The Signal Vol. 82 No. 28

And ... we’re out!

It’s int no o t ed th the ito e f en r’s utu d “fa re bu t Pa rew . Re a lo ell ad o ge ” le ou k 9 tte r r

As a token of appreciation, we dedicate this issue to you, our readers. We’ll be back with another print issue in the fall.

APRIL 21 - ARPIL 27, 2015

VOL. 82 | NO. 28

(But we’ll still publish daily online content in the summer! www.georgiastatesignal.com)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR in response to the article “Student homeowners say Atlanta BeltLine developments intrude upon property” pubished last week

OPINIONS | PAGE 8

PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

Inside like us! facebook.com/gsusignal

follow us! twitter.com/gsusignal

Pets, not partners

Georgia State professor’s pets get medical coverage, but their domestic partners don’t.

News | Page 5

DAILY NEWS AT WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Battle of the lots

beats and bars

first place player

The student population continues to rise, while parking options seem to be getting slimmer and slimmer.

Sensei Bueno and Nai Br.xx are Georgia State students dominating the Atlanta music industry.

Sophmore baseball outfielder Ryan Blanton scores big numbers as a student and an athlete.

Opinions| Page 8

A&L | page 13

Sports | page 18

News 2

Opinions 7

Arts & Living 10

Sports 17

2

NEWS

blotter feminism.

Marietta Street

A Georgia State officer came on the scene where an unknown female was assaulting an unknown male.

The officer attempted to detain the female when she became physically combative and reported there was a strong odor of alcohol on the woman. The woman was arrested and transported to Fulton County Jail.

2.

April 13

Child abuse is no laughing matter.

Always report it.

Turner Field Parking Lot

A juvenile approached a Georgia State officer at 8:45 a.m. claiming to have run away from home after being physically threatened by his mother. The case has been turned over and is being handled by the Atlanta Police Department.

3.

April 13

3.

11 1. April The wrong kind of

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Brrrr, it’s cold in here. There must be an Aries in the atmosphere.

2.

University Commons

A Georgia State student filed for a verbal confrontation after having numerous arguments with her roommate from April 9 to April 13 about the temperature of the room.

The case has been turned over and is being handled by the Office of the Dean of Students.

April 13

4.

Stop…. Hammer time. Jesse Hill Dr.

A driver with an outstanding warrant was arrested by Georgia State Police after being caught for driving by a stop sign without stopping. The driver has been processed and transported to Fulton County Jail.

5.

1.

13 5. april Only students get to

HArrassment

sleep here.

4.

Library Plaza

A Georgia State officer issued a CTW (Criminal Trespass Warning) and escorted an individual off grounds after having found the person sleeping in multiple areas on campus.

Wreckless driving CTW

Photo of the week PHOTO BY BRITTANY GUERIN | THE SIGNAL A group of Georgia State students and more rallied against police brutality in the U.S. on April 14.

THE SIGNAL

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NEWS

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

Campus alerts: Student asks for quicker alert system

Story suggested by: Alexis Williams Freshman, Journalism Major PHOTO BY RALPH HERNANDEZ | THE SIGNAL

CLAIR IRVIN Staff Reporter

T

he university’s most recent campus alert being broadcasted more than 17 hours later, Alexis Williams, Georgia State student, said Georgia State Police Department (GSUPD) could do a better job at sending out timelier campus alerts.

The incident was an armed robbery in Georgia State’s E Parking Lot on Feb. 22 at 5:04 p.m. The alert came out the following Monday on Feb. 23 at 11:28 a.m, according to a Campus Broadcast Alert email sent to students.

Williams said students’ safety can be put at risk, since the campus alert was sent at that time.

“The time they tell us that a crime has happened is more than 12 hours later and they still haven’t caught the suspects so it puts more students at risk because we have no idea what to be aware of,” she said.

Another criminal incident involving a female student confronted by two men on campus happened on Oct. 2, 2014 at 7:20 p.m. One man tried to grab her waist, but she screamed, according to the Campus Broadcast Alert email.

The following day a report was filed about two black men who followed a female student at 12:30 a.m.

The campus alert for both incidents weren’t sent until 3:19 p.m. that day, according to the Campus Broadcast Alert email.

GSUPD’s campus alert process Chief of GSUPD Connie Sampson said the reason campus alerts aren’t broadcasted when a crime occurs is because a process is involved. She said the process consists of drafting, sending and broadcasting a notice through different channels.

She also said there is a difference between an emergency notification and a timely notice.

An emergency notification of incoming dangerous weather conditions are broadcasted faster because the process isn’t as involved as a timely notice is, according to Sampson.

She said emergency notifications are sent through various channels, such as email, phones and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

“Now, a timely notice comes under a different set of standards and that usually has to do with a criminal incident that has occurred on campus where there may be threatening criminal activity to the community,” Sampson said.

Sampson said, her management staff, and the police department are in charge of making sure students are aware of campus alerts by sending the broadcasts out to them.

Also, the department works with Georgia State’s Public Relations Department to ensure messages are

broadcasted to social media.

There are numerous ways GSUPD contacts and tries to give students information in a timely manner, according to Sampson.

Getting attention from alerts However, Sampson said GSUPD is careful about what is broadcasted to students to avoid a crying wolf scenario.

“You’ve heard of the term, crying wolf ?” she said. “What we’ve seen throughout not just our campus but other campuses is these things go out about anything that happening whether it’s phone or book theft that people just stop paying attention to them.”

Crying wolf is when an individual asks for help too many times when it’s unnecessary, which inhibits the help they receive when they do need it, according to the Online Cambridge Dictionary.

In this case, Sampson said she has seen students at Georgia State and other campuses lack attention if they receive an influx of alerts.

She also said incidents such as phone theft or book theft, won’t be broadcasted to prevent the crying wolf scenario.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) handles situations similarly, because if the environment is saturated with too many notifications then people lose interest, according to Sampson.

The GBI is an independently

run agency that assists in Georgia’s criminal justice system, according to their website.

Williams said timely campus alerts would help her know what areas to avoid. “…I’m not sure what to be looking out for or what area to keep clear of at night or when I’m on a late night CVS run, because we all know there are some sketchy people out,” she said.

However, Sampson said all areas are equal in their safeness.

“Whether they are on campus, whether they are at Lenox or whether they are going out on a late nightclub event, there’s no particular area that’s more safe than others,” she said.

Ways to stay safe Sampson advised students to pay attention to their surroundings regardless of where they are.

She also said students should have GSUPD’s phone number programmed into their cell phones in case they see anything suspicious.

Williams also encourages students to use Georgia State’s escort service.

“That’s always used to stay safe because the GSUPD will also walk with you or take you wherever you need to go,” she said.

By calling the escort service’s number, students can be escorted anywhere on campus, including Peachtree Center, Five Points MARTA Stations and commercial

parking lots located near campus, according to Georgia State’s Safety and Security page.

“One security guard is assigned to the Escort Van from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday when classes are in session. When Daylight savings time is in effect, the times are subject to change,” the website states.

Georgia State student Brandon Hayden, Georgia State student, said the university helps students by sending out campus alerts, no matter the timeliness.

“A lot of people think Atlanta is such a scary place, but honestly we only get maybe two campus alerts a month,” he said. “For a place like Atlanta, that’s pretty good. I really don’t check the time at which they send the campus alert, but I’m just thankful they send it at all. Things that happen on campus need to be known.”

Kristen Brown, a Georgia State student, said there hasn’t been many campus alerts.

“That either tells me that our campus is very safe, or we’re only getting a fraction of the updates and alerts for crimes that are actually going on. Seeing the GSU police on the street definitely help[s] me feel safe on campus, but it looks like they’re only surrounding the dorms.” she said.

She also said more updates would benefit students.

“As students in the city, we go outside the limits of the campus on an everyday basis,” Brown said. “ I think it would be helpful to get updates that go just a little beyond the campus, even on crimes that don’t involve GSU students.”

5

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Georgia State professor advocates for same-sex benefits

Story suggested by:

(Todd Henry, Astronomy Professor) PHOTO BY BRITTANY GUERIN | THE SIGNAL Georgia State professor Todd Henry speaks on the lack of same-sex benefits the institution currently offers.

MARLEE ARCHER Staff Reporter

A

fter 15 years of teaching at Georgia State, astronomy professor Todd Henry said he has faced discrimination at the university because of his sexual orientation.

While other university employees have access to medical benefits for their partners, he does not. This is because his domestic partnership is with a man, a union not legally recognized by the University System of Georgia (USG) and the state of Georgia.

“When all of the colleagues I have on this hallway can get medical coverage for their significant others and I can’t, I don’t know what to call that except discrimination,” Henry said.

University spokeswoman Andrea Jones said administration understands this is an important issue, but Georgia law has their hands tied.

“The university is supportive of measures that would help recruit and retain top faculty and staff,” she said.

“As a public university, we comply with current law. “ Georgia State does offer soft benefits to the domestic partners of employees, which include vision, dental, accidental death and dismemberment coverage, according to the Human Resources Employee Benefits Handbook.

This is a partial coverage compared to the full medical benefits offered to opposite-sex married spouses of employees, according to the handbook.

Already frustrated with the issue, Henry said he was further enraged to find that Georgia State now offers health benefits to the pets of its employees.

“The Human Resources Department at Georgia State University has found a way that employees can get a medical plan for their pets,” he said.

“But you can’t do it for your partner, and that’s not acceptable.”

Henry also said he thinks administration may not see this as a real problem, but feels that discrimination is always a problem.

There may be a long hierarchy of people who are either over-burdened or think the issue will just go away, according to Henry.

“But I refuse to go away,” he said.

“I’m going to keep saying that this is an issue and that this administration has not stepped up to the plate and done the right thing.”

The history of Henry’s advocacy Henry began fighting for full medical benefits for same sex partners at Georgia State in 2013, after the Supreme Court decision that made the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.

“The day DOMA was struck down, I said okay, this is the turning point. Something has to happen now,” he said.

Henry, other faculty members and graduate students reached out to various entities of Georgia State administration pushing for the addition of same-sex partner medical benefits.

Henry said concerned parties did not receive the feedback they’d hoped for and were told that offering medical benefits to domestic partners is against the law.

“I gave them a year and nothing still had happened,” he said. With each push for answers, he said he was given the same response: “The University System of Georgia (USG), provides healthcare plans for employees of the USG, including their spouses and families. In offering these plans, the USG must comply with the laws of the State of Georgia, which recognizes marriage as being between a man and a woman. As part of the USG, Georgia State University’s employees are provided the same healthcare plans that must comply with state law.”

Side stepping Georgia law

Henry and Atlanta-based LGBT advocacy organization Georgia Equality said the Board of Regents is missing a chance to fight laws due to the emphasis placed on marital status.

Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham said several municipalities around the state offer domestic partnership benefits to their employees.

“I think what most of those municipalities have found is that as long as they are offering the same benefits to samesex and opposite sex couples, they’re not making a distinction between the couples,” he said. “This is actually when they can get around the state constitutional amendment and the state ban on this.”

Henry said he is confused why Georgia State administration can’t take

action since they have discussed the addition of medical benefits for domestic partners.

A subcommittee was assigned to investigate associated costs and found financing benefits would be relatively inexpensive, according to Georgia State faculty affairs committee meeting minutes on Nov. 18, 2014.

