The Breeze
EDITORS Emma Notarnicola & Charlie Bodenstein EMAIL breezenews@gmail.com
‘Stand up and fight back’ Students march from campus to City Hall to protest ICE
By EMMA NOTARNICOLA The Breeze
As the Wilson Hall bells chimed marking 3 p.m., a group of horn-baring students began JMU’s first anti-ICE (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) protest on Tuesday by playing Amazing Grace, dancing to Bad Bunny and chatting beside the Centennial Fountain near Burruss Hall.
One student holding a “follow me” sign led the protesters alongside the two co-organizers: freshman political science major Madeline Barbee Doerfler and sophomore chemistry major Lindsey Hilts. As over 150 students followed behind them, onlookers cheered from the streets and their houses while cars blared their horns in support of the marching protesters on the streets.
“The day was perfect — 50 degrees, no school, [no] legislative meeting,” Barbee Doerfler said. “It all turned out right.”
Before reaching the outskirts of campus, Barbee Doerfler said, JMU and Harrisonburg police encouraged students to take to the streets to avoid the ice-covered sidewalks, providing an escort as the students made their way to the Harrisonburg City Hall.
“Both JMU police and Harrisonburg police are here helping us with escorting and allowing us to use the roads since the sidewalks weren’t clean,” Barbee Doerfler said. “Regardless of what they believe, they were going to help.”
Students speak out against ICE
Upon reaching City Hall, the organizers — shrouded by student protesters — began their speeches. Freshman biology major Avery Thomasson introduced herself as the “emcee” of the event before inviting Barbee Doerfler to come up and give the first speech, where she described the process of planning the event and the resistance the organizers faced.
“When we were running the social media for this protest, we received a surprising amount of opposition,” Barbee Doerfler said in her speech. “In response to the hatred, I’d like to say this is exactly what we are protesting against.”
Barbee Doerfler said that while organizing the protest they faced significant backlash on social media, receiving hate messages and a death threat with some people spreading false rumors that the protest had changed times or been canceled completely.
Following this, she defined the focus of the protest, listing the problems of the Trump administration and with ICE itself.
“The current administration is killing immigrants and protesters, macing children, pausing visas, and doing nothing to stop the out-of-control agents patrolling the streets and splitting families apart with no reason except for the color of their skin,” Barbee Doerfler said.
To end her speech, Barbee Doerfler said she recognized the individuals who felt they couldn’t come to the protest or support the cause because of their immigration status.
“They’re afraid to utilize their First Amendment rights because they may be hurt or killed for it,” she said. “We see you, we hear you and we are here for you.”
Barbee Doerfler then read out the speech of one student who felt they couldn’t come out to support the protest.
“To everyone listening and those who chose to look away from what’s happening to this beautiful country, I want to thank the people here today fighting for the rights of people like me,” the speech read.
The speech highlighted the hypocrisy of living in a country that prioritizes freedom of speech while simultaneously feeling like she can’t speak her mind without fear.
“America is a melting pot of the world, the land where no matter what you look like or where you came from, you too are an American. Because no human will ever be illegal on stolen land,” the speech concluded.
As cheers from the audience erupted, a series of preorganized speakers, including junior social work major Liz Denton and Hilts, spoke about their feelings on the current state of the country.
Students gathered at Burruss Hall at 3 p.m. to start the protest. Photos by Landon Shackelford / The Breeze
Once they arrived at City Hall, protesters gave speeches condemning ICE and the Trump administration.
They emphasized the treatment of people by ICE agents across the United States and in Harrisonburg.
“I know that I have felt a deep sadness and fear upon waking up every day and seeing a new atrocity has been committed, ” Hilts said during her speech . “ I want to be absolutely clear today, in this crowd or not … you do not stand alone. ”
Breaking up the expected speakers, Thomasson led the group in a chant where s tudents came together, repeating the words: “ When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back.”
Each speaker criticized ICE’s actions and emphasized their own desire to make a significant change.
Spiegel’s speech acknowledged the eight individuals who have been killed by ICE agents, bringing the group together with a minute of silence.
“ICE says they’re making our streets safe, but they are the ones violating our rights and creating unnecessary fear,” Spiegel said in the speech.
Thomasson, who also shared another student’s speech — who was scared of repercussions from their JMU club — closed out the speakers series with a speech encouraging support and love over hate.
“If we want to enact change, we need to walk life with kindness and empathy for everyone around us,” Thomasson said in her speech. “I’m sending out my love to those who didn’t feel safe coming today, and I am honored to be here to show my support. I love you all.”
After the planned speakers series ended, protesters were encouraged to come up and share their thoughts, with many of them echoing the sentiment of the previous speakers alongside their own stories and feelings.
Freshman psychology and sports and recreation management major Gian Cavazos spoke about the power of love over hate and strength in unity. Cavazos, who gave his entire speech in Spanish, concluded by saying, “Este evento no es por odiar a los de ICE, es por amar a los que no pueden amar.”
He then translated this sentence alone: “This event is not because we hate ICE, it’s because we love the people they hate.” The protest ended with songs — “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers and “DtMF” by Bad Bunny — before the group marched back to campus.
Sara Paget contributed to this report.
CONTACT Emma Notarnicola at breezenews@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
Students react to Anti-ICE protest
By SARA PAGET
contributing writer
Students gathered outside of Burruss Hall with signs, speakers and enthusiasm for a studentcoordinated anti-ICE (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement), while school was out for Assessment Day.
Speakers, protesters and organizers alike expressed a variety of sentiments regarding the community action that brought them together at this protest.
Freshman political science major Madeline Barbee Doerfler said the absence of nearby anti-ICE protests was the main reason for this demonstration. With other Virginia schools organizing protests around this cause, Barbee Doerfler and Hilts said they wanted to create a space where JMU students could have an outlet to speak out against ICE.
“We just decided that we weren’t going to wait around for someone else to do it, and we started it ourselves,” Barbee Doerfler said.
Junior psychology student Kayla Ransome said she was surprised this was the first anti-ICE protest on campus, and she hopes that it will “help spark people’s interest and encourage them to come out and support.”
Senior political science major Kurt Baechler said he was glad to see the turnout, adding that seeing students come together gave him a positive outlook on the matter.
“What I’m already seeing is togetherness,” Baechler said. “People of all races, all ages, all gender identities, coming together and showing that we’re not going to take what’s going on.”
Barbee Doerfler said she was happy with the growth of the movement, starting as an anonymous YikYak post, growing into an Instagram outreach account called @anti. ice_jmu and ending as a 150-person protest at Harrisonburg City Hall.
“The fact that so many people have shown up is inspiring,” she said. “It’s a beautiful thing to see all the stories that people have.”
The protest was originally meant to take place on the Quad, which has strict rules about student organization, eliciting mixed responses from students.
Barbee Doerfler said the change didn’t make much of a difference to the protest and that the cooperation between her and the school administration was important for the organization and effectiveness of the protest.
“[Vice President of Student Affairs Tim Miller] actually was the one who suggested moving it
to [the] Burruss fountain,” Doerfler said, which allowed the students to “still gather and walk without causing any problems with JMU.”
On the other hand, Baechler said though he didn’t see any effect on the turnout or message of the protest, he felt the assembly rules of the Quad are contradictory with the United States’ free speech foundations.
