The Daily Illini: I on Illini 2022

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DI February 23, 2022

ON ILLINI CAMERON KRASUCKI, JONAH OZER THE DAILY ILLINI

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Division I swimmer balances athletics, classes

By Shreya Rathi

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The course load for a major like bioengineering seems daunting, but over the past four years, Abby Cabush, senior in Engineering, has managed to balance her academics with being a Division I swimmer.

During her time on the women’s swim & dive team, Cabush has broken the University’s 200 freestyle record, beat her own record in the 200 twice and broke several other personal records. She has contributed to many of the team’s first-place wins.

In addition to her athletics, Cabush has managed to keep up with a rigorous academic schedule. She’s accomplished this feat well enough to be named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.

Cabush said a typical day for her is

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Abby Cabush, senior in Engineering, has broken several records during her swim career. jam-packed with classes and athletic commitments. She said the secret to her success is impeccable time management skills.

“I have practice in the morning from 6 to 8 a.m.,” Cabush said. The evenings are for recovery and eating and homework. 10:30 is normally when I try to go to bed to wake up for morning practice.”

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Despite a packed schedule, Cabush’s perseverance pays off, she said that she made swimming an invaluable addition to her college experience.

“It’s been fun to have goals and chase after them. I don’t think I’d be at Illinois if it wasn’t for swimming,” Cabush said.

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

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Clarinet player crescendos into professional career

By Yuzhu Liu Staff Writer

Andrew Buckley sees a “glass wall” between the stage and the audience.

He described a typical symphony orchestra concert: Musicians silently walk on and off stage as the audience sits still, clapping in the dark.

As a clarinetist for more than 10 years, Buckley, the 2021 Krannert Center Debut Artist and graduate student in FAA, has embraced the classical musical tradition. But now, with his upcoming debut professional album “Where We Go Next” premiering on April 9, Buckley said he is redefining what a classical concert experience is truly about.

“The question is, what does classical music sound like in the next 10 years?” Buckley said, “This is it.”

Buckley’s musical journey started with a 54-key portable keyboard from his grandparents. He used to pull it from under his bed, unfold it and play jingles. He began studying piano at five years old and later picked up the saxophone, flute and clarinet.

According to Buckley, in his early undergraduate career, his chief reason for creating music was to make a living. To become more employable, he joined three instrument studios as a conducting apprentice.

However, Buckley said he realized that he was spreading himself too thin.

“Is that really why I’m a musician — just to make money?” Buckley said.

“Part of it, but it’s more so to create outstanding and deep emotional musical performances. And I don’t think you can do that until you narrow down the focus and commit to one thing.

For me, that was clarinet.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic hit before Buckley started to pursue his master’s degree. He said he was sinking into turmoil because of the lack of gig opportunities and a newfound dullness in graduate school.

During this time, he founded The Goodwin Avenue Trio with pianist Chanmi Lee and cellist Briar Schlenker, both graduate students in FAA. “We have to create something because we’re just gonna go nuts if we don’t,” Buckley said.

The trio made their professional debut in March, with only 40 people sitting 10 feet apart. The concert was livestreamed. Buckley said the scattered audience did not react a lot. He felt like he was talking to a brick wall

JAMES HOECK THE DAILY ILLINI

Andrew Buckley, graduate student in FAA, plays his clarinet at the University's Music Building.

Buckley will be debuting his album, "Where We Go Next," this spring at Smith Memorial Hall. when he constantly shifted his attention between the auditorium and the livestream camera.

Despite the difficulties, Buckley said people anticipated him for bringing them back to concert halls.

“It was weird for them in that aspect, but people didn’t mind,” Buckley said. “They just wanted to be there.”

Buckley’s girlfriend, Becca Frederick, graduate student in FAA, recalled how when the Illinois Wind Symphony presented “Pines of Rome” last semester, she saw people moved to tears by Buckley’s clarinet solo.

Buckley said he knew it was his best performance because he had played the excerpt more than 500 times.

Buckley said after enough practice, all technical playing points slip away.

He said that he concentrates more on his onstage expression. He mentioned that sometimes, he even stops focusing on rhythm.

“He’s so passionate about what he has to say through the music,” Frederick said. “You can see it in his face.

You can hear it in the sound and his movement. He’s very expressive, very

“He’s so passionate about what he has to say through the music. You can see it in his face.

You can hear it in the sound and his movement.

He’s very expressive, very good at getting the audience to feel what he wants them to feel.”

Becca Frederick, graduate student in FAA good at getting the audience to feel what he wants them to feel.”

Buckley said he has been reflecting on performer-centered classical concerts.