It would cost “approximately $130,000 per year based on a best estimate, which would be one-half percent of GSU’s health costs overall,” the minutes stated.

Foundation funds, which are not state funded, were suggested but were allocated elsewhere, according to the minutes.

However, the minutes also stated the committee found $1.7 million dollars of unallocated funds. Whether or not these funds were provided by the state wasn’t specified in the minutes.

While this may show signs that administration has plans for benefit implementation in the future, Henry said this is a step the university should have taken a long time ago.

“The university should be leading the charge on these things,” he said.

“They are the ones that are supposed to be pushing society forward in a lot of ways. And this university hasn’t.”

How UGA paved the way Faculty and staff at the University of Georgia (UGA) have also tried to solve the issue since 2012, according to Deirdre Kane, president of UGA LGBT advocacy organization called GLOBES. With efforts bolstered by Janet Frick, former chair of the human resources committee of UGA University Council, GLOBE and the council set forth a proposal that pushed for implementation of full medical benefits at their institution.

Kane said they garnered support from faculty, staff, students and administration. However, he said the Board of Regents ultimately denied their proposal.

Kane also said he thinks their efforts failed for two essential reasons. “First, the Georgia state constitution defines spouse/marriage as between a man and a woman,” Kane said. “Second, the Board of Regents self-insures USG employees and could choose to offer benefits to a broader class of individuals, but they choose not to, and follow what the legislature and Constitution define as relationships.”

Statewide status of domestic partnership benefits Graham said while Georgia State could be another trailblazer on the issue, ultimately the problem is statewide and has to be addressed at the levels of the institution, USG and Georgia overall.

“It’s important across the board— for the university system here in Georgia to be able to attract and retain the best professors,” he said. “So that we do have the best education possible, the university really needs to treat all employees equally.”

Graham also said he commends the efforts of Georgia State thus far, but further progress still needs to be aggressively pursued.

“The university itself, I think has done an admirable job of doing what they feel they can,” he said. “But until all the benefits are the same, the gay and lesbian employees are just going to be treated at a disadvantage.”

What presents further concern is the conflicting message existing between the discrimination policies of universities and the state constitution of Georgia, according to Graham.

“Georgia State, as well as most of the universities within USG, have policies that say employees cannot be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation; and most of them also include gender identity,” he said.

“However, it is really hard to enforce those policies when we don’t back that up by law here in Georgia.”

The issue may get resolved later this year as the U.S. Supreme Court plans to hear arguments regarding gay marriage on April 26, according to Henry.

“I think eventually this game is over because the Supreme Court’s going to rule,” Henry said. “And I believe it’s going to go in the favor of those who want to get married anywhere.”

Regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, Graham said there are efforts being made at the state level. He mentioned the recent push by two Georgia state representatives for House Bill (HB) 323, which is an amendment to the Fair Employment Practices Act. “It would protect state employees, including all employees that work for the University System of Georgia, against workplace discrimination,” Graham said.

This type of discrimination includes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Georgia Voice.

Graham said universities within USG could advocate for HB 323 to show support for on-campus LGBT communities.

“If we actually have people who do work for the state of Georgia and we have institutions like Georgia State University, or the Board of Regents, that add their support to our advocacy efforts, I do believe that we could pass this bill within the next year,” he said.

The truth about faculty benefits

Aaron Prince, president of Georgia State’s student advocacy organization The Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, said though the topic of debate is USG faculty’s benefits, the issue also affects students.

“It definitely picks apart the possibility of a partnership in the future,” he said. “If we decide to get married and have kids, it would definitely influence it, and maybe make us not want to do it if we aren’t getting any rights or benefits.”

Prince also said the law is discriminatory in more ways than unequal faculty benefits, especially in the case of long-term domestic partnerships.

Prince’s family friend was in a domestic partnership, and unfortunately passed away from AIDS. While the friend’s parents distanced themselves because of his diagnosis, the two built a life together, according to Prince. When he died, the partner had none of the rights a legally recognized partner would have in the event of a spouse’s death, according to Prince.

“Once he died, his parents were able to come in and take everything they worked for and built,” Prince said.

“And this is why we need these laws in place to protect that, because it’s just not right.”

Henry said all people are responsible to push for progress towards gender and sexual equality, regardless of sexual orientation.

“Discrimination is ugly,” he said.

“And those who stand by and do nothing when discrimination is happening are no better than those who perpetrate it.”

6

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

University

Story suggested by:

(Christian Hill, Alumni, former Vice President of Student Services) PHOTO BY RUTH PANNILL | THE SIGNAL

SGA VP-elect proposes partial meal plans Partial meal plans intended for commuter students PHOTO BY RALPH HERNANDEZ | THE SIGNAL A student has his meal at Piedmont North dining hall.

ADJOA DANSO Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State students may soon have additional dining hall options outside of the university’s current unlimited access meal plans.

Fortune Onwuzuruike, Georgia State’s Student Government Association (SGA) vice president-elect of Student Services, plans to use his new position in implementing partial meal plans for Georgia State students. He described the plans as being affordable and budgeted by a set number of swipes allowed at university dining halls.

Onwuzuruike said partial meal plans would benefit commuter students.

“This would provide [an] incentive for commuter students to interact and engage more while they are here on campus,” he said.

Onwuzuruike said his goal is making meal plans available to the entire

Georgia State community, including faculty and alumni, and meeting with university officials about his proposal.

“I would like to meet with the head director of Auxiliary Services to create a timeline to make sure this can be implemented,” he said. “I plan to work with the [SGA] executive board to organize a detailed proposal with a variance of affordable meal plan options to present to Auxiliary Services.

So, that we can all work together to create a Panther Meal Plan that better meets the needs of our diverse university community.”

The partial meal plan idea originated from students’ complaints about the unaffordability of current meal plans offered, according to Onwuzuruike.

Meal plans for the 2014-2015 academic year provided unlimited access for five-day dining hall access at $3,524 and seven-day access at $3,726, according to the PantherDining website.

Director of Marketing and Administration support for Auxilia-

ry and Support Services Chris Connelly said declining balance is a better phrase to describe Onwuzuruike’s proposed plan.

Declining balance meal plans give students a certain number of meals per year or semester with different tiers to choose from, according to Connelly.

He said declining balance meal plans have been discussed within Auxiliary and Support Services for some time, and a variation of a partial meal plan would target commuter students.

“If we were going to do some kind of declining balance meal plan scenario, I would think that it would be targeting students who don’t live on campus,” he said.

Onwuzuruike said he discussed partial meal plans with Connelly and Georgia State PantherCard administrator Nadia Barr.

Connelly said Barr is in charge of processing meal plan payments and could not lead an effort in changing meal plans.

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He also said meal plans are revised annually based on students’ needs.

Additional actions, aside from student government or student body interest, would be required in making a revised meal plan becoming available, according to Connelly.

“There really hasn’t been any impediment other than the financial possibility and the ability to continue serving meals,” he said. “...We’re selffunded, so we’re growing our business now, and we’re trying to provide what we can.”

Onwuzuruike said he was not the first member of SGA to push for partial meal plans.

“This has been an ongoing concern since we’ve had on-campus dining facilities,” he said. “Even more recently [I’ve had] discussions with [the] current [vice president] of Student Services Teara Mayfield, who also supports this idea.”

Currently, meal plans are available for students living on-campus and off-

last week Local Mom partakes in naked Twister with

teenage daughter and daughter’s friends Rachel Lynn Lenhardt, 35-yearold and Evans, Georgia resident, hosted a party filled with drugs and alcohol for her 16-year-old daughter and is now facing two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to WSB-TV 2. Lenhardt’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor told WSBTV 2, she was four days sober when she lost custody of her five children on April 6. The night involved naked hot tub swimming and naked Twister.

Lenhardt admitted to having relations with an 18-year-old in the bathroom, while the Twister game was happening. She also said she had relations with her daughter’s 16-year-old boyfriend. Lenhardt told her sponsor that she shared photos of her being intimate with her boyfriend and other Xrated materials with her daughter. She was released on $3,200 bond.

National Killer of the original ‘milk carton’

child still waiting for jury’s decision Currently, a jury is weighing in on the fate of the first child placed on

campus. Non-students can also pay retail price for dining hall access, according to Connelly.

“I think about 20-30 percent of our meal plans are actually though voluntary meal plans, which means somebody who’s not living in Piedmont North or Patton Hall,” he said. “Even people who live off campus are buying the meal plan.”

There is currently no estimated time when partial meal plans will be available to students, according to Onwuzuruike and Connelly.

“As of now, we are in the conceptualization phase. So, it is impossible to provide specifics as to what the final [delivery] will be,” Onwuzuruike said.

Nakeisha Turk, Georgia State firstyear masters in mass communication student, said she thinks a partial meal plan is a good idea.

“I would like that option better because that’s more practical for people who don’t live on campus but spend a lot of time here,” she said. the back of a milk carton Etan Patz’s killer, according to CNN. Patz went missing in 1979, which marked a period when society’s attention was on crimes committed against children, according to CNN. After 7 ½ hours of interrogation, Pedro Hernandez confessed to the murder in a taped statement, according to CNN. His attorney Harvey Fishbein said Hernandez was diagnosed with mental challenges including schizophrenia and isn’t certain if he committed the crime. Jose Antonio Ramos, a convicted child molester who knew Patz’s babysitter, also was considered to be the killer of Patz ever since he went missing, according to CNN. Ramos was never charged for the murder, but was sentenced to prison for 20 years for molesting a child.

Global Eleven soldiers killed and 19 injured

in Colombia during rebel attacks Leftist guerrillas, called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), led an attack on Colombian soldiers on April 14, at midnight, according to ABC News. FARC’s cause is to rebel against Colombia actions in a unilateral cease-fire incident.

Unilateral cease-fire is when a country, as a whole, puts a halt to firing off weapons. President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos said to ABC News, he will not be pressured into abandoning peace talks. Social media users have spoken out for Santos to call off the peace talks. FARC negotiators in Cuba agreed to the unilateral ceasefire with the exception of firing weapons if attacked by armed forces. Santos has been attempting to promote peace throughout Colombia through taking actions, such as removing harmful landmines and suspending aerial bombings of guerilla camps.

OPINIONS

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

Is mandatory exactly necessary?

A perspective on the mandatory student fees and what exactly you’re paying for — or aren’t!

DOLLARS & SENSE WITH MITCH

MITCHELL OLIVER Columnist

Mitch is a senior finance major and student financial advisor. “My goal is to have more college students financially literate.”

Tweet him @madmoneyatl

A

sk any college student, and you’ll soon realize that the cost of college is one of the biggest concerns when pursuing a degree.

Tuition is often the culprit, as it seems to be on a never-ending increase, but I think there’s another suspect in the equation- mandatory student fees.

I talked with several students including senior Eric Mason and freshman Tanika Bantikul. Like both of them, many students are still wondering, “Where in the world is our $2,000 per year going?”

Out of my own curiosity and concern, I began investigating and looked solely at the mandatory fees that Georgia State charges. I did not include the mandatory ‘University System of Georgia’ fee that is currently a whopping $404 per semester.

Just four years ago this same fee was only $168. This fee is supposedly used to help mitigate costs across the board for the University System of Georgia because apparently the ridiculous ticket price of tuition isn’t enough.

So on top of mandatory student fees, you’re also paying $400 per semester to subsidize college costs for universities.

