Clifford the Big Tight End
Audrey Bocalan // Alligator Staff
ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 SPECIAL EDITION
FEATURE
Walk-on: The Clifford Taylor IV story By Christian Ortega Sports Writer
When people are asked to describe a close friend in a word, it’s common to find them gazing at the distance as their brain scrambles to find the appropriate response. The momentary lapse for thought, varying from Joy from Inside Out-like efficiency or workers in SpongeBob’s brain office scrambling through burning ruins, leads to mixed responses. Poll anyone close to tight end Clifford Taylor IV, a 21-year-old graphic design senior, and they snap back like parrots repeating the one word they know: determined. So when Taylor announced he wanted to join the football team his sophomore year, they didn’t doubt the 6-foot-5, 245-pound athlete’s odds to make the roster. But, there were surprises. Taylor ended his four-year athletic career at Olympic High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a three-year captain and two-time all-conference player. However, he earned his accomplishments on the hardwood
playing basketball. In fact, until he started playing in Florida’s intramural league, he never played competitive football during his life. He wanted to be an outsider. When Taylor was accepted to UF in 2017, like his father decades before, he packed his bags and moved more than 450 miles south to Gainesville. As a freshman, he was interested in walking on to the basketball team, so he reached out to then-assistant coach Dusty May to find out he could join the team. Before anything came to fruition, May left UF to become Florida Atlantic’s head coach. Taylor’s plans fell through. To keep himself active, he spent the year playing rec-league basketball when possible. The next year, his roommates needed someone for a spot on their intramural flag football team. Taylor loved watching football; he never considered playing. But, he took their offer. Without knowing, the boy who grew up watching Tim Tebow roll through the college football landscape would be on his way to
joining the very team he idolized.
“Once he’s hooked on one certain thing, you’re really like not gonna get in his way,” Noah Paretsa, 21-yearold UF senior studying marketing, and Taylor’s friend said.
• • •
Jared John, Taylor’s childhood friend, and now-21-year-old Florida State University student, said college technically wasn’t the first time Taylor tried playing football. When the two were in seventh grade, John convinced Taylor to join his middle school team. During the first practice, they took their turns against tackling dummies during one of the first drills. They put their hands in the dirt one-by-one, made their best Ndamukong Suh impressions and brought down the dummies. When it was Taylor’s turn, he bounced off the bag. However, when Taylor started playing intramural football at UF as a sophomore in 2018, it was a different story. Perets, one of Taylor’s IM
A six-year-old Clifford Taylor IV holds an Earth Wind & Fire album on Christmas.
Courtesy to The Alligator
teammates, said defenders stood no chance against him. “You could see that his natural talent would show,” Perets said. “I could miss my throw by about three yards up, three yards left, three yards right, three yards down, and he’s gonna come up with it.” Growing up, Taylor was always the biggest kid in class. Both his parents were athletes, too. His mother played basketball and taught him the sport when he was two years old. His father taught him baseball. The concoction of genes and years on the court laid the foundation for Taylor’s athleticism. It was Taylor’s intelligence that gave him an edge against the competition, John said. “He was definitely one of the better players on the floor,” John said. “He wasn’t always the most dominant, but what separated him was his own IQ.” His flashes of dominance on the gridiron eventually caught the attention of Gators players watching his games. After a game, Taylor said former walk-on Robert Clay walked up to him and asked if Taylor ever thought about playing football. “Honestly, it never crossed my mind,” Taylor said. “I was just doing this for fun.” Taylor said Clay encouraged him to try out as a wide receiver or tight end. That chance encounter coincided with Florida’s upcoming matchup against the visiting LSU Tigers. It was one of the countless games he attended at The Swamp, but this time the atmosphere was infectious. Any doubts about walking on were washed away. However, Taylor needed to hone his gifts if he wanted to make the change from Gronkowski-like performances against intramural teams to wearing orange and blue for the Gators. Perets said Taylor’s hands were like bricks when they started training, so he worked with Taylor to improve his route running and catching for three months. Perets said they took turns texting each other three times a week when either got the itched to practice. So Taylor did as he always does: he worked and blossomed. They practiced running routes 30 to 50 times each practice, paired with drills to improve Taylor’s catching. “It was really good for him to see some sort of live-action out wide and running routes, and using his hands and body position to Moss defenders,” Perets said. Even with the work he put in to get better, faster, stronger, there was no guarantee he would make the roster the following year. He would be trying out against players who likely had years of experience playing football.
For those close to Taylor, there was little room for doubt.
“You don’t just walk onto an SEC football team unless you’re Clifford Taylor,” John said. Taylor was a diehard Gators fan growing up; the kind of kid that would call out fans of rival schools when he’d see them in class, John said. The months he spent practicing came to fruition when he made the team in February 2019. While kids grow up dreaming of playing for their favorite college football team, few ever get the opportunity to make the cut. “It was like, ‘Okay like, this is real,’” he said. “This wasn’t a dream. This isn’t like just a joke anymore. This is like the real deal.” But storybook endings don’t come without twists. While he made the team, Taylor couldn’t practice because his class schedule conflicted with Florida’s practices. It wouldn’t be until June that he would get to work with the team officially.
• • •
When they were in school together, John said Taylor frequently doodled in his notebook. Basketball served as an outlet for Taylor; it just wasn’t enough. So Taylor drew when he could. When he wasn’t, he was playing the piano, drums or trombone. It wasn’t a surprise for anyone passing by his Charlotte home to hear faint sounds of R&B, soul or Earth Wind and Fire from one of Taylor’s instruments. “If I wasn’t playing sports, I definitely would wanna be a musician or producer,” Taylor said. When it wasn’t basketball season, he designed graphics for other athletes, a hobby he continued as a Gator. It’s a talent he said was self-taught, and as he refined his art, he realized that graphic design was his passion. “Once I got to Florida, it shed a whole new light as far as my major goes,” Taylor said. As social media evolved, so did Taylor. Around the team, Taylor is known as the “social media guy.” On Twitter, he has more than 1,000 followers. Instagram, more than 52,000. TikTok, more than 180,000. His success on those platforms, where he frequently blends his sense of humor with life as a college football player, comes from a lifetime of expressing himself. He said he’d received offers to work as an ambassador once his UF career comes to an end. “My first day on the app, I had about 10, which were close friends, then the next day after my first vid went viral, I already
SEE FEATURE, PAGE 15
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020
VOLUME 115 ISSUE 7
Published by Campus Communications, Inc. of Gainesville, Florida
Not officially associated with the University of Florida
2019
2020
Emily Felts // Alligator Staff
The Reitz Student Union is seen primarily empty on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, during the results of the student government elections. It was a very different scene from the year before when Student Government parties crowded the first floor of the on-campus location as the results were announced.
Students and professors weigh in on the virtual classroom experience at UF EMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING: KEYWORDS FOR STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS THIS SEMESTER
By Rachel Slay Alligator Staff Writer
Two months into UF’s mostly online Fall semester, students and faculty alike still struggle with the new virtual classroom environment. UF professors and students agree it takes patience on both sides of the screen. With
SPORTS/SPECIAL/CUTOUT Packing the Swamp?
Alligator Sports writer Tyler Nettuno Story description finish with comma,makes pg# his case for why he believes coach Dan Mullen’s comments regarding stadium capacity Saturday were irresponsible and tone-deaf, pg. 14
65% of UF’s classes held online this Fall, students and professors are scrambling to set schedules, struggling to maintain productivity and trying to cope with minimal social interaction. The announcement of UF’s mostly online Fall semester left Hannah Thomas, a 19-yearold UF animal sciences sophomore, nervous about her productivity and concerned for the lack of collaboration in her courses. All but one of Thomas’ classes are asynchronous, meaning they do not have any live meetings. She decided to return
to Gainesville for the semester knowing she would need to mimic a regular class schedule to be productive. Thomas wakes up around 8 a.m. to go to the Reitz Union almost every day of the week, she said. She rents a room on the second floor, with a big window overlooking Green Pond, and stays for about seven hours doing assignments and studying. If she is alone in her apartment everyday, she can’t be productive, so sometimes a friend will join her at the Reitz, she said. “I still have a lot of fear and doubt, but
UF IFAS ends use of prison labor
The push to end the practice has been advocated by activist groups for nearly a decade, pg. 8
Vice President Mike Pence campaigns in The Villages
The VP visited the nearby retirement community Saturday for a rally, pg. 7
I think I’m hopeful,” Thomas said. “As I’ve been seeing this semester progress, I’m like ‘OK, this can be a reality.’” As classes progress, having less engagement with her teachers and classmates is a struggle because she is so social, she said. “It’s mental health stuff, trying to navigate what life will look like now, in a way that’s safe for our community and for yourself,” Thomas said. “And it’s hard. It’s a learning curve for us all.”
