December 8, 2021

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The weekly student newspaper of Drake University Vol. 141 | No. 13 | Dec. 8, 2021 FEATURES

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

Students and faculty voice their excitement about the return of live theater, but uncertainty remains about what’s next with COVID-19.

Drake’s women’s basketball team claims their fourth win in a row.

They have four games left before starting conference on Dec. 30.

A writer talks about misconceptions that surround people with diabetes following APhA’s focus on education during National Diabetes Month.

Read more on page 3

Read more on page 5

Read more on page 7

timesdelphic.com

Drake ITS to introduce multi-factor authentication Drake systems will gradually start to require it beginning Jan. 4 Carmon Baker Staff Writer carmon.baker@drake.edu

Before the 2022 spring semester, Drake Information Technology Services (ITS) will be implementing new multifactor authorization to log into Drake accounts to better protect Drake from cyberattacks.

“Multi-factor authentication is the best tool we have to prevent accounts and data from being compromised,” Chief Information Technology Officer Keren Fiorenza said via email.

“Drake receives over 5 million emails in an average month and 60-70 percent of those are phishing, spam, or other malicious emails. Each day there are thousands of attempts to hack Drake accounts. Most of those attempts can be stopped by requiring a second method of identity verification.

ITS is putting this system in place because that additional authentication protects all of us.”

The rollout of multifactor authentication will be staggered starting Jan. 4, according to Technical Project Manager Jeff Regan. The first platforms to require multifactor authentication will be eAccounts and Self-Service Banner, followed by TouchNet and Blackboard, then the Microsoft 365 suite. The process will finish with employee-only items, and student employees will have to start using multifactor authentication to access their timecards.

“The idea behind [multifactor authentication] is essentially a way to verify who you are when you’re logging into

a system,” ITS Communications Manager Carla Herling said. “So typically you take something you know—that is, your login, in our case your Drake email address and password, and something you have, and we’re promoting the use of a Microsoft Authenticator App that you use on your cell phone.

And so you have, in addition to logging in, you have an additional verification step that proves who you are, so there’s an extra level of security for the system.”

According to Regan, students will download the Microsoft Authenticator app or alternatively use a text or automated phone call for multifactor authentication. Regan said the application has been very effective in the past at stopping cyberattacks because it is more difficult for hackers to get through.

“There’s never a great time to make a big shift, unfortunately, and this will be definitely a tough time for those who are in J-Term, and we understand that, so we’re trying to reach out to those faculty and students directly so that they understand that that change is coming and help them prepare,” Regan said.

Previously, Herling said, faculty and staff used multifactor authentication on a different system. After the student rollout, they will be switched over to the Microsoft Authenticator tool as well.

“Currently, we have a platform that we use for faculty and staff, and we’ve had that going for several years now,” Herling said. “It’s something that has always been the plan to expand to students, and as we

STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF will eventually need to use either an authentication app or an automated call or text to access Drake systems. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

have been using the Microsoft platform more and more, we’ve been kind of watching the Microsoft Authenticator tool.”

According to Herling, ITS already has multiple strategies in place to protect against cyberattacks, including email labeling from non-Drake email addresses. However, ITS hopes multi-factor authentication will provide an extra layer of security.

A recent cyberattack at DMACC also increased the incentive for multi-factor authentication and showed ITS they were on the right path, Regan said. According to the virus protection company Emsisoft, there were at least 26

ransomware attacks involving U.S. universities and colleges in 2020.

“Part of the reason behind the switch now is that, especially over the pandemic, but really, frankly, over the last 8-10 years, cyber attacks have been growing exponentially and colleges and universities have really become a key target for those cyber criminals,” Herling said.

ITS is currently offering $1 off coupons to Starbucks for the first 150 users who sign up early for multi-factor authentication.

According to Regan, it will be easier for students to sign up before the change happens, and those who wait until after will have to go through extra steps.

“We’re really encouraging faculty, staff, and students to go through the links that [were sent] and the instruction documents that have come out on campus and register in the authenticator app, if they are going to use the mobile phone application, or just set up their other methods if they want to use a call or text message before January, before the end of the year,” Regan said.

To learn how to add multifactor authentication to your Drake accounts, visit https:// drake.teamdynamix.com/ TDClient/2025/Portal/ KB/?CategoryID=3964.

digital proficiency platform to increase diversity in tech

THE DIGITAL PROFICIENCY PLATFORM aims to create new partnerships that better utilize technology. GRAPHIC BY OLIVIA KLASSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, LOGO BY DRAKE UNIVERSITY

Carmon Baker Staff Writer carmon.baker@drake.edu

Under Drake University’s “The Ones” campaign, the University will be developing a Digital Proficiency Platform to focus on becoming “the premier institution of higher education in integrating the liberal arts with analytics and technology.”

“I think that the idea of the overall proposal is that we want to develop students who are sort of leaders in technology in a way that allows them to sort of help organizations that they work with be strategic in how disruptions in technology can be utilized for those organizations’ benefit,” said Eric Manley, associate professor of computer science

and co-director of Drake’s data analytics program. “The idea would be that somebody who is proficient in technology, digital proficiency would be able to help drive those changes, whether they were motivated by some kind of crisis like the pandemic was or whether they were simply motivated by changing technology.”

According to Manley, the main goal of the Digital Proficiency Platform will be partnering with external organizations to work on problems related to data analytics. This will involve changing the practices of the organization to better utilize technology.

“One of the goals is trying to get that administrative help, help find those partnerships,

help work out all of the red tape and details that goes along with that so that we can give projects to students and faculty and they can maybe work on that as a summer consulting project, almost like an internship,” Manley said.

One focus within this initiative will be increasing diversity among technology majors at Drake. The Inclusive Scholars of Digital Proficiency is one of four scholarship programs embedded within one of the campaign’s initiatives that include $5,000 renewable scholarships for five students, according to Drake President Marty Martin and Vice President for Advancement John Smith.

Martin said that the “core focus” of this scholarship program will be to increase diversity in technology majors. The program invites mathematics, mathematics education, computer science, data analytics, artificial intelligence and information systems majors to apply. It includes regular meetings with a faculty advisor and the ISDP community, as well as professional development and community engagement opportunities.

The program gives preference to students who “identify as part of an underrepresented group in technology — including women, students of color, students with

disabilities, and students who are LGBTQ.” According to “The Ones” website, “Supporting Drake’s Educating for the Digital World initiative will move us toward our goal of becoming a campus where women and students of color make up at least 50 percent of the students majoring in technology through scholarships, recruiting initiatives, and peer mentoring opportunities.”

In addition to increasing diversity, this initiative will include several specific steps on campus. According to Manley, Drake hopes to raise funds for an endowment to attract higherprofile professors in technology areas.

“Externally, we’ve known for a number of years that [in] businesses and the public sector, state and federal agencies, for example, that there is a robust advantage for a digitally proficient workforce that is capable of using increasingly sophisticated technology, like artificial intelligence systems or data analytics programs, and [for] using those tools in an ethical way that critically balances the needs of a business with our societal, ethical good,” said Keith Summerville, another Drake professor involved with the initiative.