“The audience members don’t feel like they’re having an experience,” Buckley said. “They’re watching somebody else have an experience.

Are we really conveying emotion when we’re doing that?”

Buckley had a solution. He said that he gives oral program notes and asks the audience for feedback during intermissions. He said that by doing this he includesthe audience in the music-making process and allows them to see the personality behind the performance instead of a robot moving fingers on a musical instrument.

When Buckley won eight hours of free recording in Krannert Center Debut Artist competition, his first thought was to record his four favorite pieces of classical clarinet. But, he hesitated.

“Those four pieces have been recorded 100 times by performers that are way better than me and way better than I ever will be,” Buckley said. “Is that something where people are actually gonna take notice?”

At that time, Buckley said that he met Professor Bärli Nugent from The Juilliard in a music entrepreneurship class. Nugent encouraged Buckley to feature new, diverse composers his age in the album. Buckley said he immediately decided to go for this idea.

According to Frederick, student composers have little chance to get their work presented even by school ensembles. Buckley added that all these students have are recordings produced on iPhones that are put on websites and often never played again. To Buckley, this is a waste of creative energy.

Buckley said his debut album aims to give voice to underrepresented young musicians and to engage the audience.

“The music people are going to hear is more representative of the 21st century,” Buckley said. “It’s not Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn. It’s new, it’s weird, it’s experimental — kind of everything that folks in my generation are going through right now.”

To Buckley, the most exciting thing about this album is that the music on it has never been heard before.

“We’re trying to invent the next cool thing,” Buckley said. “The next fancy thing. The next form of our heart.” yuzhul2@dailyillini.com

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Student producers' TikTok trend goes viral

By JP Legarte

Contributing Writer

Last semester, Ryan Leshock, senior in Media, began asking unsuspecting students “What song are you listening to?” starting a trend on campus that has garnered him millions of views on TikTok. Leshock said he got the idea from YouTube. He realized there was an audience for this trend and noted that TikTok could have a great influence if used appropriately.

“It was really interesting to see how … strong people feel about their opinions on all these different artists, music types and genres,” Leshock said. “I almost saw the trends I was doing as a time capsule.”

Beyond TikTok ideas, Leshock has worked on other creative endeavors as part of Elevated Media, the video production company he started during his junior year of high school.

Leshock said Elevated Media was originally created for the sole purpose of selling drone videos for “aerial real estate.”

“After aerial real estate for the company, it’s just kind of transitioned

into whatever short films I was doing,” Leshock said. “All of my freelance and contractor opportunities are through Elevated Media, so I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences.”

Leshock discussed projects that stood out to him, including Greek life recruitment videos and an independent documentary involved drone pilot and sound technician work.

Victor Font, Professor in Media, has had the opportunity to have Leshock in a few classes and collaborated with him on production work as well.

He spoke of Leshock’s proactive, dedicated nature regarding work, referencing one of Leshock’s recent movies as a perfect example of how he has evolved his production skills.

“I was just shadowing and following what he was doing,” Font said. “He finished the movie basically in four months. I saw that he was really involved in that project … When he showed me one of his first rough cuts, I said, ‘You have to show that. You have to have a premiere here.’”

Font added that Leshock is always working on something and always doing something.

As Leshock looked to the future, he

CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI

Ryan Leshock, senior in Media, has garnered thousands of followers on TikTok for creating videos about what students listen to on the Main Quad. also considered how he hopes his work continues to impact others.

“I want to make people feel,” Leshock said. “If I can create something like a work of art or some kind of communication that gets the

audience to respond emotionally, I think that’s a success for me, and hopefully I do so in a positive way for society.” jlegar4@dailyillini.com

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

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Student at 50: Professor shares unique success story

By Allyson Lin Contributing Writer

Instructor. Coach. Communicator.

Mom. Kathleen Ditewig-Morris is a professor at the University, but she didn’t start off in education.

In college, Ditewig-Morris majored in English and was unsure of the career path she wanted to take. She said she was encouraged by a professor to enter the business field, which he assured her would be full of jobs, especially for writers.

“I said, ‘I don’t really know anything about business,’” Ditewig-Morris said.

“And he said, ‘They will teach you, you will learn as you go. But what they can’t teach you is how to write. You already know how to do that.’ So that’s what I did.”

Ditewig-Morris started out in marketing. She moved to Dallas, Texas, and worked as an editor at a nonprofit publication. When she came back to Illinois, she networked and got a job at Caterpillar Inc., based in Peoria.

For the next 23 years, she worked at the company as the CEO speechwriter before moving into communication and changed management roles.

