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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Korey “Korra DeVil” Klausing takes a smoke break before the show on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 before the Carnival Drag Show at The Varsity.

VOL. 102, ISSUE 79

Isabel Miller | @IsabelMMiller

Meet Carbondale’s royal family Members of the drag community share their stories Kallie Cox | @KallieECox

Drag performers Korra DeVil, Faim Lee Jewls, Blanche Dubois, Kailey Kreme, Alejandra Leblanc Leight and Jodie Santana have their own unique back stories and breathe life into this chapter of Carbondale’s vibrant drag history.

Korra DeVil: Korra DeVil, also known as Korey Klausing, is one of the youngest drag queens in southern Illinois at age 19.

Klausing said they first publicly dressed in drag for their senior prom at Pinckneyville High School.

“It was so well received,”

Klausing said. “That was the moment I knew I need to continue this.”

Klausing said their onstage personality reflects an amped up version of their offstage personality.

“My onstage personality is kinda the person I think I would be if I was a female,” Klausing said.

“Kind of a dark, seductive, sort of little dark princess of the night.”

Klausing has been doing makeup since age 15, but getting ready is still a long process.

“If I want it to be a good night – total body, make-up, hair, costume, nails – it takes about

maybe four hours to five hours at most,” Klausing said. “But if you gotta go quick, it can be done within three hours.”

Klausing said the hardest part about drag is the physical toll it takes on your body.

“You have to change your whole body figure, alter it in ways that it normally wouldn’t,” Klausing said. “I think the hardest part is having to sit in it for so long and keep poised, look pretty and really give a good show on top of that, especially because dancing in heels is not easy.”

Klausing said the support system in the Carbondale drag community is massive.

“I am just very grateful for the community down here,” Klausing said. “It really is welcoming.”

Klausing said not to be afraid to put yourself out there because the community will stand with you.

“They will love you, and no matter what, you got family here in Carbondale,” Klausing said.“The drag family is very close and it is very caring; [...] we always love new queens.”

Kailey Kreme: Kailey Kreme, also known as Colter Deaton,

is a student at John A. Logan Community College and is from Crab Orchard, Illinois.

Deaton has been performing for a little over a year and his first performance took place the night after he had first dressed in drag.

“There was a girl that cancelled out of the show at Street Bar, so Jodie [Santana] said ‘go up and get ready’ – so I went upstairs and she painted me,” Colter said.

“Honestly, it was really, really fun.

It was a little nerve-racking but it was so much fun.”

Please see DRAG | 8

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

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Strumming for students

About Us

The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 43 weeks per year, with an average weekly circulation of 11,000. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale and Carterville communities. The Daily Egyptian can be found daily at www.dailyegyptian.com for the most up to date news.

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The Daily Egyptian, the student-run news organization of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.

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The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and functions as a laboratory for the School of Journalism in exchange for the room and utilities in the Communications Building. The Daily Egyptian is a non-profit organization that survives primarily off of its advertising revenue. Offices are in the Communications Building, Room 1259, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill., 62901.

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The Daily Egyptian is looking into incidents of sexual harassment or assault at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. This information will be used to identify trends or patterns, if applicable, of harassment and assault at the university and to be used by The Daily Egyptian.

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Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz Isaac Lausell, assistant professor of guitar, performs with The Jazzicians of SIU on Friday at Hangar 9 in downtown Carbondale, Illinois. The group performed for a benefit concert supporting the Vienna and West Frankfort music programs.

Spring 2019: SIU Carbondale on-campus enrollment drops under 10,000 Daily Egyptian | @DailyEgyptian

SIU Carbondale’s total spring enrollment is down 11.63 percent – or 1552 students – compared to Spring 2018 enrollment.

“SIU spring enrollment aligns with fall as is typical,” university spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said. “The percentage is slightly better than fall’s decline of 11.96 percent.”

Goldsmith said percentage changes from spring to fall are always fairly close, because most new students start in fall and continue in spring.

She said the 11.63 percent decline is not an additional decline but simply reflects

Fall’s enrollment numbers.

“Total spring enrollment is always lower than fall in part because some students graduate in December,” Goldsmith said.

There were 1,253 graduates during the Fall 2018 semester, according to data retrieved from the SIU Registrar’s Office and provided by Jennifer DeHaemers, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management.

9,770 students are taking classes on the Carbondale campus in the Spring 2019 semester, according to data provided by DeHaemers.

10,698 students were enrolled on-campus during the Fall 2018 semester.

On-campus enrollment looks

at the amount of students taking classes at the Carbondale campus.

Total enrollment looks at students enrolled on the Carbondale campus as well as students taking classes online and in remote locations, such as military bases.

On-campus students for the Spring 19 semester, are broken down into 7,089 undergraduate students, 2,092 graduate students, 257 law students, 286 medical students and 46 students who are unclassified, which are generally not degree seeking, according to the data.

Enrollment has seen a decline in the recent past, 12,632 students enrolled in on-campus classes during the Spring 2017 semester and 11,288 students enrolled on-campus during the Spring 2018 semester.

Comparatively, 12,617 students are taking classes on the Edwardsville campus this semester, according to data provided by Doug Mcllhaga, SIUE spokesman.SIU Edwardsville saw a 2.7 percent decline, or a decline of 359 students, in on-campus student enrollment compared to the Spring 2018 semester.

“The overall enrollment decline is due to the cumulative effect of enrolling 15 percent fewer new Illinois freshmen and 15 percent fewer Illinois transfers since achieving record overall enrollment in fall 2015,” said Scott Belobrajdic, SIUE associate vice chancellor for enrollment management.

The Daily Egyptian's News Desk can be reached at 1-618-536-3397, by email at editor@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @dailyegyptian.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

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Sustainability groups strive to make SIU more green Brandi Courtois | @brandi_courtois

More than $2 million has been awarded to green projects at the university ranging from energy to waste management under the green fund by the Sustainability Council.

Some of the more noticed projects on campus include the 27 Elkay refillable water stations installed since 2016, the big belly solar trash compactors or the new "Water Dawg" stations which serve as a water refill stations at campus events.

“People think of sustainability [is] just sort of the natural environment alone, but really it’s not that,” said Leslie Duram, director of the Environmental Studies program.

The university currently boasts several awards related to sustainability – a bronze rating as a bicycle friendly campus, recognition as a "Tree Campus USA" by the Arbor Day Foundation and has been featured on the Sierra Club "Cool Schools" list.

Southern also has a silver STAR rating by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Karen Schauwecker, sustainability program coordinator, said the campus sustainability initiative started in 2008 when a group of students called the EcoDawgs began looking at other universities and how they handle sustainability.

The Eco-Dawgs found many other universities had instituted a green fee, Schauwecker said.

SIU’s green fee was implemented in 2009 and is collected every semester as a part of a student's mandatory fees.

Daily Egyptian file photo

The money from the fee goes to the Green Fund, which is used to fund sustainability projects on campus.