According to Manley, funding for this project will go through the University

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Advancement Center and will largely come from companies who are interested in developing talent at Drake to hire later on or from philanthropy. The university also plans to create more collaborative areas on campus to be a workspace for problem solving in the world of technology.

“We have visions for new classrooms that would [be], not just classrooms, but meeting spaces that allow for groups of students to work on technology problems in sort of collaborative and innovative ways so [we have] some spaces that are maybe more like high-tech work spaces than like a classroom,” Manley said. “But nonetheless, a course could work there or a summer internship-type program could use that space.”

According to Manley, this project will focus on students with technology-related majors and minors, but it will also be beneficial for all students.

“How can we utilize what’s sort of on the cusp of what we can do with technology to do the things that we do better?”

Manley said. “The idea would be that all Drake students, hopefully, are being prepared in such a way that they are able to take on those challenges.”

Andrew Kennard contributed reporting to this story.

02 | News

Dec. 08, 2021

News

Drake manages telehealth initiative to improve rural healthcare access

THIS TELEHEALTH INITIATIVE from Drake, Certintell and Tabula Rasa would provide medication risk assessments, checkups in-between appointments with primary physicians, Remote Patient Monitoring and more for rural Iowans with lesser access to healthcare. PHOTO BY COURTNEY JACKSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Mack Swenson Staff Writer mackenzie.swenson@drake.edu

Drake University is partnering with telehealth company Certintell and medical technology company Tabula Rasa to provide telehealth services to Iowans in rural areas. Their goal is to improve health outcomes for at least 1,500 currently underserved patients over the course of five years.

“Without telehealth, patients just aren’t going to get the services that they need, and telehealth has shown to be effective,” said Certintell CEO and founder Ben Lefever, who graduated from the Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2000. “It’s shown to really improve health outcomes and essentially save lives and keep patients out of the hospital and have better quality of life.”

The initiative is made possible by a $1.6 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Drake brought together the necessary companies and resources for the initiative and plans to keep track of patient data as the project progresses, according to Grant Awes, the manager of the Certintell side of the HRSA initiative.

Improving health outcomes by making care more regular Awes, Lefever and Tim Welty, the principal investigator for the initiative, described the initiative’s two main components. The first involves medication therapy management and medication

risk assessments, in which a physician reviews potential interactions between a patient’s medications to determine if the combination is both safe and effective.

These services will be provided through the MedWise call center, an arm of Tabula Rasa, Welty said. The call center employs approximately 20 to 30 Drake pharmacy students each year, who are supervised by a Drake-hired pharmacist.

“I expect telehealth to be standard practice. It’s just going to be part of how your primary care providers or whoever you see are doing to deliver services.”

“The call center will be looking at patients who are in the grant and looking at all of their medications and determining a risk factor based on medication safety,” Welty said.

Welty also said that this is the only initiative funded by HRSA to include medication management. This is significant because Medicare patients are required to undergo a medication review once a year, so the call center will lighten the load on local clinics whose services are often stretched thin in rural areas.

The second component involves regular telehealth appointments with coaches and physicians through Certintell.

Although the telehealth visits are not designed to replace patients’ family physicians, they can provide in-between check-ups with rural patients

who do not have easy access to a physician’s office or hospital.

“We [at Drake] have the call center aspect of it. [The call center] will be working with the patients in terms of medications,” Welty said. “Then there’s the telehealth aspect, where there will be a nurse, nurse practitioner or telehealth coach who regularly connects with the patient via telehealth, and then the Certintell people will be in contact with their primary care provider.”

In order to connect more regularly with patients, the telehealth appointments are supplemented by Remote Patient Monitoring, Lefever said. This involves sending Bluetooth-connected equipment, such as a blood pressure cuff or glucose monitor, to patients so that the telehealth platform can receive more real-time data.

The equipment is designed to work with a phone so that rural Iowans with poor or nonexistent broadband service can still participate in the initiative—a significant issue in a state ranked 36th in the nation for broadband access, according to BroadbandNow. “Let’s say someone in rural Iowa has a heart condition or heart disease and they need to be monitored regularly,” Awes said. “We are able to ship them a blood pressure cuff that is cellular based, so they can take a reading by themselves from their home. And that cellular device will send it just like a cell phone sends a signal, so that [data] will come to us.”

Rural Iowans face healthcare access challenges Palo

Alto

County

and

Hancock County, two primarily rural counties in Northern Iowa, are the current area of focus for the initiative. Each county has a MercyOne critical access hospital. According to Welty and Lefever, Iowans in these areas are unlikely to have easy access to regular healthcare services, especially specialists.

“[The call center] will be working with the patients in terms of medications. Then there’s the telehealth aspect, where there will be a nurse, nurse practitioner or telehealth coach who regularly connects with the patient via telehealth, and then the Certintell people will be in contact with their primary care provider.”

“Many of them will live long distances from hospitals,” Welty said. “They may live in communities where there’s not a physician regularly. Some of these communities don’t even have a pharmacy in them, so access to care is a big problem.”

Welty said that the areas served by the initiative could expand in future years, and Awes added that the goal is to serve one additional rural MercyOne clinic each year.

Another component of the initiative that may expand is the breadth of the conditions addressed.

Currently, the initiative focuses on the treatment of hypertension,

diabetes and high cholesterol because, according to Welty, these are the conditions that most often result in emergency hospital visits. Besides relieving the medical strain on local physicians, decreasing such emergency room visits is one of the main goals of the initiative.

Prior to the pandemic, few insurance companies reimbursed patients for telehealth services, Lefever and Awes said. However, Medicare and Medicaid are now reimbursing telehealth services at the same rate as an in-person visit. This has accelerated Certintell’s business, as well as the telehealth industry as a whole.

“One lesson for the health care system from COVID is telehealth,” Welty said. “When COVID hit and hospitals and clinics closed down, they pivoted to telehealth.”

Due to the pandemicinduced shift in insurance coverage, Levefer, Awes and Welty all said they expect telehealth services to become more commonplace in general healthcare. Lefever said that 80 percent of all healthcare services can be provided via telehealth and do not require an in-person visit.

“I expect telehealth to be standard practice,” Lefever said.

“It’s just going to be part of how your primary care providers or whoever you see are going to deliver services.”

The project described is supported by grant number 1 G01RH42535-01-00 from the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, Health Resources and Services Administration, DHHS.

drake holds off on compliance with suspended federal mandate

The mandate would require mandatory COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that it was suspending its implementation and enforcement of a COVID-19 vaccine or testing mandate for employers with more than 100 employees “pending further developments in the litigation.”

The decision follows the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to grant a stay of the OSHA rule pending review.

“There’s nothing to comply with at this point,” said Drake Director of Environmental Health and Safety Chris Nickell.

“We do not have a vaccination mandate on this campus at this point.”

If the mandate, which is called an Emergency Temporary Standard, survives court challenges, it would lay out two possible paths for employers like Drake to follow.

Drake would have to require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or require unvaccinated employees to get

tested weekly for the virus and wear a mask.

