The State Hornet — Issue 4 — Oct. 3, 2018

The voice of Sacramento State since 1949.

ISSUE 4, VOLUME 73

28

OCTOBER 3, 2018

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FOOTBALL PLAYERS LEFT SAC STATE AFTER 2016 — HERE’S WHY. + PAGE 10

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3 SIERRA’S SPICY TAKES: THE STATE HORNET’S NEW ADVICE COLUMN

VIOLINIST WANTS TO MAKE ‘MAJOR’ MARK page 16

SAC STATE SAYS page 9

page 19

Exactly 30 cars were broken into in Lot 10 at Sacramento State on the Monday morning of Oct. 1. Facebook user Susan Nickerson Hanson said, “There is so much crime there at Sac State, (Sacramento State Police) really need to step it up.” Head to Facebook.com/StateHornet or search for “The State Hornet” on the Facebook app for frequent updates.

On a post about Claire Morgan’s piece on how Jump Bikes haven’t been good for Sacramento, Instagram user @ellieeandrade said, “I actually strongly disagree with that reporter.. those bikes are my favorite thing about Sacramento.. if it weren’t for those bikes I think I’d move elsewhere.” Follow us on Instagram @statehornet for photos, videos and campus updates.

SHOOTING SUSPECT ARRESTED: The name of the Sacramento man who was arrested in connection with the Sept.

19 shooting at Stingers Sports Pub — a bar popular among students — has been made public.

Milton Alcantara, 26, was arrested Sept. 19 on charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, discharging a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon and discharge of firearms at an inhabited building, according to Sacramento Police Department Public Information Officer Linda Matthew.

Matthew said the department is currently unaware of any victims of the shooting.

What’s the buzz about? The State Hornet has a Snapchat! Contests, behind the scenes snaps, live coverage and more! Follow The State Hornet on Snapchat @thestate_hornet and stay tuned.

To stay up to date with news, go to statehornet.com/news SPORTS EDITOR

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

MANAGING EDITOR

OPINION EDITOR

MARKETING MANAGER

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

FACULTY ADVISER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Claire Morgan editor@statehornet.com Emily Rabasto editor@statehornet.com

Kameron Schmid editor@statehornet.com

NEWS EDITORS

Adria Watson Cory Jaynes news@statehornet.com

Thomas Frey sports@statehornet.com Alex Daniels opinion@statehornet.com

Robby Sanchez culture@statehornet.com

COPY EDITOR

Eric Jaramishian ericjaramishian96@gmail.com

Shaun Holkko digital@statehornet.com

In Volume 73, Issue 3 of The State Hornet, there were no corrections listed.

Jordyn Dollarhide jordyndollarhide@yahoo.com

Stu VanAirsdale vanairsdale@csus.edu

Cover photo by Matthew Dyer

Sophomore Nate Ketteringham throws the ball against Western Oregon, Sep. 3, 2016. Ketteringham is one of many football players that transferred from Sac State soon after Jody Sears took over as head coach.

all views expressed herein are the responsibility of the state hornet and do not necessarily reflect the views of the

Sacramento

state journalism program, the communications studies department, administration, student body or sqe unless otherwise noted.

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The State Hornet

4

Student ‘date-rape’ drugged on campus

Lack of video surveillance in Round Table concerns Sac State detective

Emily Rabasto @EmilyRabasto

Studying at the writing center on campus in the afternoon was the last thing Sacramento State graduate student Haley Wooning remembers before regaining consciousness in a Vacaville hospital room at 4 a.m. the next morning.

A few days later, Wooning’s doctor disclosed the results of a toxicology screening performed on her at the hospital: “Acute benzodiazepine toxicity,” more commonly known as poisoning by tranquilizer.

Wooning’s doctor told her the amount of “benzos” found in her system is the source of her memory loss and says the substance is used commonly as a date-rape drug.

Proudly three years sober and in recovery from an opioid addiction, Wooning said she has no idea how the drug could have gotten into her system, and after several weeks of investigation, neither does the Sacramento State Police Department.

A report was made over the phone the night of Sept. 10 by Robert Price, a Sac State student and Wooning’s boyfriend of five years.

Based on information pieced together by Wooning in the days following, two of Wooning’s Monday night classmates transported her home due to concerns for her health and safety, and Price said he immediately noticed something was wrong and called Sac State police.

“I was freaking out,” Price said. “Then she came home and I was relieved, but as soon as she came through the door, I knew

something was wrong. [She] was blacked out,” Price said.

The initial incident report reads that Price mentioned the possibility of Wooning being approached at the on-campus Round Table Pizza by a man offering her a beer, but both Wooning and Sac State detective Jason Johnston said there is no evidence that supports that had happened.

Based on the drug’s effects on Wooning’s body, which caused severe memory loss, Johnston said, “Conflicting statements are understandable.”

Johnston said the process of investigating cases like a potential drugging on campus includes detectives speaking to any parties with knowledge of the incident, requesting medical records in regards to what type of substance it was, which would give the investigating officers a better idea of when it was ingested based on time of memory loss, and checking all surveillance footage available to him.

“We have a lot of cameras on campus placed in the most strategic locations,” Johnston said.

“However, it is up to the businesses on campus to put up cameras in [its] locations.”

One business is Round Table Pizza, located in the Union.

Round Table is the only place on campus that students can order beer on tap.

In 2016, a study of three university campuses revealed that more than 1 in 13 students had reported being drugged. The study focused on “watch your drink” campaigns, saying leaving alcoholic beverages unattended is a likely way to be drugged without consent or knowledge.

CARLO MARZAN - The State Hornet Detective Jason Johnston of Sacramento State Police Department recommends that Round Table Pizza, the only place on campus that serves beer on tap, put more surveillance cameras inside the restaurant.

The Sac State Police Department doesn’t deal with drugging incidents like Wooning’s often, Johnston said. But, he was concerned with the amount of video surveillance inside an establishment that serves alcohol on campus.

“I would recommend them to put more surveillance inside Round Table,” Johnston said.

“I’m not in charge of surveillance, but it’s something I think we need to approach them about.”

Wooning and Price said they met and were interviewed by detectives at the campus police station the morning after the incident and once more in the week following.

“I feel like the detective tried really hard to present it as a safe place,” Wooning said. “I know the victim advocate on campus Hailey [Vincent] has been work-

ing really hard on emotional training with them. He said over and over that this is a safe place.”

However, Price says that Wooning’s disclosure of her history of drug addiction and current recovery seemed, “to open the door for judgment.”

“She is a recovering addict but she’s been clean for three years,” Price said. “I emphasized the point that she would never do anything to compromise her sobriety as it’s one of the most important things in her life.”

