Feb. 05, 2020

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The weekly student newspaper of Drake University Vol. 139 | No. 15 | Feb. 5, 2020

FEATURES

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

The Iowa Caucuses are here. Read up on how Iowa became America’s caucus destination.

Drake men’s tennis is off to a rocky start: the team amassed three losses over the weekend.

Read one writer’s thoughts on political actions in the months leading to the presidential election.

Read more on page 2

Read more on page 3

Read more on page 4

timesdelphic.com

Trump rallies in Des Moines PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP addresses the crowd at his fourth rally of the year held in Drake University’s Knapp Center on Jan. 30. PHOTO BY AUTUMN OSIA | PHOTO EDITOR

Division over Trump coming to Drake University

Autumn Osia Photo Editor autumn.osia@drake.edu

Amidst protests, chilly weather conditions and thousands of people lined up, Donald Trump hosted a campaign rally on Jan. 30 in the Drake University Knapp Center.

The event reached its capacity of 7,000 people, but not everyone who was involved that day came out in support of Donald Trump.

During the rally, Vice President Mike Pence introduced the president, getting the crowd ready with praises of Trump’s work on the economy. Trump himself discussed a variety of topics including funding for

veterans, the influx of jobs and immigration policies. In attendance were officials such as Governor Kim Reynolds and former Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

Audience members in support of him reacted with shouts of support or roars of protest depending on the topic at hand.

Many audience members had on campaign affiliated merchandise, such as “Women for Trump” shirts or the notorious “Make America Great Again” hats.

Supporters waited in line for a chance to get into the rally, with some even camping outside the day before. Those who had strong opinions of what they would like to see in the future involving a Trump

presidency said they are proud of this past term.

“I definitely hope he gets elected for November 2020 and I hope he keeps doing what he’s doing,” Trump supporter Dan Poduska said. “He’s doing a great job and in my opinion, he’s really done the best for this country that he possibly could have.”

However, not everyone involved with the event shared the same sentiment of the supporters. On estimate, there were 40-50 Drake students and other organizers protesting outside, with them filtering in and out throughout the night.

One of the protesters attending was identified as a member of the Sunrise Movement.

Sunrise is a new movement throughout the country that has

been working in Iowa for the past six months. Volunteers for the Sunrise Movement work to pass the Green New Deal. With this in mind, the movement has officially endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for the upcoming election.

“A lot of people think that Trump needed to be invited to campus so that Drake University doesn’t seem partisan, but for me, it’s the difference between not supporting fascism and supporting fascism,” Sunrise Movement student activist Autumn Ellisor said. “So Donald Trump should have never been invited to our campus.”

Others attending the protest were there to advocate for their single-issue policies. President of Iowans for Alternatives to Smoking and Tobacco Sarah

Linden was with other members of the organization protesting with signs promoting vape friendly legislation.

“I feel fine about the rally and we don’t have an issue with President Trump in any way,” Linden said. “We’re simply here because we want to be seen and heard.”

Those who gathered along Forest Avenue appeared to be completely polarized and divided. Views on Trump visiting Drake’s campus were seemingly split when it came to student opinions, from those who praised Drake’s decision to host a president as bipartisan and welcoming to those who found his rhetoric threatening to students’ well-being.

The Iowa caucuses: the results of Precinct 38 Zoe Treibitz Staff Writer zoe.treibitz@drake.edu

The Iowa Democratic caucuses were held on Feb. 3.

A final tally of the night shows that Precinct 38, held in the Drake Fieldhouse, will send two delegates for Pete Buttigieg, two delegates for Elizabeth Warren, one delegate for Bernie Sanders and one delegate for Cory Booker to the County Convention.

“Human interaction matters” Following the first alignment where only Warren, Buttigieg and Sanders were viable, three groups remained inviable: Joe Biden, Amy Kloubuchar and

Andrew Yang.

The choice for these people who were left in the inviable section, announced the Precinct Chair, would either be to join a viable candidate or to form a group with each other to get a new candidate to viability.

The three groups choose the latter option.

When the precinct captains realized that none of them would be willing to budge on their own candidate, they suggested their final move, form a coalition under former candidate Cory Booker.