Drake Director of Human Resources Maureen De Armond said that Drake chose the second option.

“We would have to get the test results on a weekly basis to assure that they are COVIDfree when they come on to our property,” De Armond said.

“So that employee would need to figure out what testing site works best for them and do that on their own time. That’s not on the clock.”

Due to an Iowa state law, if Drake were to require students to get vaccinated, it would risk losing Iowa Tuition Grant aid, according to Drake Provost Sue Mattison.

“For us, that was an easy decision, because on top of federal law, we have the Iowa law, which is saying, ‘You can’t do the mandate, otherwise we’ll take away your Iowa dollars.’

And we would never want to disadvantage students,” De Armond said. “And also wouldn’t want to potentially lose employees who said, ‘Well, I’m not doing anything. You can’t make me.’”

The ETS would also require Drake to give all its employees up to four hours of paid leave to receive the vaccine, as well as “reasonable time and paid sick leave” to recover from any side effects they experience from their primary vaccination series. De Armond said that when Drake had its on-site vaccination clinics, staff members could get vaccinated on the clock without using sick leave.

“And we would never want to disadvantage students. And also, we wouldn’t want to potentially lose employees who said, ‘Well, I’m not doing anything. You can’t make me.’”

De Armond said that fulltime faculty don’t report paid sick leave time like staff members. They’re salaried and have less structured schedules,

and they would use a shortterm disability policy instead.

“I imagine most faculty would not schedule the vaccine during class,” De Armond said. “They would teach class, and schedule the vaccine. But it could be during office hours. And so, then it protects them so it doesn’t look like they’re missing work to go do something without permission. So we still have to work out the details of how we would do that for faculty. But again, we’re talking about a very small percentage of people who are not vaccinated today but will get vaccinated during the timeframe that the ETS is in effect.”

Student employees don’t have paid leave, so workers seeking leave to get vaccinated or recover from side effects would likely be working directly with Human Resources, De Armond said.

“So that would be creating something that does not currently exist,” De Armond said. “And then of course we would have to educate the student workers as well so that they are aware of their rights and their opportunity to do

this.”

Drake will “in some ways, be reactionary to what happens in the legal challenge,” and it won’t adopt the new policies until a final ETS comes out, De Armond said. She said that the university can bypass its policy of holding a comment period for new policies when it needs to comply with the law, but they prefer to ask for feedback when possible.

“I suppose it’s theoretically possible the court could find OSHA doesn’t have the authority to even pursue these ETSs,” De Armond said. “I don’t think that’s likely, but what we don’t want to do is do rework over and over again, only to have the ETS drastically revised and then we have to go back and do another round.”

Drake reported in its Dec. 3 COVID-19 update that 85 percent of all employees are vaccinated.

“We are encouraging anybody that is fully vaccinated, please submit that to the university,” Nickell said. “That helps us manage campus better even if it’s not a requirement.”

03 | Features

Features

Dec. 08, 2021

live theater returns to des moines Courtney Jackson Staff Writer courtney.jackson@drake.edu

Live theater has been on hold the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is finally making a comeback in the Des Moines area after two years with many students and staff excited to attend.

Cece Sanchez, a senior at Drake University majoring in musical theatre and law, politics and society, says that she is excited for the comeback of theater in the area.

“I’ve been involved in musical theater since the seventh grade with having seen many productions such as “Mean Girls,” “Hello! Dolly” and “The Band’s Visit” at the Des Moines

Civic Center,” Sanchez said.

According to an article by Monash University, many theater productions turned to platforms such as Zoom, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook after live performances were shut down in early 2021.

John Pomeroy, a professor of theater at Drake University, has been working with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and says he’s ecstatic for the return of live theater after the closing of many performances due to COVID-19.

“It is true that we do this art for the audience,” Pomeroy said. “The audience is a key factor that we produce. Yes, the department produced

shows all of the academic year of 2020-2021, but the subtle undercurrent of the audience response was missing.

Audiences returning to the same space as the performers makes the time we spend working to create all worthwhile.”

“I am excited about it. It makes me thankful for live theater, and I really did miss it.”

When theater performances were able to be live with an audience, attendance was down with social distancing and masks required for all

performances.

“I am simultaneously relieved and terrified at live theater coming back,” Sanchez said. “Artists have been struggling for the past two years because of how many theaters and live performance venues have been shut down, and it’s so exciting to see Broadway reopen, national tours start again and community theater come back. The pandemic has also been hard for artists because it has preventing us from fully participating in our art, and being able to perform at least even semi-normally fills me with joy. At the same time, COVID has been and remains unpredictable. We don’t know when the next significant variant will happen, we don’t

know how long vaccines will be effective, we don’t know how much longer any of this will last. Until we can guarantee the safety of all live theater performers and technicians, I will remain apprehensive about the return of live theater.”

Dina Perez, a senior majoring in musical theatre with a minor in music, said she feels hopeful about the live performances after the hiatus.

“I am excited about it,” Perez said. “It makes me thankful for live theater, and I really did miss it. I just hope we can keep taking positive steps towards “normalcy” than backwards steps, since this pandemic has been a crazy time for me as someone with an underlying condition.”

DES MOINES CIVIC CENTER will host multiple professional Broadway show tours starting in Feb. 2022 and ending in March 2023. In order of show dates, the theater season will include: “Tootsie”, “Hadestown”, “Hamilton”, “Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird” (a play) and “1776” . PHOTO BY BRADY LOVIG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Drake neighborhood residents at greater risk from natural disasters CJ Younger Staff Writer catherine.younger@drake.edu

Just south of Drake University lies Polk County’s most at-risk neighborhood.

According to the 2019 American Community Survey, over 50 percent of the residents between 28th Street and Keosauqua Way have three or more qualities that make them targets for the next derecho or pandemic, compared to less than 20 percent of the county.

Surrounding neighborhoods sit comfortably between 20 and 30 percent. This unusual concentration raises the question: Why here?

The road to risk began with the construction of Interstate 235 in the 1960s. It fractured the historically Black neighborhood and thriving business district, stranding residents on either side. Many were put out of business and couldn’t afford to relocate, and those who could left quickly. Drug activity in the ’70s and early ’80s gave the neighborhood a bad reputation that persists to this day, and home values plummeted.

“People without a lot of

resources go where they can afford to live, and because of historical forces, this is that area,” said David Courard-Hauri, professor of environmental science at Drake and neighborhood resident.

For reference, CourardHauri’s house was valued at $69,070 when he bought it in 2000. In contrast, a house just north of Drake was valued at $101,380, a significant difference for someone living below the poverty line or seeking refuge in a new country.

“For someone who is scrambling to get by, it doesn’t take much of a hit to wind up homeless or deep in debt.”

Low housing costs coupled with a bad reputation left the neighborhood neglected and avoided. Drake students are warned to avoid going east of 25th Street, and the boarded-up houses and overgrown yards are by no means encouraging.

“If you ask someone in the Des Moines area, ‘What do you think of the Drake neighborhood?’, a surprising number of them will say they find it scary or dangerous,” Courard-Hauri said. “We need to find a balance between affordable housing and run-down-feeling places. We certainly have some abandoned homes, some boarded-up homes, and it doesn’t take many of those to make a place feel unloved and scary.”