SEE ONLINE SCHOOL, PAGE 7
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4 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020
Today’s Weather Gator Party wins majority of Senate seats
VOLUME 115 ISSUE 7
NEWSROOM:
ABOUT 6,000 STUDENTS VOTED IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS – 3,000 LESS THAN IN SPRING 2019
Editor-In-Chief Engagement Managing Editor Digital Managing Editor News Managing Editor
By Lianna Hubbard Alligator Staff Writer
UF Student Government’s current majority party, Gator Party, dominated the elections Oct. 7, winning 45 of the 50 Senate seats. Independent candidates won the two seats they ran for, and one seat remains vacant. “I couldn’t be more proud of Gator Party for continuing its legacy and for doubling down on its service to all Gators,” wrote Trevor Pope, the Student Body President and Gator Party member, in a text message to The Alligator. Short voting lines ended with an empty Reitz Student Union. In pre-pandemic semesters, hundreds of candidates and students craned to watch the supervisor of elections announce voting results from the staircase. This semester, Reitz Union’s seats grew cold and its doors closed on the two candidates watching for election results and late-night studiers at 11 p.m. before the Supervisor of Elections announced the results over a Zoom meeting at about 11:30 p.m. Independent candidates Zachery Utt (Murphree Area) and Jamison McAdams (Lakeside Complex) won in their districts, according to the election results. Change Party won two seats in District D. Graduate and Family Housing is still vacant and did not have any candidates. Progressive Party and Union Party did not win any of the 23 seats they collectively ran for. Gator Party, which is now a year old, ran on a platform of increasing the number of student tickets offered for home football games, distributing materials to test drinks for the presence of date-rape drugs and auditing UF buildings for ADA compliance and environmental sustainability. Across elections Tuesday and Wednesday and through the early and absentee voting process, 6,130 students voted. Students cast 3,698 votes through the absentee and new early options. Gator, the current majority party, ran alongside three new parties this election: Change, Union and Progressive. About 9,900 voted in Fall 2019 SG elections – almost 3,750 more than this semester. SG uses a $22 million budget of student fees to fund student organizations, Student Legal Services and the Recreational Sports department. None of the new parties benefited from their usual foot traffic marketing. Supervisor of Elections Hayley Price created early voting as a COVID-19 safety precaution for all students and absentee voting for students in quarantine. UF Provost Joseph Glover and the UF Supreme Court rejected online voting in September. The online option was declared unconstitutional in 2006 and has remained a contested SG issue since. Some senators and students hoped online voting would make voting simpler and more accessible.
Lauren Witte // Alligator Staff
Members of Change Party react outside the Reitz Student Union as Gator Party members win a majority of district seats in the University of Florida Student Senate on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.
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Parties weigh in on results
Independent candidate Zachery Utt won 43% of Murphree Area votes. When he heard his win during the election results announcement, Utt said he screamed so loudly his neighbors called his dorm’s resident assistant. “I ran a zero-dollar campaign and won and that shows you don’t need money to win elections in Student Government,” he said. Utt will start his new SG chapter by improving the fire alarm system in Fletcher and Sledd halls. Colin Solomon, Change Party president, said the outcome was unexpected, but the party is willing to work with it. “We're going to take that and we're going to go into Spring as the best-run campaign this university has ever seen,” he said. The party will elect a caucus leader in the Senate to try and address all of Change’s platform points to the best of their ability, he said. Progressive Party President Alfredo Ortiz said the low voter turnout wasn’t only disappointing but unconstitutional, but he did not explain how. Ortiz requested the Supervisor of Elections investigate the validity of the elections Wednesday before the results. “I won’t base the future of my party off a fraudulent election,” he said. Ortiz said he wants to continue Progressive Party’s work by creating a socialist party. Union Party campaign manager Ethan Lomio said elections are difficult for new parties, and he was proud of the votes they received, despite not filling any seats. Union candidates got 400 votes total for the eleven seats they ran for. “Win, lose or draw — Union Party is here to stay,” he said. Independent Jamison McAdams (Lakeside Complex) declined to comment on his win. Fewer voters rush to polls
Riccardo Ansaldi, a 26-year-old UF astronomy and geology senior, said he couldn’t vote in his first SG election at the Keys Complex polling location because he didn’t bring his phone to the polls with him. To log in to vote at polling location computers, students need to use Duo Push to verify their GatorOne login information, just like logging into Canvas or One.UF. Ansaldi isn’t tied to his phone, he said, so he didn’t bring it from his District C location to the voting booth. He said he would try to vote again at Keys later that day. “Not only did they make me come down here, but they didn’t allow me to vote,” he said. Within the polling location, Ansaldi said he felt unsafe voting in person. The hallways leading to the polling station and the room itself were narrow. Assistant Supervisor of Elections Jeremy Grant said his hour-and-a-half training for election day didn’t include how to help students vote in that scenario. Anna Magruder, an 18-year-old UF biology freshman, felt compelled to vote at Murphree due to parking issues on campus. In order to get to her job, she has to bike one mile to her car, so she hopes her vote will change that. She also was concerned about the sanitation process at Murphree. “I know that those computers aren't getting sanitized in between each person,” Magruder said. “I'm gonna go home and probably sanitize my stuff because I don't know how many people have touched the computer before.” Corbin Bolies, Meghan McGlone and Thomas Weber contributed to this report. @HubbardLianna lhubbard@alligator.org
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 ALLIGATOR 5
COVID-19 school closures challenged students’ standardized testing WHEN COVID-19 SHUT DOWN FLORIDA SCHOOLS IN MARCH, IT ALSO INTERRUPTED STATE TESTING AND COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
By Sophie Feinberg Alligator Staff Writer
Applying to college can be overwhelming. Applicants have to contend with lofty admissions requirements, a barrage of deadlines differing by school and an array of essay topics that leave 500 words to share a life story. Now, there is also the added hurdle of the COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID-19 shut down Florida schools in March, it also interrupted state testing and college entrance exams. Some students are still struggling to catch up. Current Alachua County high school seniors, already stressed out by college applications and the pandemic, are also battling SAT and ACT exam cancellations and a limited number of testing sites, said Jennifer Taylor, supervisor of school counseling and student services in Alachua County Public Schools. “Everything kind of stopped, and it was difficult for students,” Taylor said. Some colleges and universities across the country are waiving college testing requirements due to the additional hurdles to testing in the current environment. However, no major public Florida universities are among them.
