The Signal Vol. 85 No. 5

SEPT. 19 - SEPT. 26, 2017

VOL. 85 | NO. 5

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ROCK

ON

ATLANTA

PHOTOS BY VANESSA JOHNSON & SOPHIA MARCHESE | THE SIGNAL

MAKESHIFT MAKERSPACE

BEHIND THE BIG TOP

CL GOES MONTHLY

VOLLEYBALL RE-CAP

Students have a new place to be creative and collaborate on new ideas.

Meet the faces behind LUZIA, Cirque du Soleil's newest production.

What to expect from Creative Loafing cutting back on print.

The Panthers had two split sets against South Carolina and Wofford College.

NEWS | PAGE 5 WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

ARTS & LIVING | PAGES 10-11

News 3

ARTS & LIVING | PAGE 12

OPINION 7

SPORTS | PAGE 17

Arts & Living 9

Sports 15

NEWS

2

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

BLOTTER SEPT. 14

Smoke weed everyday

Two non-Georgia State affiliates were arrested for possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute at Woodruff Park.

He’s packing

A Georgia State student was arrested at University Commons for carrying weapons on school property and possession of a controlled substance.

Parafilia

Two non-Georgia State affiliates were

arrested for possession and use of drug related objects on the corner of Fort St. NE and Auburn Ave.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christina Maxouris

A Georgia State staff member complained about criminal damage to property that exceeds $500 on Park Place.

Editorial NEWS EDITOR Syrina Merilan

signaleditor@gmail.com

executive editor (atlanta) Open executive editor (perimeter) Open

That’s private property

signalnewseditor@gmail.com ASSociate NEWS EDITOR Open signalassociatenews3@gmail.com OPINIONS EDITOR Open signalopinions@gmail.com ARTS & LIVING EDITOR Camille Bolos signalliving@gmail.com

SEPT. 15

My birthday is next week

A Georgia State student was arrested for alcohol possession under the age of 21 in Piedmont north Building A.

ASSociate ARTS & Living EDITOr Sophia Marchese signalassociateliving2@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR Open signalsport1@gmail.com ASSociate SPORTS EDITOR Open signalassociatesports1@gmail.com copy editor Alaa Elassar, Sydnie Cobb signalcopyeditor@gmail.com

Production design editor Khoa Tran

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WINLEY | THE SIGNAL

signalprod@gmail.com

Associate design editor Salinna Phon signalprod2@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY photo EDITOr (atlanta) Vanessa Johnson

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

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photo EDITOr (perimeter) Open signalphoto2@gmail.com

Music Midtowners snap photos of Vintage Trouble lead singer Ty Taylor dancing his way through the crowd.

ASSociate photo editor Open signalphotoatl@gmail.com

Digital online EDITOR Open

signalmanaging@gmail.com ASSociate Online Editor Open PODCAST EDITORS Caleb P. Smith, Charles Wright

Marketing Marketing MANAGER Open

signalmarketing1@gmail.com promotions associate Chynna Terrell signalpromo1@gmail.com Research Associate Open

THE SIGNAL BUREAUS BUREAU CHIEF (CLARKSTON) Open BUREAU CHIEF (ALPHARETTA) Open BUREAU CHIEF (NEWTON) Open BUREAU CHIEF (DUNWOODY) Open BUREAU CHIEF (DECATUR) Open advertising ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Open signaladvertisingco@gmail.com

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business coordinator Wakesha Henley whenley@gsu.edu

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOr (perimeter) Alice Murray amurray25@gsu.edu MISSION STATEMENT The Signal shall provide, in a fair and accurate manner, news of interest and significance to the Georgia State University community and serve as a forum for the expression of ideas of members of that community. Furthermore, The Signal shall provide an opportunity for students to pursue experience within a professional newspaper environment. The Signal shall also provide truthful and ethical advertising of interest to the Georgia State University community.

PHOTO BY SOPHIA MARCHESE | THE SIGNAL

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SPORTS

PHOTO BY KIRSTEN WINSTEN | THE SIGNAL

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NEWS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

GEORGIA STATE LACKS The Disparities FACULTY DIVERSITY Undergraduates to tenured faculty among underrepresented minorities

Minority students will be hindered because of less role models SYRINA MERILAN News Editor

G

eorgia State is amongst the top 25 universities when it comes to diversity in its students, but the trend does not seem to continue when it comes to faculty diversity. The long-term effects of the lack of diverse faculty can potentially hinder the future success of minorities who attend Georgia State.

Data retrieved from Georgia State IPORT states that since 2011 there has been a large increase in Underrepresented Minority (URM) students so much so that the population surpasses those that are non-URM. However, the faculty demographics have not followed a similar trend. The tenure professors at Georgia State have stayed mostly in the non-URM category with 90 percent non-URM and only 10 percent URM. To every URM tenure faculty member there are 170 URM undergraduate students, while to every non-URM tenure faculty there are 11 non-URM undergraduate students. The trend follows for graduate students as well. To every URM tenure faculty member there are 21 URM graduate students, while to every non-URM tenure faculty there are 5 non-URM graduate students.

IMPACT ON STUDENTS According to James Ainsworth, Chair for the The Cultural Diversity Committee in the University Senate, a diverse faculty is critical to the future achievement of the diverse student body Georgia State houses. A lack of visibility of people in power that look similar to minority students diminishes their confidence that they themselves can reach a position of power.

“If minority students attend college and do not see faculty members or administrators that are the same race as them, they may find it harder to see themselves in that type of role, or in leadership roles in general,” Ainsworth said. “Simply seeing examples of same-race individuals in leadership positions can send a strong message to students that it is appropriate for them to aspire to roles such as being a college professor in this case.”

It can also hinder their accessibility to mentorships, because mentors seek out mentees that remind them of themselves.

“People tend to mentor people like themselves, and if most professors are white or Asian, students who don’t fall into those categories will likely have fewer opportunities to develop close working relationships with their professors,” Ainsworth said.

Debora Constable, an assistant professor in Accounting on the Clarkston campus told The Signal this often happens at Georgia State and students are left without mentors, because

"Every white instructor that came across him was intimated by him, before even knowing what this young man could do.” ­— Debora Constable

Accounting professor on Clarkston Campus they cannot see the student’s true value.

“I had a student that was African-American, he had dreadlocks, he had very interesting life choices up until that point, but the boy was so smart. Every white instructor that came across him was intimated by him, before even knowing what this young man could do,” Constable said. “He had such a difficult time, because people would automatically assume something about him because of the way he looked.”

Constable said she often has to take a lot of minorities under her wing, because of the lack of communication between them and white professors.

“I try to mentor students, and who comes to me? The minorities, because they know that I’m going to talk to them,” Constable said. “My white colleagues don't see any minorities, they're always asking me ‘why are they always in your office’ [and] I say ‘because I talk to them’.”

The issue isn’t something she can tackle on her own, because the lack of diversity becomes even more prominent higher up ladder of Georgia State’s staff.

“On average a white faculty is going to befriend a white student and it’s going to encourage white students to move along,” Constable said. “I’m underrepresented and it’s just me trying to work with some, but I’m at the bottom of the totem poll. Nobody is listening to me, because I don’t have nobody at the top that looks like me.”

HINDERING THE ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT Hiring only like-minded individuals can create a university that lacks a diverse outlook, according to Ainsworth.

“If [Georgia State]continues to hire the same type of academics (i.e. those who conform to a narrow definition of what a “quality” or “excellent” faculty member is) then the faculty will become increasingly homogenous not only in terms of race, but also in terms of thought and perspectives,” Ainsworth said.

If this environment were to be created at Georgia State it would likely hinder the learning process of its diverse student population in Ainsworth's perspective.

2011

2017

101 1

170 1

Graduates to tenured faculty among underrepresented minorities 2011

2017

16 1

21 1

“The increasingly diverse [Georgia State]student body deserves to have a curriculum that presents a wide range of ideas to students,” Ainsworth said. “ When minority students are taught by primarily white faculty, they may not be exposed to the same range of intellectual ideas and perspectives that a more diverse faculty would expose them to.”

FACULTY TAKES A STAND Ainsworth caught this issue and proposed a legislation to create the first steps to address it and begin a dialogue.

“It will gather information, in the form of exit interviews and climate studies, that will help identify what factors contribute to [Georgia State’s]ability to recruit and retain minority faculty.

It will also attempt to limit potential implicit bias in the hiring and promotion processes,” Ainsworth said. “Moreover, if [Georgia State’s]administrators adopt the suggested initiatives, they will put more resources and focus on the issue of faculty diversity.

Ainsworth considers the legislation a start, but said bold statements need to be made before any changes can actually be seen.