The run-down houses mask a diverse community, drawn here by unfortunate circumstances and low housing costs. This creates a hotspot for at-risk residents.

The US Census Bureau considers the following factors when determining at-risk areas: a low income to poverty ratio, having one or fewer caregivers, overcrowding, not being fluent in English, lacking full-time employment or health insurance, having a disability, being older than 65, and having no vehicle or broadband internet access. Over half of the residents in Courard-Hauri’s neighborhood have at least three of these risk factors.

Cameron Stufflebeam,

Polk County’s emergency management program assistant, said they take this data into account when planning for hazard mitigation.

Polk County has a 361page manual detailing the atrisk populations for specific incidents. In the case of the 2020 derecho, a series of intense thunderstorms, the impact was severe for households with a low income to poverty ratio or without full-time employment.

The derecho caused utility and power lines to go down for long periods of time, and residents without disposable income were unable to buy generators, fans or other resources.

“People without a lot of resources go where they can afford to live, and because of historical forces, this is that area.”

Emergency management plans are only a piece of the risk management puzzle. CourardHauri found a persisting quality

that can help negate risk factors in his own neighborhood: community.

“What you see over and over with disasters is if people know other people in the neighborhood, they’re able to check on people and help them out,” Courard-Hauri said.

“When the derecho happened, we were without power for a week, but there were people out there helping each other. I was out there with a chainsaw opening up the streets with my neighbors.”

Community-building can include creating communal gardens, hosting block parties and improving local parks. Government agencies, neighborhood associations and residents can work to bring people together so that when the next disaster strikes, neighbors can check on each other and support each other.

“For someone who is scrambling to get by, it doesn’t take much of a hit to wind up homeless or in deep debt,” Courard-Hauri said. “Anything that brings people together and builds community can be beneficial.”

04 | Features

Features

Dec. 08, 2021

Iowa author honored at Des Moines Public Library dinner

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES is a award-winning journalist, author and historian, as well as a born and raised Iowan. She spoke to a crowd at the Des Moines Public Library Iowa Author Award benefit dinner on Nov. 22 and subsequently visited her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa on Nov. 23. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Candace Carr Staff Writer candace.carr@drake.edu

Iowa native, journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones was honored as the 2021 Iowa Author Award recipient at an event in downtown Des Moines on Monday, Nov. 22.

The benefit dinner, “In Conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones,” raised funds for the Des Moines Public Library (DMPL) Foundation.

The 21st annual event celebrated the work of Iowa writers and the continued work of expanding library access for all.

According to the president of the DMPL Foundation, Trevor Meers, the foundation provides funding for more than 87 percent of programming at each of the six library branches in the Des Moines area.

“For a working-class Black girl from a small Iowa town whose family never traveled anywhere that the car did not take us, the library card, specifically the Waterloo Public Library card, was my passport to the world,” Hannah-Jones said in her acceptance speech.

The Waterloo, Iowa native said that her work began in a classroom just two hours from Des Moines and was especially honored to receive the award because books and libraries saved her life.

“Libraries, like public

schools, are among the most democratic of institutions,” Hannah-Jones said. “Libraries exist for a common good in a belief that knowledge should be freely shared, not something that can be accessed only by the wealthy and the privileged and under the belief that an educated citizenry is an investment in our community, and it’s an investment in our nation.”

Hannah-Jones was awarded for her newly released work, “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.” The book is an expansion of the New York Times Magazine’s The 1619 Project.

The award-winning, long-form work released in 2019 “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative,” said The 1619 Project introduction.

The expansion includes 18 essays and 36 poems commemorating the now 402-year-long legacy of African-American history in the United States and the many ways legacies of racial injustice persist well into the 21st century.

Additionally, Hannah-Jones’ “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story” was released on Nov. 16 alongside her new children’s picture book, “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water.”

The dinner held at the Embassy Suites in downtown Des Moines featured a pre-event silent auction, a live auction, a moderated conversation with the awardee and book signing

by Hannah-Jones both before and after the program.

“For a working-class Black girl from a small Iowa town whose family never traveled anywhere that the car did not take us, the library card, specifically the Waterloo Public Library card, was my passport to the world.”

Iowa Author Award Honorary Chair and former foundation board member Jacqueline Easley McGhee compared Maya Angelou’s metaphor of a “caged bird” to efforts of censoring and banning literature like Angelou’s autobiography and the work of Hannah-Jones.

“I, too, support ageappropriate learning, but isn’t the purpose of the arts to open minds and not keep them closed?” McGhee said.

“The 1619 Project” being implemented in educational curricula has been the source of

controversy in state legislatures and school boards nationwide.

“First, the Iowa legislature took up a bill to ban ‘The 1619 Project’ by name, I have to say it is an astounding thing to be the native daughter of this state to win the Pulitzer Prize and then your state tries to ban your work,” Hannah-Jones said.

To further discuss HannahJones’ new books and to continue discussion on the project’s national impact, Iowa Columnist Courtney Crowder with the Des Moines Register served as the moderator for the main event.

Crowder and Hannah-Jones collected questions from the audience and spoke to the concept of the children’s book, Hannah-Jones’ Waterloo educational origins and ways individuals could continue to contribute to the work of the project.

Hannah-Jones said the children’s book is an origin story for Black Americans. With many Black Americans not being able to trace back their family lineages to a specific country, Hannah-Jones said the book is dedicated to her daughter to reiterate that “our story is not a tragic story.”

“Our children deserve an education that exposes them to new ideas, and those new ideas should make you uncomfortable,” Hannah-Jones said. “That is how we learn and stretch and grow. That is how

we gain empathy for our fellow human beings. That’s how we affirm our own humanity.”

At the awards dinner, 50 students were in attendance, nine of them being Drake University students.

First-year Mylo Bissell attended the dinner and said that Hannah-Jones stands as a symbol of what it means to fearlessly and defiantly pursue truth.

“I have not had a lot of fearless pursuit of truth modeled for me,” Bissell said.

“It is because of her that I see the vitality in showing up for my communities the way that I do and see the honest worth of speaking more than when you’re just spoken to.”

Hannah-Jones said that it would be immoral to not bring her community with her.

In January 2022, HannahJones is set to open “1619 Freedom School,” a free, fivedays-a-week after-school literacy program in her hometown, Waterloo.

The program will have a custom Black history curriculum that will be opensource and help bridge the opportunity gap for students in Waterloo public schools.

Hannah-Jones said of the works “The 1619 Project,” “Born on the Water,” “A New Origin Story” and “1619 Freedom School” that they “force us to confront who we are so we can be who we want to be.”

Live shows brings mental health benefits to musicians

CJ Younger Staff Writer catherine.younger@drake.edu

The second movement begins with solo oboe. In the space of a held breath, she leads the audience into the song, through plucked pizzicatos and quick lifts, until the strings sweep the melody away into the tense grandeur of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

In the classical music community, it’s well known that Tchaikovsky wrote his Fourth Symphony in the grips of a deep depression, but emerged with a masterpiece. The Des Moines Symphony performed the piece at its masterworks concert in October, and the performers found parallels between its making and their own experience.

