The Reveille 7-26-21

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page 2 NEWS

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Young Republicans have taken a more active role than previous conservative generations in the fight against climate change.

SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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How donating and thrifting used clothes reduces fashion waste, helps the environment and curbs environmentally harmful ‘fast fashion’ practices.

OPINION

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“The culture war stoked by Republicans in Washington, D.C. is burning in Baton Rouge, and it’s not going anywhere.”

L SU Re ve i l le.co m @l s u r e ve i l le

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RISING RATES

B-16 Hodges Hall Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, La. 70803

LSU Medical Advisory: require masks, social distancing indoors for fall

BY CADEN LIM @cadenlim5 The LSU Health and Medical Advisory Committee recommended LSU administration require masks indoors in the fall semester to combat the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in Louisiana.

The committee said in a statement Friday that it has met often since the start of the pandemic and firmly believes certain protocols taken by the administration would prevent virus breakouts when school starts.

The committee suggested requiring masks at all times indoors and a COVID-19 test for all oncampus residents before arriving on campus. It also said to test a residential hall when wastewater has a large detection of the virus.

LSU is not able to mandate vaccines due to state law, but the committee urged everyone on campus to get vaccinated and report it to the school. The committee also encouraged social distancing at all times.

The committee also recommended all classes be recorded

GRAPHIC BY SOPHIE VAGIANOS

and available online for students who miss class, especially due to COVID-19. It also said to keep using the Daily Symptom Checker.

The university has also already

begun installing HEPA filtration and expects to be done before the semester.

This statement from the Medical Advisory Committee came the

same day Gov. John Bel Edwards suggested that people wear masks indoors. Edwards and the Louisiana Department of Health are concerned with the surge in COVID-19 in rates, which Louisiana leads the nation per capita.

No decisions are final, however. There will be a faculty forum so the committee can get faculty input. The committee said it will continue to monitor the situation before making final decisions for the fall semester.

The university is raffling off prizes for students, faculty and staff who report their vaccination status. Students can win a MacBook Air, an Apple Watch, an iPad, a $250 gift card for books and school supplies, two sideline passes for an upcoming football game, a ticket upgrade for student and a guest to an upcoming football game, or a signed football and poster from Coach Ed Orgeron.

Employees can win an iPad, an LSU tailgate tent and chairs, a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card, two sideline passes for an upcoming football game, or a signed football from Orgeron.

Over 90% of LSU football team is vaccinated While student vaccination rate, statewide vaccination rate lags behind

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BY CADEN LIM @cadenlim5 The Southeastern Conference held its annual media day in Hoover, Alabama Monday, and The Advocate reported Tuesday that the LSU football team has one of the highest vaccination rates in the SEC. The team has over 90% of its personnel vaccinated. The Tigers will have more flexibility with COVID-19 protocols in the SEC and are less likely to forfeit games on their schedule if there are COVID-19 outbreaks in the upcoming football season.

When new university President William Tate took office at the start of July, only 26% of the student body had reported to LSU that they were fully vaccinated.

Tate said at the time that the rate was unacceptable, and that it must increase substantially if the students want to experience a 2019-like, pre-pandemic semester.

But the LSU football season should go as planned.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey recommended teams not reschedule games due to outbreaks this season, especially with the novel Delta variant surging in the U.S. Sankey proposed an incentive that if the SEC meets an 85% threshold, teams will no longer be required to test for COVID-19 or wear masks inside their facilities.

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As the state’s vaccination rate plateaus, its case rate increases dramatically.

Sankey also said six of the 14 teams in the SEC have reached an 80% vaccination rate, and Georgia coach Kirby Smart confirmed the Bulldogs have a rate of over 85%.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron said most of LSU’s team is vaccinated, but did not specify an exact vaccination rate. Orgeron also said he believes the vaccine is a personal choice, but hopes most of the team gets vaccinated.