For Florida students, college entrance exam testing is a key element for statewide scholarships. Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the deadline for the Bright Futures Scholarship Program to December for the Class of 2020. In past years, students generally had until the end of August. Florida students who already graduated have more time to meet testing requirements for the program, which awards lottery-funded scholarships for those who meet specific test scores, volunteer hours and grade point averages. DeSantis hasn’t extended the Bright Futures deadline for current seniors. It remains Aug. 31, 2021. Information from the Florida Department of Education reveals that about 32,000 2020 Florida seniors met all other Bright Futures requirements except for their ACT or SAT scores. About 8,000 more students may qualify for Bright Futures if they retake the SAT or ACT and score higher. Now, current college freshman and high school seniors may be scrambling to take college entrance exams before Dec. 1 to meet the scholarship’s requirements or college application deadlines. However, taking exams can be a challenge with limited capacity at testing sites and colleges not extending deadlines. So far, UF has not extended its Nov. 1 college application deadline. In the past, UF has
Student Discount on Wednesdays $15 Haircut with Student ID
extended deadlines in certain cases, as when Hurricane Matthew impacted applications across the state. Fifty-three test centers for the Oct. 3 test day had disruptions, and 36 were closed, according to the list of Florida SAT test centers. One of two centers in Gainesville was closed. There is only one more test date on Nov. 7 before the new deadline for meeting Bright Futures requirements. For the Nov. 7 test date, six of the 312 potential centers closed so far, according to information on the College Board website. The ACT has felt similar disruptions. There was only one test Oct. 10 at Gainesville High School for the entire county. Future offerings are after the Bright Futures deadline. Florida puts more money into merit-based scholarships than need-based scholarships when compared to other states, Holly Bullard, chief strategy and development officer at the Florida Policy Institute, an independent public policy research nonprofit, wrote in an email. “The lack of investment in need-based aid means we are underinvesting in our students of color,” Bullard wrote. White students are more likely to receive the scholarship than students of color, according to 2019-2020 data from Bright Futures. About 56% of the aid was given to white students, compared to 4% to Black students and 25% to Hispanic students. Census data shows Florida
is about 53% white, about 17% Black and about 26% Hispanic. “I think in this time of COVID-19 and the barriers for the SAT for all families, we should reexamine the barriers to economic mobility for certain Floridians, and why they’re there,” she wrote. In Alachua County, DeSantis’ extension allowed more students to test and still be eligible for the scholarship program, Taylor said. However, she doesn’t know how many ACPS students might have been affected by the governor’s decision. The ACT can also act in place of certain standardized tests, which measure a student’s understanding and preparedness on certain subjects, she said. These exams, like the Florida Standards Assessments, are sometimes required to pass on to the next grade or graduate. In-person and Digital Academy students will be able to access testing on campus, such as the PSAT, the preliminary SAT and ACT, which are now being administered to juniors who weren’t able to test last year, Taylor said. Digital Academy students will come into schools and test separately from brick-andmortar students, she said. The county PSAT tests dates are Oct. 14 for in-person students and Oct. 17 for Digital Academy students. The ACT was Oct. 6 for in-person students and will be Oct. 20 for Digital Academy students. @feinberg_sophie sfeinberg@alligator.org
Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area
Gainesville Metropolitan Area Mobility Virtual Workshop Notice October 26, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Audio/Video - Cox Channel 12, Facebook and the Alachua County Video on Demand Website [link below]
www.alachuacounty.us/video Audio-only - call 301.715.8592, and when prompted use code 670 965 3024 and participant identification code 2522482 Live Broadcast Public Comment Call-In - Call 929.205.6099, Access Code - 273-174-8038
The Gainesville City Commission and the Alachua County Commission [sitting together as the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area] recently adopted its Year 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan Cost Feasible Plan for the Gainesville Metropolitan Area. The Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization will conduct a mobility workshop to discuss multimodal [bicycle, pedestrian, roadway and transit] transportation issues. Share your concerns and ideas on mobility within the Gainesville Metropolitan Area. This workshop will be part of the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization October 26, 2020 regular business meeting. Due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area will meet virtually on October 26, 2020 at 3:00 p.m.
Visit our Long-Range Transportation Plan website at http://ncfrpc.org/mtpo/LRTP.html More detailed information concerning this workshop can be obtained in several ways: by visiting the website at www.ncfrpc.org (click Metropolitan Transportation Planning); by writing to the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization, 2009 NW 67th Place Gainesville, Florida 32653; or by calling 352.955.2200. Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, familial status, religious status, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity. Any person requiring special assistance or accommodations, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or persons who require translation services (free of charge), to participate in this public hearing should contact Michael Escalante at 352.955.2200, extension 114, at least 48 hours before the workshop.
6 ALLIGATOR  MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020
A taste of school spirit. Try the Orange & Blue sub, made with chicken tenders and topped with buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing. Save time before class. Order ahead for in-store pickup at publix.com/orangeandblue. #orangeandbluesub
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 ALLIGATOR 7
Vice President Mike Pence holds non-distanced campaign rally in The Villages THE HUNDREDS OF SENIORS FROM THE VILLAGES WERE MOSTLY MASKLESS By Thomas Weber and Anna Wilder Alligator Staff Writers
A sea of red, white and blue emitted the smell of sweat and barbecue. Pairs of cargo shorts, “Trump” socks and New Balance shoes shuffled around each other to get a better look at U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Pence spoke maskless from a stage during his campaign speech at The Villages — a massive retirement community west of Orlando — drawing hundreds of carefree, nondistanced President Donald Trump supporters Saturday afternoon. The crowd of about 500 people was predominantly made up of people 50 years or older; there were more lap dogs than children. “The road to victory runs right through Florida,” Pence said. The ZIP codes making up The Villages have totaled 1,766 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday night, according to the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard. There have been 734,491 positive cases in Florida since the pandemic spread in the U.S. in March. Risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases with age, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pence didn’t discuss COVID-19 deaths, but praised Trump’s travel ban on China and mentioned the president and first lady’s recovery after contracting the virus. “If you cherish faith, freedom, law and order — and life — in 24 days we’ve gotta reelect President Donald Trump for four more years,” Pence said, referring to the Nov. 3 Presidential Election. In 2019, The Villages’ population
was 98.2% white, and 79.7% of residents were 65-years-old or older, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. Trump previously campaigned in The Villages in October 2019. By the time Pence arrived 30 minutes late, the crowd’s final form was reminiscent of a large-scale Fourth of July celebration. People packed into the six-foot distancing spaces between seats, and about a third of them kept their masks on — fewer wore them properly. Pence talked about the vice presidential debate and Trump’s pro-military policies. He criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s policies, claiming he was going to defund the police and pack the court. The Biden campaign has said it will not take money away from police and has not answered whether or not he will pack the court, which means adding seats to the Supreme Court. Congressman Daniel Webster of Florida’s 11th District spoke before Pence and said America’s neighborhoods and communities won’t be safe under a Biden presidency. Hands and MAGA signs shot into the air when Pence spoke of “backing the boys in blue” or four more years for Trump. The crowd jeered and booed at mentions of Biden, vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Villages’ paramedics — decked out in face and neck coverings, sunhats and rubber gloves — were stationed with wheelchairs just outside the perimeter, fully prepared to infiltrate the crowd and rescue fainting seniors who succumbed to the 90-degree heat. They rescued at least six attendees, their “Make America Great Again” signs drooping in defeat as they were wheeled out of the rally. The speech was held outside of Brownwood, a town in The Villages. Life-sized statues of bulls and
‘It takes practice’ ONLINE SCHOOL, from pg. 1
Successful learning outcomes depend on proper preparation, said Albert Ritzhaupt, a UF associate professor of educational technology and computer science education. “Quality instruction, quality learning experiences, it doesn’t matter what format you use,” Ritzhaupt said. “It requires a significant amount of training and preparation and planning.” Students can learn and do well with online learning, but it is important to note what happened in March wasn’t really online learning because of how sudden the change was, he said. Online curriculum typically goes through an extensive vetting process before being put in front of students, he said. It has specific procedures and is processed multiple times for quality assurance. This is why he said UF’s move to hold all classes online mid-March following confirmed COVID-19 cases in Alachua County is not considered typical online learning. Professors may not have it all figured out, but they’re learning from their mistakes and making improvements, Ritzhaupt said. “I guarantee next year, they’re going to do a hell of a lot better,” Ritzhaupt said. “But, again, that’s because it takes practice.” Ritzhaupt has taught primarily online classes for 15 years
cowboys surrounded the town’s entryway, and a rustic sign hung over the road: “Brownwood,” it said — a Disneyland-esque, cowboy-themed strip mall. The faux-wild-western village’s buildings looked more like saloons and barns than modern-day businesses. But rather than riding horses — or cars — residents zipped through the streets in golf carts, sub-25 mph, while Trump and American flags flapped in the wind behind them. Hundreds of golf carts streamed into an empty lot next to the town square. The fleet lined the perimeter of the event’s designated seating area, parked and facing the stage like a drive-in theater. Crowds of chattering people dressed in matching MAGA gear lined up to enter the lot. Elaine Kovach, a 75-year-old retiree, said she was offered hand sanitizer, masks and water at the event’s entrance. She said she wasn’t too concerned about COVID-19, and she thought everyone she had been around was respectful of rules. Henrietta Amey, a maskless, 83-year-old Villages resident, said she doesn’t wear masks but prefers to wash her hands and take vitamins. “I take showers as soon as I get home — take my clothes off, put them in the washing machine,” Amey said. “So far, I’ve been lucky.” When Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, she said she knew he would get through it. “It takes a lot of prayers, and God answers prayers,” she said. In the event, about 250 seats were set in pairs in front of the stage with about 6 feet between each, but attendees moved chairs around freely. As the crowd filled the no-longer socially distanced seats, a plane flew over the Brownwood lot tugging a banner that read, “Pence is why you can’t see your grandkids.” Esteban Ramirez, a 23-year-old energy consultant and attendee, car-
ried a “Latinos for Trump” sign at the rally. “There’s not really much of a diverse community here, and I think it’s really important to try to put your voice out there and represent,” Ramirez said. Almost three hours before Pence took the stage, most of the seats were filled. Attendees kept themselves busy by dancing in a circle to “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Walking on Sunshine,” two breaks in a playlist of mostly patriotic country music. Later, a man and a woman slowdanced to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
John Leszewski, an 80-year-old attendee, said he and his wife’s temperatures were not taken at the doors but credited any high temperature to the heat. He said he was not worried about COVID-19. “Let me put it this way,” Leszewski said. “I’m 80 years old, and I have no fear.”