Some students, like sophomore music education major Christian Wilson, were driven to the protest by personal reasons. Wilson said a close friend had to move out of the country due to fear of an immigration crackdown.
“[It] hurts me because I can’t see him in person for a very long time,” Wilson said. “But knowing he is a lot safer and his family is a lot safer does give me some comfort.”
Baechler said the prevalence of ICE in Harrisonburg was a big part of his attendance, citing a video of a woman getting pulled out of her car and detained by federal agents in Harrisonburg in October.
“Knowing that they’re such a big presence [in Harrisonburg] … because of the immigrant refugee population had a lot to do with wanting to come [protest],” Baechler said.
Others attended in hope of finding a place to make a change. Speaking about how easy it
is to become desensitized, junior social work major Liz Denton called on students not to look away, emphasizing the cruciality protesting.
“Oppression feeds on passivity, and violence grows in non-resistence,” Denton said, “our voices matter.”
Barbee Doerfler said the biggest goals of the protest were to “show the Harrisonburg community that we’re here and we care about them … and let ICE know that they’re not welcome here.”
Barbee Doerfler said this will not be the only community outreach event the organizers plan for the anti-ICE movement, adding they expect to do more protests and to try to continue making an impact on the community.
“We’re definitely going to do a couple more protests,” Barbee Doerfler said. “We’re also going to talk to some Harrisonburg representatives … This isn’t going to be the end of it.”
Emma Notarnicola contributed to this report.
CONTACT Sara Paget at pagetsh@dukes. jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
Students stand outside of Harrisonburg City Hall holding signs in protest of ICE. Ellie Campbell / The Breeze
New nursing labs are coming into Burruss Hall
By EMMA NOTARNICOLA The Breeze
Sounds of construction have filled the Burruss Hall walkways for weeks since students returned to campus, as the new Nursing Competency-Based Skills and Assessment Labs are being built.
The new labs will open for Fast-Flex — a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) pathway created for the nursing program — JMU Nursing Director and professor Melody Eaton wrote in an emailed statement to The Breeze.
“The nursing courses are taught during the evening and weekends, and it runs one calendar year instead of two academic years,”
Eaton said. “Students can complete it earlier and enter the nursing workforce earlier.”
Construction is expected to be completed by May 1, with the new program beginning in June with an inaugural group of 30 students, Eaton wrote. She added that construction needed to begin during the school year to guarantee the program could start on time.
“This [program] will allow us to graduate an additional 30 nursing students per year,” College of Health and Behavioral Studies
Dean Sharon Lovell wrote in an emailed statement to The Breeze.
Funding for this program’s first year came from Virginia, with JMU committed to expanding the nursing program with state funding and support, Eaton wrote.
These additional classrooms will also guarantee that all students have access to the “competency-based learning and assessment labs” as the number of nursing students continues to grow, Eaton wrote.
“Students applying to the nursing program have more opportunities for successful admission to the program with the learning labs in place,” Eaton wrote, adding that students also have “more access to competency-based learning and engagement.”
In the meantime, Eaton wrote that the nursing program appreciates everyone’s patience, especially during the louder demolition phase of construction.
While Burruss is being renovated, dozens of students are still attending classes next to the construction zone.
Some students, like junior political science major Leonardo Nemi, said the construction wasn’t distracting, but it’s caused some disturbances during class.
“I have my [public] policy class in the room next to where they’re renovating. I’m [in room] 135,” Nemi said. “The last time we had class, it wasn’t too bad … apart from one or two times, when there was a loud noise.”
Freshman engineering major Rodrigo Angulo agreed, and said the construction wasn’t very bothersome during classes if the door was closed.
“I think [construction] has to happen,” he said. “I think it’s a little inconvenient that it’s in the building when students are passing by, but it has to happen.”
Others, like sophomore communications major Aariel Maynard, said that while outside of class time, the construction wasn’t a problem, but the noise from the construction caused some disturbance in her classes.
“During class, it’s distracting, but outside of class on the weekends, I think it would be fine,” she said. “It is kind of hard to pay attention to the teacher when there are drills and everything going on.”
However, she said she appreciates the work being done to improve the campus across all of the construction projects, though she hopes they will be completed soon.
“I think [the construction] is going to make the campus look better, but I think it’s taken a long time,” she said. “Hopefully it gets done soon, so that we can enjoy the campus. ”
CONTACT Emma Notarnicola at breezenews@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
Students walk near the construction in Burruss Hall. Lily Moss / The Breeze
RAs aren’t CPR certified. Why?
By SIMONE DYSTANT The Breeze
JMU Resident Advisers (RAs) play a central role in maintaining order and building community for on-campus residents, but they’re not required to be CPR certified because of time needed to be certified and the mandated responsibility that comes with the certification. However, RAs still have other responsibilites within the residence halls.
CPR requirements
RAs have not been required to be CPR certified for at least 30 years.
However, they have other responsibilities regarding the safety of JMU residents, Associate Director for Learning Initiatives in Resident Life Stephanie Carr said.
“When training starts in August, our primary focus is on what they need to do right now to get the building open,” Carr said. “CPR training takes a lot of time, and there is not enough time to get the staff CPR trained before the dorms open.”
“This fall, it was federally mandated that RAs be trained in Narcan administration and rescue breathing,” Carr said.
Additionally, all RAs have these supplies in their offices so that if things were to go wrong, they can administer Narcan and rescue breaths until first responders arrive to, Carr said. Earlier last year Virginia law mandated that Narcan, also known as
naloxone — a medication that prevents fentanyl overdoses — be present in every residence hall and required RAs to be trained to administer it.
Though the CPR certification is not required, Carr said, several RAs are certified through their work as emergency medical technicians (EMT) or with fire and rescue squads.
Carr said she’s worried that if JMU made it a requirement, applicants could feel discouraged from applying at all, as it would give RAs the mandated responsibility to use their certification in the case of an emergency.
People choose to become RAs because they want to build communities and improve experiences, typically not because they’re concerned with medical response, Carr said.
Becoming an RA
To become an RA, there are two application processes: the priority process — which begins in October — and the regular process, which takes applications in November, Carr said.
Both processes begin with a recruitment fair and entail a series of interviews and a review of the candidate’s academic standing, she added.
Upon approval of their application, RAs are mandated to attend a series of events, including community-building events in the spring and a refresher of training in August before move-in, according to JMU Residence Life. RAs are also required to take PSYC 100 (Interpersonal Skills for Resident Advisers) during their fall semester.
“Hall directors will often refresh and bring up information from the August training if they feel like their staff needs a bit more support,” Carr said.
As of next year, Carr said, Residence Life is going to start having a mid-year training where topics such as emergency procedures, mental health and well-being can be discussed and refreshed if needed.
Read more online at breezejmu.org
CONTACT Simone Dystant at dystansl@dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
RAs checking in new residents during freshmen move-in day. Landon Shackelford / The Breeze
SGA allocates $5,000 to Club Ice Hockey, Pre-Veterinary Society
By SIXUAN WU The Breeze
The Student Government Association (SGA) allocated a total of $4,960 in contingency funds to Club Ice Hockey and the Preveterinary Society during its Tuesday meeting.
$3,000 to Club Ice Hockey
The SGA unanimously approved a contingency fund request of $3,000 for Club Ice Hockey’s 2025-26 transportation cost.
