and several controllers missing from the house. The Emory student went to 20 Eagle Row and asked for the Wii and controllers back. The items were returned to the front steps of the Pike house the following morning. The residents of the room the subjects were found in reported nothing missing. Campus Life was notified. The case has been assigned to an investigator.

— Contact Monica Lefton at monica.lefton@emory.edu

Elliott Underscores Increasing Faculty Diversity Continued from Page 1 decided to apply for the permanent position because he enjoys speaking with prospective and current students, faculty members and alumni about current events at Emory.

University President Claire E. Sterk named Elliott interim College dean following the August 2016 announcement that Robin Forman would depart to become senior vice president and provost of Tulane University (La.).

After joining Emory’s faculty as a professor of English and American studies in 1998, Elliott served as senior associate dean for faculty from 2009 to

2014 and as executive associate dean from 2014 to 2015.

The fourth College dean candidate will host an open forum for students April 21 in Harland Cinema at 9:15 a.m. The University aims to name the next College dean by the beginning of summer break, according to the search website.

Outgoing CC President Molly Zhu (17C), the sole student on the Emory College Dean Search Advisory Committee, said she did not know who the fourth candidate is.

Committee Co-chair and Dean of Oxford College Douglas A. Hicks declined to provide the fourth candidate’s name.

Hicks did not respond to multiple inquiries regarding the search timeline.

CC notified students of the College dean candidate forums April 9, but the email had misdated April 13 as Tuesday instead of Thursday. The Wheel confirmed with Zhu that the forum would occur Thursday. CC did not send out another email correcting the error.

The Emory College Dean Search Advisory Committee will make a recommendation to Sterk, who names the next College dean.

— Contact Michelle Lou at mlou3@emory.edu

THIS IS YOUR MUSEUM Sign up for your free student membership at carlos.emory.edu/studentmembership

#carlosmuseum

NEWS

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Candidate Leaves Stage During College Republicans Debate Continued from Page 1 were invited, according to Emory College Republicans President Christian Zimm (17C).

Of the five candidates present, none cleared 3 percent in the April 5-10 RRH Elections or Decision Desk HQ poll.

Leading Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff and top vote-getting Republican candidate Karen Handel, who will compete in the runoff election against Ossoff June 20, as well as other leaders in the poll, declined to attend.

Executive Director of Barkley Forum Ed Lee moderated the event after Zimm asked him to assist.

On foreign policy, the candidates debated the United States’s role in the U.S.’s April 6 strike on Syria.

Grawert said the best strategy is to fight the Islamic State (IS) group and pressure Russia into removing their support from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Abrams added that the decision to strike should have been approved by U.S. Congress.

Bhuiyan, another candidate, left the debate early.

Fifteen minutes into the event, Bhuiyan whispered some words to Lee, and then told the audience that he had an emergency and had to leave.

Zimm said “there is no question” Bhuiyan left because he was disappointed with the low attendance turnout.

per the SGA Finance Code, Part VII which stipulates that any amendment to the Finance Code requires two consecutive votes.

The proposed changes to the SAF split would cut EA budgets by about 25 percent each, decreasing the total macro fund to $712,000 from last year’s $937,000 for the upcoming academic year.

The SAF split determines how the SAF is disbursed to divisional councils, EAs and student organizations. EAs include Student Programming Council, Media Council, Club Sports, Outdoor Emory and TableTalk, all of which were previously known as University-wide organizations before the SGA-GSGA split but have since been changed to EA designations.

“We’ve tried to minimize the amount that EAs will have to lose, and this is extremely difficult because we still have to make sure our central accounts are funded and that we have enough to work off of,” outgoing Vice President of Finance Jason Yu (17B) said. “But I think that it’s an adjustment that [EAs are] going to have to make. We’re not going to be able to have temporary funding for them anymore.”

The graduate school council contributed 24 percent of the macro account prior to the split, which funds EAs, OrgSync among other administrative functions.

AWARD

Jackson Wins Truman Scholarship By lAuren BAlotin Senior Staff Writer

ruth r eyes/Photo editor

Four former republican candidates for Georgia’s sixth district of u.S. Congress debate in the Woodruff Health Sciences Administration Building April 13.

“From the get-go, he was asking me about the crowd size,” Zimm said. “It’s interesting because he’s dead last in the polls … but I’m not sure what else he has better to do.”

Emory College Republicans organized the debate to bring Republican voices to Emory’s campus, according to Zimm.

“We’re trying to get people involved in the political process on campus and … make sure all the voices are being heard,” Zimm said.

Graduate student Emily Cruz, an

attendee from Georgia State University (GSU), said she appreciated the candidates’ ability to discuss contentious topics with mutual respect.

“Everyone [on those debates] just felt so stiff, like they were nervous,” Cruz said. “It was very cordial. I liked the fact that they were pretty open.”

Matt Altman, another GSU graduate student, also attended the event and valued the authenticity of the candidates.

“Everyone that spoke really was coming from a non-politician, a

SGA Passes Finance Code Amendments Continued from Page 1

3

Now that GSGA is no longer under SGA, it is no longer required to contribute to SGA’s macro account.

However, GSGA offered to fund half of the business office for both groups and part of OrgSync, according to Yu. The Finance Committee decided how to allocate the approximately $571,000 of the macro account to EAs Tuesday night and will report the exact amounts to SGA in next week’s meeting, Yu said, adding that he expects about 20 percent in budget cuts across all EAs. If SGA gave the same amount of funding to EAs that they had received in past years, Yu said that SGA would have a deficit of about $150,000.

The allocations will be based on the EAs’ programming plans and past received amounts. Although fee splits are usually amended in the fall, the recent student government split required a new fee split which would to adequately fund SGA’s central services, according to Yu. Funding for undergraduate divisional councils will remain unchanged, according to Yu. Five legislators voted unanimously to pass for the second time Bill 51sl01, which amends the Finance Code to reflect the student government split.

The amended Finance Code gives EAs one collective vote on the Finance Committee to prevent SGA representatives from being outnumbered.

The Finance Code changes also transfer the undergraduate student

contingency account (USCA) to the Finance Committee, which will administer the account and allocate supplemental funding to student organizations.

The amended Finance Code also codifies the SGA vice president of finance’s position on the Joint Governance Committee (JGC), a body of SGA and GSGA executive members who meet to address University-wide issues.

Furthermore, the updated Code separates the original $92 divisional travel cap into transportation and lodging caps of $92 each.

The two caps will total a divisional budget of $184 per student. The split was suggested by many divisional councils that felt the single travel cap was too restrictive, according to Yu. “Previously, if a club received, say, $300 to travel from a division, they wouldn’t be able to use $300 — SGA would only let them reimburse up to $92, no matter what the division decides to give them, because SGA governing rules trumped divisional governing rules,” Yu said. “$92 doesn’t make sense because everybody is just going to ask for exceptions, and it’s better to have something that we can enforce more consistently instead of having to always make exceptions.”

Michelle Lou contributed reporting.

— Contact Seungeun Cho at seungeun.cho@emory.edu

Join

The Emory Wheel News | Emory Life | Arts & Entertainment | Opinion | Sports Photography | Video | Digital | Copy Editing | Business

Email emorywheelexec@gmail.com for more information.

humble view,” Altman said. “All these candidates have their own different perspective, and [I enjoyed] hearing why they want to represent the sixth [district] and what they can do in Washington with term limits or bringing common sense to balanced budget or just defending our rights.”

Jacob Durst and Seungeun Cho contributed reporting.

— Contact Richard Chess at rchess@emory.edu

GRADUATION

Actress To Speak at Class Day

By AnweshA guhA Associate Editor

Emory’s first Truman scholarship recipient since 2011, Chelsea Jackson (18C) was one of 62 students nationwide to receive the award, Director of the National Scholarships and Fellowships Program Megan Friddle said.

The award is granted to students who have demonstrated a commitment to public service from a young age, according to an April 12 Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation press release.

Jackson will receive $30,000 from the Foundation for graduate school and professional development in the field of public service, Friddle said.

A political science and African American studies double major, Jackson said she utilizes the experience from her courses to advance racial and social justice through her activism on campus and in the greater Atlanta area.

When University President Claire E. Sterk called her to Sterk’s office told her she had won the award, Jackson said she was “overwhelmed with excitement.”

Chelsea Jackson (18C), Truman Scholar

miChelle l ou/exeCutiVe editor

Actress Jackie Cruz was selected to speak at the 2017 Class Day, a ceremony for baccalaureate graduates from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta Business School, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the School of Medicine’s Medical Imaging Program. Cruz will speak May 4 at 6 p.m. in Glenn Memorial Church.

Known for her role as Flaca in Netflix series Orange is the New Black, Cruz stood out to the Student Planning Committee for “her poignant yet encouraging story of surviving homelessness and a near-paralyzing car accident [after which she went] on to achieve success and happiness,” according to the University Commencement website. Despite the trauma that her accident incurred — including a collapsed lung — Cruz has continued to act and sing.

BBA Council President Kyle Nelson (17B), who was a member of the Student Planning Committee, did not respond to request for comment by press time. “[Cruz] has an inspiring and empowering story to tell, and we anticipate that she will be able to connect to the graduating seniors, many at the start of their careers,” Office of University Events Interim Director Suzanne Eden-Antola wrote in an April 12 statement to the Wheel. “She joins the impressive legacy of speakers at this event, now in its fifteenth year.”

Neehal Shukla (17C) said that she’s looking forward to hearing Cruz speak.

“She can provide an interesting per-

Jackson has served on the executive board for the Emory’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and as a co-founder of Atlanta Black Students United, a coalition of black college students in Atlanta.

She has also been involved with the Commission on Racial and Social Justice to create Emory’s vision for racial and social equity and as a Diversity Initiatives Fellow for Emory’s Office of Admission to plan events to recruit students of color to Emory.

Jackson said she believes she stood out from other Truman scholar applicants because while others may have similar grades and test scores, she has shown compassion through her activism.

In 2015, Jackson contributed ideas and support to the demands made by the student group Black Students of Emory, who called for “an active change in University policy directed towards Black students.”

Jackson described her passion for being a vocal advocate for social change.

“I really look at leadership and public service from an activist standpoint,” Jackson said. “I like to think, ‘How can you make the world better? ... What kind of legacy of love do you leave for the people that come behind you?’ ” Andra Gillespie, an associate

See Cruz, Page 4

See eMOry, Page 4

4

NEWS

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The Emory Wheel

Emory Boasts Profs.

Remark on Immigration, Economy Under Trump First Truman Scholar Since 2011 PRESIDENCY

By vAlerie sAndovAl Contributing Writer

Continued from Page 3

professor of political science at Emory, said that “what [Jackson] does as an activist and what she does as a student are intimately tied to each other.”

Gillespie serves as one of Jackson’s major advisors and wrote a letter of recommendation for Jackson’s application.

Friddle noted that Jackson’s activism matches well with the qualities the Foundation seeks.

“The Truman scholarship ... rewards students who have a genuine commitment to improving their communities regardless of their political or ideological affiliations,” Friddle said.

The foundation reviewed 768 applications from 315 institutions this application cycle, according to its website.

Emory can nominate up to seven students to compete for the scholarship at the national level, four of whom matriculate on the Atlanta campus and three of whom are transfer students or Oxford College graduates, Friddle said.

“I like to think, ‘How can you make the world better? ... What kind of legacy of love do you leave for the people that come behind you?’ ” — Chelsea Jackson (18C), Truman scholar

A committee of Emory faculty members and individuals from offices engaged with student leadership activities, such as Campus Life and the Center for Ethics reviewed the applications to choose which students to nominate for the scholarship.

This year, Emory nominated six students: two transfer and Oxford College graduate applicants and four applicants from the Atlanta campus.

Jackson said she hopes that the scholarship will allow her pursue a career as a civil rights attorney and eventually as a Supreme Court justice.

“I like to aim high, and I like to push myself,” Jackson said. “People might think it’s a lofty goal to say ‘I want to be attorney general’ or ‘I want to be a Supreme Court justice,’ but for me those are attainable goals if I just stay true to myself and continue to work hard.”

Gillespie agreed that the award will help Jackson prepare for her future aspirations. “[Jackson] really does epitomize what the award is about,” Gillespie said. “Of all the people I know who have won the award, she best captures the spirit of a Truman scholar. This [award] not only celebrates the work she has done but will also help to prepare for the work I know she is poised to do in the future.”

Alex Klugerman and Richard Chess contributed reporting.

— Contact Lauren Balotin at lauren.balotin@emory.edu

A law professor and an economics professor offered perspectives on the current state of immigration and the economy at the second installment of Emory’s “Trump Talk” series April 17.

In the three-part dialogue series, Emory professors share their thoughts on how President Donald J. Trump’s administration is handling issues such as religion, healthcare and racism.

The economy has performed well since Trump took office, according to Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Economics Paul Rubin.

The professor pointed to an increase in stock values and labor force participation, in addition to decreased unemployment, and argued that the main reasons for economic growth are the deregulatory policies that the Trump administration has implemented. However, Rubin contended that the presidential administration must continue work on healthcare, banking and tax reform.