Duram said sustainability affects all the components of life on campus.

“It’s very [much] human interactions with the environment and helping humans have healthy lives through environmental conservation and environmental sustainability," Duram said.

She said she thinks students have been very effective at pushing the issue of sustainability on campus.

“Even at times when we have terrible budget cuts and

no state budgets and all these crises that we’ve been through – I think that students have been effective. Students and others have been very effective at keeping the issue out and in the limelight,” Duram said.

The Office of Sustainability currently has two full time staff members so the office has developed an initiative called a ‘working group,' according to Schauwecker.

“The idea is that people that have expertise or interest in these certain areas can get together and think about solutions or policies and procedures that they would

like to see on campus,” Schauwecker said.

Anyone at the university can join a working group and theidae is for satellite groups to work through the office and finding ways of helping the different areas be more sustainable, Schauwecker said.

Areas currently focused on by working groups include air, energy, transportation and climate.

Southern also has Eco Reps – student representatives in the residence halls who try to encourage their peers to be more sustainable, according to Schauwecker.

Schauwecker said the Eco Reps are working on a purchasing guide for resident assistants to help them choose products for floor events that are more compostable or are made with recycled materials.

The Office of Sustainability is currently in the process of submitting another STARS application.

Doctorates in psychology.

During the discussion, panelists and students discussed harmful stereotypes and what the term “black experience” means.

Harvey said there is not one specific definition of black experience.

“Some things society wants us to think that that’s us; it’s not, it’s not me,” Harvey said. “I get very disheartened when I think that this show, this movie, whatever that is what people see all over the world and think of black people, that’s not the real true story.”

One student at the event said society takes issue with those who do not fit into this black experience stereotype, and he sees this happening at SIU, in Carbondale, and in the world today.

“I see it all the time,” the student said. “If you don’t assimilate to who [they] think you [need] to be,

then we have an issue, because the moment you start walking into your identity and being confident in who you are, there is some intimidation.”

Brown responded to the student and said society’s dictionary is owned by white, upper class males who control the definition of terms and stereotypes.

“We spend our days, everyone in this room, pushing back against those definitions,” Brown said. “It is a structural, and systematic, and institutional, societal issue.”

Brown said discrimination still exists at SIU and diversity is a word he refuses to privilege because it is an excuse not to do the hard work of humility.

One student talked about an incident where they were called a “monkey” when walking to class and their story was not unique within the room.

“If you have an almost all white power structure, you do not have diversity,” Brown said. “You sure as hell don’t have integration.

So what are we doing to educate ourselves so we can be more humble and asking questions, and sincere in accepting the answers, and then going to school.”

A student at the discussion asked the room where those in privilege and in power were at SIU, and why they were not at the event.

“At events such as this, where are they?” the student said. “If they were willing to come and to learn, they would be here.”

Harvey said no matter who you are or where you are, you can’t be afraid to ask “Why is it like this?”

“SIU has won awards for their diversity plan because we have an excellent plan on paper,” Harvey said. “This room has more people of color in it than any other room

on this campus right now.”

This event took place during Black History month, but the faculty and students who took part in the discussion wanted to know, what happens after Black History month?

“This panel is in the month of February; what happens those other months?” Harvey said. “Do we not want to learn about what actually happens in Black History those other 11 months?”

Harvey said this applies to other marginalized groups as well, and people should consider what happens to other people of color during the months outside of the one designated to them.

“We have to realize that hey, God put us all here, and we’ve all got to get along with each other,” Harvey said. “We can do it the right way or we can do it the wrong way, but we are all here together.”

Staff Reporter Brandi Courtois can be reached at bcourtois@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @Brandi_courtois.

SIU discussion focuses on diversity at SIU, in the community

Kallie Cox | @KallieECox

A group of approximately 25 students, faculty and staff gathered in the Student Services building to hold a roundtable discussion about diversity at SIU and within the community.

The discussion was organized

by Lanel Love, coordinator of the Black Resource Center and Todd Bryson, interim associate chancellor for diversity.

The programing was part of SIU’s Black History month programming.

The discussion featured three panelists, Dr. Joseph Brown, professor of Africana studies; Carolin Harvey, a retired SIU faculty member who worked at the University for over 38 years and Seyi Amosu, a Celia M. Howard Fellow at the university working towards her

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Jodee Harmon | @jharmonphotoography Plungers head into the water on Saturday, during the Polar Plunge in support of the for the Special Olympics Illinois at SIU Campus Lake.

Southern Illinois takes the plunge for Special Olympics Kallie Cox | @KallieECox

Approximately 202 people braced the cold and registered to jump into Campus Lake Saturday morning at SIU’s annual Polar Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics.

The Special Olympics is a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round trainings and competitions for athletes with intellectual disabilities at no cost.

In order to plunge, participants were required to raise at least $100 dollars for the Special Olympics. Participants were encouraged to wear costumes, and many swam in style. There were individuals dressed as dalmatians, pirates, ice cubes and even a banana.

The Plunge was held in conjunction with the Donut Dash, a themed 5k sponsored

by Geico and the Law Enforcement Torch Run. Approximately 45 individuals registered for the dash, paying $30-$35 depending on the day that they registered.

The runners circled Campus Lake and stopped at donut stands along the way, which

were filled with Dunkin Donuts donut holes. For every donut a runner ate, a minute was shaved off of their overall time.

Kimberly Talley, co-director for the southern Illinois Special Olympics region, said there were 90 volunteers helping with the event, not including the emergency dive team.

Talley said there are over 1,600 athletes with the Special Olympics in southern Illinois, but they would like to serve even more.

“We just love to be able to offer programming for sports and other activities that give socialization to anyone 2-200 that has an intellectual disability and the ability to offer that to them for free,” Talley said. “As much as we can offer through events like this, it allows us to continue to offer that to that population.”

Talley said the organization loves their partnership with SIU, and she hopes to see more students at future events.

“This generation is so good at giving back to different organizations that are charitable, so we are really enjoying the support that we

are getting from that,” Talley said.

Adam Cunico, a corporal from the SIUC police department and one of the regional coordinators for the Special Olympics through the Law Enforcement Torch Run, planned the Donut Dash and other officers helped to run the event.

Beverly Rowlen, an ambassador and athlete with the organization who has raised over $10,000 for the Special Olympics, said the Polar Plunge this year was a success.

Talley said there were more runners than usual at this year’s event and the goal amount for the event was $35,000.

In advance of the plunge they had made about 50% of this goal and Talley said she was hopeful they would reach their goal by the end of the day.

Staff reporter Kallie Cox can be reached at kcox@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @ KallieC45439038.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

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Jorge Ramos detained and released in Venezuela Meg James | Los Angeles Times

The Venezuelan government briefly detained Jorge Ramos, the star Spanishlanguage television journalist, during an interview with the country’s embattled president, Nicolas Maduro. Ramos and the Univision News television crew accompanying him were subsequently released.

“Our team is out,” Univision spokeswoman Rosemary Mercedes said in an email message to The Times Monday evening.

