Volume 129, Issue 1

CLASSES CANCELED DUE TO POOR AIR QUALITY

By Lizette Ramirez

It is a rare occurrence for the University of Nevada, Reno to cancel classes, but September 14 is one of those days. As the Mosquito Fire rages on, air quality in Northern Nevada has be come “hazardous,” leading to a cancellation of all classes.

The fire is burning near Foresthill, California, west of Reno. The decision to cancel in person classes came from an early morning assessment where the AQI was over 300 or “hazard ous.”

On Wednesday at 8 a.m., students, faculty and staff received an email from the Office of the President, stating that classes have been canceled.

“The Reno/Sparks area is continuing to experience hazard ous air quality… a decision has been made to cancel in-person classes, Wednesday, Sept. 14,” the email read.

The email linked an air quality guide to help reduce exposure.

The smoke has been affecting students in a variety of ways. Shawn Dorado, junior and resident assistant at the Nevada Liv ing Learning Community, has been experiencing multiple can cellations due to the smoke.

“I run intramurals for the [Living Learning Community], so the smoke canceling the games was really disappointing,” Do rado expressed.

The residence halls are required to participate in the intramu ral leagues. The smoke caused the first flag football game to be canceled the night of September 13.

lives in a building with no AC. The smoke has made it an un comfortable living environment for Wolfgang.

“I have to keep my window open, which essentially forces smoke into my room,” Wolfgang said. “So I have been having a really bad time for the past four days or so since the smoke started coming in.”

If they were to close their windows, their room would be around 90 degrees.

Wolfgang revealed that residents living in Manzanita Hall have been staying with friends who live in other halls with AC. The residents don’t want to open their windows and be exposed to the smoke nor live in hot rooms.

“They are having to decide to literally not sleep in the rooms that they’re paying for because it’s so bad,” Wolfgang said.

The smoke continues to be a disturbance to the Reno com munity. In the afternoon, the air quality went down to 184, which is “unhealthy.” This evening, the air quality increased to 233, which is in the “very unhealthy” category.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

Mackay Stadium surrounded in smoke on September 10. The University of Nevada, Reno cancelled classes on Sept. 14 due to “hazardous” air quality.

Trace Wolfgang, senior resident assistant at Manzanita Hall,

Lizette Ramirez can be reached at lizetteramirez@sagebrush.unr. edu or via Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.

Gateway Parking Complex opening on the south end of campus, primarily for faculty and staff

By Madison Wanco

The new Gateway Parking Complex is slated to finish in December 2022, but with one stipulation — the garage is designated for faculty and staff only.

The seven-level parking structure started construction in June 2021 and will include 811 spaces, including ADA, service and electric vehicle spaces; electric vehicle spaces will be equipped with chargers that can be used for a small fee. There will also be 40 hourly parking slots that can be paid by phone or by the machine from a dispens er.

The director of Facilities Services and Parking and Transportation Services is confident in the layout and features that will be included in new parking complex.

“This garage is really exciting because we have not had ample parking on the south end of campus in a long time,” said Horton. “So this parking garage provides 811 new parking spaces on the south end of campus where we desperately need it.”

Faculty and staff working on the south end of campus, had no convenient parking but soon will have the option to pay to park in closer proximity than before. Although at the time the garage is mainly for those working at the university, there are some spaces that allow anyone to pay for timed parking. The garage also permits students to use the parking complex in the evening with a desig nated pass.

“If there is availability later, then we can reconvene and see whatever parking should be designated,” Horton said.

Currently, the majority of faculty and staff park at the Brian J. Whalen Complex on the north end of campus near Wiegand Fitness Center.

“I think a lot of faculty and staff from Whalen will move to Gateway because their offices are located on the south end of campus, and then we will have more room in Wha len for either maybe more hourly spaces or even some overflow residence spots, for the dorm kids,” Horton predicts.

Many students are worried that there is not enough parking for them on campus. A lot of students are shocked the Gateway parking structure had been recently announced as solely a faculty and staff parking structure.

“The major issue is not that the new parking garage is only for faculty and staff, it is that there is not enough parking on campus in general for everyone that goes to

school or works at UNR,” Sophomore student at the Uni versity of Nevada, Reno Carly Sanguinetti said.

Students will have the option to use the parking com plex after 5:30 p.m. if they have a green or blue parking pass. This allows students with a valid parking permit to choose to park there in the evening and walk to the south end locations of campus using the pedestrian bridge at tached to the parking complex.

According to Chris Cox, the design project manager, the structure of the parking complex is complete. Currently, the construction is at the final stages as they are add ing the finishing touches to the new parking garage. Cox said that, the parking complex is built up to the highest level it is going to be and that they are currently working on finishes and painting on the interior. The crew is also working around the perimeter of the site work and some of the utility projects that are on-going.

Madison Wanco can be reached at mwanco@sagebrush.unr.edu or via Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.

Argenta after complete renovation

By Madison Wanco

Argenta residence hall reopened on campus, with the grand opening on August 16 allowing students to move in on August 18.

Brian Sandoval, President of the University of Nevada, Reno, and Shannon Ellis, Vice President of the university, spoke and thanked people for their contribution to Argenta over the last three years at the grand opening. The event also held tours of the Downunder Cafe and Argenta.

After the explosion that occurred due to a failure in the building boiler on July 5, 2019 that left eight people injured, six of them being students, Argenta Hall has since been completely renovated.

“We did not need to renovate the building because of what occurred. We choose to renovate the building based on student feedback,’’ Dean Kennedy, Executive Director of Residential Life, Housing, and Dining Services, said.

Argenta took in a lot of students’ past concerns, including wanting more spaces for students to socialize and having places for studying together or alone away from their dor mitories. They kept these ideas in mind to accommodate future students.