“I was in the Reagan administration [as an economist] in the beginning, and I think Trump is deregulating faster and more broadly,” Rubin said.

Professor of Law and Global Health Polly Price’s discussion focused on Trump’s immigration policies. In addition to the travel bans, Trump issued a Jan. 25 executive order that allowed the government to deport people illegally residing in the U.S. while limiting their opportunity to plead their case in court. The order has been overlooked by media and

Valerie sandoVal/Contributing writer

Samuel Candler dobbs Professor of economics Paul rubin discusses the u.S. economy Monday during the second ‘trump talk’ series in Canon Chapel. raises concerns about violating due process, Price said. Another executive order, also issued Jan. 25, expanded the power of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Rather than prioritizing finding and deporting people who pose a threat to the country such as gang members or criminals, or people who recently entered the country illegally, ICE now considers all undocumented people a priority.

Price expressed her disappointment with Trump’s executive orders on immigration, and suggested that the administration should work to improve immigration courts and expand the number of judges rather than trying to deport more people.

“[If] the priorities that [ICE] had to abide by were keeping them from doing their jobs … it just makes me wonder who they work for,” Price said.

Rubin noted that the U.S. is experiencing a decrease in Mexican immigration, which poses adverse effects on markets for agriculture and construction.

The professor suggested that the Trump administration may try to convince American workers to take over some of the newly available construction jobs that were previously occupied by Mexican immigrants, and that technology may overhaul some less demanding agricultural jobs.

However, Rubin said that there is no way to accurately predict the long-term

economic effects of this decrease in Mexican immigration.

Brianna Casciello (17N) said she thought that Rubin held “narrow views” regarding immigration but that she appreciated the opportunity to hear two thorough — though pointed — perspectives.

The first talk occurred April 10 and featured Candler School of Theology Associate Professor Ellen Ott Marshall and Professor of Law Tim Holbrook.

The final talk will occur April 24 and feature School of Nursing Dean Linda McCauley and Associate Professor of Political Science Andra Gillespie.

— Contact Valerie Sandoval at valerie.sandoval@emory.edu

Students Canvass, Phone Bank for Ossoff Cruz Will Continued from Page 1 Ossoff faced off against 11 Republican candidates, four other Democrats and two independents in the special election.

His platform supports Planned Parenthood funding, affordable healthcare and education and criminal justice reform.

The April 18 primary pitted all candidates against one another at the polls.

The wunderkind campaigned with the slogans “Make Trump Furious” and “Flip the Sixth,” references the fact that the Georgia district has gradually begun to lean toward the more Democratic side.

Former President Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election in the district by 23 percent, while Trump only beat Hillary Clinton by 1 percent in the 2016 race.

“We’ve definitely seen a groundswell of support among Emory students in reaction to the election results,” Young Democrats of Emory member and former Emory Students for Hillary Leader Felix Wu (19C) said.

Young Democrats of Emory Freshman Liaison Brett Kleiman (20C) and Young Democrats of Emory President William Palmer (18C) first reached out to the Ossoff campaign via the campaign’s website in January, inquiring if the student group could help with campaign events.

They were connected with the field office director, according to Kleiman. In the month preceding the election, Young Democrats of Emory members participated in five doorto-door canvassing sessions that attracted anywhere between five and

12 students, Kleiman said. “[The campaign] has been really responsive in terms of helping us help them,” Kleiman said. “They’ve been providing transportation for [students] ... and have been really helpful and willing to work with us in terms of getting people out to events.”

Campaign team members visited campus April 16 to answer students’ questions about the candidate.

Ossoff’s campaign also provided codes for free Lyft rides so that students at universities including Emory, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Georgia could attend polling locations.

Young Democrats of Emory member Nicholas Lal (17B) canvassed for Ossoff thrice, and cited Ossoff’s experience as CEO of Insight TWI, a film company that produces documentaries investigating corruption in government, as reason for his personal support.

“Ossoff’s role in exposing fraud and corruption is going to make him a vital asset in Congressional Committees and he will bring integrity back to Congress, which it is currently lacking,” Lal said.

Sixth congressional district resident Johnna Gadomski (20C) also canvassed with Young Democrats of Emory and hopes to continue advocating on behalf of the campaign with her family this summer leading up to the June 20 runoff election.

“Ossoff has been able to find a niche in colleges and capitalizes on the ability of young people to mobilize and be active,” Gadomski said.

“His grassroots-focused campaign has really engaged students across Georgia and his field organizers have been really dedicated to getting them

involved.”

Ossoff’s campaign has come to assume a larger symbolic meaning among Democrats and anti-Trump protesters, who view it as a way to transform their discontent with the Trump administration’s policies into action, according to The New York Times.

“People are pissed off at Trump,” Kleiman said. “This campaign isn’t really about Trump, but it’s always in the back of our head. It’s about realizing that during the Obama years, liberals were pretty content and now we’re trying to be active.”

Both Wu and Kleiman also noted that Ossoff’s relatively young age has attracted the support of a college demographic.

“He doesn’t like to discuss his age but … as a millennial himself he really understands the issues that students are concerned with … like student loans or immigration reform,” Wu said Ossoff raised $8.2 million dollars for his campaign in the three months leading up to the election, with more than 95 percent of that money coming from outside of the state.

That is the 11th largest amount of money raised by a candidate running for the House in a single election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, non-profit research group that tracks money in U.S. politics.

The Georgia sixth congressional district contains the northern suburbs of Atlanta, including parts of Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb Counties, although it does not contain Emory’s Atlanta campus.

— Contact Alex Klugerman at alex.klugerman@emory.edu

Return to Emory

Continued from Page 3 spective because she’s also a pop culture [figure],” Shukla said. “She might be able to provide life advice to graduating seniors.”

Class Day will not be the first time that Cruz has addressed Emory students. College Council (CC) invited Cruz as the guest speaker for the 2015 CultureShock event. She was CultureShock’s first female and Latina speaker, and used the November 2015 event to tell her personal story, focusing on the hardships she faced in becoming an actress and encouraging students to persevere.

“When she came to CultureShock, she talked a lot about her background [as an immigrant and a minority] and making it in the film industry and … I’m really really excited to hear her speak for Class Day,” former CC President Molly Zhu (17C) said. In her story, Cruz emphasized “looking at life and the big picture and what’s really important, and [I anticipate] she’ll talk about that [at Class Day] as well,” Zhu said.

Boisfeuillet Jones Medals, the Brit Katz Senior Appreciation Award and Knights of Emory Spirit Awards will be presented at the event.

Richard reporting.

Chess

contributed

— Contact Anwesha Guha at anwesha.guha@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Editorials

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 | Editorials Editor: Annie Cohen (annie.cohen@emory.edu)

Editorial

The Dangers of an Pre-Exam Workload Detrimental to Learning Externally-Focused Trump To live up to its academic reputation, Emory must be a school where students not only perform well throughout the semester but also retain the skills and information they’ve learned for application in the real world. Unfortunately, as is true throughout much of higher education, some Emory students tend to put-off studying and rely on last-minute cramming, which is not conducive to cultivating the deep-rooted knowledge and subject mastery that could set Emory students apart.

However, the blame does not fall entirely on students. While students would stay on top of their classes and begin studying early for finals in an ideal world, the realities of students’ busy schedules, the barrage of end-of-term papers and projects and an insufficient one- or two-day reading period each semester, make finding the time to do so difficult for even the most organized and capable students.

The University should institute a “dead period” for the week of classes before exams during which no assignments can be due. (Professors could obtain special permission for extenuating circumstances, such as classes without cumulative exams.) Such a dead period would encourage students to begin studying sooner, provide more time for seeking help from professors, peers or teaching assistants and discourage some professors from introducing new material directly before exams.

Without those measures, students are less likely to retain the information they’ve spent four months learning and may never fully

learn difficult concepts they’ve struggled with throughout the semester, according research published last year by Dartmouth College (N.H.). The study concluded that “[college] educators could be especially helpful [in promoting effective learning] by structuring their pedagogy in a way that encourages spaced review” and not cramming. A 2015 International Journal of Students’ Research in Technology and Management study of college-age students undergoing exams also asserted that students who cram before exams are more susceptible to developing anxiety-related issues.

In the past, students have called for extensions to Emory’s one- and two-day reading periods. While a longer reading period between classes and exams could be beneficial, a dead period would be more effective since students would be less tempted to mismanage their time.

An extended period without classes could tempt students, especially those with fewer exams, to socialize excessively and create a party culture around finals week.

A dead period, on the other hand, would free up students’ time without eliminating the structure provided by classes.

There will always be those who choose to waste their time procrastinating and make other questionable decisions. Disciplined students should not suffer because of their lessmotivated peers, and if Emory were to institute a dead period, dedicated students would take advantage of it — benefitting more from their Emory-gained skills and education.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is comprised of Annie Cohen, Duncan Cock Foster, Zachary Issenberg, Jennifer Katz, Madeline Lutwyche, Boris Niyonzima and Tarrek Shaban.

Join

The Emory Wheel News | Emory Life | Arts & Entertainment Opinion | Sports | Photography | Video Digital | Copy Editing | Business Email emorywheelexec@gmail.com for more information.

The Emory Wheel Julia Munslow editor-in-Chief Michelle lou exeCutive editor hayley silverstein Managing editor Senior Editors Alisha Compton Brian Savino Copy Editor Leigh Schlecht Editorial Page Editor Annie Cohen Social Media Editor Nicole Sadek Photo Editor Ruth Reyes Video Editor Leila Yavari Asst. Sports Editor Kevin Kilgour

Asst. Editorial Page Editor Madeline Lutwyche Asst. A&E Editor Devin Bog Asst. Emory Life Editor Niraj Naik Asst. News Editor/Campus Alex Klugerman Asst. News Editor/City Richard Chess Associate Editors Emily Sullivan Anwesha Guha Brian Taggett Hannah Conway

Volume 98 | Number 24 Business and advertising nathan Janick | Business Manager On-Campus Sales Manager: Celeste Leonard Off-Campus Sales Manager: Brittany Fales Sales Associates: Cate Beggins Business/Advertising Office Number (404) 727-6178

The Emory Wheel welcomes letters and op-ed submissions from the Emory community. Letters should be limited to 300 words and op-eds should be at least 500. Those selected may be shortened to fit allotted space or edited for grammar, punctuation and libelous content. Submissions reflect the opinions of individual writers and not of the Wheel’s Editorial Board or Emory University. Send emails to julia.munslow@emory.edu or postal mail to The Emory Wheel, Drawer W, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322.

Cameron Hall “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first,” proclaimed President Donald J. Trump just three months ago in his inauguration speech.

Since then, Trump has entangled the United States in several international crises by attacking a Syrian airbase, dropping our largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan and heightening tensions with North Korea.

Despite his promises to put “America first,” Trump knowingly escalated three of America’s most notorious international conflicts. Those actions mark an end to Trump’s dangerous isolationist stance and harken back to the misguided imperialism of the George W. Bush era. Trump failed to learn from the foreign policy mistakes of his predecessors and is instead pursuing a foreign policy that further endangers the U.S. and the world.

One of Trump’s first major forays into the world of foreign policy occurred with his April 6 attack on Syria. In Syria, Trump had an opportunity to help resolve a crisis that former U.S. President Barack Obama had proved inept at handling. Obama’s 2012 threat to take action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons against civilians ultimately proved to be a national embarrassment when Obama refused to follow up on his promise one year later.

While Trump should be applauded for punishing Assad’s use of chemical weapons, he should not have acted unilaterally. Not only did he risk provoking Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, but he also exercised the same American interventionism that destabilized the Middle East and engendered anti-American sentiment throughout the region, driving people to groups like the Islamic State (IS).

For a president who lists defeating IS as his “highest priority,” Trump’s use of unilateral action reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the need for international cooperation in solving the Syrian crisis. In Afghanistan, Trump once again demonstrated the misguided Bush-era belief that military action can solve any crisis using our largest non-nuclear bomb against a terrorist target. That operation is the least problematic of Trump’s recent foreign policy actions since it likely succeeded in killing terrorists, but is still indicative of flawed foreign policy.

Insurgents and terrorists in Afghanistan have long since proven their ability to evade the U.S. military through guerilla tactics. U.S. military involvement elsewhere in the Middle East, including in Iraq, Libya and Somalia, has been similarly unsuccessful in restoring order. And yet, Trump pushed a $54 billion increase in military spending in his federal budget proposal to Congress. That indicates a desire for renewed U.S. militarism, which was reinforced by dropping what has been nicknamed “the mother of all bombs” on an IS tunnel complex.

While the destruction of a center of terrorist operations is commendable, doing so with the excessive force of a previously unused weapon does nothing more than signal that the U.S. is ramping up military activity. The

U.S. already spends $596 billion on defense, more money than the next eight countries combined. An increase in military spending would merely devote more money to an already oversized military — money that could better be used for education, healthcare or infrastructure. Furthermore, a larger military would do little to resolve international conflicts, as evidenced by the continuing instability in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade after the U.S. invaded those countries.