Several games were rescheduled in the 2020 season, but Sankey said the SEC will not set extra time aside again this season to

accommodate outbreaks. Sankey said vaccines are widely available and highly effective, so there is the ability to avoid any health risk.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported 3,127 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 Sunday.

It also reported that 1,008 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday afternoon, the highest number since February.

Chief medical officer of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center Dr. Catherine O’Neal said in a press conference Friday Loui-

siana’s largest hospital has admitted the largest number of patients since January. She said Louisianans can either get vaccinated or “accept death.”

Sankey said the SEC is prepared to proceed with the football season as scheduled.

LSU is still set for its seasonopener on Sept. 4 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The venue is expected to have a 100% stadium capacity as of now. Los Angeles County, which Pasadena is a part of, restored its mask mandate Sunday.

The Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the highest priority and wants to reassure its readers the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards. This space is reserved to recognize and correct any mistakes that may have been printed in The Daily Reveille.

If you would like something corrected or clarified, please contact the editor at (225) 578-4811 or email editor@lsureveille.com.

ABOUT THE REVEILLE The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication.

A single issue of The Reveille is free from multiple sites on campus and about 25 sites off campus. To obtain additional copies, please visit the Office of Student Media in B-39 Hodges Hall or email studentmedia@ lsu.edu. The Reveille is published biweekly during the fall, spring and summer semesters, except during holidays and final exams. The Reveille is funded through LSU students’ payments of the Student Media fee.

NEWS

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FROM ACROSS THE AISLE Young Republicans take up fight against climate change

COURTESY OF COURTNEY HOPE

Courtney Hope speaks at the Conservative Climate Rally in Miami, Florida, on June 5. Hope is running for national chairperson of the College Republican National Committee.

BY DOMENIC PURDY, SAMANTHA BEEKMAN & VERONICA BACKERPERAL @Tigerdom16, @samlabee & @VBPeral Editor’s Note: This story was initially published in Project Citizen: Climate 360, a collaboration between a diverse group of students from across the United

States devoted to reporting on climate change.

Republicans are three times less likely than Democrats to believe that addressing climate change should be a top priority of government.

But change may be coming.

Young Republicans — under age 39 — are twice as likely as their Baby Boomer elders to support

climate action, according to the Pew Research Center.

Young Republicans have taken a more active role than previous conservative generations in the fight against climate change, distancing themselves from former President Donald Trump’s denial of global warming.

“There’s this outdated notion that Republicans don’t care

about climate change. The reality is that we increasingly do,” Ben Smith, chairman of the Louisiana Association of College Republicans, said. “Young conservatives are particularly passionate about finding workable solutions that allow us to address and adapt to the pressures placed on us by climate change.”

Conservative Values and

Climate Change One of the most prominent climate-minded conservative organizations is the American Conservation Coalition, founded in 2017 by Millennials led by activist Benji Backer and “dedicated to mobilizing young people around environmental action through

see CLIMATE, page 4

COVID-19

Edwards calls for return to masks indoors amid COVID spike

BY MELINDA DESLATTE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Friday encouraged everyone, whether vaccinated or not, to wear masks indoors if they can’t stay distanced from others.

But the Democratic governor stopped short of issuing a statewide face covering mandate or new restrictions on activities and businesses amid the state’s fourth spike of COVID-19, driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

Louisiana — which has among the nation’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates — is seeing thousands of new confirmed cases of the coronavirus illness each day, and its hospitalizations have surged in recent weeks.

Edwards said Louisiana has the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the nation and has been labeled a “state of concern” by the White House.

“We’ve effectively lost six months of progress over the last two or three weeks,” said Dr. Joe Kanter, the governor’s chief public health adviser.

Edwards placed the blame squarely on people refusing to get immunized against the coronavirus in a state where only about 48% of those eligible for the

vaccines have gotten at least one shot.

“It pains me to say this, but this one is on us. This surge is on us. How bad it gets, how long it stays bad, how many people ultimately die — on us,” the governor said.