About an hour earlier, Kimberly Breier, an assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, said on Twitter that the agency had “received word the journalist Jorge Ramos and his team are being held against their will at Miraflores Palace by Nicolas Maduro. We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching.”

Ramos, 60, who is known for his crusading style, is the lead anchor for Univision News. The native of Mexico, who became a U.S. citizen in 2008, generated huge headlines when he was kicked out of a Donald Trump political event in Iowa in 2015.

After that dust-up, Ramos said in several TV interviews that he had not been subjected to such treatment even in Cuba and Venezuela.

Univision News announced on Twitter Monday evening that Ramos, along with his TV production crew, was being “arbitrarily detained at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. They were interviewing Nicolas Maduro but he didn’t like the questions. Their technical equipment was also confiscated.”

Later, Univision News issued a new tweet saying: “They released the team of journalists from Univision that was held in Miraflores by Maduro.”

Unlike most American journalists who

“We are simply being the voice of those who don’t have a voice.”

- Jorge Ramos star Spanish-language TV journalist

strive not to take sides in the issues they cover, Ramos is something of an activist when it comes to immigration issues in the U.S. He has insisted that the U.S. government’s treatment of undocumented immigrants is a moral issue and has become an unapologetic proponent of immigration reform.

“Our position is clearly pro-Latino or pro-immigrant,” Ramos told The Times in a 2013 interview. “We are simply being the voice of those who don’t have a voice.”

It’s unclear when Ramos and his news team traveled to Venezuela.

Ramos on Sunday posted an interview clip from his Sunday news magazine show, “Al Punto,” in which he interviewed a woman in El Salvador.

The clip indicated that Ramos was in the studio, which is based in the Miami area, where he is also a resident.

He also sent several messages about the Netflix movie “Roma,” which was up for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards, but lost out to “Green Book.”

Roma’s director Alfonso Cuarón of Mexico won top honors for directing and cinematography for the film.

Ramos’ career took off after he worked as a reporter at Univision’s flagship station, KMEX-TV Channel 34 in Los Angeles. He then was tapped, at the age of 28, to be Univision’s news anchor for the entire network.

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Arts & Entertainment

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

DreamWorks | TNS

Still from “Green Book”

The many controversies of ‘Green Book’ Ella Torres, Jami Ganz and Nancy Dillon | New York Daily News

After three Oscars, three Golden Globes and various other top honors, “Green Book” has garnered nearly as many wins as it has controversies.

The film depicts black piano prodigy Don Shirley’s evolving friendship with Italian driver Tony “Lip” Vallelonga during a 1962 tour of the Jim Crow-era deep south.

When it won the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards Sunday night, many were quick to recall the criticism and scandals that have dogged the project since its holiday release.

Here’s a guide to the major controversies surrounding “Green Book”: Viggo Mortensen says the N-Word during a panel about the movie In November, while doing press for the film, star and Best Actor nominee Viggo Mortensen (Tony “Lip” Vallelonga) uttered the N-word.

Mortensen later said he was trying to make a point about how casually the word was used during the time in which the film takes place.

The actor later apologized for using the word and his costar, Mahershala Ali, issued a statement in which he stipulated that though he accepted Mortensen’s apology, “The use of the word by those who aren’t black is not up for debate.

The history of discrimination, slavery, pain, oppression and

violence that the word has come to symbolize only causes harm to members of the black community and therefore needs to be left in the past.”

Director Peter Farrelly admits to flashing his genitals at colleagues After a 1998 Newsweek article that discussed Farrelly’s “prank” of flashing himself to coworkers resurfaced, the director apologized for his behavior.

“I was an idiot. I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I’m embarrassed and it makes me cringe now,” he said in a statement. “I’m deeply sorry.”

Cameron Diaz, then 25, is said to be one of the people who was subjected to the offensive gag.

The Shirley family was never contacted during writing or filming and subsequently denounced the finished product Dr. Don Shirley’s relatives, including his last surviving brother, were not contacted until after filming was complete.

Producers at some point contacted the estate regarding music rights and invited family members to an early screening.

They were not fans.

Speaking to the Daily News last month, brother Maurice Shirley, 82, called the film a “symphony of lies,” repeating a criticism he first made to ShadowAndAct.com.

He said he was upset a movie about such a brilliant and pioneering musician was reduced

to an interracial buddy comedy with a white man in the lead.

“The movie was not about Don Shirley. It was about Tony Lip,” Maurice told The News.

In a follow-up interview Monday, Maurice said he didn’t watch the Oscars telecast. “I still feel the same,” he said.

His wife Patricia did catch the show and believed “Black Panther,” “Roma” and “BlacKkKlansman” were more deserving of the top honor, she said.

She said Don Shirley’s mom died when he was a child, so Maurice played a major role in raising him. She said the brothers were never estranged in the way depicted in the film and that the world-famous musician deserved better than “a feeble attempt at embracing his story.”

“It was a fantasy. The movie was written and conceived from Tony Vallelonga’s perspective.

Perhaps he did find himself to be a help-mate to Donald and felt he was, in a certain sense, a savior for Donald. But Donald never shared with the family those kinds of experiences.

We believe they are grossly misrepresented,” she said.

“Donald certainly encountered racism during those travels, but he grew up in the south. It was not novel to him.”

Both Maurice and Patricia said the family greatly appreciated the apologetic phone calls that Ali placed to various family members last year.

“I think it took a gentleman to do that,” Patricia said Monday.

“We’re pleased for Mr. Ali that he has been honored in his craft,” she said of his Best Supporting Actor win.

Screenwriter Nick Vallelonga’s Anti-Muslim tweet Back in 2015, Nick Vallelonga, writer of “Green Book” and son of the main character’s real life alter-ego, echoed one of Donald Trump’s most infamous Islamaphobic statements, tweeting, “@realDonaldTrump 100 percent correct. Muslims in Jersey City cheering when towers went down. I saw it, as you did, possibly on local CBS news.”

Not only is the statement a notably false one, but Ali, Vallelonga’s star, is Muslim.

Vallelonga apologized to Ali and “everyone associated with ‘Green Book’” in a statement through his representative, while Universal did not comment.

Peter Farrelly didn’t thank Shirley or his family in his acceptance speech When Peter Farrelly took home the Best Picture award at the 91st Oscars, he sprinkled thank-yous around, especially to Mortensen.

But he didn’t mention Shirley or the musician’s family.

“Absolutely we noticed it,” Patricia Shirley told The News on Monday.

“I was a bit taken aback when the only person who mentioned Donald during that ceremony was Mahershala,” she said. “I was taken aback, but I wasn’t offended. As I said, our greatest offense was at some of the gross misrepresentations in the film.”

How close were Vallelonga and Dr. Shirley really?

The existence of the friendship between Vallelonga and Shirley, the backbone of “Green Book,” has been questioned as well.

“It was an employeremployee relationship,” Patricia previously said.