This exorbitant price tag is a matter all its own.

But let’s shift gears and instead look at the remaining $606 we pay each semester. I’ll assume we are taking two or more classes per semester because the Fall and Spring semester fees max out after just six credit hours (more on that issue later). I want to knock out the easy ones first since there’s plenty of fees I have no qualms with.

Health and Student Recreation

These are only $40 and $53 each semester, respectively. They provide quality facilities where students can take advantage of a state-of-the-art gym or top notch medical clinic. These are two great services provided by the school at a small cost to students.

Library: At just $5 per semester, it’s the least I could pay to support one of

there most used facilities on campus.

According to a 2012 survey, when asked if “The library’s services and resources help me get better grades in my classes,” 73 percent of respondents selected ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree.’ This fee has actually gone down from $35 in 2013-14 school year after recent additions and renovations were finished.

bus for $58.17 per hour, according to their website.

Even with what I assume is a high markup on the actual cost of operating one shuttle for an hour, the yearly cost using that hourly rate only comes to just under $2 million per year. However, estimating there’s 10 Panther Express running non-stop for 17 hours per day five days per week. As any student who has waited 20-plus minutes for a bus knows, this is unlikely the case.

Campus Activity The activity fee helps finance free events such as Pantherpalooza and the Distinguished Speaker series. Additionally, it subsidizes events such as Six Flags Night and the countless other events that Spotlight Programs host each semester.

The last two fees, however, are what bother me. Athletics and Transportation fees combined account for almost 54 percent of the mandatory fees you pay each semester.

Athletics

Ah, the seldom lauded Athletics fee. Coming in at a mammoth $277, I think it would be fair to say that most students at Georgia State wouldn’t mind opting out of paying over $500 per year to financially support our sports programs. However, as that is an unlikely scenario, we can at least ponder why exactly we pay so much for our athletics programs.

One aspect of this fee is all of the students currently on an athletic scholarship at Georgia State. This I have no problems with because I understand the hard work and skill it takes to land an athletic scholarship. Further, this fee allows students to attend all of the home games for free.

From football to volleyball to our stellar basketball and baseball teams this year, I don’t mind paying to see these games. Only thing, I’ve been to maybe two sporting events in my four years at Georgia State. I’m just not into college sports - but that’s just me.

Nothing against the teams, but you and I are still paying this fee regardless.

However, my biggest qualm with all of these fees is that when I compare our school to other universities and colleges, I am still left with many questions.

For example, The University of Georgia had an athletic fee of $53 last year. Georgia Tech’s mandatory athletic fee for Spring 2015 was $127. Here’s the kicker -- if you’re taking less than three credit hours, you can opt out of the athletic fee

Transportation

It’s $50 per semester and goes toward helping run the multiple Panther Express shuttles around campus, renting the Turner Field lot for students, and helping subsidize the MARTA monthly Breeze Card, (making it $61 instead of $95). Chances are some don’t take advantage of these services, as evidenced by the packed parking decks each day, so you’re probably paying to subsidize someone else’s discount.

But let’s do some math: There’s a little over 18,000 full-time undergraduate students and over 5,000 fulltime graduate students. So each year Georgia State receives over $2.2 million for our shuttle service and renting Turner Field.

I assume that once Turner Field ceases to exist, and SunTrust Park opens, Georgia State will have a backup plan for free student parking. Otherwise, I expect the transportation fee to drop accordingly because I know it doesn’t cost $2 million to run a small fleet of shuttle buses for eight months.

Besides, Georgia State allows anyone to rent a Panther Express shuttle

Comparisons to UGA and Ga Tech

t activ $92

ity

Tech

nolo gy $85

health $4 0 i nte

ion rnat $1 9

l

Total Per Semester $657

li b ra $5 ry

Georgia Tech athletic fee: $127

transportation $50

student center $36

University of Georgia athletic fee: $53

r te en c c 53 $

Georgia State athletic fee: $277

Re

AT h $2 let 77 ic

Studen

at Georgia Tech. What a novel idea!

So why in the world do we pay almost six times more for our athletics programs than UGA? I reached out to three members of the Dean of Admissions via email as well as the director of athletics and did not receive a response time pertaining to mandatory athletic fee questions.

As a boilerplate statement, the Georgia State Dean of Students and office of Student Affairs has a statement on their webpage, because apparently this question is asked so often they need a boilerplate statement: “The overriding philosophy regarding fees is to provide a comprehensive offering of quality programs and services to Georgia State University students outside the classroom.”

The lack of transparency between university officials and the students should be very worrisome and act as a red flag. When there is no way for students to see a line by line breakdown of what exactly their “Athletics fee” is going towards, it creates a disconnect that makes me lose trust in those I entrust with thousands of dollars of my money each year.

So you see a recurring theme here; you’re basically paying for a bunch of stuff you don’t use or take advantage.

To top it off, the school makes it very difficult to find out how the money is allocated. The thing is, I don’t mind if I’m paying $100 per year to pay for the paint they use to spray the fields, but having the ability to at least know that’s what I’m paying for is all I ask.

Until then, a boy can only dream for the college campus and university system of the future. One which uses the basic concepts of a normal market to supply college students what they demand. Until then, we’ll continue to pay egregious amounts of money on a bunch of programs and things we personally might not want.

But what if we could find a middle ground for these fees? What if students were able to choose which events they felt they would enjoy and participate in each semester and just pay for those?

8

OPINIONS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR To the editor:

I

n response to the article “Student homeowners say Atlanta BeltLine developments intrude upon property” by Miranda Hawkins, published in the Signal, Vol. 8 #27 and online at georgiastatesignal.com on April 16, 2015, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) would like to correct some errors and false information. In the interview for this article, ABI was presented with general questions about the Atlanta BeltLine, and not specific questions about the issues highlighted below which we will respond to now.

The headline and the content of the article imply that the passage of Senate Bill 4 – which allows the Atlanta BeltLine to seek funding from public/private partnerships – would cause the BeltLine to encroach on private property. The implication that there is a relationship between the two is erroneous. SB4 was

passed (with overwhelming bipartisan support) to give the Atlanta BeltLine an alternate source of funding to enhance the development of the project.

There is no basis for the claim that the bill’s passage causes us to alter our design in any way or expand in ways that encroach on private property. Eastside Trail extension is at 100% design and the documents are available in our office for public viewing.

An extensive public engagement process is required before ABI can seek easements from property owners or commence construction.

The article sites an Atlanta resident that claims to have found trespassers in his backyard doing Eastside Trail survey work. The resident claims he was never notified, nor did he know that his property is adjacent to the Atlanta BeltLine. Our staff never had a chance to respond to these concerns as they were not

presented to us in the reporter’s interview. The quote attributed to ABI about residents choosing to move to the Atlanta BeltLine was in response to a different question, and to position it as a response to the resident’s concerns greatly misleads the readers. Our team makes numerous attempts of notifying residents about work being done adjacent to their property and our team and our contractors are prohibited from entering private property without permission of the owner. While have no record of the resident attempting to engage us via our community engagement network to date, we encourage and welcome him to do so now if he still has concerns. ABI holds dozens of public meetings each year to receive public input and inform the community of design and construction progress. Our communications and community engagement team makes every effort to reach the public by way

of meetings, mailings, electronic and print communications, and even door-to-door outreach.

Another source discussed her concerns about affordability.

These concerns were never relayed in the interview, but our team works hard to create solutions for residents along the Atlanta BeltLine to stay in their homes, and to create affordable options for new residents. These efforts were discussed at great length in the interview for this article, but none of this information was conveyed in the final version. Once again, we encourage the resident to reach out to us via our community engagement channels if she still has concerns about affordability on the Atlanta BeltLine so she can learn about the opportunities that may be available to her by way of our programs. One of the opportunities that were discussed in the interview was ABI’s partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of

Atlanta (of which we encouraged GSU faculty, staff and students to take advantage of) to provide down-payment assistance and funding for owner occupied rehab to potential homebuyers and homeowners on the Atlanta BeltLine. This is just one of several efforts currently in process. Finally, the resident was concerned about safety - since 2013, the Path Force has patrolled the parks, trails, and adjacent neighborhoods as a dedicated unit of the Atlanta Police Department and have done an excellent job doing so.

Our team is always glad to share information about the Atlanta BeltLine, but we expect integrity in the publications we work with and find the errors and misrepresentations in this article highly unethical and unacceptable.

-Statement from the Atlanta BeltLine

Editor’s Note: A follow-up addressing misleading information on the Atlanta BeltLine developments will be published via www.georgiastatesignal.com. Key search terms for the article: Atlanta BeltLine, Bill, Affordable Housing, Developments, Property, Georgia

Buckle up

Georgia State’s pressing problem of student parking is only going to get worse if the Blue Lot moves

JOHN MILLER Columnist

John is an English major with a concentration in Literature. He spends his time cooking, reading, writing and watching movies. Mostly watching movies.

Tweet him @johnmillerdavid1

A

lot of us are sad to see Turner Field “move”; its held the same location for nearly a decade and has provided students with ample parking in its expansive blue lot. However, if and when it does move, Georgia State students will have no choice but to buckle up and face a familiar form of extortion by having to pay for parking elsewhere.

Aaron James, junior at Georgia State, said his main concern for Turner Field’s move is students will no longer be able to find free parking anywhere on or around campus.

Currently Turner Field is the only Georgia State-affiliated parking lot available to students to not require a parking permit. Chris Connelly of the university’s Auxiliary Services said the lot has approximately 1,700 parking spaces--that’s potentially over a thousand students being forced to aimlessly circle Atlanta for parking, just to get to class on time.

Our massive commuter student population knows that the Blue Lot is available for registered student parking Monday - Friday between 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m to 5 p.m. during Braves’ home games.

Those who do take advantage of the blue lot also know the issues that come along with it. If you do park there, you either face a 15-to-20 minute walk to campus or you wait for

the Panther Express Shuttle. Still, it’s worth free parking, right? I think so.

But once it moves, that’s 1,700 of the only free parking spaces down the drain.

Limited student parking isn’t a new problem--in 2012, Students In The City, a blog featuring content by Georgia State students, highlighted the various issues our university’s commuter culture faced.

Fast forward three years later and the question still lingers in the minds of all commuters: Are we really going to be forced to pay to park on or near campus?

There will be challenges to provide students with parking, but, allegedly ,steps are being taken to expand our parking availability, according to Connelly. However, this potential expansion all relies on whether Georgia State will seal the Turner Field proposal.

Even if it does, the $300 million proposal seems to primarily have its sights on turning the land into more residential and sports facilities, only briefly mentioning “commuter student parking.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not convinced that any brand new development by Georgia State will make free parking a priority.

While we hold our breaths in anticipation of these developments and the big announcement over the fate

Story suggested by Aaron James Junior, English Major PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

of Turner Field and our parking situations, there are plenty of other parking options for students to choose from -- that is if you’re OK with high costs, waiting lists and potentially not having a space at all.

Parking permits for M Deck, the Lofts residential housing and T Deck are currently $215 per semester.

However, waiting lists are automatically blasted out to students in emails at the very end of the semester and its a mad dash to get your name on there. If for some reason you can’t, you’re simply S.O.L (student outta’ luck).