Like Tchaikovsky, many musicians found their depression, symbolic or literal, lifting as music and people once again filled concert halls that stood empty for the past year and a half.

For assistant principal hornist Guinevere McIntyre, the Des Moines Symphony’s October concert was her first with an audience since the pandemic started. Through quarantine, she’d discovered a

new, meditative way of playing, and it changed her relationship with music and mental health.

“It was like a spiritual experience,” McIntyre said.

“Meditating and just being really quiet in my mind and listening to the nothing — the air. Music can be all-consuming and also undefined. It’s not words, it’s not direction — it can be whatever you want it to be in that moment.”

The connections between music and mental health are being explored by the Global Council on Brain Health, which convened a group of experts in February 2020 to examine the impact of music on the brain.

Their findings are summarized in “Music On Our Minds: The Rich Potential of Music to Promote Brain Health and Mental Wellbeing.”

According to the report, people have never had so many ways to listen to music in “splendid isolation.” Gathering in a public space for a concert has been replaced with ear buds, smartphones and Bluetooth.

However, the experts agree that something powerful emerges when music is shared as a group experience.

When people perform together, it activates brain circuits that affect empathy,

trust and cooperation. It’s been proven to encourage a sense of calm, fight depression and stimulate social bonding. Most importantly, it creates a sense of belonging and place, feelings the pandemic has displaced for many people. However, as McIntyre experienced, these feelings are vital for mental health.

“I know the people who are sitting around me — the horn section, the brass, everybody,” McIntrye said. “They’re friends, people that I love, and it is incredibly special to get to be back with them and make music.”

The world went quiet in March 2020, and concerts that had been months in the making were canceled overnight.

Professional musicians lost out on income, and students on experience. An enormous void of instruments and relationships gathering dust yawned before them.

Nornubari Kaka, bassoonist for the Drake Symphony Orchestra and Drake Symphonic Band, lost not one, but two concerts that spring.

“We spent so many weeks and months preparing,” Kaka said. “It was really upsetting for all of us. And then the rest of the semester was just nothing. It

felt very heartbreaking. It’s like, is all that work wasted?”

Unfortunately, her ensembles never revisited the pieces they’d spent so long on. However, they did resume concerts in the fall semester, delivered to a live-streamed audience with crackling audio and 720 pixels.

“It felt weird, to be honest,” Kaka said. “Without the audience, we didn’t get the feedback of ‘Wow, there are people actually listening,’ or the applause after each piece.”

McIntyre compared playing for a live-streamed audience to recording a piece. “I have to work a lot harder to stay engaged,” she said.

The low quality of the livestreams and lack of audience deadened the communal benefits of performance. Not only was the audience one step removed, but the resonance and emotion of a piece was lost.

Applause was replaced with uncomfortable silence, and concerts became disappointing and disheartening.

As audiences returned to concert halls, many musicians found their playing changed.

Losing a year and a half of live performances transformed McIntyre and Kaka’s approach to playing music, bringing it to

a healing and hopeful place.

“COVID changed my perspective on performing,” McIntyre said. “Playing music has become so much more prayerful and meditative and being fully engaged in the moment. I love the physical aspect of it — the breathing.

I mean, that’s life. That and then the all-consuming mental, ineffable ‘saying something with music.’”

The silence of the past year and a half stole the group experience of music, forcing the world into a less-thansplendid isolation. Musicians everywhere lost the special feeling of belonging that the Global Council on Brain Health considers so essential to mental health. Fortunately, there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming days.

“I’m excited to hear the music ring again,” Kaka said.

“When you’re in person, you can feel the music within your body, the vibrations going through you. You can feel and see the passion of the musicians, and I think that’s a great thing people should witness.”

Visit dsmsymphony.org or drake.edu/music to return to the concert hall and feel the social and mental benefits of a live musical performance.

05 | Sports

Sports

Dec. 08, 2021

Recent success provides women’s basketball new confidence

THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM is on a hot streak after winning the last four games, including a win against Longwood. PHOTO BY PAIGE JANSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Logan Hock Staff Writer logan.hock@drake.edu

Drake women’s basketball has been on a hot streak recently after collecting their fourth straight win against the Longwood Lancers last Friday, Dec. 3.

After two double digit losses in the middle of November, the Bulldogs attended the Nugget Classic three-game tournament in Reno, Nev over Thanksgiving weekend.

In Reno, the Bulldogs were able to sweep their field and beat all three of their opponents helping move their record to 4-2 on the season.

“The biggest factor that led to our three wins was just us playing team basketball

and playing both sides of the floor well,” said Maggie Bair, junior forward. “We are pretty versatile and on any given night we’re going to have any three [or] four of us scoring in double figures.”

The Bulldogs beat the Nevada Wolfpack in their home state by the skin of their teeth 77-75. However, the Bulldogs were able to best San Francisco and Idaho by double digits.

“I think the biggest factor throughout the Reno tournament was winning each individual quarter,” said Katie Dinnebier, first-year guard.

“We usually do such a good job of starting out strong but tend to let our guard down later in the game, However, at the tournament, we were able to push and fight back in the later

quarters.”

After the tournament, the Bulldogs returned home and handily defeated the Longwood Lancers to improve to 5-2 on the season.

After this string of wins, the team has started to see different players rise up as team leaders through their effort on the court.

“I think both Dinnebier and Megan Meyer have stepped into their roles really fast,” Bair said. “Katie has been an incredible addition both offensively and defensively.

Megan has showed strong versatility and is great with getting to the rim and finishing contested shots” The players have expressed confidence in their roster for the Bulldogs’ upcoming games.

“The special thing about our team is that we have a lot of depth and a lot of people that can step up for every game,” Dinnebier said. “It’s always a different person that makes shot or gets an important rebound.

That is why I think we will do well for the rest of the season.”

The Bulldogs face four more games before starting conference play on Dec. 30 against Indiana State. Two of the teams, the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Minnesota Golden-Gophers, are part of the Big Ten conference.

“I think our last few nonconference games are super important and will help prepare us for conference play next month,” Bair said. “We have two Big Ten opponents coming up this month which will be

Why the Blackhawks need a name change

great challenges for us.”

The players are not the only ones who are looking forward to the rest of the season. The staff of the women’s basketball team have shown excitement and confidence with less than a month left until the Missouri Valley begins conference play.

“I think the team is going to do phenomenal,” said Michael Cummings, a digital media assistant. “We are on a fourgame win streak and fresh off a tournament where we won all our games. I am excited to see what else this team will bring, especially those who are all new to the team.”

The Bulldogs continue their schedule against Simpson College on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at home.