The club is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association and plays against other schools on the East Coast, junior club president Ryan Quaid said. He added that this is the first year the club has been able to expand into both a Division II and a Division III team, with a total of 42 members.
The club requires dues that range from $2,500 to $3,500 from its members because of the expensive nature of ice hockey, although members have up to a year to pay the entire amount, Quaid said.
He added that this money goes toward equipment, the coach’s salary and transportation to ice rinks — the nearest one being 90 minutes away in Haymarket, Virginia.
The $3,000 contingency fund will support the club’s transportation to the Atlantic Coast Conference Hockey League’s regional playoffs in Winston Salem, North Carolina. The team will leave on Thursday and will advance to national championships if they perform well, Quaid said.
“It’s a great way for us to support our sports teams, and also their willingness to help players that come in and aren’t able to fully afford the fee flat out is impressive,” freshman Sen. Ivy Baah said.
$1,960 to Pre-Veterinary Society
The SGA also unanimously approved a $1,960 contingency fund request to cover the Pre-Veterinary Society’s registration fee for attending the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) National Symposium at Louisiana State University in March.
The symposium is a two-day event that consists of labs, lectures, dinners and tabling events, senior club president Leah Friedman said. She added that the event is a good opportunity
for members to gain hands-on experiences in the veterinary field and make professional connections.
To register for the event, each student needs to pay a $145 registration fee, with an additional $75 fee for the club, Friedman said. This year, 13 members of the club will attend this event.
“I think this is a good opportunity for pre-vet students to not only learn more about the career field they’re interested in; it
allows them to gain valuable connections that can help them with their future,” Baah said
CONTACT Sixuan Wu at thebreezeweb@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
The SGA allocates $5,000 in contingency funds to on two clubs. Jack O’Dea / The Breeze
CULTURE
EDITORS EMAIL
Isabel Lewis & Bella Arist thebreezeculture@gmail.com
Harrisonburg Farmers Market continues despite frigid weather
By EMMA BROWN The Breeze
Huddled inside the pavilion on Liberty Street, Harrisonburg Farmers Market vendors have braved the cold to provide locally grown and handmade goods for the community. While the conditions can be difficult, not even the recent snowstorm could hinder the market’s year-round operation.
“I’ve never canceled a market in my time as manager,” Market Manager Halee Jones said. “Even if I did cancel, there would still be vendors that set up and customers that would go out and support them.”
The market has approximately 30 yearround vendors, as well as additional summeronly vendors. Businesses sell prepared foods, meat products and limited produce during the winter months.
Vendors include Mill Song Crepes, Ryan’s Fruit Market, Hawk Nest Farm, Sugar & Bean and more. All products sold at the market are either grown or made by the vendors themselves. They’re also from Rockingham County or surrounding counties, with only a few exceptions.
Although the market runs year-round, the winter season sees a significant decrease in customers. About one-third of regular customers attend the market during winter, Jones said.
“People don’t really like coming out in the cold, especially in our pavilion. It’s a lot colder in there than you’d expect,” Jones added.
The recent snow and below-freezing temperatures have presented various challenges to market operations. The parking lot next to the pavilion was not fully plowed due to parked cars, which led to additional work for the market team, including shoveling snow and sprinkling salt on the ice.
The plummeting temperatures have provided additional obstacles, such as the prepared food vendors having trouble cooking due to equipment malfunctions in the freezing weather. Some vendors have been unable to attend the market due to the temperatures.
“The recent weather has been a big challenge for us,” Jones said. “It’s still surprising
the amount of vendors that will come out and stand in the cold.”
In addition to cash, debit cards and credit cards, “market tokens” are also a primary form of payment for the vendors. Customers can obtain these tokens through using SNAP benefits and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) benefits.
The Harrisonburg Farmers Market partners with Virginia Fresh Match to match SNAP transactions up to $30. Red SNAP tokens can be used to purchase any SNAP-eligible products at the market, while blue match tokens can only be used for produce.
The market also publishes a weekly newsletter containing updates and recipes. A Valentine’s Day craft will be available at Saturday’s market. As more vendors trickle in for the warmer season, the market will host more activities, Jones said.
Jones said the most rewarding part of her job is the vendors.
“I see them as people who have taken a risk on themselves and their passion,” Jones said. “What I think is so special about a farmers market is that you get to learn about where your food comes from. I really encourage customers to talk to [the vendors], get to know them and learn about their product.”
CONTACT Emma Brown at brown9eg@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts, and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
New music for your campus walks
By SARA PAGET
Contributing Writer
So far, 2026 has been filled with fresh new music, with artists ranging from A$AP Rocky to Mitski fueling this new year. Harry Styles,
Gorillaz, J. Cole and more are expected to release new music in February and March. With so much to look forward to in the first few months alone, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for music.
A$AP Rocky
A$AP Rocky’s first album in eight years, “Don’t Be Dumb,” released on Jan. 16, featuring artists Tyler the Creator, Gorillaz, Brent Faiyaz, Doechii, Westside Gunn, will.i.am and others. This variety created a well-rounded hip-hop album, bringing in elements of R&B, pop and experimental music across its 17 tracks.
A$AP’s single, “Punk Rocky,” was released on Jan. 5 as a teaser for the upcoming album. Along with the drop of “Punk Rocky” came a music video, featuring Winona Ryder as the unlikely star of his new single. With over one million presaves, “Don’t be Dumb” became Spotify’s number-one presaved hip-hop album.
J. Cole
Released Feb. 6, J. Cole’s “The Fall Off” is intended to be his last album. This unique double-disc album includes 24 songs total, split into two parts. The first disc, titled “Disc 29,” tells the story of J. Cole’s return to his hometown at age 29, providing insight into his priorities and challenges. “Disc 39,” on the other hand, tells the story of a similar trip home at age 39, but this time with a more mature and peaceful perspective. The
album is designed to tell his life story by contrasting two pivotal times: one that’s still growing and one that’s fully grown.
The album received 35 million streams on its release date but fell short in many fans’ opinions. Circling social media and music reviews is the sentiment that J. Coles’s final album lacks a layer of authenticity that fans would have expected to be coupled with an album that showcases itself as a profound tale.
Brent Faiyaz
Announced last week, Brent Faiyaz’s new album “Icon” is set to release Friday. An album video trailer showcased clips of people, birds and vehicles, drawing attention to the parallels between them all.
An Instagram post teasing the album was captioned “Icon” in 17 different languages. These teasers seem to point toward a theme for this album of unity and shared humanity throughout the album.
Mitski
Mitski’s new album, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” is set to drop Feb. 27. Her single “Where’s My Phone” was released on Jan. 16, along with a beautifully chaotic music video featuring “a reclusive woman in an unkempt house,” according to a press release. Stirring up even more anticipation for her album, she released a second single, “I’ll Change for You” on Feb. 4, with a different sound but a similarly chaotic music video
featuring the same woman, but this time attempting to salvage a fading relationship. These two singles give listeners an idea of the variety they can expect from the new album. The contrast between the energetic and alternative “Bury Me at Makeout Creek” sound we heard in her first single and the gentler, mid-tempo sound we got from her second single is shaping up to create a beautifully varied album.
Gorillaz
Also on Feb. 27, Gorillaz will release “The Mountain,” a 15-track album with features on every song. This album draws on South Asian and Middle Eastern influences, with an array of featured artists and a stylized title in Hindi, featured on the album cover. Released on Dec. 12, “Damascus” is the first single and features Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey — two Arabic-influenced music artists. From the beat of the song to the Arabic lyrics, the influence from these artists is clear, creating a wonderful and catchy collaboration of cultures and sounds.