The group did this with the goal of both delegate blocking, which would give their candidates a better chance at the convention and also to make a unity statement under Booker.

While this was just at one precinct of the over a thousand last night, word has quietly circulated of other similar situations, of unexpected outcomes.

“I think it’s a fascinating thing, one of the unpredictable parts about this process,” said Professor Rachel Paine Caufield of the Booker coalition. “Human

interaction matters.”

The human interaction part of the caucus is why it can be seen as chaotic, or why now there might be issues with the results. The human interaction part is why after fifteen minutes undecided voters can find a candidate

to align with, as happened at Precinct 38 with the few voters who went in undecided. The human interaction is why, with a few conversations, a few Cory Booker supporters, who started with him on principle could be joined by enough people in the second alignment to make a

candidate not even in the race, viable.

As of the time of reporting, the caucus results have not been released. Due to issues involving “quality control” and double checking reporting to prevent inaccuracies.

IOWA CAUCUS GOERS filled out preference cards pledging their loyalty to a candidate. PHOTO BY

MCCADE GOWDY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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FEATURES

FEATURES

FEB. 5, 2020 | Page 2

History of the first in the nation Iowa Caucuses

THE IOWA CAUCUS took place on Feb. 3. Drake also held a mock caucus on Jan. 27 in order to prepare students for the process. In the months leading up to the caucus, Drake hosted numerous presidential candidates. PHOTO BY MCCADE GOWDY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lizzie Deal Staff Writer lizzie.deal@drake.edu The role that the Iowa caucuses play in the determination of the President of the United States started as an accident.

“It’s all Jimmy Carter’s fault,” political science Professor Dennis Goldford said. “It’s not that members of the parties in Washington sat down and said, ‘Here’s a list of criteria and whichever state fulfills the criteria best should go first.’ It wasn’t a rational process like that.”

Caucuses have been around since Iowa first became a state and are used for each party as a type of business meeting, Goldford said. They occur every two years, and party activists attend to discuss issues and select delegates for the next level of the process. The 1,678 precincts select delegates for the county convention, which in turn selects delegates for

the congressional district conventions, then for the state party convention.

The Iowa caucuses only began to entertain presidential politics in 1972 when George McGovern, a senator from South Dakota, hoped to gain some traction in Iowa through the caucuses. Though McGovern lost the presidential race to Richard Nixon, his tactics caught the attention of Jimmy Carter’s staff, who at the time was governor of Georgia.

“When he left the governor’s mansion in 1975, he came to Iowa and essentially moved here for 14 months,” Goldford said. “He stayed in the home of supporters, he talked to people with churches and in schools, coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, and such, and nobody paid any attention to this. Low and behold, when people at the caucus expressed a preference for who the party’s nominee ought to be, he came in second [only] to uncommitted [voters].”

Thus, Iowa started to become the state that relatively

unknown presidential hopefuls could spend time talking to people to see if they could elicit a response without costing a lot of money. What could have been a one-time fluke was solidified when George H. W. Bush challenged Governor Ronald Reagan and Senator Ted Kennedy challenged sitting Democratic President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in Iowa.

In today’s political climate, the Iowa caucuses aren’t so much about the number of delegates but providing the nation with an idea of which candidates are doing well.

“They’re an indicator of not a polling sample, not a man on the street interview, but what real party activists who are intensely interested and knowledgeable think about their menu of possible choices for their nominee,” Goldford said. “The caucuses essentially are important, not because they elect ‘X’ number of delegates, but because they send that first signal of what

real, knowledgeable voters think about the party’s range of possible nominees.”

Not only do Iowans provide a glimpse into feasible presidential candidates, the caucus frontrunners typically become the party’s nominated candidate.

“We are the first tangible results in the presidential nominating process and therefore, everyone looks to us to see how the candidates perform,” Tanner Halleran, Iowa Caucus Project member and Drake Democrats Political Director said over email correspondence. “Iowans are notorious, too, for usually selecting the eventual nominee for the party. This is true even for Barack Obama, while at the time of his campaign in the 2008 cycle, was just a relatively unknown senator from Illinois.”