“In my opinion, this legislation is just a start. If [Georgia State] is going to change the pattern of essentially no change in faculty diversity over the past decade or more, bold steps are required,” Ainsworth said. “The Cultural Diversity Committee, and hopefully the [Georgia State] administration, will be working to identify what additional bold actions are necessary [to] address the issue of faculty diversity.”

The new legislation unanimously passed the Faculty Affairs Committee of Georgia State on Sept. 6 and the Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution on Sept. 10 to support the legislation as well.

80 70 60 50 40 30

URM Tenured Faculty

20

Non-URM Tenured Faculty

10

URM Undergraduate students

0

Non-URM Undergraduate students Spring 2006

Spring 2017

ACCORDING TO GEORGIA STATE IPORT DATA

NEWS

4

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Student employees face university demands

Former RAs share their experiences working for Georgia State housing

Georgia State junior, Tam Nguyen, works on his floor’s bulletin board for the month of September as part of his RA duties.

KYLIA HAYES Staff Reporter

S

ome may think that Resident Assistants (RA)’s have it made, but former RA’s told The Signal that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

RA’S ARE STUDENTS TOO

While working for housing, former Georgia State RAs said administration often times forget that they are also students.

Former RA Florence Harrison said the beginning stages of working as an RA starts off smooth until the semester starts and they have to juggle both academics and residents.

“At the beginning it wasn’t stressful. When school started, stress soon followed after. They prepared you to deal with residents, not the residents and school,” Harrison said.

RA’s are in charge of close to 100 students on top of having to be a full-time student. Though there can be rewarding perks, such as free dorming, former RA Fortune Chimaobi feels as if supervisors forget they are students first.

“When things are good, it’s good, but when things happen, they push you. They forget that you have outside priorities.

All they care about is results, metrics and their appearance,” Chimaobi said.

According to student Jade McFarlane-Rowtham, it seems as though the supervisors try to pick and choose when they want to consider them an RA and when they consider them a student.

“Supervisors were understanding, but they pick and choose when they want you to be a student and when you’re an adult,” McFarlane-Rowtham told The Signal. “They make you feel like a student until important things happen. Some supervisors let you pick your own deadlines, and that’s how all of them should be.”

THE CHALLENGES

Often RAs take the heat for the misbehaviors of their residents, but there is not much to be done for students who aren’t willing to listen.

“Housing puts us over the control of students. If they mess up, it’s our fault. Freshmen come to college to get away from their parents telling them what to do. They aren’t trying to hear what you have to say,” Chimaobi said.

However, residents aren’t the most difficult part; it’s the

supervisors that make it tough on the RAs, according to McFarlane-Rowtham .

“I was only there a year, but I enjoyed my residents. The residents made the job easy. It is the supervisors who make the job hard. It is most definitely a learning experience. You learn more about yourself as a person,” McFarlane-Rowtham said. “It is very time consuming, and we don’t get enough credit. We are still students.”

Shannon Corey, the Associate Director of Housing, said the lack of consideration to the RA’s student life has not been brought to her as a concern.

“I have not heard that RA’s don’t feel like students, and I have met with quite a few of them. We provide task and calendars up front so that they can plan out their semester,” Corey said.

“We have recently restructured our model to a Residential Curriculum, which focuses less on programming and more on learning and building individual connections with residents.”

Corey said the Housing department is flexible with deadlines and has open communication with their RAs if a problem does arise.

“We have also changed the timeline of these tasks based on the feedback from RAs we received this past summer. I believe we are flexible and communication is the key to making that happen,” Corey told The Signal.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

The job is demanding and requires a lot of discipline. There isn’t time to slack or do as you like, according to Chimaobi’s experience.

“It’s an experience with building relationships. It requires a lot of discipline from you. It’s not all roses like many would want you to think. It requires a lot from you. [There’s] no outside lives and, if you have a job, it has to be on campus,” Chimaobi said.

RAs were not able to have outside lives, since they constantly had to be in position, manning the front desk or checking residents at all times.

“There were many times you would have to be in the building for 24 hours and couldn’t go anywhere. You aren’t able to display your outside life. Be careful about who you are around. There is always someone watching you,” Harrison said.

RAs must work for their earnings, and Harrison feels that they should not complain about helping their residents, because it’s part of their responsibilities.

“You can’t do it just for free money. You have to want to be there because you want to. You can’t get annoyed with the residents because you are there to help them,” Harrison said.

PHOTO BY AZAM LALANI | THE SIGNAL

ADVICE FROM FORMER RAs What to keep in mind?

“It can be fun, but remember it is a business. They are your employer. It’s easy to forget that when it can sometimes be fun. Always remember you are working.

Everything you do comes back to housing.”

-JADE MCFARLANE-ROWTHAM

“Treat housing like a business. Make sure you have a fall-back plan. Make sure you have enough money, if something happens you’ll be fine. Realize how time consuming it is because it might not be the job for you.”

-FORTUNE CHAMOBI

Is it worth it?

“I used to think that it was worth it, but once I got more involved and the year progressed, I quickly realized that it is not.”

-JADE MCFARLANE-ROWTHAM

“No, it is not worth it. They need to do more with career planning. They have so much potential, but all they care about is revenue. It shouldn’t just be about that. This should give us opportunities in the real world because after college, no one cares that I was a RA.” -FORTUNE CHIMAOBI

ARTS & LIVING

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

5

Getting handy with the new Exlab

Makerspace gets students brainstorming innovative ideas

LAST WEEK LOCAL President Trump approves emergency fund for Georgia On Sept. 17 President Donald Trump allowed Georgia access to federal funds, after Hurricane Irma. As reported by East Atlanta Patch, the fund was requested by Gov. Nathan Deal and will be reserved for areas hit the worst by the tropical storm including, Camden, Chatham and Glynn counties. With the new fund put in place, 75 percent of the recovery costs will be covered by the federal government, while state and local government will pick up the rest.

A student enters a virtual world during the EXLAB Markerspace to help students understand workshop fabrication, textile production, Digital Design, and 3D realization.

STAFF REPORTER

G

eorgia State hosted PantherFaire in the EXLAB, Sept. 14 at Hurt Park and the Art & Humanities building, introducing the first new EXLAB Makerspace for students interested in creating.

The new Makerspace is a place for students to learn, collaborate, and bring their thoughts and ideas to life. It was created for students who are interested in experiential learning through innovation. Director of the EXLAB Liz Smith said the lab gives students a chance to brainstorm and collaborate on ideas.

“The point of Makerspace is to collaborate.

The more people you put together to collaborate and brainstorm, the more eyes you have on your project. That will help when you’re hitting a roadblock, that’s the hardest. Somebody can come in with fresh eyes and look at your project and

turn you around and get you going in the right direction.” Smith said.

The Exlab is composed of four main departments: workshop fabrication, textile production, digital design, and 3D realization area.

Within this department, students, faculty or staff can work on textiles, program games and test them out. They can make sculptures from working with metal and wood, use a lazar shredding machine, and create something extremely complicated to have it do a simple task.

As an example, Smith had her students build a Rube Goldberg machine that had a ball that went through an obstacle course just to push curtains back to present a quilt. Essentially, whatever idea you may have you can bring it to life in this lab.

The EXLAB Makerspace provides workshops that will enhance students understanding in one of the four departments they are interested in. Students now have the opportunity to gain exposure for their possible field they strive to work in and create things that can impact the future of not only Georgia State but the world's future.

PHOTO BY KIRSTEN WINSTEN | THE SIGNAL

“I’m pre-med and I like 3D printing because I can create prosthetics and it can be beneficial for people,” Lauren Williams who works at the EXLAB said.

When the opening time came, many students lined up to see what this new EXLAB had to offer. Some felt this was a greater chance to gain experience in fields that is not a specified degree at Georgia State. Joanna Jones, a transfer from SCADD said when she transferred to Georgia State the closest thing to animation was the graphic design program, but having the Exlab is a game changer.

“It’s expanding your opportunity to do things that we couldn’t even have done, because this wasn’t here last year. I wasn’t considering 3D printing because all I know was about 3D modeling, but now since I have an actual space to learn, and they will teach me and I’m super excited for it,” Jones said.

The new EXLAB Makerspace is the first space at Georgia State that provides a space available for every major and department that are students, faculty and staff.

Perimeter campuses lack food options Students would prefer more choices like those on the Atlanta campus STAFF REPORTER

S

ince Georgia State’s merge with Perimeter, many things have changed for the college, but dining options are not one of them. Georgia State Perimeter College (GSPC) student Bryan Johnson said more eateries would be appreciated on the other campuses.

“I would love Perimeter even more if they were to open a new place to eat; it could even make it a more social place for us, because more options make the school a better environment,” Johnson said.

Assistant Food Service Director of the Clarkston campus Valencia Bush questioned if the students’ concerns were valid, because no one has said anything on the lack of food choices.

“The problem here with most of our customers are the students. They don’t ask. They don’t take the time to say that they have a taste for this,” Bush said.