“Students wanted more quiet places to study. I think it was a student that had the idea of consolidating the laun dry room so that everybody from the building basically would be doing laundry together,” Kennedy explained. “So you are able to see more people, meet more people, while you are still able to have those individual study rooms on the floors.”

Now, there are spaces on each floor for students to social ize, study and have the flexibility to have some space from their roommates to work or relax available 24 hours daily.

“It is nicely renovated. I do not feel too confined or

stressed like last year,” Kaci Meyer, junior and Argenta hall resident said. “The food here is definitely a lot better than other universities.’’

The Downunder Cafe, used to be an all-you-care-to-eat dining experience based on the swipe and convenience store. The all-you-care-to-eat dining has been expanded to include thirteen dining stations and three retail locations.

“I just talked with our Director of Resident Dining today and she said last year at the start of the year we fed an av erage of 1500 students in The Den,” Kennedy stated. “This year we are feeding an average of 2600 in Pack Place.”

New diversified dining stations have been added includ ing Thrive which does not utilize the nine major allergens..

Halal Shack and a new student choice portion and market have yet to open due to staffing issues; once open they will operate from noon to midnight.

“They have a really good waffle maker for the morning and just any time you can make a waffle,” Nico Suarez, freshmen and Argenta hall resident, said. “I love that. Any thing that is really hard to mess up that you can put in a deep fryer is great.”

The dining atmosphere includes different forms of seat ing. This allows large groups to eat together comfortably, just as easily as someone wanting to enjoy their dining ex perience by themselves.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush Construction on the Gateway Parking Complex continues. The University of Nevada, Reno has announcedt hat the structure will be primarily for faculty and staff

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

The exterior of Argenta Hall after the boiler room explosion in 2019. The dorm hall has been completely refurbished and includes a newly redesigned dining hall.

“Following the Box:” opens a shoebox of stories at

By Jaedyn Young

Now, what’s this about a shoebox?

In 1945, during World War II, a U.S. soldier stationed in West Bengal grabbed his camera and zoomed into the rural country to simply take some photos.

The man’s identity and the reason as to why he left the base are both unknown. But what this soldier did leave the world with was 127 pho tos, which somehow landed in an estate sale in Chicago and eventually into the laps of curators Alan Teller and Jerri Zbiral.

Soon enough, Teller and Zbiral created the “Following the Box” exhibit in 2004. From there on, the two received a Fulbright award and hunted for the story behind the photos.

Along the way, the curators worked with con temporary Indian artists with the photos to launch into a new creation of other artworks. Now as Teller and Zbiral continue to spread the message of the exhibit across the world, there are eleven artists featured in the exhibition.

Vivian Zavataro – director of the John and Ger aldine Lilley Museum of Art – brought the ex hibit to the students at the University of Nevada, Reno, where they were given the opportunity to see “Following the Box” live.

The curators said Zavataro first found them in the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena where she decided to bring it to the Reno community, hoping it would resonate with everyone who got to see it.

Literary bugs came creeping to to the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl

By Jaedyn Young

After two whole years without the annual Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl, fans are pleased to hear it’s back and better than ever.

All the lovers of the humanities have been wandering around aimlessly, waiting for the COVID19 pandemic to ease up and allow the crawl to come back.

Finally, to everyone’s satisfaction, Nevada Humanities announced the Literary Crawl’s revival on their Instagram on Aug. 2.

The last one was held in 2019, and many literary fanatics are wondering what the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl actually is.

Here’s the breakdown: imagine a scavenger hunt of readings from authors, panel discussions from artists, workshops with professionals, combined into a festival where you can share your thoughts on books, art, ideas and basically anything you want.

It is basically a dream come true for literature, art and other humanities fans out there.

The event only takes place on one day, which was Saturday, Sept. 10 this year, and it’s filled with a bunch of different scheduled events to choose from.

However, this year there was a “Prologue Launch Party” hosted at the Holland Project the night before the event, which allowed the humanities lovers to get a little taste of what the following day was going to be like.

The morning of Saturday though, the crawl had a keynote introductory event, which featured writer Aimee Nezhukumatathil and her talk on poetry and nature as well as her new book “World of Wonders.”

After the introductory events, participants were free to cruise around downtown Reno, searching for whatever event their heart desired.

The day was divided into “chapter” sections, meaning each chapter was a designated time and place for an event.

The program not only had addresses and times available for each event, but each crawler had access to a map in case they couldn’t find where something was at.

The planner also had a checklist for each literary bug to make sure they did everything they wanted to do on their literary escapade through Reno.

With a total of six chapters throughout the day, the participants had the option of three to eight events to choose from when attending a new place in each chapter.

The events ranged from whatever you might be feeling in that moment. They had readings and book

The main message is much deeper than one would’ve expected when going to see it all live.

“The exhibit makes the point that the only way to really understand anything is through multiple perspectives,” Teller explained. “Each participating artist was given copies of the found photos and asked to either incorporate a selec tion into their work; deconstruct the photos and use whatever inspired them; or simply let those images percolate and do their magic in any way they saw fit. No two artists saw the same things.”

The magic of the exhibit was to get students and Reno members to open their eyes in a differ ent light and see what they’re not used to see ing. Multiple perspectives is a valuable lesson to learn, something Teller and Zbiral hoped would be the main takeaway.

There were plenty of hidden mysteries amongst the exhibit and many different mediums of art to witness in the adventure of the “Following the Box” exhibit, as well as an abundance of col laborative performances, screenings and walk throughs in the two months it was on campus.

Even though the exhibit is now gone, a new theme is coming.

Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr. edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.

How To Make Alien Film — Jordan Peele’s “Nope”

By Gabe Kanae

Jordan Peele has never been a “typical” director. His previous films “Get Out” and “Us” are marvelous captures of the societal issues, topics and judgements African American people receive. Now, Jordan has come with a new motion picture – “Nope.”