Read more online at breezejmu.org
CONTACT Sara Paget at pagetsh@dukes. jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts, and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
With the market’s prime being during warm weather, pushing through the harsh cold has forced vendors to face new challenges. Breeze file photo
From indie music to rap, there is a vast variety of fresh hits. Jack Barbour / The Breeze
Harry Styles keeps fans busy after long-awaited comeback
By SOPHIA RANDAZZO
The Breeze
In the past month, Harry Styles has announced a new album, tour dates and released a single. Styles’ fans’ wallets are hurting.
In July 2023, Styles began an almost three-year hiatus after the last show of his world tour, “Love on Tour.” Fans had been waiting for his return and coined the term “HS4 at midnight,” manifesting his next album.
Styles ended his hiatus with the release of a YouTube video labeled “Forever, Forever” on Dec. 27, which showed fans preparing for his last show at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The video featured the nearly five-minute unreleased instrumental piano ballad he played at the show, which he preceded by saying, “I wrote this for you” in Italian. The phrase “We Belong Together” over a clip of the crowd ended the video.
Soon after, fans discovered the website webelongtogether.co, which included a phone number that fans could text to get announcements from HSHQ (Harry Styles Headquarters).
Senior psychology major Shannon Brown is the secretary of the One Direction club at JMU.
“His new single was definitely different from his other studio album but then again I feel like very album has been different from the past one. It wasn’t what I was expecting, it is very beat-based type of music, but I am overall pleased with it,” Brown said.
Styles is no stranger to using a secret website and cryptic messages to build excitement for an upcoming album. For the release of his third studio album, “Harry’s House,” Styles created the website, youarehome.co. The website had a door that opened every day, revealing the contents of the album prior to its release.
On Jan. 15, primarily through his Instagram account and official website, Harry announced “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.” This will be his fourth studio album and will drop on Mar. 6. In an interview with HITS Radio, Styles called the title of his album a “life mantra.”
“Moving through your life with love and taking a break now and again to have some fun is a really good way to approach your life,” Styles said.
In an interview with 102.7 KIIS FM, Styles describes the album as one to be played loud and in several different settings. He encourage fans to have their own experience with the music for this album.
“It is less about what is happening in my life and more a commentary on the joy that I found experiencing different things,
and it would be a positive thing for you [the fans] to do that as well,” Styles said in the radio station interview.
About a week after announcing the album, Styles revealed his upcoming “Together, Together” tour for 2026. The announcement, shared on Instagram, included a lineup of opening acts such as Robyn, Shania Twain, Fcukers, Jorja Smith, Jamie xx, Fousheé and Skye Newman.
This will be a dancing tour. When asked about the dress code for the show in the interview with 102.7 KIIS FM, the first thing Styles advised fans to wear is “dancing shoes.”
While some fans are thrilled to see Styles return to the stage with some even booking hotel rooms in New York City before the tour announcement. Styles has received some criticism. Initially, fans expressed disappointment that the only shows in the U.S. will be in. New York City. Consequently, fans who don’t live on the East Coast or the Northeast will have much more difficulty attending the shows.
Brown feels the ticket prices are “insane” and it’s “unrealistic” that Styles is allowed to sell tickets that high.
“It makes me furious that he’s only coming to [Madison Square Garden] in the U.S. to sell $1,000 tickets to people who are already traveling across the country.”
However, there’s hope that he’ll add dates or a second leg to the tour after his “we’ll see” answer to most questions about more dates and locations.
More backlash came once tickets went on sale. Ticketmaster uses dynamic pricing, which means prices increase based on demand. If fans were further back in line for Styles’ ticket sales, their price choices could range from $500 to $1,100. These high prices have outraged buyers, some choosing not to even get tickets at all.
Despite some rebelling fans, most of his shows sold out within an hour of their sales. Approximately 11.5 million fans signed up for his presales.
Just a couple of days before the announcement of the tour, Styles released his new single “Aperture,” along with a music video. “Aperture” will also be the first track on “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.”
With lyrics such as “It’s best you know what you don’t / Aperture lets the light in,” the song embraces experiencing new things and saying yes to life.
“At the start of this year, I decided to just say yes to everything, and the momentum of that brought so many positive things in a lot of different ways into my life,” Styles said in his interview with 102.7 KIIS FM. “That’s why this is the song I wanted to start with, because it was a big time of change for me.”
While the upbeat track encourages dancing, its repetitive chorus doesn’t encourage a deep listen. This may be Styles’ goal. Again, he wants fans to form their own connections to the song, so overanalyzing the lyrics may take away from their personal experiences.
Whether or not “Aperture” is lyrically profound, it will definitely have fans on their feet, dancing to it all year round.
The song is technic, with an electronic pulsating beat throughout, which a lot of fans felt was quite different for him. However, since he’s been talking more about new experiences, it’s not surprising that this song is something we haven’t heard from him yet.
This kind of change isn’t new for Styles. His earlier albums have ranged across rock, pop, ’70s funk and acoustic. Fans of Styles should always be ready for something new. With a new album, sold-out tour and fresh sound, 2026 is already a big year for Styles. Even from his One Direction days, his music has had a huge impact on the music industry, and it won’t be stopping with “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.”
For fans, the wait for its release is going to be
Brown feels “overwhelmed and excited” about the hints Styles dropped. “Overall I feel like Styles deserved a break after the insanity that occured druing his last tour,” Brown said.
CONTACT Sophia Randazzo at randazse@dukes. .jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts, and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
What’s hiding in your hygiene?
By GRACE SAWYER The Breeze
In today’s market, many brands compete to have the most flashy branding, celebrity endorsements or glowing reviews. But often companies and consumers can overlook the most important aspect of personal hygiene products: the ingredients.
Today, enabled by the technological development of different chemicals and their properties, products may contain compounds one may never expect to find.
Due to skin care products being unregulated by the FDA, it’s also easier to find ingredients that would generally be left out of products intended for human consumption. In fact, several chemicals commonly used in the United States are banned by the European Union and other countries.
Many of these ingredients are easily overlooked or often not required to be disclosed on packaging, but they are very harmful to the people who use them. They generally fall into three main categories: endocrine disruptors, carcinogens and irritants.
Endocrine Disruptors
Endocrine disruptors are anything that interrupts, interferes or changes hormone production. Today, in many cosmetic products, they will appear as parabens, plastics like bisphenols, phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs).
Parabens are oil-based substances that prevent moisture and mold growth within watery skin, hair and cosmetic products. In low doses, they are considered safe, but since they are not biodegradable, they can accumulate quickly in the body and affect hormone receptors. In products, they’re labeled as artificial fragrances and perfumes, abbreviations that have “ethyl,” “butyl” and “propyl,” or simply parabens. Plastics are also in products and their packaging and they’re commonly called bisphenols and phthalates. Once in the body, they can interfere with hormone production and regulation, leading to bodily dysfunction.
The final bow: Seniors say farewell in closing dance concert
By AUDREY FLETCHER
The Breeze
As house lights dimmed, conversations in the audience died down and the room buzzed with excited moments before dancers took to the stage.