Above all, she said she prioritized being a mom. She raised her son on her own and encouraged him to practice writing. He now works with the Chicago Public Schools administration team.

After 23 years with Caterpillar, Ditewig-Morris was offered voluntary packages.

At the age of 50, she accepted her offer into the communications program at the University to become a teacher.

“It’s like a fire hose in your face.”

Ditewig-Morris said.

Coming from a corporate background and being thrust into one of the best communication graduate school programs in the country was a rough adjustment for Ditewig-Morris, she said.

It was also a new experience for her classmates, who were mainly recent college graduates. She said some of her peers questioned why she would come back to school after already leading a successful career.

“I almost quit a couple times, but I didn’t,” Ditewig-Morris said. “And I’m glad I didn’t because it ended up being really, really worthwhile. So it was a huge accomplishment at that age.”

At the end of her masters’ program, the communications department at LAS hired her to teach at the University.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHLEEN DITEWIG-MORRIS

Professor Kathleen Ditewig-Morris is the internship program director in the LAS Department of Communications. Ditewig-Morris discusses her journey to becoming an educator.

She said she utilized her previous industry experiences to teach business communication and interviewing. She also runs the department’s internship program for undergraduates.

Last year, she was the winner of the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

As a professor, Ditewig-Morris said she has learned more from her students than they have from her.

“I learned how sharp people are,” Ditewig-Morris said. “And the different ways my students think. They’re all different from each other.”

She initially entered teaching with a corporate approach but quickly realized that this would not work with college students.

“I was in college once,” DitewigMorris said. “You have to relax a little

bit. Working with college students (is the) best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had a successful career before, but this is my favorite.”

Because of the pandemic, DitewigMorris has been teaching virtually and misses being in the classroom. She said she tries to recreate that same classroom energy over Zoom, but the experience is not the same.

“A great class is when things are snapping and the kids are full of energy, you can’t beat that,” DitewigMorris said. “But it’s those one-on-one connections and students that I look for. I’m gonna miss that when I retire.”

She said she loves being a mentor and sharing her advice with students.

“I think what matters to me the most are the students who didn’t have everything,” Ditewig-Morris said. “They’re trying to pay their

way through school, work through school. You know, they didn’t have maybe even a supportive background.

They’re doing this on their own.”

Ditewig-Morris said she tries to talk to first generation students or students of color who might need someone to relate to in terms of her first generation and working-class background.

“I want to hear their stories,” Ditewig-Morris said. “I ask them questions so I can try to understand them. Those are the ones that mean the most to me because those are the ones I hear back from.”

She encouraged students to expand their interests outside of their comfort zones.

“I always tell my students, ‘Don’t do what everybody else expects you to do,’” Ditewig-Morris said. “Chase that wild dream while you’re in your 20s and you have the flexibility to do that. I got married too quickly the first time and had a child too quickly, and I didn’t. So I tell my students go out there and live it while you can. That’s what makes it worthwhile to me.”

Ditewig-Morris praised students that take the time to thank their teachers. She said that like many students, teachers also get exhausted.

“I worked hard in my previous career, but this is a different kind of exhaustion, an emotional exhaustion,” Ditewig-Morris said. “And when you get that email or that note from a student, I have a file folder full of actual written cards, that, when I’m having a bad day, I’ll pull those out.”

Ditewig-Morris said she’s grateful for the time she’s spent at the University, especially within the communications department.

“They have stood by me from the time I entered as a graduate student, all through the years I’ve been here as a faculty member,” Ditewig-Morris said. “I never had that experience before. I am eternally grateful to them, and my students. I love them to death, every single one. I’m a very grateful person.”

She said she is planning to retire in a year, which she said is a bittersweet experience.

Yet the future remains wide open for Ditewig-Morris, who plans to move to the West Coast and is considering writing a novel.

“When you work for 45 years, you can’t just stop,” she said. cmm@readbuzz.com

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Professor Leon Dash discusses decorated journalism career

By Fizza Hassan Staff Writer

From surviving near-death experiences while reporting on the Angolan Wars to winning a Pulitzer Prize, Leon Dash, professor in Media, has had a long and winding career in journalism.

It started after he transferred from Lincoln University to Howard University.

“I got to Washington D.C. a couple of weeks before school and started with jobs that didn't last too long: working as a janitor and later as a building steam cleaner at night,” Dash said.

When Dash visited the offices of two New York senators, he saw an advertisement for a job at The Washington Post. Since he was once the editor of Lincoln University’s student newspaper, Dash was excited. Soon after, he started his first job with The Post as a copy editor.