Creating new options is primarily an issue of population, according to Bush. The Atlanta campus is nearly twice the size of all of the other campuses. Though the Perimeter population is large the students are spread out over five different campuses, whereas, Atlanta has all of their students on one campus.

“For one, the campus just underwent a consolidation, which is totally separate from Georgia State University. For two, [Georgia State] downtown sees three times as many students as we see in a day,” Bush said. “We might see 700 to 900 students a day, [and] they may see 350 for breakfast.”

Bush said it turns into an issue of weighing the cost and the benefits. If they were to buy new food choices and the student don’t take them, then they will end up losing more money then they’re gaining.

“We’re talking about 2,500 students, average, then when we talk about the cost of food, who’s buying it, and if it’s perishable,” Bush said. “There are a lot of things that I can go and buy, but if they

don’t sell, then I start losing money, and when you start losing money, then you have to start talking about cutting someone.”

Each of the Perimeter campus has their own dining hall, but none have as large has a variety when compared to the Downtown Atlanta campus.

A variety of options is something that has been appreciated by Atlanta students. Taylor Bradley, a Georgia State student said she enjoys the different menus that are displayed in each dining hall.

“I actually enjoy that every dining hall has different options. It would just be boring [if] everyone would stay in own their dining hall instead of going to other parts of the campus,” Bradley said.

However, Bush said the menus at the perimeter campuses are not set in stone and they are open to suggestions if the students would offer up some.

“There are plenty of options, but it’s just that, nobody asks. The menu is not set, it’s a guideline.

So, we accommodate and there are plenty of options,” Bush said.

NATIONAL Sanctuary Cities do not have to pay millions of dollars

According to U.S. News, a federal judge in Chicago stopped a Justice Department directive which planned to reprimand “sanctuary cities" through millions of dollars in law enforcement grants, if they chose not to comply with federal immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber of the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the Justice department does not have the authority to implement conditions to following to federal laws without the overt approval

by Congress.

GLOBAL UN Security Council creates a new resolution for war crimes

According to Global News, the UN Security Council is creating a resolution that authorizes UN investigators to help Iraq collect evidence to prosecute extremists from the Islamic State group for possible war crimes.

The resolution would ask Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to create an investigative team to assist Iraq in preserving evidence “that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.” The council hopes to have the draft done by Sept. 21.

NEWS

6

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

SGA tackles the major issues of Georgia State

Senators lay the groundwork for several initiatives to be completed this fall

A Georgia State Senator talks to the SGA body about plans to improve student parking for commuting students.

SYRINA MERILAN News Editor

T

he Student Government Association (SGA) has a few plans in the works that are promising to improve the Georgia State experience, which they presented in their Sept. 14.

Sen. Joshua Akinola-King is proposing a new meal plan to join the two daily plans that are already in place. This offers students the option of buying “swipes” instead of the typical five or seven day plan.

“I want to try to implement a new dining hall meal plan. A lot of other schools have a meal plan system where you can purchase a certain number of swipes per semester,” Akinola-King said. “Here we only have two meal plan options a five- day meal plan and seven-day meal plan. For upperclassmen that’s not really ideal or cost effective, so something like [a swipe meal plan] would be much more appreciated, I think, by students.”

Sen. Jessica Siemer is leading the charge of several initiatives. One is improving the advisement system through the use of a survey that will be distributed to students to detail their experience.

“There's also a section at the bottom on the survey where students that have particularly good experiences or really bad experiences can put their contact information,” Siemer said. “What we’re looking to do with that is, if

we get enough students that put their contact information, invite them in, and they can actually tell us what their experience was and try to target what some issues might be with advisement.”

Another initiative Siemer plans to tackle is the need for a place to relax and study during finals week. Some of the programs proposed were yoga, meditation hosted by the counseling center, study rooms, or Catnap.

“We were thinking to have SGA host some study rooms within the student center. We can have some study rooms where there's programming going on, whether that be someone coming from the Rec Center and having a yoga break,” Siemer said. “Another section would be dedicated to group study.

People can come in for a little study group, and maybe we’ll provide food.”

Sen. Alondra Cruz-Hernandez is still moving forward on her efforts to improve the Financial Aid office. She received a summary of a survey taken in fall 2016 on 673 student experiences in the Financial Aid office and mentioned the most prominent problems. “[Students said] someone needs to answer the phone calls, because many questions can be answered over the phone instead of students coming in all the way to the office to wait many hours just for something that could have been answered over the phone,” CruzHernandez said. “[Also] hire more financial aid representatives, especially during peak time, which is toward the beginning of the semester, towards the end of the semesters and

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

when everyone is rushing in to turn in all their financial aid paperwork.”

However, one comment stuck with CruzHernandez and she feels that the issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible. According to the survey, students feel the financial aid representatives don’t actually care about their problems.

“A lot of these students financial aid is the only way they’re going to get into college and the way they're getting themselves through the university, so I think it’s very concerning that a lot of them feel like nobody genuinely cares,” Cruz-Hernandez said. “I think when you go to the financial aid office, they might not have the answers to all financial aid problems, but I feel like they should at least feel like they were helped and they were genuinely cared about.”

Working under the Student Services committee, Luis Aleman will be addressing the long term issue of parking on campus.

He plans having longer hours for the shuttles, which currently stop at 10:30 p.m., opening the lower parking deck for Georgia State Stadium and possibly coordinating with other parking lot companies to create a budget card that would allow students to access them.

“I want to fix that the shuttles stop running at 10:30 when most students are studying until 12. I really want to talk to him and see if we can crunch the numbers and try to figure out how to extend the shuttles to at least midnight, because I feel like it’s only fair [to] students [that are] trying to get a degree,” Aleman said.

HERE’S WHAT TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR:

1. New “Swipes” Dining Hall meal plan 2. Academic Advisement Survey 3. Midterm Panther Kits 4. Finals Week Study Room and Programing 5. Financial Aid Forum 6. Parking Improvements

Interested in law school?

We give you choices.

Upcoming Prospective Student Open House events in two Georgia cities at two Georgia law schools

Saturday, September 23, 2017 begins promptly at 10:00 a.m.

Open House at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School

Saturday, September 30, 2017 begins promptly at 10:00 a.m.

Open House at Savannah Law School

RSVP online, email or by phone for the Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School event in Atlanta, GA: www.johnmarshall.edu admissions@johnmarshall.edu (678) 916-2620 for the Savannah Law School event in Savannah, GA: www.savannahlawschool.org admissions@savannahlawschool.org (912) 525-3913

At our prospective student events, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the law school, meet professors, students and key staff Register for an Atlanta or Savannah event today!

Urban, high-energy and world class

Coastal charm and culture

ARTS & LIVING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

M U S I C T O W N

Crowds cheered for their favorite artists, including Bruno Mars, during Music Midtown weekend, Sept. 16-17, 2017.

CAMILLE BOLOS & SOPHIA MARCHESE Arts & Living Editor and Associate Arts & Living Editor

M

usic lovers of all kinds took to Piedmont Park on Sept. 16-17 for a carefree weekend of good tunes and great times at Music Midtown 2017. The annual music festival

brought the fans a range of artists from Weezer to Tove Lo to Oh Wonder.

The sun was blazing, the King of Pops were dripping and the music was relentlessly groovy. Oh, and let us not dismiss all of that customary festival fashion. All ingredients for an unforgettable Atlanta music festival experience.

With handfuls of big-name artists, the festival drew in a crowds of more than 70,000 this year

M I D 2 0 1 7

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON & SOPHIA MARCHESE | THE SIGNAL

creating close quarters inside the typically spacious park. Guests packed together like sardines to see headliners Bruno Mars, Blink-182 and Mumford & Sons.

With so much energy bouncing from one stage to the next it’s hard to decide which performances shined the brightest. We took it upon ourselves to highlight a few memorable moments and experiences from the festival.

FESTIVAL FASHION

#MMSUPERLATIVES BEST OVERALL PRODUCTION BRUNO MARS

If the sweet swoon and slick dance moves of Bruno Mars didn’t make his loyal fans choke up, the show’s astounding production surely took many admirers breath away.

Bruno and his Hooligans brought the heat, literally. Flames and fireworks shot high above the stage while the 24K Magic light rig colorfully illuminated the stage, much like a transformer changing from one shape to the next. And somehow, the suave superstar and his posse of right hand men shined even brighter than the glitzy scene behind them.

MOST AMPED UP CROWD DUA LIPA

As soon as the Music Midtown gates opened on Saturday, thousands of attendees flooded into the festival grounds, sprinting to get a front row show for London pop singer Dua Lipa. Dedication is a mere understatement. Festie goers were so excited they were literally doing backflips towards the stage. Lipa lovers screamed with anticipation and admiration as she came on stage to empower the audience. Her debut studio album has been out for only a few months, yet fans sang along as if they had known the songs for years. “Thank you ATL … The energy was insane,” Lipa said on Twitter not long after her impressive performance.