Also, there are additional hidden locations around the campus for parking, but they tend to be out of the way from a majority of the university’s campus buildings A previous article in The Signal’s 2014 INCEPT Issue outlined a few of these locations, which included: the Shell Gas Station at $5 per day, the Lanier Parking Lot at $5 per day / $65 monthly and the Central Parking lot at $4 per day / $65 monthly.

While the costs for off-campus parking may come out to be a little cheaper than convenient on-campus spaces, the simple fact is that money adds up. Those who were already paying an arm and a leg in gas to commute each day really depended on the free Blue Lot Parking.

Now, they’re not just going to be

inconvenienced, they’re going to be completely unable to get to campus at all.

Things are only going to get worse as an influx of prospective Georgia State students make their way to our campus in 2016 and beyond with the recent consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College.

I see this as a problem of Georgia State’s general attitude towards their students. The reason the Blue Lot is the only free parking space for students is because Turner Field had plenty to share.

In order to prevent such a scenario and help improve our current never-ending battles with student parking on campus, the responsibility is 100 percent university’s to pursue.

Buckle up Georgia State: otherwise it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Turner Field Blue lot has 1,700 parking spaces •

•

•

It’s available for registered student parking Monday - Friday between 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m to 5 p.m. during Braves’ home games.

Registration for a parking pass in T Deck, M deck, Lofts and Residential housing are all $215 a semester Non-GSU parking lots are: Shell Gas Station at $5 per day, the Lanier Parking Lot at $5 per day / $65 monthly and the Central Parking lot at $4 per day / $65 monthly.

9

OPINIONS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

The struggle unseen

A look at the difficulties faced by transgender students at Georgia State and in Atlanta

W NICOLE MOTAHARI Columnist Nicole is a double major in biology and English. When she’s not writing, she enjoys listening to musical theater and watching British TV with her family.

Story submitted by Simon Phillips and Tiara Murphy

hen I was growing up, my parents taught me that everyone was equal, no matter what race, gender or sexuality.

As I grew older, I realized that not all people were indeed treated equally, and that many of my friends faced struggles that I, as a straight cis-gendered girl did not.

“Trans” is a Latin root simply meaning across or beyond, and transgender is a broad term assigned to anyone who feels conflicted about the sex they were assigned at birth.

Working at a hotel, I run across many different people, and just a weekend ago, I met Rory, a prospective Georgia State student.

Rory is 17 years-old, biologically male and transgender. While she looks male, Rory identifies as female.

However, despite her gender identification, she’s just like any other teen: excited about college, television shows and fashion.

From Rory’s perspective as a teenager, one of the biggest struggles being trans is keeping up appearances.

“A lot of people worry about how they look, but with Trans people, it’s everything! Clothes, face, hair, body type, presentation, make-up, bras, binders, corsets, et cetera... It becomes incredibly demanding and time consuming,” she said.

This makes me wonder -- if people were not so prejudiced against a transgender individual, would they have to go through so much effort to prove their identity to the public?

On a daily basis, transgender individuals face many struggles. On a larger scale, one major problem is that while we are slowly progressing on a road to improving trans-acceptance, legally Georgia features virtually no rights or support for these individuals.

Certain municipal entities such as Atlanta offer domestic partnerships.

However, there is no state-level recognition for same-sex marriages, furthering discrimination.

Similarly, until the Affordable Healthcare Act was passed, many LGBT couples were denied health care. However, under new laws, health insurance plans cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, gender identity, disability, diagnosis and medical condition. Plans have to provide preventive screenings for everyone regardless the sex or gender listed on their insurance car and individuals living with HIV/AIDS can no longer be denied healthcare.

Despite our university making its way to becoming one of the largest and most diverse schools in the state by adding gender-neutral housing and an additional 20,000 students

with the 2016 consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College, professors and students are not as open to LGBTQ individuals as one might think.

Ariana, a current Georgia State transgender student who is identifies as female, said that while her close friends, classmates and a majority of professors are generally respectful toward her as a transgender woman, others remain transmisogynistic. “...Administration is a hit or miss honestly, sometimes they are good and sometimes they refuse to call me anything other than sir,” she said.

Ariana also said that while the university is a welcoming place for LGBTQ individuals, she doesn’t feel that it is entirely open to trans individuals yet. Unless students are involved in the LGBTQ community, it can be kind of difficult to empathize with the struggles those individuals face. “...The hoops I and others have to jump through just to get our professors to acknowledge our real names is kind of infuriating,” she said “They are better than other universities, but GSU has a long way to go.”

However, Atlanta appears to be more open than other areas in Georgia or Alabama for instance, which allowed for its Supreme Court to order judges to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses last month.

Still, our city is home to approximately a 12.8 percent LGBTQ population, and we also rank No. 10 on the list of cities with the highest LGBTQ identifying individuals, according to PolitiFact.

As stated by trans-identifying individuals I spoke with, they feel that there isn’t really any “safe” city for themselves to be completely open about their gender identities.

Unfortunately as of 2013, one in five hate crimes were based on either sexual orientation or gender identity, which is heartbreaking to digest and realize. Just this past December, there was an incident in Midtown where a homosexual couple was assaulted on their way home from a date. The police still haven’t identified the assailant and last year only 12 cases was the LGBTQ liaison with the police department alerted.

The reality is that this could be any LGBTQ identifying individual or couple -- especially students. With Georgia State’s increasing population, I think it’s time for our administration to start acknowledging and tending to the safety and well-being of their current, incoming and prospective LGBTQ students.

FAREWELL LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Oh, the places we’ll go ... here’s a cheers to that!

Dear readers, Here it is, the last print issue of The Signal for the academic year.

It’s also my last print issue as editor-in-chief.

About a year ago, a group of student media heads chose me as the new Signal editor-in-chief. My feet were colder than a block of ice.

I’m not married, but I hear stories of how that goes (having to leave your single life behind ‘til death do us part). That’s how it felt. I was marrying The Signal. You might think I’m being extreme, but the thing is, I’m not.

I’ve been with the paper for about three years now. I might have spent nearly every weekend in The Signal office. I might have had a few meltdown sessions to myself over those three years. I might have slept (overnight!) in the office a few times. I might have even lost some relationships over the commitment. And did I mention I went through all those things even when I wasn’t editor-in-chief yet? ... but I digress.

If I told you I was confident in myself, that I knew just what I would do to find my stride on day one of my role as editor-in-chief, I

wouldn’t be telling you the whole story. I had a plan, yes; I knew what systemic things I wanted to fix within the organization, yes — but dear goodness, I thought they made a mistake in choosing me almost all the time. I had hiccups every day.

When you step into a role like this, however, there’s no time to think about that. There’s no time to measure your anxiety; there’s no time to wallow in what could have been if it weren’t you.

I quickly realized I’m not working for myself anymore; I’m working for The Signal.

I swallowed the hiccups, and I kept the mission in mind: 1) Serve news of interest and significance to the Georgia State community, 2) Provide a forum for the public to engage in and 3) Provide students with an opportunity to work in professional journalistic environment.

Every day when I walk into the office, I see a cluttered space full of papers, pens, supplies, boxes full of props that come with inside jokes, and more. It might seem disheveled to one who isn’t accustomed to a newsroom, but I know those things are marks of hard work and

long nights perfecting what we publish in The Signal. I also know that years after me, there will be people coming in to leave behind their mark too, — people who are just bursting with potential and ready to have their passion ignited.

I’ve watched those come and go, and I’ve seen people graduate from The Signal with more talent than myself. I spent a whole year training a team of students — no, a team of professional journalists — with so much potential, and I knew that it wasn’t about me anymore. It was about these people and what they could contribute to the craft of journalism. It was about the opportunity to include you, the readers in conversation on the big current events.

This year, it was about my team, and it was also about all of you: The readers.

We’ve come a long way.

This year, The Signal reached 1,000 likes on its Facebook page since its creation in 2011. We have over 2,000 followers on Twitter (and it’s growing each day!).

We also published the first-ever 40-page INCEPT magazine issue over the summer that served as a newbie’s guide. We’ve success-

fully uploaded our issues back from 2011 to current at Issuu. com for the readers to look at on the go.

We’ve also covered a wide array of issues impacting the Georgia State community. That includes the Georgia Public Broadcasting partnership that took WRAS’ (our student radio station) airwaves for more than 12 hours a day, the underreporting of sexual assaults on campus, the implementation of co-ed dorming to become more gender-inclusive, the big Panther win in the NCAA that united Cinderellas all across the U.S., and the consolidation of Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter College.

We even received quite a bit of response from you, our readers, in regards to our coverage on the topic of sex (Re: The Sex Issue and our sex column that ran in the fall). You also spoke up when you had some critiques about our portrayal of sexual assault. You voiced your thoughts on the WRAS-GPB deal as well as the GSU-GPB consolidation.

It’s been a big year, and it’s only going to get bigger.

Cheers to all the long nights.

I know I wasn’t the only one who

broke down, pulled my hair out and (maybe) slept overnight in The Signal office. Our Signal staffers did it all, and we all know that darn well. We’ve all “married” The Signal.

And cheers to you, our readers, for keeping up with us.

This is not a farewell. This is a hello to the grand things to come in the future. This is me saying I believed in you, and I will always believe in you.

Yours truly,

Anna Yang 2014-2015 Editor-in-Chief

P.S. The Signal isn’t dead over the summer! We’ll still be publishing daily online.

ARTS & LIVING

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

Festivus the app Bringing accessibility to festivalgoers Written by Johnny Gipson

W

ith summer fast approaching, the festival season has finally returned to Atlanta. From Shaky Knees to Music Midtown, Atlanta boasts dozens of music festivals that entertain hundreds of thousands of people. With such a high volume of events and patrons, the issue of communication and networking at these events continues to present itself. Finally, the groundbreaking

The first phase of Festivus Jason McGraw, Founder and Lead Developer, is a former Georgia State student that studied Computer Information Systems before graduating in 2013. McGraw found the inspiration for creating Festivus after attending several music festivals and seeing the need for improved interaction. “[I’ve] been to a few music festivals, and it became obvious to me that the environment is extremely social. I began looking for apps that brought together the music festival community and realized that we were lacking that.”

After a year of developing software at Norfolk Southern, McGraw began doing mobile development, specifically Festivus.

“I was originally just going to make a website to follow festivals, but it wasn’t a very popular idea among anyone I talked to,” he said. “Then, I did a lot of research for about six months and reached out to my friend Neil, who ultimately introduced me to Elijah, Brad and Mike joined in, and it was history.”

Marketing and Operations Director Elijah Watkins handles the majority of the creative and branding for Festivus, and explained what the exact purpose of Festivus is for users.

“Festivus is the connection between festivalgoers and music festivals,” Watkins said. “It allows users to find info about upcoming festivals, its dates, artist lineups, prices while also creating a community among users that have similar interests and tastes in music. It’s a niche platform.”

Although Watkins plays an integral role as one of the visionary directors of the app, he didn’t initially own such a large stake in the company. After seeing the potential of the app, he knew he had to do more.

“It wasn’t originally my idea, but Jason reached out to me to help design the logo and website,” Watkins said. "My background in event planning allowed me to see the potential in pushing the culture for eventgoers. After that, I asked to become a partner and gain some equity, involved specifically with the marketing and business planning aspect of the app.”

event app, Festivus, has provided a solution.