“I’ve met with [police] twice and they’ve asked me multiple times if I just took [the drug] myself while still saying, ‘This is a safe place,’” Wooning said. “And then following it up with, ‘If you did take it and you are lying, you can tell me and you won’t get in trouble.’ I do also want to say that I understand it. If they would

have asked me once if I took it myself, I wouldn’t have really cared. But it’s the insistence.”

Wooning said she continues to engage in group therapy for her recovery from addiction.

“I’m actually still on the program for my addiction,” Wooning said. “I go to groups every week and I take drug tests every week.”

After her examination at the hospital, no evidence of sexual assault was found, which Wooning said she was thankful for.

Johnston confirmed that no assault happened according to his investigating.

“This particular drug has been documented to be used as a daterape drug,” Johnston said. “But there is no evidence that supports there was an attempt at assault.

It is odd for a date rape drug to be used and no evidence of an attempt at assault.”

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SAC STATE SAYS

What is your opinion on the Kavanaugh hearings and the FBI investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct?

Sacramento State students watched as Brett Kavanaugh testified against Christine Blasey Ford, who claims she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in high school, to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared on the Senate floor that a vote would be held that week. The State Hornet tasked students for

Cory Jaynes

their opinions on the Kavanaugh hearings and the FBI investigation.

Want to give your take? Chime in using the hashtag #SacStateSays on

@CT_Jaynes

social media.

#SacStateSays

“I think women should be heard in such sensitive times like this, especially Dr. Ford, because it’s so public. When he was being difficult about the FBI investigation, I think that was insensitive to Dr. Ford especially if he was claiming innocence, I think he should have been willing.”

“I feel as though they are not (being) sufficient to investigate and I know that is partly being impeded by Trump, since that was his choice to nominate him, but I feel like the FBI could be doing far more to investigate and it should get to the point where it should result in him not being eligible to be a part of the Supreme Court.”

“I say that if it did happen, then she (Ford) did a good thing coming out and talking about it and that shows other people that they can do it too. But at the end of the day, if it’s not true, it shows other people how bad it can harm another’s image if it’s not true.”

- Erika Miranda Journalism

- Susan Ramirez Sociology

- Oscar Naranjo Business administration

“I’m a criminal justice major, I believe in due process, even if somebody did a crime, we have to be able to prove it. So even if I believed that he did do it, which I’m not a hundred percent sure if he did, I do not believe we can persecute him if we do not have the evidence to back it up.”

- Thomas Clark Criminal justice

“I didn’t watch all of the hearing, but I watched a glimpse of it and I thought that it was honestly ridiculous. But, I mean the example of Trump, nobody really cares to punish with authority anymore. It’s just a joke honestly.”

- Natalie Flores Biology

The State Hornet

6

30 vehicles broken into overnight in Lot 10

Four suspects have been identified and being sought after, police say Adria Watson @AdriaRWatson

Sacramento State Police Department Video surveillance shows the vehicle that four women drove when they were suspected to have broken into 30 cars at Sacramento State. The incident occurred in Lot 10 Monday, Oct. 1 between 3:25 and 3:45 a.m., according to a crime alert.

Sacramento State Police are looking for four female suspects involved in a series of vehicle window smash thefts that occurred the morning of Oct. 1, according to a crime alert.

Sac State Police Chief Mark Iwasa said the department discovered that “exactly 30 cars were broken into” in Lot 10 after receiving a call around 3:40 a.m. from an officer patrolling a nearby parking structure.

Iwasa said while an officer was patrolling Parking Structure III, they heard an alarm go off in Lot 10. Upon arrival, the officer discovered that a car had been broken into.

The department has identified four suspects: two black women in their 20s, one with with long black hair in a straight braid and wearing a white or light colored sweatshirt and dark colored pants, the other with long red or orange colored hair and wearing a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants with a thick white vertical stripe on the outside leg.

Police have described the other two suspects as two women in their 20s, one with medium-length light colored hair and wearing a black T-shirt under denim short overalls, the other with her hair covered and wearing a tan-colored sweatshirt or jacket, dark pants.

After police searched to see if the suspects were still at the scene,

officers proceeded to do a walk around where they found that more than one car was broken into, Iwasa said.

Iwasa added that the incident “went from the campus to the city to the county” after the department received calls from people in the community about cars being broken into past the campus to La Riviera Drive and between Watt and Howe Avenue.

According to the crime alert, video surveillance showed the suspects driving an olive green 2016-18 Jeep Compass or Jeep Cherokee.

Sac State Police Department encourages any witnesses who have any information about the incident to contact them at (916) 278-6000.

Student sexually assaulted at American River Courtyard

Brittney Delgado @TheStateHornet

A sexual assault incident occurred at the American River Courtyard on Sept. 15, according to the Sacramento State Police Department.

Sac State Police Chief Mark Iwasa said Sac State Police were notified by a hospital staff member about the incident. Both the suspect and the victim are students at Sac State.

The assault was reported to the Sac State Police Department Sunday, Sept. 16 at 1:11 a.m.

Iwasa did not specify which hospital the staff member who contacted the Sac State Police Department worked for.

The crime logs do not list what

time the assault happened. Iwasa said that “it was the hospital that reported it to us as a welfare check.”

No information was sent out to students in regards to the incident. The Clery Act — a law established at universities that outlines how campus officials alert students and faculty about crime on campus — says that “campus officials are required to evaluate if there is a serious or ongoing threat to the campus community to determine if a timely warning needs to be issued to all staff and students.”

The case is still under investigation by the Sac State Police Department.

This is a developing story.

BRITTNEY DELGADO - The State Hornet A Sacramento State student was sexually assaulted by another student at the American River Courtyard, according to the Sac State Police Department crime logs. The assault was reported to the police department Sunday, Sept. 16 and the case is still under investigation.

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WILL COBURN - The State Hornet

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department

Amy Stasyuk watches as Sacramento County Sheriff officers prepare her husband deputy sheriff Mark Stasyuk’s casket Saturday, Sept. 29. Mark Stasyuk was shot and killed in the line of duty Monday, Sept. 17 after responding to call in Rancho Cordova.

Mark Stasyuk is pictured wearing his uniform. He was 27.

Memorial held for deputy killed in shootout Sheriff’s deputy and Sac State alumnus Mark Stasyuk remembered Will Coburn @WillHearYou

Alicia Lopez @Enchantedxrain

California peace officers and community members gathered to commemorate the life of Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy Mark Stasyuk at Bayside Church in Roseville on Saturday.