MOST NOSTALGIC CROWD BLINK-182

Fans of all ages flocked to the Roxy Stage to hear the new and the old from the beloved punk-rock band that many of us grew up listening too. You could smell the leftover teenage angst of adults rising out of the crowd when the band played “I Miss You.” For those who remember buying that album—on CD I might add— the lyrics poured out of mouths across the lawn, not skipping a beat. “Say It Ain’t So” is another oldie that echoed off the stage as fans screamed the words and danced their heart out to the 1999 radio hit. Despite the changes the band has gone through, they showed Atlanta that they still have it, and gave us the throw-back Saturday we yearned for.

BEST BAND FLYING UNDER THE RADAR VINTAGE TROUBLE

Who said Music Midtown is all about the headliners? Hollywood’s Vintage Trouble surprised the festival crowd with their soulful yet undeniably electrifying performance. Ty Taylor, lead singer and stage sensation, put on one hell of a show with help from the rest of the extremely talented Vintage Trouble rock & rollers.

The band’s chemistry only intensifies their flaming hot stage presence, creating a lowkey vibe reminiscent of James Brown meets The Rolling Stones. Bold statement? Yes. But if the Stones chose these fellas to open for them in London, we can confirm they’re worth a listen. “Thank you for partying with us!” Taylor said, not long after he dived into the sea of spectators for an epically successful crowd surf.

MOST HYPE PERFORMANCE BIG SEAN

Thousands of Music Midtowners bounced towards the Salesforce Stage for hip hop recording artist Big Sean’s big party. The ground shook as he hyped up the crowd, with seemingly every person shouting out and hanging on to every last verse. From club bangers to hustle testimonials, the Detroit rapper showed his unreserved love for Atlanta by bringing all that he had to the stage. And though his infectious energy never faltered, Big Sean did take a moment to call attention to reality—while him and his crowd were partying and having the time of their lives, people are homeless and hopeless after the destruction of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. “I need a moment of silence,” Sean said. “We’re going to give them our prayers, our energies … To everyone around the world.”

There was plenty of head-turning and strutting going around at Piedmont Park last weekend. Festivals are the prime time to let your apparel do the talking for you. Whether that talking is loud and proud or spreading a specific message, Music Midtown was no exception.

FANNYPACK GIRL

Many festival-goers opted for the classic ‘festie’ look, attainable and practical. Cut-off jean shorts, tribal printed halter and a matching tribal print fanny-pack complete with body glitter.

DIVERSABILITY

Some were not there to make a fashion statement but instead to represent a statement bigger than themselves. Diversability is an awardwinning movement to improve upon the inclusivity of disabled people.

BARBIE

Then, we have the head-turning outfits complete with blow-up accessories—these people are not getting lost in the crowd. Meticulously paired to make a bold fashion statement and leave people saying, “Omg I’m obsessed with your outfit.”

d n i m A I Z U L in the magic of

Cirque du S oleil A look under the Big Top

CAMILLE BOLOS & SOPHIA MARCHESE

Arts & Living Editor and Associate Arts & Living Editor

C

lose your eyes, let all the thoughts of the day fade away.

Stare at the blank canvas at the back of your eyelids, think of colors...yellows, oranges, blues, greens. Imagine these colors vibrantly coming to life in shapes, in movements, in Mexico. Now open your eyes. Welcome to LUZIA. There is a certain magic that comes with experiencing the circus. Cirque du Soleil is no different, but it is truly in a league of its own. In its fourth decade, the Canadian entertainment company maintains its reputation as a leader in the world of circus arts, continuing to push the limits of creativity and wonder. Each individual involved has a critical role in making this feat a reality and is essential to the functioning of each awe-inspiring production.

Cirque du Soleil publicist, Francis Jalbert, started as an intern with the company back in his college days in Montreal, working two days a week over what was supposed to be a 10 week internship. Eight years later he is still a valuable member of the Cirque family, having worked on the production of both TOTEM and LUZIA.

How far in advance do you guys start planning the show?

Jalbert: In short, LUZIA will be about two years in the creation process. We start with the director who has a vision of what the show will be and then we’ll build around him a team of creators … For about a year they’ll work on the project

trying to bring new ideas to the table and really shape what the show will be on paper while we’re actually casting the show at the same time. It’s a long process and I think it’s really unique in the industry the way we create shows but it starts with an idea that gets bigger and broader.

What was the inspiration behind the idea of LUZIA? Jalbert: With LUZIA we wanted to bring a certain Latin American feel to the show and we worked with director Daniele Finzi Pasca, who has lived in Mexico for 10 years of his life. He always wanted to find a way to pay tribute artistically to Mexico, so it was kind of a match made in heaven for Cirque du Soleil. We decided to do a show based on the richness of the culture of Mexico, but it’s nothing literal. So, through LUZIA you’re traveling around an imaginary world that is inspired by an array of inspirations from Mexico. It can be in the songs of the music, in the locations, landscapes, people, emotions you would feel as you travel around. We created this world so that you can go through different emotions for two hours and a half.

What is the most rewarding part of being a part of Cirque du Soleil?

Jalbert: We have 17 countries involved in the cast, when you add all the crew that’s involved, 77 crew members, we come from 24 different nationalities. So, you get the best of the best in different fields working together under this tent and it’s a unique environment. Everyday you learn about yourself and about the world and you’re just inspired by the different people that you get to interact with.

What is the best part about being on the road?

Jalbert: The most interesting part is that every month or so [or] every two months we get to pack our suitcases and change [our] routine. What’s interesting is that we are this little community that travels around so the people you work with and live with are kind of the only stability you have in your life. So, the bond that you’re building with these people is something unique that probably wouldn’t get in a different type of environment.

RUN AWAY WITH THE CIRQUE

Cirque du Soleil is much more than a mere spectacle. It’s dreams coming true before your eyes—of both the audience and the performer. It’s dedication and hard work and sacrifice.

It’s a lifestyle.

Performers from all around the world practice endlessly to achieve their goals and dazzle their audiences. An opportunity to be a part of the largest theatrical production in the world isn’t something that comes along everyday, and each circus artist understands this wholeheartedly.

They understand that as a part of this worldwide, worldrenowned family, it is their artistic duty to make every crowd feel as if they are slipping into a dream, if only for a few hours.

They translate their passions into live art that induces emotion and awakens the imagination.

Luzia’s artists are no exception. Acrobatic gymnast Kelly McDonald has brought her talent and creativity into the waking dream of Mexico.

Before being offered a contract with Cirque, was this something that you thought about as a career move?

McDonald: I thought about it. When you’re in performing, you kind of have a list of things [to check off]. You have resident shows, an arena show, a big top show… But then you also have a creation. And it’s not often that you get that opportunity—to be part of making the show. So even when you’re done and you leave, part of you is still touring the world and part of you is still with that show. It’s something that I wanted to do, but you never know when that opportunity is going to become available.

Did you have any fears going into this?

McDonald: Absolutely. Moving … Joining a cast of people you don’t know… For me, Adagio is actually a very acrobatic number. And the team consists of five people. So I’m a flyer, there’s another flyer and we alternate and there’s three porters.

So it’s working with people that you must trust. Not only artistic presentation, but I trust them with my health, my wellness, my safety. And they have to trust me, too [in] that I’m going to know what to do when we’re doing our tricks and that we can perform high level things together.

What kind of training do you do before each show?

McDonald: Each act has their own requirements—different strength training, different cardio. Me, personally, I like to get outside. Before I come to the Big Top, I’ll go running, go find something active to do that’s outside or go explore different opportunities in each city. And then when we come in, we have a kitchen so we can get our meals in and then do our trainings as well. We’ll do an hour of Adagio training on our one-show days and I back-up some other acts so I’ll do some trapeze training… And I like to train other elements as well.

Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA brings a dream of Mexico to Atlanta.

What is the most rewarding part of being involved in Cirque du Soleil?

McDonald: For me, I love to see and feel the audience reactions. When [I’m] on stage during [my] act, when [I’m] helping another performer by accompanying them in their act. I get to be amazed by co-workers everyday also. And when you go out there and you bow, and you see that people were touched by your performance. And that it could mean something different for everybody that’s there—hopefully it’s something positive for everyone—that’s a really valuable part of my job.

Cirque du Soleil in itself is an art, and the beautiful thing about art is that each individual has their own interpretation of it. There is no spoken word so the performers are not telling the audience how to feel or what to think. It is a show for all cultures, and each culture will see it through their own eyes due to their own personal experiences. Expose yourself to the sensation of LUZIA and see how you interpret the marvelous production. Cirque du Soleil is at Atlantic Station until Nov. 19.