In addition to a return to maskwearing indoors, Louisiana’s health department is suggesting even those who are vaccinated should get tested for COVID-19 if they have been exposed to the illness and recommending that people work remotely from home if possible.

Edwards is requiring masks to be worn in state buildings under his control if social distancing isn’t possible.

The governor’s latest state recommendations represent a break from some of the guidance offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Edwards and state health officials said the severity and speed of Louisiana’s latest surge of coronavirus cases warrants such a response.

The soaring hospitalizations of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients are putting medical staffs in Louisiana under stress, as public health leaders and state officials continue to plead for people to get the shots that can prevent THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

see EDWARDS, page 4

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks about the state’s latest surge in coronavirus cases July 23.

Monday, July 26, 2021

page 4

CLIMATE, from page 3 common-sense, market-based, and limited-government ideals.”

In 2020 the ACC released its American Climate Contract. According to Grist, a publication dedicated to climate reform, the contract is the conservative answer to the Green New Deal, a $93 trillion plan proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-D) to bring U.S. emissions to net-zero by 2030.

Following the proposal of the American Climate Contract, the group hosted the American Conservative Climate Rally on June 5 in Miami. The event highlighted Republican leadership in the field of climate activism.

There was a small Republican-led counterprotest at the rally where protesters called Baker and his colleagues RINOs – Republicans in Name Only.

Gallup’s annual survey on climate change shows political polarization around climate change to be worse than in nearly two decades.

In 2021, only 29% of Republicans believe climate change has already begun compared to 46% in 1993. Democrats’ belief in the science of climate change nearly doubled in the same time period from 46% to 82%.

Smith attributes this increased polarization to a false belief that science and hardline conservative politics are mutually exclusive.

“That’s a really harmful idea that’s come about lately, that science endorses one policy or the other,” Smith said. “As a conservative, I believe in conserving communities and being a good shepherd to the environment. To me, the scientific evidence behind climate change doesn’t dispute that ideology.”

Alexander Diaz, president of the Catholic University of America’s chapter of the ACC in Washington, D.C., said combating climate change is consistent with Republican values.

“I think it’s always been a part of the conservative identity. One of the first great conservationists was Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican,” Diaz said. “I think that conservation feeds into the identity of conservatism because we’re

EDWARDS, from page 3 the disease.

“Our staff is feeling stretched.

Our staff is also as you can imagine disheartened that we are going through this not one, two, three, but four times,” said Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, Medical Director of Infection Prevention for the 40-hospital Ochsner Health system. “This time it is even harder because we know that this is largely preventable.”

More than 90% of all new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are among those who aren’t fully vaccinated, Kanter said.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins also told their cities’ residents this week that they

CARTOON BY ETHAN GILBERTI/ The Reveille Archives

Great American Outdoors Act, which garnered bipartisan support for the annual $1.9 billion the act would provide for maintenance of America’s national parks and to conserve the American landscape in a proactive manner.

The House GOP recently formed a Republican-led group on climate change.

Legislation on climate change, such as the Climate Action Now Act, is also frequently decided along party lines. The 2019 House legislation passed with only three Republican votes. There were 197 Republican representatives present. The legislation was centered around the U.S.’s participation in the Paris Agreement.

The international treaty designed to limit carbon emissions – 15% of which comes from the U.S. – faces frequent opposition by conservative voters and politicians, even those who agree with the legislation’s sentiment on climate change.

Republicans like Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee worried reentering the Paris Agreement in 2021 would “cost American jobs and force households and small businesses to pay higher utility bills.”

The economic consequences of climate policy are of significant concern to many young Republicans. Donahue corroborated this point, stating that “we need to be worried about the economic impact of our decisions as well,” and noting that policies targeting fossil fuels would disproportionally impact the lower class.

“You think the guys driving a Lamborghini are getting hurt?” he said. “No—it’s the person taking the bus.”

Still, young Republicans like those at the Conservative Climate Rally believe the conversation on climate change can only be solved through compromise.