Trump’s most problematic move of the three was his decision to escalate tensions with North Korea. Multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials said the U.S. may conduct a preemptive strike against North Korea if the country goes through with a planned nuclear weapons test. That statement was vehemently denounced by China, which urged Trump to stop provoking North Korea. Similarly to Syria and Russia, North Korea is protected by a powerful ally, China. Thus, acting unilaterally against a country risks conflict with another world power.

While North Korea is a dangerous rogue state that must be dealt with, any action taken must occur with Chinese cooperation. The primary reason China continues to support North Korea is because it provides a buffer between China and South Korea and Japan. Despite that desire for a buffer state, China recently blocked coal imports from North Korea, indicating an increasing willingness to take action against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Thus, it is likely that China can be convinced to cooperate with the U.S. and bring down North Korea through economic sanctions.

Attacking North Korea merely breaches Chinese trust, which is not beneficial to either party.

Unlike its interactions with Syria and Afghanistan, the U.S. has engaged in diplomatic rather than military conflict with North Korea for two reasons: the country’s aforementioned relationship with China and, more importantly, the fact that it is armed with nuclear weapons.

A preemptive strike against North Korea could have the disastrous result of renewed nuclear conflict, something which the international community has tried to prevent since the American attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Such an attack would also endanger U.S. allies South Korea and Japan; many believe they would be the first targets of a North Korean counterattack.

All of that recent activity is a blatant violation of Trump’s administration’s claim that “we do not go abroad in search of enemies … we are always happy when old enemies become friends and when old friends become allies.”

Trump’s reckless actions have worsened already tense relations with Syria, North Korea, Russia and China.

While Obama was often too cautious in his foreign policy, Trump has swung too far in the other direction, picking fights wherever they can be found.

American presidents must learn to stand up for American interests while still embracing diplomacy, and should Trump fail to do so, the consequences will certainly be grave.

Cameron Hall is a College freshman from Columbus, Ohio.

6

OP-ED

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The Emory Wheel

Senior Reflections In the last weeks of their undergraduate careers at Emory, six graduating seniors wrote reflections looking back on their time at the University.

Letting Go of the Wheel Zak hudak

Most editors go out with a final word. Mine is this: I believe more now than I did when I became the editor-in-chief of the Wheel in telling the truth and in the rights of newspapers and other media to report what happens.

It’s a simple concept that becomes complicated when people who take public action or who hold positions of power do not want their behavior reported. If the press were to meet those wishes, you could do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, without any fear of repercussions.

I’m convinced that the fate of the republic rests on the idea that everything that is public should be covered and that nobody has any right to hide behind something. Over my time as editor of the Wheel, the most discouraging characteristic of this campus was that far too many people seem to think that should not be the case.

Emory isn’t alone in that mindset.

A 2015 Pew Research Center study found that four in 10 millennials would support government prohibition of speech deemed offensive to minority groups. While well-intentioned, that’s a far cry from the open discourse our forefathers envisioned with the First Amendment. It’s further yet from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis’ words, which I probably quote too often: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

In the last year, the Wheel has made a significant contribution to the debate over free speech at Emory. My staff worked tirelessly in pursuit of the truth. The strangest story I encountered here fit so well into our country’s debate on free speech that it landed me on two national TV

broadcasts.

Around this time last year, students awoke to pro-Trump slogans written in chalk around campus. The authors had broken a rule on a technicality; they had written not only on sidewalks, but also on vertical walls.

When about 40 students gathered in front of and inside the Administration Building to request action, the Wheel sent reporters. That’s what newspapers do.

You would expect such a movement to want coverage. And the protesters did, except some demanded control over the Wheel’s handling of the story.

One of them claimed the Wheel could not use any of the photos we took unless he was allowed to screen them for students who didn’t want to be associated with the protest.

We did not agree, and leaders of the protests called for other protesters to refuse interview requests from the Wheel. When we named one of the students as the leader of a chant at a public event, he went so far as to make now disproven allegations about our coverage to a Washington Post reporter.

I don’t know the genesis of the idea that you don’t need to take responsibility for your actions. The internet, with its possibilities of anonymity, is a potential culprit. No matter, it is difficult to take seriously any position you’re unwilling to put your name behind.

In a letter from the editor, I empathized with the protesters, but I defended the chalkers’ right to express their political views — although they hadn’t taken responsibility for their own speech.

That is, and should always be, the position of a newspaper, college or national. From what I see, now in the third person, the Wheel’s attitude toward speech has not changed.

But the campus’s attitude toward responsibility and coverage hasn’t improved.

Since my term as editor ended, my concern about this issue has grown. When the Wheel wrote about

an indisputable news event — a Student Government Association candidate plagiarizing chunks of her platform from one of last year’s election platforms — the paper was criticized on social media for being too harsh. Worse yet, an administrator requested a meeting to “mediate” between the Wheel and the subjects of the fairly reported story.

Our republic has flourished because of a well-informed public.

President Donald J. Trump’s extreme attacks on the pillars of journalism in this country come at a time when we need truth more than ever, a time when an entirely fictitious story about Hillary Clinton running a child-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizzeria can go viral.

Emory hasn’t been plagued by such conspiracy theories, and my successors at the Wheel have been vigilant.

In the face of criticism, they have continued to report, as they did last month when the paper broke a story about Student Programing Council being scammed for thousands of dollars by a fraudulent third-party booking agency.

I was lucky to run the Wheel at a turbulent time. As the waters settle — or don’t — I am confident future editors will maintain the same dedication to free speech and the rights of the press that I had. For everyone else, you can’t hide behind the fact that you’re a college student.

You should protest when you feel strongly about something; powerful political movements have grown and will continue to grow from college campuses. You should run for a student government position; we need great student leaders at Emory. But if you do, expect a Wheel reporter to be there, pen and notebook in hand, to hold you accountable and give you credit.

For better or worse, you need to be prepared to take responsibility for your actions.

Zak Hudak is a philosophoy major from Pittsburgh, Pa.

Learning Through Adversity Hard Times, Good People ria saBnis there are very, very good people and very, very bad people.

People who know the full story of a situation and people who do not even care to find it out.

People whom you’ve never met before who will comfort you when you cry in the library. But I would be absolutely ly- also people who take careful meaing if I said college was the sures to make you start crying.

College was not the best four years of my life.

It’s been great, obviously, but if best four years of my life.

I don’t think the best four years the best years of my life should be free of conflict and difficulty, col- of anyone’s life come in one conlege was definitely a wake-up call. secutive block with a bow tied Recent events aside, here’s a around them. But college was an incredibly formaquick summary of tive experience. my time here at I walked through Emory: I met my College was not the Emory’s stone seven best friends best four years of gates a wimp and while living in the University’s most my life. I don’t think I’m walking out so much stronger and cockroach-infested the best four years more confident. building (#McTyeiof anyone’s life come While my time at reNeverDies), I in one consecutive Emory has included switched my major four times, I got an block with a bow tied hardships, I would not have found ill-timed concusaround them. that confidence sion, I fell in love were it not for with school after becoming a BBA, I became president of the people I’ve met here.

If you’re reading this, I’m the Student Programming Council, I laughed a lot, I cried a lot and then, asking you to reach out and thank most recently, I sat down in front of the good people in your lives my laptop to write this reflection. whenever you can. Stand up for As someone who had never dealt them when they’re in trouble much with adversity, I got a fairly big and help them when you can.

If you are ever put in front scoop of it during my four years here.

This university and the peo- of the bad people, ignore them.

Or speak out against them. ple in it, whether they knew it or not, taught me how to assess my Better yet, prove them wrong. surroundings, work with my al- Pull off a concert in three days lies and beat the odds to succeed. with 40 of your best friends.

It’ll feel great.

Sure, I cried a lot. I developed a weird twitch in my hand. I got Ria Sabnis is BBA/consulting bullied. But I also met the people who have shaped my life the most. ISOM major in the Goizueta BusiEmory has taught me that ness School from Pennington, N.J.

Reconsidering the Temporal Plane Before Graduation Jason ehrenZeller

Dooley always scared me. It wasn’t her skeletal aura or immortal mystery. It was her not-so-gentle reminder that time here was finite: Students will go. And May 8, the class of 2017 will, in fact, go. After gown-cladded embraces with old friends, faculty mentors and family members on the very quad that made us fall for the University four long years ago, we will go. Off into different geographies, sectors and

futures. But like Dooley, the Emory each and every one of us has crafted and experienced will live on forever.

May 9 will be strange. We won’t rise and race to discussions led by our favorite professors. The faces of friendship won’t be there to greet us during our daily crossings. Our EmoryCards will no longer swipe us into our residence halls, the Clairmont pool or dining establishments to purchase stale sushi. But Emory is far from extinguished.

These friends will be at our weddings and children’s birthday celebrations. The late-night talks in dorm rooms, the dinners we cooked together and the shared search for the best restaurant in Atlanta will live in our heads as deeper under-

standings of love and friendship.

The debates we had in classes and the arguments that sprung up at club meetings will live on in the strengthened sense of empathy in our eyes.

Favorite faculty members will continue expanding our minds with the books we place on our bedside tables and will always be a phone call or email away.

Above all, Emory will continue on in the improved versions of ourselves that will leave these gates May 8. Four years ago, I arrived here timid and unsure of what to study and, frankly, unsure of myself. But faced with boundless opportunities, I was forced to abolish my passive tendencies. I shed fears of newness and breaking routines and began to

experiment.

I delved into nearly 15 different disciplines over these four years; spent two semesters abroad in two continents I had never stepped foot in; learned a third language; gave to and grew with athletic and arts groups on campus; interned at the core of the golf industry; completed fellowships and research in social science, humanities and liberal arts; and discovered poetry writing and literary translation.

I must admit, with the social and academic harvest came intense pressure and often isolation, but it was here that I learned to see positively and view these challenges as privileges.

I spent nearly my entire life in a

one-streetlight town in New Jersey where any of these opportunities to explore disciplines and brush shoulders with world-renowned poets, academics, researchers, students and friends would have been unfathomable.

It has been an extreme privilege to spend my 18th through 22nd years in this community. And I see it as an even greater privilege to make the transition from being a part of Emory to have Emory become a part of us: to live out the futures that the University has prepared us for and propelled us toward.

Jason Ehrenzeller is a Spanish and international studies major from Harrington Park, N.J.

OP-ED

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

College Isn’t Forever But That’s Fine Appreciating the Past, Rationalizing the Unknowable Future

A Journey Toward Self-Realization Julianna Joss

tyler Zelinger

I have always been perplexed by people who say that they wouldn’t want to live forever. I remember reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt as a child and finding myself unable to understand the protagonist’s decision to abandon her immortality, and throughout my youth, believed that in the same position I would do the opposite without thinking twice.

In the same vein, I’ve always felt terrible for the graduating seniors.

That feeling was most salient as a junior this time last year, as it was the first time in which I’d had strong personal relationships with the people that would be leaving Emory. I pitied them and was passionately grateful that I had another year left.

I couldn’t imagine leaving behind all of the things I’d come to love about Emory.

Just as I’ve been mystified by those people who would reject the hypothetical opportunity to live forever, I couldn’t understand how my friends in the year above me approached graduation with such a sense of certainty and ease.

As a result, I spent most of my se-

nior year clinging to each day, relishing in the small bit of time I had left in Atlanta.

When the ides of March gave way to April Fools, it hit me: I was about to begin my last full month as an undergraduate.

Suddenly, everything I did felt like a last: my last fraternity formal, my last Model United Nations conference, my last time staying up all night in Robert W. Woodruff Library.

I’ve focused on appreciating how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned from the triumphs and failures I’ve had here along the way.

Although the libraries in law school will likely be equally hospitable (and almost definitely serve better coffee), the point remains that I’ll miss even the most mundane and unexciting aspects of Emory.

In these last few weeks, I’ve realized how last year’s seniors attained the sense of calm in the face of graduation that I’d previously thought counterintuitive, or even delusional. Instead of reflecting on how things are coming to an end, I’ve focused on appreciating how

Employing Emory’s Optimistic Spirit dunCan CoCk foster

The greatest gift Emory gave me was an optimistic spirit. At Emory, every life path seems possible if you work hard enough for it.

While I was here, I explored, I tinkered, I reveled in the curiosity Emory imbued me with.

College taught me that things are never as easy as they look and that choosing one door closes others.

Oftentimes, I learned this the hard way — starting my own clothing company, Edward Foster, was much more difficult than I thought it would be.

But the curiosity Emory provided me meant that I could always find new doors.

I discovered genuine passions inside the classroom and out — working at the Wheel, learning how to hack in cybersecurity class and understanding the historian’s mindset.

I discovered all kinds of incredible people, from my wonderful girlfriend who lived on my hall freshman year to incredible professors who taught me new ways of thinking.

I will never forget the warm embrace Beta Theta Pi gave to a lonely West Coaster who felt out of place so far from home.

By joining a fraternity, I gained a family and a community that gave me something accomplishments never could.

I choose to remember and be strengthened by the wonderful experiences we had together, despite what happened to us.

I could lament about how technocratic college has become and how the kind of community I found in Beta isn’t as big of a priority as it should be, but this doesn’t seem like the place for that.

College was wonderful, and I only wish I could have had more of it. Take advantage of every opportunity while you can, and never stop dreaming.