Students may find discounted tickets starting at 20 percent off on their website.

PHOTOS BY SOPHIA MARCHESE & CAMILLE BOLOS AND PAGE DESIGN

BY KAREN KOSASI | THE SIGNAL

ARTS & LIVING

12

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Creative Loafing: Redesigned, but is it refined?

Music Editor Chad Radford talks plans for monthly issues

SAVANNAH ELDER Staff Reporter

us. Along with the podcasts being available on the website and on SoundCloud, I think we will work getting onto iTunes soon. There’s an app called Stitcher, which is like a podcast app, and we’re working to get it on there. I’m pushing to get stickers made and with all of that we could get [CL] into things like A3C Festival from that kind of stuff in the way that we’re a sponsor of it because of the content we’re able to create and manage.

A

s the second monthly edition of Creative Loafing (CL) hit stands Sept. 14, readers are still guessing as to what’s to come of the new prints and online approach.

Since 1972, CL has released alternative weekly prints for free to Atlantans.

Throughout the city, copies were dropped into the well-known green boxes that sit on the city’s most populated street corners. At varying days of the week throughout the paper’s production, copies were picked up and passed around.

On Aug. 17, 2017, Editor-in-Chief Carlton Hargro wrote an editor’s note in the front pages of The Ultimate Wing Smackdown issue stating that CL was saying goodbye to weekly releases.

The publication would focus on moving into a monthly distribution cycle with an online platform to back it all up.

The weekly to monthly output for Atlanta’s longestrunning alternative news, music, culture and arts source speaks volumes to the nature of the digital age’s influence on print publications. Readers and fans are waiting in anticipation for CL’s changes to come to light and high expectations are brewing.

Along with the announcement of the paper’s monthly transition, Hargro wrote, “While that means you’ll be getting your dose of CL in print less frequently, it also means you’ll be getting a bigger, better and bolder version of the paper you know and love on a regular basis — and much more of us on the web (more on that later).”

CL’s Music Editor Chad Radford gave a fill on what that might look like in the months and issues to come. As technology’s role becomes more evident in media each day, Radford let’s us know how CL is preparing to stay steady amongst the tide.

Tell me a little bit about the transition itself with Creative Loafing.

Radford: We think of the print issue as kind of like a trophy. So we have all been working hard to make the print product as strong as it can be. Honestly, even though we’ve switched to monthly, it doesn’t feel like the workflow has changed that much. We are really pushing hard to get more content online and what it has done is kind of relaxed the pace at which we do things. Things can feel like you’re on a treadmill at times. There’s always another print

So the goal is to get more concentrated on what’s going on and then curate an expansion of it?

issue going on, so expanding it into a monthly release makes us curate more and spend more time editing.

Radford: Right. And Tony Paris, who is an old [music] editor, worked here in the 80’s and 90’s, and possibly the 70’s, but he’s been around Creative Loafing for decades. He was here at the peak of the alt-week industry and now he’s coming back for a weekly column called High Frequency.

The first one is coming out on Wednesday, Sept. 20.

What kind of things are being slowed down at CL for more content?

Do you see more challenges ahead or just more opportunities?

Radford: We have time now to really sit and kind of question everything. Everything is not a rush job. From structure to what’s being said, it gives myself more time to discuss with the other writers. We can do more because we have more time to reflect on what we’re doing. We can take our time and do it right.

What kind of things will we see in the structure of CL’s music section?

Radford: For online, I think what you’ll see is more programmed content. I started doing a podcast called Atlanta Untrapped, which is a hip-hop podcast. On Mondays, I have New Music Mondays, which is where we roll out a whole bunch of music that is either premiering at that moment or has come out in the last week. There’s kind of this charge where artists come at us without any warning, and it just doesn’t do anybody any good [to post it] because we don’t have any time to respond to it. So with New Music Mondays, it allows that time for us to think about it. I’ve done three so far, and as we move forward, I think you’ll see the writing become more substantial because that’s sort of the goal with it.

Are you still doing Live From the Archives?

Radford: Yeah, those are working out really well for

Radford: Well, there are challenges because, like I said, I started doing a podcast, and that’s an unchartered territory because speaking and writing are two different things for me. There’s lots of times where I kind of fumbled here and there, but there’s a certain charm to that. Giving myself more of a “podcast” pace and tone is something I’ll be working on moving forward. There’s always going to be a challenge with technology and upping things by finding new music, which, you know, is always out there.

How are the monthly print issues being dispersed? Are they still going to be in the CL boxes?

Radford: I don’t know how often they distribute them, but I know I’ve seen a couple of [boxes] get re-upped since the original drop date of the current issue: The Ultimate Wing Smackdown. The Best of ATL will come out, and it’s going to be thicker.

What do you mean by thicker?

Radford: Yeah, that’s another thing. People complained about how thin they got over the years. So, it’s going to get thicker. [The prints] have gotten glossy covers, a re-design, and you’ll see how CL is at the bottom of the page with the new blue barrier. It’s all good.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIAN PINEDA AND PAGE DESIGN BY TYPHANIE HALL | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

ARTS & LIVING

13

MOVIE REVIEW

'9/11' Cast Fails to Deliver

The film neglects the details of that dreadful day VICTOR SLEDGE Staff Reporter

E

ven with a star-studded cast, including Whoopi Goldberg and Charlie Sheen, “9/11” fails to satisfy my hopes for a film depicting one of the most infamous days in American history. Clearly not aiming for reality, the film glazes over historical details to focus on the cesspool of emotions fermenting between five strangers stuck in a World Trade Center elevator.

At first, “9/11” sets the stage well for the daunting task of reenacting the horrible events that happened on that day 16 years ago. It started with average people all going through their morning routine – a janitor dispatched to unclog a toilet, an estranged couple leaving a divorce mediation, a lower-class father running errands before his daughter’s birthday party, and an exploited woman looking for her independence – all traveling on an elevator in the World Trade Center.

You could feel the tension in the audience as each character nonchalantly went about their business, not knowing they were going to be at the site that would live on in American minds forever.

We all jumped out of our seats when the first explosion of the plane shook the scene with a sound that made everyone in the audience cringe. Then the plot took off. The scene cuts to actual live footage from that day

of the first plane crashing into the tower, and then the elevator breaks down, trapping all five people until they can work together to find a way out. Their only line of communication to the outside was the elevator attendant, Metzie (Whoopi Goldberg).

Unfortunately, from there our expectations were anything but fulfilled.

When I think of the purpose of a film based off 9/11, I think of heart-wrenching, emotional, crippling reenactments of the real events. However, this film opted to fill 90 minutes with arguments of socio-economic disputes between characters of two different sectors of society, a trivial story of a failed marriage and the struggle to be free from an exploitive benefactor.

The constant updates of the terror they receive are but minor details compared to the emotional distress the characters face in their own life. It seemed like the real events of that day took a back seat while the shallow problems of the characters in the elevator took the wheel. I was just left hoping Jesus would take the wheel after being forced to listen to Jeffrey’s (Charlie Sheen) lackluster comedy for over an hour.

Offering cheap story lines behind each character’s anguish only served to overshadow their eventual collective effort to escape the elevator. I think the flat characters and their cliché development by the end of the film failed miserably to capture the true essence of bravery and patriotism that emanated from citizens and first responders on 9/11.

DVERDICT With a great premise, but poor execution, “9/11” failed to realize its potential to deliver both substantive characters and a realistic depiction of the historic attack. Dry comedy, lousy character development, and neglect of the natural emotional appeal of the 9/11 attacks all mired this film down with disappointment.

Dark tunes for the introspective listener

O

hio based indie rock band, The National, isn’t known for their happy sunshine anthems. They are known for their moody, most times dark, soliloquies with a pulsing rhythmic backbeat and swelling, beautiful, instrumentation and sometimes for their guitar driven indie songs. They take influences from many places. The flawless incorporation of those influences into their songs is the catalyst for their success. On Sleep Well Beast, their first album in four years, The National delivers an especially moody and dark body of work with tinges of their indie rock roots with some goth flavor.

This album takes a bit from a couple different song books but it manages to all remain under the umbrella of The National.

“Guilty Party” is a slow burner, with a repeated drum pattern akin to The Cure. Layers of synth and piano are added and it crescendos with a twinkling guitar part towards the end. It is one of the best parts of the album and their take on this style of song could fill a whole album.

The band does not let themselves get snug in one musical category and keeps it fresh with some different, more straightforward guitar-

2

Flash Trading Liars

heavy indie music, like the song “Turtleneck.”

This song, again, is reminiscent of The Cure in its structure and its placement on the album.

The differences come in the vocal delivery.

Instead of the crooning of Robert Smith, the listener gets a monotone voice basically speaking the lyrics as if reading them off a sheet of paper. The lack of emotion only works in the favor of the band because of the moods they convey with the music. The vocal choice solidifies and puts a stamp on how these songs are supposed to be delivered.