Launched in March of 2015, Festivus was created to converge artist profiles, music streaming and social networking. Festivus is going through further development in Buckhead’s “Atlanta Tech Village,” a sleek, cutting-edge networking hub for start-up businesses and IT visionaries.

Working out Standing apart from the kinks the start-ups App development is a popular trend in today’s market, and many people assume that it’s as simple as having an idea and finding a developer; McGraw assures that app development is never that simple.

“It’s extremely complicated. I spent most of my time researching, coding, creating web databases and a lot of tech stuff,” he said. “Elijah keeps me on track with deadlines and the creative aspects, and Brad oversees the administrative panel that manages analytics and user information.”

Festivus is an innovative concept with its capabilities, but competition among apps is always present. There is another “Festivus” app provided

by Google Play, although it differs in its brand and purpose. Watkins explained what makes their app unique from others of the like.

“This app is a bit more userfriendly than the Google Play ‘Festi-

vus’ app. It’s a bit more intuitive and eye-catching,” Watkins said. “Personally, we have more passion and human capital as developers, in terms of knowing how to create digital content as well as giving users and artists the quality of [a] product they need.”

McGraw also felt that their app distinguishes itself from others because of its function.

“Our app promotes social engagement more than other apps,” McGraw said. “Our tagging system allows users to create subgroups and stay in contact with not just the event and artist, but anyone talking about it as well.”

With the app being so new, the team has only had a few opportunities for testing the technology. By attending recent festivals, they are able to receive a better perspective of the apps usability.

“Our first time testing the app

was during Spring Break at Buku Fest in New Orleans, and South by Southwest in Austin,” McGraw said. “We targeted the guests and looked at the responses amongst the users. All we really had to promote it was our social media accounts and word of mouth.

One Music Fest and Shaky Knees are next.”

McGraw decided to take field testing a bit further and recently attended one of the largest festivals in the world, Coachella, to promote the app and getting more involved.

“Coachella was my first time actually testing it out in a real festival setting,” McGraw. “The way service is at festivals makes it hard to communicate with others through the technology, but the real intent is to catalyze interaction among users before and after the actual festival has happened. It’s more about sharing the anticipation, experience and memories.”

McGraw acknowledged that the lack of data service during large festivals could be a potential problem for the app, but he’s already begun working toward a solution; he is currently developing a 2.0 version with a few updates.

“We’re developing a device that allows wireless communication and message transmission,” McGraw said. “Each device acts as a node in a specific network, so in crowded places it works to your advantage because the influx actually strengthens the communication network.”

Watkins and McGraw also said that outside of the technical difficulties of creating an app, there are personal struggles that creators must face.

“The biggest thing is trust; trusting whoever you’re going into business with has the best interests of the brand as [a] whole, not just someone looking for a quick buck,” Watson said. “We can’t jeopardize the integrity of our vision, so we want to go as far as we can without

outsourcing and investors. We want to stay true to our vision.”

McGraw’s difficulties may be a bit different, but he still faces creative obstacles, all the same.

“With the creative approach, I have to think about making something you would personally enjoy using frequently,” McGraw said. “It has to be interconnected, very clickable and easy to get lost in; how can we connect fans with artists, connect artist’s profiles to festival pages, and still allow you to follow up with that girl you met at the show? Those are all of the things I think about when planning.”

Although everyone on the team plays different roles, McGraw explained providing an improved cultural experience for users is the ultimate goal.

“Seeing people use it will be the most rewarding thing,” McGraw said.

“The love, memories, and bonds formed at festivals are life changing experiences, so we take pride in knowing we can contribute to that.”

PHOTOS NADIA DELJOU | THE SIGNAL

How to use Festivus 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Download app from iTunes Create user profile Follow favorite artist and festival pages Join a crew and tag artist, subject, or festival in discussion posts Send messages and posts to other users that are following the same tag

Cool feautres

1. Sounds: artist’s Festivus pages are connected to their personal Soundcloud pages, so users can listen to an artist’s music and decide if they’re a fan 2.

Tags: system allows users to not only follow an artist’s page for updates, but also allows users to follow and respond to any posts regarding the same tag.

3. Crews: join multiple ‘crews’ that allow you to follow patrons with similar interests, musical tastes, and discussions

User profile display 1.

2.

3.

4.

Where the user is from Artists the user is following Festivals a user is following Crews a user is a member of

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NADIA DELJOU | THE SIGNAL From left to right Elijah Watkin (Director of Operations), Bradley Hobbs (Senior Developer), Jason McGraw (Founder), and Mike Parker (Business Analyst).

THE TEAM

Mike Parker MBA GSU – Business Analyst Duties include: - Researching music festival market - Creating a revenue model to present app at TiE Business Plan Competition - Combining advertising and data analytics, while studying social media trends “I want to show festival organizers the attributes you need to emphasize at their events and the intangible factors that go into bringing people to festivals.”

Brad Hobbs Met Jason at Norfolk Southern – Senior Developer Duties: -Managing data analytics dashboard -Tracking user-post content, quantity of monthly active users -Developing Android brand version of the app “I keep track of all of the logistics needed to drive a company forward.

We already developed the iOS app, so we want to get more exposure on the Android side of things. The Android version is in the works.”

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013 12

Comfort, Culture, Community and Coffee

SPORTS ARTS & LIVING

Ebrik Coffee Room serves fresh coffee and conversation

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

PHOTO BY BRITTANY GUERIN | THE SIGNAL

A Cozy Corner

The perfect placement

PHOTO BY BRITTANY GUERIN | THE SIGNAL

CHANTE FOSTER Staff Reporter

W

hen you walk in the door, the vibrant energy of Ebrik Coffee Room is noticed through its unique menu, urban decor and eclectic music. As customers are laughing or finishing work, the friendly service and personal connection is how Ebrik leaves a lasting impression.

The owner and manager of Ebrik Coffee Room, Abbas Arman made a place where friendship and community reside in one place.

“Going to a coffee shop you don’t want to just drink coffee and leave, you want to experience something, and those experiences kind of last with you,” Arman said.

Opened for approximately one year, Ebrik is a family and friend business.

“We wanted to provide different

things you wouldn’t find at typical coffee shops, that’s why you would come here,” said Arman, “There are a lot of businesses that aren’t really part of what’s going on at Georgia State, and we really want to be apart of what’s going on at Georgia state and make a real connect and a real relationship with the community.”

As a Chicago native, Arman, enjoys traveling and meeting new people, which was the inspiration behind opening a coffee shop; he wanted to create a place where people could come together as a community.

“Our motto is comfort, culture, and community,” Arman said.

“People can feel comfortable, you know,they like the ambiance they have a positive vibe. There is different culture, you kind of experience different cultures, even our music, we have different music on, and then we are building a sense of community.”

Ebrik’s location attracts a lot of students because it is the closest coffee shop to campus and encourages productivity with its essence.

“People feel like they can get work done here, but they can also take a break,” Arman said. “You can escape the computer screen and relax, and then can be a little more productive.”

Ebrik does not give discounts to Georgia State students, but they do offer discounts that will accommodate all customers.

“We give a dollar off for a selfie, and we give 25 cents off for bringing your own cup, 25 cents off for checking us on Facebook, things that anyone can do on their phone that’s accessible and easy,” said Arman.

Samara Rivers is a graduate Biology major at Georgia State and a very frequent customer. She stumbled upon Ebrik while going to class.

“This is the one, especially when I’m on campus, I will probably walk from where ever I am to come to,” Rivers said.

“I’m in here at least three times a day. It’s a very social environment, [and] Abbass greets everyone that comes in here.”

When Arman greets each customer as they enter Ebrik, it creates a more personal experience. The sound of laughter fills the room as frequent customers socialize while enjoying their coffee.

“We try to be really really friendly with everyone and make everyone feel special, make everyone feel like they belong here, and we here a lot of people saying ‘my coffee shop’ and you know they feel like this has become a place for them,” said Arman.

Photographer and coffee lover Rahmeek Rasul is a frequent customer who visits Ebrik because the stimulating energy keeps him focus and helps get work done. His favorite menu items are the Dirty Soy Chi, Hipster Cupcake and the Hummus broccoli Chips.

“No other coffee shop, and I say that unbiasedly, can come close to the diversity,” Rasul said. “From professors to students to everyday Joes, it’s a broad dynamic of folks, and to me it’s a very vibrant community.”

The first thing that customers might notice while walking into Ebrik is the fresh and modern ambiance of the shop’s interior. Most tables are made from recycled wood, and the diverse playlist of music has something for everyone. Arman’s brother, Ibrahim, creates the playlist and tries to incorporate every genre of music.

“I just don’t like to listen to one genre of music, and for me certain songs can take me back to a certain place in my life,” Ibrahim said, “Music is a big part of my life and it’s an international language that everybody can relate to.”

Ibrahim works at the espresso bar, and he said the main thing that keeps him going are the customers.

“There is something new every day, [when] working with people [it’s] like an obstacle course,”Ibrahim said “I don’t look at customers like just a walking number coming in and paying every day. I look at them as people before customers.”

Ebrik strives to serve its customers with the best products. All of the coffee is locally roasted, and that is what makes it fresh.

“We try to provide a very friendly, warm comforting atmosphere,” said Arman. “It feels like everyone lowers this barrier they have, and they [can] connect, and that’s a beautiful thing, [and] that’s a beautiful experience that you can’t find anywhere else.”

“

Our motto is comfort, culture, and community.”

- Abbas Armon Owner of Ebrik

Ebrik means coffee pot, and it is a traditional Turkish and Arabic coffee pot.

It usually comes in brass or copper, and it brews a stronger coffee.

Hours: Weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Weekends 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Location: 16 Park Place SE, Atlanta GA Most Popular: Caramel Latte and White Chocolate mocha is the most popular coffee flavors, but some customers enjoy a more traditional coffee. The Deniz is milk based Turkish coffee brewed in the Ebrik pot with cardamom spice.

13

SPORTS ARTS & LIVING

TUESDAY, 21, 2015 10, 2013 TUESDAY,APRIL DECEMBER

Sensei Bueno and Nai Br.XX: Behind the duo

SYDNEY CUNNINGHAM Staff Reporter

M

usical partnerships are delicate relationships that when successful, have developed some of the most iconic music and key to success.

Jarrett Goodly and Briana Maddix are both sophomores at Georgia State, and their musical alter egos are, respectively, Sensei Bueno and Nai Br.XX. Nai Br.XX is a vocalist and Bueno is her manager, musician and producer.

Bueno and Nai Br.XX were

friends at first, unaware that the other had any musical inclinations.

When Br.XX learned that Bueno could play the guitar, she asked him to be featured alongside her in an Instagram cover.

“We went in to rehearse and then she started singing,” Bueno said. “I was like, ‘Oh, she really does know how to sing’. From there, I was like, ‘Let’s do something.’ She didn’t know that I produced at the time, she just knew I was a guitarist.”

From that point, Bueno encouraged her to take singing seriously and make something out of it, a career for the both of them.

PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON| THE SIGNAL Georgia State students Briana Maddix and Jarrett Goodly collaborate to make music with Maddix as vocals and Goodly on the guitar.

How they work During production, Bueno creates the rhythm and then makes the song from there, collaborating with a writer and friend, Airen Simone, on tracks.

“I’m sitting on hundreds of beats that have absolutely nothing on them,” Bueno said. “I forget about them sometimes. When I’m in the zone, I just produce constantly.”