“I saw a job advertised that morning in The Washington Post for a copy boy on the lobster shift, 6:30 in the evening to 2:30 in the morning,” Dash said. “It turned out perfect for me.

Journalism really chose me; I didn't choose journalism.”

Dash got his first big opportunity in April 1996. The editor-in-chief at the time offered him a two-year internship at The Washington Post where he quickly advanced in the newsroom.

“I loved what I was doing,” Dash said. “That’s why I say journalism chose me.”

After a few years on the Post’s staff in the '70s, Dash received a call from a woman named Xiao who taught international relations at the University of North Texas. Dash said she asked him to go to Africa to report on the Angolan revolution against Portugal.

“She said to me, ‘I've been talking to Black reporters, and they all told me you would be willing to do what I want them to do,’” Dash said. “She said to go live with the liberation movement in Africa.”

Dash said he had to illegally sneak into Angola while actively discussing the situation with his editors at The

Post. For three months, Dash traveled to different regions on Land Rovers with Angolan rebel forces. During the 1973 holidays, Dash published a series in The Washington Post about his experience reporting on the war.

When Dash came home he visited several universities and spoke about his experience in Africa.

During this tour, he said he received an official invite from Angola’s military to re-enter the country and report on the anti-government guerillas — legally this time.

Dash said that no matter what he saw while he was in Africa, he was never scared.

“With the guerillas, I had very protective bodyguards,” Dash said.

“Once, I saw one of their attacks on the town and found myself unfearful.

I was rather attracted to everything that was going.”

After seven and a half months, Dash left Angola for the last time in 1977.

Then he published a series called “A Long March in Angola.” This series won Dash the George Polk Award from the Overseas Press Club and the prize in International News Reporting from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.

Dash said his time with the guerillas was the highlight of his career.

However, Dash wanted to do more.

Previously, alongside another writer in 1972, Dash had written “The Shame of the Prisons,” a work that exposed problems in the American prison system.

“I started going into the D.C. jails in August of '87 to interview people in the jail system,” Dash said. “I was looking for the underclass families that I wanted to follow.”

Dash selected four families to follow. However, only one was willing to speak.

"The only one willing to talk to me was Rosalie Cunningham,” Dash said.

“She was on methadone maintenance (and had) three grandchildren to look after because her youngest daughter was in jail for crack cocaine and six of her children were drug addicted criminals.”

Dash spent four years following

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What's your opinion on online versus in-person Instruction?

By Samuel Rahman and Talia Duffy Assistant Opinions Editor and Columnist The University began the 2021-2022 school year hoping that classes would remain in person as we attempted to transition back into what pre-pandemic campus environments looked like. Nevertheless, not all classes would return to in-person sections, and asynchronous courses populated the course catalog.

Due to rising COVID-19 cases, the University shifted classes in the first week of the spring semester to online.

Since then, students experienced two periods of harsh winter weather that, once again, saw University administrators releasing Massmails declaring another break from in-person education. Students were asked how they were dealing with the transition back and forth between online and in-person classes.

Sabeen Rahman, senior in Engineering

JAMES HOECK THE DAILY ILLINI

Leon Dash, professor in Media, has won multiple awards throughout his career in journalism.

Cunningham and her family, observing their day-to-day lives in the poverty of urban America. He recorded his observations in an article — what came to be a best-selling book titled “Rosa Lee” published in 1976.

Dash won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for “Rosa Lee”. Furthermore, a documentary based on Dash’s work won an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

When he was 54, Dash said he left the Post when the news outlet shifted interests from long-term investigative news to more conventional reporting.

In March 1997, Dash began look-

ing into teaching. He said that he was considering working with Duke University, the University of Southern California and the University of Kansas. But ultimately, Dash picked Illinois.

This semester, Dash is teaching JOUR 315: Advanced Public Affairs Reporting which teaches students to do in-depth reporting on issues of public interest.

“I try to get them to conceptually understand what they can do, what they're capable of, because many students don't think they're capable and I tell them 'Yes you are,’” Dash said. f hassan3@dailyillini.com

“It’s been very hectic. Online classes were obviously really convenient. And then when we came back to in person, a lot of the professors were lenient and understanding. Students could go online if they needed to.

“Full disclosure, when we first went online in March 2020, it was terrible.

I don’t think I remember anything I was supposed to learn in those couple months. It was really hard.”

“I got better at self-managing because you had to teach yourself a lot more. A lot of my labs became virtual which is hard for engineering labs: doing simulations virtually instead of experiments in the lab.”

we should make it easier for each other.”