Critics are split While it wasn’t the lowestrated Best Picture nominee of 2019 on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes — an honor reserved specially for “Bohemian Rhapsody” — “Green Book” scored a mere 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 69 percent on Metacritic.

Blockbuster hits such as “A Star Is Born” and “Black Panther” scored 90 percent and 97 percent, respectively, on Rotten Tomatoes.

HuffPost reviewed “Green Book” as “disappointing” and “tone-deaf on race,” while Variety dismissed it as “‘Driving Miss Daisy’ in reverse.”

Even those who enjoyed it were conflicted, with Vulture saying, “On paper it sounds cringeworthy, but much of it is great fun.”

The title is a misnomer Going in, it’s hard to decipher the title’s reference.

Shortly into the film, it’s revealed that the green book is in fact a nod to “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” written

by Victor Hugo Green, which informed drivers which establishments were welcoming to African-Americans.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

You’re Dumb and Wrong: Apex Legends’ loot boxes are still scummy Jeremy Brown | @JeremyBrown_DE

Respawn Entertainment’s latest game, the free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends, has been the new kid on the block for all of February.

With all its improvements to the inherently chance-based monetization of loot boxes, the grind is still manipulative and scummy.

There are genuine strides forward in loot box design that don’t make me feel like I’m inserting my debit card into the PS4 and have shards spit out. No duplicate items and openly displayed statistics for your chances in each drop are way better than Overwatch’s current model.

Let me be clear: Apex Legends is freaking fun, and I recommend you at least try it. This column is about the negatives to Respawn’s monetization of the game, which still feel like Respawn wanting to stick a cattle prod up my ass until I cough up dollars.

Weak cosmetic offerings While you can’t get the “Midnight” skin for the RE45 twice, you can be stuck unlocking it for five other guns. Also, the “Midnight” skin is just painting the entire gun black, which doesn’t feel like a unique skin I should be crossing my fingers for.

They know you want epic/ legendary skins, but you also have to unlock “epic” poses for your banner. These are weak cosmetics that devalue the meaning of “epic” items–Bloodhound looking at their knife for a twosecond animation is not epic, Respawn.

Ever-extending requirements for earning boxes Each rank up gets you 600 Legend Tokens (more on these duds later) and an Apex Pack.

Except, at around rank 20, you stop getting an Apex Pack every rank. Now it’s every other rank up. Respawn has said between rank 1 and 100 a player will get 45 free Apex

Packs. Since it takes longer with each subsequent time to rank up, this feels made to pressure players who’ve dedicated dozens of hours into buying Apex Packs because they haven’t gotten that reward as much any more. It’s like an alcoholic developed an immunity to booze, so they need to switch to something harder like absinthe. Even then, because Apex Packs can have aforementioned garbage rewards, sometimes they just stay sober and depressed holding the empty bottle.

Crafting Materials are mislabeled and undervalued There’s absolutely no crafting elements in Apex Legends.

The crafting materials in Apex are just money you get solely from Apex Packs to buy the items you want outright instead of taking a chance on the Packs. Except, getting “rare” crafting materials only gets you 30 parts. Whereas a “rare” skin from a Apex Pack, if you wanted to use crafting

materials to buy it, costs 60 parts. So, when they say you have a 100 percent chance to get a rare item in every pack, you actually could get something the game itself literally values as half as good.

Legend Tokens are near pointless Legend Tokens help you unlock two characters, Caustic and Mirage. Because you get that steady addition of 600 tokens every rank up with no other way to get tokens, it takes until rank 23 to get one of these. Rank 23 takes a long time to reach alone. When your ranks take longer as they get higher, getting to rank 46 for your second character will take at least over 25 hours. This requirement is stupid–remember when we all hated it in DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront II to unlock Darth Vader? It’s the same crap then and now. What makes it more frustrating is after you’ve got both Mirage and Caustic, they’re basically pointless. There is one other

dumb way to use them in the Featured Store to buy weapon skins, but you need to spend over $10 on a separate skin you’re not even asking for. I love Apex Legends, but with the innovative leaps beyond Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in gameplay, the pressure to spend real money feels worse than the monetization models in its competitors put together.

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Daily Egyptian, its staff or its associates.

You’re Dumb and Wrong is a weekly column about video games, movies and popular entertainment from Arts & Entertainment editor Jeremy Brown. Brown can be reached at jbrown@ dailyegyptian.com.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Page 8

Drag continued from

Drag continued from

1

1

Deaton said it takes him about 45 minutes to an hour to get into drag.

He said Kailey Kreme is loud, crazy and more outspoken than is offstage and her favorite thing to wear is a comfy cocktail dress.

Deaton said being a drag queen in southern Illinois can have its ups and downs.

“Sometimes it’s more accepted, sometimes people look at you like ‘What are you doing?’” Deaton said. “I can tell you the dating life was hard, but I met my husband and we just got married on the 16th.”

Deaton said his support system is great and there are a lot of supporters of drag within the community.

“We have a lot of very powerful people in charge in the community that are so willing to help us and my support system is honestly amazing,” Deaton said. “I couldn’t ask for better support from my family.”

Faim Lee Jewls: Faim Lee Jewls, also known as Julie Socorro, claims to be southern Illinois’ only drag king.

“It’s harder being a drag king because people don’t understand us,” Socorro said. “Once people finally figure out what a drag king is they become interested, but a lot of people have just never heard of one.”

Socorro has performed across the country and has been a drag king for 13 years.

Last year, she won the Tri-State award for best male impersonation.

It takes Socorro around 45 minutes to an hour to transform into Faim.

“Becoming Faim turns me into a person that I would not be on a daily

basis,” Socorro said. “Not that he is a bad guy, but he’s a lot more bold, a lot more confident than I would be myself offstage. Once the face and everything goes on, it’s a whole different ball game.”

Socorro said the Carbondale drag community is like a family.

“We stay close, we have each other’s back and we do just about anything we can to help each other out,” Socorro said.

Jodie Santana: Jodie Santana, referred to as “the blonde goddess,” is a drag mother and mentor to many queens in the community.

She is also the show director for the Saturday night drag shows at Street Bar. “I want to nurture all these young kids coming up,” Santana said. “I want to know one day when I decide to retire that if I decide to have a weekend off and want to come to a good show, I’ll see a good show that I helped develop by teaching these kids stuff.”

Santana began performing when she was 16 and has been a queen for 36 years.

She has won numerous awards including Miss Chicago Continental, Miss Gay Missouri USA and Miss TriState Continental 2004. She has also performed across the country with RuPaul, a famous drag queen and host of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Santana said she used to sneak out her bedroom window to hitchhike and sometimes walk from Cambria to Carbondale to perform in drag.

“Things were a little different for me than they have been for culture here,” Santana said. “Back in our day, it wasn’t always safe. In some places it was against the law fir us to dress in drag.”

Santana said there used to be a law where a man could be arrested if he was not wearing at least one article of men’s clothing.