Stasyuk died in a shootout Sept. 17 after responding to a disturbance at a Pep Boys Auto Shop in Rancho Cordova. He attended classes in 2016 at Sacramento State as a criminal justice major.

Shaun Hampton, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department said there were around 1,200 officers in attendance from different

police departments that came to honor Stasyuk.

The memorial was conducted in both English and Russian, often times with translators, and bagpipes were provided and played by the Sacramento Fire Fighters Pipes and Drums.

After the memorial, a procession traveled from Bayside Church to Highway 80 and ended at East Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Sacramento where a second private service was held to lay Stasyuk to rest.

Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen was in attendance and gave his condolences to Stasyuk’s family. Nelsen said he plans to find a way to honor him at the spring graduation ceremony.

“Today’s a very sad day for the hornet family,” Nelsen said. “It’s

been a sad two weeks but Mark represents the best of the hornet family. I’m very proud of him.

“He sacrificed his life so that we have a better world. We feel for his family and they’ll always be a part of the hornet family.”

Through a translator, Alex Shevehenko, Stasyuk’s church pastor, spoke well of the fallen officer and recounted a story that a woman who worked with Stasyuk at a Walmart many years ago told him.

“His coworkers; he always helped,” Shevehenko said. “[And] for his coworkers who didn’t speak English, he would always translate. For the old women, he would always lift heavy objects.”

Stasyuk started as a deputy sheriff in 2014 and worked in the

Sacramento County Main Jail where he was then transferred to the Rancho Cordova Police Department.

Sheriff Scott Jones recalls swearing in Stasyuk in 2014 and how eager the new deputy was to start his career in law enforcement.

“I remember reading the bio and thinking there’s no way in hell that I’m going to properly pronounce that name,” Jones said, adding that he sent an assistant to verify the pronunciation and Stasyuk had replied, “You can pronounce it anyway you want.”

Stasyuk’s supervisor Frank Fermer recalls how Stasyuk could easily diffuse tough situations.

“As a new supervisor, Mark was everything I could have asked for in a team,” Fermer said. “Mark

could diffuse these situations in a joke. He had a calmness and professionalism that belied his relatively short time on the force.”

Stasyuk’s father, Vyacheslav Stasyuk was very proud of his accomplishments and remembers his son as, “a cheerful son, who his parents were never ashamed but were extremely proud.”

Oleg Manzyuk, the translator for deputy Stasyuk’s father, also commented on the officer’s impact on the slavic community.

“My brother-in-law said he couldn’t remember the last time he saw a Russian name in the newspaper and it wasn’t for some crime or some fraud,” Manzyuk said. “Mark was a pride not just for the law enforcement, but for the slavic communitunity.”

The State Hornet

8

New student group supplies menstrual products on campus Boxes in women’s bathrooms are there for women in a pinch, and donations are accepted and encouraged Margherita Beale @margheritabeale

After finding a tin box filled with free menstrual products in a Eureka Hall bathroom, Sacramento State students Elizabeth Winn and Cassandra Lopez decided to take charge.

A flyer and an Instagram page later, Winn and Lopez have started “Mother Nature’s ‘Gift,’” a student-led group with the goal of providing free menstrual products to Sacramento State students in the form of stocked plastic boxes spread in bathrooms across campus.

Signs on the boxes encourage people to take what they need and to donate what they can.

“These are necessities. Toilet paper is free. (Menstrual products) are the last thing we want to think about, like having extra tampons in our backpacks,” Winn, an ethnic studies major said. “It’s not fair that condoms are free but we can’t get feminine products.”

Lopez, a child development major, found the original box in a second-floor bathroom of Eu-

reka Hall labeled with a Post-It note reading, “Free. Please be mindful of others.” She said she still doesn’t know who placed that first box there.

After finding the box, Lopez posted a picture of it on Sac State’s Transfer Navigation Team Facebook page.

“I wasn’t even going to post it, but it’s a good resource for everyone, because I’ve been there and I’ve been like, ‘What do I do now?’,” Lopez said.

Since Sept. 24, Lopez has teamed up with Winn and the two have placed boxes of their own in five different locations on campus.

“We definitely want to mark them on the location,” Winn said.

“When you’re thinking about restrooms you think, ‘OK, what’s the cleanest restroom I can use?

What do they have? Do they have extra things?’ We’re hoping that if someone were to take something tomorrow, they would have the resources to replenish it next week.”

Lopez said that many of the bathrooms on campus don’t have tampon and sanitary napkin dis-

pensers and the ones that do are usually empty.

Winn reached out to Kotex and other name-brand menstrual product companies for sponsorships and said she is waiting to hear back from them.

After the Facebook post was made, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Beth Lesen, who also provides leadership for the Women’s Resource Center among others, reached out to the two of them.

“I asked her if she had any kind of flyer or graphic to send to me,” Lesen said. “I posted it on my personal Instagram and I’ve talked with the university’s communications about putting it on the Sac State Instagram.”

Lesen also said that she called facilities to ensure that the custodians didn’t mistake the boxes for trash.

“This is really beautiful, that these students are feeling called to do something giving for other students and it’s so organic in the way it’s developing,” Lesen said.

“I was really touched.”

As of now, there are three lo-

MARGHERITA BEALE - The State Hornet

cations at Sac State that provide free menstrual products: the University Union information desk, the Women’s Resource Center and The WELL. On a state level, Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) has been at the forefront of the legislative effort to provide either free or tax-free menstrual products.

Garcia successfully passed California Assembly Bill 10 last October, which requires schools with sixth to 12th grades, and with at least 40 percent of students under the federal poverty line to stock menstrual products in half of the restrooms, Garcia said.

While AB10 originally included college campuses, Garcia said during the negotiation process, the bill was narrowed down to secondary schools.

She also said that the bill left the menstrual products gender neutral and that it’s up to the eligible schools to decide how to identify those bathrooms.

“We definitely think it should be available anywhere,” Garcia said. “It should be like toilet paper that is available in all bathrooms, whether it’s low income or not. At the end of the day, we’ve all had an emergency and we’ve all had to walk around with a stain in our clothes.”

Garcia has introduced two as-

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The yellow locations are products offered by the university and the red are products offered by “Mother Nature’s ‘Gift.’” Visit StateHornet.com to see the full interactive map.

Margherita Beale and Mike Yun // @TheStateHornet

University Library The University Union Tahoe Hall Yosemite Hall Eureka Hall The University Union Info Desk Women’s Resource Center - The Union The WELL

sembly bills that would end the tax on menstrual products. The latest, AB 9, died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee last year while the first of the two, AB 1561, reached Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk unanimously in 2016, only for Brown to veto the bill.