Duncan Cock Foster is a computer science major from Seattle, Wa.

7

far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned from the triumphs and failures I’ve had here along the way.

I’ve met people that have helped shape my ambitions, challenging me to strive for a future I would have once considered unattainable.

Truly, I owe the way I define my hopes and dreams to the individuals I’ve become close to at Emory. To those of you reading, you know who you are; thank you.

It is my satisfaction with my experiences here that have led me to a conclusion that would have shocked me this time last year.

I am ready, and even excited, to leave. This is not to say that I will not miss many aspects of Emory, but only that my time here has provided me with enough and more than I could have ever asked for. When I was dropped off in Atlanta what somehow feels like simultaneously four years, ten seconds and a lifetime ago.

On the eve of my graduation, I’ve learned to accept that, like life, college cannot last forever.

By appreciating my past at Emory for all it’s done for me, I am able to approach that end, not with fear, but with gratitude for times past and a shining hope for the future yet to come.

Tyler Zelinger is a BBA and political science major in the Goizueta Business School from Commack, N.Y.

March 13, 1950: Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto married my grandmother, Sadae, a Hiroshima survivor, and my grandfather, Leon, an American soldier. A controversial union in the aftermath of a brutal war, my grandparents raised a family. This is how I came to be.

March 20, 2013: I flew to Emory from Los Angeles to visit the campus for the first time. On my flight, I noticed someone who also seemed like a prospective student. We both had a feeling we were flying for the same reason, but neither of us initiated conversation.

Time passes.

In 2015, I discovered that the reverend who married my grandparents was an Emory Candler School of Theology alumnus (40T, 86PH).

And by 2016, that young man from the airplane, Jason Friedman (17C), also ended up attending Emory and had become my roommate and one of my best friends. The common thread between my family’s history and my own personal future: Emory University.

This dancer from California was certainly an unlikely candidate to attend school in Atlanta, but perhaps, all along, this university was written into my path.

While that may seem like a mystical claim, Emory undoubtedly gave me unique experiences and relationships that have allowed me to dis-

cover who I am and what I believe.

The opportunity to spend summers and devote coursework to learning about social justice and the diverse backdrop of Atlanta illuminated my life’s purpose: to play a humble role in serving society. The ability to study dance forced me to embrace discipline, creativity and vulnerability. The four months I studied abroad in Germany fostered self-reliance, cultural understanding and joy.

The gift of witnessing true community, in every circle of Emory life and beyond, revealed to me the power and potential of human connection.

Friendships with undocumented students showed me the meaning of courage, perseverance and humility.

Relationships with professors who not only mastered and taught their courses’ content but also showed me the beauty and complexity of the mind and heart. And long-haul love shared with close friends supported, empowered and inspired me through all the trials and tribulations of my college experience. Fate or coincidence, my journey led me to Emory, and my journey at Emory became a journey to understanding myself.

These experiences and people, special and true to this university, yielded more than an undergraduate degree.

In my final weeks as a student, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this place that has shaped me. Emory gave me the best sort of education; it instilled in me a way of life.

Julianna Joss is a political science and dance/movement studies major from Anaheim, Calif.

Looking Back A Year in the Life of Emory georgia Clark

Georgia Clark is a psychology and visual arts major from Lilburn, Ga.

The Emory Wheel

hiring@collegevine.com

&

The Emory Wheel

Arts Entertainment Wednesday, April 19, 2017 | Assistant A&E Editor: Devin Bog (devin.bog@emory.edu)

LECTURE

Diaz Delves Into Identity

INTERVIEW

ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL

‘The Lost City of Z’ Is a Jewel

By hAnnAh conwAy Associate Editor “The simple logic is that when a nation-state begins to talk about a wall, it is by necessity imagining an invader,” novelist Junot Diaz said to an audience of students, faculty and community members at the Goodrich C. White Lecture last Wednesday in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

I found myself caught off guard

by Diaz’s brevity — it was somehow surprising that a novelist known for his layered, multilingual writing, which often lends itself to footnotes and asides, could articulate with such poise and economy the story playing out on our political stage today. But then I remembered: the politics of race and immigration have always been Diaz’s territory.

Since releasing his first short story collection, Drown (1996), Diaz has established himself at the forefront of the literary world.

Known for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), his works often concern the theme of the immigrant experience, one that is personal to Diaz as a Dominican-American who grew up in New Jersey. Top literary critics recognize Diaz’s ability to astutely hone in on what it means to grow up as the Other on American soil.

And the Massachusetts Institute of

See AuThOR, Page 10

By RAcheL Singh Contributing Writer

Grade: A

EW: So you like using allusions and double meanings?

BA: Yeah, stuff like that, and things that you can relate to. A good line with some good imagery, where I describe something in a very roundabout way.

I wasn’t really thinking about making music but then I started writing little raps. I had so much fun and kept going with it.

A true story lost to time and the Amazonian jungle, The Lost City of Z, written and directed by James Gray, unearths a tale of obsession and adventure.

The film, inspired by David Grann’s novel of the same name, centers on British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) who disappears in the Amazon rainforest in 1925 in search of a magnificent city known as “Z.” From the safety of my seat at the Atlanta Film Festival, I joined Fawcett, his wife Nina Fawcett (Sienna Miller) and explorer Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson) as they ventured through the jungle.

I quickly became enamored with the film’s visuals.

The landscapes of peridot Irish moors, ruby red fires in World War II battles and emerald Amazonian jungles are all encapsulated by a golden, aged finish — the product of Gray’s decision to shoot on celluloid — as if the film itself is set on one of Fawcett’s yellowed maps.

Darius Khondji’s cinematography is as compelling to the audience as the jungle is to Fawcett.

See EmORy’S, Page 11

See FiLm, Page 10

Courtesy of BoCkarie a mara

Bockarie “Boregard” Amara (17B) holds one of his own stickers during a photo shoot — as a marketing student, Amara often combines his musical talent with his business accumen.

Breaking Down Boregard

By Leigh SchLecht Copy Editor Boregard is everywhere these days; you’ve seen him perform at “Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) x BOREGARD.,” rhyme at Couchella, open for Ty Dolla Sign and even appear at local events like Friday Night Fever in West Atlanta.

The Emory student and rapper has received shoutouts from the likes of hip-hop website Local Savage, and with new material on the way, he’s poised for many more. Soon, Bockarie “BOREGARD.” Amara (17B) is some-

MUSIC

one you’ll want to brag you went to school with.

The Emory Wheel conducted an in-person interview with Amara. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Leigh Schlecht, The Emory Wheel: How did you get involved in music?

Boregard: Just from listening to it a lot. There were times when I would be listening to an album and start hearing lyrics.

I would have to look them up and

read them. I wanted to go and give other people that feeling.

HORROR

‘Life’ Stays Down to Earth

By RAShikA veRmA Contributing Writer

Courtesy of i a m other

Rising star Steve Lacy (A Bove) speaks on a 2016 “Othertone” episode, hosted by Pharrell Williams and Scott Vener.

The New Wave: Artists Remodulate R&B

By SindooS AweL Contributing Writer A new day for R&B has dawned. A wave of recently released rhythm and blues albums contribute to a compelling dynamic that does not stray too far from its origins, but has developed contemporarily. Neo-soul is a fusion of jazz, funk, hip hop and hints of African beats — all in all, a more modern take on R&B. Many new artists have released individual projects, including Steve Lacy’s self titled demo, Syd’s Fin and Sampha’s Process, which are

beginning to curate the R&B industry to fit their own mold by including hints of their innermost selves into their work. Those recently released projects all showcase the versatility of neo-soul, making them incomparable in talent and creativity.

At only 18 years old, Lacy, bass guitarist and producer from band The Internet, released a critically acclaimed demo and produced their Grammy nominated album, Ego Death. The young artist has humbly

See LAcy, Page 11

In the Life trailer, shots of an alien terrorizing a space crew inevitably draw your mind to Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror masterpiece, Alien. But in Life’s desire to reach that level of mastery, it stumbles over its predictable plot and sometimes lackluster dialogue. The film does have its strengths; though it pays homage to its predecessor, Life stands on its own as a truly horrifying story of space exploration gone wrong.

The film follows a group of six astronauts — Commander Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya), medical officer David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), biologist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), systems engineer Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officer Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson) and flight engineer Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds) — who are aboard the International Space Station (ISS), awaiting the return of a Mars lander carrying soil samples. Hugh discovers a cell in the sample, which he immediately revives. The cell, named “Calvin,” multiplies rapidly until it becomes a small creature. At first it’s cute, dancing for the astronauts and moving around gracefully. But a misstep turns Calvin murderous; it crushes Hugh’s hand and escapes its cage, slowly killing off the astronauts

Courtesy of sony PiCtures

Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds, A Bove), inspects a space suit as an extraterrestial threat looms in the ship. one by one, growing bigger and more ferocious with each kill.

The bulk of the film focuses on the astronauts’ attempts to kill the monster they’ve created. They try seemingly everything, but Calvin learns at a remarkable pace and outwits and out-survives them each time. The film starts to falter when the astronauts’ looming deaths force them to make rash decisions and the plot becomes predictable. The film opens with some

great moments, like Rory’s incessant joking and a poignant remark from Hugh, who is paraplegic, about his sense of personal autonomy in zerogravity space. But with their deaths looming over their heads, and the potential destruction of life on Earth should Calvin make his way down there, those humanizing moments become few and far between as the

See ThRiLLER, Page 10

10

A&E

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Film Testament to the Spirit of Adventure

The Emory Wheel ARTS UNDERGROUND

Continued from Page 9

from the forest itself.

The Lost City of Z is about expedition and adventure, but one should not The film’s score and shots are uplifting, and its plot animates the violent expect it to be jam-packed with action. and greedy nature of man that peppers It is a very different film from Kong: Skull Island, a recent box-office hit our history books.

Unlike others in British society, that also features explorers plunging Fawcett is drawn to the jungle by his into the unknown.

If you’d rather hear the roar of terdesire for discovery, not by a desire to rific CGI beasts than the unquenchpillage and conquer.

The film comments on imperialism able calling of a man’s soul, then The by contrasting Fawcett’s humanitar- Lost City of Z may not be your kind ian outlook with that of his entitled of adventure movie. Much of the film’s conflict is internal, as Fawcett’s superiors.

The depiction of colonial- endeavors to find “Z” take him further ism’s destructive impact on Native from his family and from his home in Amazonians is a refreshingly honest England.

The story is not full of bursting take on history.While some characters are despicable, the acting is admirable. explosions and fantastical creatures; instead, the film eleHunnam makes for a gantly depicts a longpassionate explorer in a mature and comThe film elegantly lasting endeavor for honor and manhood. pelling performance, depicts a longThe film’s ending is effortlessly carrying lasting endeavor appropriately inconthe film. for honor and clusive.

Fawcett’s Despite arduous manhood. story will forever and disappointing remain unfinished as journeys through the he and his son Jack jungle without finding “Z,” he still maintains a spark (Tom Holland) disappear in the jungle of adventure in his eye throughout during Fawcett’s third expedition in the years the film covers. Meanwhile, 1925.

Fawcett’s mysterious fate is handled Twilight star Pattinson is barely recognizable under Costin’s dense beard well by Gray, and the film ends in a and gritty persona, and sustains a sad, albeit beautiful, way.

A recurring quote in the film — “A no-nonsense attitude towards the other explorers. And Miller expertly man’s reach must exceed his grasp, for balances Nina Fawcett’s fierce love for what is heaven for?” — speaks to the her family with delicate fragility that ambitious fervor with which Fawcett fissures out as anger when she and lived.

If you are searching for a stunningly Fawcett quarrel.

The soundtrack, composed by shot, well-acted film, then cinematic Christopher Spelman, is an ethereal heaven is within reach with The Lost auditory accompaniment to the film. City of Z. The musical score is interlaced with sounds of chirping birds and buzzing — Contact Rachel Singh at insects, as if the music is emerging rachel.singh@emory.edu

ruth r eyes/Photo editor

Kira Tucker (20c) performs spoken word at the Emory Arts underground Revival April 15.

Author Astute, Articulate Scholar of Identity Continued from Page 9 Technology’s Rudge and Nancy Allen professor of writing has won just about every award a writer can win: the Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle, a Pulitzer Prize and the MacArthur Foundation fellowship.

So, it seemed apt, expected even, that Diaz would spend the first 40 minutes of his lecture espousing his thoughts on the “invasion narrative” that is prevalent in today’s political climate, a story that has been “part of our folkloric repertoire for over 100 years.”

“The American invasion novel goes along a very predictable narrative,” Diaz said. “Black, Asian or Latino people somehow acquire military expertise that allows them to conquer the United States, and ... the white heroes are able to finally overcome this invader by using a technology that permits them genocidal violence.”

Diaz, who recognizes that this dangerous narrative is deeply embedded

in America’s ideals and sense of security, called for a more generative story.