From Feb. 6 to 7, inside the Earlynn J. Miller Dance Theatre at the Forbes Center for Performing Arts, dancers and choreographers from JMU’s Dance Program showcased their work at the Student Senior Dance Concert.
Before the show, two senior performers addressed the audience and explained the philanthropy behind the performance, asking viewers to donate to the JMU Dance for Parkinson’s Program. They explained the concert was dedicated to supporting Parkinson’s Disease, which would support professional development for student volunteers involved in the Dance for PD program.
As part of the program, selected students will travel to Towson University and Brooklyn, New York, to complete training courses at the Mark Morris Dance Center, where the Dance for PD program is based.
The stage was empty, with only a simple but effective white backdrop on which different colors would be displayed and change throughout each performance, and strategically used (or not) to help the narrative of each dance.
In addition to the background, a spotlight was also used during most performances to further focus on the dancers as they moved about the stage.
The concert, consisting of eight dances, opened with an upbeat ensemble performance titled “This Ain’t Our First Rodeo,” choreographed to “Ya Ya” by Beyoncé,
a high-energy “country-soul” track that emphasises dancing through hardship.
This dance showcased all of the seniors, giving each of them time to display their strengths as dancers. Beginning the concert with a fun and energetic song kept the audience in a light mood and encouraged them to cheer and holler when the performers would flip or carry out a difficult move.
They moved in sync with one another, matching their moves with every beat of the song, making it clear to those watching that they put a lot of time and effort into the routine.
The following dance was a solo titled “Change is Coming,” choreographed and performed by Jordan Gilmore. It was a powerful, emotional performance that emphasized strong arm movements, emphasizing the lyrics of the song “Change is Gonna Come” by Deitrick Haddon.
It’s a gospel-infused song about hope, summarizing that despite long-standing pain and systemic hardship, a better future is inevitable. This was portrayed clearly on Gilmore’s face, whose expressions helped portray the songs’ story of struggle.
Following that was a slower, more somber dance performed to the song, “The View Between Villages” by Noah Kahan. It was titled “444,” executed and choreographed by Allison Buckmaster, Lauren Coles, Abby Reinhardt and Hailey Thompson, who performed flowing, water-like movements that highlighted the peacefulness and stillness described by Kahan in the song.
Notably, they ran off and then back on the stage, giving them time to showcase their abilities as individuals, as well as pairs or all together.
The fourth performance, titled “Before We Let Go” and was also choreographed and
performed by four dancers, Grace Kohler, Kira Krishnamurthy, Abby Settle and Selah Stevenson.
The routine was performed to the song “Million Years Ago” by Adele, which reflects on the loss of innocence and longing for a version of herself that she feels has disappeared forever. This connects to the overall theme of the concert, with the seniors moving on and leaving a part of themselves behind.
The costuming for this piece felt more cohesive, with all four wearing white dresses. The movements varied from the previous performances in that they focused more on spins, turns and lifts, emphasising their talent as a group.
Following that was a dance performed and choreographed by Alexis Fauscett, Sophia Stevens and Alana Turflinger. The dance was synchronized to the music of “Gale Song” by
The Lumineers from the film soundtrack of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”
The routine was titled “While the Sun Was Ours” and explored the pain of watching someone you love drift away, using fast and forceful movements in some parts, but it contrasted with slow and gentle movements in other sections, depending on the pace of the music.
Read more online at breezejmu.org
CONTACT Audrey Fletcher at Fletc2am@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts, and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU
The Student Senior Dance Concert is an annual affair. Breeze file photo
EAT DOMINO’S DUKES DUKES
EDITORS Preston Comer & Tommy Gurganous EMAIL breezesports@gmail.com
Hendrick pushes for NFL
The former JMU football linebacker uses family ”backbone,” multi-layered prep in push for draft selection
By TOMMY GURGANOUS The Breeze
Former JMU linebacker Trent Hendrick is one of multiple Dukes with professional football aspirations; he declared for the 2026 NFL Draft on social media on Jan. 28.
Hendrick nearly doubled his number of tackles from the 2024 season with 106 total tackles and three sacks in 2025. Hendrick was named the 2025 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and made 10 tackles in JMU’s 51-34 loss at Oregon in the College Football Playoff.
“With the season that I had, I always wanted to take [foot] ball as far as I possibly could,” Hendrick said. “If I could make a living with it, I would do that.”
Hendrick’s season brought individual accolades. But he’s also dealt with a death in his family in the last few months; Hendrick’s grandmother, Minnie L. Taylor, died at the age of 87 on Nov. 22.
“She had dementia, but she stayed with us upwards of 10, 15 years,” Hendrick said, who added that Taylor had been in his home his whole life.
Hendrick said he read his grandmother’s funeral program before JMU football’s Sun Belt Championship Game matchup with Troy on Dec. 5 and before the CFP match at Oregon on Dec. 20.
“I’ll just keep reading it, just read all of it, look at the picture on the front and the back and stuff like that,” Hendrick said, “and just be grateful and thankful for the people that sacrificed and the people who poured into me my whole entire life.”
Hendrick has worked with Grossetti Performance to help in his pursuit of an NFL Draft selection. Grossetti Performance operates in New Castle, Pennsylvania, but Hendrick said he lives in Youngstown, Ohio, when he isn’t training.
Hendrick noted how he isn’t training for football but rather for events like those in a NFL Pro Day. He practices running 40 yards as fast as he can on a vertical line (40-yard dash) and focuses largely on upper-body weightlifting. Hendrick also said he’s cleaned up his diet; he has 15 customizable meals dropped off at his apartment lobby every Sunday as part of the program.
“Taking care of the body and the diet and stuff like that — this is what can create a potential 10-year veteran in the NFL,” Hendrick said.
Another focus for Hendrick is mental fortitude; he said there’s uncertainty as to how his career could “end in eight weeks,” or “it’ll work and end in eight years.”
“Both options, whether you end up not panning out or you end up playing, are you going to be strong enough to still be the person who you say you are during that process and after that process?” Hendrick said.
Grossetti Performance owner Terry Grossetti described mental training as a “huge part" of his program. Grossetti said ups and downs are part of the two months his guys train for and mentioned the importance of them remembering the reps they’ve done successfully.
“Guys should, in theory, feel great because they put in a lot of work,” Grossetti said, adding that clearing distractions will also allow each prospect to test as best as possible.
Hendrick added that JMU assistant head coach and outside linebackers coach Dave Plungas was “next level” for his mental preparation.
As a senior in 2025, Hendrick said his offensive playbook would “always have twice the amount of information” as his defensive notebook. Hendrick said he knew his team’s defense with confidence to the point where he focused better on opposing teams’ offenses, regarding “situational football” and “playing tendencies.”
“It was never really a time where I didn’t know what was going on,” Hendrick said, “or it was rarely a time where I’d feel like I couldn’t predict a play off of a certain formation or picture that I was getting.”
Grossetti referred to Hendrick as “a good example of somebody who came in, in relatively good shape” physically. Hendrick currently measures in at 6 feet, 234 pounds, according to his ESPN bio.
“[Trent] doesn’t really need to lose weight or gain weight,” Grossetti said. “A guy like him, we want him to kind of stay the same weight but lose fat and build muscle so the composition of his body improves.”
Grossetti said skills testing leading to the NFL Draft is more important for prospects like Hendrick coming from conferences like the Sun Belt.