Garcia said that the governor has said that getting rid of the tax on menstrual products would eliminate $20 million from the state’s general fund. She added that the budget is $170 billion, making the tax revenue generated from menstrual products a small percentage.

“I think that’s a weak answer, personally,” Garcia said. “I think

we can do without those dollars and I think that those dollars should stay in the pockets of the individuals who need them. Being born with a uterus shouldn’t be used as an excuse to balance our budget. Our budget is a representation of our values.”

Garcia said she hopes that with a new governor next year, her team will have better results.

She said she plans to introduce a new bill next year when the new legislative cycle begins.

“I feel like it’s so unnecessary to tax us for something that we don’t choose to happen to us.

It happens to every woman out there,” Lopez said.

Students can also help raise awareness about the issue, Garcia said. While she said it’s a continued discussion, students can help by sharing their stories and their experiences.

“This is our biology and it’s nothing to be ashamed of or grossed out by it,” Garcia said.

“When [students] are around administrators and student government they [should] push the issue and put it on the agenda. Every campus has a student government and they are the arm that has access to the decision makers on campus. Lobbying them is MARGHERITA BEALE - The State Hornet important.”

Ethnic studies major Elizabeth Winn holds a box she made that contains free menstrual products outside of a fourth floor bathroom in the Library.

The State Hornet

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28 football players left Sac State in 2016 — Here’s why Since 2014, 72 players have left the program Thomas Frey @ThomasFreyRP

Since Jody Sears arrived at Sacramento State in 2014, 72 players have left the Sac State football program — and the majority left after the 2016 season.

A whopping total of 28 players left after 2016. Some said they left for medical reasons, some for unknown reasons, and some for other issues like having a disagreement with Sears.

After the 2014 season, 18 players left. Following the 2015 season, 13 left, and following the 2017 season, 13 left. During the 2014 season, the Hornets went 7-5 before recording back-to-back 2-9 season in 2015 and 2016.

“We all left because we wanted something better,” former defensive back Joey Banks said.

Many of the players who left are now at other, higher ranked universities: Tyree Thompson is a starter at UCLA, Quincy Jountti is at USC, PJ Johnson is a starter at the University of Arizona, Vincent Elefante plays for the the

University of Liberty, Alex Dalpe and Kolney Cassel play for the University of Hawaii, Nate Ketteringham is a starter at North Dakota.

Other players transferred to different universities to play but have since stopped playing: Jabarri Johnson went to Montana State and played until 2017, and Tamas Stewart went to North Dakota and also played until 2017.

Thompson, Elefante, Jountti, Jabarri Johnson, Stewart and Ketteringham all declined to comment on the reasons they left Sac State.

“That 2016 team was really talented,” PJ Johnson said. “I thought we would go undefeated.”

PJ Johnson, defensive tackle, Sac State 2014-2016, 15 games PJ Johnson is a Sacramento local who played at Burbank High School and is now a starting defensive tackle at the University of Arizona.

He became a starter at Sac State in his redshirt freshman year. He said that he immediately had issues with Sac State head coach Jody Sears.

Johnson said that the pair’s issues may have stemmed from the fact that he wore a grill, something he had worn for more than 10 years. Johnson said grills were something that Sears didn’t like, and Johnson said he banned the team from wearing them in 2015.

“Me and Jody bumped heads all the time,” Johnson said. “He thought I was a bad kid. Jody thought I was a premadonna.”

He said that on another occasion in practice, a teammate stepped on his foot which made him fall down. After practice in the film room, Johnson said that Sears analyzed that play in front of the whole team and pointed out what exactly went wrong.

“Jody embarrassed me in front of the whole team,” Johnson said.

“He made me feel like I was a terrible player.”

Johnson, a defensive lineman who went to Burbank High School, has a child in the area and could go to each of his younger brother’s - national recruit D.J. Johnson who is now at the University of Oregon - high school games.

“As long as I had a scholarship, I was staying here no matter what,” Johnson said. “I loved Sacramento.”

After his first year at Sac State, the coaching staff attempted to move him to the offensive line.

Johnson said no, and said he was

told that if he wasn’t an all-american the next season, that he would be cut.

His season ended early because of an injury on Sept. 17, 2016. Johnson, who has a child, didn’t want to have the surgery until after the winter vacation because he needed to work to support his family.

He said that Sears wanted him to have the surgery in early December. Johnson fought that and he said that Sears gave him an ultimatum, either have the surgery in early December, or leave the school.

Johnson enrolled at City College of San Francisco and was ranked by 247Sports as the fourth

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www.StateHornet.com MATTHEW NOBERT The State Hornet Sacramento State football head coach Jody Sears arrived at

Sacramento State in 2014.

Since then, 72 players have left the Sac State football program — and the majority left after the 2016 season.

best defensive tackle in the state.

He landed scholarship offers from programs like Rutgers University, University of Kansas and Arizona. He landed at Arizona where he has recorded sacks in the Wildcats last two games against Oregon State and USC. Joey Banks, defensive back, Sac State 2014-2015, 13 games Late in the third quarter of Sacramento State’s Oct. 24, 2015 homecoming win over Idaho State, then redshirt freshman Joey Banks intercepted a pass and returned the ball 41-yards for a touchdown.

On Nov. 14, 2015 he played his final game as a Hornet. Despite starting just three games,

and missing three of the team’s 11 games in 2015, Banks finished fifth on the team in tackles.

He now starts at the University of Buffalo.

Like Johnson, Banks had issues with Sears because he wanted to wear a grill. Banks said problems started when Sac State head football coach Jody Sears didn’t like that players on the team wore grills.

Banks said that Sears also didn’t like that he wore black jeans and sneakers on game days while white players wore Wranglers. Banks said the environment wasn’t really focused on winning and instead it was on enforcing rules.

“The kind of players we were, he didn’t really like,” Banks said.

“He made it seem like it was an image thing.”

Johnson said that Banks was the top player in the 2014 Sac State freshman class along with wide receiver Isiah Hennie. Hennie would later go on to become the 12th player in school history to record at least 100 career receptions.

Banks said that by the time the 2015 season was coming to an end, Banks knew he would be leaving.

“The last game, I already had it on my mind, I think Sears kind of knew I was leaving,” Banks said. “We didn’t see eye to eye.

Some things didn’t make sense.”

Banks played with Johnson at City College of San Francisco where he finished the season with 67 tackles before transferring to Buffalo this year where he has solidified himself as a starter.

Alex Dalpe, offensive tackle, Sac State 2016, 0 games Dalpe came to Sac State after being a starting offensive lineman at Orange Lutheran High School for four years. He said that when he arrived at Sac State, he felt like the players weren’t given any respect in anything they did. He said players were working 30+ hours a week and that the culture was draining.