It may be obvious based on the comparisons given to this album, but this is not an album for an adrenaline junkie. Not to say it’s boring, but the album never really breaks through a certain amount of energy and just when it hits that big chorus, it goes back down. When it goes down, it’s slow and poignant, the lyrics sparse but cutting. Not the place to go for an upbeat singalong, but definitely a good way to make the walk to school feel like an indie film—and also a good choice of tunes to stare at the ceiling in the bedroom.

This is the type of record that is there when the listener needs to hear it. If they want to be put into the mood of this record, they can throw it on, or if already feeling that way, it’s good to hear. This record is a good morning record or perhaps good to put on whenever some thinking time is needed because it is so vulnerable and dark.

B

VERDICT On this new record, The National has shown an expert level of songwriting. Every song having something to offer and conveying the same mood, regardless of actual structure or instrumentation.

They took their time writing it and the product is definitely a great listen, but it may not be best for the days when the sun is shining.

Oh Sees V/A - Antinote

6 7 8 9

S. Fidelity

Dent May

MELLOW THE GOLDEN WAVES MILE Cornelius Flash Trading

SUMMERSET RIPE & MAJESTIC (SIDE B) V/A - Lush Selects TOBACCO

FIVE YEARS OF FRENCH KIWI JUICE LOVING NOTES

FKJ V/A - Antidote

A SAFE PLACE TO ARTIFICIAL BEACH EP BE NAKED

Shimano Moki S. Fidelity

11

NOTHING IS EASY, EUCALYPTUS EVERYTHING IS (...)

Avey Tare

12

SOFT SOUNDS FROM MELLOW WAVES ANOTHER PLANET

15 1. “Guilty Party” 2. “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” 3. “Dark Side of the Gym”

FIVE YEARS OF ORC LOVING NOTES

ACROSS THE EUCALYPTUS MULTIVERSE Avey Tare

14

BEST SONGS

RIPE & MAJESTIC SATURN OVER SUNSET TOBACCOSister Midnight

5

13

GRADE

THE GOLDEN MILE TFCF

A SAFE PLACE TO ONISM BE NAKED Photay

10

The National’s return Staff Reporter

Sodium.

Dent May

4

ALBUM REVIEW

JALEN JENKINS

1 3 GRADE

ACROSS DASHER THE MULTIVERSE

16 17 18 19 20

Futility Music

Cornelius Japanese Breakfast

MURDER OF THE SUMMERSET (SIDE B) UNIVERSE

V/A - Lush Selects King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

ART SCHOOL FRENCH KIWI JOCKS JUICE Art FKJSchool Jocks

DADA ARTIFICIAL BEACH EP B Boys Moki Shimano

MURDER THE SHADOW OF EXPERT UNIVERSE

Palm King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

NOTHING IS EASY, DE MIM, PRA VOCÊ EVERYTHING IS (...)

Sango Futility Music

ZONEZ V.3: THEFROM WORLD SOFT SOUNDS UWINDS ME BUT (...)

ANOTHER PLANET

Suzi Analogue Japanese Breakfast

CIGARETTES AFTER SEX ART SCHOOL JOCKS Cigarettes Art School After JocksSex

SOMERSAULT DADA Beach B BoysFossils

CALENDAR & GAMES

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

things you don’t want to miss Wednesday

More events and info at georgiastatesignal.com

Friday

Thursday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

FEED YOUR SENSES

North Georgia State Fair

Imagine Music Festival

East Atlanta Strut

Atlanta Streets Alive

Atlanta AAUW Bookfair

The King and I

September 20

September 21

September 22

September 23

September 24

September 25

September 26

The Rialto Center for the Arts is hosting another Free Lunchtime Learning Performing Arts Series at noon. Food will be provided and Frankie Quinones, a Latin and World Percussionist, is the guest.

If you’ve never been you gotta go!

Enjoy a freshly fried funnel cake with melted powdered sugar atop a ferris wheel while looking down at Georgia now through Oct. 1.

Admission tickets are only $7!

Live performances by artists like STS9 and Big Gigantic will flood Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Silent Discos and circus acts are just a wristband away so grab your buds and head on over!

The 20th annual festival showcases East Atlanta Village at it’s finest. There is live art, music, a market, a parade and so much more!

Stroll on down for some good food and free entertainment! 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.

At 2 p.m.

Peachtree St. and S. Broad will be taken over by a bicycle parade, but feel free to walk, run or skate!

The theme is “Rock the Vote” so wear red, white and blue to celebrate city elections!

Love the smell of a good page turner? Hit up the AAUW Bookfair in Perimeter Mall then.

You can visit their website to see what the proceeds go to.

The fair is $10 the first night then free through Oct. 1.

Imagine 19thcentury Bangkok and an unconventional romance between King of Siam and a British school teacher, with music.

It is showing at the Fox Theatre, get discounted tickets for a limited time.

games

SuD0KU

easy

medium

WORD SEARCH

Word List: Music Midtown Festival Piedmont Cirquedusoleil

Backstage Creativeloafing Thenational Brunomars Exlab Dining Diversity

Minority Housing Offense Football Golf Studentworkers September

HARD

SPORTS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

Q &A with women’s golf coach, Cathy Mant

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS AND PAGE DESIGN BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

Coach Mant has accomplished a lot in her time at Georgia State, but still wants to do more CHRISTIAN CRITTENSEN Staff Writer

W

omen’s golf coach, Cathy Mant, has been at Georgia State for 17 years. In her time here, she has become the winningest coach in Georgia State golf history. She has led the Panthers to three conference championships, three runner-up finishes and four NCAA regional berths. Mant also won four Coach of the Year awards while the Panthers were in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Mant attended Arizona State University (ASU), where she played during the 1970s. After her time at ASU, she went on to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. Soon after, Mant wrapped up her professional golf career and became an instructor. She is a member of both the ASU Sports Hall of Fame and the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame.

Mant is now committed to helping her current team win a Sun Belt Championship and reach an NCAA regional final.

Two of her players were named to the All-Sun Belt second team last season. Mant is also big on academics; last season the Panthers finished 18th in the All-Scholar team GPA with a 3.75. The award is ran by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association.

Mant is now entering her 18th season with the team and is excited about her incoming freshman and the returning players, who have made major improvements.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT COACHING? Mant: My favorite thing about coaching is interacting

with the athletes on a day-to-day basis at practice and watching them develop their games and grow as not only athletes but as people.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU’VE LEARNED IN YOUR 17 YEARS HERE AT GEORGIA STATE? Mant: When I started coaching, I had a one-hour

conversation on how to be a coach in NCAA one division,

but you learn a lot about recruiting, how to look for athletes, communication, and how to reach different athletes to have them commit. But I think the big thing is just learning how to deal and grow with each person and to help them develop.

It’s just been a huge learning curve, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity.

that’s struggling and we’re not with that person, then we're going to go and try to change what they’re thinking about, get them to focus for just a second about their upcoming shot, give it 100 percent on that and forget about the past. So we’re really able to get right in there and talk with them.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU LOOK FOR WHEN YOU ARE RECRUITING ATHLETES? Mant: We look for a lot of different things. Of course

YOU HAVE TWO REALLY GOOD PLAYERS NOW IN JEMIMA GREGSON AND HARMANPRIT KAUR. WHAT KIND OF THINGS DO YOU SEE FROM THEM AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR CEILING CAN BE? Mant: They can accomplish whatever they

we’re looking for talent and people in women's golf who can score low. I look for people who have fundamentally good golf swings so that they can repeat them easily, especially when they’re away from their coaches and their homes. Im looking for people who have good short games, but I’m really looking for people who have heart, people who really want it, people who want to go the extra mile to be a success at what they want to do.

DO YOU STILL LEARN NEW THINGS? AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU LEARN? Mant: I’m constantly trying to learn about technology,

and that's a real struggle for me. It’s life. You adapt. You adapt to a lot of different things and different people, and if you grow, growing as far as technically with our athletes . For example, we are adding a new method called blast motion that's going to help us with our short game and...with other parts of our game. It’s something that we haven't done before, so we're going to add it to see if it helps in our putting.

COACHING GOLF IS A BIT DIFFERENT THAN OTHER SPORTS, SO HOW DO YOU COACH A PLAYER DURING THE MATCH? Mant: We can actually walk with the athlete and talk with

them down the fairway. We can help...show them how to hit a shot. We’ve got five players, a coach and an assistant coach, and we’re watching through golf stat. If we see somebody

want. They both work very, very hard on their games and made improvements.[Jemima], for example, did not have a very good short game [with techniques] like chipping, putting, pitching.

She really worked in her chipping and pitching, and has really gotten good, so I’m excited for what's going to happen with that.