Sports Results Men’s Basketball Dec. 5 vs St. Thomas Drake wins 74-64 ESPN Events Invitational Nov. 28 vs North Texas Drake loses 54-57 Nov. 25 vs Belmont Drake loses 69-74 Nov. 26 vs Alabama Drake loses 71-80

Women’s Basketball Dec. 3 vs Longwood Drake wins 104-82 The Nugget Classic Nov. 28 vs Idaho JOEL QUENNEVILLE was fired from the Florida Panthers for his involvement in the sexual assault scandal during his time as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, the first of three years the Hawks won a Stanley Cup. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

The Chicago Blackhawks need to change their name. Let me first go through all of the context of this season before going into why the name needs to go.

The 2021 NHL season began really badly for the Hawks.

The team in their first nine games went 0-7-2, the worst in franchise history. It was basically a hot mess. Not only was this embarrassing as a fan, but it was disappointing for a franchise that won three Stanley Cups in six years.

In the past few years we have seen a steady decline in the team’s performance, no matter how much Patrick Kane tries to

carry them to the season finish line. The Hawks finally fired head coach Jeremy Colliton after an impressive 2-9-2 start on Nov. 6, ironically on the same day they fired Joel Quenneville four years prior.

To make matters worse in the midst of this historically bad season beginning, on Oct. 26, an independent investigation commissioned by the NHL found that the team failed to act quickly after a minor league player accused video coach Brad Aldrich of sexual assault.

Multiple executives within the organization failed to report the 2010 accusation, partly because they were worried about distracting the team during the playoff push. The coach was never punished or investigated by the team and

he was allowed to quietly resign while the team celebrated the first of many Stanley Cup wins.

This information, along with the horrible start of the season and growing movement by schools and sports teams to not use Native American symbols as mascots, clearly shows the team needs change. This is a rebuilding year, a time to show some growth not only on the ice, but also off the ice.

In today’s world there is no justifiable reason to keep the name. Not only do many fans call the team ‘the Hawks,’ but many teams have changed their names and haven’t crumbled as an organization. Cleveland’s baseball team switched to the Cleveland Spiders, the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign got rid of their

mascot Chief Illiniwek, and even in Iowa, the Mason City school district dropped their “Mohawks mascot.”

It’s dehumanizing and offensive to have Native American mascots, especially considering the history of our country. The National Congress of American Indians has said for decades that “sports mascots are symbols of disrespect that degrade, mock and harm Native people, in particular Native youth.”

Chicago can easily use the red-tailed hawk as the new mascot, without even having to change the team’s colors.

There are other animals or symbols of Illinois that would be appropriate, but the bottom line is that the team needs to change their name.

Drake wins 83-66 Nov. 27 vs San Francisco Drake wins 84-60 Nov. 26 at Nevada Drake wins 77-75

Upcoming Games Men’s Basketball Drake vs at Omaha on Dec. 8 Drake vs Clemson at Holiday Hoopsgiving on Dec. 11

Women’s Basketball Drake vs Simpson on Dec. 7 Drake vs Northern Illinois on Dec. 12

06 | Sports

Dec. 08, 2021

Sports

Women’s tennis team prepares for the spring season

THE DRAKE WOMEN’S TENNIS SEASON will officially begin this spring, but many players plan to practice over break for preparation.

Darinka Stepan Staff Writer darinka.stepan@drake.edu

Drake’s women’s tennis team completed their fall season competition just weeks ago, and on Dec. 3, they had their last official practice for the semester.

The team’s spring season is their main season. Even with the couple of weeks off that the Bulldogs have with winter break, they still will prepare for the season ahead. While the Bulldogs are on campus, they will have access to the tennis courts, where they can hit with each other whenever they want.

“Since we are still going to be here for two more weeks, it’s great that we are able to have access to the tennis center and that we have each other to hit with,” senior Kelsey Neville said.

Last semester, due to

COVID-19, the tennis center was not always open for the

“While I am on break and at home I am still going to continue to practice. I will probably reach out to other collegiate tennis players and practice with them for the two weeks that we have at home.” team to go and practice as there were certain hours that they were allowed in.

“Being able to still practice with each other while we are here will help us stay on top of our game and help us get ready for the spring season,” Neville said. “Last semester we were not able to, so having the

opportunity this semester is great.”

Student-athletes still have the chance to work in the weight room if they would like to as well.

“Being able to also workout while we are still on campus is great,” sophomore Ines Stephani said. “I think it’s really important to keep our bodies in shape for the spring season.”

The women’s tennis team was given a possible workout program by their strength coach, that they could follow when they are at home during break or even here when they go in for their optional lifts.

The Bulldogs will also continue to practice while they are off campus, and on break from school.

“Going back home for winter break, I’ll be able to go back to the tennis club that I trained at prior to coming to college and hit with some of my friends there or other college players,”

first-year Yana Gaskell, said.

After finals end on Dec. 17, the tennis team will have a break until Jan. 4, when they return to campus to start training for their spring season.

“Being able to still practice with each other while we are here will help us stay on top of our game and help us get ready for the spring season...

Last semester we were not able to, so having the opportunity this semester is great.”

“While I am on break and at home I am still going to continue to practice,” junior Kendall Hunt said. “I will probably

PHOTO COURTESY OF KENDALL HUNT

reach out to other collegiate tennis players and practice with them for the two weeks that we have at home.”

The team will start competing shortly after returning to campus in early January. Their first dual match of the spring season will be on Jan. 15.

Their first weekend back into competitions is filled with two different matches. The Bulldogs will take on Marquette University in Iowa City. Drake women’s tennis will stay another day in Iowa City to play the University of Iowa on Jan. 16.

“I’m excited to get back to competing soon,” said Daria Walczak. “Playing in the spring season is a great feeling, as well as competing side by side with my teammates. Our first two matches are going to be against tough schools, but I am determined that we will compete and fight through each of them.”

2022 Beijing Olympics brings new controversies

CHINA HOSTED the 2008 Summer Olympics, becoming the only country to host both the winter and the summer Olympics. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

In the next two years, sports fans can look forward to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

However, as we get closer to these major events, more and more people have called for boycotts as both countries have muddled histories and human rights abuses.

It has gone so far that White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Monday, Dec. 6 that the Biden administration would not send any diplomatic representatives to the 2022 Olympics. The U.S. will be implementing this diplomatic

boycott due to the human rights abuses and the Muslim Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang. Winter Olympic athletes will still have the “full support” from the administration, but they won’t be “contributing to the fanfare of the Games,” Psaki said.

Now looking to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, there are many issues that have arisen.

Their history of human rights is messy to the say least; there is no freedom of the press, women have limited rights based on male guardianship, not to mention homosexuality is illegal and punishable with three years in prison.

Since the announcement of Qatar’s hosting, foreign workers have had virtually no rights, living and working and even

dying in awful conditions while building fancy new stadiums.

There are also allegations of corruption, as the U.S. Department of Justice found evidence which, in their opinion, showed Qatar paid bribes in order to host the 2022 World Cup. The profit that comes from the World Cup is more important for countries’ football federations than the lives and well-being of those in Qatar.

There are also controversial things China is doing right now. Just look at Hong Kong or Tibet–they are committing a genocide against a religious minority in their country right in front of the world’s eyes. These Olympics are similar to the Berlin Olympics of 1936 when

the Nazis were persecuting Jewish people, as well as others.