Andres Munoz, student in the Intensive English Institute “At the beginning, it was a little bit difficult to schedule most of the learning processes, but it's part of our new condition. We had to be open to accept it. Generally, I had a good experience with online participation. As a student of the English Institute, when I take classes online, I can use headphones so my listening experience is better. In person, the professors wear masks so it is difficult to listen. For me, it's OK to have my classes online.”

Pavle Buksanovic, junior in LAS “I personally have been struggling with it. I find it difficult to find the motivation in the morning if classes are online. I know, when we had the snow days, it was pretty bad for me academically.”

“When the University was totally online last year, I was on campus.

Because everything was asynchronous, it was up to the professors to organize things in a way they wanted to, but it sometimes ended up being more work for the students. I think there were some good things to come out of it: that homeworks can be submitted online; more flexibility if you are sick or if there is snow.

“It’s better that we know how to use online learning now because of the flexibility it gives to learning. Even though it is probably better for the students, I still don’t like it.”

Courtney Nofsinger, junior in AHS “This is my first year back at school, so I didn’t really experience COVID-19 online. This is extremely new for me, so the first week online, it was hard to understand what was expected of me for the semester.”

“I definitely felt bad for my friends that went through online schooling when it first came around last school

year. I was going to school when it was completely in-person before COVID, so it was definitely interesting to see their experience, and I felt bad for them.”

“Fall 2021 was the first semester I was back and all my classes were in person with no switch to online. But now this semester, I feel professors are more sympathetic to you if you have COVID, giving you online opportunities to make up what you missed.”

Whether we like it or not, the recent snow days have proven the University will continue to use online learning tools in lieu of in-person courses when physical instruction is inconvenient.

It’s up to the students to adjust to the oscillation and get the most out of these academic experiences no matter how they are taught.

Samuel is a senior in LAS. srahma37@dailyillini.com Talia is a freshman in Media. taliagd2@dailyillini.com

Hafsa Shahzad, junior in LAS “I made sure that my schedule wasn’t too bad in terms of online and in-person classes, so I could make the transition easier for myself, but it's very different. I thought I would be able to bounce back into it because we did this before.

But having to sit there for almost two hours in a lecture hall, I forgot how mind-numbing it can be sometimes. I think the hybrid part is helping.

“When we first went online in March 2020, we were just trying to get through classes to pass. I wasn’t retaining much.

But with anything, with time you get practice, and it gets better through trial and error. I think everyone did a good job of knowing that this was something new, and

JAMES HOECK THE DAILY ILLINI

Andres Munoz, student at the Intensive English Institute, discusses how online classes have been beneficial to his understanding of English.

8

The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Professor uses hip-hop to turn tables on education

By Faith Allendorf and Nandika Chatterjee Features Editor and Staff Writer

The gravel rumbles as a school bus passes over the black tar road. The bus is painted light silver with blue, orange and yellow depictions of various hiphop artists in waves of color along the side. Above the windows are four words: “Double Dutch Boom Bus.” On the windows, “Hip Hop Xpress” is painted.

As hip-hop music spills out of the windows, a man steps out, microphone in hand, ready to entertain and educate his audience.

William Patterson, clinical associate professor in FAA and lecturer in Engineering and technological entrepreneurship, is the founder of the Hip Hop Xpress Innovation Lab, an initiative that combines music and technology to educate youth. As an educator, Patterson focuses on utilizing the cultural wealth of the Black music experience to teach entrepreneurialminded learning in STEM education.

Besides the Hip Hop Xpress, Patterson has also developed several other hip-hopinspired projects with students and other educators. Such projects include Flava Wear, a social entrepreneurial clothing line, and its successor, IPOWERED, a lecture series that teaches Black students how to work with underrepresented communities.

“I’ve been developing and working with young people for over 30 years,” Patterson said. “My work is to take a look at educational policy and say ‘How do I adapt this to speak to young people that are what I call hip-hop-minded?’

How do I get them to recognize that the day-to-day thing they do actually has value and worth?”

Patterson said he thought about how the College of Engineering entrepreneurial-minded learning processescentered around creativity.

Inspired by that methods, he discovered that he could use music to teach STEM in communities.

“Hip-hop is truly an engineering innovation culture,” Patterson said. “The user experience of tools such as drum machines, turntable, the repurposing of this music instruments, you know, these are all legacies of Black music that have been transferred over the years.”

Patterson developed ways to incorporate hip-hop music into education and engage the communities; one of those ways was through creating the Hip Hop Xpress Innovation Lab. “I’ve been about making certain that

Photo OTW

SYDNEY LAPUT THE DAILY ILLINI

William Patterson, clinical associate professor in FAA and lecturer in Engineering and technological entrepreneurship, is the founder of the Hip Hop Xpress: Double Dutch Boom Bus. The vehicle helps educate youth through technology and Black music. we explore those skill sets that will have been acquired over the years and how hip-hop has played a role to innovate and create new possibilities with African American youth culture,” Patterson said.