Nope is a film everyone should go into with an unspoiled mind, some slight spoilers to the plot are ahead.

signings from authors, panel discussions about writing and art, workshops where you could learn new skills in any of the humanities and many more fun opportunities to choose from.

A lot of the events were at pubs or taverns nearby, so the literary bugs could also grab a drink whenever they jumped to a new place.

In the epilogue of the event, they gave the option of an open mic prose event or a performance from Charity Kiss before everyone was invited to the readings of poetry work by the Nevada Poetry Project with poet Laureate Gailmarie Pahmeier.

The event cooled off by 8:30 p.m., with the only downside of the whole day being the thick smoke and hazy weather.

However, all the literary bugs seemed to enjoy themselves and most of the humanities fans are looking forward to the crawl again next year.

Besides, where would they be without a nice crawl to stretch their legs and work their brains?

“Nope” by Jordan Peele also contains a couple scenes shot in the spectacular and game-changing motion picture IMAX aspect ratio which is a 1:43.1 aspect ratio shot on extremely rare 65mm analog film that adds more picture and scale to the screen.

The film stars Daniel Kaluuya who plays OJ Haywood alongside Keke Palmer who plays his energetic sister Emerald. Kaluuya plays a strict and reserved character while Palmer’s character is looser and comedically adept.

Steven Yeun plays a minor character named Jupe who is traumatized and terrified of his past, a monkey television show which backfired.

One of the best aspects of this film is its incredibly strong and immersive storyline. It focuses on using an indisputable analog film format to capture an alien while also showcasing the diverse cultures in African American communities and how it impacts their actions.

Right off the bat, the film’s racial connotation is represented. The film includes music from African American artists, captures the exploitation of African American experiences and how it backfires on the ones who do.

Within the film, also seen by many in the trailer, when Palmer’s character explains their ancestor was in the very first motion picture film — a stop motion short film of a black man riding a horse, owned a white man. In contrast, Kaluuya’s character runs a ranch where the majority of the film takes place.

Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr. edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

Literary bugs came creeping to the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl on Sept. 9. Attendes had a literary escapade and wandered through the streets of Reno to different locations.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

The “Follow the Box” exhibit at the Lilley Museum. The exhibit showcases photographs taken by a man in WWII and curators have been exhibitingthem since 2004.

Another year of the Great Reno Balloon Race:

Why is it worth going?

By Jaedyn Young

Each year, for 41 years, the Great Reno Balloon Race is hosted at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, where thou sands of people come on Fri day, Saturday and Sunday to watch an array of colorful air balloons cloud the Reno skies.

However, you’d think after seeing it once, people would get tired of the repetition and waking up around 4 a.m. to watch the show. So, why do people keep coming back?

The Sagebrush granted me the opportunity to ask.

Rachel Jackson, The Nevada Sagebrush photo editor, and I were given our second VIP access to ride in a hot air bal loon on the event’s media day, Thursday, Sept. 8.

Kim Lynch, the pilot of our boat, is the owner of the Re nown-represented air balloon that is usually tethered to the ground. On normal event days, Lynch takes kids from the Re nown hospital on a small ride off the ground, giving them the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be in a hot air balloon for the first time.

However, this time, Lynch was actually going all the way in the air again — something she hasn’t done in quite a while, and she was bringing us with her.

One notable thing to remem ber about this pilot though, is she’s got 38 years under her belt, most of them with her husband, David Lynch by her side. The couple co-owns the “Reach For The Stars Hot Air Balloon Foundation” together.

The craziest part is how they started their air balloon ad venture together.

On their first anniversary, Lynch surprised his wife with a magical hot air balloon ride to sweep them away. Little did they know, they’d have the op portunity to buy their own hot air balloon the following year. Soon came the founding of her company and then the recur rence of flying events, like the Great Reno Balloon Race, to keep Lynch occupied.

Since Lynch has done this a long time, the question that remained was why she gave her all into this foundation and why she kept coming back to Reno.

“The people. The people are the biggest reason to come back,” Lynch said when de scribing why this event is worth coming back to every year. “[And] the look on the kids’ faces … that’s the best part.”

How about for regular par ticipants — what’s the appeal

to an average UNR student to come every year, looking for something new?

“Every event is unique … and again today, you’ll [only] see half the balloons you’ll see the next couple of days,” said Ellie Lawlor, a volunteer who helps with the event.

This year, the GRBR took place on Sept. 9, 10 and 11, with the classic “Super Glow Show”, the “Dawn Patrol” rou tine and even a special 9/11 remembrance showing where the GRBR collaborated with the Reno Air Races.

However, along with the new events every year, one thing that many people always tend to look forward to is actu ally the different types of bal loons in the sky. Even though there aren’t quite as many on media day, the following three days definitely makes up for it — and if you want to see the new balloons, you have to go every year.

This year, a couple of notable balloons included the Darth Vader balloon, the western armadillo balloon, the Tweety Bird balloon and the Sylvester character balloon. There were also, of course, some of the originals like the Tasmanian Devil and the Smokey Bear

balloon, still out there that the attendees love to see.

Unfortunately, the sky was blanketed in smoke over the weekend, making the balloons harder to see and clouding the event with a wave of sadness due to the Mosquito fire.

Regardless, people still showed up early every morn ing to watch the Dawn Patrol and stayed well into the early afternoon to soak in the rain bow of balloons in the sky — even if they were clouded by smoke.

For those who didn’t get the chance to go this year, most Reno locals would rec ommend you try it next year.

Even though the park doesn’t get great cell service and it’s packed with people, you’ll still be amazed by the effect the balloons can have on you.

And definitely take a ride in a hot air balloon if you get the chance. You never know, you may just end up loving it like the Lynchs did.

Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush. unr.edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_ young3.