Santana said the drag community in Carbondale has become much smaller as SIU enrollment has declined.

“When I first started, we would have 700 people in the bar,” Santana said. “It would be packed.”

Santana said when the college was doing well, lines for the shows used to be out the door.

“Now that the college is doing so poorly, it’s affecting every business in Carbondale,” Santana said. “We need to work on getting the [student] attendance back up because it is killing this town.”

Santana said new performers are always welcome in the community.

“There’s always gonna be people like me in the community that will embrace you, teach you what they know,” Santana said. “Don’t be scared [to join us] because we are so accepting of people.”

Alejandra Leblanc Leight: Alejandra Leblanc Leight, also known as Jose Blanco, is from Paducah, Kentucky and has been performing for 17 years.

Blanco said Alejandra is a more outgoing and crazy version of his personality.

“Whenever I am not in drag, I am very quiet and I don’t socialize as much,” Blanco said. “But whenever I am in drag, it’s just completely different.”

Blanco said he enjoys performing for the fun and entertainment aspect and the adrenaline rush.

He said if someone is thinking about performing, they should go for it and they won’t regret it.

“Sometimes when I’m weak, that is where I find my strength– in the performance, in the art– that is what gives me the strength to go on,” Blanco said. “You will find something you don’t have as a boy; [...] I can’t really explain it until you actually do it.”

Blanche Dubois: Blanche Dubois,

also known as Steve Hale, has been performing drag for over 40 years and is referred to as the costume queen.

Blanche has won over 57 titles and still remembers the first time they performed in drag at 18.

“I did ‘I Love The Nightlife’ by Alicia Bridges and it was kinda scary,” Blanche said. “It was scary in lots of ways, the way my makeup was and hair. When you are first starting out, things are a lot different than perfection.”

Blanche has many stories about life as a drag queen; one they consider the most interesting happened at a competition in Indiana when their testicle slipped out during a routine.

Blanche said they were performing Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ wearing a corset with breasts made of oil bottles, covered in sequins and feathers.

They didn’t notice the mishap until one of the judges told them.

“It was just outlandish,” Blanche said. “By the time my number got done, one of my testicles had slipped out of my corset. [...] When I walked off stage the crowd was roaring and clapping and everything; I thought they were just clapping for my performance.”

Upcoming drag events include a show at Molly’s Pint to benefit the Rainbow Cafe on March 1, a performance by Silky Ganache from season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race at Street Bar on March 2 and a show put on by Saluki Rainbow Network at SIU on March 2.

Staff reporter Kallie Cox can be reached at kcox@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @KallieC45439038.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Page 9

“Alejandra Leblanc Leight” dances on stage on Saturday, during the Carnival Drag Show at The Varsity.

Isabel Miller @IsabelMillerMedia

Isabel Miller | @Isabelmillermedia “Alejandra Leblanc Leight” kisses an attendee on the cheek on Saturday during the Carnival Drag Show at The Varsity. Leight performed to Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness.”

Gus Boudoir says-The only thing I drag, is my ass out of bed

Korey “Korra DeVil” Klausing leans into a dressing room on Saturday before the Carnival Drag Show at The Varsity. At 19, Klausing was the youngest performer at the event.

Isabel Miller @IsabelMillerMedia

Page 10

Opinion

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Letter to the Editor: ‘It’s time for SIU Carbondale to start its own nursing program’ Submitted by Joel Sambursky

It’s time for SIU Carbondale to start its own nursing program.

For many months, there has been a debate going on within the upper echelon of the SIU System administration about whether the Carbondale campus should be allowed to create its own nursing program. For me, it’s more than a debate about who offers what program where.

It’s personal. And it affects all of us who call southern Illinois home.

Nearly two years ago, my wife Samantha was sent to St. Louis for monitoring and treatment by her nurse and doctor in Carbondale after they detected a heart arrhythmia in our unborn son. Two days later, Theodore was born prematurely in a dramatic sequence of events at Barnes Jewish Hospital and endured what would eventually become four long months in the neonatal intensive care unit in the St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Teddy, as he has affectionately been nicknamed, gained enough strength after his first month that doctors released him to the care of the Carbondale hospital so he would be closer to home. Samantha and I rejoiced as we watched his ambulance pull into the parking lot after his transport to his new home.

Our joy was short lived. What no one had any way of knowing was that while Teddy was in St. Louis, he picked up a potentially deadly strain of bacteria. Sadly, we would later learn that Teddy had a very rare case of delayed onset GBS infection. There was a war raging inside our sons’ tiny body, and no one knew it.

For no reason, and a coincidence that I’ll never comprehend, Teddy showed no symptoms of sickness until he arrived in Carbondale. The doctor and nurses assumed, as we all did, that they would be receiving a healthy baby boy after a successful one-month stint in the NICU, yet within a few hours of his arrival Teddy was going into septic shock.

Gratefully, because of the quick-thinking of one of the few neonatal doctors in Carbondale, Teddy was given a chance for survival.

The doctor started him on an antibiotics regimen, even before knowing with certainty what we were dealing with. That night Teddy was whisked back to St. Louis in a helicopter.

Despite many of the medical professionals in St. Louis expecting to deliver us the worst possible news parents could ever receive, Teddy fought hard and survived.

But damage was done.

He spent three more months in the hospital enduring many seizures and surgeries. He lost most of his hearing. He was alive, but with many challenges ahead.

There is much more to his story that cannot be shared here, but by the grace of God, Teddy is doing better than anyone expected. Teddy’s journey was remarkable. The care he received in St. Louis and Carbondale saved him. His life is truly a miracle and the progress he is making each day reminds us of this.

While Teddy battled in St. Louis, Samantha and I did our best to support him while keeping all other areas of our life intact. There were lots of sleepless nights. We probably logged thirty thousand miles on our vehicles going back and forth between Carbondale and St. Louis. Having a loved one being cared for in a hospital two hours away is brutal. Doing so while trying to manage a family, my business, and my obligations at SIU was the challenge of a lifetime for our family.

We spent a lot of time with Teddy’s doctors

Provided by Joel Sambursky

Joel Sambursky and his family.

and nurses in St. Louis during the four months Teddy was hospitalized, many of whom we would learn had SIU ties. Many of them were graduates of the School of Nursing at SIU Edwardsville. I would often ask them questions about their experiences in college. We learned they are well trained, dedicated and brave. They endure tremendous stress. They work tirelessly for long hours. They care deeply. And, they are proud of their profession and their university.

Many of them were raised in the St. Louis area and attended SIUE because it was close to home and had a good reputation. The SIUE School of Nursing promotes the opportunity for students to gain experience and jobs in the metropolitan area that it serves and it’s working very well.

SIUE is in a highly populated, urban area, which is a stark difference from its sister school in Carbondale. It’s part of what make the two campuses unique.

Our family’s experience with Teddy makes us more sensitive to the medical needs of residents in southern Illinois. We need more nurses. Lots of them. When the SIUE School of Nursing started its satellite program in Carbondale, it was with the understanding that it didn’t mean the Carbondale campus could never start a program.