Inspired by a similar project by Tuskegee University that provided resources for families in sharecropping fields, Patterson, along with several professors and students at the University, the Double Dutch Boom Bus. “It was a sustainable energy project, and the whole goal was to talk about sustainable energy from a hip-hop perspective,” Patterson said. “Given that recording devices did not use a lot of power, they could become solar powered. We built a solar-powered recording studio.”

Through campaigns such as Lovin’ U and single stops, the bus brings music design to youth in historically-excluded areas, both locally and nationally.

“My whole goal is to make certain to young people in limited research areas have the opportunity to expand the possibilities of cultural wealth by being connected with institutions of higher aid,” Patterson said.

Patterson has also pulled together several other projects under the phrase “Ghetto Genius Universe,” an idea he presented in a TEDxUIUC talk in 2017.

“Geeks are individuals that really are astute about the craft,” Patterson said.

“Being a ghetto genius means that you have high intelligence in marginalized communities.”

Patterson said that his passion for hiphop music really developed in the 80s when he watched a DJ and some local R&B bands perform in Douglass Park.

“There was a DJ that traveled here from Philadelphia named Disco Rat, and he began showing us how to DJ,” Patterson said. “He broke out his DJing equipment and lights and all types of stuff ... I’ve always been fascinated by sound.”

Patterson said that when he got turntables, mixers and speakers, he learned how to DJ. He then began working at parties and big events, including the such as a Rock Against Racism rally in 1984.

Patterson also said radio allows him to hear bits and pieces of life from everywhere. In 1982, he said that ‘he got the signal.’

The mixtape came from the NYC radio show “The Rap Attack.” Patterson said he was blown away upon listening.

“I heard bits and pieces of New York radio; it really spoke to me,” Patterson said. “When I heard that for the first time, I found my voice that speaks to me and the style that I like to hear the world (in).”

When looking back on his accomplishments, Patterson is proud.

“There’s no way in the world I thought that being a street DJ back in the 80s would (lead me to be) a university professor teaching culture with my innovation lab that goes around the country with turntables and music production equipment,” Patterson said.

“There’s just no way.”

Patterson said that he always tells students to stay humble and to be excited about learning for the next generation.

“Always keep it ‘hip-hop,’ which means always innovate and keep your mindset free and open to the possibilities,” Patterson said. “Always, always keep dreaming.” faithaa2@dailyillini.com nandika2@dailyillini.com

The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

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Kangaroo Court guitarist brings passion to stage

By Olivia Rosenberg Assistant buzz Editor

Garrett Frank, who graduated from the University in December with a degree in geology, said he first discovered his love for music through influences at home.

“To me, the world of music was through my parents,” Frank said.

“My mom was a big Fleetwood Mac fan, and my dad was a big Doors fan.

Through those two avenues, I discovered classic rock originally, which I feel like is true for a lot of people in our generation, just listening to what our parents listened to. That was my foundation.”

Building upon the foundation created with the help from his family, it was not until he discovered his own musical inspirations that his passion for playing really grew.

“I had a really cool friend that introduced me to The Strokes, and from there, it was game over,” Frank said. “I wanted to be Albert Hammond Jr., their guitar player. The love I had for early Strokes material pushed me to want to learn the guitar. I wanted to be a Stroke, and I wanted to be on stage looking cool playing a guitar.”

Once his passion struck, Frank joined a church band with friends during his freshman year of high school.

“Essentially, straight out of the gate, I was playing in front of people with my friends, having an absolute blast,” Frank said. “Pretty soon after playing bass, I transitioned my free time to playing a lot more guitar and went from there, using lessons online or getting together with my friends to play, learn and soak up everything they would teach me.”

Fueled by his passion for playing live, Frank continued to play and write music with different bands.

It wasn’t until this past fall that he joined his latest group, Kangaroo Court.

“I was freshly out of a different play with a different group of people and transitioned right into this group,” Frank said. “It was perfect timing for me to be able to go straight into playing music with a different group of people. I didn’t really miss a beat.”

Besides Frank on guitar, Kangaroo Court consists of Jake Luce on vocals and guitar, Cody Spiezil on drums and Noah Tenninson on bass.

When describing their sound, Frank

SYDNEY LAPUT THE DAILY ILLINI

University alumnus Garrett Frank plays the guitar outside of the Union on Saturday. Frank joined the band Kangaroo Court last fall. went on to explain the varying styles each member brings into the music and how different elements combine to make for a unique style.