“If we can’t figure out a way to not only undo that story, but find a way to mobilize a better story that has nothing to do with people of color being imagined as demonic horrible invaders, necessitating colossal violence, we are in serious trouble,” he said But because Diaz’s lecture was applicable to current racial frontiers, derivative of Diaz’s tireless work commenting on these themes, it veered on the side of predictability. The lecture, therefore, fell short of what I wanted him to do — or rather, what I wanted to do — which was, of course, hear a new story.

After he wrapped up his thoughts on the narratives of now, Diaz spent the latter half of the talk conducting a Q&A session, in which he urged Emory administration to become a “sanctuary campus” and told a student ally to reserve authorship of stories for those who are too often silenced from writing them.

But the most meaningful moment of the night came at the end, when an audience member asked what the “end game” is, recognizing that the nature of this country is founded on the exploitation of minorities.

“I don’t find any shame or demoralization of being part of the Great Disenfranchise. I find myself heartened by the fact that we are participants in a long legacy of struggle, that we have survived almost everything that has been thrown at us,” Diaz answered.

He urged the audience to not wallow in an ahistorical mindframe, reminding us that clocks only move forward.

“If the only community we have are the living, we don’t have a very good community,” Diaz said. “[Our ancestors] gave so much. We cannot dishonor their struggle by pretending that things haven’t shifted.”

— Contact Hannah Conway at hannah.conway@emory.edu

Thriller is Charged, Post-Rockers Hypnotize Athens Emotional Drama

CONCERT

By kevin kiLgouR Sports Editor

Rarely do bands escape the status quo and surprise an audience. Between the setlist, the chorus of thank you’s and how you feeling tonight’s and the all-too-predictable encores, concerts struggle with spontaneity more than an elderly couple. But on April 14 at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Explosions in the Sky abandoned the ordinary.

Those familiar with the Austinbased post-rock band can attest to the emotional arsenal employed by guitarists Michael James, Munaf Rayani and Mark Smith, drummer Chris Hrasky and touring member bassist Carlos Torres. Almost symphonic in style, songs like “Your Hand In Mine” and “So Long, Lonesome” lulled listeners in with their lingering, soft tones before crescendoing into a violent rush of power chords and cymbals. Much like the sentimental onslaught of a passiveaggressive outburst, Explosions possesses a remarkable ability to layer and syncopate melodies before releasing them in a flurry of fury and sound.

I had never been to a purely instrumental rock concert before, and I was a little skeptical whether this would offer as much energy as a more traditional rock show. It was difficult to envision Explosions providing as energetic a concert experience. Combine that with the band’s strong performance reputa-

Continued from Page 9

k evin k ilgour/sPorts editor

Explosions in the Sky (ABove) entrance the crowd at the Georgia Theatre April 14. tion (the band’s “About” section on Spotify describes their performances as “scathingly intense”), and I was left with little idea of what to expect.

Things looked bleak a few minutes into the opening act, Thor and Friends. The eclectic trio of mallet percussionists, while cute, quickly lost the audience with their wistful, repetitive thrumming. Frankly, it was the worst warm-up act I’ve ever seen. Thor and Friends’ dull rendition failed to ease my concerns as to whether or not Explosions could pack a punch.

After a brief “Hope you enjoy the show,” from Rayani, Explosions rolled into “Wilderness,” the first song on their 2016 album of the same name.

With echoing synths and reverberat-

ing piano riffs, there was no punch at the start, no classic intro moment to pump up the crowd. Instead, the concert gradually came into its own, steadily advancing until James’ first full strokes finally met the strings.

It was at that moment that I understood what “scathingly intense” truly meant. Sound erupted upon the crowd as James unleashed wave after wave of cacophonous guitar notes upon the Georgia Theatre audience’s captive ears. The band’s mastery of dynamics is well-documented in their expansive track list, but it is impossible to fully comprehend just how gracefully Explosions traverses from zero to 100

See ExPLOSiOnS, Page 11

film progresses.

The horror of Calvin’s brutality also starts to dissipate as you get used to the destruction it can cause. After the first few deaths, the film becomes a waiting game to see how the next person will die. There is little hope that anything truly unexpected will happen because the astronauts are alone in the ISS, so everything that could happen has to be centered around them and their actions.

The dialogue also becomes cheesy, like when Jordan dramatically reads Goodnight Moon aloud. It’s a wellintentioned scene, serving to reflect on human mortality, but seems a better fit for a more drama-driven film than the horror of Life.

There are, however, many things that Life does very well, like its cinematography. The disorientation that comes with fear is shown throughout the film.

It can be hard for viewers to determine the camera’s perspective. There are several shots of the astronauts hanging upside down as they go about their tasks, a jarring image, but one that reminds the audience that they are in space where directions can be

misleading.

Life also doesn’t shy away from showing emotions. There are beautiful shots that linger on the astronauts’ faces, like ones of the awe when Hugh first reanimates the cell or the sadness and fear when Calvin claims another victim.

The camaraderie among the crew is also evident throughout the film; almost all the crew members understand the sacrifices that need to be made to prevent Calvin from getting to Earth.

But director Daniel Espinosa’s cinematography also reminds us of the world outside the space station. There are plenty of stunning shots of Earth looming beneath the space station, and of the vastness of space waiting beyond the horizon.

But it’s the final scene of Life that is its biggest strength.

Espinosa jerks you out of the lull and onto the edge of your seat. He brings all the mayhem, misdirects and horror to a stunning finale that will stick with you long after you leave the theater.

— Contact Rashika Verma at rashika.verma@emory.edu

A&E

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

11

Emory’s Premier Rapper Talks Allusions, Artistic Process Continued from Page 9

before my full-length album comes out.

EW: You mentioned the imagery.

Are there any lyrics that inspired you or that you’re particularly proud of?

BA: My song “Interest” — [I’m in love with] the first eight lines. There are some alliterations and comparisons. It’s one of my best-written songs.

I took a small concept and that song as a whole: the hook, what I’m trying to say, what it represents, it came together so well. I love that beat so much.

EW: What are some songs that people should listen to that they might not know about?

BA: “Magnolia” by Playboi Carti.

That song is so good. Please listen to that. And listen to “30” by Larry League, that’s a great one. “Witness”

by Starpav. “Daydream” by Nai Br.XX, and look out for a song called, “Dough” by me. It’s coming soon.

EW: What is your writing process like?

BA: It varies song to song.

Sometimes I’ll have a beat and hear it and freestyle to it, and be listening to it all day, and I’ll write to it. Other times, … I’ll say a line. It might not be a rhyme that goes with that line, but there [will be] a single line that appeals to me because of how it sounded. It won’t be my first line, but it’ll be the seventh or eighth line and I’ll write above it and below it.

EW: Did you do everything yourself on the song?

BA: No, no, no. Sensei Bueno, that’s my childhood best friend. We both wanted to do [the mixtape] and worked on it together. He was like, “You concentrate on writing those lyrics. I’m gonna do like everything else.

I got you.”

We just did collaborative efforts and were like “Hey, you could do this, I could do that,” and we came up with strategies.

EW: How long does it take you to write a song and move it all the way through?

BA: “Honey, Did You Know About This?” I wrote that song in 12 minutes.

It was dumb. And there are songs like “Interest,” which is also one of my best songs, that took a long time to work out.

It depends on how it feels.

Sometimes you might even be able to tell by the song. They might feel effortless and fun, and those are the ones I come up with quicker. It’s hard to get that feel if you’re really nitpicky. The ones where I’m gliding over the instrumental, it’s not hard for me, you know?

EW: How did you come up with your name?

BA: A lot of people call me Bo, so people would ask, “Is that short for Beauregard?” I was really into French culture and I knew “beau regard” meant “good-looking” ... and I originally spelled it the French way, but my friend was like, “make it more personal.” Now I like it in all caps, too.

It has the right amount of ratchetness and elegance all at the same time. I customized the name to fit me — it’s “BOREGARD.” Period at the end. All caps.

EW: Do you see yourself putting out another mixtape or EP sometime soon?

BA: There’s gonna be a Boregard album in 2017. That’s not a question.

There are also a couple joint collaborations that I’m working on that I’ll drop

EW: Is there anything that you’re inspired by or trying to work towards in terms of your sound?

BA: One of my goals is to make music that’s so profound, so skillfully done, that, despite the vulgarity, I have this cynical, nature in my lyrics. It’s my distinct style. I want it to set it up in such a way that it’s so clever that it’s

Explosions in the Sky An Encoreless Epic Continued from Page 10 until you experience it firsthand.

The band followed with “The Birth and Death of the Day” from their 2007 album All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. With a bursting chord, this song felt like a traditional concertopener before dropping off to a soft hum as the song hit its developmental stages. “Wilderness” had captured my attention, but “The Birth and Death of the Day” revealed the band’s true power. Shrill guitar riffs announced the song’s climax, while Hrasky laid into his cymbals with controlled ferocity in a manner few drummers can match.

Rightfully so, Explosions did what they could to stay out of their own way.

There were no pauses between songs — the show itself molded into one long performance as each song folded seamlessly into the next. At times, the sheer toll of each song was nearly overwhelming, but the band’s varied set of new and old tracks rejuvenated the audience at each new turn. After Rayani’s introduction, no words were spoken until the band left the stage following their closing song, “The Only

Moment We Were Alone,” and Rayani reached for the microphone to politely say thank you and good night. There was no encore.

The concert’s visuals supported the effort to remove the band’s personalities from the experience they provided. Smoke filled the stage, shrouding most of the band’s five performers. No backdrop or video displays crowded the theater. The only lighting effects were a set of overhead lights that illuminated the smoke in rhythmic, colorful bursts, plus a set of soft laser lights at the stage’s front which formed a haze of color allowing for the transfer of music alone.

As I left the Georgia Theatre, my ears still ringing, in place of the sadness I expected was instead contentment with the knowledge that I one day must see Explosions in the Sky again. Some concerts are disappointing. Others make their mark, however deep. But only the select few leave you desperate for more, hopeful at the prospect that you might one day see the band perform again.

— Contact Kevin Kilgour at kevin.kilgour@emory.edu

Courtesy of BoCkarie a mara

Boregard (A Bove) plans to work in the advertisement industry while continuing to make music. like, “Damn, he described that in such a beautiful way using such ugly terms” that experts, critics, they’re like “Dang!

I appreciate this.” My music is kind of like the talk. You have to expose everyone to it. Everyone has to hear it, has to accept it. It’s a beautiful process, but it can be ugly. There’s sexual harassment. There are dangerous, horrible violations of sex, but there’s also beautiful sex. There are babies, there are families, so I guess my music is like sex.

BA: There’s Bockarie Amara and there’s Boregard. I’m a student, and I’m also a rapper. There’s the sweet Bockarie — I’m a very empathic, quiet, peaceful, conflict-averse person. But sometimes there’s Boregard who just says it how it is. [The persona] is also kind of a play. I’m also into acting.

When I was at Oxford [College], I was in all the plays except maybe one. I was not in The Vagina Monologues — I dunno why. But I’m the rap game Bo Jackson: I rap, I act.

EW: You mention these vulgarities, but in this conversation you’ve only sworn twice. Is Boregard a persona that you create for yourself?

EW: How has your life built you into who you are now?

BA: I grew up around very strong women, [especially] my mom. Seeing

her work so hard pushes me to work hard too. I’m the type of person to say, “I want to be a rapper, but it’s too much.” Instead of saying, you have to do all that, she’d tell me to take it one step at a time. She made me a very patient person, a very persistent person. My family is the biggest blessing I have, and a great family made it impossible for me to say that I had a tough childhood.

That was also what made my music better, because I was giving [them] something to support, something worth supporting.

— Contact Leigh Schlecht at lschlec@emory.edu

Lacy, Syd, Sampha Keep Pushing Envelope Continued from Page 9 stayed out of the spotlight by only performing background vocals and instrumentals for The Internet until this year. In February 2017, Lacy received multiple accolades for his short, self-titled demo, inspired by the likes of Frank Ocean, Solange Knowles and Anderson .Paak. However, what is baffling is the potential he has to become an influential R&B artist at such a young age. Lacy’s savvy style is uncanny, soulful and easily distinguishable in every track released with The Internet, yet he was able to establish a new sound on his demo without subverting his work on Ego Death.

The soft, sultry neo-soul aspects are evident in the demo but subtle traces of psychedelic pop also materialize, accompanied by his velvety vocals.

Lacy’s fresh take on R&B makes him a perfect fit for The Internet, where all the members have separate projects that exemplify their unique talents but still manage to remain cohesive as a group. Lacy’s work left me looking forward to a solo project through which his talents can continue to manifest.

The lead singer of The Internet, Sydney “Syd Tha Kyd” Bennett, also released her highly anticipated solo album, Fin, which exhibited a more personal side of the artist. Raised in California, Bennett’s passion for

music solidified at a young age due to her family’s involvement in the music industry. She first received recognition by being a part of a rap group with her brother Ty, and Odd Future, but eventually branched off to establish The Internet. The Internet’s momentum following Ego Death provided the perfect timing for Bennett to release “Body” as a preview of her solo album.

The sensual song suggests exactly what Syd claimed the song was intended for — “baby making.” Her album is reminiscent of the sultry 90s R&B that focused on the strife and romance within relationships, but instead of the hypermasculinity that subtly underlines these songs, Syd sings of queer love and other intimate themes.

