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Volume CXVIII, No. 5
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
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Activists clash over local Confederate Flag rally
National The U.S. has felt the shock of the terrorist attacks abroad, and cities are currently tightening security standards in response. President Obama has said the U.S. “will do whatever is necessary to support Belg ium.” New York, for instance is increasing security in high-risk areas in the state and has increased their counterterrorism resources. Other major U.S. cities like Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia have heightened their security, even though there are currently no existing threats. Both major Democratic and Republican candidates have publicly denounced the attacks and declared support for Belgium.
International A series of terrorist attacks have occurred internationally in the past few weeks. In Belgium, two suicide bombers detonated. They have been identified as El Bakraoui and Khalid El Bakraoui, although two other men still have yet to be identified, one of whom is on the run. Sadly, 31 people were killed and 270 were wounded. There is a potential link to the Paris attack several months ago where 130 people died. Some of the individuals involved in the terrorist attacks resided in Belgium for some time, including the sole surviving member of the Paris attackers. Currently, Belgian officials are on high alert and the U.S. is now warning citizens to be careful when traveling to Europe in the wake of these incidents.
This week’s “Top Stories” were compiled by Kayla Britt with information from CNN (www.cnn.com) and Project Syndicate (www. project-syndicate.org)
Students and professors oppose a rally celebrating the flag at the Peace Light Memorial B y J effrey L auck C ontributing W riter On Saturday, March 5, hundreds of protesters gathered beneath the Eternal Peace Light Memorial in support of and opposition to the Confederate Flag. The Gettysburg chapter of the Sons of Confederate veterans acquired a permit to hold a rally in support of the flag, prompting Gettysburg College history professor Dr. Scott Hancock to get a permit for a counter protest at the same time and place. Roughly 20 anti-flag protesters, including a handful of Gettysburg College students and professors, met near the Abraham Lincoln statue outside Stevens Hall at 1 p.m. to meet before heading to the rally. These protesters, led by Dr. Hancock, took this opportunity to prepare their message for the pro-flag demonstrators. Striving for a more holistic interpretation of the flag’s history, the demonstrators agreed with individuals’ first amendment right to fly the flag, but stressed that the flag has a history rooted in racism and oppression. The protesters posed for a picture next to the Lincoln statue before marching over a mile to the Eternal Peace Light Memorial on Oak Hill. When the anti-flag protesters reached the Peace Light, they were met by an unexpected group of other protesters who had also come to oppose the continued use of the Confederate flag. These protestors, dressed mostly in black and hiding their faces while flying black flags, were a collection of activists who had heard of the Confederate flag rally and organized their own counter-protest through Facebook. They came from all over the region – Baltimore, Freder-
Photo Courtesy of Jeffrey Lauck
Photo Credit: Democracy Matters
A group of Gettysburg students, faculty and other community members, led by Dr. Scott Hancock, prepared a message for the pro-flag demonstrators. They are pictured in front of Stevens Hall. ick, Altoona, Carlisle, Reading and even Washington, D.C. – to protest against racial hatred and stand in solidarity with those who believe the flag is a symbol of oppression. This group, lacking a leader or a name, took to the megaphone to voice their opposition to the Confederate flag, often doing so with the use of expletives and vulgar language, much to the chagrin of many of the pro-flag demonstrators and other anti-flag protesters. Altogether, about 50 people came out to protest the Confederate flag rally. “There’s a reason the KKK and Dylan Roof use that flag – it’s because they know the history of that flag,” Dr. Hancock said at the protest. “If the Sons of Confederate Veterans would be honest and recognize that history and wanted to change the symbol that would be one thing. But that’s not what they’re doing,” he continued.