To me, we need to take a firmer stand to pressure China on their human rights record.

The Olympics are a tool that can be used by countries as propaganda, which we saw with the 1936 Olympics.

We can’t let another country legitimize itself, its actions and make it “accepted” into the international community by using the Olympics or any other major international sports event as a public relations tool.

The U.S. under President Jimmy Carter fully boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic because of the Soviet Union’s invasion into Afghanistan.

Some people, including former President Trump, claim this

boycott didn’t do anything. Yes, the Soviet Union didn’t dissolve right then and there, but this move wasn’t expected to do this.

This was a fully symbolic measure, which I do agree sometimes isn’t enough and you do need to take action. However, in regards to China, a boycott of these Olympics would tell the international community that their actions aren’t acceptable.

If the Biden administration and us as sports fans are to do nothing, that is sending the message that you can commit terrible atrocities and have no negative effects. To stay silent about these atrocities is to be complicit.

07 | Commentary

Commentary

Dec. 08, 2021

Churning out leads to burnout: how to combat the catatonia Courtney Jackson Staff Writer courtney.jackson@drake.edu

Burnout is described as work-related stress that can negatively affect your mental health in many ways, leaving you not wanting to do work.

I personally have dealt with burnout these past few weeks of the term with break being so close and me just wanting to give up at times. But I have had to push through, even if I’ve had a few mental breakdowns along the way.

If you too are dealing with burnout, here are five tips from a fellow college student who is dealing with it as well.

Time management and organization: This is personally one of the first steps that I take when dealing with my burnout. As college students, we have busy schedules, rigorous classes, homework, exams and events outside of school.

We are always on the go, which can lead to some stress in our lives, so here is where time management and organization come in. Being able to see the things you have planned out in front of you and not overplanning is a great first step.

This can help because sometimes planning multiple events can affect us and make us feel more stressed, leading to burnout in many ways. So, getting ahead of the problem and getting a planner to deal with these events can be a great first step in avoiding burnout.

Setting goals for yourself: I feel as if there are times that we set unreachable goals for ourselves, causing us to get stressed when we don’t reach them. But being able to set small goals for your day or week can better help you manage your stress.

Whether it’s making a goal of cleaning your dorm room, studying for an hour, making sure you are getting your homework done or even hanging out with your friends, allowing yourself to have these small goals and reach them can be a great way to go about your stressful days.

Take a break from social media: Okay, now I know that this one may sound extreme for some people, but taking a break from social media can be a good thing. These platforms can get very toxic at times, with people only allowing pictures from the perfect moments in their lives.

So, sometimes taking a break from seeing all the fake things

I’M BURNING, I’M BURNING, I’M BURNING OUT... sings Blue Oyster Cult. And now, as the end is near, and so we face the final curtain, stress has insidiously pervaded the student populace to the point of inertia. What can one do to stave off this vile pestilence? One writer has a few tips; chucking your phone out the window and deleting Instagram is a start. PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

on social media can better help your mental health. Plus, sometimes it’s nice to stop staring at a phone screen and just go outdoors, even if it’s for five minutes.

Don’t be afraid to get help: Getting help doesn’t always have to mean seeing a therapist, sometimes it means reaching out to friends and seeing how they are feeling. I know that reaching out to other peers in my classes has helped me

because I have realized that I am not alone in my feelings of burnout from certain classes.

You can get help from your friends and family, just talking to them about the things that are bothering you and getting their advice on it. But you can always talk to your professor and communicate with them how your mental health is doing within your classes.

This can allow for your professors to know your situation and hopefully help in

any way that they can.

Don’t forget the end goal: Now, as college students we all have one goal in mind, and that is graduating from college.

Sometimes we forget about that during the hectic moments. At times we just need to remind ourselves that no matter how long it takes we will get there to graduation and be able to walk across the stage.

These are just five tips on how to deal with burnout but just know sometimes it takes

longer to resolve the feelings of burnout. You can still do these tips and feel burnout still, it just takes time to go through the process.

Just always remember that you aren’t alone in your feelings, someone right next to you in class could be feeling the same way. We just need to remember to treat ourselves with kindness and know we will get through these feelings.

Reflecting on National Diabetes Month and addressing misconceptions

Anna Amos Contributing Writer anna.amos@drake.edu

My name is Anna Amos and I am currently a second-year pharmacy student at Drake University. I am 22 years old and have been a Type 1 diabetic since I was four years old, making it 18 years since my diagnosis in June.

This year, I am the Operation Diabetes chair for the American Pharmacists Association - Association of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) at Drake. This is a very important organization and position to me given my situation.

The month of November is known as National Diabetes Month in the United States and Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day. While November may be over, I wanted to reflect on how this month has meant many things to me over the years.

When I was younger I thought it was foolish to have a month for something I perceived to be so normal. I had lived the majority of my life as a diabetic and watched my dad go through the same thing.

In my head, diabetes didn’t deserve an awareness month like breast cancer or brain cancer. Now that I’m older, my viewpoint has greatly changed.

This is just one example of how even people living with diabetes have much to learn about their own disease. Having lived most of my life that I can remember as a diabetic, I have heard so many outlandish ideas about what having diabetes means, both from diabetics and nondiabetics.

“Another common misconception I often come across is when someone with diabetes is eating something, typically with lots of sugar or carbohydrates, and someone says, “Wait, you can’t eat that, you’re a diabetic!”

APhA’s main focus this year for National Diabetes Month was education, both on how

to lower risk factors for Type 2 diabetes and to address misconceptions about what it means to have diabetes. This gave me a unique opportunity to help people make healthier choices and live healthier lives, as well as shed some light on what a day is like for me and all other people living with diabetes.

One common misconception about people living with diabetes I have come across is that they are all unhealthy. This is something that is absolutely not true, and while certain decisions may affect one’s risks for diabetes, there are many non-modifiable factors involved as well.

For example, in my case, Type 1 diabetes is genetic.

Both my father and paternal grandfather had Type 1 so it was incredibly likely I would develop it at some point in my life as well.

Other people can be at risk for diabetes from things like age, race or their environment, among others. The idea that all diabetics are unhealthy typically come from those people who have one or more of the

modifiable risk factors. Some of these include being overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and alcoholism. It is important to educate on these risk factors but not be judgmental as they are modifiable and can be changed - and change should be encouraged and supported!

“The important thing about eating foods with high sugar or carb content is moderation, which is the key for everyone, not just those with diabetes.”

Another misconception I often come across is when someone with diabetes is eating something, typically with lots of sugar or carbohydrates, and someone says, “Wait, you can’t eat that, you’re a diabetic!” or asks “Are you sure you can eat that?”

The truth is, as long as the person has good control over

their blood sugars, they can eat whatever they want. If they take insulin like myself, they can take as much insulin as they need to cover those foods. The important thing about eating foods with high sugar or carb content is moderation, which is the key for everyone, not just those with diabetes.

Over time, I have learned a lot about diabetes as someone who lives with it everyday. I’ve also been able to help many different people through previous jobs in community pharmacy and through educating my friends who are also in healthcare to common issues or questions that people diagnosed with diabetes may have.