Being the state to kick off the final leg of the presidential race has its perks. Everyday people can meet presidential candidates over the course of their campaign.

“We become the center of the political universe,” Goldford said. “The caucuses force candidates to talk to individual voters as real human beings, not just as campaign props for photo ops. In the big media states, [you couldn’t] get in to see these people but you can go to the Des Moines Register’s political soap box at the state fair or you can go to any particular event here and say, talk to me.”

Since campaigns spend so much time in Des Moines, students and staff are also given the unique opportunity to engage with candidates and the media frenzy that surrounds them.

“My colleagues and I get to talk to reporters from all over the country and all over the world,” Goldford said. “Often times [students] will catch on with campaigns, many on the journalism side catch on with news organizations.

There are just tremendous possible connections for Drake students.”

However, not all states are happy with having Iowa as the first to caucus. Over the years, states have tried and failed to

jump the queue. Attempts are usually stopped by the threat to lose pledged delegates.

The most common argument against Iowa’s position as first in the nation relies on its demographics. According to the US Census Bureau, Iowa is over 90 percent white. While researching for the latest edition of his book, “The Iowa Precinct Caucuses: The Making of a Media Event,” Goldford found that Iowans still tend to represent ideals that mirror those of the entire country.

“Aside from the fact that Iowans don’t look like the country in terms of diversity, in terms of what issues were important to them, what Democrats saw as the most important issues and the right positions pretty well tracked what Democrats nation-wide thought, and what Republicans thought were the most important issues and positions pretty much tracked what Republicans thought nationwide,” Goldford said. “People just assume [demographics] makes a huge difference. I’m not saying it doesn’t, but that’s something people need to investigate.”

The argument for diversity has once again been made popular by former presidential candidate Julián Castro.

“There have always been critiques that Iowa is not diverse enough to give a fair chance to all candidates, but this claim is superficial,” Halleran said. “Iowa has been historically progressive with its legalization of gay marriage and early desegregation. For its size, level of citizen engagement, and cost to run a campaign, Iowa is a fantastic choice to be first, and I hope remains so.”

Regardless of Iowa’s demographics, Goldford believes that the power Iowa holds over the election relies on the power that the public gives it.

“There’s a symbiotic relationship,” Goldford said.

“Journalists will think Iowa is important as long as candidates do, and candidates will think Iowa is important as long as journalists do.”

Drake offers unique study abroad for J-term opportunities Rebecca Hickok Staff Writer carley.hickok@drake.edu Drake University offers a number of opportunities for students to study abroad.

Over the 2020 J-term, abroad courses were offered in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Senior Melanie Dahlstrom traveled to Israel and Jordan in the Religions of the Middle East travel seminar. The class of thirteen toured cities, saw the Roman theater, visited many religious sites, went to museums, gardens, hiked, and floated in the Dead Sea. Dahlstrom said that the Israel Museum in Jerusalem was her favorite part. Although she likes visiting museums in general, she found that this on in particular was “stacked” with information.

According to the museum’s website, the museum, built in 1965, now measures 20 acres and is home to almost 500,000 objects. These objects include the largest amount of “biblical and Holy Land archeology in the world.”

“The history in these places in the world is like nothing you can ever imagine, and gives me chills thinking about today,” Dahlstrom said.

Drake senior Allison Kaefring also studied abroad over the 2020 J-term.

She was in the course Researching Thailand: Research, Exploration &

Reflection. The class spent time in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, Thailand, visiting local restaurants and temples, attending lectures, hiking the mountains, walking the night markets to purchase food and souvenirs, touring art museums, and riding through Elephant Valley, Thailand.

During their time spent in Elephant Valley, students had the opportunity to cut down banana tree branches to feed the elephants. In the hands-off sanctuary Kaefring said they learned about “ethical elephant tourism and how harmful different animal tourism is to animals.”

“The way the region is portrayed in the media is hurtful, and it is important to go out there and make connections.

I am so grateful for the opportunity that Drake provided to take us out there.”