With Bueno having more than enough beats, it comes down to the writing. Nai Br.XX reads the work and makes the decision whether or not it suits her or her body of work.

“If I didn’t like it, I would refuse to sing it,” Br.XX said.

Many frontwomen have their songs written by other creatives and don’t have any involvement in the writing process; even though she’s a novice, Br.XX is more than happy to acclimate herself with songwriting.

“I’m working on it, [and] this is so new. I’m learning how to go about it,” Br.XX said.

The duo have attended countless open mics and gigs, one namely being the “W Atlanta Downtown & THE2ECONDFLOOR presents UPSIDEDOWNTOWN HEARTBEAT” show earlier this February.

“It was a success,” Bueno said.

“So much so that the W reached out

to us for possible future events.”

Their repertoire includes covers such as “Bennie and the Jets” and “Little Red Corvette.” Br.XX’s new single out now, titled “Bed Weather.”, has been performed as well.

Written by Sensei Bueno, the song was inspired by a cloudy day.

“The song itself is titled randomly, [and] it had been a stormy day,” Bueno said. “I didn’t write to it for awhile. The meaning? Basically, ‘It’s time for loving’.”

Nai Br.XX plans to release an EP May 27 with recording soon.

The duo are also pushing for “Bed Weather” to get played on WRAS Album 88.5 for more exposure.

Sensei Bueno (AKA Jarrett Goodly) Q: When did you know music was something that was more than a hobby?

BUENO: I knew I wanted to significant my whole life.

When sports killed (Bueno broke his back in high school at a soccer game), I made music.

When I was four, I said ‘I wanna play guitar like Prince.’ and my parents gave me drums.

Q: How did you come about learning how to make beats and produce?

BUENO: I had an internship in high school at The Orange Room under John Beal.

He introduced me to the recording software ‘Logic’. I just played around and spent the last quarter of high school in my room just making.

Q: Who are your musical inspirations?

Q: What kind of music do you want to be making?

BUENO: Prince, Prince started everything. Andre 3000, Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Marvin Gaye [and] Radiohead. John Mayer is a big influence on me because he basically got me starting to play guitar, but I liked him a lot then and don’t really listen to him as much now.

BUENO: Whatever sounds good. If I like a rock song, I would like to step in that lane.

I’m not sure what I want to make, but I want to be able to go all over the place. As long as I connect with it.

FOLLOW Soundcloud: Nai Br.XX J. Bueno YouTube: Nai Br.XX Instagram: @sensei_bueno @naibr.xx

Q: Out of artists who are successful, whose career would you want the most?

BUENO: Whoever is the guy that produces and makes music, having the freedom to choose and go back and forth.

So with that, I guess someone like Pharrell. That would be iconic to me if I made something and changed the game.

I don’t think I’ve found it yet, but I’m working on it.

The Team

Bueno is establishing his own company, titled INEC, Immortal Nation Entertainment Company. While a lot of the work is accomplished by Nai Br.XX and Sensei Bueno, they are quickly accumulating a team.

Airen Simone: Lyricist Grant Hill: Business associate Eugene Walela: Graphics artist

Nai Br.XX (AKA Briana Maddix) Q: When did you know what singing was something serious for you?

BR.XX: When Jarrett convinced me that I could go somewhere with it.

Q: When did you discover that you could sing?

BR.XX: In the fifth grade, me and my friends would get around the pool in our neighborhood and ask one another, ‘Oh, can you sing? What about you?’ and see if the other could sing. Me and my cousin had this group, and we would do covers together growing up.

Q: Out of artists who are successful, whose career would you want the most or is better suited for you?

BR.XX: Rihanna is so versatile with everything, like she can basically do anything that she wants.

As an artist, that’s what I want to be able to do. I feel like we can easily get trapped in a box, where it’s like once we start making a sound, that’s the only genre we can do and the only type of music you are allowed to be making. I want to feel free to do what I want.

Q: Who are your musical inspirations?

BR.XX: Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys had to be the main influence, with her riffs and her runs.

Also, I’ve been listening to Banks and Jessie Ware.

Q: What kind of music do you want to be making?

BR.XX: I just want to be making good music. I just want to make music that feels good. Alternative R&B, if I had to put a name to it.

columns

14

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Underground and Turner Field: Reconstructing the community INGA MASIC Associate Arts & Living Editor

turns into a chore after a long period.

So how can Atlanta resurrect the appeal for just another landmark in the city?

Get Creative: here are two places in AtlanCreativity is the key. No one is enta which have not received the ticed to take a trip to Underground if its a greatest welcome over the years replica of Little Five or Midtown. Personand plans entail that their old reputations ally, I would think that endless amounts will soon fade. Renovations for establish- of entertainment, culture, style and efing a community basis for Atlanta using ficiency would stray from the common Turner Field and Underground can draw areas like that. These incorporations are people into the unpopular areas. the guiding path to a brand new commuIn today’s society, it’s hard to please nity feel. the everyday person, especially when Georboredom of a constant aslike seen s would you on ti pect takes a ov n re Q: What derground? housover. For put into Un gic, Freshman: “ I think heard a e u av D instance, h I sa but Melis tjust for me, ei going to the ng on the wai b ing, not even t u o ab ts in la p m co f o same shoplot h such a list. ping areas shman: “Wit Quinlan, Freit brings the values up aer n h Jo for pleasure on housing, ics and high

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limit les of econom lot with the rucost.” er supply/low wa s if it on? d oun tati ee ergr r repuus to s d n e e, sit U bett urio e timhere, u vi had a ast be c n o o y t e t e d d her wn Bu oul , an d at l en t me do thing. e e Q: WovatedI woul nt. b e b y ht ren gic: “ iffere ve onl broug im somwould a d u h y y h D w its : “I s gu buy iosit ho inlan meles e to y cur Qu d a ho sked med, m an d he a chang an ce it’s on aked.” pe

PEER OPINIONS

Cleaning out your closet

Part III: Switching to Summer

I

f you haven’t noticed by the sweat forming under your book bag, summer is upon us; pants season is officially over. And now the only thing comfortable to wear are shorts that collect sweat and tank tops that show the balls of deodorant on your underarms. What a marvelous season this is. Luckily, I am here to bring you tips on how to enjoy this summer in style. So sit back and grab an iced tea, it’s going to be a hot one.

Drink it up: The heat of summer can make a person go insane, I’m not joking. So when you are relaxing by some form of water here are a few drinks to have in your hand: 1. Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea: It’s carbonated like soda but its tea! I think that’s enough of an explanation.

2. Icee: These are great cheap drinks to enjoy during the summer. You can get a great deal on them at RaceTrac , where you can buy a plastic cup and get free refills all summer long!

3.

Iced Coffee: You can easily make these by making your favorite coffee at home just the way you like, and then cool it in the fridge and adding ice. You can also blend it up with the ice to make a Frappuccino-like drink for half the price.

Can’t Live Without: The summer can be pretty bland and incomplete without a few of these fun summer-loving items.

1. A Donut Float: (Modcloth.com) 2. A Peach Purse: (ASOS.com) 3. Flash Tattoos: At any store ever!

4. Ear Cuff: (BaubleBar.com) 5. Mermaiad Tail Flippers (Urbanoufitters.com)

Written by Nichole Place

Who Wears Short Shorts?: This summer there are a ton of fashion trends coming around for a second time but with more force than most people are ready for. Here are just a clothing items you need to wear to be in on the dirty hippy meets 90’s kid trend: 1. Fringe! And lots of it. You can find shredded ends on anything, for instance, shorts, shirts, jackets, you name it.

2. Overall shorts are a big trend right now. The best way to style them is with crop tops, a summer staple that some people have made a year-round thing.

3. Two-strap slide on sandals are the best shoes to wear in the summer. You don’t struggle to put them on, and they go with almost anything!

4. Sheer tops worn with bralettes; just because its festival season.

5.

Printed shorts are coming back with more designs than you can believe.

Out of all, the patterns striped shorts seem to be top dog again this summer.

6. Eyelet and lace are perfect for summer, no matter what year. They will always be summer staples.

7.

Loose shorts and rompers with pom pom trim are girly but practical and comfortable.

8.

Platform Sandals, because bulkiness is back.

9. Kimonos add a whole new layer to an outfit while still keeping up with the “flower child” vibe.

10. Neon colored skirts bring a brightness to an outfit.

gia State students and residents in Atlanta will have a location to share their interests and love for different talents and culture.

That’s the feeling I got when visiting Miami when I was younger, and I was respectively ambushed with a parade of talented street performers and artists.

The talent ranged from a man with no arms painting beautiful portraits with his feet, to a group of break dancers showing everyone who’s boss. This needs to be brought to the streets of Atlanta, specifically Underground.

When combining new clothing stores, tattoo shops, and restaurants together, it creates a great basis for a place like Underground. However, there needs to be an array of unique attractions stemming from that foundation. There needs to be stores with paintings and sculptures, pet stores, cafes, gelato shops, candy wonderlands, various cultural shops and so much more. The appeal lies in the attempt.

Those developments aren’t the only crucial requirements needed to create a top-notch area, you also need efficiency.

One effective way to succeed in that is to install housing within or around Underground. This is a simple way to increase the population because the majority of the population will be living smack dab in the middle of it all. Especially given Underground is so close to students, who are always in the need for an apartment, and this renovation would be extremely beneficial. Specifically regarding an increase in available apartment spaces for students.

From fields to lots

Then, there is the other redecorating occurring to Turner Field, which from my understanding is focusing, so far, on extra parking for students. This idea is not only an extremely intelligent one, but also one that will benefit everyone surrounding Georgia State as well. With there being more parking for students

and staff, it will decrease the heavy atmosphere surrounding the tight parking at Georgia State within the parking garages and street spots.

The downfall to this, however, is until Turner Field is sold, they will still host games. This schedule was developed for those who choose to utilize the parking, and the schedule maps out when times and spaces are available or not.

Whatever is chosen as the ultimate blueprints for both Turner and Underground, the only thing to hope for is that they will increase our need for community. It’s what is beneficially essential for a diverse school like Georgia State and city like Atlanta. We thrive off of one another, and if there were places where our talents could illuminate, and our interests could combine, then the community would be better off entirely.

reviews

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

15

ALBUM REVIEW

‘Beat the Champ’ is The Mountain Goats’ worst album in years ALEX KUGACZEWSKI

Staff Reviewer

I

f we inventoried a list of things that don’t belong together, it’s likely that indie music and professional wrestling would sit in a comfortable position. John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats, however, seem to disagree.

On the band’s 15th album, “Beat the Champ,” Darnielle has tapped into his childhood love of large men grappling one another into submission (yes, typing that was weird).

But, here we are, with one of the most peculiar indie albums of the year staring us in the eyes with a masked, sweat-drenched face.

It’s inventive. It’s brave. Unfortunately, it’s just not particularly consistent. On their album, The Mountain Goats seem more interested in riding the quirk of the lyrics than penning compelling songs. “Beat the Champ,” oddly enough manages a knockout – but not how the band intended. Sporting an unfavorable ratio of misses to hits, the album goes all-in for a pile driver but winds up face planting the floor in spectacular fashion.

The Mountain Goats’ latest record suffers most from the wa-

vering quality of its songwriting.