@thomasjohnweber tweber@alligator.org @anna_wilderr awilder@alligator.org
Thomas Weber // Alligator Staff
A Trump supporter waves two “Make America Great Again” signs as Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a non-distanced campaign rally in The Villages, Florida, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020.
and said he has gone through the necessary trial and error of creating a well-rounded learning environment through a screen. Despite the time and effort he has dedicated, Ritzhaupt is concerned about the general lack of student collaboration, he said. “I don’t know that we are doing a good enough job making sure that the students are engaged with each other, right now,” he said. The flexible schedule brought by asynchronous classes was a difficult adjustment for Sterling Shipp, a 19-year-old UF health education and behavior sophomore. It’s hard to do everything yourself, like deciding when to watch a lecture or do an assignment, he said. Before going to bed, Shipp writes out the next day’s assignments on a white board, in order of importance. When he wakes up around 9:30 a.m. the next day, he has breakfast, typically coffee and a croissant sandwich, and starts checking items off the list. Since Shipp was able to create a routine for himself, he has been able to maintain all A’s with the exception of one high B, he said. For his biology lab, Shipp will have to dissect a worm in his Fletcher Hall dorm room. He was expecting a virtual lab because he said they are easier but is nonetheless looking forward to the dissection. He thinks it’s crazy that an actual dissection can be done in his room. “I knew it would be harder,” Shipp said. “But I’m willing to put in the work and do what I have to do because there’s really no point in complaining if you can’t change anything.” This semester, online proctoring sites like ProctorU and
Honorlock, which require webcams and microphones to monitor students while they test, are being relied on more than ever because of less in-person testing. These proctoring sites aren’t appealing to Corinne Huggins-Manley, an associate professor of research and evaluation methodology at UF. Instead, she shares stories of times she has caught students cheating in the hopes of encouraging them to be fair and honest during her classes. Huggins-Manley learns how students write by using open-ended questions on assignments. This makes it easier to tell when things are copied and pasted because they don’t have the student’s voice, she said. “Ever since I started doing those spiels and appealing to them weekly to remind them of honor codes and fairness, I’ve seen a lot less of it in my class, so I’m very happy with that,” Huggins-Manley said. Online learning was not the plan for Anna Toth, a UF associate chemistry professor. She spent the Summer converting her freshman chemistry courses to an asynchronous schedule, meaning she never sees her students outside of Zoom office hours, she said. She is pleasantly surprised at how often students come to her for help with the course material. “The most important message out of it, for anybody, is that we need to be prepared as well as possible for these kinds of circumstances,” Toth said. @racheljslay rslay@alligator.org
8 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020
UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences ends use of prison labor UF IFAS STOPPED USING PRISON LABOR AS OF SEPT. 30
By Alan Halaly and Kalia Richardson Alligator Staff Writers
Local activists and UF students have called for UF to end its dependence on prison labor for almost a decade. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences responded by breaking its prison labor contracts last month. The Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery, a Gainesville activist group founded in early June, announced on Oct. 1 IFAS will stop using prison labor as of Sept. 30. Jeanna Mastrodicasa, the IFAS associate vice president for operations, confirmed all contracts with the Florida Department of Corrections have come to an end. The institute hasn’t used inmate labor during the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-March. To advocate for change, CAPS partnered with organizers such as GoDDsville Dream Defenders, Florida Prisoner Solidarity and Divest UF, as well as with UF student organizations, including the Hispanic Student Association and the Black Student Union. The groups sent mass phone calls and emails to UF President Kent Fuchs, the UF Board of Trustees and IFAS.
More than 200 emails and calls were sent out through July and August, said co-founder Salil Bavdekar. In less than six months, CAPS was able to achieve its goal of ending IFAS’ prison labor contracts with the FDC. Mackintosh Joachim, a 21-year-old UF women’s studies and political science senior, has wanted UF to stop using prison labor for years. He quit his job at Aramark, UF’s food service partner, in 2017 when he realized they used prison labor. “Essentially, a prison is still a way that we all could be slaves,” Joachim said. “It is very immoral.” Minimum-to-medium custody inmates still completing their sentences sometimes participate in work camps, wrote Rob Klepper, an FDC spokesperson, in an email. All able-bodied inmates are required to work during their sentence, according to state statutes. They can be assigned to work squads like the ones formerly used by IFAS, and labor is usually unpaid. UF and IFAS saved about $1.7 million a year from prison labor, according to a statement released by IFAS. Across nine sites, the work was used to promote agricultural research and provide produce for the East Coast. Florida has benefited from inmate labor for more than a century, according to a report by
the Gainesville Sun. UF uses it the most compared to other state universities in Florida, especially in its agricultural centers. Since 2015, the university has used more than 156,000 hours of state prison labor. CAPS wants UF to cancel contracts with all company partners that use prison labor, including UF food service partner Aramark, Bavdekar said. It’s also calling for UF to make an official statement detailing the extent of the practice. However, IFAS hasn’t made a public announcement about the end of the contracts and doesn’t plan to, Mastrodicasa said. “It’s something that we’re not too happy about because one of our demands was that UF actually owns up and actually puts out a statement saying ‘Hey, it is finally over,’” Bavdekar said. To him, UF isn’t taking responsibility for the number of laborers or unpaid hours of work it used to harvest crops, clean equipment and operate machinery. “That is unacceptable if you agree that prison slavery is bad,” he said. “So, our main objective was to stop using it as soon as possible.” Prison labor saved IFAS an average of $14 per inmate, according to an IFAS blog post. Gene McAvoy, an IFAS stakeholder relations director, said researchers will now have to redirect some
funds from fertilizer, pest and disease control research to pay workers. “It was a reaction to social unrest in the country,” McAvoy said. “But I don’t know if it really was the right reaction.” After Black Lives Matter protests throughout the summer, Fuchs announced on June 18 the university would take steps to address racism. This included ending UF’s ties with prison farm labor because work squads disproportionately consist of Black inmates. He promised to terminate all contracts involving prison labor in agricultural centers from the FDC by July 1, 2021. “The symbolism of inmate labor is incompatible with our university and its principles and therefore this practice will end,” Fuchs wrote in a statement to the UF community. While IFAS Director McAvoy said he didn’t speak to any of the inmates, he feels many aren’t forced to work. “If I was sitting behind bars, and I had a chance to get out, work out in the fresh air and sunshine and do something constructive besides looking at four walls, it might be attractive,” McAvoy said. Manu Osorio, the lead organizer of GoDDsville Dream Defenders, the local chapter of an organization founded after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin,
said UF students and faculty need to recognize how deeply the prison industrial complex is embedded into academia. “We must stand up and find all of these exploitative industries because it is our money as students, alumni and faculty that is being used to exploit people,” Osorio said. “We have to stand together and demand changes.” The push to end prison labor spans throughout Alachua County. Alachua County Commissioners voted to end prison labor contracts with the FDC in 2019, said Kevin Scott, a formerly incarcerated organizer with Florida Prisoner Solidarity who lobbied the commission on the issue. While in state prison, he said he witnessed the immense physical and psychological toll prison labor took on his fellow inmates. He said he’s proud that the county commission was the first elected authority in Florida to end its prison labor contracts. “People do not understand how the person on the side of the road in the blue outfit gets to be there,” Scott said. “You’re malnourished, strip-searched to and from work every day — it’s dehumanizing.” @AlanHalaly ahalaly@alligator.org @kaliarichardson krichardson@alligator.org
Virtual advising proves to be accessible, successful during pandemic LOOKING AT THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF ONLINE ADVISING
By J.P. Oprison Alligator Staff Writer
With unprecedented times come unprecedented changes, and academic advising has been no exception. To protect advisers and students alike from the spread of COVID-19, UF advising has been moved online, meaning faceto-face meetings have been replaced with Zoom calls. Now, students talk to advisers on a screen and have a much more distanced relationship than before. Advisers were concerned that virtual advising wouldn’t be as effective, said Joseph Spillane, director of UF’s Academic Advising Center and associate dean for student affairs at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. But data from adviser evaluations, through which students give feedback on their advising sessions, show positive results. “Students feel as though their remote advising sessions are relatively easy to access, and that they’re about as effective as in-person would be,” Spillane said. The data also show that while some students look forward to in-person advising again, about an equal number said they liked virtual advising better, Spillane said. Virtual advising has come with challenges, including issues with WiFi and audio or video problems, Spillane said. Advisers also struggled to connect with students and get into deep discussions. But Spillane said he’s seen improvements.