Kaefring also said that she was able to learn not only how different culture in Asia is, but

THE 2020 J-TERM began on Jan. 6 and concluded on Jan. 24. While many students took classes on campus, other students studied abroad in places such as The Bahamas, Italy, Rwanda, the U.K., Israel and Jordan, Thailand and more. PHOTO BY MCCADE GOWDY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

also how similar it can be. While touring one of the more modern temples in Chiang Rai, Kaefring saw paintings of Iron Man, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Elvis on the wall, all of which were designed by famous Thai artists. In a nearby art museum, she saw a painting by the same Thai artist of “George Bush and Osama Bin Laden riding a rocket together in space.”

Dahlstrom said that her biggest takeaway was that people are only able to fully understand what is going on in the Middle East until they

experience it in person.

“The way the region is portrayed in the media is hurtful, and it is important to go out there and make connections,” Dahlstrom said. “I am so grateful for the opportunity that Drake provided to take us out there.”

Kaefring said she learned a lot during her time in Thailand, including how different conflicts impacted northern Thai culture.

These conflicts include genocide in Burma and Mianmar, China’s dams and

railways, and the U.S. soldiers during and after the Korean War. “It was sunny and high 80s the whole time,” Kaefring said.

“I miss the fresh fruit!”

J-term courses aren’t only for classes in your major, but they can also fulfill and AOI requirement. J-term courses may be held on campus or on a different continent.

For more information about J-term courses, you can contact Arthur Sanders at Arthur. sanders@drake.edu.

SPORTS

SPORTS

FEB. 5, 2020 | Page 3

The Drake Bulldogs: Des Moines’ Hometown Team Basketball Record a Historical Turnout Over Hometown Weekend

Kendall Hunt Sports Editor kendall.hunt@drake.edu

Taking pride in being named Des Moines’ Hometown Team, Drake men’s and women’s basketball teams celebrated with a full weekend of games and sported commemorative jerseys paying homage to the city of Des Moines.

The uniforms, designed by both Drake Athletics and Bozz Prints, showcased the city skyline and emphasized Drake’s commitment and pride in being named the Hometown Team of Des Moines.

Following the theme, the cheerleaders, dance team, pep band, and fans sported the design along with the players to further build on the already elevated, bustling atmosphere in the Knapp Center.

The Lady Bulldogs opened the Hometown weekend against Valparaiso on Friday.

Brenni Rose made the first basket of the night, putting the Bulldogs at an early lead. Valparaiso was quick to bounce back with high percentage shooting from the three-point range, claiming an 21-14 lead.

Drake, however, regained some momentum down in the paint, with inside shots and rebounds from Sarah Rhine.

The momentum shifted back to Valpo again with Drake’s consistent turnovers.

Drake lost the ball seven times throughout the game, allowing the Crusaders to go up 25-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Maggie Negaard kicked off the second quarter by making the first basket, and the Lady Bulldog’s momentum didn’t stop, regaining the lead with shots by Sarah

Beth Gueldner and Becca Hittner. The Crusaders were unable to maintain their shooting percentage as they only managed to make 1 out of 10 of their three-point attempts. Taking advantage of fastbreaks and the inside court, Drake diminished Valpo’s lead to finish the half with a score of 41-34.

In the final two quarters, freshman Sarah Beth Gueldner stepped up, knocking down a career-high 16 points and leading Drake to a 17-2 run. The Lady Bulldogs also put up a strong defensive front, forcing Valparaiso to pass around the ball until the last few seconds of the shot clock.

Holding the lead throughout the fourth quarter, Drake clinched their 15th straight home victory, tied for fifth-best court streak in the nation, 87-66 over Valpo.

“Tonight was really fun because we took being the Des Moines hometown team seriously,” said Coach Jennie Baranczyk. “It’s really special for us to step out there and not just represent Drake women’s basketball or even just Drake University, but Des Moines.

This is home.”

Sara Rhine recorded 13 points in the game, bringing her career total to 2,001.

She becomes the fifth Drake women’s player and the ninth player in Missouri Valley Conference history to reach the 2,000-point mark.

“It is surreal, I would not be able to do what I do without my teammates I am here with now and those that I played with the past 4 years,” said Rhine with a smile. “I don’t get to this point without them and I give them all the credit.

I am so thankful to be able to reach 2000 points and be in this program.”