However, Grossetti thinks the quality of competition in those conferences, compared to ones like the SEC and Big 10, is changing a lot, and he marked JMU football as a great example with the success of last season’s team.
Hendrick said he plans to participate in a Pro Day event at JMU, where he’d be able to showcase his skills to NFL scouts and coaches. At the time of publication, Hendrick had said he hadn’t heard about dates for a Pro Day at JMU yet.
Through everything, Hendrick expressed confidence in the group that backs him up in his preparation, including after his grandmother’s death.
“Having a strong backbone with both my family at home and my family at James Madison to help me through that, it gives you another ‘why,’” Hendrick said.
CONTACT Tommy Gurganous at breezesports@gmail. com. For more football coverage, follow the sports desk on X and Instagram @TheBreezeSports.
Hendrick was JMU’s leading tackler with 106 total tackles in the 2025 season. He also recorded three sacks in JMU‘s 35-10 win over Georgia Southern on Sept. 27. Caden Burch / The Breeze
How Napier and LaFrance are building JMU football in 2026
By PRESTON COMER The Breeze
Since Billy Napier became JMU football’s head coach in December, he’s brought in a class of 62 players and 35 coaches.
Jacob LaFrance was the first member of Napier’s staff to be announced, following the head coach from Florida to become JMU’s Associate AD for Football Personnel.
“My role with the program is roster management, player acquisition, talent acquisition,” LaFrance said. “Now in the NIL era, putting a value on a player and how the pieces of the puzzle come together.”
LaFrance had to start building JMU’s class of players while the Dukes finished out last season under Bob Chesney during the College Football Playoff. LaFrance said recruiting through the portal is difficult enough, and doing so during a coaching transition is “significantly more of a challenge.”
“We set up a hub at my house in Gainesville with some of the guys on the personnel staff that we were bringing with us from Florida,” LaFrance said, “we set up a hub at the dining room table and just got after it.”
LaFrance and his crew began their evaluation process from the table to get things in order before arriving in Harrisonburg. LaFrance said the new staff was “fortunate” that Chesney and his staff allowed them to attend practices and evaluate the Dukes’ current roster.
When Napier, LaFrance and others weren’t at practice, they set up at Hotel Madison and sought to figure out “how do we piece this roster together,” LaFrance said.
“What do we have coming back, what do we feel like we can get to come back and what is our plan of attack going forward to make it the best roster we possibly can?” LaFrance said.
But, unlike years prior, Napier and LaFrance don’t have a second portal window approaching in the spring, meaning they had to get things right promptly.
“It puts your back up against the wall a little bit from a timing standpoint,” LaFrance said.
Despite the spring portal’s removal, Napier is in support of the move, joking that he might not be coaching currently if there were still a spring window.
“I think the spring portal isn’t good for the young people on your team, and it’s not good for coaches,” Napier said. “It’s really not healthy for the entire organization. That break you normally have in the month of May turns into a visit, you’ve got a slew of visits rolling through here, and then you’re losing players.”
Seven of the Dukes’ transfers come from Power Four schools and 11 from the Group of Six.
Additionally, Napier brought in 12 transfers from the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and 10 from Division II and one from Division III. Napier said that the players’ production at those lower levels gives him the confidence they can move up.
“6-foot and a quarter, 227 pounds is 6-foot and a quarter, 227 pounds,” Napier said. “Guy makes 100 tackles at West Alabama, he makes 100 tackles.”
Napier said he believes every player available should be recruited, and he’s looking for people who fit what he’s trying to do at JMU.
Napier said that during November, he was at a North Texas practice where he talked to now-Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris.
see RECRUITING, page 17
Billy Napier signed 62 players to JMU’s 2026 class.
Landon Shackelford / The Breeze
from RECRUITING, page 15
“One of the things [Morris] told me was that they’ve had a ton of success with Division II players that have played a ton of snaps, that had a ton of production,” Napier said, “he felt like that translated to the Group of Six level.”
JMU’s signing class consisted of players from 24 states and three countries. Ten came from Florida, eight from Virginia, six from Georgia, and three each from Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
Napier and LaFrance said they have an “inside out” approach when recruiting, meaning they start in-state and work their way out to nearby states. Napier said they’ll extensively evaluate everything within 300 miles.
LaFrance said he tries to create situations where a player can get in a car, visit the campus and get home within the same day. He said the 300-mile philosophy makes JMU a unique place to recruit.
“If you draw a 300-mile radius around Harrisonburg, the amount of players that you have access to is tremendous,” LaFrance said.
LaFrance said JMU’s staff has 10 “core states” they focus on and “attack the heck out of.”
JMU landed about 65% of the players that took an official visit, according to LaFrance and Napier. LaFrance said he was surprised by the success because it’s “extremely challenging … especially in such a short amount of time.”
“It speaks to the place [JMU] is,” LaFrance said. “It has an impact on people. When you pull in here at night, and the stadium lights are on … the place just has that vibe.”
CONTACT Preston Comer at breezesports@ gmail.com. For more football coverage, follow the sports desk on X and Instagram @TheBreezeSports.
THE WHARF PARKING LOT: REIMAGINED
Exhibition from February 6 - 22, 2026
Project proposals by JMU Architectural Design students
Opening Reception | Saturday, February 7 | 4:00-6:00 pm Community Workshops | Saturdays, February 14 & 21 | 1:00-3:00 pm
These events are free and open to the public. Staunton Augusta Art Center | 20 S New St | Staunton, VA
LEWIS CREEK
Map by B. McGregor
Billy Napier and Jacob LaFrance emphasize recruiting players within 300 miles of Harrisonburg. Landon Shackelford / The Breeze
EDITOR EMAIL breezeopinion@gmail.com Cali Gilmer
Game day shouldn’t make me late to class
Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts & Pats is the place to do it. Submit your own at breezejmu.org.
A “will-I-ever-sleep-in?” dart to my roommate snoozing his 7 a.m. alarm 15 times.
From someone who is not a morning person.
A “goodbye-ice” pat to the sun finally making an appearance last Tuesday.
From a student grateful to go hiking again.
An “are-you-kidding?” dart to my Assessment Day email.
From a student who wanted to enjoy the day off.
ELLA WARREN Breeze columnist
I’m certain any commuting Duke with classes later than 8 a.m. has been advised to “park on East Campus. There’s always parking in Ballard!”
With 40 minutes until my first class — a late morning lecture in Harrison Hall — I toss my backpack into the passenger seat and start my car. A quick check of the JMU Parking App tells me every parking deck on Main Campus is full (typical), but 500 spots are available in Ballard Parking Deck. Score! I drive out of my apartment’s parking lot with a heart full of hope.
Hope that will soon be crushed.
Two entrances, North and South, lead into Ballard, with access to spots determined by which entrance you choose. I prefer to enter Ballard through the North entrance; in my experience, parking is easier to come by on that side. To my dismay, yellow barricades and a floor sign directing me to the South entrance block off half of Ballard’s precious parking spots. On the parking availability sign, the neon-green number “500” blinks mockingly at me as I join the 20 other cars in line at the South entrance. The other drivers and I circle all the way to the top of the deck with mounting frustration and two options:
Loop around the top floor of South Ballard, hoping we’re the first lucky person to catch somebody else leaving or cut our losses, drive back to our apartments and find alternative transportation in the 10 minutes left before class.