“Sears was the head of the program and was the reason why most kids were leaving,” Dalpe said. “I left eventually because Sears switched me to defense in the middle of spring ball when I never played defense since high school and he expected me to just show up and perform. When I explained that to him, he wasn’t hearing it because he took it as an excuse.”

Dalpe transferred to Long Beach City College where he started as an offensive tackle on a team that went 8-3. After just one season, he was ranked as seventh best offensive tackle in the state and he received a scholarship offer from the University of Hawaii where he currently is an offensive lineman.

Jihad Vercher, quarterback, Sac State 2013-2014, 11 games Vercher came to Sac State after throwing for 7,357 yards as 3-year starter in high school at Salesian in Los Angeles. He played in nine games as a true freshman in 2015 and completed passes against Arizona State University and UC Davis before tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee.

He missed most of the next season and said he was released

by Sears after his second year.

“It wasn’t fair at all,” Vercher said. “I went through a very heavy state of depression my last season

with Sac. I felt like there was no one I could talk to. They thought I was just becoming a cancer to the team when in actuality I was depressed.”

Vercher went on to play at American River College where he was the starting quarterback and passed for 2,534 yards and 23 touchdowns. He then embarked on a professional career in Serbia, where he plays now.

Others According to The State Hornet, quarterback Nate Ketteringham was asked to leave following the 2016 season. Ketteringham who declined to speak for this story is now the starting quarterback at North Dakota. On Oct. 20, Ketteringham and the Fighting Hawks will trek 1,753 miles to play at Hornet Stadium.

So far this season, Ketteringham has passed for 857 yards with six touchdowns.

Linebacker Tyree Thompson left Sac State after the 2016 season after appearing in nine games. He went to play at Los Angeles Valley College in 2017 where he was ranked as the No. 1 rated inside linebacker in California by 247Sports. Thompson, who declined to comment for this story, is now a starting linebacker at UCLA.

The State Hornet

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HORNETS COMPETE IN FIRST INVITATIONALS OF SEASON WOMEN’S GOLF HAS SLOW OPENING DESPITE RETURNING STARTERS Jose Fabian @TheStateHornet

The Sacramento State women’s golf team has yet to repeat last year’s success even with four of its five starters returning.

The Hornets placed 12th as a team at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott, Colorado which was held Sept. 24-25.

The team also placed 11th at the Mary Fossum Invitational in Michigan held Sept. 15-16.

Junior Sofie Babic’s individual performance at the challenge in Colorado, however, won her Co-Women’s Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Week. Babic shot a 73 which put her 1-over par for the course, and she tied for 13th individually. “[As a team] I’m not gonna say we’ve been struggling,” Babic said, “but we aren’t doing our best yet.” The team shot 302302-299-903 in Colorado which placed them 12th.

At the Mary Fossum Invitational in Michigan the Hornets shot 293-311-300-904 placing them 11th.

Junior Nishtha Madan said that participating in these difficult tournaments will help them in the long run to gain experience. “[It’s] really great we started off with Michigan,” Madan said.

“Our season this year has a much better schedule. It’s a very im-

portant step that our program has taken.”

The Hornets played against several ranked schools at the Mary Fossum Invitational including Michigan State who finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 13, University of Florida ranked No. 14 and University of Virginia ranked No. 29.

Sac State finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 56.

Madan, who set the school’s all-time low score for a single round by shooting 67 last year, is coming off a summer of rest due to a wrist injury.

It’s an “overuse injury,” Madan said. Madan is also starting her season with the absence of her sister Astha Madan, who had a big impact on Sac State’s golfing program.

“It’s a bit strange, takes some getting used to,” Madan said.

“We won four tournaments last year. I think the rest of us, we’re all ready to have that streak going.”

The year’s roster contains seniors Katie Dunaway and Julia Becker, juniors Babic, Amelia Hicks, Danielle Lozano and Madan and sophomore Corinne Viden.

Becker, Babic, Madan and Viden are the team’s returning

starters.

New to the team is Miki Manta, a freshman from Honolulu, Hawaii who is adjusting to playing at the collegiate level.

“It’s much more competitive here in Sacramento,” Manta said.

“It feels great for sure. I know I’ll have a great golf career here if I take [coach David Sutherland’s] experience and apply it to my own game.”

“I know that based on the last tournament, in Colorado, we’re always out there ready to compete,” Manta said. “We have a strong vision, positive mindset and good attitude. We’re always there to fight for ourselves, the team, the school and always out there to win.”

Babic echoed similar thoughts.

“This year we’re playing much harder tournaments,” Babic said.

“The competition is going to be harder, and we lost a really good player. [Manta] is a good golfer, but it’s always hard to step in as a freshmen. We haven’t had our tournament yet. I believe in us.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAC STATE ATHLETICS Sac State junior golfer Sofie Babic is one of four returning starters from last season’s team. The Hornets didn’t finish in the top 10 in either of their first two tournaments in September.

FIND DAILY HORNETS SPORTS COVERAGE AT

STATEHORNET.COM

13

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Team chemistry leads men’s golf into season

Journal writing after tournaments a priority for head coach Steven Bryla @TheStateHornet

The Sacramento State men’s golf team is off to a difficult start this season as they finished in a tie for 15th place in the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa held on Sept.

16-18.

The third round of the tournament was cancelled and the course deemed unplayable due to heavy rain.

In his fourth season as Sac State head coach Kamden Brakel said this year’s team has some learning to do and skills to build on from their experience at the tournament.

“It reveals weaknesses that costs you strokes that what we need to work on,” Brakel said.

He added that the team played a tough course against strong competition.

UCLA, San Jose State, University of Iowa and Arkansas State were some of the teams participating in the tournament.

Brakel said the biggest thing he took away from last season and tried to apply to this year is an emphasis on the mental game and how his golfers’ view themselves.

Brakel said he makes his players write in a journal every time they play.

“Journals for us are very important and are ways to develop, ways to stay present and not to worry about the outcome,” Brakel said.

Brakel said he is excited about having his two captains, junior redshirt Eric Olsem and sopho-

more Jeff Carr, back on the team saying they have the leadership qualities the team needs.

Carr, who is coming off an 84th-place finish at the Golfweek Challenge, said he didn’t play as well as he would have liked.

“It was different from anything that I have played before, but if you got out of position, it would penalize you quickly,” Carr said.

Carr said that no matter what he tried, he couldn’t get himself in the right position and kept ending up in the spots he was trying to avoid.

Carr shot a 159 between the two rounds and was the highest score on the team.