The men also played over the weekend and packed the

SARAH RHINE REACHES 2,000 POINT MARK IN CAREER. With Rhine’s impressive performance in the paint and outside shots from several players, including freshman Sarah Beth Gueldner, the Dogs dismantled Valparaiso 87-66. PHOTO COURTESY OF DRAKE ATHLETICS

Knapp Center with a seasonhigh crowd of 4,030. The team fought hard against a strong offense, but eventually fell to the current 2nd place MVC team of Southern Illinois.

Despite the roaring crowd and Drake’s 15 game winning streak at home, SIU was on fire and shot 65 percent from the three-point range.

The team recorded 13 threepointers, Marcus Domask leading with 28 points.

In the first half, SIU went on an impressive 14-0 run against Drake, knocking down three pointers consistently and concluding the first half with a significant 42-29 lead.

Drake’s defense lacked, as the Salukis were able to move the ball around easily down low and out wide.

“They shot it well from three,” said Coach DeVries.

“To be honest, we were fairly well guarded at times and ultimately that was probably

the biggest difference in the outcome of the game, their ability to shoot it from three consistently over the course of the full forty minutes.”

The Bulldogs, however, backed by the crowd, did not give up and pulled out a 10-0 run and a 13-2 run in the second half. With a little over a minute left, Drake managed to bring the game within 5 points. Garrett Sturtz helped the run with a career-high 18 points and 7 rebounds. Noah Thomas, as well, earned a season-high 13 points and contributed to the second-half comeback.

“The atmosphere in the Knapp center was really special in terms of the amount of people that came out to support the team, the energy that they brought into the building,” said DeVries. “I know it was a special occasion for us to have the uniform representing the city of Des

Moines on them, and I know our guys were excited about that opportunity.”

The momentum swayed towards Drake in the final quarter, but the Bulldogs just couldn’t close the 5 point gap as SIU was able to knock down a few last minute three-pointers and hold their lead. The nation’s ninthlongest home winning streak concluded with SIU’s 79-72 victory over Drake.

“We are looking forward to just getting back out there again,” said DeVries. “We have lost a couple in a row now so we are ready to be back at home. We know it’s an important game for us against Bradley, a team that’s ahead of us in the standings.

Overall, we just need to go out and play the full forty minutes and hopefully we will have another great turnout this Wednesday.”

Men’s Tennis Collect Three Losses Over Weekend

MEN’S TENNIS ADDS TWO NEW FRESHMAN. Oliver Johansson, who was recently named Summit League Player of the Week and Matija Matic, were welcomed to the team this January. Both have started nearly every match, and earned some big wins as a doubles pair. PHOTO COURTESY OF DRAKE ATHLETICS Erin O’Boyle Staff Writer erin.oboyle@drake.edu

A unique characteristic of the Drake Men’s tennis team is that of the nine student athletes on the team, only one was born and raised in the United States.

The four first years on the team hail from Sweden, Serbia, and Cyprus. The most notable of the first years is possibly Oliver Johansson from Gothenburg, Sweden who is already making his mark on Drake’s tennis program.

After going 6-0 in his matches during the first weekend of play, Johansson was named the Summit League Player of the Week. An impressive feat to have achieved so quickly after only making his debut for

the Bulldogs on January 17th against Western Michigan.

“I am extremely happy to get this kind of recognition this early in my college career,” Johansson said. “At the same time, it’s a motivator to keep working even harder in practice.”

Johansson and the rest of the team traveled to Arkansas on the weekend of January 25th for three matches.

The first of which was on Saturday afternoon against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Bulldogs started the match by securing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 Doubles, consisting of Barny Thorold and Reid Jarvis, and first years Oliver Johansson and Matija Matic at No. 2 Doubles.

However, the Bulldogs winning streak didn’t last long as the team headed into the

singles portion of the match.

The Razorbacks won four of the six singles matches, with No. 1 and No. 3 singles left unfinished. The Bulldogs walked away from the match with an overall loss of 1-4.

Later that evening, the Bulldogs faced Middle Tennessee in a match that resulted in a sweep for MT. Right off the bat, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles.

Drake’s No. 2 doubles team, made up of Johansson and Matic, left their match unfinished. That seemed to be a common occurrence against Middle Tennessee as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5 singles all walked away with unfinished matches.