With tracks like “Know,” hinting at the secrecy of an affair and “Got Her Own,” admiring a woman’s independence giving the album an amourous semblance.

Slightly more off the spectrum from the independent R&B genre sit the melancholic sounds of Sampha, who is a solo artist from England. He was initially recognized for his background vocals in Knowles’ critically acclaimed A Seat at the Table, along with projects with Drake, Kanye West and Ocean. The England native has a reclusive persona that aligns with his previously released eerily introspective and mysterious songs. His debut

album, Process, allows followers into Sampha’s spiritual mind. In the sad ballads, he croons about his pain after losing his parents. In “No One Knows Me Like the Piano,” Sampha sings about his instant connection to music after his father purchased a family piano when Sampha was three years old. The song is also a tribute to his mother, who passed away from terminal cancer. With lyrics like “An angel by her side, all of the times I knew we couldn’t cope,” Sampha showcases significance of the piano and music as an escape from the harsh reality of coping with loss.

Each of these artists are pioneering and revolutionizing R&B as we know it, allowing their individualistic approaches to fit the mold of the genre while simultaneously establishing contemporary understandings. With those artists experimenting with traditional genres, old and new fans alike can kick it with these new sounds.

Allowing R&B to continuously develop while remaining classic invites listeners with different tastes to delve in and enjoy. I eagerly await more of their work as these artists continue to pave stylistic and unconventional paths while adding to the neo-soul genre.

— Contact Sindoos Awel at sindoos.awel@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 | Assistant Emory Life Editor: Niraj Naik (niraj.naik@emory.edu)

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Korean Conscripts Adjust to Military Life South Korean Draft Displaces Undergraduates By aLisha coMpton Senior Editor Harrison Kwon (14OX, 18B) went from having one roommate to 55 when he joined the Republic of Korea Armed Forces after completing his sophomore year at Oxford College.

“I still remember vividly the first couple nights I couldn’t go to bed … because we [rotated sleep shifts],” said Kwon, who served as an artillery member in the Korean Demilitarized Zone bordering North Korea and South Korea beginning July 2014.

Surrounded by men of higher rank and forced to wake up in the middle of the night for shifts at his post, Kwon often found himself lying awake throughout the night as his friends back at Emory prepared for the academic year ahead.

Kwon is one of about 20 to 25 students who leave Emory each year to complete the mandatory military service required of each man born in South Korea, according to College Associate Director of Academic Advising Frank Gaertner, who advises Korean students. The number of men who leave for the draft can vary from year to year, Gaertner said. Men must serve for at least 21 months, according to the C.I.A. website. Those men serve at some point between the ages of 19 and 35 — an age determined by the passage of the calendar new year rather than each individual’s date of birth — according to Gaertner.

South Korea is one of the top three nations of origin for Emory’s international students, according to Emory’s International Student and Scholar Services website. Students often come of age for the draft during their freshman year, and in order to optimize internship opportunities, maintain proper class sequence or eliminate the mental burden of conscription, usually choose to serve in the years that immediately follow that year, Gaertner said.

All military members must attend a five-week training camp at the beginning of their service that includes intense physical labor and isolation from the outside world.

Kwon said that watching all of his non-South Korean friends move on to their sophomore and junior years while he had begun his service made his transition to the military especially hard — particularly because there weren’t many fellow Korean students at Oxford leaving for service.

On the other hand, Tyler Ryoo (22C), who will begin serving this year, said that the community of drafted students on the Atlanta campus gives him a strong “sense of belonging.”

He added that he understands the importance of serving, but even so, has prioritized time with friends and maximized involvement on campus this past year in the hopes of leaving without regrets.

“As a Korean, you should [serve],” Ryoo said. “My grandpa fought in the war and he basically risked his life to save the country … This is a very small thing that I could do in my life to thank [him] in a way and just do something for the country.”

For Kevin Seo (22C), who also plans to serve this year, service is an expected part of life for Korean men — rather than an act that merits respect from society, military service is a “big

ALUMNA

The Experience After Emory: Gabrielle Starr

By Monica Lefton Senior Staff Writer

Courtesy of Minho Cho

Minho Cho (19B) (far right) translates for American and South Korean military officials during his two years of required military service as a South Korean citizen. chore.” Yet according to Minho Cho net access, especially if they are sta(19B), who served from 2014 to 2016, tioned far from South Korea’s capital, service is a rite of passage. He said Seoul, which is why students often that Koreans often consider military hope for a translating position, Cho service to be what turns boys into men. and Oh said. If a translator allocates “Korea already [has] a hierarchical their time carefully, they can make the culture and the military is a hierar- time to read books on topics related to chical structure … when those two their studies back at Emory which can [aspects of conscription] combine, help them cope with the lack of acathere’s a lot of bullying,” Seo said. “It’s demics over the span of their service. not the exciting, adventurous experi“As soon as we go into the army, they ence that non-Koreans would think do a survey [about how men think the of it as.” service will affect them which states] For instance, Kwon said that one ‘I believe that for the two years in the of his comrades once fired his gun army I am going to get more stupid’... accidentally and that the entire unit I would guess most guys would say was held responsible for the mistake. ‘Yes, we become more stupid’ because Often, higher-ranking officers punish the way they treat us is sometimes such instances of actvery harsh,” Cho said. ing inappropriately by “A lot of stuff is not preventing promotion “It’s not the exciting, revealed to the public, to the the next rank. but sometimes [there adventurous When students return is still] violence, even experience that non- though it is much less from their service, the lack of the strict hier- Koreans would think than before.” archy in college makes For twentysomeof it as.” it difficult to adjust to things, two years is life back at Emory, Cho a long time to serve — Minho Cho (19B) in the military, Kwon said.

“We feel a little bit said, adding that stubad that we are two dents often ponder years behind,” Cho said. “We are just future plans during their service, and afraid of a lot of things and approach- consequently take academics much ing our American friends or professors more seriously upon their return. is more difficult than they think.”

Gaertner added that the limited Men are conscripted into various internet access affects students’ ability positions during their service, includ- to enroll in classes and select housing ing as English-Korean interpreters or at Emory’s designated times — encomartillery members. Gaertner said that passing a few of the tasks with which unless the men worked as translators, he helps Korean military returnees. veterans often struggle to readjust to “I like doing work where I feel like life in English-speaking countries. there is a need, and this is definitely “I was the only bilingual in the addressing a need that many memoffice … so I was the only person bers of the Emory community at large bridging the gap not only in terms of aren’t aware of,” Gaertner said. conversation, but also culturally,” said Gaertner also said that Emory is Frank Oh (18B), who served from July the only U.S. university he is aware of 2014 to April 2016. that has specialized academic advisCho said that his seven years in a ing for South Korean military returnU.S. boarding school before college ees, some of whom have formed close helped him get a translator position. bonds with Gaertner.

Because of Cho’s “positive” interpret“[Gaertner] was really helpful, not ing experience, he often offers to help just for me, but for Koreans in general younger students at Emory prepare for … He was really proactive in helping translating. us out,” Cho said. “While we’re in the “Within the army there are so many military, psychologically we feel very different roles, and depending on nervous about returning to [America], where you go those two years of your but he supports us and the way that he life can be really valuable or really expresses that assured us and calmed miserable,” Cho said. us down.”

Most members have limited interIn addition to the anxiety associ-

ated with their return, members experience physical exertion from internal military expectations and mental strain from the war itself. Gaertner said that it is not uncommon for higher-ranked individuals to hit those of lower rank and that some students experience post-traumatic stress disorder or depression after returning.

Cho said that while in boot camp, military members could almost never call their parents, but that his camp was once subjected to a race in which the five fastest runners were allowed to call home.

“One time North Korea fired a missile on our west coast side and that was like the emergency situation, so even though it was the weekend … we all had to go to our artillery [for two days] and wait for the comment [to shoot or leave our posts],” Kwon said.

Although he never felt that a full war would break out, Kwon said that for those two days he was scared — he felt the tensions with and threat from North Korea. The structure of the military was also a difficult adjustment, Kwon said.

Those difficulties often cause students to bond with the soldiers with whom they serve. Cho said that because many military members attend U.S. schools, that they shared similar interests.

“We promised when we’re departing to our station ... after two years let’s meet in a certain restaurant in Seoul, and we actually met after two years and we still are keeping in touch,” Cho said. “Friends become a really important asset in the army. Sometimes we feel depressed, but there is a friend who can [provide] support and we can talk to.”

Kwon, Cho and Oh each said that they gained a greater appreciation for their families, and that daily challenges now seem less daunting.

“Whenever I’m doing something hard I will tell myself ‘You’ve gone through the army, you can do this. I’ve been in that condition — why wouldn’t I be able to do this homework?’ Kwon said. “I guess I’ve set that as my worst condition and at least things are better now. There is a confidence after serving.”

— Contact Alisha Compton at acompt2@emory.edu

When she was just 15 years old, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at New York University G. Gabrielle Starr (93C) left her hometown of Tallahassee, Fla., to attend Emory University. Despite her initial plans to double major in chemistry and music on a pre-medicine track, she graduated in 1993 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in women’s studies. Starr then spent a year at the University of St. Andrews as a Bobby Jones Scholar, and later earned a Ph.D. in 18th century literature at Harvard University. Beginning July 1, Starr will continue her time in academia as the president of Pomona College (Calif.). Starr spoke with The Emory Wheel about her experience at Emory and the importance of exploring education.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

At some point in your college career or after, do a little bit of dallying in something intellectual that is not really goal-oriented because it gives you room to be surprised.

Students today are so very driven and give themselves so little latitude sometimes.

Take every moment that you can to just sit down and look around you and suspend your forward momentum for a little while, because I think you will find that helps your sanity and it gives you perspective.

It’s crucially important to not just have a bird’s eye view of an institution that you’re living and working in and trying to lead. Try and continually keep local perspectives in mind, what people see from where they are situated, because that’s just as valid as the viewpoint of somebody who’s trying to look at everything at once.

It’s always better not to assume before you walk into a situation what people’s reactions are going to be. Go in with an open hand, and you’ll find that people will reach back to you because you can find allies and friends in unexpected places.

Some of the most extraordinary times I had [at] Emory were those late night conversations with other students where you’re just throwing ideas around and seeing where they land. I was really lucky at Emory in that everyone I knew was so intellectually curious.

The very thought of all of those different classes and all the things that I could learn was just the most intoxicating thing that I could possibly imagine.

Do not obsess about your major. If I [had] a nickel for every time somebody asked me “What are you going to do with that women’s studies degree?” I would have a lot more money than I do now.

The unabridged version of this article is at www.emorywheel.com.

— Contact Monica Lefton at monica.lefton@emory.edu

EMORY LIFE

The Emory Wheel

Prof. Discusses Disability At Emory and Abroad into the academic discourse and plans to discuss how the world can not only accommodate but welcome a wider spectrum of people. Garland-Thomson currently explores medicinal ethics and disability. She works with narrative and life-writing, the act of writing about one’s life and experiences, to educate others about the ethics behind how we treat certain people. That work manifests itself in her undergraduate life-writing class at Emory called “Wounded Storytellers.” In class, her students examine a variety of narratives exploring physical and mental distress. Garland-Thomson has influenced her current teaching assistant, Samantha VanHorn, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies department and doctoral certificate student in bioethics in several ways.

Although she was born with only six fingers in total and asymmetrical arms, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson admitted it took her decades to think of herself as disabled. Growing up with a stable and loving family, GarlandThomson had a different childhood than many other disabled children of her generation.

“I was able to go to school,” said Garland-Thomson, an English professor and co-director of the Emory College Disabilities Studies Initiative.

“When I was growing up, people with disabilities went to special schools.”

She was excluded from certain gym and music classes because of her disabilities and, at the time, there was no concept of adaptive education. But she was social and enjoyed reading and Rosemarie writing.

GarlandIt was around the age of 40 — when Thomson, Garland-Thomson learned more about Co-director the women’s and civil rights moveof Emory ments — that she began to notice simiCollege Disability larly unfair treatment in her own life.

Studies “I [transferred] the logic of the Initiative women’s movement and the black civil r r /P e rights movement [over to] what I was understanding as disability,” Garland“I know Garland-Thomson in Thomson said. four capacities: as a friend, profesShe then learned of the disability sor, classmate and mentor,” VanHorn rights movement, started to identify as said. “[She] is brilliant, accessible and disabled and became involved in the approachable … it’s evident that she disabled community. enjoys her time teaching.”

Garland-Thomson, also a disabilGarland-Thomson said her favorite ity bioethicist, explores controversial part about the “Wounded Storytellers” questions on a daily basis — questions class is the final project, for which that pertain to prenatal screening, who students present on aspects of their we bring into this world and how soci- own lives and utilize the skills they ety treats certain members. She works have developed in life-writing. to understand the morality involved in Garland-Thomson described those answering questions about living with projects as “moving,” recounting how disabilities. She often goes from teach- students used those projects in past ing courses at Emory to flying across semesters to report on themselves or the country in a matter of days. someone they love, usually making Garland-Thomson most recently for powerful final projects. VanHorn attended Disability and Garland-Thomson as Spectacle, an view these projects as annual confer- “When I was growing integral to the students’ ence held at the overall experiences in up, people with University of the life-writing-oriented disabilities went to California, Los classroom.