“Republicans bring a different perspective and different solutions to the table that need to be taken into account,” Courtney Hope, the ACC’s Climate Rally College Republican National Committee representative, said. “Floods and hurricanes don’t discern between Republicans and Democrats, so no one wins if we can’t work together for positive change.”

trying to protect what we have right now to give it to the next generation.”

Will Donahue, president of Loyola Marymount University College Republicans and chief of staff of the California College Republicans, echoed the belief that conservation and environmentalism are key pillars of the Republican party.

“There’s this misconception that conservatives are climate destroyers – and it’s like no, conservatives were the first protectors of the environment,” Donahue explained. “Conservatives are often times hunters or fishermen.

We enjoy the wild. So all of our rules and regulation for hunting and conserving species—a lot of these came from originally conservative policy changes.”

Diaz and Smith are optimistic regarding Republicans’ future involvement in mitigating the effects of climate change. And they believe a polarized political environment is the biggest issue in the American debate on climate

change.

“The American people are losing out on a real honest and genuine conversation about climate change. I think that’s the consequence of us over politicizing it,” Smith said. “Everyone gets so frustrated with all the yelling and talking past each other that they just want a simple solution. The problem with climate change is that it’s much more nuanced than a simple solution.”

Same Problem, Different Solution Young conservatives like Smith and Diaz say the existence of climate change isn’t up for debate. Democrats’ proposed solutions to the climate change is where they begin to diverge.

Republicans say policies like the Green New Deal and the Biden Administration’s climate plan are not effective or realistic methods to combat climate change.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm to talk about it,” Smith said. “At the end of the day it’s really

performative, and it is pointless if the solutions they’re offering aren’t viable. They need to be ensuring that the United States makes the transition away from fossil fuels in a way that is fiscally viable for the American people.”

In line with Biden’s climate plan, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a moderate Democrat, signed an executive order in November 2020 creating the Climate Initiatives Task Force, aimed at making the state carbon neutral by 2050. But Smith called the task force “money down the drain.” He said the task force is funding research already conducted by other administrations and a “performative action.”

“It’s very much the case of John Bel kicking the can down the road. The task force is saying they’re going to show us the results in five years,” Smith said.

“But it’ll be too late at that point.”

Both Diaz and Smith emphasize the current action being taken by Republicans in the U.S. Congress. They cited last year’s

should mask up indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

“We cannot afford to lose one more person, and we cannot afford to go into another shutdown,” Perkins said at an event with LSU Health Shreveport to encourage vaccinations.

Dr. John Vanchiere, director of the COVID-19 Strike Team at LSU Health Shreveport, talked about the rising rates of children and adults in the hospital with the coronavirus illness, as he urged people to get the widely available shots.

“Despite the myths that are promulgated in some of the social media, our vaccines do not impact fertility. Our vaccines don’t have magnets in them or chips in them that are tracking you. And they are safe,” he said. “Our vaccines

have been saving lives every day.”

But it was unclear how many would take the masking advice.

Many were going without face coverings Thursday, the day after Cantrell issued a mask advisory, in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

At Rendezvous Linen and Lace, store owner Kichin Mirpuri was unmasked: “I’m vaccinated. And I keep clean all the time.”

Louisiana is holding a weekly lottery this summer to try to drum up interest in the COVID-19 vaccine, with $2.3 million in cash prizes and scholarships to be awarded. The second round of winners were announced Friday: 65-year-old Edwina Jones, of Marrero, won $100,000 in cash while 14-year-old Andrew Homan, of Slidell, received a $100,000 college scholarship.

A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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SHIFT TO THRIFT

Resale market and thrift shopping poses reward for consumers—and the environment

BY AVA BORSKEY @iamavab Editor’s Note: This story was initially published in Project Citizen: Climate 360, a collaboration between a diverse group of students from across the United States devoted to reporting on climate change.

BATON ROUGE, LA — When she’s not busy studying Arabic or biology for her international studies major, LSU student Emily Clarke might be found shopping for clothes at a thrift store.