This allowed the Blue Raiders to claim a 4-0 victory over the Drake Bulldogs.

After the losses the previous day, Drake had one more opportunity to salvage the weekend with their match against Wichita State on Sunday morning.

At No. 1 doubles, Thorold and Finley Hall, left their match unfinished while No. 2 and 3 doubles fell to Wichita thus giving up the doubles point.

The singles competition started off strong with a win for the Bulldogs at No. 2 singles. Johansson defeated his opponent in a swift match with final set scores of 6-3, 6-1.

However, Johansson was the only one who was able to secure a win for the Bulldogs in the singles competition. Drake’s Evan Fragistas left his match at No. 3 singles unfinished, as did Finley Hall at No. 4 singles. The match ended with another loss for the Bulldogs with a final

score of 1-4.

Johansson commented on the tough losses over the weekend saying, “Of course it was disappointing that none of the matches ended the way we wanted. Especially since we all know what we are capable of.

Again, I believe we need to be able to play our matches the way we practice. We just need to trust in ourselves a little more and just go after it in all of the matches we play.”

Riding on a five-match losing streak, the Bulldogs head to Minneapolis to face the University of Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday, January 31st at 2 PM. On Sunday, February 2nd, the Drake men’s tennis team will travel yet again, but this time to Oregon to face the University of Oregon Ducks.

COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY

FEB. 5, 2020 | Page 4

Pulling our political problems out by the roots

Nick Mitchell Contributing Writer nick.mitchell@drake.edu

Disclaimer: The TimesDelphic is a non-partisan organization that doesn’t support any political opinions.

After attending the protest of Trump’s visit to Drake’s campus, I was reminded as to why I find many protests to be useless and ineffectual.

It all started out so well people were gathering and listening to speakers who were the targets of the type of hate that Trump begets, as well as learning about places that they could dedicate their time to in direct, organized action.

However, as soon as Trump’s rally began and he stepped onto the stage, people at the protest immediately started to drift away from the speakers and instead flocked near the edge of the parking lot to watch Trump speak on the massive screen set up outside the Knapp Center.

Instead of using this space of protest to listen to the voices of those who are commonly silenced and coming together to overcome

the harmful rhetoric and ideology that Trump has been perpetuated by, the event was squandered, left in a state of shouting at a screen to a man who couldn’t care less that we were out there.

Trump is not the cause of any of the hateful behavior that surrounds him. He enables it, yes, but racism and xenophobia have existed for a long time in America and will continue to exist long after Trump.

Focusing solely on Trump and not on the root causes of the issues is like finding a diseased tree, but instead of cutting down the whole tree only cutting off the branches. Those branches will eventually grow back, and they aren’t going to be any healthier than when they were removed.

If the protest had instead turned its back on Trump and focused on the speakers who told their stories and who were telling the crowd about more opportunities in which they could actually make a difference, then something could have started.

Maybe the crowd would have looked further into these direct actions and made something of a difference

DESPITE DIVISION AMONG THE END MESSAGE OF THE PROTESTERS, many Drake students took part in the organizing of this protest. PHOTO BY AUTUMN OSIA | PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

in the community, which eventually spreads out and affects a wider population. Instead, the pessimist in me realizes that almost every single person there will go home thinking that this was direct action, happy with the token gesture they’ve done.

But if one of those people who has that mentality is reading this, then I am urging you: do something more.

Protests are fine, but they don’t make the changes in the community like direct action does.

Iowa CCI, Iowa Student Action, and Central Iowa

DSA are all Des Moines local activist groups who seek to take action to better the Des Moines community. Iowa CCI has several campaigns ongoing including stopping racial profiling, fighting for clean water and ending factory farming, among others.

Joining a group that does organized action like this, demanding specific, achievable change, is going to have a much larger impact on the community than a singular protest.

If you’re looking for something even more local than the Des Moines area,

Drake Comrades takes action directly on Drake’s campus and in the Drake neighborhood.

Whether it’s advocating for tenant’s rights or asking for tampons to be provided for student’s, they seek to improve Drake through direct action.