The SIUE program has had years to develop a robust satellite nursing program but for a variety of reasons it has not filled all its available seats.

All indications are that there is a shortage of nurses, not only in southern Illinois, but across the state. Illinois has as many as 5,000 residents per each new nursing graduate, yet experts believe that number should be ideally closer to 1,500 residents per new nursing graduate.

The region’s largest private employer, Southern Illinois Healthcare, recognizes this need as well and has pledged $1 million to help jumpstart a new program to be run by SIU Carbondale. A private family foundation with SIUC ties has indicated it could provide at least $1.2 million in additional support.

This shortage in nurses needs to be addressed

urgently and is not going to end anytime soon.

The average age of nurses at SIH is 47 years old. There are simply more nurses leaving the workforce than graduates coming in to replace them all while the aging population they serve is growing.

With this kind of private support and a need for nurses, SIUC can get its program up and running and become self-sufficient quickly. It will boost enrollment numbers and revenue for SIUC. More importantly, it will provide health care professionals for communities in need.

Those students who graduate from SIUC with a focus on rural health care are likely to remain in southern Illinois. That’s the same reason the SIU School of Medicine is going to have a group of its medical students spend all four years in Carbondale – they know it’s the best strategy to getting these new doctors to remain in southern Illinois serving the rural communities who need them.

SIUC wants and needs to operate its own nursing program. Currently, SIUC provides SIUE free space and covers the cost of utilities and maintenance. SIUE keeps all the tuition revenue for the students who enter the program in their junior and senior years.

Most importantly for the SIU System, establishing an SIUC program will allow SIUE to reinvest the funds it spends on a satellite program in growing and expanding its school in Edwardsville. This appears to be a more efficient operating model and the result for the SIU System is that both campuses will educate more nurses.

Rex Budde, Southern Illinois Healthcare CEO, recently stood before the SIU Board and claimed that SIH could hire seventy-five nurses today. These jobs would have economic benefits to the region as well. This is a great example of a public body partnering with a private organization to address the needs of a region and work towards the common good of its community.

This is the sort of collaboration that we should all long for as citizens and taxpayers who have a stake in the quality, access, and success of our

higher education and medical resources.

It’s troubling to me that one campus is attempting to block the growth of another campus. It has been noted by many that SIUC didn’t object to SIUE starting “duplicate” programs like engineering or creative writing or an online MBA. These were all programs that SIUC had already had up and running. It should be the same for nursing. SIUE can have a School of Nursing and SIUC can have a nursing program. It just makes sense.

During those four months in St. Louis, there wasn’t a week that went by that we didn’t see somebody wearing SIU apparel in the hospital. Today, as SIU leaders continue this debate, I’m sure there are families going through similar situations as we did; logging the same mileage, carrying the same uncertainty, stress, anxiety, and financial burden along with them.

Some may see Teddy’s journey as anecdotal and personal. It is both, but I also believe it is perhaps just one example of many highlighting why this debate has much at stake for southern Illinoisans.

As I reflect on our family’s story, it underscores the importance of access to health care for families in southern Illinois. And, I am reminded that the access to health care can only be made possible if there are health care providers working in our region. I believe that can best be addressed by allowing both SIUE and SIUC to invest in educating nurses. The outcome of this decision will have a direct and profound effect on the lives of families across southern Illinois.

Let’s do what’s right for our region, for our students and for our universities: We need to establish a SIU Carbondale nursing program and we need to continue to be proud of all that the SIUE School of Nursing is and will continue to be. I know Teddy and his family certainly are.

Joel Sambursky is the SIU Board of Trustees secretary and Liberty Wealth Management president.

Page 11

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Old Russian ruler 5 Landlocked African nation 9 Wedding registry category 14 Famous final question 15 “Ducky” Mallard’s alma mater, on “NCIS” 16 Support people 17 Prefix in juice names 18 Tends to the lawn 19 ’50s four-wheeled failure 20 Particular 23 Kitchen counter?

24 “__ thought” 25 Place to unwind 28 Hospital bigwig 31 Gig gear 34 Lessen 35 Tweak, as text 36 Some trucks 38 The North Pole, for Santa 41 Opposite of endo42 Flat-bottomed vessel 43 Daisy Ridley’s “The Last Jedi” role 44 Formally accuse of wrongdoing 49 Blue Jays’ home: Abbr.

50 Mimicked 51 Small lizard 54 Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters 57 Fluffy-eared “bear” 60 Hair-removal brand 61 Vintage ski lift 62 Arouse, as wrath 63 Basic French verb 64 Theta follower 65 Tank fish 66 “Keep it __” 67 Provide job support for?

2/27/19

By Bryant Shain

DOWN 1 __ support 2 Classic Fender guitar, for short 3 Arcade pioneer 4 “Walk This Way” rap trio 5 Many a D.C. landmark 6 Perched on 7 Good-fornothing 8 Mini-maps 9 14-Across speaker 10 Go underground 11 Cards checked at the door 12 French word in bios 13 Syst. for the hearing-impaired 21 Giggle 22 Sun Devils’ sch.

25 Passover feast 26 Self-assurance 27 On pins and needles 29 Curvy letter 30 Berlin’s home: Abbr.

31 Showing mastery

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

32 Prefix with brewery 33 Rocker Frampton 37 Scrubbing brand 38 Unlike this ans.

39 Technically flawed comic poetry 40 Nerdy sort 42 Tragic end 45 Much of North Africa 46 PC brain

2/27/19

47 Noted bunny lover 48 Nova __ 52 Skewered meat 53 Give a political speech 54 Put-down 55 Turkey bacon?

56 “Well, shoot” 57 Modeling convenience 58 Tip jar bill 59 Perform

Page 12

Sports

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

In the war room with warfel: Where’s the women’s support?

Adam Warfel | @Warfel_Adam

The argument women’s athletics are less competitive or not as fun as men’s is as old as the thought women are the only ones which can cook.

I’ve been to multiple home games this season for women’s basketball, and it is saddening to go and see less than 1,000 fans in the stands.

While women’s basketball in particular has not played to its preseason hype, they play their best at home with a 9-3 record with two home games left this weekend.I truly believe if we were able to even get 1,000 fans in seats at women’s sporting events, this team would bring home more wins.

Look to the Drake women’s basketball team as a prime example for filling seats at women’s games – they are at

the top of the conference right now and ranked 23 in the college poll.In Drake’s last home game against Southern on Feb. 3, they had over 3,600 fans in attendance.

Across Drake’s four home games in Valley play, the team averages 3,172 fans per game and their lowest attended conference game was their home opener against Loyola on Jan. 11, with 2,786 fans present.

The highest attended conference game at SIU Arena was the conference opener against Evansville where 503 fans came to see a 67-47 win on Jan. 4.

Across all six home games in conference play for the Salukis, 2,546 fans came to watch – which is still lower than Drake’s lowest attended conference game.