“It’s an exciting set to listen to,” Frank said. “It’s psychedelic in the sense (that) it’s hard to anticipate.

I don’t hear a lot of stuff like ours from one band. You’d have to kind of look through a couple of different bands in a couple of different genres to get a good picture of what we sound like if you’re trying to compare it to one specific sound.”

The band has been busy playing at various gigs in the C-U area, as well as out of state in West Lafayette and Nashville, with upcoming shows in both the campus area and around the Midwest.

“To be honest, I think a lot of the opportunities we get come from Jake and our manager, Mallory Mahen, just being obsessed with this band

and giving it all the push that they have,” Frank said. “You can be great musicians, and you can play great music, but if you don’t have people willing to put in the work to publicize that music and get people excited about it, then it goes nowhere.”

The passion the band puts into their music is clear to members of the C-U community who continuously support their work and attend their gigs.

Kangaroo Court has been popping up frequently across local music scene.

“With the Urbana music scene, there’s just so much love and support from those people and from the collective group,” Frank said. “What’s exciting about highlighting local music and having fun at these shows is that nobody’s taking themselves too seriously, and everyone is able to express themselves for who they are. Having support from the community is a really inspiring thing.”

Kangaroo Court is continuing their live performances as well as working on additional projects, like releasing music to streaming platforms. For their recorded work, it’s important to Frank that they stay true to the sound that’s cultivated from playing live.

“We’ve got a ton of really exciting stuff on the horizon that I’m really excited to share with the people that have been enjoying what we’re doing,” Frank said. “We’ve got a single that we’re mixing right now — it’s one of our favorite songs to play live — as well as hopefully releasing an album in 2022. If people are excited to see us live, there are tons of opportunities to do that. If they’re excited to hear us on the streaming platforms then very soon hopefully, they’ll be able to do so.” ogr3@readbuzz.com

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Student plays matchmaker for Valentine's Day

By Amrita Bhattacharyya News Editor

Cesar Monsalud, senior in Engineering, led a team of 10 students in creating matches on Valentine’s Day for people interested in going out.

Monsalud made a Reddit post on Feb. 2 in r/UIUC with a Google Forms, calling his project the “Dating Illini.”

Matching a total of 112 people, Monsalud and his team finished last Wednesday and sent out emails to the matches.

Last year, Monsalud created a post for the winter holidays. With the goal of creating perfect matches in mind, Monsalud says he only made about 10 matches total out of 100 people applying.

“Last year, with me and my team, we tried doing it based on perfect matches,” Monsalud said. “I was trying to pair everyone up perfectly, and I couldn’t do it.”

As a result, Monsalud decided to take matters into his own hands.

This year, everyone who applied in time would be matched.

“I asked people what they didn’t want,” Monsalud said. “It’s like 1,000 times easier this year.”

Lindsay Merdian, sophomore in LAS and Media, joined the team after Monsalud asked her if she was interested in helping out.

“I used to make PowerPoints for my friends a lot with just random things, like matching them with fictional characters or different things,” Merdian said.

Merdian made a couple matches and checked over matches that other members on the team made.

“It was just kind of fun to see that come together,” Merdian said.

Monsalud said one of his motivations for creating Dating Illini was because he noticed a lot of posts on r/UIUC about people saying they were lonely and looking for more friends.

“I just want to make sure that nobody is lonely on Valentine’s Day,” the Reddit post by Monsalud said.

ANGEL SALDIVAR THE DAILY ILLINI

Cesar Monsalud, senior in Engineering, is a part of the r/UIUC Reddit community. Monsalud created a matchmaking thread on the app to set students up on blind dates for Valentine’s Day. A transfer student himself, Monsalud said he felt that the University’s effort in helping transfer students get to know each other fell short.

“I feel like ... the school made a little effort to match up the freshmen.

For us transfer students, we kind of got screwed over pretty hard,” Monsalud said. “So, ever since last year, I’ve been making pairs with friends.

And then I’ve just been doing that for my whole time here. Just helping people get connected because I know how it is to feel lonely.”

Monsalud intends to send out a response form after Valentine’s Day to get feedback on the quality of the matches. He also plans on matching up any last-minute dates for those who signed up for Dating Illini and are stood up on Valentine’s Day. “I hope that everything goes well first time around,” Monsalud said. abhatt52@dailyillini.com

“I used to make PowerPoints for my friends a lot with just random things, like matching them with fictional characters or different things.”