Flo Rida Rocks Welcome Week Concert, Yung JocMissing In Action

By Jaedyn Young

Approximately 5,000 attendees from the Nevada System of Higher Education had their “apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur” on at the 2022 Welcome Week Concert that was planned to feature Flo Rida and Yung Joc on Sept. 2.

Or at least it was supposed to.

Students put their hands up for Flo Rida on September 2. Flo Rida worked the crowd during the concert and even brought peo ple up onto the stage.

While Flo Rida was rocking the stage, stu dents were left puzzled as rapper Yung Joc was not in attendance.

Students were not notified about the ab sence of Yung Joc before the concert. The Associated Students of the University of Ne vada continued to advertise the appearance of Yung Joc even a day before the concert.

“The reason Yung Joc was not in atten dance was because unforeseen circum stances prevented him from being able to travel to Reno,” said Maria Zamudio, the Director of Programming for ASUN.

ASUN always puts on a great show for NSHE folks at the Lawlor Events Center to start off the year right – even though, unfor tunately, the night didn’t go as planned.

The Lead Up

Everything ran relatively smoothly throughout the week. Students rushed to the Wolf Pack store in the Joe Crowley Stu dent Union to buy their tickets for the con cert right after Flo Rida was introduced as the headliner, featuring Yung Joc. Tickets were $25 if purchased early and $35 at the door of the event.

Originally, doors were planned to open at 6 p.m., and the concert was expected to start at 7 p.m.

At 4:21 p.m. on the day of the concert, a text was sent out through the university event update chain, saying “Doors now open at 7 p.m.”

Pushing the concert open time back an hour wasn’t too bad, but things just went downhill from there.

Students waited in line for the Welcome Week Concert on September 2. The line

wrapped around all of Lawlor Events Cen ter.

For anyone watching, lines wrapped around Lawlor and ran on the sidewalks along the roundabout by the Identity and Park Place Apartments. Eventually, the lines even extended all the way through the West Stadium Parking Garage.

However, for those who didn’t know, that line was explicitly for floor spots, since the first 1700 students in line got the chance to be on the floor and not in the stadium seats.

Students who didn’t want to wait in the long lines had the option to walk up the stairs of Lawlor to get stadium seating. In the early minutes of opening, there was no line going up the stairs outside – there seemed to be a lack of communication on the entrance options.

As things began to unfold and the stadium became more filled, the concert eventually started around 8 p.m.

The Concert

Noah Klein, local DJ and member of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon, opened for Flo Rida. Klein has performed at many lo cal hotspots, including many bars like The Stick, Little Waldorf Saloon and 1up.

The opener was quite an entertaining one, mixing some popular hits that the students seemed to enjoy. However, it became clear that the audience started to get bored and were waiting for Yung Joc and Flo Rida to get on stage.

Finally, around 9 p.m. when Klein said his goodbyes, students began chanting Flo Rida. And of course, Flo Rida came out al ready rocking the show with a big entrance. But where was Yung Joc?

On stage with him, Flo Rida had Int’l Nephew and VarieFresh singing as his backup vocals and hype men. The rappers did a great job keeping the audience entertained with his backup dancers and hype men, but it didn’t stop the gossip about Yung Joc’s whereabouts.

Flo Rida raps his best hits on September 2. The rapper had an entourage of back up dancers.

Regardless, Flo Rida still made the best of this concert.

There seemed to be some audio issues with the concert though, as it had been last year with T-Pain and Sage the Gemini.

A lot of students didn’t know who the per formers around him were because they couldn’t hear what the artist was saying. However, in a room full of students scream ing lyrics and talking amongst themselves, there’s bound to be some hearing issues. Luckily, everyone could still make out the songs, and everyone was able to sing along with Flo Rida.

The artist also brought an extra artist, Oya Baby, to perform some hit songs she made — including “Ride The Stick” — which defi nitely kept the audience entertained, de spite the audio issues that occasionally dis tracted the fans.

At this point it seems the crowd was think ing “Yung Joc, who?”

Flo Rida also performed many of his hit songs throughout the night including “Low”, “My House”, “Wild Ones,” “Whistle” and “Where Them Girls At.”

Not only did he give the crowd his entire ef fort, but he was also very involved with the students — more so than other performers.

Flo Rida brought a large group of people separately on stage to dance with him and his team through a few of the songs. duce themselves to their peers before they danced and sang together to another song of his.

He threw roses to fans in the audience, crowd surfed in the front by his fans on the floor, put on a custom-made Wolf Pack jersey that said his name on the back and played around with his lyrics to add Wolf Pack and UNR in them. The artist even had the crowd sing “Happy Birthday” to one stu dent during the middle of the show. At one point, he even had his bodyguard carry him to the front crowd in the seats section to the right of the stage. He hopped over the railing, with fans jumping and singing beside him. Everyone was excited to be this close to a star per

former.

One girl, Sophie Mastrangioli, stood right next to Flo Rida, when he put his arm around her and grabbed her glasses to put them on. Then he hovered the mic in front of her to let her sing along to the song with him.

After the artist jumped back down Mas trangioli was freaking out, shocked about what just happened.

“I literally can’t breathe,” Mastrangioli said with a smile. “He wore my sunglasses!”

This young student isn’t the only one who will forever remember this concert. Flo Rida made a mark on every student who went on stage, every student he sang with in the crowd, every student that received a rose and more.

At the end of the concert, Flo Rida also signed and passed out both of his white Air Forces, as well as his Nevada jersey for someone to keep.

Even though fans missed out on seeing Yung Joc perform, it was still a memorable opening concert for the year that many stu dents enjoyed.

Now students just have to cross their fin gers and hope for a great headliner next year — and a featured performer who shows up.

However, Flo Rida’s performance is defi nitely going to be a hard one to top.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush Flo Rida puts his hands up for the Wolf Pack on September 2. Rapper Yung Joc was supposed to be present, but did not make an appearance the day of the event.

Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

The Great Reno Balloon Race on Sept. 8. Nevada Sagebrush staff members got to fly thousands of feet in the air for the event.

Louis Bubala / Nevada Sagebrush

Students put their hands up for Flo Rida during the Welcome Week Concert on September 2. Tickets for the event were $25 if purchased ahead of time, but $35 the day of the event.

Louis Bubala / Nevada Sagebrush Nephew raps during the Welcome Week Concert on September 2. Flo Rida brought Int’l Nephew to perform alongside him.

Jaedyn Young can be reached at jaedynyoung@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @jaedyn_young3.

Greek Life Is Disregarding Equality. It’s Time To Change.

By Gabe Kanae

For decades, Greek life has been promoted as a successful way for college students to come and work together as a group while also mak ing long-lasting friendships and connections. However, as society changed and became more accept ing of diverse people, Greek life has stayed behind – stuck in their pre vious mindsets.

Unfortunately, an easily over looked issue is that most Greek life communities don’t give acceptance to LGBTQ+ students. LGBTQ+ stu dents are not allowed in Greek life parties with their friends, and they are typically also not given their own form of Greek community to attach themselves to.

It is very easy for those in the LGBTQ+ community to feel left out of the opportunities Greek life can provide. One of the most com mon pieces of advice given to stu

dents going into college is to find a community in Greek life and allow themselves to be vulnerable within it. How are people in the LGBTQ+ community supposed to join a community that is against their be liefs and can be heavily dangerous to their safety?

In today’s society, college cam puses should be promoting and creating Greek life communities for all individuals despite their sexual or gender identities. This all proves how extremely easy it is for a college to proclaim support for LGBTQ+ students while not pro viding them realistic and impor tant resources.

LGBTQ+ students need a sense of community and connection more than most students on campus be cause we have never been offered that opportunity on a silver platter like how other students have. LG BTQ+ students should be given a Greek community that allows them

to use any form of self-expression that makes them feel comfortable.

College is a time in young adult’s lives where they find their group of people and explore their identity. Now more than ever, we should question the amount of discrimi nation there is in Greek life toward minority students and how ignored and shunned they force diverse students to be in relation to their community.

LGBTQ+ students should be al lowed to go into parties with their friends, and the idea that only women are allowed into a party is a massive stab at sexism, ignorance and abuse of power that certain fraternities have.

In the past, many transgender students were not allowed into fra ternity houses associated with the University of Nevada, Reno. Even though the current issues with Greek life aren’t limited to our cam pus, we could be one of the first

colleges to successfully break the ice and rebel against the sexism, homophobia and transphobia cur rent Greek communities enforce.

Our university openly stated their support for the LGBTQ+ com munity while supplying resources for its students in forms of clubs and centers, but they also allow exclusions for LGBTQ+ students in other associations they promote and partner.

You would think that in 2022, this would not be a discussion to have. That’s why we need to push and make sure we get the inclusive community we all deserve.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the au thor and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Gabe Kanae is a student at the University of Nevada studying journalism. They can be reached at edrewes@sagebrush.unr.

The Danger Of Anonymity – UNR’s YikYak Dilemma

By Gabe Kanae

Starting in the fall semester of 2021, a new app quickly hit top charts among college stu dents – YikYak. The social media platform gives emoji pseudonyms to all of its users and allows them to comment and share posts to a local community of the app users completely

Iit didn’t take long before students showed the app to their friends as a way to anony mously share and communicate about the college experience here at the University of

Though the idea seems enticing and im portant, the damage created by the app has outweighed all of its advantages.

College students tend to be a slightly more mature version of high school seniors – or so you would think. Most college students –especially those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – tend to lack the social skills to understand how society works and the con sequences of their actions.

Giving them access to an app of this scale and power was just a disaster in the making.

By the spring semester of 2022, it is fair to say that the majority of students on campus had the app or knew about the app. There were multiple posts made every minute that talk about classes, homework and even the toxic hookup culture on campus. The biggest issue with this app however is the lack of con sequences.

iPhone 14 Pro Max: A Review

By Gabe Kanae

A week ago today, I received my iPhone 14 Pro Max, the latest and highest pro model in the iPhone lineup. Using it both on campus and home has been quite a pleasure.

The iPhone 14 has made the great est leap of improvement Apple has made to their cameras in years.

It is true that Apple isn’t one to fre quently redesign an entire phone, but the internal components have greatly improved and could be con sidered one of the biggest upgrades the phones have received in a while.

One of the most impressive chang es the iPhone 14 Pro has made since its predecessor is the increase of the camera’s megapixels. With the back camera going from 12-megapixel to now 48MP, the new iPhone can take photos at a marvelous 10-bit RAW 8K resolution.

This makes the new iPhone have the highest quality camera in their history.

Apple introduced the marvelous sports mode, which provides stabi lization by cropping into the video. This sports mode is among the best on the market so far and the results are simply marvelous. They also up dated their cinematic mode, which allows users to edit focus on sub jects and objects both during record ing or in post-production, to a 4K 24-frames per second setting. The mode was previously restricted to a 1080p recording quality

Also included in the new phones is Apple’s version of the “Always-On Display.” While this option isn’t new to the phone industry, Apple created it in a way that fits their aesthetic and brand. With a minimalistic and dim screen, the Always-On Display not only shows your Lock Screen, but it also shows notifications, time and any widgets you may have custom ized on your phone with the new iOS 16 software update.

Along with those updates, the new iPhone added the “Dynamic Island”. The new island separates the be zel from your phone and allows the screen to wrap around it. This island is dynamic and based on the pro grams and work you are doing, but is

also something you can interact with and use as ways to quickly control music and more.

Inside this new bezel is also Apple’s 12-MP front camera, allowing qual ity in your selfies and videos to have more professional auto-focusing and a higher quality resolution so you can look better than ever.