For Clarke, the incentive to thrift, rather than buy from traditional retailers, is two-fold: finding unique, affordable clothing and reducing her environmental footprint.

“As I grew up, I just learned more about human impact on the environment, climate change . . . and how my daily actions contribute to that,” Clarke said. “I’m very environmentally conscious about the impact of fast fashion and consumerism, so I really try to buy used clothes.”

When it comes to waste harmful to the environment, the first thing that comes to mind for many people is disposable plastic products, like water bottles and chip bags.

But according to the Environmental Protection Agency, of the 11.3 million tons of textiles that ended up in landfills in 2018, ap-

proximately 9 million tons were from clothing and footwear.

One of the biggest impacts individuals have on the environment is fashion waste, said Chuanlan Liu, a Louisiana State University textiles, apparel design and merchandising professor.

“Fast fashion [is clothing] that you wear one or two times, and you wash, and then it’s in really bad shape, so you dump it,” Liu said. “In that case, people form a really unhealthy habit.”

As more clothing is discarded, it clutters municipal solid waste landfills, which already have damaging effects on the environment. The EPA estimates that MSW landfills are the third largest source of human methane emissions in the U.S. Methane, a greenhouse gas, traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change.

From the production end, the fashion industry accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions and almost 20% of wastewater.

One way to reduce fashion waste is to keep clothes in circulation longer through a thrift store or other resale market. The popularity of this option is on the rise, especially for young people like Clarke and her friends.

“Thrifting has become almost a fad, where a lot of people in our generation do it,” Clarke said.

“We all think it’s super fun to go

out and kind of search and see what your luck is. And I think that’s had a huge impact, just that people’s mindsets have changed to include secondhand shopping as something that is acceptable in society, instead of something that is looked down upon.”

Liu said that nowadays, consumers don’t care solely about brands or trends.

“Young people tend to try to spend less but pursue more creative expression,” Liu said.

“They are creating their own looks. They are creating their own style, and that leaves the resale market a huge market.”

Brian Sleeth oversees one of Baton Rouge’s big box thrift stores, The Purple Cow, which helps fund the Christian Outreach Center, a homeless intervention ministry in Baton Rouge.

The Purple Cow started in 2004 with a 15,000-square-foot building, and has since expanded to include two other locations in the Baton Rouge area. While the store resells anything from furniture and home décor to books, Sleeth said one of the biggestselling categories is women’s clothing.

“We do get people who will donate brand new items, price tag still on it,” Sleeth said. “We sell it for a fraction of that.”

Sleeth said the motivations to thrift are numerous — there are economic reasons, environmen-

tal reasons and simply the thrill of the find.

“We call it, kind of, like a win, win, win,” he said. “It’s great all the way around. You save money, it lessens the impact on the environment, and you’re also helping out the people who need it the most in our city.”

Influencers on YouTube and TikTok have capitalized on the hot concept of sustainability by producing videos showcasing thrift hauls, or huge volumes of clothing bought from thrift stores.

“I feel like if you’re going to buy a lot of stuff — if you’re just a shopaholic who has to always be buying things — buying things secondhand is the best way to be a shopaholic,” Clarke said. “And even then, I do think thrifting has its limits.”

While Sleeth said The Purple Cow may receive massive amounts of donations, typically there is only one of everything, unlike a department store that offers multiple garments per size.

Large clothing brands have taken notice of the increasing popularity of sustainable fashion by offering resale options for customers.

Liu said that the growing popularity of the resale market could lead consumers to consider decision-making factors that go beyond one-time ownership.

“Before you buy a used car,

you always want to see that you buy some brand which can keep the value for a longer time, not depreciate very quickly,” Liu said. “The same thing applies with the resale market booming so greatly. People will truly consider a brand, consider the style, but also consider the quality a lot.”

And just as that single piece of clothing will receive a new life with each ownership, the brands will receive new ideas.

“From a consumer side, it will also kick back to the company, and the company will also want to pursue high quality,” Liu said.