“I think students are feeling comfortable, not just asking very specific or technical questions on a remote advising session, but really getting into the big picture questions, like ‘Is this major really right for me?’” he said. Spillane also said that while advisers feared they would see fewer students this Fall, the numbers generally haven’t changed. “If you add in all of the forms we’re processing, all the emails we’re answering, the overall volume of students that we’re dealing with is very much the same,” Spillane said. Justin Ma, an 18-year-old UF exploratory engineering freshman, went to online peer advising for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering twice. He said it went smoothly both times, and he got more than he expected out of the virtual venue. “It cuts out the trouble of me having to take time out of my day, walk to the hall, and then talk to them,” Ma said. In his sessions, Ma asked about getting involved in clubs and internships and deciding on a major. Annie Gjineci, a 19-year-old UF information systems sophomore, went to advising for the Heavener School of Business in August. She said the sessions were easy to set up. She emailed her adviser and received a link to their schedule, she said. Gjineci said she then picked a time and was sent a Zoom link. “For me, it’s a little easier to speak to people in a virtual setting than it is in person,” she said.
Both Ma and Gjineci said they would feel comfortable using virtual advising again. Keisha Hunte, Heavener School of Business academic and career adviser, said she feels encouraged by how virtual advising is going. “Everyone’s finding a way, or has found a way, to adapt to this new environment,” Hunte said. Spillane said advising will remain virtual
the rest of Fall, and while advisers are still able to help students, he said they miss collaborating with one another in person. “Even though we’re happy with how remote advising is going, I think we’re all looking forward to the day when we can be back in person,” Spillane said. @joprison joprison@alligator.org
Lauren Witte // Alligator Staff
Laure Deliscar, a 20-year-old UF biology junior, studies on the second floor of Library West on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Deliscar said she appreciates library patrons’ mindfulness with social distancing.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 ALLIGATOR 9
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THEATRE
Do the time warp again with High Dive’s socially distanced ‘Rocky Horror’ THE ANNUAL EVENT WILL RETURN FOR SEVEN LIMITED-CAPACITY SHOWS
By Marlena Carrillo Avenue Staff Writer
It’s just a jump to the left: After six months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, High Dive is bringing back its annual shadow cast showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” For the first time since closing, the venue is reopening its doors for a live event to continue its traditional cult classic performance. The experience will be modified this year to accommodate concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film, which is renowned for its themes of sexuality and identity, holds a tradition of shadow cast performances that take place across the U.S. High Dive has been live-streaming concerts since July, said Pat Lavery, the venue’s facility and events manager. Lavery said a lot of consideration went into bringing the show back. Still, High Dive ultimately decided to put on more showings than usual with a limited capacity and socially distanced seating to allow fans to experience the event safely. “We really didn’t want it to not happen this year,” Lavery said. “We’ve been doing it for so long. We wanted to figure out some kind of way to do it that would be safe and also viable so that we could cover costs, and we think we’ve done it.” The venue has put on the popular production with shadow cast performance group Frankie and the Pretenders since 2013. The event features a showing of the 1975 film with
the live cast performing dances from the movie in front of the screen. Seven “Rocky Horror” performances will take place at the venue this year. Shows will be offered Oct. 14, 15, 21, 22, 27, 29 and 31. The performances begin at 8:30 p.m. and tickets sell for $15 in advance on the venue’s website. Lavery said audiences will be limited to 30% of High Dive’s capacity or about 60 people. Seats will be arranged in a checkerboard pattern and distanced appropriately and will be available in groups of two, three and four guests. Solo guests will be able to sit in the bleachers on the sides of the viewing area. High Dive’s beer garden will be open for food and drink starting at 7 p.m. Drinking and eating will only be permitted outside, meaning all guests will be required to wear masks inside at all times. While the performance will look different from past years, Lavery said he does not think the experience will be dulled for the audience. “The performers definitely will not be going out into the crowds like they have in the past,” Lavery said. “But we still think it’s going to preserve the unique character of the show.” Audiences will not be permitted to bring throwing props or water props, like water guns, of any kind, according to the venue’s website. Guests can only bring newspapers and gloves to the event. Shay Smith, choreographer and co-director of Frankie and the Pretenders, said performers will be wearing masks during the event. While they will be worn to promote safety, Smith said the masks will be decorated by each performer to complement their character and exhibit “as much campiness as possible.”
Smith said while the show has been adjusted for public safety concerns, she believes guests will be equally enthused as in previous years and find the event rewarding. “The audience is going to be so ready for entertainment and just being out and doing something fun,” Smith said. “They’re hungry for that, and we are going to be able to provide it for them.” Lavery said the state-mandated closures posed a difficult challenge for the venue. While closed, its monthly fixed costs were over $10,000, with its only revenue generated from alcohol and ticket sales. The venue held a benefit concert via livestream Sept. 19 with local bands Arrows in Action, Causa and The Real You to raise money to fund its reopening. Lavery said while reopening its doors to the public again will be a positive step, the venue has more progress to make before returning to normalcy. “It is a morale boost, just being able to do what we do,” Lavery said. “But financially, it’s desperately needed. A lot of money was lost during the six months we were closed, and it’s going to take a long time to recover from that.” Astrid Rojas, a 20-year-old UF marketing junior, said she has always been interested in attending the showing and will finally attend this year in light of the music venue’s financial concerns. “I’m a huge ‘Rocky Horror’ fan,” Rojas said. “In the words of Princess Diana, “‘Rocky Horror’ had quite completed my education.” Every year the show passes and I regret not attending, so this year I plan on attending.” For Smith, the performance is an opportunity to interact with the people closest to her while doing something she loves.
Courtesy to The Alligator
Garret Pogue and Devin Huchingson in last year’s “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” performance at High Dive.
“We all come together as a cast like we are a family,” Smith said. “My son and I did this show together for a very long time. That was weird, because what mom and son do ‘Rocky Horror’ together? But it was this big family thing.” @marcar313 mcarrillo@alligator.org
MUSIC
Gainesville artist Bambii releases new single ‘Red Corvette’ By Heather Bushman Avenue Staff Writer
Grace Lamerson speaks softly, laughs at herself and says, “I’m a musician,” with a hesitance that makes you question whether she even believes it herself. But the apprehension evaporates when it comes to her music. Under the name “Bambii,” Lamerson, an 18-year-old Gainesville native, brings her fresh indiepop flair to the local music landscape. Her newest single, “Red Corvette,” released Oct. 5, is a display of her developing sound and concept as well as a new creative direction for future projects. Lamerson’s music offers chill-wave music with a twist: a distinctly retro feel she said was inspired by her love for classic styles and aesthetics. “I really like vintage stuff and vintage music, and vintage clothing and styling,” she said.
Her brand is tinged with the concept, even her name. Lamerson said she came up with the moniker after watching “The Carrie Diaries,” an 80s-inspired spinoff of “Sex and the City,” when a character calls someone “Bambi.” One extra “i” later, the name stuck. Her light vocals floar over dreamy guitar melodies that call back to ‘70s soft rock and early 2000s alternative pop. It’s a sound that she and her longtime collaborator Zachary Rodriguez created together from their affinity for a variety of genres, she said. Lamerson has been steadily releasing music for just over a year. Her debut EP, “Dreamache,” came out in 2019 and was followed by two singles: “Sunsets” later that year and “Religion” in May. The vintage aspect is apparent once again on these projects. Minimal percussive elements back floaty synth lines, and samples reminiscent of cassette tapes and
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other older audio forms make up the intros and outros. “Red Corvette” is a departure from this traditional sound. The song is faster and more upbeat, with hyperpop instrumentals that Rodriguez said were inspired by his own taste in music. “We’re going with a way more hyperpop vibe. Our sound is definitely influenced by that,” Lamerson said. “Red Corvette” represents a thematic shift as well. Whereas the “Dreamache” EP addressed tumultuous relationships and teenage insecurities, the new release projects a decidedly more confident image. The promotional photos and the music video, both shot by Michelle Chwala, an 18-year-old Gainesville videographer, are tinted with a light yellow hue that feels nostalgic and dream-like. Chwala and Lamerson weren’t alone in the process, though: “Red Corvette” and its accompanying music video represent a col-
laborative effort from a host of local talent. Rodriguez and Will Frenchman, another Gainesville producer, produced the song; Heather Terricola, a frequent production partner of Rodriguez, was responsible for the mixing and mastering; Grizzly, a 20-year-old Gainesville rapper, contributed a verse; and Chwala shot the video and the promotional photos. For Lamerson, it was critical that the track’s creative team had young, local focus. “It’s definitely important to support people your age and local people, and I think all the people I’ve worked with are really talented and deserve to have recognition,” she said. “Red Corvette” is available on all major platforms. @hgrizzl hbushman@alligator.org
Absentee defense to blame for Gators’ first loss
Florida dropped its first game to Texas A&M this weekend. The 41-38 loss left the Gators feeling burned, especially coach Dan Mullen, pg. 16
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solution on page 10 Release 2020 Release Date: Date: Monday, Tuesday,October October12, 6, 2020
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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12 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020
20 Events/Notices NOTICE OF VIRTUAL PUBLIC MEETING The Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area announces a virtual public meeting via communications media technology to which all interested persons are invited. DATE AND TIME: 3:00 p.m.