He added that no competitors were allowed to practice with their drivers on the driving range because the course is shorter than the average drive.

“The only drivers you were able to practice were the ones you were hitting on the course,” Carr said.

The team’s second captain Olsem shot the lowest score for the team at the tournament with a 145 for a 26th place tied finish.

“I think I played a lot better than my score showed,” Olsem said.

He said that he struggled a lot off of the tee last season, so over the summer he focused on getting the confidence he needed to swing aggressively at the ball and score pars.

Olsem said he spent a lot of time hitting with a driver on holes where he normally wouldn’t need to, which he said gave him more confidence to risk using the driver.

“I took driver out a lot more often than I usually would to get me more comfortable with it,” Olsem said.

He added that the chemistry of the team is different from last season, because everyone on the team loves golf.

“Last year, some people loved it more than others,” Olsem said.

“People didn’t want to be the best they can be and this year everyone wants to be the best golfer they could possibly be.”

He added his journal entry would be the same for a week and he would reflect if his goals helped him stay in the present.

The men’s golf team has three freshmen on the roster this season and two of them competed in the opening tournament.

Two of the freshmen, Ethan Davidson and Riley Bell, shot a combined score of 304 strokes over the two rounds in the tournament.

Davidson had the second lowest score on the team in the tournament; only five strokes behind Olsem.

“Everyone had a passion for golf and everyone was motivating each other,” Davidson said. “We all have something to prove and we all need to prove to each other that we are here for a reason.”

Davidson said he looks up to Olsem and Carr because they were the first two people he met when he got to play with Sac State and said the two set a good example for him.

Davidson said writing in a journal is the biggest difference from playing golf in high school to playing at the college level.

“It never even crossed my

STEVEN BRYLA - The State Hornet Junior Eric Olsen (left) and freshman Ethan Davidson (right) are looking to learn from their play and improve throughout the rest of the season.

mind for high school golf,” Davidson said. “As you’re writing it down, it’s evident to see what is wrong and then you go work on it at the driving range.”

Brakel said the plan is for the

team to work on their short game and the things that costed them strokes in the GCC tournament.

“We’re trying to build a strong foundation of mental golf performance,” Brakel said.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 14

The State Hornet

FIFA 19 brings fun back to the franchise EA’s newest FIFA rollout is a step in the right direction Anthony Galvan @amgalvan2

changing any team tactics nor formations before or during the match if you’re looking for more of a bloodbath. In doing so, you can get less of a long-ball style of play, and have more collisions and one-on-one spartan like battles on the pitch.

The frustration can get real when your ready to finesse one right in the upper 90 of the net, and this behemoth of a defender swoops in and takes out your best player.

Please, remember to breathe.

The FIFA franchise has been scrutinized over the past few years for their inability to offer new attractions that would shake things up from its previous releases.

FIFA 18 had a mere two main changes from its last version being an introduction to icon players and the addition of the World Cup update long after the release date. This left FIFA consumers wondering if they should care to buy the following year’s release.

Gameplay: While FIFA 19 may not be a Timed Finishing totally revamped soccer game, One of the most exciting Electronic Arts has added some new gameplay features FIFA 19 creative game changers that offers is the addition of Timed avid FIFA buyers can get excited Finishing. about.

The controls for shooting the ball stays the same, but players No Rules game mode: can now take a risk by double tapNo fouls, no offsides and no ping the shooting button to time bookings. The highly anticipated the shot just as the shooter strikes No Rules game mode is one of the ball. When executed perfectly, five new types of matches in the the cursor over the shooter will House Rules collection. flash green, resulting in an inIf you feel like ruining a play- crease of accuracy and power. er’s career with a dangerous slide But there is a catch. If exetackle to the back of the leg, this cuted poorly by double tapping Sergio Ramos tailored game too early or too late, the shot can mode is for you. miss the goal or not have enough While this mode offers plenty contact with the ball to make it of humor with the absurdity of to the goalkeeper’s gloves. While no rules, it feels as if the game this feature seems to add somemode can be taken advantage of thing interesting in the attacking by lining up your fastest players third of the field, players beware. and sending the ball high over the Next time you’re playing an ondefender’s heads. line match and have a one-onBecause there won’t be any one with the keeper to score the offsides called, setting up an of- game-winning goal, don’t blow it fensive playing style of long ball until you’ve mastered the timing. and sending players through can It sucks, trust me. be redundant after so many runs.

It is unknown exactly how I would recommend not much of a boost a successful

the trophy together, it truly feels as if you have brought back the trophy to your club.

And that infamous UEFA Champions League symphony, it’s just beautiful.

Overall: A strong

7 out of 10

CC by Public Domain 1.0

Timed Finishing provides. In a video uploaded to the EA Sports website, it states that the feature allows the player to “take control of your shooting.” After practicing multiple successful attempts, I agree with what EA said.

In comparison with the composure meter that was used last in FIFA 16 penalties, both provide a more realistic approach when scoring. To compose oneself before actually shooting the ball is very important when focusing a shot on target, and I see Timed Finishing as an addition to the realistic risk taken to beat the goalkeeper.

I would recommend using the trainer option that will provide a shooting meter above the selected player. You will want to double tap when the two sliders of the meter meet in the middle of the green area. This will help you learn how quickly you should double tap to perform the perfect strike on the ground, or airborne for a header.

The trainer can be turned on in

controller settings.

UEFA Champions League: The Union of European Football Association has teamed up with EA to bring the tournament’s big name to FIFA 19.

You can select from three different matches in this game mode: UCL Group Stage, UCL semi-finals and UEFA Champions League Final.

The attention to detail that FIFA 19 provides for a UEFA Champions League Final is to be appreciated. Before the players walk on the pitch, you can actually see the nervous look on a lot of the players’ face before they enter what should be the biggest game of their life.

The liveliness of the commentators voice becomes more urgent, so you actually have a sense that you’re playing in a UEFA Champions League Final.

From the design of the scoreboard and clock to the celebrations after a team wins and hoists

As a FIFA consumer, this is the type of risk I have been waiting for from the franchise.

Even if it’s a couple of silly game modes, or a tweak in the shooting aspect, the FIFA franchise needs to continue implementing new facets to the games and stray away from being the redundant video game it was once known as.

It is impressive that FIFA 19 is attempting to take the reality of soccer to the next level. A majority of their gameplay changes made this year is to provide FIFA players with a realistic experience.

Even the attention to detail with the UEFA Champions League implemented feels genuine, taking a regular exhibition match and adding a level of excitement.

FIFA 19 was released Sept. 28, and rolled out a standard edition($59.99), championship edition($79.99) and an ultimate edition ($99.99).