Angeles, where she “[Garland-Thomson special schools.” gave the keynote and I] both believe our address on eugen— Rosemarie Garland- students have their own ics history in the Thomson, co-director of stories to tell,” VanHorn United States. The said.

Emory College Disability conference featured Ga rla nd-Thomson Studies Initiative said she feels grateful numerous works of art focusing on disto be capable of making abilities by artists such a profound impact such as Sandie Yi and A. Laura Brody. on other people.

The gallery included soft-toned murals “I have written about [disability] of bone fragments and wheelchairs narratives in ways that have — and made into art pieces, including “Jazzy people have said this to me — changed Peacock Scooter” by Brody, which the way people think about themselves depicted a stuffed peacock’s feathered and other people,” Garland-Thomson blue body attached to the back of a said. wheelchair. At conferences like that, In August 2016, The New York Garland-Thomson talks about her own Times published Garland-Thomson’s work in the fields of disability theory op-ed “Becoming Disabled,” the inauand bioethics, which she explores in gural piece for a weekly series in the part through literature.

Times called “Disability,” in which art, “A lot of what I’ve been doing as essays and opinion pieces are writa literature professor is [telling and ten by and about people living with analyzing] stories about living with disabilities. a disability,” Garland-Thomson said.

As the first author in the series, “Literature has a great deal to tell us Garland-Thomson received a numabout ethics around disability, as does ber of emails from readers expressart.” ing their gratitude. She said that she Garland-Thomson is currently believes she affects people in such a working on a book, Habitable Worlds: powerful way by changing the way Disability, Technology, and Eugenics, they think about disabilities present in in which she explores the concept of themselves, loved ones or both. worldbuilding and how, through cer“It’s that reconceptualization that tain societal constructions, society is has profound meaning for people,” made uninhabitable for certain people Garland-Thomson said. “People have such as people of color, members of come to me and said ‘I’ve never thought the LGBT community and members about it that way.’” of the disabled community. As a disability bioethicist, she tries to bring — Contact Sara Cunningham at ethical issues surrounding disability sara.cunningham@emory.edu uth

eyes

hoto

13

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

By sara cunninghaM Contributing Writer

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

GeMy sethaPutra/senior staff

Students taste international cuisine April 14 at the annual International Festival on McDonough Field, where Emory’s cultural clubs gather to celebrate diversity at Emory.

ADVICE

FOOD

Doolino Knows Best: The End

ditor

Courtesy of tanushree K hanna

A cat at Java Cats Cafe sits on customer-designated furniture.

‘Cat-puccino’: Java Cats

By Monica Lefton Senior Staff Writer With a coffee shop on one side and a cat-visiting lounge on the other, Java Cats Cafe allows the local Atlanta cat lover to get both their caffeine fix and their cat fix at the same time.

The cafe opened March 27 of this year and has been local cat lovers’ new heaven ever since. The creators of Atlanta’s first cat cafe stuck a hipster, cat-themed coffee house and a cat-visiting lounge side by side, with windows dividing the two relatively small spaces. Each day they serve specialty coffees and display a rotation of adoptable cats, 18 of which have been adopted since its opening.

I prepared to have my heart filled and my mind soothed as I walked into Java Cats on Friday morning. Online reservations are required to visit the cat lounge, where the action is “fur real,” but no reservations are needed for the cafe area.

A $10 reservation fee, which is a little pricey, includes one hour in the cat lounge and a tea or a drip coffee with free refills. You can get a specialty coffee drink with your reservation for an additional $2.

When my reservation time rolled around, I, along with two friends and eight strangers, entered the cat area and began the true cat cafe experience. With about 12 cats in the space — at least one-third of them sleeping — the cat to human ratio was a bit underwhelming.

One-on-one cat time was shortlived, but when it did occur the excitement in the cat’s eyes and the softness of their fur made the whole experience worthwhile.

The cats are all rescued and up for adoption, so they’re mostly fully grown. If you’re planning on posting an Instagram of a tiny kitten next to your cappuccino cup, then this is not the cafe for you.

Regardless of the lack of kittens, being in a room with any number of cats is an exciting experience for a cat lover.

Java cats Grant ParK

After walking around the space, I settled on a bench and let the cats come to me, which some actually did.

While you’re free to come and go in the cat lounge during your hour-long reservation, almost everyone stayed in the lounge the entire time.

For those who are not a fan of those furry friends, the general seating in the cafe is comfy and open. The coffee shop vibe was nice, but it was clear that many guests, like me, were not there for the beverages. The cafe seemed to stay relatively empty except during transitional periods between cat lounge reservations.

The shop is squeezed between Tin Lizzy’s and My Friend’s Growler Shop on the stretch of Memorial Drive across from Oakland Cemetery. It’s a cute space, with kitschy, vintage cat decor throughout the room. But aside from the live animals on the other side of the glass, it doesn’t bring anything too special to the average cafe scene.

There is a small speciality coffee menu and an unimpressive display of premade snacks and sandwiches.

I enjoyed the coffee served, after adding ample amounts of cream and sugar. I also picked up a confetti cookie, for the mildly steep price of $3.15. The white chocolate sugar cookie, decked out in sprinkles was a flashback to childhood in the best way possible: sweet, artificial and colorful. Beverages are allowed in the cat lounge but food is not permitted.

Although Java Cats Cafe is on the more expensive end and the trip holds no guarantees of private cat time, it’s a fun niche cafe. I had a “paw-sitive” experience at this strange, magical place, but I won’t go back very often.

That being said, if you are mesmerized by cats and enjoy exploring local coffee shops, it’s worth the trip.

— Contact Monica Lefton at monica.lefton@emory.edu

Dear Doolino, I decided to take a stroll in Lullwater one night as a study break. What I saw horrified me. The dark shadows of leaves enveloped me as I wandered in the moonlight, the tendrils of creatures of the woods crawled toward me, the dubious smoke from those bushes in one corner — everything in those woods spooked me silly. Now whenever I try to sleep, I am haunted by the spectre of that fateful night. I see the face of the phantom every time my head hits the pillow. Its veiny, red eyes piercing my soul. With putrid breath that smells almost as bad as pre-med students during finals week, the phantom whispers horrific words such as “class average 60, no curve.”

Do you have tips for a healthy sleep cycle during these tumultuous times?

I fear even approaching my bed.

From Smoke on the Lullwater Dear Smoke on the Lullwater, The one real question I can possibly wring out from your rather masturbatory submission is that you are having trouble going to sleep. I know how you feel and I blame it on the fact that finals are approaching. I recall nights before exams during which I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes until 5 a.m., which was a feat in itself, given that I have no eyes.

Stress is omnipresent on Emory’s campus. There really isn’t a silver bullet to curing it, other than accepting that these hardships will be gone soon. Satisfied that this feeling of discomfort is transitory, see yourself as not imprisoned by the cold jail cell of your next organic chemistry exam, but rather as on a bumpy ride to the divine freedom of the summer.

Sleep deprivation is amok, my friend. Last Friday night, I saw a group of five male students walk out of a fraternity house that shall not be named with red eyes. They had clearly been studying for their finals all night and must have been super tired. I guess the 20 large pizzas that they ordered from Dominos was a little reward for all the hard work they must have been doing. They are an example of what you should do: treating yourself intermittently in order to motivate yourself to keep going.

From Doolino For your day-to-day qualms and minor life crises, send anonymous questions to doolino.emory@gmail. com.

14

SportS

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Swoop’S Scoop

Track and Field Get Set For UAA Championships

Opponent

Time

W tennis

rochester - UAA Champs

9 a.m.

M tennis

rochester - UAA Champs

9 a.m.

Friday

W tennis

tBD - UAA Champs

tBD

April 21

Baseball

New York

3 p.m.

Softball

New York

4 & 6 p.m. tBD

April

Saturday April 22

sunday April 23

of Chicago (Ill.) will give some of the Eagles a chance to qualify for NCAA both the pole vault and 110m hurdles. Division III Championships May Harper cleared the bar at 3.66m in 25-27. “the support the team gives each the pole vault and finished the 110m other really makes hurdles with a time of a huge difference at 18.66. “the support the UAAs because the “I was very pleased with my pole vault- team gives each other whole team is there,” really makes a huge Harper said. “Your ing,” Harper said. “But team being there and honestly for us, how difference ...” cheering you on puts we do relative to other on a lot of pressure to teams at normal meets — Nathan Harper, do well. Even if some doesn’t really matter.

Freshman athlete athletes don’t score We really try to just get they will probably pr those personal bests and use the meets as good practice so just because [of] all the energy present we perform well where it counts like at the meet.” at UAAs.” the UAA outdoor Championships — Contact Prosper Fields at on April 22 to 23 at the University prosperity.fields@emory.edu

Continued from Back Page

Sport

Thursday

The Emory Wheel

M tennis

tBD - UAA Champs

W tennis

tBD - UAA Champs

tBD

Baseball

New York

Noon & 3 p.m.

Softball

New York

6 & 8 p.m.

track & Field

UAA outdoor Champs

All Day

M tennis

tBD - UAA Champs

tBD

Baseball

New York

Noon

track & Field

UAA outdoor Champs

All Day *Home Games in Bold

Tennis Outfielder Talks Baseball, Future Dominates In April Continued from Back Page

year, without that I wouldn’t be where I am today.

teams that win the NCAA, but it’s the most mentally resilient one that can withstand ups and downs,” Browning said. “It’s about being mentally present and maintaining focus in pressurefilled situations.”

Becoming a more cohesive team has also been a clear goal for the Eagle’s captains.

“I want to make sure everyone has a good time and for everyone to come away with no regrets,” Manji said. “I want everyone to know that we gave it our all and had fun in the process.” on April 19, the Eagles hope to add on to their win streak in their last match of the regular season, away against Georgia Gwinnett College (Ga.).

EW: Do you think the team has lived up to expectations this year?

BH: Yes and no. this was supposed to be a big year for us because we have 10 seniors. Every single one of these seniors has a big role on the team, and we all play regularly. there were high expectations, especially coming into a year after we reached the World Series three years in a row. In the beginning half of the season, we definitely lived up to and exceeded our expectations, and then we went on a little bit of a skid, [during] which everyone was kind of confused. Nobody really knew what was going on and we had alumni and parents texting us. We were meeting with the coaches, trying to figure things out. Hopefully, we will end up living up to and exceeding our expectations.

— Contact Allison Gelman at allison.gelman@emory.edu

EW: Which baseball player do you most look up to?

Continued from Back Page

BH: My favorite is the late Jose Fernandez. He was a pillar of the South Florida community and the Cuban community. Not only with being the great young pitcher that he was — the way he played the game of baseball was electrifying. He also had a lot of fun playing the game, which is something I try to do as much as I can because at the end of the day it is a game. You get frustrated about not being able to help your team if you get out or you make an error … [but] you should have fun playing because if not there is no reason to be playing it. It was a very emotional time for the South Florida community when he ended up passing away. the best way to honor his memory is to continue to play the way he did.

EW: What are your plans after graduation?

BH: right now I am kind of testing out the water. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do right now.

Because of baseball I haven’t had a ton of work experience in the field, but I am graduating with a physics major

and a math minor, and I am looking to go into aerospace engineering.

“My goal is to first get an internship at the Kennedy Space Center ... and then go from there.”

— Brian Hernandez, Senior outfielder My goal is to first get an internship at the Kennedy Space Center, which would be my dream, and then go from there. that will help me decide if I want to go to graduate school for aerospace engineering or if I want to do research, astrophysics or just regular engineering.

Hernandez and the Eagles will host the New York University Violets April 21, in their last series of the regular season.

— Contact Stephen Mattes at stephen.mattes@emory.edu

Men’s Club Ultimate Team Thrives on ‘Spirit of the Game’ Continued from Back Page are expected to abide. It is that standard that enables ultimate to operate without referees or officials, a feat few other sports have achieved.

Ultimate culture is defined by the community it supports. For some time, ultimate lay on the fringes of the sporting world, either unknown or unaccepted. that outsider status helped build a strong rapport of acceptance and warmth among players, not only within teams but between them as well.

“I really enjoyed the company of everyone I played with in high school; then I came here [to Emory] and experienced a similar thing,” junior cocaptain Ishaan Dave said. “Everyone was having a good time, giving high fives. It’s a fun sport — it’s goofy, it’s silly, it’s weird.”

Ultimate culture is what brought many of the team’s current members to the sport, but the team is hoping to strengthen that with another value of its own: discipline.

“We are trying to build a team culture where it’s the norm to wake up and go run on the track, where it’s the norm to get to practice 15 minutes early and get warmed up,” parsons

said. “those things, while they may seem little, all flow into the mentality [we want].” the Sectionals meet this coming weekend serves as a qualifier for the regional competition, with Emory opening play April 22 with a game against University of Georgia. that’s a matchup that will bring back fond memories for junior Anders olsen. “[My] freshman year, we beat [Georgia], which is known as being one of the top 10 teams in the country,” olsen said. “It showed that Emory had the ability to compete at a high level and it inspired me when I was young to see where this team could go.”