October 26, 2020 at
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PLACE: Audio/Video - Cox Channel 12, Facebook and the Alachua County Video on Demand Website [link below] www.alachuacounty.us/video Audio-only - call 301.715.8592, and when prompted use code 670 965 3024 and participant identification code 2522482 Live Broadcast Public Comment Call-In - Call 929.205.6099, Access Code - 273-174-8038 PURPOSE: Regular Business Meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area, including Virtual Mobility Workshop A copy of the agenda may be obtained by visiting our website at www.ncfrpc.org (click Metropolitan Transportation Planning) or may be seen posted at 2009 NW 67th Place, Gainesville, Florida one week prior to the meeting.
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Rodriguez 1. MEASUREMENTS: How many inches are in a mile? 2. ASTRONOMY: What does the acronym SETI mean to the scientific 1. community? GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: 3. LANGUAGE: What does the LatWhere was“sub-” the mean ancient kingdom in prefix in English? 4. U.S. PRESIDENTS: of Numidia located? Who was the only president to serve two nonconterms? 2. secutive LANGUAGE: What is the op5. LITERATURE: Which 20th-century movie penned the autobiograposite of thestar word convex? phy “Me: Stories of My Life”? 6. HISTORY: In What wasbody the first 3. GEOGRAPHY: which of National Monument proclaimed in the United water is States? the island of St. Vincent 7. GEOGRAPHY: Where is the found? island of Luzon located? 8. MOVIES: Which sci-fi movie has 4. the COMICS: tagline, What “Realitywas is athe thingname of the past”? of Superman's pet monkey? 9. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What was the name of the United States’ first 5. nuclear-powered HISTORY: Who was the king submarine? 10. GAMES: the four railof road England at What the are time of the properties in Monopoly? American Revolution? Answers 1. 63,360 inches 6. LITERATURE: Which 20th2. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence novel featured a characcentury 3. Below or insufficient ter called Atticus Finch? 4. Grover Cleveland 5. Katharine Hepburn 6. Devils Tower, 1906 What does 7. MEDICAL TERMS: The Philippines the 7. "idiopathic" mean in 8.term “The Matrix” 9. The USS diagnosis of aNautilus condition? 10. Pennsylvania, Short Line, Reading and B&O
January 27, 2020
Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, familial status, religious status, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Persons who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact Michael Escalante at 352.955.2200, extension 114, at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. 10-12-20-1-20
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King Features Weekly Service
Due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area will conduct a virtual meeting via communications media technology. The meeting is a virtual public meeting, as permitted by Florida Governor’s Executive Order No. 2020-69, as extended. The public may submit comments to the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area through email (escalante@ncfrpc.org) or by calling into the public comment message line when prompted to call during the meeting. Public comment will be taken by telephone for all nonministerial items on which the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area votes. Once public comment is opened for an item under discussion, please call the public comment telephone number. Callers comments will be limited to three minutes. In addition, the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization will open telephone lines for a public comment session for the public to discuss items not on the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area agenda. Public comment during the public comment session will be limited to three minutes per each caller. Virtual Public Workshop and Citizens Comment agenda item calls should be limited to transportation planning issues within the Gainesville Metropolitan Area. Duration of the Virtual Public Workshop and the Citizens Comment agenda item may extend as long as calls are received. The public is encouraged to submit any written or photographic documents prior to the meeting to escalante@ncfrpc.org. Any questions regarding participation should be directed to the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville Urbanized Area Office at 352.955.2200, extension 114.
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 ALLIGATOR 13
Pandemic startups: UF students turn self-isolation into success By Nora O’Neill Alligator Staff Writer
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online and sent students home, many were left with an unprecedented amount of free time. For some, that time was used to take summer classes or learn new skills. But for others, it was used to bring to life goals they’d been dreaming of for years or spontaneous passion projects. Wacky Sauces LLC
On a hot day in June, Logan Ritten posed the fateful question to his sister, which would eventually launch his business. “Wouldn’t it be funny if I sold f------ hot sauce?” He then created an Instagram account, called F------ Hot Sauce until Ritten decided to change it to the less-profane name of his LLC, Wacky Sauces, and has been posting hot sauce memes on it since. Prior to that day, the 22-year-old UF aerospace engineering senior had been experimenting with making hot sauce for about a year. His obsession with spicy foods took off when he started a garden. Today, he grows more than 30 varieties of peppers, including some of the hottest in the world. He describes “F@*king Hot Sauce,” as a nice kick for spicy-food lovers and really hot for the less tolerant. The sauce is primarily fresno chilis and smokey habaneros with molasses for sweetness, ghost chili powder, vinegar and lime. The small hot sauce community is very supportive, he said. When he started out, he asked many small businesses for advice. To this day, he Zooms with friends he’s made in the “pepper community” on Saturday nights to talk and try hot peppers. It’s what led him to try the hottest pepper he’s ever had — the 7-Pot chili pepper. “It was so hot that it made my tongue feel like it was white hot and on fire,” he said. “I went blind for like 30 seconds.” Ritten, who has become a certified Florida Foodhandler, makes his sauce in a commercial kitchen in New Smyrna. He then bottles and ships the sauce himself. So far, Ritten has sold about 150 bottles for $12 each. He is about halfway to making the money back he spent to start Wacky Sauces, he said. In the beginning, he almost maxed out his credit card. He said Wacky Sauces is a direct result of all the free time he had during quarantine. He never would have started his business otherwise. Ritten’s hot sauce meme account has 2,512 followers as of Sunday evening. It’s filled with inside jokes about the “Brötherhood of Zauce” and the “horrifying Big Hot Sauce” industry. He said the memes are a marketing technique he learned from the Slim Jim Instagram account, which was run by one of his inspirations, Andy Hines. “The memes have sort of taken on a life of their own. There’s like a story behind them at this point,” he said. “You look at my page, and you’re like, ‘What does this even mean?’” Ritten’s girlfriend, Noelle Chin-Vance, a 22-year-old UF environmental engineering senior, witnessed the whole process. She recalls a moment early on when the pair touched their eyes after handling peppers. She said
the pain was horrible and their attempt at rinsing their eyes out with water only made it worse. “We had to get a bowl of milk and put our eyes in it,” Chin-Vance said. “And then we’re just standing in the kitchen with one eye in the milk just thinking ‘How did I get here? I’m 22-years-old and I’m sticking my eye in milk.’” But beyond that incident, she has been cheering him on the entire time. “I’m just very proud of him. I’m very amazed at how far it has come especially with COVID,” she said. QT Stylez
By the time she was in second grade, Ta’Neil Malcolm was already running a fashion show. It was a small one at her prep school in Jamaica where she helped girls pick out outfits to wear, but it sparked her interest in the fashion industry. She learned how to sew from her grandmother at age six and always accessorized her school uniform. She said she remembers getting in trouble as a child for cutting up her clothing so she could sew outfits for her dolls. Today, the 19-year-old UF biomedical engineering sophomore runs her own online boutique, QT Stylez. “It really has always been my goal at some point in my life to create a platform to discuss my ideas about fashion,” she said. “In my head I was like, ‘I know I’m young, but if it’s possible, I want to get started on this.’” The brand started off selling bonnets, which are silk head coverings that keep curls intact while one sleeps, Malcolm said. From there, she progressed to sunglasses, handbags, visors, headbands and belts. She sources and buys all the products from manufacturers in the U.S. and Asia before reselling them. She hopes that someday soon she will find a manufacturer who will help produce her own original clothing and accessory designs. At first, Malcom didn’t think anyone would buy from her. But after her friends reposted her products on social media, the response was incredibly positive. “I’m so thankful and grateful of those people up to this day,” she said. “Because if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have continued.” As a Black woman, Malcolm said she knows the inherent struggles her community faces when trying to start their own businesses. According to the U.S. Census’ most recent Annual Business Survey, Black Americans own 2.2% of the nation’s businesses. Of those, 36.1% are owned by women. Anything people can do to support these Black women is important, she said. “Just do anything that says, ‘I see you. I know it’s hard, but you’re still trying, and you’re still showing the world that you’re going to show up to this business, even though it’s hard,’” Malcolm said. Malcolm’s mother, 42-year-old Tawea Miller, helps promote the boutique on social media. Miller recalls Malcolm loving fashion from a young age. “I used to always dress her up when she was little. She automatically loved it,” Miller said. Miller is glad her daughter is pursuing something she is passionate about and that