Ultimate edition being the most expensive has the most FIFA Ultimate Team perks, while the championship edition offers less perks, but for a lower price.

You can view your options when choosing the right edition for your soccer needs.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The State Hornet

16

Sacramento State student Matthew Major plays the violin to a small crowd in the library quad on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Major’s parents raised him listening to classical and jazz music, and though he now prefers jazz, his knowledge has made him a more diverse musician, Major said.

VIOLINIST WANTS TO MAKE ‘MAJOR’ MARK Campus musician has trained in Europe, and isn’t afraid of a solo spotlight Photos and reporting by Kelly Kiernan

“There’s not a lot of violinists and there’s not a lot of jazz violinists,” Major said. “That’s why i’m going to be that guy to @kkiernan98 make violin funky, jazzy, new and creative.”

Sacramento State student Major grew up in a musical Matthew Major is an upcom- family so music was always playing jazz violinist who is creating ing in the house, he said. On his a unique sound by changing the dad’s side of the family, they lisway violin is traditionally played. tened to jazz and on his mom’s

side, he listened to the classics.

“When I was a baby, I always heard the classical standards [like] Beethoven and Mozart and Vivaldi,” Major said.

Although Major’s instrument of choice is the violin, he originally showed interest in the trumpet, he said.

“I really wanted to play trumpet but [my parents] said that I’d

break windows by playing too loud, so they got me a violin and it’s been history ever since,” Major said.

Major gives credit to his musical talents to his first two private teachers. Major said most of what he has learned came from them.

“Celia Vollov, my first private teacher, and Debbra Schwartz, my second private teacher, those

two ladies helped me become the musician I am today,” Major said.

“Ninety percent of the things I’ve learned, I learned from them.”

Major favors jazz over classical he said. “Jazz gives me the freedom I want and love so much,” Major said.

Major said musicians actually have the power to say what they want to say using their instru-

17

www.StateHornet.com

Psychology major Sana Arakji shows Matthew Major her finished drawing of him playing his violin in the library quad on Friday, Sep. 14, 2018.

ments versus words.

“It’s kinda like the difference between ballet dancing and salsa dancing. Ballet dancing every detail has to be there and in Salsa it’s more social,” Major said. “It’s what you feel in [your heart].”

Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Carlos Santana, Tito Puente, Eddie Parente and Jimi Hendrix are some of his favorite artists that Major said he likes to listen to.

“I want to be a Santana or a Hendrix,” Major said. “I want to solo, I want to sing, I want to scream. I want to make my violin sound as best as it sounds.”

Major said he loves playing in a band and recently played with Nagual at The Shady Lady.

Major also played with Don Gato and will be a regular substitute for one of the players, he said.

“In a band, everyone is a soloist, it’s really just a big conversation,” Major said. “If I do a rhythm on my instrument the

guitar player can play it back, and the drum player can play it back.”

Olivia Contreras, Major’s friend and roommate, highlighted Major’s ability to adapt quickly and play along to the music he hears as one of his strong suits.

“He’s really talented, because he can hear the first eight count of a song and just jump into it,” Contreras said.

Contreras’ godfather plays in a latin jazz band and she said Major filled in for her godfather’s band one night. “[The performance] was cool because he only met them an hour [before] and he was able to hop in on their songs that they have been playing for years,” Contreras said.

“I definitely see him having his own band, making a name for himself,” Contreras said. “He already has the perfect stage name, Matt Major. I see him going a lot of places.”

Major now has a band of six

people including himself. He said he’s hoping to have a total of seven members soon.

“As musicians I believe that we are all unique, we all have a different flavor, a different seasoning to add to the big meal which is the band,” Major said.

Beatriz Figueroa, a friend of Major’s who plays in the Sac State Latin Jazz Ensemble, expressed excitement to see how Major’s band will work.

“I’m pretty excited to see what that’s going to look like,” Figueroa said. “I have really good expectations because he is a really good leader, he has really good ideas and I don’t doubt that his combo is going to express and embody his idea of music making.”

Major said he’s trying to get more involved in the professional music scene, because he’s still new to it.

“What I want to do hopefully for Sacramento State is create a new club so I can bring my combo to the Union so we can host

jam sessions not just for music students but for all students,” Major said.

Major said he’s gotten most of his gigs by playing on the streets.

“I might go back to playing on the streets,” Major said. “I did that for awhile, I made good money. Then I started getting gigs and I stopped, but now I’m a starving musician and I have to pay rent and bills so I have to play on the street again.”

Major has traveled to Europe and put in hours to perfecting his craft.

“I went to Europe to train for two summers in a row and there I was practicing eight hours a day,” Major said.

He said he would wake up by 8 a.m., eat breakfast at 8:30 a.m., and started to practice at 9 a.m. and would finish around 7-8 p.m.

Matthew is currently a third year student, majoring in violin studies and music education, but said he wants to switch his major to jazz studies.

He said he is now focusing on making his music sound emotional. “How do I touch people’s hearts, because that’s what I’m trying to do,” Major said.

Major said Grammy-winning violinist Mads Tolling has agreed to teach him techniques to “be a better soloist and to adapt to any musical situation I’m put into.”

After 14 years, Major still always has the violin in his hand.

“I feel like I’m not even in my head,” Major said. “I feel like I’m in the violin.”

He never really knew how much he appreciated playing or how important it was in his life, until he truly realized that playing the violin was what he was meant to do, he said.

“I really do believe that it’s what God put me on this earth to do, so I intend to do that,” Major said.

18

EDITORIAL

The State Hornet

Campus crime transparency is lacking Students should be made aware of something as significant as sexual assault State Hornet Editorial Board @TheStateHornet

It is imperative that Sacramento State students be aware of the dangers they face in terms of sexual assault, and that need requires the university to let the campus know when something as serious as a rape in the dorms has happened.

A student was allegedly sexually assaulted by another student in the American River Courtyard on Sept. 15. The incident was reported to the Sac State Police Department the next day by a staff member of the hospital where the victim was being treated. No other information has been released to The State Hornet about the incident.

The Clery Act mandates that emergency notifications be sent to the campus community, but only when the campus police department determines that there is a serious threat to campus security, according to the Clery Center.

“In the event of an immediate, significant danger to the health or safety campus community (e.g. weather, disease outbreak), campus officials may issue an emergency notification,” the Clery Act says. “This notification can include the entire campus, or be limited to a specific area deemed to be at risk.”

No notification was sent out to students about the fact that a rape occurred on campus and that the suspect is a student — apparently a student allegedly raping another student is not something that Sac

State Police thinks is an immediate or significant danger to the health and safety of the campus.