Impressively, when not using the dynamic island, it simply blends in and is extremely hard to recognize unless you force yourself to notice it.

Apple has also included a new Emergency SOS feature which con nects your phone to satellites and contacts emergency services if you do not have a cellular connection. This is an amazing feature for those who travel and are also interested in adventurous hikes.

You could also argue that Apple is typically among the last of the phone companies to implement a new fea ture, but you also need to consider how Apple works. Apple’s technology is based on accessibility to all of their users and so it could be argued that their lengthy delay in implementa tion could be explained as waiting for the technology to be perfected, simplistic and easy to use for all gen erations of phone buyers.

Phone buyers should try to make sure that the features they can access are not only well integrated but also built.

With that aside, the iPhone 14 Pro Max isn’t a massive upgrade from those who have the 13 Pro Max un less you are a photographer or some one who loves “iPhoneography.” If having 8K photos, a higher resolu tion front camera, video sports mode and 4K cinematic modes sounds im portant, then this phone is for you!

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sage brush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Gabe Kanae is a student at the University of Ne vada studying journalism. They can be reached at edrewes@sagebrush.unr.edu

Due to the apps anonymity, anyone on campus could spread reputation ruining ru mors about a students sex life, social life and health.

Within the first week of school starting this fall, UNR’s YikYak already received hundreds of sexually themed comments and posts tar geting mostly women. The app’s biggest issue is the lack of censorship and protection over those who become victims to it. The posts mostly consist of trashing other students’ looks, outfits, personalities and trends that in result cause students to be more depressed, self-conscious, afraid of the campus’s envi ronment and the people around them.

Another issue that arises here is the amount of content being posted. It is fair to say that the majority of YikYak posts are built off simple lies and manipulated experiences. When a post with sexual, social and trending themes get upvoted, other students begin to feel left out of the college experience they de sire.

If the majority of posts on the social media app were true, it could easily be assumed that most college students on campus are hook ing up, drinking, doing drugs and having end less fun with friends all day every day. Seeing these posts when a student is simply study ing or trying to enjoy time for themselves can easily further their fear of missing out.

If we are looking at college students from a grounded perspective, the majority of them are not consistently out every night trying to

do something incredibly fun. A lot of students still spend their nights and days at work, working on homework, understanding their mental health issues and simply trying to re lax before the next day.

The app’s uprising has caused many stu dents to feel out of place and sometimes even attacked my anonymous peers. Some students have expressed a decline in their mental health due to the app, which surpris ingly created a popular persona for them. The persona would receive a mix of emotions and spiral into a new hybrid of cyberbullying and bullying in person.

It’s hard to know who your buillies and en emies on YikYak are when they can be anyone on campus. It discourages students from be ing active in social events on campus due to fear.

YikYak as an app itself should not be banned on campus. It is a great way for a community of students to come together and share how different the college experience is for every one, and it can prove to a student that they are not alone in their struggles.

Anyone can say anything on the app with out consequences except the person who is targeted. It is a scary thought to understand. If it is abused too much, it could lead to a di sastrous event.

Instead of spreading rumors and lies, can students contribute to the app in a way that can have a positive effect on everyone who sees it?

UNR Has A Massive Safety Issue

By Gabe Kanae

With the semester starting only a few weeks ago, the administrators behind the University of Nevada, Reno already made multiple ques tionable decisions that affect students’ experi ences, health and productivity.

Even after allowing freshmen in NevadaFIT to sit in a burning stadium during a heat wave for two years in a row, this week presented an other example of the University failing its stu dents – hazardous smoke.

As of Sept. 12, the air quality index reached 390 in front of the Knowledge Center. A 390 in the AQI means that there are severe health warnings. It is said that with the current state of air quality, every person is prone to experi ence intense and harmful health issues.

After smoke filled with particles from a nearby fire came to Reno, the air offered very little visibility of a student’s surroundings. This is both dangerous for students who walk on campus, but especially those who use crosswalks and a driver may not see the stu dent crossing.

The most questionable issue is how neglect ful the University is about the issue at hand. Forcing students to attend classes in person with the current smoke can cause massive consequences, and it will be more damaging to the school’s reputation because a simple solution is right in front of the University’s face.

It is absolutely abnormal that our campus spent multiple years focusing on online aca demics and then proceeded to forget the pro cess of the transition. It seems that the Univer sity has little or no backup plan at all. It simply should be as easy as sending out a statement and having all professors do an online class

for students when the outside weather is in such unhealthy conditions.

Frankly, many professors on our campus currently do not support Zoom classes or re cordings for those who are sick and enforce an attendance policy. There is no reason that an environment deviation, that harms everyone overly exposed to it, is not considered in this attendance policy. If you want to have your sick days when you get a cold, you simply are required to come to class. You are forced to walk across campus in the brutally painful smoke.

Lots of students have been feeling the need to dust off their masks and wear them around campus. Other students have relied on cover ing their face with their shirts as they walk. This is simply unacceptable and comes across as a massive sign of disrespect from the Uni versity to the students. It forces you to ques tion what the University would do in harsher situations, and it is clear now more than ever that the University would rather prioritize their profits than protect their students from simplest environmental issues.

The worst part? They seem to not care.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not neces sarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Gabe Kanae is a student at the University of Nevada studying journalism. They can be reached at edrewes@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

essarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Gabe Kanae is a student at the Uni versity of Nevada studying journalism. They can be reached at edrewes@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.

Sanders' defensive prowess leads Wolf Pack to 38-14 win over

By Derek Raridon

Fifth year defensive back Bentlee Sanders caught fire against Texas State, putting up two interceptions – one pick-six – and a forced fumble while leading the Pack to a 38-14 win.