she has the opportunity to support Malcolm. Although she still wants to pursue a career in biomedical engineering, Malcolm said she will continue to develop and expand QT Stylez. Her mission is simple. “In my soul, my goal is to allow all women to be their best selves.” StudyDate
College students used to swiping right and left on dating app profiles can now put their skills to good use with the Tinder of educational apps: StudyDate. With classes online and social gatherings restricted, app co-creator Zachary Shenkman said the time has never been better to introduce an app like StudyDate. The app, which launched Sept. 3, connects UF students based on their classes, interests and study habits, said Shenkman, a 19-year-old UF computer science sophomore. Students create a profile on the app and an algorithm presents them with users who could be good study partners. Users then choose to “like” a profile by swiping to the right or “dislike” by swiping to the left. After a user “likes” a profile, they can send a message even before they get “liked” back. The app only works for students with verified UF email addresses, but the creators plan to expand the app in the future, Shenkman said. “There are some other social networks that people use to meet each other, but none of them really incorporate the same swath of features that we do,” he said. Users can choose to chat in the app, which also has a feature where users can schedule Zoom meetings with each other. About 700 students use the free app, Shenkman said. Producing the app remotely wasn’t difficult, Shenkman said, because the creators code collaboratively online. But he does think the COVID-19 pandemic aided the app’s success. Within two days, about 200 users downloaded the app. Nine days later, there were about 500 users. “People are looking for other outlets to connect with people without having to do it in person,” he said. “So there really isn’t a better time for a product like ours.” Nihar Soman, a 19-year-old UF finance sophomore, has used the app since it launched. “It promotes an environment where students can collaborate and work together to motivate each other in an environment where COVID has stripped away that kind of sense of communication,” Soman said. Shenkman began work on the app in April with Wuseok Jung, a 19-year-old UF computer science sophomore, and Joshua Ryals, a 21-year-old UF computer engineering senior. They worked remotely for the entirety of the process. While Shenkman and Ryals stayed in Florida, Jung said he visited family in South Korea. Because of the time difference, Jung said he was often up after midnight on Zoom and Slack, a messaging app. One of his fondest memories of the experience was when, after months of work, the app was finally approved to be sold by the Apple App Store in the middle of the night. “It happened at 2 a.m. and I woke up, went to the App Store and I checked and saw
it there,” Jung said. “We were all just super elated and super excited. I wish we had gotten to see it together.” Sweets by Mich
Stuck in her hometown over the summer with little to do during self-isolation, Michelle Valoz started a bakery. The Miami-based vegan bakery, Sweets by Mich, operates out of Valoz’s parents’ home kitchen. She makes all the goods herself with the occasional help from her mom, Michelina Valoz. The creation of Sweets by Mich wasn’t intentional, though, said Michelle, a 21-yearold UF telecommunication senior. The business started after a friend asked to purchase a Key lime pie Michelle posted on her Instagram. “I thought she was joking at first, but she was genuine,” she said. “I really didn’t expect it to take off in the way it did.” Michelle said most of her recipes are adapted to be vegan from recipes she finds online. “I want people to see that they can still enjoy the foods that they love without having to sacrifice anything,” she said. Customers placed orders for local pick-up or delivery through the bakery’s website. All deliveries were done by Michelle or her dad with masks on for safety, she said. As a small child, Michelle spent all her time in her play kitchen, which she named “La Corona,” which means “The Crown” in Spanish. When she was 11, she said she made her family gather around the toy and order off handwritten menus she crafted before serving them plastic food. Michelle learned to bake through a lot of trial and error, she said. Once, she threw away a red velvet cake she made for a customer because it turned out chalky and didn’t rise in the oven. She made another which turned out better — until she started decorating. The icing fell off the cake and made a gooey mess as it dripped down the sides. “It was quite literally falling apart,” she said. “It looked like one of those Pinterest-fail cakes.” Michelle said she doesn’t think she would have started the bakery without the time she spent in self-isolation because of the pandemic. Now, she wants to pursue baking after graduation. “It’s always been on the back of my mind, to bake, I’ve always loved it so much,” she said. “But I’ve been scared to dedicate myself to something so risky.” Michelle only sells her products in Miami. While she’s in Gainesville for school, her mother, Michelina, took over baking and selling doughnuts through Organic Food Kings, a Miami food truck. Michelle will be back to taking orders when she goes home for Winter Break. Like her daughter, Michelina, 51, never imagined Michelle would pursue baking as a job. “She always planned something big for herself, so I’m not surprised it evolved into this,” Michelina said. All graphics created by Shannon Ahern // Alligator Staff @noroneill noneill@alligator.org
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 www.alligator.org/sports
Nothing But Nettuno
Mullen’s ‘pack The Swamp’ comments were off-base
T
here are an abundance of reasons why the Gators lost their first game of the 2020 season against Texas A&M on Saturday. There’s the fact that they allowed 32 first downs. There’s the fact that UF’s defense gave up 500 yards of offense for the second time in three weeks. There’s also the fact that TAMU converted on 12 of its 15 third-down opportunities. But Florida coach Dan Mullen fixated on one variable during his postgame press conference. “The crowd was certainly a factor in the game,” he said. “I know our governor passed that rule so certainly; hopefully, the UF administration decides to let us pack The Swamp against LSU — 100% — because that crowd was certainly a factor in the game. I certainly hope our administration follows the governor.” “The governor has passed a rule that we’re allowed to pack The Swamp and have 90,000 in The Swamp to give us the home-field advantage Texas A&M had today.” The “rule” Mullen is referring to is the decision from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow stadiums in the state to return to full capacity as part of “Phase Three” of reopening. No professional or collegiate sports teams in the state have announced plans to return to full capacity. Asked for a follow-up by Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, Mullen had the opportunity to clarify his comments. He had the chance to walk back his statement. Instead, he doubled down. “Absolutely, I want to see 90,000 at The Swamp,” Mullen said. “The section behind our bench, I didn’t see an empty seat. It was packed, the entire student section. It must have been 50,000 people behind our bench going crazy. Hopefully, that will create a home-field advantage for us next week because we’ve passed a law in our state that allows us to do that.” I get that Mullen was frustrated. To clarify, no laws have actually been passed in the state of Florida regarding stadium capacity. Watching on the broadcast, it did appear as though the fans at Kyle Field — at an announced capacity of 24,709 — weren’t particularly keen on social distancing. I also know it can’t be fun to have microphones shoved in your face moments after suffering a devastating and emotional loss — one that has real-world impacts on you and your family. But these aren’t justifications for his comments, which were highly irresponsible. More irresponsible, perhaps, than he realized in the moment. These sentiments fly in the face of the consensus of public health experts, who say that large gatherings (such as tens of thousands of fans attending a sporting event) put participants at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Even with capacities at stadiums significantly reduced, the staff has struggled to enforce safety regulations. My colleagues Noah Ram and Zachary Huber were at Florida’s home opener against South Carolina last week, where the attendance for the game numbered 15,120 (below the maximum allowed capacity of 20%). Midfielder Syd Kennedy was Florida’s lone scorer in the Gators’ 2-1 loss to Texas A&M on Sunday. She scored the goal off of a pass from forward Madison Alexander in the 58th minute..
UF volleyball ranks No. 2 in the SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll
The Gators volleyball team ranked second in the volleyball SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll announced last Wednesday. UF ranked right below longtime rival Kentucky and just ahead of Missouri.