Lindsay Merdian, sophomore in LAS

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022

11

`It's a tremendous honor'

Duong leads Illinois women's tennis in court one singles, doubles

By James Kim Staff Writer

Playing the top courts at a school as big as Illinois is a difficult feat to achieve. Many players have to wait until their final years to earn those spots, and even then, earning them is never a guarantee. However, sophomore Kate Duong has achieved this in just her second season playing for Illinois women’s tennis.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Duong said. “Coming into Illinois, I didn’t think I would ever play this role. I think it’s a great honor, and I want to play my role well. I know I can lead the team to do bigger and better things.

I just want to keep working hard and keep playing my best so I can do better for Illinois.”

Duong had a successful freshman year, posting winning records across the board. She went 14-8 overall in singles play and 13-9 overall in doubles play. Heading into this season, Duong said she was not surprised by the news that she would be leading the team in singles. The role given to her in doubles, though, was more of a shock.

“I did not expect myself to be court one for doubles, given last year I played on court three,” Duong said.

“I assumed I would play around two or three doubles honestly, because I’d never thought of myself as much of a doubles player. But then this year, it was something I’d focused on. I wanted to get better, I wanted to be reliable and I wanted to play higher than I was last year, and I think I improved a lot.”

Duong’s additional work on her doubles game earned her coaches’ trust and has seen her get off to a strong start this year, partnered with freshman Megan Heuser. The duo is 6-3 together, winning five of these matches in front of their home fans at Atkins Tennis Center.

The chemistry between the two underclassmen is evident. They have a good understanding of each other and share similar work ethics. Duong attributes this strong bond with Heuser as the key to their success on the court, emphasizing how they know they can “set each other up for success” and

SIDNEY MALONE THE DAILY ILLINI

Sophomore Kate Duong has made a significant stride within her career in tennis by earning a spot in the top courts within her second season. achieve big things for Illinois.

As the top Illini in singles play, Duong faces off against the best tennis players from other schools. It can be a lot of pressure for even senior players, so as a sophomore, Duong utilizes a mixture of mental strength and advice given to her from upperclassmen teammates to keep her calm and relaxed.

Duong recalls how important the support from senior Asuka Kawai was for her last season. The now-graduated Kawai was an All-American who had been playing on Illinois’ top courts for many years, and she was vital to helping Duong turn her whole mindset around for the better.

“I started off at the number two position in the first few matches but

immediately got moved down, ending up at five singles,” Duong said.

“I wasn’t playing well, I was in my head, I wasn’t confident and I just kept thinking my opponent was better than me. However, senior Asuka Kawai helped me so much. She was able to tell me the ways she handled the pressure, and it really helped me rise in the lineup all the way back to number two.”

Duong has kept these same tips in mind going into this season. Even when battling against the best players in the country, she’s able to remain positive knowing she deserves to be there, competing as one of them. However, crucial advice and support from senior teammates was not the only major takeaway from last season.

Duong has some unfinished business in the Big Ten, especially against Purdue, which Illinois plays in April.

“I know their number one [player, Csilla Fodor] this year,” Duong said.

“I played her last year three times and lost all three times. The very last time we played was at the Big Ten Championships, where I had the lead but let her come back, so I’m very eager to play her this year. We’ve both grown so much, and I’m just looking forward to playing her again and getting my revenge.”

This year, Illinois will be taking a young team to compete in the Big Ten, having welcomed three freshmen into the program, including Heuser, Kida Ferrari and Kasia Treiber, all of whom have already proven they’re starter level.

“I think it’s tremendous that we have so many underclassmen in the lineup,” Duong said. “It just shows you how good our team can be, especially in the future. Having three freshmen in the lineup who are all performing and living up to their standards is just a testament to how we practice and how our coaches are helping us to develop.

We can only go up from here.”

As the top player on a team of young Illini, Duong is now taking a mentoring role herself.

“I want to be that role model for people,” Duong said. “I want to help our freshmen out, showing them that yes, I am a sophomore, but I can still be the best player on the team and play number one doubles and singles. I’m just so happy in this spot, and I don’t want to let anyone down.”

Illinois is currently 6-3 and will be in action next against Cornell. The matchup will serve as the team’s final home appearance until March, and a win would extend the Illini’s undefeated home streak to six games. This would be a great boost for the Illini as the start of the Big Ten looms on the horizon.

“I feel very confident in our team right now,” Duong said. “Last year we started off with four losses, which was really hard. But coming into this season, we were able to get some good wins, and we’re undefeated at home.

We’ve already got six wins under our belt, which gives us confidence going into Big Ten play.” @james_kim15

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The DI · Wednesday, February 23, 2022