For fans who say “If they were better, I would watch them” – explain to me why over 4,000 fans came and watched a

2-7 football team (at the time) on Nov. 10.

For those who say girls are not as competitive and they don’t play as hard – I ask, have you ever sat and watched a women’s basketball game?

When I sit down and watch this year’s women’s basketball team, I see a team which fights day in and day out in a really tough conference.

While these women do have eight losses in conference, four of those losses have come by single digits and out of the others, only one was truly a blowout– the 94-66 loss to Drake on Feb. 3.

SIU arena can fit about 8,300 fans at max capacity. When the highest attended women’s basketball game (506 fans) fills less than one percent of the seats in the arena. This is unacceptable, Saluki fans.

At Drake, the Knapp Center can hold 7,152 fans and at their lowest attended game Bulldog fans still only filled 38 percent of their seats.Just go and watch junior forward Nicole Martin post up down low or watch sophomore guard Makenzie Silvey launch a three-pointer.

Senior night is this Sunday against UNI with tip off set for 2 p.m – please go and honor the one senior on this year’s team, forward Celina VanHyfte.

Before you go and say women’s sports are boring, ask the women who fought for Title IX legislation.

Talk to people like head coach Cindy Stein and ask them what it was like before women were given equal access to sports.

Unlike men’s sports, these women fought to be where they are today, and to this day they are still fighting the stigmas

and stereotypes our society has put on them because they are women.

This idea is unacceptable, especially in a world where we are increasingly becoming more accepting of other people’s ideas and beliefs.

So, before you cast judgement on what you “think” women’s sports are like – go out and watch a game.

Just once; that’s all I ask.

If people in Des Moines can go out and support their team with weather, at times, in the single digits – you have no excuse to get off your butt.

If you call yourself a true Saluki fan, why do you only support the men?

Sports editor Adam Warfel can be reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Page 13

Saluki Track and Field wins big At MVC Indoor Championships Tamar Mosby | @mosbytamar

After completing a successful indoor regular season, the Dawgs packed their bags and headed to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete in the MVC Indoor Championships.

Southern entered the competition with several number one marks and top three marks. For overall team scores, the women finished in third with 95 points behind Indiana and Illinois State, while the men finished in fifth on their end with 79 points.

Combined, the men and women took home seven MVC titles and nine All-MVC honors.

Junior multi-event athlete Madison Meyer got the ball rolling for Southern on Saturday scoring a personal best of 3,871 points to take home the title in the women’s pentathlon.

The Carterville native finished above third in all five of the events and set three new personal bests. One of these took place in the 60 meter hurdles where Meyer ran a time of 8.74 to move up to the tenth spot on the Saluki AllTime list.

The second title of the day came on a win in the men’s weight throw from senior Adam Kessler. Despite being just his second time participating in the event, the senior took home the win with a personal best toss of 64’ 7.25’’. Kessler’s toss moved him up to number ten on the alltime list and gave SIU their 11th win of the past 14 MVC weight throw championships.

Senior Ricky Hurley finished third in the event to earn All-MVC honors which made it his seventh time doing so.

The next top finish on Saturday came from sophomore pole vaulter Erin Diemer as she took home a third place finish her event after clearing a personal best height of 12’ 2’’.

In the women’s weight throw sophomore Shauniece O’Neal completed a personal best toss of 67’ 5’’ to take home second place in the event and move up to the ninth spot on the Saluki all-time list. Her teammate junior Alexis Roberson was right behind her in third with a toss of 67’ 5’’.

Preliminary sprint races also took place on Saturday and six of the Saluki sprinters solidified eight spaces in Sunday’s finals. The women qualified four athletes, while the men qualified two.

On Sunday, Kessler kicked off the day for the Dawgs taking home another title in the men’s shot put. He broke his own meet record with a toss of 63’ 7.75’’ to bring home his second VC indoor shot title. This win also earned the senior the MVC Most Outstanding Men’s Field Athlete award which marked the fourth year in a row that an SIU male has earned this honor.

Senior sprinter Tyjuana Eason was the top scorer and stand out for the Saluki women. She swept three events at the championships and broke two school records.

Her first title came in the 60 meter dash where she ran a time of 7.38 seconds to break the school record and make history as the first SIU female athlete to win the event.

Eason’s next win was in the 200 meter dash where she broke yet another school record with a time of 24.12 to become just the 15th woman in school history two win both the 60 and 200 meter dashes.

Her teammate Bri’Anna Branch also made it to the podium as she earned a third place finish in the event. She later won her last title in the 1600 meter relay with teammate Savannah Long, Genesis Ewell and Julia Lutz.

After winning these events Eason is now a 13 time All-MVC honoree.

Ewell was another top finisher for the women earning a third place spot on the podium after clocking a time of 55.81 in the meter dash.

This was Ewell’s first individual All-MVC honor as she earned her other on relays.

On the men’s side the field athletes were Southern’s top finishers winning two titles on the final day of competition.

While Kessler earned the first field win of the day, junior Willie Rogers won the second as he took home the title in the men’s triple jump with a personal best leap of 49’ 8.50’. Prior to the championships the junior hadn’t competed in a full month. Winning the event on his final jump, Rogers became the 11th Saluki male to win a triple jump title.

Three more men earned their very first All-MVC honors on the final day of the meet. They were sophomores Caleb Vogel, Theo Phipps, and Canoy Tyree.

Vogel earned a second place finish in the high jump after clearing 6’ 10.25’’, while Phipps earned a third place finish in the 60 meter hurdles running a personal best time of 8.05 seconds.

Tyree earned a third place finish for his performance in the 800 meter dash as he ran a time of 1:54.82.

After making it to the podium, the sophomore became the first to do so since 2012.

You can catch the Dawgs again on Friday, March 22 as they kick off their outdoor season in Carbondale with the Bill Cornell Spring Classic at the Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex.

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at tmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Page 14

SALUKI Defense propels Southern ILLINOIS past Loyola Ramblers Tamar Mosby | @mosbytamar

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Southern Men’s Basketball battled through their last Sunday home game, taking on the Loyola University Ramblers in a hard fought conference matchup.

“We proved to ourselves confidence wise that we can play with anyone in the league,” said Saluki head coach Barry Hinson. “This was a gutwrenching, grinded out, hard game. Ever one played well and made an impact.” The Salukis defeated the Valley number one seed Ramblers 63-53 in Sunday’s game.

“It feels great because we definitely needed this win going forward,” Cook said.

“They are a really good team who we’ve struggled to compete against, so it feels good to get a win on them.”

The win was crucial for the Dawgs, with seeding for Arch Madness around the corner.

“Today was a huge deal for us,” said senior guard Armon Fletcher. “Going into the tournament we have to get every win we can.”

Porter Moser, Loyola Ramblers head coach, echoed sentiments around the Valley – nothing is black and white.

“Everyone in the league can beat everyone. You don’t get a break on any game you play,” said Loyola head coach Porter Moser. “Every single game there are good players who are well coached. This will be the craziest St. Louis I’ve been apart of.”