Higher quality, longer-lasting clothing is an essential piece of the movement toward a slower, circular fashion model.

“Overall, it will reduce the amount of fashion waste that is generated,” Liu said.

For veteran thrifters like Clarke, thinking about this circular nature of resources and goods puts the importance of individual efforts into perspective.

“As individuals, we also should live out the lifestyle of sustainability, because it does make a difference,” Clarke said.

“When you look at something and how you use it and where it came from and where it’s going, I think that’s really important to, kind of, remind you constantly of, like, the reality of the world we live in.”

PHOTO BY COTTONBRO ON PEXELS.COM

OPINION

page 6

Wasteful session sign of legislature’s misaligned priorities SULLY’S SCOOP CLAIRE SULLIVAN

@sulliclaire

Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder said Monday that he was “100% confident” he had the votes needed to overturn a bill that banned transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

The next day, the Louisiana legislature embarked on its first veto session in modern history, and the day after that, Schexnayder’s proclamation dissolved as the trans sports ban died in the House. Having passed with an exact supermajority of 26 to 12 in the Senate, it missed the two-thirds support required in the House by just two votes.

“This bill will not protect our girls,” said Rep. Royce Duplessis of New Orleans in a stirring speech.

“This bill will only further ostracize and alienate our state’s most vulnerable and marginalized children. Children who suffer from extraordinary levels of depression, abuse, suicide, and violent attacks – which often, very often, end in death.”

Though this bill could be rejected on moral grounds alone, opposing lawmakers noted that it could also have an adverse economic impact on the state, driving away sports events and other businesses.

“You can’t have it both ways,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson of New Orleans, pointing out the hypocrisy of her Republican colleagues. “You either want businesses to come to Louisiana or you want to discriminate.”

COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

House Speaker Clay Schexnayder waits to hear results of votes in the Senate Chambers during a veto session in Baton Rouge, July 20.

The debate wasn’t all that was eventful in the capitol. In a disturbing display on the first day of session, protestors against the anti-trans bill were shoved and dragged out of the chambers, all seemingly without any verbal warning. The second day, LSU graduate student Jessie Fay Parrott was forcibly removed for standing silently with two cardboard signs, one of which read “trans girls are girls.”

Parrott described guards twisting her wrists, kicking her ankles and spraining her shoulder. “I was escorted outside the capitol after being booked, searched in the system, put on a watch list and recorded with the BRPD and state troopers,” Parrott said. “I do not feel welcome in the capitol because of the way law enforcement

conduct themselves.”

A legislature where those peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights are met with excessive force and punishment is not a people’s house.

Later Wednesday, sine die was declared, and the brief but hectic session ended without a single override of Edwards’ 28 vetoes.

The session had primarily been called to overturn vetoes on the trans sports ban and another bill that would allow residents to conceal carry without a permit, background check or training.

In a GOP-led legislature housing many conservative Democrats, sustaining the governor’s vetoes was no small task. It is because of the tireless labor of advocates that these dangerous bills failed to pass. Edwards’ political will to

fight hard for the vetoes also contributed to this success.

But though common sense and justice ultimately prevailed, the session itself spells out the darkness that permeates Louisiana politics.

It is heartbreaking that young people had to come to the state capitol to beg for basic dignity and consideration from their legislators, and it is troubling how many lawmakers fanatically embraced far-right rhetoric and policy, whether it be on trans rights or guns.

The culture war stoked by Republicans in Washington, D.C., is burning in Baton Rouge, and it’s not going anywhere.

Louisiana is a state plagued with chronic issues that desperately require attention from public

officials. Over a quarter of Louisiana children live in poverty. The state ranks dead last in education.

Rampant air pollution brings increased cancer rates to industrial communities. Wetlands are rapidly disappearing. Natural disasters repeatedly pummel the coast.