Throughout 13 songs, “Beat the Champ” covers all the indie bases – starry-eyed balladry, up-tempo romps, and mild-mannered acoustic dirges. It does these things competently, indifferently, and stupidly – sometimes all at once.

“Werewolf Gimmick” provides a much needed shot in the arm after a ponderous track, but even the rolling percussion and fiery acoustics can’t save the song from its uninspired sigh of a chorus. It’s the perfect example of buzzkill, captured in a mere two minutes and thirty-five seconds for your listening convenience.

“Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan” is one of the record’s worst offenders. It’s not at all unreasonable to think one of the longest cuts on the album should spare the courtesy to end on some semblance of a climax. It doesn’t. The song lurches forward with sporadic string runs that punctuate and contrast Darnielle’s nasal yelps.

This irritating game of back and forth, admittedly, does get louder, but louder alone doesn’t make for an exciting finish; it makes for a lazy one.

Lyrically, the album treads through stories of muscle-bound braggadocio and untimely demise.

Over all tracks, it becomes appar-

ent that this thematic unity, while impressive in how well it’s maintained, reeks of gimmickry.

Take “Foreign Object,” for instance, which documents the prefight insults wrestlers hurl with reckless abandon. Lines such as “sink my teeth into your scalp, take an icepick bite, save nothing for the cameras, play the angles all night,” work well enough as lowbrow black humor, but aren’t exactly highlights of stunning lyricism. Really, it’s a shame; on previous releases the Mountain Goats’ lyrics, while not profound, did manage to conjure some semblance of relatability. Listeners could feel what the band felt.

Here, connection is taken to the shed out back and buried.

This is The Mountain Goats performing their shallowest songs behind a fresh coat of lyrical paint to mask the deficiencies. The joke’s on the band though, because that fresh coat only works to sabotage the record even further.

If this sounds exciting, then by all means, jump right in. I hope that Mountain Goats fans enjoy it. I really do. But when you wind up with your face plastered on the floor, it won’t be anyone’s fault but your own. It’s bad enough that the band’s down there. One embarrassment is enough; we don’t need any fans down there with them.

Beat the Champ

Grade: D+ Verdict: It’s like being body slammed in the ears, but without the three hundred pound guy resting on top of you afterwards.

FILM REVIEW ‘Furious Seven’ speeds into theaters with one of the greatest tributes ever done on screen FERNANDO MATTOS

Staff Reviewer

I

n terms of box office, “Furious Seven” is a smash: in two weekends, the film generated $800 million, surpassing Fast and Furious 6 in its entire run. The greatest surprise, however, comes in terms of quality. Here, “Furious Seven” goes beyond all blockbuster expectations.

“Furious Seven” is a good movie, regardless of the blockbuster title, which often means many explosions and weak plot, characters, and dialogue. “Furious Seven” is different because even though it remains a blockbuster at its core, it simply refuses to give the audience the exact same experience as the last 20 blockbusters they have seen.

It all begins with the title. “Seven,” written in long form, alludes to the classic Japanese film “The Seven Samurai”, where seven men must defend a village under attack by bandits. In “Furious Seven”, the crew of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) go

into action when a dangerous spy (Jason Statham) kills a member of the crew and attacks Brian’s home.

In order to get to this spy and execute revenge, the U.S. military offers Dom a deal: recover a secret agent from the hand of terrorists and, in exchange, gain access to all the technology available to make his hunt a success.

The classic call to adventure adds to the nostalgia of “Furious Seven” and as one watches on, there is a sensation that nothing will be the same again, which the dialogue reinforces every so often.

Dom and Brian form one of the greatest brotherhoods in film history, and it’s hard to imagine one without the other. Standing by themselves, their acting never excites. Everything is just better as soon as they share the screen: their chemistry is unbeatable. The two characters also have been well built over the last six films, adding the kind of depth that is often absent from blockbusters.

While Dom deals with the drama of loving a woman who lost her memory, Brian struggles to adapt to being a family man, for he misses the action and the bullets.

now playing at

Tyrese Gibson is another one who deserves a special mention here, as his clueless and good-spirited character of Roman delivers the best laughs in the film, such as when he attempts to lead the planning of the bus mission but fails in connecting his thoughts together.

“Furious Seven” is also the best directed movie of the franchise. The scene where Dom and the crew must rescue the secret agent from a wellprotected bus on a winding mountain road contains not only action, but also tension. Tension comes not from the speed, but from the elements that drive these characters forward in a win all or lose all situation. The camera is shaky, jerky and agile. There are no perfect shots nor orchestrated cuts here, and this wellcalculated mess thrusts the audience forward in a textbook example of what an action scene should look and feel like.

Everything else falls pale, however, in comparison to what the end offers. The tribute to Paul Walker, who died in 2013 before filming ended, is one of the most beautiful homages ever done in the big screen.

There are not many blockbusters

that can touch one’s heart. “Furious Seven” speeds in the opposite way. It reminds us it is OK to be moved by a summer flick, and here it earns its high grade. It reminds us that there are people, on our screens as well as in our lives, that shine their light onto this world in a special way. And everything is just a bit darker when they are gone.

Furious Seven

Rated: PG - 13 Grade: AVerdict: For the courage to defy blockbuster conventions, present a well-written story and, finally, touch hearts in one of the greatest tributes ever made on screen, “Furious Seven” is an outstanding achievement in its genre.

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“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” races of Men, Elves and Dwarves must SYNOPSIS: Having reclaimed Erebor and vast treasure from the dragon Smaug, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) sacrifices friendship and honor in seeking the Arkenstone, despite Smaug’s fiery wrath and desperate attempts by the Hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman) to make him see reason. Meanwhile, Sauron sends legions of Orcs in a sneak attack upon the Lonely Mountain. As the fate of Middle Earth hangs in the balance, the

decide whether to unite and prevail -or all die.

SHOWTIMES: Wednesday- Friday 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 8:30 p.m.

Rated: PG- 13 Running Time: 144 minutes

calendar & games

16

Campus & Downtown Events Aurora in April II: Old Meets New April 23 8 p.m.

Rialto Center

This musical celebration of both classic and modern Finnish Composers will be performed

by Georgia State’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Wind Orchestra, Brass Choir and University Singers. They will focus on the creations of Finnish Composer Jean Sibelius. One of his pieces will be an original production managed by Georgia State Professor of Music, Robert

Speed Coaching

April 23 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Capitol Suite, Student Center If test taking is simply not your area of expertise, and a stress plays a major barrier between you and a good grade, then this is the event for you. There will be many helpful tips and preparation techniques to avoid and better the following aspects, like time management, procrastination, stress management, essay writing and health & nutrition.

Joe Alterman with special guest houston person and the hot sardines April 26 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Rialto Center

Joe Alterman is a piano jazz legend, and when combining him with soul-jazz mastermind Houston Person the two become unstoppable. They will be performing with The Hot Sardines and 49th Street Manhattan’s “wild children of wartime music” as well. With this much talent cramped into one theatre, the likelihood of having a fantastic night is very high.

Screen on the green April 27 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Hurt Park

With finals coming in fast and becoming the main aspect in your life, the stress is becoming unbearable. What is dire in this time of anxiety and headaches is a good movie night to break the nerves. So bring a towel and take a load off, because who doesn’t want to watch something entertaining under the spring trees?

Beacon of hope information session April 22 Noon - 3 p.m.

Dahlberg Hall

If students or graduates are interested in volunteer or internship opportunities regarding establishments that help the community, then take a trip to this enlightening session. The Renaissance Learning Center was created as a safe and helpful educational environment for many children and families. It focuses on the development of child learning through beneficial teacher interaction, continuous stimulation in intellect, and

academic involveacademic involvement.

From college to career: making the transition April 22 5 p.m.- 7 p.m.

Speaker’s Auditorium, Student Center

If the feeling of uncertainty is hitting you on your last final years or weeks here at Georgia State about where your life will lead, this event will guide you through ways to ensure success in the future. It will focus on even the littlest aspects like taxes, paying back student loans, and paying bills. However, it will also touch basis on ways to get involved with your desired career choice.

On Campus Part time Job Fair April 28 Noon - 3 p.m.

Dahlberg Hall

If you are an undergraduate or graduate and are looking for some extra money to get your through the harsh life of college, come to this fair. It will give you all the information needed about part-time jobs in the area, and are you are able to meet with specific Georgia State departments regarding their opportunities.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

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SPORTS

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

The Ivie League Freshman sensation spearheads softball’s powerful offense

SUBMITTED PHOTOS | GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

(Story suggested by Georgina Cruz (freshman majoring in hospitality administration) JEREMY JOHNSON Staff Reporter

A

A

fresh face has stepped into the spotlight for the Georgia State softball team this spring. That face comes in the form of 5-foot-8, Carlton, Georgia native catcher Ivie Drake.

Drake admits that she didn’t see herself being such a big part of the Panthers’ batting attack this season. In fact, she did not even think she would be on the field much as a freshman.

“At the beginning, I thought, yeah they were going to put me in here and there. But there are two catchers that are both older than me, and they’re really good,” she said. “So I was like, well, I get some playing time here and there. That first game [head coach Roger Kin-

caid] put me in against Auburn, and I was just like, all right well.”

And play she did. The Panthers fell to the then 17th-ranked Auburn Tigers 20-8, but a star was born as Drake’s career jumpstarted with two hits, scoring a run and drawing a walk in her debut. As a result, Drake has started every game this season for the Panthers.

She leads the Panthers in batting average at .472 in her 48 games this season. Drake also tied for the team lead in home runs currently with 17, also leading the team in runs batted with 58.

Drake’s production has been welcomed though it may have come as a surprise that it has come so soon. She went from an unknown freshman to a catalyst for a solid team. A team looking to make a postseason push.

Drake, though, a young player, has been rock solid for the Panthers

and looks to be for the next three years. She said she is not much different from a player now as she was in high school.

There wasn’t any magical preparation that allowed her to come in and flourish. She simply kept things simple and refined her technique in the summer.

“I didn’t really change...anything over the summer coming into college. I hit [the ball] with my dad a lot. Even if I wasn’t going into college, I…[play] with my dad all the time, I throw with him all the time,” Drake said.

By Drake simply taking the game more seriously and the challenge of tougher competitions, it’s aided in a smooth transition from high school to college.

“In high school we didn’t really have a lot of competition. I was serious about it. But I wasn’t worried when we played and I just kind

of played and had fun,” Drake said.

“Now in college I feel like it’s more serious. It’s just a lot more serious. I take it more seriously. It’s a lot harder competition.”

She played four years at Madison County High School in Danielsville, Georgia. Drake won three Class 4A Regional Championships and was a three-time All-Area and All–State selection and named the Athens Banner Herald’s Softball Player of the Year last season.

Drake’s loud bat has not translated into her becoming a vocally loud leader just yet. The Panthers will soon look for her next progression and development. Right now, Drake just lets the upperclassmen handle the talking as she observes and learns.

“I’m not vocal at all. I leave that to the seniors and the juniors. I feel like I should be more vocal. But I don’t feel like it’s my spot necessar-

ily right now,” she said.

Drake acknowledges that the role of vocal leader has to be earned, and there is a progression that comes with earning that role along with becoming more comfortable with the culture of the team. Drake is no stranger to that role as she can remember going through it in high school.