As rage burns hotter in my chest with every lap around Ballard, I wonder: How on Earth am I supposed to know to take the bus if I don’t know North Ballard is closed until I’m there?
to JMU’s website (a.k.a. 5 p.m.) — well after the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. interval that JMU claims is peak parking time. Not once have I struggled to find campus parking after 5 p.m., and especially not in Ballard, the deck with the most available spots. Students living on campus could walk or take the Inter Campus Shuttle (ICS) to the game, leaving Ballard for commuter or non-JMU fans. Between four options for commuterfan parking, surely Ballard can spare a few spots for students during the day.
basketball game is without looking it up. Why should I, someone who couldn’t care less about the sports JMU shoves down our throats, have to track the basketball schedule just to know what days I can’t expect parking?
An “I-love-halftimeshows” pat to Bad Bunny for making the Super Bowl more interesting this year.
From someone who hates professional football but loves music performances.
JMU Sports’ website reads, “JMU is proud to offer reserved parking in the Ballard Parking Deck … for each home basketball game,” which explains the closures. However, these home basketball games don’t begin until 7 p.m. Pray tell, why is North Ballard closed at 11 a.m., preventing me from reaching my class?
“To keep the spots clear, obviously,” I hear you saying. However, spots in North Ballard are available for pass holders only — people who reserved parking for the basketball game in advance. Passes must be presented at the entrance, and cars with missing or non-visible passes are “subject to being ticketed and towed.” If JMU Sports can determine how many people reserved passes, they should know exactly how many spots to block off — and I’m willing to bet it’s not 500.
Non-pass holders are encouraged to park in Ballard, C12, D3 or R4, with the North entrance barricades coming down “2 hours prior to game time,” according
Let’s say they can’t. Let’s say JMU cares more about a handful of commuting sports fans than the 90% of students living off campus who need to commute for classes. JMU loves to promote its alternative transportation options, going as far as to tell iced-in commuters to “carpool with a friend. Walk. Take the bus” in their nowunavailable winter weather statement from Jan. 27. I’m fortunate enough to live in an apartment complex with a pleasantly frequent bus line. As a student who often stays on campus past 7 p.m. when the regular bus routes end, I prefer to drive when possible, but I’d be willing to take the bus if I knew I needed to.
But I never know when I need to.
We set up road signs in advance for the football game parking impacts. Why can’t we do the same for basketball? We have a dedicated parking app for God’s sake. With real-time updates on commuter parking availability, I check the parking app every morning to see if I have a shot at Main Campus parking. The app could easily display an alert saying part of Ballard is closed. If not the parking app, JMU Shield is another option for campus alerts. Or God forbid, send me an email the night before!
In an Instagram poll, 119 of 150 (79%) respondents said they would not be able to tell someone when the next home JMU
This issue runs deeper than a simple annoyance. Every time I’ve encountered the closed parking deck, I’ve been late or missed class, and I’m not the only one. In that same Instagram poll, 94 out of 115 (82%) respondents said they’ve been late to class because of a closed parking deck. By the time I’ve struck gold and found a spot, I have five minutes remaining to get from East to Main Campus. I already can’t get Main Campus parking most days (and complaining about Main Campus parking is a dead horse I don’t want to beat); now I can’t get East Campus parking either. JMU couldn’t seem to care less.
Between overcrowded buses, demanding students to walk on unshoveled icy sidewalks, closing a portion of the Convocation lot for construction and providing a lot with half the spots as compensation, and blocking off half of the largest parking deck on campus, JMU is doing a horrendous job of showing it cares about commuting students. If JMU truly cares about students’ quality of life, it could put a smidge of effort into communicating parking changes. And with a new university president who prioritizes listening to students, I’ll complain loudly enough for all of us.
Read more online @breezejmu.org
CONTACT Ella Warren at thebreezesocials@gmail.com. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
Closed sign in Ballard Parking Deck for Feb. 4’s basketball game. Ella Warren / The Breeze
American democratic decline is not random
MATT GOWEL contributing columnist
Across the political spectrum, there is one thing that everyone seems to agree on: Something is wrong.
People are quick to identify that some aspect of our political-economic system isn’t working. Of course, explanations vary. Depending on who you ask, the contemporary crisis is the product of an influx of migrants, Trump and his allies, the government as a concept, and so on. There’s no clear consensus.
What, then, is the problem? And, more importantly, who’s right? In order to explore these questions and come to a satisfying conclusion, let’s examine the explanations we are offered more closely.
In American politics, the most prominent voices are those of the liberals and the conservatives. While the ideology of each party initially appears to entirely contradict its opposite, they, in reality, have significant similarities. As mentioned, pretty much everyone can agree that something is wrong. The system is somehow flawed.
To conservatives, the problem is most commonly cited as the cultural turn of politics. More specifically, things have become too “woke.” To them, elites care more about abstract ideals and their own interests than real, material struggles. Simply put: prevailing ideology is not grounded in the real world, but in some idealistic utopia.
To liberals, the problem is a rogue right wing that has rejected liberal democracy in favor of Trump’s populism. Similarly to conservatives, they view opposing beliefs as “crazy” and unfounded. To them, the problem is ideological; it’s the product of mistaken (or even deliberately harmful) ideals.
It’s important to focus our attention on these commonalities. Doing so will allow us to study the phenomena at hand in the
context of a broader social system, rather than on our own. Both the social and physical sciences confirm that nothing is without cause; objects move through the application of outside force, emotions surface as a consequence of real conditions, and ideologies form because of a material world. Thus, explaining political phenomena separately from the context that creates them won’t get us anywhere.
While differences in thought certainly do exist, they’re primarily in explanation and not in the base claim. Something is wrong with our society, this much is clear. Rather than starting our explanation with this claim, however, let’s turn our attention to its antecedent. Why is it that everyone can agree on this one thing? What causes us to share this perception?
The simplest explanation is as follows: Something is genuinely wrong — something that affects people of all walks of life. The question now poses itself: What factor is so prevalent as to have such an impact on such a diverse group? Why do rich and poor, young and old, Black and white people all feel slighted in some way?
While it’s true that the experience of each aforementioned group qualitatively differs from that of the others, the fact remains that each perceives something to be wrong. Further, it’s reasonable to assert that a truly free and democratic society would not have people of every social strata up in arms. There must be a significant, widespread and systemic failure.
What, then, is the cause of such far-reaching discontent? One of the few commonalities that is broad enough to encompass all of American society is as follows: We are all people; we all live in
the material world. As material, physical beings, we all require a variety of resources to survive (food, water, shelter and so on). Further, we all relate to one another through the exchange and distribution of such resources. Obviously, there’s more to life than work and shopping, but the system that determines how resources are disseminated and produced is a common reality to all Americans.
What does all of this have to do with democratic decline, anyway? Why does it matter what similarities we may or may not share? Simply put, the problem we face is one of explanation. Everyone feels that something is wrong, so it’s necessary to engage in a rational discussion of common struggles to determine where all of the frustration is coming from. Our plight isn’t random; everything has a cause.
Everyone needs access to the necessities to survive. This is a simple fact of life. Thus, it’s reasonable to say that the system we use to organize and distribute these necessities will have political implications. In our society, access to such resources is facilitated by money. You pay rent, buy food and have a water bill. It’s through currency that we gain access to all of these things. Further, the more money you have, the more you can afford to purchase. The power to buy things extends, however, beyond the mere basic necessities. In modernity, it’s possible to purchase pretty much anything from pretty much anywhere, given that you have the funds to back it up.