But many elected officials evidently prefer scoring political points over solving the everworsening problems that actually impact the day-to-day life of their constituents. It is unimaginable that lawmakers could turn away from these urgent issues to instead create harmful “solutions” for non-issues. Anti-trans legislators purportedly care a great deal for Louisiana girls and the fairness of their sports, but ask those same legislators to address the food insecurity, poor access to education and inadequate healthcare those children face, and suddenly they have very little to say.

The veto session – and it seems, frankly, much of the regular legislative session – was an enormous waste of time and money. Legislators are supposedly elected to improve the lives of the people in their state, but it seems many of them are more focused on pleasing their donors or winning a manufactured culture war. When the legislature is convened, residents unfortunately have more cause for fear of destruction than hope of improvement.

So, yes, this veto session was a win for decency. But it won by a difficult, narrow fight – a fight that’s nowhere near over.

Claire Sullivan is an 18-year-old coastal environmental science sophomore from Southbury, CT.

In a nutshell: The major outcomes of the recent veto override session SB-118, a bill that would have allowed gun owners to open carry firearms without a permit or any sort of training, did not pass to the House after Governor Edwards vetoed it. The bill needed 26 votes to move to the House for a veto override and received 23.

Young transgender residents of Louisiana targeted by the recent bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports can rest easy: Governor Edwards’ veto of the bill was not overridden in the recent session, although it did receive enough votes to move to the House, where it fell two votes short.

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Editor in Chief News Editor

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Claire Sullivan

Opinion Columnist

The Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, The Reveille or the university. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to opinion@lsureveille.com or delivered to B-39 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must provide a contact phone number for verification purposes, which will not be printed. The Reveille reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration while preserving the original intent. The Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Reveille’s editor in chief, hired every semester by the LSU Student Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

Quote of the Week “It is from the rights of the weak that the duty of the strong is compromised.”

Victor Hugo

French poet and novelist 1802 — 1885

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4 Barbell exercise 9 National League team 13 __ hoop; 1950s toy 14 Knickknack 15 Vicinity 16 As comfortable __ old shoe 17 Feeling remorse about 19 Pigpen 20 Pierces 21 Dishwasher cycle 22 Actor/comedian Cox 24 Murray or Hooks 25 Garbage container 27 Scale reading 30 Wonderland visitor 31 Armada 33 Bagel flavor 35 Big __; 18-wheelers 36 Slumber 37 “__ Like It Hot” 38 “Phooey!”

39 Pasture animals 40 Liver spreads 41 Museum piece 43 Woods 44 __ Jose, CA 45 Obi fabric 46 Wide gulf 49 Treats disdainfully 51 Racer Foyt & others 54 Mutual; give-andtake 56 Impudent pipsqueak 57 Linkletter & Carney 58 Successfully revived 59 Covetous feeling 60 Cream of the crop 61 Facial features 62 Word attached to ball or lid

smawe’re the rte st Place a classified at LSUReveille.com

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by Jacqueline E. Mathews

Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews

2 Dramatist 3 Pantyhose shade 4 Move down an Internet page 5 Question 6 Yen 7 Haughtiness 8 Sock part 9 PG or PG-13 10 Name for an Irish girl 11 Cub Scout groups 12 Cooking herb 13 “Olympus __ Fallen”; 2013 film 18 Characteristic 20 Mirth 23 Rainbow shapes 24 Grand Cherokee or Wrangler 25 Fishhook 26 Also known as 27 Boo-hoo 28 Folk singers’ gathering 29 Subdues 31 Run away 32 Jamie __ Curtis

7/26/21

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

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34 Examination 36 Deliberately avoid 37 Wraparound dress 39 55¢ item 40 Saucepans 42 Help 43 Legends 45 Shampoo brand

7/26/21

46 Grouch 47 In this place 48 Play parts 49 Sing alone 50 TV’s “__: Los Angeles” 52 Glib foolish talk 53 Secret agent 55 Took off quickly 56 Observe

Monday, July 26, 2021

page 8

Nostalgia of ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ hollow, of little value DOM’S UNCANNY DISCOURSE DOMENIC PURDY

@tigerdom16

Nostalgia is powerful. Harnessed correctly, it can blind us to what we are truly experiencing.