While November has come to a close, there are always opportunities to learn more about diabetes and diabetes awareness.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) are both great resources for anyone who wants to educate themselves or find out how they can help give time, money or empower others through your knowledge.

08 | Commentary

Commentary

Dec. 08, 2021

the true meaning of inclusivity Maddi Cave Staff Writer maddi.cave@drake.edu

As an incoming freshman, it did not take me long to recognize Drake University’s dedication to supporting and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion on its campus. While I feel very fortunate to be a part of a college that puts such an emphasis on these extremely important values, I also feel that many college students (both on our campus and in our generation as a whole) mistake the true meaning of what being “inclusive” is— especially when it comes to diversity of opinion.

It’s easy for most people to understand what being inclusive means when it comes to the diversity of more “tangible” things; for example, we all agree that no one deserves to be discriminated against or disrespected on account of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc. If you heard that a fellow Drake student had been denied an opportunity simply because they were of a marginalized identity, you would recognize that situation as wrong and you’d likely do what you could to hold the university accountable.

However, do people recognize the same kind of discrimination when someone is being denied an opportunity to have/express their own opinion? I was once talking to someone in a different FYS than mine, and they made a comment to the effect of, “Well I could’ve never told my class what I actually believed, or I’d have gotten attacked.” Is that what inclusivity truly is?

Fighting to make sure everyone adheres to the same set of “correct” opinions?

Now don’t misunderstand me—if someone expresses a blatantly hateful opinion, they should be called out on it. However, we all know that many of today’s hot-topic issues involve a wide spectrum of gray area. Difficult topics like abortion, gun control or immigration involve multiple perspectives that paint different people in different ways,

DIVERSITY IS UNANIMITY... under this platitudinous, Orwellian phrase lies groupthink. Though certainly not with malicious intentions, people are predisposed to show intolerance for the contrarian. Have egalitarian words like “diversity” and “inclusivity” lost their potency? One writer wrestles with the true meaning of these ubiquitous phrases. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

and while there is certainly a “truth” out there, it can’t really be objectively determined as right or wrong, kind or hateful.

Therefore, everyone is entitled to an opinion on what that truth is.

If someone’s opinions fall on the opposite side of the spectrum from your own, no matter how preposterous you find them to be, you do not have the right to disrespect or mistreat that person. Even if you deeply believe that your opinion is the correct one and theirs is an abhorrent one, everyone should be allowed to reason and speak the way they feel is right. Recognizing and respecting that puts you one step closer to being a truly inclusive person.

Now on the opposite end of the spectrum, some people feel that, to be inclusive, you must accept and support every ideology that people present.

In reality, you are entitled to

believe that other people are wrong. After all, by definition, being “inclusive” to other people’s opinions requires that there is, in fact, a difference in opinion to be had. If you simply accept every idea that others present to you as true, it does not make you inclusive—it makes you a relativist. (Which, funny enough, is an ideology you can choose to adopt if you feel it’s right.)

As I mentioned before— there is a “truth” out there.

What do you think it is? Why do you think you are correct? Being inclusive does not mean you have to support everyone else’s idea of truth or believe their

opinions to be true yourself; inclusivity only means you must always respect other people regardless of your beliefs and you must protect others’ rights to equal opportunity despite their difference in ideology.

If a person lives their life in a completely opposite way than you do, you don’t have to agree with or even support that way of life to be an inclusive person— you just have to respect that person’s right to live that way.

So the million dollar question is, how can you stand up for what you believe to be right, yet always give others the respect to stand up for what they believe is right? How can you make sure others have equal opportunity to live their truth, yet uphold your right to stay true to the beliefs you personally feel are correct? In other word, what is the right way to practice inclusivity?

It would be contrary to the point of my entire article if I told

you there is an objectively right answer to be had. However, I hope this article gives you some important reminders for the next time you feel the urge to “attack” a classmate for their opinion in class. A reminder that everyone’s lived experience gives them a unique, yet limited, point of view and no one deserves to be ridiculed for what’s out of their control.

A reminder that it isn’t bigotry to talk with someone and say, “I hear what you’re saying, but I still believe my opinion is the truth,” so long as you don’t stand idly by if that person is the target of discrimination.

At the end of the day, the only thing you owe everyone else is respect.

We are all just looking for the truth… and since no one can know what the truth objectively is during this lifetime, we might as well respect all the other people who are trying their best to figure it out.

This holiday song is one of my personal favorites, just the way this chorus of people come together to sing this. It might be a religious song to many people, but this song perfectly captures the winter season around us.

“Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber: This song is all about kissing someone underneath the mistletoe and who wouldn’t want to do that with one of your favorite musical artists. If you’re lucky, this tune may just bring you back in touch with your younger self who was in love with Justin Bieber.

“Like It’s Christmas” by The Jonas Brothers: I know that I wasn’t the only one who loved The Jonas Brothers, and this song is the perfect song for your Christmas

playlist. It has such a cheery vibe and makes you want to dance around the room.

“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” by Tyler, The Creator: This song was redone for the 2018 movie “The Grinch” and is the perfect remix of this song. It has a great mix of hip-hop with one of your favorite childhood movies. Plus, it’s a perfect short one as well, perfect for when you don’t want a super long song.

“Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande: I swear anything that Ariana Grande puts out is so catchy and this song is one of them.

This song makes me want to start dancing and just wait for the snow to start falling. It is one of those perfect Christmas songs for any day of the holiday

season.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey: I know that we all have seen the Mariah Carey memes with her Christmas music, which are entertaining. But we all must admit that her songs are good and embody the spirit of Christmas. So, why not just add it to your playlist.

“Jingle Bell Rock” by Daryl Hall and John Oates: This song was sung in probably every elementary holiday program and that’s a great reason to add this to your playlist. It will bring you back to those memories of Christmas as a child and all the fun had in those moments.

“Sleigh Ride” by Idina Menzel: Idina Menzel was the perfect

Elsa in Frozen, and if that’s not the perfect excuse to add her voice to your holiday playlist, I don’t know what is. This song is all about going on sleigh rides with those that you love and adds those vibes to your playlist.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Sam Smith: Sam Smith’s voice on this song is seriously angelic at points and is something we all should listen to during this season. It puts you in that Christmas mood and is so soothing during the craziness of this season.

These are only ten of the hundreds of classic holiday songs you could find, so go out there and find some more holiday songs for your playlist.

“‘Well I could’ve never told my class what I actually believed, or I’d have gotten attacked.’”

Jolly jingles: X-mas song recommendations Courtney Jackson Staff Writer courtney.jackson@drake.edu

The holidays are just around the corner and Christmas is less than a month away, which means it’s the perfect time to add new songs to your holiday playlist.

“Last Christmas” by Taylor Swift: Now Taylor Swift is the first person on our minds when it comes to music recently, especially after her re-recordings of Red (Taylor’s Version) just came out on Nov. 12. This is the perfect time to add one of the most loved Christmas songs by this musical genius to your playlist.

“Hallelujah” by Pentatonix:

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