According to parsons, men’s club ultimate has been on Emory’s campus since the late 1990s. the program’s best finish to date occurred in the 2014 season when the team finished No. 7 at the regionals competition. to advance to Nationals, Emory would need to win the regional tournament. “our long-term goal is to make the national tournament and then compete for a championship,” Dave said. “the men have never made Nationals, but it is something that we have our eyes on.” that goal will not become a reality overnight. to ensure they are pro-

gressing toward that end, the team tries to establish checkpoints on its way to the upper levels of ultimate competition. “one of our main goals at the beginning of the season was to win a tournament,” Dave said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t achieved that yet, but we still have two more chances.” the team nearly achieved that goal Feb. 5 when the Eagles advanced to the championship round of the Bama Secs Invitational (Ala.) after a gripping 12-11 win over University of tennessee in the tournament semifinals. Unfortunately, Emory fell 13-10 in the championship game to Louisiana State University.

With Sectionals ahead, there is still time for this team to achieve that goal, and on the biggest stages. Win or lose, though, olsen is pleased with the strides his team has made. “this season we beat [No. 4-ranked University of North Carolina at Wilmington] at a tournament in tallahassee,” olsen said. “the foundation we have been trying to build … is improving.” that foundation is helped in large part by players like olsen, who competed at a national level prior to his time at Emory. For the many athletes that join the team as novices to the

sport, olsen and other experienced players have plenty of advice to share. “right now, Emory is in a unique position because we have really settled into a system where we have experienced players who know how to lead teams ... who understand what it takes to compete at Nationals,” parsons said. over time, the talent pool has grown at Emory as the club has solidified its place on campus. Nearing 20 years old, men’s club ultimate is approaching an age of more consistent success. “the general goal is always to make Emory’s team more of a consistent force rather than a team that is good one year and then falls out of favor another,” olsen said. “Now that we have a considerable amount of talent, the task is to lay the groundwork to make sure that the success the team is recently seeing is not short-lived.”

Finishing in the top seven at Sectionals is more than within the realm of possibility. Qualifying for regionals is a fair benchmark for success, a sign that the team is continuing to grow. Winning regionals, on the other hand, might still be a future checkpoint — that is, for now.

— Contact Kevin Kilgour at kkilgou@emory.edu

On

Fire

“History began on July 4, 1776. Everything before that was a mistake.”

- Ron Swanson Yesterday, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that star pittsburgh pirates outfielder Starling Marte will serve an 80-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs (pEDs).

Yes, you read that correctly: MLB’s commissioner robert Manfred is literally punishing a player for injecting himself with a vile of awesome so he could hit 500-foot moonshot home runs. personally, when your on Fire correspondent watches baseball, he (or she) is not interested in seeing a lanky Kyle Hendricks throw 88 mile per hour pitches and humbly jog off the mound.

I want to see hitters light up scoreboards one mammoth home run at a time and showboat their entire trip around the bases. However, Manfred is discouraging this actionfigure-esque strength by suspending ballplayers if they try to tap into synthetic-popeye-spinach.

Last time I checked, baseball is considered the epitome of America, and America is considered the epitome of capitalism.

If baseball truly wants to hold true to this comparison, it should arguably start mandating the use of pEDs. If we as a country cut down entire forests just to profit off lumber and industrialize further, who is to say we cannot apply the same principles to baseball? In the same way that increased industrialization leads to profits, home runs lead to more fans, and more fans lead to more money in MLB front offices.

“It is our duty as a modern society to fulfill Washington’s probably vision: mandating the use of pEDs in MLB.”

Yet Manfred refuses to entertain fans, instead keeping the game polite, one heroic suspension at a time.

We are failing as a country by making baseball — dare I say it — Canadian.

Ultimately, the suspension of Marte is another example of professional sports’ pushing to make games as boring as possible.

National Football League (NFL) commissioner roger Goodell thought it would be genius to fine players thousands of dollars for celebrating touchdowns.

During a recent National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Warriors and the Knicks, no music was played so that fans might “appreciate” the sport in its “purest form.” the best adjective to describe this phenomenon: unpatriotic.

When George Washington crossed the Delaware river, I’m certain that he was envisioning an America that included 500-foot home-runs knocking out stadium light towers — not a country priding itself on sacrifice bunts that move a runner into scoring position.

If he wanted to play small ball, Washington would’ve bent over to the redcoats.

It is our duty as a modern society to fulfill Washington’s probable vision: mandating the use of pEDs in MLB.

The Emory Wheel

SportS

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

15

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 | Assistant Sports Editor: Kevin Kilgour (kkilgou@emory.edu)

MEN’S TENNIS

ULTIMATE FRISBEE

Team Goes Long For Future

By Kevin KilGour Asst. Sports Editor

sArAh tAhA/stAff

Sophomore James Spaulding (A Bove) prepares to strike the ball in the Eagles home match yesterday against Washington & lee university (Va.).

Win Streak Stretches to Six

By Allison GelmAn Senior Staff Writer

With only one match remaining before the UAA Championships in orlando, Fla., April has seen the Emory’s men’s tennis team a six-match winning streak. After a tough 6-3 loss to Middlebury College (Va.) March 31, the Eagles have tore through their April opponents, recently winning on the road 9-0 against Sewanee College (tenn.) April 11, 5-2 against Georgetown University (D.C.) April 13, 6-3 against Johns Hopkins University (Md.) April 14 and then 5-0 at home over Washington & Lee University (Va.) April 18.

Senior captain Josh Goodman attributed part of the team’s success to

its close dynamic.

“We have 14 guys and everyone is behind the game plan,” Goodman said. “[Head Coach John Browning] gives us the opportunity as captains to get the guys going with a lot of energy to be ready to play.”

Senior captain Aman Manji noted the fantastic play of four of his teammates: Goodman, sophomores Adrien Bouchet and Jonathan Jemison and junior Alec Josepher.

In the Hopkins game, No. 3 singles player Bouchet defeated Austin Gu 6-2, 6-1, and No. 6 Goodman topped Aaron Carey 6-2, 6-4.

Manji, the Eagles’ No. 1 singles player, made successful appearances at both the Hopkins match, where he defeated Jeremy Dublin, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0

TRACK & FIELD

(10-3), and the Georgetown match, where he won 6-7, 6-3, 6-3. the Eagles’ home match April 18 was cut short due to stormy weather conditions, but not before Manji and Jemison claimed victories in No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively.

Manji commended his teammates for consistently bringing their all to the court. If Manji had it his way, everyone would reach the playing level of those four stars by the end of the year.

As the team looks to the end of the season, Browning wants his team to focus on the mental aspects of the game.

“It’s not always the most talented

See TENNiS, page 14

With the Southern Appalachian DI Conference Championships approaching April 22 to 23, Emory men’s club ultimate frisbee team is preparing for the final, most important stretch of their season. A top-seven finish at the often-coined “Sectionals” competition would earn the Eagles a spot at regionals, moving the team one step closer to Nationals.

For many team members, making it to the national competition has been the primary goal for a while, a feat the team has yet to achieve. Conquering that hurdle requires consistent improvement and development, a process the team’s leadership believes is well underway. the challenge now lies in building towards a better future, particularly as the torch is passed from the one generation of leaders to the next. one of those leaders is senior co-captain Caleb parsons. A captain since Spring 2015, parsons has seen the club go through plenty of ups and downs. When parsons joined the team as a freshman in 2014, they lacked a coach, a disadvantage they have since remedied.

“Historically, Emory [men’s club ultimate] has been looked down upon by a lot of teams,” parsons said.

“We never had a coach, but the past three years we have had Coach t.J. Martin, who is an alum from Auburn [University (Ala.)] where he used to be [the ultimate team] captain, so he

knows how to build programs.”

Martin sees several of similarities between this Emory program and the team he captained at Auburn. From his first to his last year at Auburn, Martin saw a team grow from 10 to 40 athletes. the year after Martin left, the team qualified for Nationals, a prospect that he never imagined possible from the start.

“A lot of it starts with recruiting, and not only recruiting, but investing,” Martin said. “Starting out not just seeing the promise they have as players on the field but building relationships and making it more of a brotherly like atmosphere.”

Building the program begins with fortifying the team culture. that responsibility falls on team leadership, but also stems naturally from the sport itself.

“A part of the ultimate game is called ‘Spirit of the Game,’ so there is a certain ethos that the sport has about respect and fairness and quality,” parsons said. “We are here to compete and we are here to win, but we are also here to grow as a team. We are not just looking for great athletes, but we are looking for great teammates.” the “Spirit of the Game” that parsons refers to is featured on one of the first tabs on the USA Ultimate website. Dedicated to the sportsmanship and integrity the sport demands of its athletes, it is a set of rules and etiquette by which all ultimate players

See MEN’S, page 14

BASEBALL

Eagles Tune Up Hernandez Reflects on Career For UAAs By stephen mAttes Senior Staff Writer

By prosper Fields Senior Staff Writer Gearing up for the UAA outdoor Championships April 22 to 23, Emory’s men’s and women’s track and field traveled to Sewanee University (tenn.) to compete at the Mountain Laurel Invitational this past Friday. out of the eight competing schools, the women took second place while the men fell short and landed in sixth place. the Mountain Laurel Invitational featured only select athletes from the Emory team, offering an additional opportunity to prepare prior to next week’s UAA outdoor Championships. “there weren’t a lot of people who came out for this meet but everyone who did, including myself, was really glad about the extra practice before UAAs,” freshman Nathan Harper said.

Missing first place by a mere 10.5 points, the women were bested by Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.) and scored 194.5 team points. the meet featured 14 events and the women claimed first place in eight.

In the field events, freshmen Kaitlyn Iwanowicz and Isabel Saridakis took first in the long jump and pole vault, respectively. Saridakis set a mark of 3.20m in the pole vault and Iwanowicz took first with a jump of 4.93m. the team’s freshmen continued to shine

with Gabrielle Davis winning the 100m hurdles by more than a one second margin, with a time of 15.91.

First place in the steeplechase went to sophomore Kaylee Slade with a time of 11:57.64.

Sophomore radhika Shah raced a 2:20.84 in the 800m to win the event.

Adding to the team’s barrage of top finishes, junior Dyess Verfurth finished with a time of 11:09.62 in the 3000m. performing better than ever this season, sophomore Dani Bland swept both her sprinting events. She clocked in with times of 12.18 and 24.66 in the 100m and 200m dash, respectively. the men’s side struggled more than usual, posting 45 points and only one event win. the lone first-place finish went to junior robert Wilhelm III in the 800m, who clinched the win by only 0.92 seconds with a time of 1:57.37. Later that day, senior Michael McBane pulled off a third-place showing in the 1500m with 4:00.43. two other Eagles competed in the same event and scored team points. Senior Grant Murphy finished fourth, racing a time of 4:04.78, while freshman Stephen Fedec followed in fifth with a time of 4:07.69.

Also notable was freshman Nathan Harper who scored third place in

See TraCk, page 14

After he overslept the last day of baseball tryouts run by a coach known for his demand for punctuality, thenfreshman Brian Hernandez knew he had his work cut out for him. the now-senior outfielder and designated hitter, who was cut from the team his freshman year but managed to win a spot his sophomore year, is now approaching the end of a highly successful stint on the Emory baseball team. Hernandez’s turbulent start to his Emory baseball career made his rise to success as a key member of the team even more impressive.

Hernandez compiled a career batting average of .348, registering six home runs, 17 doubles and 84 rBIs in 106 games. During his junior year, D3baseball.com selected Hernandez to the All-South region third team, and the UAA named him to their first team.

The Emory Wheel spoke with Hernandez about his Cuban heritage, hometown community in South Florida and his plans after graduation. this transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Stephen Mattes, The Emory Wheel: What makes baseball so special to you?

Brian Hernandez: As a kid I really fell in love with the game because there are so many intricacies to it. It is one of the truest athletic games there

Courtesy of emory AthletiCs

Cut from the team his freshman year, senior outfielder Brian Hernandez (A Bove) has made great strides during his career. is as far as combining athleticism and physical attributes with skill and mental components. I love that there are no time constraints. I grew up with the game of baseball. My parents were born in Cuba, a big baseball country. then they moved to Miami, where there is also a big baseball community.

EW: What do you consider the defining moment of your Emory baseball career?

BH: I was actually cut my freshman year. I felt like I was doing well during the fall tryout period. I then got an ear infection and did not wake up to my alarm for the last day of tryouts, which ended up being a parents’ weekend.

I ended up showing up to the field

45 minutes late after being a couple of minutes late the prior week. Head Coach [Mike twardoski] emphasizes punctuality a lot. Usually his rule is that if you are not there 15 minutes early you’re late. So showing up to practice 45 minutes late was really an hour late. that ended up being the dealbreaker, and I did not make the team my freshman year. this really drove me over that summer to get a lot better and stronger. I then ended up playing a bit the next year, more than a normal incoming [player] would, and then I earned the starting role in my junior year. As much as it hurt to be cut and not [play] baseball for a whole

See ouTfiEldEr, page 14