And major film studios are more than keen to our proclivity to remembering our favorite movie or tv show.

Warner Brothers is notorious for weaponizing nostalgia in movies like “The LEGO Movie,” “Ready Player One” and most recently “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” To varying degrees of success, these movies rely solely on the audience remembering iconic imagery from the past, masking any flaws the art itself has with an Easter egg hunt for the most obscure movie reference in the background of a climactic battle.

The film industry has long been defined by remembering the past.

Hell, the most iconic movies of the 1980s — “Back to the Future” and “Indiana Jones” — reminisce on films from decades prior.

What’s happening now is not reminding audiences of general feelings of 1950s Americana and 1930s movie serials, but overwhelming audiences with recognizable imagery with no substance. In the age

COURTESY OF WARNER BROS

LeBron James (left) peers past the camera on the set of “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” while Bugs Bunny (right) looks on in fear. of the internet and YouTube easter egg videos, an entire industry has cropped up solely to capitalize on nostalgia.

When “Ready Player One” and “Space Jam: A New Legacy” show us the Iron Giant, it isn’t to remind us of what it felt like watching the Brad Bird original but to solely capitalize on the imagery without any of the substance that made the original great.

The Iron Giant is a particularly powerful example of the dubious nature of nostalgia that Warner Brothers and the rest of Hollywood increasingly employ.

The 1999 original was about the

dangers of weapons and the titular character’s fear of becoming one.

“Ready Player One” ignores this and makes the Giant an instrument of war in an intellectual property filled final battle. All reverence behind specific imagery is lost when the original message is flat out ignored.

That brings us to Warner’s latest — and most egregious — nostalgia filled nightmare: “Space Jam: A New Legacy.”

Aside from having the generic sequel title in all of cinematic history, “A New Legacy” goes one step further and directly inserts LeBron James and the Loony Tunes into

G N I M CO SOON

classics like “The Matrix” and “Casablanca.” Do you think Humphrey Bogart would’ve liked Yosemite Sam playing the piano in the 1942 classic?

The end of “A New Legacy,” the movie devolves into a Where’s Waldo of Warner-owned properties.

The Mask, three different versions of the Joker and the Penguin, the Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange” and even “Rick and Morty” all make appearances as nothing more than advertisements for properties you can conveniently watch on HBO Max along with “A New Legacy.”

Movies like these aren’t celebrating these characters with these cameos: it’s using them as weapons to target that part of our brain that lights up every time we see something we recognize from the past.

You’re meant to get more enjoyment about seeing “The Flintstones” in a crowd than watching LeBron James win a basketball game.

Nostalgia, however, is not entirely bad when utilized right. If given a purpose, nostalgia and ham-fisted references to old movies and shows can be quite charming.

Warner’s own “The LEGO Movie” is about a child playing with various LEGO properties like “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings.”

The movie, like the toy line it is based on, is built around a child’s

8.2.21

imagination and its ability to make fantastic stories. It gives it a narrative reason for cameos from Superman and The Wicked Witch of the West.

Other studios like Disney are no stranger to this nostalgia-based storytelling. Movies like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Endgame” are all about legacy so it makes sense to use imagery that would remind you of the past.

It’s not an attempt to trick the audience like “A New Legacy,” but to do what movies like “Indiana Jones” and “Back to the Future” used to do: emulate a feeling.

Movies like “A New Legacy” don’t make you feel anything.

They’re soulless, written by committee — six different writers to be specific — to formulate the most “oh I remember that” reactions from an audience desperate to remember the past.

Nostalgia is not a bad thing. Far from it. Sometimes remembering the past is the best way to move forward. Where nostalgia becomes dangerous is when it is not used for the right purpose.

When nostalgia is nothing more than a weapon to remind people of better things and offer no substance is when it becomes nefarious.

Domenic Purdy is a 20-year-old journalism junior from Prairieville.