“I can see myself being more vocal next year. Like, in high school I did the same thing. [As a] freshman, I was, like, the young one and I didn’t do anything,” she said. “And years after that it kind of started to come together. I’m not nervous, I’m more comfortable. So, I feel like after this year I will be more vocal.”

Her freshman season is quickly coming to an end with only seven games remaining in Georgia State’s regular season.

SUBMITTED PHOTOS | GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013 18

SPORTS SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

baseball

All-around student-athlete: Ryan Blanton Sophomore outfielder strives for high averages at the bat and the grade-point JARED OLIVER Staff Reporter

S

ophomore outfielder Ryan Blanton has been one of the key players this season for a Georgia State baseball team that stands in first place.

Currently, he leads his team in bat-

ting average as he has hit .344 in 2015.

Blanton has also put in a .548 slugging percentage as well as an on-base percentage of .417. He does not only strive for a high average on the baseball field, but one as a student as well.

It is difficult to balance games, practice, social life, workouts, and academics along with the traveling. The sophomore outfielder understands time has to be spent in the books and on the field.

“It’s our job,” Blanton said. “We got early workouts, mid-day workouts, we have practice, we have games on the weekends, and because of that were missing class. It’s really hard to hold yourself to the same standard as students who don’t play sports,” Blanton said.

Blanton the student Blanton is always seen slugging it out on the field, but he is not just your average athlete. He gets it done in the classroom, making the Dean’s List in the past three years. Blanton knows physical talent can only get one so far, but believes his education is the key to lifelong success.

“From an early age, I just tried my best in school, and if I didn’t, I would get punished,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to have parents instill in me that I really need to get good grades. Eventually, I motivated myself, so it translated to baseball as far as work ethic,” Blanton said.

High accolades Blanton was awarded Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week on March 16 after the Panthers went 3-0 with a 13-3 throttling of Kennesaw State as well as a doubleheader sweep over Sun Belt rival Arkansas State. That week, he went 11 of 16 from the plate along with a hitting percentage of .688.

The sophomore has made a strong effort to improve the consistency in his game.

Blanton believes the whole week was a huge blessing for him in the way he won the award.

“Everything was just clicking for

Blanton the student-athlete PHOTO BY NADIA DELIJOU | THE SIGNAL

me. It reflects our team too because our team went on a winning streak. You have to pause and reflect and enjoys the moments because it’s not always like that. Baseball is a crazy game,” he said.

He is one of the two players to ever become Louisville Slugger National Player of the Year at Georgia State. Former player Nic Wilson won the award in 2014.

Blanton believes the baseball program deserves all the credit for this accolade.

“It means the coaching staff [is] doing their job,” he said. [Thei] telling us all the right things and were listening,” Blanton said.

“Last year I was definitely not consistent. Freshman year was definitely a transition for me, and that’s something I was really proud of this year was becoming more consistent,” Blanton said.

Defeating a rival Blanton found a way to knock out two home runs in the same inning against the Owls. Hitting the homers against Kennesaw State added to the satisfaction given that they are a local rival.

“Doing it against anything other

school would have been ok, but doing an in-state rival is really awesome,” Blanton said.

What baseball means to Blanton For the sophomore outfielder from Lilburn, Georgia, baseball is not just a game to play on the field. Blanton said that many of life’s trials and tribulations can be metaphors for what happens on the diamond.

“Baseball is a way of life. It teaches us how to deal with failure. That’s one of the biggest things in life is we learn when we fail at something you try hard at, how do we keep going,” Blanton said.

Thanking the family The exercise science major gives all the credit to his parents and appreciates everything he has achieved so far.

“My parents support something I have really grown to appreciate. I’ve seen the time and money they have invested in me and my dreams,” Blanton said. “In high school they had to clean our lockers and clean the fields taken away from their lives. It’s really great to have them.”

(Story suggested by Georgina Cruz: freshman majoring in hospitality administration)

Column

Why does there have to be basketball, football and ‘everything else?’

AKIEM BAILUM Sports Editor

F

ootball can wait, hoops are great, other sports are too In our final issue of the 2014-15 academic calendar, after input from our loyal readers like you, The Signal decided to examine Georgia State’s NCAA tournament appearance in comparison to football and other sports on campus that do not receive the same amount of attention.

While it is huge that Georgia State received national attention for men’s basketball, sometimes we forget that there are 15 athletic sports the university offers, not only “the big two.”

Last season, Abigail TereApisah made it to the semifinals of the NCAA women’s singles tennis tournament. Noteworthy.

Greg Frady’s Georgia State baseball team sent Nic Wilson and Chase Raffield to Minor League Baseball (MILB) last year despite

missing the conference tournament. This year, the team placed first in the conference with a legitimate shot in making the tourney as a top seed. Noteworthy.

Football is treated as a major sport on campus because it is ingrained into the culture of a Southern state such as Georgia.

While other schools in the Peach State, such as UGA, Georgia Tech, and yes, even “that school down South,” (Georgia Southern) have experienced success on the gridiron, football victories have not come frequently for the Panthers ever since its move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

At this point in Georgia State sports history, halfway through the conclusion of the football season, everyone on campus is looking for the opening night of hoops action at the Sports Arena.

Roger Kincaid, head coach of the Panthers softball team, earlier in the season was in the midst of a 15-game winning streak and can improve its standing in the conference standings with a few more

Sun Belt wins. Noteworthy.

As shown by this season, Panther fans, students and alumni will certainly experience more joy in two hours at the Sports Arena than they will in four hours at the Georgia Dome.

Given this stark dichotomy of the success of football and basketball at Georgia State, it is possibly easy for us to think of Panthers sports as the “Jekyll and Hyde” of college athletics.

Taina Anglade became the first Panthers women’s soccer player to train for a national team when she trained for Haiti in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Recently, C.J. Cochran signed a professional contract with his hometown team from the North American Soccer League (NASL) — the Atlanta Silverbacks. Noteworthy.

Under head coach Beth Van Fleet, Georgia State sand volleyball is about to complete its third season. The team earned a seven seed in the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association (AVCA) rankings, began the season 18-

1, and the sport itself will be an NCAA-recognized championship sport in 2016. Noteworthy.

Even as good as our basketball team is, we are still a mid-major school in a mid-major conference, the Sun Belt. There are plenty of basketball teams that, on a national scale, could probably beat us on any given night. What makes this dichotomy hit home is that ESPN, in December of 2014, ranked Georgia State’s football program as the worst in the nation.

Is there anyplace else in the country where the football team can be this bad, but a basketball team can be this good?

Football and basketball are the primary revenue producers at most schools. Both keep donations from Panther Athletic Club (PAC) boosters rolling in as it continues its push towards its PAC2k initiative, where it wants 2,000 members by 2017.

Why should those two sports be the only two to get recognition?

Hannah Stefanoff won an individual Sun Belt championship in

the women’s 5K in Birmingham, Alabama after climbing the ladder from a ninth place outing in her freshman season. Noteworthy.

On the volleyball court, the Panthers under a new head coach in Sally Polhamus, had its best season since 2011 and qualified as a seventh-seed in the conference tournament in San Marcos, Texas.

Noteworthy.

There are plenty other Georgia State sports outside of the gridiron and the hoops hardwood. Should the athletics department be held accountable for football’s struggles? Yes. Building a winner on the football field should be a key goal in the short-term and long-term future for Georgia State.

A winner, thanks to head coach Ron Hunter, has been built on the basketball court. But there are other Ron Hunters and R.J. Hunters honeycombed throughout Panthers sports who are just as worthy of the attention of Georgia State fans and students.

(Story suggested by Sammy Harvey, senior, law major)

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

SPORTS CALENDAR

Sara Olivova Sand Volleyball During pool play of the Florida State Pairs Tournament in Tallahassee, Florida, Olivova, teamed up with junior Jansen Button won their pool with three victories over teams from Florida State, University of Alabama-Birmingham [UAB] and Eckerd College.

The Panthers as a team went 15-3 in pool play.

Olivova was born in the Czech Republic. Her father was a captain of the Czech Junior National Team and her mother ran track and was with the Czech National Team.

She attended Seaholm High School in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Michigan. Olivova was an All-State Honorable Mention in 2010 and also played for Michigan’s Instant Replay Volleyball Club.

The 2013 season was the inaugural campaign for Georgia State sand volleyball. It was also the first year where Olivova was paired with Jansen Button. The duo went 7-11 their first year, but posted a 23-9 record in 2014. That year, Olivova also had the opportunity to compete in the Under-22 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Turkey.

Savannah State GSU Baseball Complex 5 p.m.

Friday, April 24 South Alabama* at Mobile, Ala.bama 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 25 South Alabma at Mobile, Alabama 3 p.m.

NCAA Regional TBA All day

WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD Thursday, April 23 Penn Relays at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

No. 7 Georgia at Athens, Georgia 6 p.m.

Saturday, April 25 UL Monroe *

UL Lafayette 17-3 | Overall: 34-5

2nd

South Alabama 14-3 | Overall: 32-7

3rd

Troy 11-7 | Overall: 29-19

4th

Texas State 8-6 | Overall: 25-19

5th

UL Monroe 9-7 | Overall:25-15

6th

Georgia State 9-9 | Overall: 30-17

7th

UT Arlington 8-10 | Overall: 27-22

8th

Georgia Southern 4-8 | Overall: 12-33

9th

Appalachian State 1-19 | Overall: 12-27

NCAA Regional TBA All day

Penn Relays at Philadelphia, Pa.

SAND VOLLEYBALL Saturday, May 2

All day

TBA AVCA National Championships at Gulf Shores, Alabama TBA

MEN’S GOLF Tuesday, April 21 Sun Belt Conference at Miramar Beach, FL. All day

THE FINAL SCORE Women’s tennis

The Panthers’ defense of its Sun Belt championship from last season ended in defeat as Georgia State fell in the semifinals to UT-Arlington by a final of 4-3. The Panthers topped Arkansas State, advancing the team to the semis. The team was down 3-1 before Chaimaa Roudami and Veronika Golanova earned wins, tying the match at 3-3. The Mavericks claimed the doubles point, eliminating the Panthers and moving on the finals against South Alabama.

Volleyball

Friday, April 24

at Heck Softball Complex 1 p.m.

1st

Saturday, May 16

All Day

SOFTBALL Wednesday, April 22

SUN BELT STANDINGS

SOFTBALL

*conference games

Friday, May 15

BASEBALL Wednesday, April 22 GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

19

SPORTS SPORTS

TUESDAY, 21, 2015 10, 2013 TUESDAY,APRIL DECEMBER

Sunday, May 3 TBA AVCA National Championships at Gulf Shores, Alabama TBA

Georgia State played its final matchup of the Spring season on Friday evening at Kennesaw State, resulting in a 3-2 loss for the Panthers.

Deidra Bohannon, Eliza Zachary and Kitan Ajanaku led Georgia State’s offensive and defensive attack early on before the Owls rallied back in the final three sets. Attention now turns to the Fall 2015 season as Georgia State looks to build on its Sun Belt tournament appearance from last year.

Track and field

The Panthers competed in their next-to-last meet of the regular season at the Georgia Tech Invitational. LaPorscha Wells set another school record as she threw 59.31 meters in the hammer throw, topping Georgia State’s previous mark of 56.96--which Wells also set. The 4x100 meter relay team also finished third, but established a new top mark for the Sun Belt this year. The team’s final meet starts Thursday in Philadelphia before the conference championship

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