Sanders made his presence felt early in the first quarter. After a pair of tackles, one being for a loss, the defensive back grabbed his first interception of the game with 3:39 left in the quarter. This put the Wolf Pack offense at the Bobcats’ 35 yard line and prompted them to go up 14-0 to end the first.

Sanders picked up his work in the third after a one tackle in the second quarter. With eight minutes remain ing, Sanders forced a fumble from Bobcats’ running back Lincoln Pare that was recovered by Nevada linebacker Maurice Wilmer. Starting in Bobcat territory once more, the Nevada offense once again capitalized with a rush ing touchdown from running back Toa Taua.

However, Sanders’ third quarter did not stop there. Later on, with 3:51 left, Sanders took in his second intercep tion of the day, running it back for a pick-six. Thanks to this, the Wolf Pack went into the fourth quarter up 38-7.

The fourth quarter was relatively quiet for Sanders similar to the second quarter. Once again, the defensive back garnered another tackle for loss and did nothing else other than return a punt for four yards in the middle of the quarter.

Although Sanders performed a lot of the highlight plays, the rest of the Wolf Pack defense also put in work. The team in general had four sacks (defensive tackles Dom Peterson and James Hansen, linebacker Adam Weynand) and six tackles for loss disregarding sacks. In doing this, Nevada held Texas State to 14 points and -16 rushing yards.

With this performance, the Wolf Pack moved to 2-0 in the pre-season. Their next game is Saturday, Sep. 10, where Nevada is set to take on the Incarnate Word Cardinals at home in Mackay Stadium.

Derek Raridon can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush

Skiing Returns To Nevada Athletics

By Kelsey Middleton

With an average of 22 inches of snow per year, Nevada Athletics decided to bring back the womens and mens alpine ski team. This is Nevada’s seven teenth sport in the program and will begin hitting the slopes this school year.

Competition will begin in January and last until April. Nevada will compete in the slalom and giant slalom events. The new sport comes after the recent merge of the University of Nevada, Reno and Sierra Nevada University, which is now named University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.

Although skiing is new this year, it isn’t the first time Nevada has had a ski team. In 1936, Wayne Poulson established Nevada skiing. The program was cut in 2010 but produced many great athletes and awards.

The Nevada team produced four Olympians, five individual national titles, 39 All-America honors, and 14 top 10 team finishes at NCAA Championships.

The four Olympians are Dodie Post Gann, Glenn Jobe, Katerina Hanusova Nash and Lane Monroe.

Brian Sandoval announced the new program on August 31 alongside Stephanie Rempe, Nevada Ath letics director, and Mihaela Kosi, Nevada ski coach, inside the Basin Street Club at Mackay Stadium. San doval and Rempe were excited to add the ski team to Nevada and community members are already sup porting them.

David Wise, Olympic gold medalist freestyle skier, attended the announcement. Wise was born and raised in Reno where he attended Wooster High School. Daron Rahlves, American World Cup alpine ski racer and freestyle skier, also made a presence.

Kosi is the former head skiing coach at Sierra Nevada University from 2018 to 2022. She was also a part of a 16 national title Eagles program. The national titles were in the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Collegiate National Champi onships.

“Mihaela’s accomplishments in leading Sierra Nevada Skiing to multiple national titles will prepare our program to jump right into action,” Rempe said. “We are excited to have her lead Nevada Skiing’s re turn to competition.”

The ski team will compete in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, part of the Division I NCAA Championship sports. The division includes Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado, Colorado Mountain College, Denver, Montana State, Utah, Westminster College and Wyoming.

When it comes to the athletes, the team currently has Sierra Nevada University student athletes, a transfer and a Nevada student. Between the men and women, there are 13.3 scholarships available. The team will train all over the region including Mt. Rose, Palisades, Copper Mountain, and Mammoth. For more opportunities, the team is partnering with Sky Tavern.

2022 Football Schedule

Men’s golfer Peyton Callens has a second career victory performance

By Kelsey Middleton

Nevada men’s golf had their first tournament of the season at the Olympic Lake Course in San Francis co. Although the team ended in sixth place, one Nevada golfer had a colle giate career victory performance.

Peyton Callens is a fifth year student at Nevada and took first place in the USF tournament on Sept. 12 and 13. This is Callen’s second victory of his career, his first being at the Goodwin last March.

Callens started off the tournament hitting an even 71. He had a total of five bogeys and five birdies. In round two, Callens had seven birdies and only two bogeys to put him at -5. He continued to stay under par hitting a -4 in the final round. All together, Cal lens shot a 204, -9. The next closest golfer to his score was Andi Xu from the University of San Diego who hit at 208, -5.

The rest of the Nevada golfers ended above par. Tom Patterson tied for 23rd place at 217, +4. Junior Keita Okada, in his first tournament with Nevada, shot 220, +7 which tied for 31st place. Connor Motherway tied for 36th place with a score of 222, +9. Finally, Trey Davis shot 228, +15 to tie for 51st place.

All together, Nevada finished in sixth place with a total of 859, +7.

The men have their next competi tion on Sept. 19 and 20 at the Husky Invitational in Bremerton, Washing ton.

Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@ sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @sportsbykels.

Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @sportsbykels.

Students pack Mackay Stadium for the second preseason football game on September 3. Nevada is now 2-0 in the preseason . Louis Bubala / Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada Wolf Pack Football players rush into the stadium surrounded in smoke for the Sept. 3 game against Texas State. Louis Bubala / Nevada Sagebrush

A cheerleader flies through the air during the Sept. 3 Nevada Wolf Pack game against Texas State. Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

Touched The Butt: Why Athletes Tap Each Other’s Tush

By Kelsey Middleton

A touch. A little slap. A hand resting on the top shelf.

No matter what sport you watch, men’s or women’s, they all have one thing in common — teammates touching each other’s butts. Volleyball girls in a huddle? Hands resting on the rump. Baseball player strikes out? Slap on the cheeks on the way back to the dugout. Basketball player falls? Teammates help them up with an added touch of the back end.