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Despite the stadium’s attendance being reduced to below a fifth of its total capacity, they reported that staffers had difficulty or weren’t always making sure fans were wearing masks. When the game ended, social distancing was thrown to the wayside as piles of fans tried to leave. Without sufficient contact tracing, it’s impossible to know exactly how impactful these games are on the spread of COVID-19. Once the fans (many of whom come from out of town) leave the stadium and return back to their hometowns, they could carry the virus with them. Tyler Nettuno Currently, there’s no way of knowing if that’s the case. twitter: @TylerNettuno To suggest that UF should increase the capacity of The Swamp to a full 88,548 now is absolutely ludicrous. It was a comment born of frustration and misplaced blame at his team’s struggles, which have been consistent through three games regardless of locale and crowd size. Luckily, Athletic Director Scott Stricklin seems to agree. He told Bianchi, who wrote a column criticizing Mullen, that the UAA currently has no plans to expand the capacity at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. “We continue to follow UF Health and campus guidelines,” he said. “I’ve not heard anything about campus adjusting (its) guidelines.” It’s encouraging to see that public safety will likely triumph over the idea of “home-field advantage,” but it doesn’t make Mullen’s comments any less tone-deaf. Many students have had their lives totally upended by the pandemic. They’ve been forced to pay full tuition for online classes, which are often less substantive than their in-person counterparts. Many put themselves at risk of infection daily, whether from living in a dorm or taking select classes in person. A number of these students won’t get to walk in a formal graduation, and a sizable proportion of those will be first-generation college graduates whose families won’t get the chance to see their dreams realized. And yet, despite that, Mullen thinks it would be a good idea to cram nearly 90,000 of them into a concrete bowl once a week in the name of “competitive advantage.” Such a suggestion is laughable. I’m sure Mullen didn’t consider the full weight of the words he used and how ridiculous his idea was, given the circumstances. I fully expect him to retract those comments during his press conference on Monday. But the fact that he would even entertain the idea of filling the stadium demonstrates a concerning level of apathy from the leader of a program directly responsible for the safety of over 100 players and staff.
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SPECIAL EDITION MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 ALLIGATOR
He has over 180,000 TikTok followers FEATURE, from pg. 2 had about 6,000,” he said about his TikTok following. “I thought it was a one-time thing, but I did another, and another and haven’t stopped since.” Taylor said he gets most of his ideas after practice. He said he treats TikTok like a competition, and when inspiration rears its way in his head, he always wants to produce the video before someone else does. Some videos take five minutes to make, but he said it’s not rare to have one take 20 minutes to write, film, edit and post. “In this era, social media is almost essential to one’s life, and I think being able to have a relatively good platform to share my fun, goofy side is truly a blessing,” Taylor said. “I never in a million years thought I’d be what people call TikTok famous.”
• • •
John first met Taylor when the two were in the same sixth-grade class. A Florida State Seminole fanatic, John walked in on that first day with a shouting Seminole
temporarily tattooed on his arm. It wasn’t long until Taylor took notice and asked about the tattoo. According to John, Taylor said, “This won’t be a good friendship.” “He’s always the center of attention,” he said. “He’s kind of hard not to be around. He’s always a good time to be around.” But, even with Taylor’s inviting personality, it’s easy for a walk-on to get lost in a roster of more than 80 players. Taylor, who joined without the clout of a high rating on Rivals or 247Sports, said he was initially intimidated. Quaylin Crum, a walkon athlete and close friend of Taylor’s, said it wasn’t long until the team embraced the new tight end in the locker room. Throughout this summer, head coach Dan Mullen repeatedly expressed that each player should use their platforms to amplify their voices. Quarterback Kyle Trask’s tweet in support of the Black Lives Matter movement gained more than 4,000 likes and 600 retweets, Trevon Grimes’ received more than 800 likes and 93 retweets. While in Gainesville, Taylor
attended protests and used every inch of his 6-foot-5 frame and a megaphone to make sure his voice was heard. But still, he jostled over the idea of using his social media to raise further awareness.
“I used to be intimidated when I use my voice because I figured, ‘Okay, well, if I use it, are they really gonna listen to a walk-on who’s never played before?’” Taylor said. But following an intimate conversation with Mullen, the head coach’s vote of confidence gave Taylor the reassurance that his voice matters. So, he put himself in the fight for equality. On Sept. 14, 2014, Taylor and a friend went to a nearby Marshall’s with their allowance burning through their pockets. They walked around and left without purchasing anything. When they walked out to the parking lot, Taylor said two police officers stopped him, and Taylor was told he “fit a description.” Taylor said he was brought to the ground for around 10 minutes.
“Why aren’t you checking my friend?” Taylor said. “Why are you just trying to embarrass me in front of everybody right now? And, a cop looking at me with a straight face literally said, he said, ‘Are you gonna make me say it?’.” When he was pinned to the ground, Taylor said he fought through waves of emotions as he struggled to understand why he was forced into that position. “As a kid, you never expect that to happen,” Taylor said. So he used his presence on social media to leverage his voice. He fought for racial equality; he fought for the rights of college athletes. And as he and the Gators held conversations discussing racial inequality in America, his anxiety disappeared. “I think the intimidation factor kind of shied away, quite a bit actually after they allowed me to, you know, use my voice,” Taylor said. But, Taylor’s messages combating racial inequality in America weren’t limited to social media. Peters said he and Taylor would regularly talk about race in the U.S. “He knows that there actually is an issue going on because he’s lived it firsthand,” Perets said.
• • • Taylor’s schedule is simple. He wakes up each morning at 5 a.m., eats what he can, and by 6 a.m., he’s lifting weights. Later, he has a team meeting at 8 a.m., class from 8:45 to 2:30 p.m., another team meeting at 3 p.m., practice starts 45 minutes later, and ends at 5:30 p.m. After, it’s time for homework. The life of a student-athlete is simple, right? “I mean, it is a hectic schedule, but it’s not as bad as some people portray it,” Taylor said. While he doesn’t show up on SportsCenter like fellow tight end Kyle Pitts, he’s still among the last to leave the field after practices. Because Taylor loves being a Gator, he relishes the fulfillment that comes with pursuing his passion while living out a childhood fantasy. While he doesn’t know what the future holds, few can doubt he will make the most of it.
cortega@alligator.org @unofficialchris
Alligator File Photo
Morris McFadden, a 21-year-old telecommunication and production major and one of the organizers of the protest, hugs Clifford Taylor IV (back right) during a protest on June 6.
ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 SPECIAL EDITION
FOOTBALL
Gators burned after first loss of the season By Payton Titus Sports Writer
Can reptiles get rope burn? If the answer is yes, then hopefully UF has enough ointment for coach Dan Mullen, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and the 80-man roster to lather on their hands upon touching down in Gainesville. In a tug of war between Florida and Texas A&M on Saturday, the Aggies yanked the rope across the marked line with a game-winning field goal at the last second, forcing the Gators’ faces into the mud. “This one, it hurt a little bit more, because I don’t think we expected to even be that close,” linebacker James Houston said about the loss. “We wanted to blow them out and send a statement.” A&M’s 41-38 victory gave the Aggies a 3-2 all-time series lead against the Gators. It gave Florida some perspective on just how lacking its defense has been this season. Aggressive defense and an absentee offense is a Florida tale as old as Tim Tebow’s alumni status. But at this point in the 2020 campaign, it’s clear the opposite holds true.
The Aggies were 12 for 15 on third down, breathing life into the “third and Grantham” phenomenon. They had the ball for nine more minutes than Florida, which allowed them to run 18 more plays than the Gators. A&M racked up 205 rushing yards to Florida’s 90, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Mullen seemed convinced after the game that Texas A&M’s famous 12th-man crowd gave it a distinct advantage. He said “there must have been 50,000 behind our bench going crazy.” However, ESPN reported that 24,709 fans were at Kyle Field Saturday afternoon, about 9,000 more butts in seats this weekend than last at The Swamp. Even still, none of Mullen’s players shared his spectatorship sentiment. “I mean, it’s nothing that we couldn’t manage,” Kyle Trask said when asked about the A&M crowd. “We’re used to 90,000 in the stands,” Nay’Quan Wright said, echoing his quarterback’s message. “This is nothing new to us. We’ve just got to back to the drawing board and clean some things up as a team.” Regardless of his team’s psyche, Mullen said he “absolute-
Courtesy to The Alligator
UF’s defense allowed Texas A&M to convert on 12 of its 15 third-downs in a 41-38 loss on Saturday. ly” wants to see a packed house at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium from now on. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Phase 3 reopening plan allows all stadiums in the state to return to 100% capacity. It’s worth noting Florida could not sell out last weekend with only 20% of the stadium’s seating capacity. Skip Powers, director of football communications for the University Athletic Association, told WCJB TV20 it’d continue to
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monitor the situation and consult with its healthcare professionals before making any stadium capacity changes earlier this week. Athletic director Scott Stricklin told the Orlando Sentinel that UF has no plans to lift current stadium restrictions. University president Kent Fuchs confirmed such sentiments via Twitter Sunday night. Mullen’s frustration seems misplaced, however. Did the fans at Kyle Field Saturday knock the ball out of Malik Davis’ hands in
the fourth quarter? Did the fans create wide-open channels for the A&M run game to expose for 60 minutes? Did the fans allow a season-high 41 points? Mullen’s players might want to save a little extra ointment for their coach. He seemed more burned by the loss than anyone else.
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