[Harmanprit] is a very, very hard worker. She has a lot of talent, she is very consistent. One of the things that she's trying to do is be more aggressive with her putting. So, in addition to those two experienced players, who really played one and two for us. In fact, it went back and forth within a fraction of a point scored, we have two pretty strong freshman coming in.

AS FAR AS THE THE TWO SEASONS GO, WHICH ONE IS MORE IMPORTANT AND DO YOU PREFER ONE OVER THE OTHER? Mant: In our sport we’re going all year and our ranking

even does count from the fall. So we’ve gotta do well. If you get yourself in a whole ranking wise, then you can't pull yourself out of it to well. On the other hand, spring season is where it's at because even if your ranking isn't the best you have a chance to advance to postseason play if we win the conference championship. So thats our goal to win the conference championship and move on the NCAA regionals.

SPORTS

16

Alex and Max Hermann are poised to win multiple golf tourneys ACCOLADES FOR THE HERMANN BROTHERS ALEX’S AWARDS ACADEMICALLY

• 2017 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar • Spring 2017 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2016 President's List Honor Roll • Spring 2016 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2015 President's List Honor Roll • Spring 2015 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2014 President's List Honor Roll

ATHLETIC HONORS: • • • •

2017 All-Sun Belt First Team 2017 Mobile Intercollegiate Champion 2016 All-Sun Belt First Team Tied for lowest second-round score in school history (64) • 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship

MAX’S AWARDS ACADEMICALLY

• 2017 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar • Spring 2017 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2016 President's List Honor Roll • Spring 2016 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2015 President's List Honor Roll • Spring 2015 President's List Honor Roll • Fall 2014 President's List Honor Roll

ATHLETIC HONORS

• 2016 All-Sun Belt First Team • 2016 Sun Belt Conference Champion

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

PHOTO BY ETHAN MITCHAM | THE SIGNAL

D'MITRI CHIN Staff Reporter

T

he Georgia State Panthers' men's golf team had an outstanding season last year, as they finished in ninth place at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. This year one can only imagine the expectations that the team has for themselves as they begin their quest for a NCAA Championship.

The Panthers' will face some in-house challenges this year mainly because legendary head coach Joe Inman has accepted the role of Director of Golf, and the Panthers lost a key contributor in Nathan Mallonee.

However, the Panthers feel confident in first-year head coach Chad Wilson, who was the interim coach for Coastal Carolina last year and was part of the staff that helped Kennesaw State reach the 2014 NCAA Championship. The Panthers also have two seniors, Max and Alex Hermann, who happen to be twin brothers and exceptional golfers. The Hermann brothers were a dynamic duo for the Panthers last season, and they are approaching this year no differently.

In particular, Max acknowledged the fact that he must continue to be persistent and reliant on his work ethic.

"Nothing too specific I guess. Just trying to put in the work everyday, work hard towards my goals and analyze everything that happened and be prepared for the tournaments," Max said.

"I believe if you work hard now, you will get the results. It's nothing too specific."

Max also mentioned that he expects the Panthers to be a substantially better team than they were last year -- considering the fact they had learned from their losses.

"Definitely be better than last year," Max said, in regards to what he expects from this year's team. "You know, we showed what we could do a couple of times, but we still made a lot of mistakes, and I think every single one of us in our group can play better than what we've shown."

While it takes a collective effort for a team to accomplish momentous accolades, Max has also set the bar high for himself going into his final year with the Panthers.

"My expectations are just to be a better teammate, play better in the tournament so that we can have a great year as a team this year," Max said.

After finishing the season with a 74.00 scoring average, fourth-best on the team, and earning top 12 finishes in three of the last four regular season tournaments last year, one would

presumably be content with their overall performance. But not Max. This year he intends on shooting a lower average — admitting that last season wasn't his best.

"Last year was a little bit difficult for me - I don't know why exactly because I've struggled through some parts of the season — I had some good tournaments, but I wasn't really consistent," Max said. "I definitely expect more from myself because I've shot better rounds my sophomore year and my freshman year."

Max realized he fell into a slump during some parts of the season and has credited his strenuous summer workouts for the vast improvements to his game.

"The summer has been kinda tough, too, but I've worked really hard, and I think my game is trending in a better direction. I definitely expect — or I'm hoping that I can do better this year. I've got great support from coach Inman and coach Wilson, and they're doing everything they can to help me be better, and I think this year is going to be a lot better than last year."

In regards to coach Wilson, Max said "he's great" and "fun to be around." Max also said that he is looking forward to competing in the upcoming tournaments with his coach.

His brother Alex, however, finished the season with a team-best 72.06 scoring average and a season-low round of 66.

Although the Hermann brothers are very competitive, Alex said that his brother plays a significant role in helping him enhance his game.

"We don't compete against each other because we both wish that the other one finishes as high as possible and plays as well as possible," Alex said. He continued by saying it is important that not only his brother but the team as a whole pushes each other to get better everyday.

During their time at Georgia State, the brothers have created many memories and have won their fair share of tournaments together. But they have one last season to create more memories and ultimately prove that they are capable of continuing to play at a high level without the likes Inman as their head coach and Mallonee on their roster.

Alex does not doubt for a second that his teammates this year are well-equipped to have a successful season.

"I'm not overly worried about it just because the coaches make sure they recruit hardworking, talented guys," Alex said.

"We still return four starters this year, and I know that each and every one of us got better over the summer."

For the Hermann brothers, this year will be full of optimism and opportunity as they look to leave an everlasting impression on their final season at Georgia State.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

SPORTS

17

Women’s volleyball team is back home

In two split sets, Panthers defeated South Carolina but fell to Wofford College

Two teams battle it out at a volleyball tournament hosted at Georgia State, September 16, 2017.

TOBI ADEYEMI Staff Reporter

T

his past weekend, Georgia State’s women’s volleyball team finally had the opportunity to do something they’ve been waiting all season to do: play at home. They hosted the Georgia State Invitational at our own Georgia State sports arena in a tournament that was free for all who attended.

The first 10 matches of the season were on the road for the Panthers, and head coach Sally Polhamus spoke for the entire team on what it meant to finally be back home.

“We are extremely excited about the opportunity to open up the home portion of our schedule,” said Coach Polhamus.

“There really is nothing like playing in front of your home crowd.”

The first 10 games of the season were tough on the Panthers as they played in three tournaments in three different states, but

PHOTO BY ETHAN MITCHAM | THE SIGNAL

they were able to hold their own on the road and come out with a 4-6 record. They pulled out wins against Rutgers University, Charleston Southern University, Jackson State University, and Chattanooga. By the end of the tightly contested Chattanooga match, which the Panthers pulled out 3-2, they were more than ready to be back in Atlanta.

The Panthers were glad to finally be back home and it showed. Over the course of the weekend, the Panthers faced off against South Carolina State University, Wofford University, and Davidson University, finishing the tournament with two wins and a loss.

The first day of the tournament the Panthers faced off against South Carolina State and Wofford. Against South Carolina State University, the Panthers pulled out their first straight set victory of the season. Džemila Hadžić and Morgan Hash led the way for the Panthers with seven kills each and Jha’Meisheia Griffin added four blocks while sophomore Celeste Friesen added in 14 digs.

But playing against Wofford was a completely different story.

They lost to Wofford in straight sets, but the match was much closer than the final score indicates. The first set was a give or take affair until Wofford was able to pull away late. The second set saw Georgia State run up an early lead that they would eventually blow, and in the final set, Wofford was in control most of the way through.

The last day of the tournament, the Panthers faced off against the Davidson Wildcats. They won that match 3-1, marking another competition closer than the match score indicates. Each set was determined by five points or less and was highlighted by a two point Panther comeback in set three, giving them the breathing room to play poised in set four and seal the match win.

The Georgia State Invitational closed out exhibition play for the Panthers. They open Sun Belt play Friday at home against the University of Louisiana-Monroe. You can catch the season opener at 6 p.m. in the Georgia State sports arena.

Georgia State's sports department is uneven in support

There is a total of 15 teams, but only two of them receive the bulk of the attention CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

N

o matter where you go in America basketball and football are the kings of the sports scene. If you were to take a look at every major city in America you will find a professional basketball and football team. It’s inevitable because everyone loves those sports because of the passion and joy that they bring to the fans.

With that, however comes a lack of support or attention for the smaller sports around college campuses, especially Georgia State. There has been a buzz around the new football stadium, and deservedly so because it's fresh and new and something that the school desperately needed.

However, it seems like there just isn’t a lot of love and support for the other teams around campus. Many of those teams deserve attention because they’ve had a lot of team and individual success over the past few years. The men’s tennis, golf, and soccer teams have either won or competed for Sun

Belt championships over the past few years.