You don’t see teammates giving each other long and firm handshakes during a game because that takes too long. Instead, they do a quick action like hitting a player’s glutes, a high five or pat on the back.

The chemistry between these players is so high that physical touch turns into a way of communication.

“A huge part of sport performances is the ability to work effectively with each other … and respond to both verbal and nonverbal cues,” said Patrick Smith, who is finish ing up his Ph.D. in behavior analysis. “As a coach, or as a team, you want to get to a point where your players are interacting in a manner where you don’t have to explic itly say everything, and they’re still moving almost as if they’re a single organism.”

To operate as a single organism, team mates must share the same goals of and performance level.

Putting the top five basketball players of all time on one team doesn’t mean the team will be good; the players need to synergize

with their skill sets and on an emotional level.

“Not feeling connected with their team is certainly going to make them decrease their performance,” said Lisa Widmark, a performance coach with a master’s in sports psychology.

Touching the tush of a teammate can increase trust in each other. A player having more trust in the people who are on the field with them leads to better performance.

“There’s been studies that show that teams that touch more do better,” Widmark said. “Plenty of studies show that teams that have more contact, whether it’s fist bumps, or butt slaps, that those teams perform bet ter. And so to me, it’s about connection and belonging.”

Any amount of physical contact between players helps with ”increasing all those feel ings of oneness culture.’”

There are different ways that players go about touching booties.

First is resting a hand on the butt. This is usually done when teams are in huddles. Huddles are a place where connection and focus are mandatory. The physical touch of teammates at this time helps everyone feel comfortable and included.

“I noticed – mostly in the last Summer Olympics – a lot of the volleyball teams now after every point, everyone comes together and just touches,” Widmark said. “That’s about, you know, ‘you did great that play,’ or ‘you screwed up that play,’ and ‘we’re all still

a team.’”

Next is a slap on the fanny. This is seen when players are actively moving in game time. They don’t have the time to rest their hand on their teammates’ bottom. It is a quick way of telling the player that they have done something for the team – good or bad.

“It is a totally open hand, pat on the butt,” Widmark said. “It’s not ‘I’m grabbing your butt.’ The players already have a relation ship. So, it’s not something that someone from the outside could just come in and do. You already trust this person, and you already have a connection with them.”

The tight-knit relationship that a team has did not always include butt touching in the past. It is a relatively new concept seen in sports in the past 30 to 40 years. Before, it used to be high fives, fist bumps and hand shakes. Players are still performing these, but they serve a different meaning than bot tom touching.

When basketball players are being an nounced before game time, it is common to see the player go to the teammate at the end of the huddle and do a handshake. This handshake is unique because they prac tice it many times. The same thing goes for football players when they get a touchdown. Certain teammates and certain positions have handshakes unique to them. These more involved ways of physical contact are a reward, as opposed to a simple touch of the butt.

Revenge On Sacramento State

“That’s our congratulations that we practice,” Widmark said. “We practice this play, we practice these moves and they were successful. And now we get to do our happy dance … that has a different meaning than just another player walking by and patting you on the butt.”

Handshakes take more time than a slap of the butt. In the middle of a game, players still need to find a way to connect with each other to reach their goal. The quick touch of the behind can do just that.

“The fluency with each other and the abil ity to respond as a singular organism … any extreme degree of not being able to commu nicate in a timely and effective manner, can interfere with that,” Smith said. “And in the team context, to otherwise not communi cate in a timely and effective manner would be to undermine the team goals.”

Butt touching is a part of sports culture now. It is a way in which players communi cate, build trust with their team and poten tially even perform better.

“The underlying function of fluency and comfort is something that can be really, really meaningful in a competition’s high pressure kind of setting,” Smith said.

By Kelsey Middleton

From a 0-3 loss last year to a 3-0 win this year, Nevada women’s soccer took revenge on the Hornets, and two seniors made the magic happen.

Luz Arreaga is in her fourth year with the Wolf Pack and made history in the first home game. She totaled five points in one game, which hasn’t been done in a Nevada match since 2006. Arreaga shot two goals, worth four points and made one assist worth one point. She scored the first two goals in the first half of the game.

Not only did she put points on the board for Nevada, she also added to her stats for her first two goals of the season.

The Mountain West Conference named

her Offensive Player of the Week due to her performance. Arreaga was also nationally recognized by TopDrawerSoccer in the top 10 performers of the week.

“Getting those goals was a team effort,” Arreaga said. “I’m taking the glory, but in reality this was a team effort. My family is here, and it was really nice to get those first two goals.”

The next senior who took Nevada to a 3-0 win was Brooklyn Blake. Blake made the third and final goal of the game in the second half and her first goal of the season. She was not expecting to get the goal, seeing Arreaga was going for the shot,

but she was coincidentally in the right place at the right time.

“I was really lucky to get on the end of that,” Blake said. “Luz was going for the hat trick and as much as I wanted her to get it, I was lucky enough to be there for the rebound. The way our team built up the ball to get that goal was phenomenal. It was truly a team goal, not just mine.”

Kendal Stovall, goalkeeper, had her ninth career shutout. The Hornets had a total of eight shots on Stovall in which she saved three.

Emily Rich, a sophomore,was a key help in all three goals. She assisted each one so Arreaga and Blake could put the ball in the

The womens next match will be on Sept. 9 against New Mexico State.

Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @sportsbykels.

Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @sportsbykels.

Nevada softball players tap each other’s butts in between innings. The psychology behind the butt touch Kelsey Middleton / Nevada Sagebrush

net. Rich’s efforts made program history, recording the first three assists in a single match.

Brooklyn Blake scored her first goal of the season with a lucky rebound. Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush

Kendal Stovall, fifth year goalkeeper, had her ninth career shut out Rachel Jackson / Nevada Sagebrush