Entering tonight’s matchup, the Salukis held a sixth place position in the MVC along with Illinois State who held an identical record, while the Ramblers were caught up in a tie for first with Drake.

The teams will have met for the 15th time after this evening’s game with Southern now leading in the previously tied all-time series at 8-7.

Loyola center Cameron Krutwigsounded off to begin the first quarter scoring two straight baskets on the SIU defense.

Next to score for the Ramblers was guard Clayton Custer with a drained three pointer from the wing.

It took nearly three possessions for the Dawgs to score as junior guard Aaron Cook scored a layup and one possession later, a bank shot three pointer to make the score 8-5.

During this time, senior guard Sean Lloyd Jr. was taken out of the game and walked to the locker room after sustaining an injury on the floor.

With the Southern struggling to create an offense, the Ramblers took advantage and scored on their next two possessions. After five minutes passed in the half, senior center Kavion Pippen came to life for SIU scoring three straight baskets which put the Dawgs within one at 12-11.

After a media timeout, substitutions were made for the Salukis. One of the subs was that of senior center Thik Bol who scored a hook over Krutwig on his first possession of the game to put SIU up by one.

“Kavion and Thik played unbelievable defense tonight,” Fletcher said. “Rudy also came

in and gave us some really good minutes too. That was a big emphasis for us tonight.”

The lead flip flopped three more times until a free throw from Fletcher tied it up at 16-16.

Fletcher led the Dawgs in scoring tonight with 18 points and came second in rebounds with seven.

The score continued to remain close until Loyola score three unanswered baskets to pull ahead 22-17.

Two layups from Fletcher and spectacular defense by Southern held the Ramblers at 24 and put the Dawgs just three points behind at 21.

On the following possessions, SIU struggled against the shot ,clock, but finally found its rhythm after a three point jumper by senior guard Marcus Bartley tied the score again at 26-26.

At the other end of the court, Bol dominated the floor forced two offensive fouls on Krutwig who was leading Loyola in scoring at the time. Despite the fouls given to their center, the Ramblers were still able to maneuver through the tight defense to score.

“I thought the key today was our defense,” Hinson said.

“We guarded really well in transition. Thik changed the game for us defensively on Krutwig. The two charges he drew were huge.”

When the one minute mark hit, Fletcher drained a three pointer to give Southern the lead at 29-26.

After the three pointer, the Dawgs were given another chance to score, but were rushed into a wild jumpshot after nearly receiving a shot clock violation.

Loyola (17-12, MVC 10-6) scored the final basket of the half just as time expired to put themselves up 30-29 entering halftime.

Krutwig kicked off second half scoring for the Ramblers with a mini hook shot over Pippen to push the score to 32-29. Fletcher responded to this on the next possession making a tough shot in the paint to keep the Dawgs within three. Krutwig scored 17 of the Ramblers’ 53 points.

Loyola continue to make baskets but Southern took off on a run that featured two baskets from Lloyd and a dunk from Pippen to take the lead at 38-36.

Shortly after the run, the Ramblers responded with two baskets to put themselves up 4038 right before the first media timeout of the second half.

After the timeout, Bartley scored a deep three pointer for the lead and got a charge immediately after on the defensive end to get the Saluki crowd on their feet.

A basket by Pippen furthered the SIU lead to 43-40 and took away a large amount of Loyola’s ever present offensive momentum.

“We shot terrible and passed terrible,” Moser said. “We didn’t have enough guys playing well. This late in conference play you have to find ways to win and we didn’t do that.”

Pippen finished the night one rebound shy of a double-double

as he scored 12 points and grabbed 9 boards.

Three straight Rambler baskets on the next possessions gave the Chicago team the lead once more with the score at 47-43. This run could not put the Dawgs down and they continued to fight scoring two back-to-back baskets to sneak back within one point of their opponents.

With Loyola having scored a single free throw to make it a two-point game, a jumper in the paint from Pippen tied it up at 48-48.

Just seconds later, senior guard Eric McGill and Fletcher scored two layups to give the Salukis a three point lead and send the crowd into an “S-I-U” chant.

“Eric was huge in this game.

I would say he was the turning point,” Cook said. “He does the little things that you can’t see in the stat sheets and he made it happen for us.”

A pair of free throws by Fletcher gave Southern their biggest lead of the game at 54-49.

A block on the defensive end by Pippen stopped the Ramblers from scoring and gave him his 100th career block making him only the seventh player in program history to do so.

With just a minute to play in the SIU Arena the crowds cheers were deafening as the Salukis led the number one seeded Loyola team 57-53 after a step back three pointer from Cook boosted the score.

This play earned Cook tonight’s player of the game recognition as he finished with 12 points and four assists.

With time winding down the Rambler had no choice but to foul Southern in order to gain more possessions. These fouls sent McGill to the line twice and Fletcher once.

The free throws along with tough defense sealed the Dawgs exciting 63-53 win over Loyola.

“I feel like our execution was on point pretty much all game,” Cook said. “I feel like we did a good job offensively and defensively and when we needed to win we made it happen.”

“This game was a confidence booster if anything,” Hinson said. “We responded really well to a previous loss, but we have to come out and compete this way the next game.”

The Saluki Men (15-14, MVC 8-8) will take the floor again on Wednesday in Evansville, Indiana to take on the Purple Aces. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.

“Overall, I think we’re getting better as a team,” Fletcher said. “That’s what we want to do coming into the tournament. We want to get better and get these last few wins.”

Southern Illinois takes on the University of Evansville tonight at 6 p.m. The Dawgs play Illinois State during SIUW’s senior night on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Sports reporter Tamar Mosby can be reached at tmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

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behind the lens: capturing a saluki win Editor’s note: The following images were captured with an iPhone XS Max and processed through the Hipstamatic application.

Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz

I had the opportunity to photograph the SIU Men’s Basketball team take on the Loyola Ramblers on Sunday. Normally, I use the equipment that is provided to me by the journalism school and the Daily Egyptian to capture game action and the fan environment around me but an unfortunate circumstance had me thinking outside of the box for the final portion of the game.

Around the eight minute mark in the second half, the camera that I had with me simply ran out of power – a truly rookie mistake but I decided to make the most of it. Some say that at times the best camera is the one that you have with you, so I decided to use my cell phone. By no means am I attempting to express that a cell phone camera will ever replace a digital SLR or a professional camera when capturing action and moments. I thought this would provide me a different take on the situation that was unfolding.

I took inspiration from Scott Strazante, San Francisco Chronicle staff photographer, and chose to use the Hipstamatic app to provide a unique and kind of funky view of the last portion of the Salukis’ win over LoyolaChicago. The images below depict different scenes from the final minutes of an action-packed game. The Salukis take on the Evansville Purple Aces tonight at 6:00 p.m. at SIU Stadium. The Dawgs will take on the Illinois State Redbirds on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Page 16

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