Police did not consider the fact that a student committed a rape while in the dorms was something that the campus may want to know. Students — especially ones who live in the dorms — deserve to know that there is potential for risk, and what the university is planning on doing about it.

Additionally, notifying the campus would be a good way to solicit information on what happened and who may have witnessed or had information that could be relevant to an investigation.

The only way students would have been able to find this information — without the reporting done by The State Hornet — is if they checked the online campus crime logs, which are posted once a week, but only include crime information from the week leading up to the post date.

In order for students to get daily crime incident information is if they visit the Sac State Police Department office and request to view the daily logs.

Expecting anyone other than reporters and students uniquely interested in campus crime statistics is, quite frankly, outdated, unrealistic, and it shows how outof-touch the department is with modern technology that allows community members to be aware of incidents as they’re happening.

California State University campuses like Chico, San Francisco, East Bay, Maritime, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Northridge and Fullerton have online crime

CLAIRE MORGAN - The State Hornet A student was sexually assaulted in the American River Courtyard building of the residential halls, allegedly by another student, on Sept. 15.

logs — some campuses even have maps that note incident information and location — that are updated daily.

It is not much to ask Sac State to adopt the same practices.

Crimes have to be entered and cataloged anyway; they legally have to be publicly listed anyway.

Students should also be made aware of the crime logs, and maybe the weekly obscure updates should be replaced with a weekly SacSend email.

Additionally, students deserve notification when anything violent occurs — especially something that can be categorized as sexual assault.

HEY SAC STATE!

Now that you’ve heard our opinion, let us know what you think! Send letters to the editor to

EDITOR@STATEHORNET.COM

or submit them in person at Del Norte Hall, room 1006. Letters must be signed and may be edited for length and clarity. Use the hashtag #SacStateSays to weigh in on social media!

www.StateHornet.com

19

SIERRA’S SPICY TAKES

Small talk and swiping right on Tinder

How do you get the info you need and then get to business without being awkward?

Sierra Savage @SierraSpicy

Welcome back to “Sierra’s Spicy Takes” where this week, we’ll be tackling just a few ins and outs of Tinder. Tinder is arguably the most popular “dating” app in 2018, followed closely by Bumble. However, I would argue that Tinder is less of a dating app and more of a hookup app, where if you happen to actually like the person, you might date afterwards.

I met a guy whom we will call Kyle on Tinder. We didn’t talk much before he came over. To be blunt (excuse the pun), this was purely a smoke out with a possible (probable) hookup to follow.

We talked briefly to make sure he wasn’t a murderer, but we both knew he was coming over to smoke me out and to fool around.

I was as excited as anyone can be for a random hookup knowing the risks involved. I met Kyle at the front of my apartment complex, hopped into his car and showed him where to park.

It was when we got out of the car that it was clear that he was short. For reference, I’m 5-foot 3-inches tall, and he wasn’t even an inch taller than I was. Which isn’t an issue, it’s just his profile hid it very well, which was red flag number one.

We came inside and just went straight to my room because I didn’t want to bother my roommates with a random guy. He pulled out his weed vape pen thing and showed me how to use it. I took what felt like a sizeable hit but never really got high,

which was red flag number two.

Kyle ended up being one of the most boring people I have ever met. Ever. I let him choose what to watch on Netflix, half as a test, and half because I didn’t want to choose. He chose Parks and Recreation, which is one of my favorite shows, but a basic choice and is unimpressive. He only scored 50 percent on my secret test, which was red flag number three.

He started us on season four, episode nine of Parks and Recreation, “The Trial of Leslie Knope.” Definitely an odd choice of episode. We watched the entire 21-minute episode, the next episode and half of the next one before things started to heat up.

We were laying in my bed and I was tired of waiting, so I shifted myself backwards hoping it would encourage him to do more than watch Leslie Knope revolutionize Pawnee, Indiana.

It worked because a little booty grind is a clear sign that most men can pick up on. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book and even if you’re not confident, is almost a sure-fire way to communicate without actually having to talk that you’re ready for things to happen.

He was OK but again, really boring and basic. Nice lips but no cool or exciting kissing moves.

Kyle was a good-looking boy who simply just did not know how to use the body that he was given.

He made sure to warn me that he had been on a porn fast for his “health” and so he would probably cum “earlier than usual.” I tried my best not to laugh.

It was such boring sex that I had time to pay attention to my surroundings and I realized that while I was having sex, one of the most iconic Parks and Recreation scenes was happening in the background. Gloria Estefan was singing her hit song “Get on Your Feet” while the Knope campaign crew was slipping and falling in an ice rink.

Kyle was right; he did cum early.

Q: “I hate small talk. Absolutely hate it. And on Tinder I feel like it’s either jump straight to let’s fuck, or get stuck in an endless loop of small talk that makes you want to end the conversation altogether. How do you go about steering Tinder convos in a way that shows you want to hook up, but also at least gives you some information about the person so you don’t end up with some gross guy at your door?”

-- Tired of Tinder A: This is a great question and one that even I still ponder.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION EMILY RABASTO - The State Hornet Sierra’s Spicy Takes appears every Wednesday at statehornet.com

I personally use my bio as a means to communicate that i’m on Tinder for a specific reason. I use it as a hook-up app as well as a means of people watching and/ or judging. My bio reflects that by being pretty upfront about being kinky as well as using a few suggestive emojis.

I also flat out tell people that they should come smoke me out and then make out with me. What can I say, I know what I want. It’s a very forward approach that makes some of the awkward conversations at the beginning less awkward, because we both know that at the end of the day, we’re both there for one thing.

If that approach is too forward

GOT QUESTIONS? SIERRA HAS ANSWERS.

BIT.LY/SPICYTAKESQUESTIONS WANNA SEE WHAT MAKES A GOOD TINDER PROFILE? GO TO STATEHORNET.COM/OPINION TO READ THE FULL STORY.

for you, Tired of Tinder, then I would suggest getting to know a person for as long as you feel comfortable and then taking the shift in tone into your own hands.

Even asking something as simple as, “What are you on Tinder for?” can tend to get the conversation heading into a sexier direction.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, you still might end up with someone gross at your door because this is online and it’s a lot easier to fake it there than it is in real life. Read last week’s column about how a highly educated, good-looking man essentially had a break down on my couch.

Hopefully you’ve done enough screening beforehand that you’ve managed to avoid the worst of it.

Worst comes to worst, you kick him out if you ever feel uncomfortable and you’ve got a good story to tell later.

Don’t forget to submit your questions come back every Wednesday online to read more Spicy Takes with Sierra!