The men’s soccer team is off to a very good start this season, and has one of the better players in the Sun Belt Conference in, Hannes Burmeister. This season Burmeister has three goals, and has lead the Panthers to several victories this season.

Thats is just one example of the successful teams that we have on campus, but there are several reason why no one seems to care for the other sports here on campus.

The main reason people don't follow along or keep up with the other sports is because none of them play on campus.

“I think location affects the majority of it. Off the top of my head, the only other teams that actually play on campus are volleyball and beach volleyball,” former student Rashad Milligan said. “Tennis and Soccer have had some good teams in the last couple of years and at least the soccer games I've been too, they bring out decent crowds. Athletes at Georgia State are the biggest supporters of Georgia State athletics.”

Milligan is correct, location is key. The soccer and baseball teams both play at Panthersville in Decatur, Ga. Thats tough for students to attend especially the one who live on campus and

don't have transportation.

The only teams that actually play on campus are the volleyball team and the beach volleyball team. That's something the average person doesn’t care about.

“The casual student doesn't hear as much about senior day for the Beach team or Breast Cancer Awareness Night for the Volleyball team as opposed to a 'Black Out' Night for the football team,” Milligan said.

The Volleyball team hasn’t had great teams lately, but the beach volleyball team has been very successful. Delaney Rogan and Chelsea Ross were both named All-Americans this past year, and competed in the national tournament at the end of their season.

Winning will cure a lot of things and that's true, but the athletic department pumps its support and efforts into the football and basketball programs. But this is a business so they have to support what makes them money. That is the reality of the situation, but it is unfortunate that the other sports don’t receive the same amount of support from fans as the two main sports.

18

SPORTS

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

TOBI ADEYEMI Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY XXX | THE SIGNAL

T

he Georgia State football season is underway, and once again it’s off to an underwhelming start. The team blew its home opener against Tennessee State then followed that up with a loss against the number five team in the country, Penn State. In both losses, there was a common theme, and it’s the team’s offensive struggles, where they have looked pretty awful on that side of the ball.

It’s been a tale of two teams for Georgia State this year. The defensive side has been great. They’ve kept the Panthers in games, made timely stops and big plays, pretty much doing what’s expected of them. On the offensive side, it has been a different story. There are a lot of things to nitpick, but the most obvious has to be the turnovers.

“You can never win with big turnover numbers,” wide receiver Penny Hart said. “Regardless of how I or anyone else plays.”

Hart’s right. Turnovers are arguably the biggest killers in a football game, and Georgia State saw that first hand against Tennessee State. They had four turnovers in that game, never allowing the Panthers to get an offensive rhythm. During the bye week, turnovers was a subject the team hyper-focused on, and quarterback Connor Manning doesn’t believe turnovers will be a problem going forward.

“We put a big emphasis on turnovers this past week,” Manning said. “Securing the ball, and also just keying the right guys up so we can execute better.”

Execution was another issue the team struggled with, and runningback Taz Bateman believes it’s because the team wasn’t as prepared as they thought they were.

“We didn’t know our assignments,” Bateman said. “We had to get back in the film room and get everything back right.”

One area the Panthers had to notice during their film sessions was the ground game or how nonexistent it was. Against Tennessee State, the Panthers racked up only 49 yards on 29 carries, good enough for only 1.7 yards per carry. Tennessee State, on the other hand, racked up 238 yards on the ground and punched in two touchdowns. Getting outran by nearly 200 yards will almost certainly spell a loss every time, and is something the Panthers’ hope they don’t experience again this season.

Bateman thinks fixing the ground game comes down to just football.

“It’s really just football,” Bateman said. “That’s all it is. We got to know our assignments and execute the play, and we’ll be fine.”

Running back coach, Josh Stepp, has similar feelings and thinks his guys will be able to figure it out and improve.

“We’re going to get better. The season just started,” Coach Stepp said. “ It’s just a matter of our guys up front playing together a little bit longer, our guys in the back seeing the reads and pressing their blocks better. They’re still learning the new system and still getting used to new coaches. I look for big improvements going forward.”

Coach Stepp is in his first year with Georgia State and is tasked with fixing the Panther’s horrendous run game, one that has been an issue for years now.

“We just got to continue to work hard and get better,” Coach Stepp said. “We got a good group of backs who can get in there and get the job done. When they get in there, they just got to know their assignment, press their blocks, and go get the job done.”

Coach Stepp has a lot of faith in his stable of backs and knows they can be better just from what he’s seen during practice.

“They give me everything they got every day,” Coach Stepp said. “They come out and work hard every day, and as a coach that’s all you can ask for.”

It also makes a coach’s job easier when he’s dealing with

veterans and players with experience.

“We didn’t add any new guys to our group this year,” Coach Stepp said. “We have kind of a veteran group this year which is a good thing to have as a coach. So I’m excited about this group as a whole."

The run game is only one part of the offense, one that can be benefited from improved offensive line play. The O-line hasn’t been very good, maybe due to inexperience since they did start two freshman. They haven’t protected the quarterback well and haven’t provided the best blocking for the running backs. Manning doesn’t want to put all the onus on them though.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say they weren’t good,” Manning said.

“Sometimes they weren’t keying off the right guys, and we just have fit it up better. We spent a lot of time in the film room though so they’ll be ready.

And he will need them to be. The passing game is the one facet Georgia State has excelled at so far, and Manning knows he needs to be able to get his receivers the ball so that they can continue to make big plays. One of his biggest targets from last year, Robert Davis, is now gone, but he knows other guys can make plays.

“It’s definitely going to be a more collective approach this season without Robert,” Manning said. “We got guys like Penny and Todd we can rely on, and we got Ari Werts at tight end who’s played a lot of football. We got a lot of guys who can make big plays.”

They’ll also have or at least hope to have Bateman for a whole season. Bateman has been their best back while available, but the issue is that he has been very injury prone, but he’s also taking extra precautions this year.

“Man, I stretch every day,” Bateman said. “I stretch a lot more now, at morning, at night, that’s the one thing I’m doing differently.

With a healthy Bateman in tow this year, the Panthers want to do something on the ground they’ve never before: have success.

And if they can do that, alongside their stingy defense and potent passing game, a bowl game might not be that out of reach after all.

PAGE DESIGN BY SALINNA PHON | THE SIGNAL

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

19

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE SPORTS PREDICTIONS

KYLE CLINTON

Men's Soccer

The sophomore defender from Havant, England was a big contributor to last week’s win against Winthrop, tying the game with a header, and pushing the teams into overtime. This will be Clinton’s second season with the Panthers, and already he’s been a huge assist. According to the university’s sports website, he was an ‘integral part’ of the team’s defense and helped shut out seven teams, including two in the Sun Belt Tournament. Last November, Clinton was awarded Sun Belt Best Defensive Player of the Week, and scored the 2016 Sun Belt CoFreshman of the Year, and All-Sun Belt First Team.

PHOTO BY GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

SPORTS BRIEFS FOOTBALL

— Lost to No. 5 Penn State, with 56-0 on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Volleyball

— Split two matches last week at the Georgia State Invitational, beating South Carolina State, but losing to Wofford College. The scores brought the team at 5-7 on the season and 1-1 at home.

CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

Georgia State vs. Charlotte

GEORGIA STATE

TCU vs. Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA

Mississippi State vs. Georgia

GEORGIA

NY Giants vs. Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA

Seattle vs. Tennessee

TENNESSEE

Atlanta vs. Detroit

ATLANTA

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

men’s Soccer

­ Defeated Winthrop last Saturday — with a 3-2 in double overtime, bringing them to a 4-3.

WOMen’s Soccer

­ Fell to Texas State at 3-1 in the — conference opener game. The score brought the Georgia State Panthers down to a 2-5-1.

SCAN SCAN HERE HERE TO TO JOIN JOIN US! US!

SPORTS CALENDAR FOOTBALL

GOLF SEPT. 22

SEPT. 23

HOST: FURMAN

Greenville, North Carolina

ALL DAY

SEPT. 23 HOST: FURMAN

ALL DAY

MEN'S golf HOST: GEORGIA STATE

Charlotte, North Carolina

SOFTBALL

WOMEN'S golf Greenville, North Carolina

6 P.M.

CHARLOTTE

WOMEN'S golf

ALL DAY

SEPT. 24 GEORGIA GWINNETT

1 P.M.

GEORGIA GWINNETT

3 P.M.

Robert E. Heck Softball Complex Robert E. Heck Softball Complex

Scottsdale, Arizona

SEPT. 24 woMEN'S golf HOST: FURMAN

Greenville, North Carolina

ALL DAY

MEN'S golf HOST: GEORGIA STATE

Scottsdale, Arizona

ALL DAY

SOCCER SEPT. 24 WOMEN'S soccer SOUTH ALABAMA

Mobile, Alabama

2 P.M.

illustration of the week:

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX BROOKS