Money’s power to procure access determines its political implications. This power allows control.
For instance, you
must listen to your boss to avoid losing your job, which you depend on for access to your basic necessities. The same logic applies on a larger scale. The power of money also dictates political campaigns, which similarly need money to survive. If a candidate’s source of funding disagrees with their policies, they have little choice but to conform. Losing access to money means losing access to survival.
Finally, the impact of our production system on politics is becoming apparent. The interests of those who fund political campaigns are the ones who determine policy. This is a natural reality of how we organize the distribution of resources. Money, and the access it brings, gives select individuals the absurd power to control all of our political and economic resources. Clearly, this system is far from democratic! We should all have a say in where our society’s resources go.
Thus, the most basic commonality we share as human beings — our reliance on material resources for survival — determines our political reality. Whoever commands the most resources controls each individual and politics on the macro scale. This is essentially an authoritarian relationship between those who have and those who do not. Thus, our system is far from democratic. Both widespread unease and political turmoil are the natural outcome of how we distribute resources. If we truly aspire towards democracy, we must democratize our wealth.
CONTACT Matt Gowel at goweljm@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
The Capitol building. Jack O’Dea / The Breeze
The Breeze
Editorial Staff
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eleanor Shaw breezeeditor@gmail.com
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“BAILE INoLVIDABLE” by Bad Bunny
“Imagine” by John Lennon
“WAKE” by Adam Paddock
“Cheap Vodka” by Acid Bath
“Victim of Luck” by Metric
Submit your answers on our weekly Instagram poll @BreezeJMU!
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Corrections
(2/5/26): Previous versions of two Court Square Theater articles incorrectly portrayed the theater’s current status. Both articles have since been updated online to accurately reflect the timeline of Court Square Theater’s ownership transfer.
SUNDAY - THURSDAY 11:00 AM TO 9:00 PM
FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 9, 2026
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by
Patti Varol
ACROSS 1 Prepare to be photographed 5 Lobster’s pincer 9 Trig subject 13 “Grand” ice cream 14 Buenos __, Argentina 16 Wound-treating plant in ancient Greece and Egypt
17 “Don’t forget we want lots of letters!” 20 PC connection port
__ of Skye 22 Gabbed on end
10-min. NFL periods 25 Buffoon 27 Sesame __ bun
28 Aviation pioneer who said, “It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill”
32 Emphatic confirmation of accomplishment
33 __-mo replay 34 Under the weather 38 “__ Misérables” 39 “That’s gross!” 41 Songwriter __-Manuel Miranda 43 Convent resident 44 The Dalai __ 46 Have lunch 48 Replaceable turntable part 50 Exchange of wedding vows, e.g. 53 React to ear scritches, perhaps 55 U.K. part 56 Near-failing grade
57 Hats for haute cuisine chefs 59 Gas sealed in glass 61 Rizzo the Muppet, for one 64 “I think that’s correct,” or what one may say about the ends of 17-, 28-, and 50-Across 67 Fluttered down to the ground
68 Pitcher Ryan who holds the MLB
By Dan Caprera
record for career strikeouts
Apex
Ice Spice songs
Word underlined in red, maybe 72 Fight enders, briefly DOWN 1 Cuzco’s country
of WNW
out of the limelight
and overdue debts
around
as advice
Nonsense, to a Brit
MADISON MARKETPLACE
Madison Marketplace is open for business, and all text-only listings are FREE ! Post job listings, announcements, rentals and more using our online placement tool. Ads run two weeks online and in two print editions.
HOUSING SERVICES
1 Bedroom 1 Bath Apartment
1 bedroom 1 bath Apartment located at Sherwood Apartments on Robbin Hood Ct in Harrisonburg. Rent $950, W/S/T included. Washer and Dryer in the unit along with a full kitchen and all appliances. Available December 2025. Inquiries please email klinemaint@comcast. net or by phone 540-833-6104
Arcadia Aprtament Available NOW
Dec. Grad needs to rent Arcadia Apartment room that is available immediately until July 31, 2026. Great roomates! Base rent is $599 with utilities included. Please email Kailey.garner0804@gmail.com
JOBS
Career Opportunity - Software
Portfolio Specialist
Are you ready to be the driving force behind cutting-edge public safety technology? Join the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Communications Center’s team as a Software Portfolio Specialist and help shape the future of emergency communications in a high-impact, mission-driven environment. Find out more/apply online: https://www.harrisonburgva. gov/employment.EOE.
Rent This 4 Bedroom 2 Bathroom
Adorable Cottage Just Two Blocks from JMU campus
Cute Cottage for Rent Just Two Blocks from JMU Campus and Bridgeforth Stadium - $1999/month. 6 month lease or month to month lease available.
Counseling Services Available!
Cross Keys Equine Therapy is taking new clients! Struggling with depression, anxiety, or just need someone to talk to? We offer equine assisted therapy sessions, nature based therapy, or traditional talk therapy. Only 15 minutes from campus! Give us a call today at 540-607-6910.
New
Services For Women
Discover your own beauty and improve it naturally—inside and out. Build lasting confidence, feel empowered to be your best self, and experience greater happiness while living a richer, more fulfilling life. Ask about membership. Please reply to: winstonempowers@gmail.com
Transportation Services Airport transfers, wine tours, special events Motorcoach trip to Liberty football game Sept 20 Contact Adventures-N-Travel.com Call or text 540-810-1196 mikepackett@aol.com
Car Wash Express and Laundromat Express!
Car Wash Express and Laundromat Express! Now accepting credit cards for car wash and laundromat! 3 Minutes from campus! Self-serve and automatic options. 48 Kenmore Street, Harrisonburg, VA.540810-1196 mikepackett@aol.com
CCareer Opportunity - Police
Recruit with HPD
The City of Harrisonburg is currently accepting applications for noncertified individuals interested in joining HPD, which offers a rewarding career plus an excellent benefits package, including enhanced hazardous duty through the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Find out more/apply online at: https://www. harrisonburgva.gov/employment. EOE.
Part-time Opportunity - VFW Bartender
Part-time bartender no experience necessary will train must be 21. Apply in person at VFW 450 Waterman Dr Harrisonburg Va 22802 .
Internship Opportunity - City Manager’s Office (Harrisonburg, VA)
Are you a student seeking real-world experience in public administration with a locality recognized both regionally and nationally for a variety of achievements? If so, apply to the City of Harrisonburg’s City Manager’s Office Internship Opportunity! Find out more/apply online: https://www. harrisonburgva.gov/employment. EOE.
ITEMS FOR SALE
Game room
Large folding ping pong table with accessories. Foosball table with extras. Both in good condition. Must pick up, cash only $75 each. 540-578-2362
REAL ESTATE
Property for Sale in Staunton Building for Sale. Three store fronts. Two Apartments. Needs Total Renovation. 300 Central Ave., Staunton, VA 24401 $310,000 or best offer. Call 540-290-0375
O r d e r t o d a y
b r e a k f a s t b u r r i t o
E g g s a n d c h o r i z o
c o l d b r e w - c h ata
c h a m p u r r a d o
h u e v o f r i t o
N o w s e r v i n g b r e a k f a s t 7 a m - 1 0 a m