If at any point while reading this, you felt offended or called out- good. That means you know you could be doing more, but aren’t. Take the next step. Start work at the roots and then move up.

Only by first improving our communities can we improve our nation.

My favorite film of the decade: Terrance Malik’s The Tree of Life Charlie Pingel Staff Writer charlie.pingel@drake.edu

To say that the past decade was huge for film would be an understatement. The historic nature of the 2010’s onscreen goes beyond simply being a big deal. It will likely be etched in the tomes of film history as the most important transitional period film has faced since the advent of sound.

With the convergence of filmmakers of Hollywood’s golden era alongside newcomers, this great exchange left us with many important beginnings and ends to some of cinema’s biggest names.

Whether it be Abbas Kiarostami’s final masterpiece before his retirement and death in Certified Copy, or Ari Aster’s modern horror trendsetter and debut in Hereditary, we have been fortunate enough to witness the cataloguing of many films that will likely come to be known as classics.

Considering the massive pile of A+ cinema that came to grace our screens throughout the decade, one in particular stands out in my mind as the best.

A film bringing together

everything that makes film the grand culmination of artistic mediums that it is, weaving its narrative and meaning through the collaboration of moving image, poetic dialogue, and sweltering orchestral music, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life stands atop all others as my favorite film of the decade.

“This movie is meant to be watched at a time in one’s life where the ability exists to reflect on childhood and the strongest moments of it.”

This film remains deeply special to me for two reasons, the first being its main theme.

Malick opens his film very intentionally with a block of text from Job, a book of the Bible. It reads: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

As a practicing Christian, this splicing of passages is one of my favorites, specifically the first part. Malick, also a

Christian, sets his thesis by using this passage to open the film.

This is the journey of the film, from the beginning of time to one man’s life, a life that to others may seem insignificant, but to himself is a grandiose cosmic symphony of chance and spirituality.

Through relations to a defining event in his childhood juxtaposed with his contemplation of childhood as a whole as an adult, we see Malick questioning his own position through this semiautobiographical lens.

Religion versus masculinity, family versus charity, the individual versus the whole. Where does one sit in the midst of an ever expanding void, billions of light years deep with no end in sight? And Malick answers this with the opening passage.

One must understand the context of that passage as well to really see what he is getting at. At that point in Job, God is finally answering Job’s long-winded questioning as to why such awful things were happening to him.

God answers him with that question, “Where were you?”

By leading with this moment and following up with one of the most beautiful fifteen minutes ever put to film, Malick answers his

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own line of questioning with the words of his god, with a question of its own.

By answering Job with that question, and in a way, Terrence Malick, it is a form of saying no to the questions that proceed it. “No, because you don’t have to know.”

It becomes a question of religious trust, and that is in many ways the main theme of the movie.

It is not some futile mediation on why bad things happen to form us. It is a mediation on the question of faith and the necessity of spiritual trust in relation to one’s existence. Is it better to trust in the grand tapestry of life woven by some unseen higher power? Or would it be wise to seek one’s path strictly as its own line of formative chance?

And he considers these questions with what I would say is one of the most extraordinary relations of childhood experience versus that of adult retrospective in art, ever. Everything is occurring within one man’s memory. This movie is meant to be watched at a time in one’s life where the ability exists to reflect on childhood and the strongest moments of it.

These moments, though we are seeing them as children

experience them, come as the vision of an adult who now understands what was occurring in that moment. To a child, the moment where the man seizes on the front lawn, or the mom is catcalled outside the drug store would mean nothing as the relation of the imagery is very much from that perspective.

However, the impact on adults flips it on its head completely.

Every moment is a realization of trauma or misunderstanding. It rejects film form by not knowing when it will return to its present consciousness. It is a look at the past as we experience it in our memories, and when it reaches its destination, we return to the mind, a man’s earthly relation of what heaven must be like to swell up such worth and joy, all pulled from his lived experience.

What Terrence Malick crafted with this film was the one accessible relation of a life within the stream of the cosmos that adequately represents how it feels in real time, from the beginning of time itself to the indefinite joy of eternity. It is a vision of life and a celebration of humanity that we may never see again, and that alone places it at the top of my list.

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