An African American protester with the Facebook activist group said that she sees the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred and oppression – not freedom. “I hope that one day we won’t have to stand out against this. Someday I just want to come here to enjoy the park,” she said with a laugh. About 50 yards away, the Sons of Confederate Veterans held their own rally in support of the flag. The group listened to speeches from members of the group and even broke out into singing “Dixie” and shouting the “rebel yell” at one point. “This flag is a part of our nation’s history,” remarked one pro-flag demonstrator who attended the event dressed in a blue officer’s frock coat, portraying Union general John Newton. Another pro-flag demonstrator from Lynchburg, Virginia explained that he was there to celebrate his family’s heritage in the
29th Virginia infantry, a unit that served in the Confederate Army. “We want unity – not division,” he said. “That’s why we’re under the Peace Light.” At times, the protests seemed far from peaceful. At one point, chants of “Black Lives Matter” from the anti-flag protesters were answered with chants of “All Lives Matter” on the pro-flag side. Members of the Facebook activist group used their megaphones to shout phrases like “The South will not rise again! Your heritage is hate!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! Your racism has got to go!” Following a violent demonstration by the Ku Klux Klan a few weeks ago in Anaheim that left fivepeople in critical condition with stab wounds and other injuries, tensions were high for many of those present. “The 1st Amendment protects the freedom of speech for
both groups,” said Chief Ranger Jeremy Murphy of the National Park Service. “We have two separate areas for the two groups to keep the demonstration peaceful. We also have federal law officers, Cumberland Township police, Pennsylvania State patrol, and the Gettysburg Borough police here in case anything happens.” In between the two barricades, an older woman stood flying an American flag that she said was her father’s burial flag. “My father served at Okinawa in World War II, and this is his flag,” she said. “I’m here because we should be united. We are Americans first – we are Democrats, Republicans, Northerners, and Southerners second.” She wanted demonstrators on both sides to remember that “this flag is why we are able to protest.”
Series of laptop thefts reported on c a m p u s The campus is on alert after a total of five laptops were stolen in the past month
B y J amie W elch W eb M anager Students at Gettysburg College are on high alert this week after a series of laptop thefts around campus have shaken the community of trust on campus to its core. The thefts occurred at various locations on campus in the period from Feb. 10 to March 17, according to the Gettysburg College Department of Public Safety. A total of five laptops were stolen. The first incident occurred on Feb. 10 in Bream Gym. A student said that his laptop was stolen from the second floor men’s locker room between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. The laptop had been left unattended. The laptop stolen from Bream Gym has been recovered and the
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responsible person has been identified. According to DPS, the person identified was a Gettysburg student who is being dealt with through the college’s judicial process. Since criminal charges were not filed, the name of this student is not public information. The next three thefts occurred in Musselman Library in the evening hours of March 3. In all cases the laptops had been left unsecured and unattended at the time that they were stolen. No suspects have been identified in this case. DPS declined to comment on the status of the investigation into these thefts citing the fact that this is still an active DPS investigation. Most recently, on the evening of March 17, a laptop was reported stolen from
an unsecured vehicle parked outside the College Union Building. DPS said that investigation into this theft is ongoing and that a responsible party has not yet been identified, but did comment that they do not believe there is any connection between this incident and the library thefts on March 3. These thefts follow a series of thefts between Oct. 2014 and Dec. 2015 involving items including a ring, pendant, bracelet, a television, camera equipment, gaming equipment, and games that were stolen from residential facilities, and over 100 DVDs that were stolen from Musselman Library. The two employees believed to be responsible for a majority of these thefts are no longer employed by the
Money in Let’s Talk Weird News, American politics About Poetry - Democracy pg. 2 column, Matters, pg. 3 pg. 2
College. Executive Director of Public Safety William Lafferty said in an email to the Gettysburgian that some, but not all of these recent thefts were reported to the Borough police department, which is conducting its own investigation into the matter. Lafferty said the decision of whether or not to report the incident to Borough police was solely up to the student, and in many cases the student opted not to report. Lafferty also said, “Laptop thefts are crimes of opportunity and in nearly all cases, the laptops were left unsecured and unattended.” Lafferty told the Gettysburgian that DPS has stepped up patrols of common spaces where students gather and study and has communicated with em-
Apple, the FBI, and cybersecurity, pg. 4
ployees of those areas to be vigilant and report concerns immediately. He also offered several tips to help students reduce the likelihood of theft. First and foremost, do not leave personal items of value in unattended or unsecured offices or spaces. Students should take items with them or ask a trusted friend/colleague to watch over the items. Second, students should lock their devices in a safe place when not in use or use a cable lock that wraps around a desk or chair leg. Lafferty also suggested applying distinctive paint markings (such as indelible markers) or engravings to one’s laptop to make it unique and easily Continued on page 2
Managing The Fight for pots-break Reproductive Justice, stress, pg. 7 pg. 7
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NEWS ♦
Thursday, March 24, 2016
String of laptop thefts occur on Gettysburg campus Musselman Library, Bream Gym, and student vehicle robbed of valuable electronics in the past months Continued from page 1
identifiable. When it comes to recovering stolen property, comparing serial numbers may be the only way for police to positively identify a computer, so it is essential to have a list of serial numbers of high-value property that is maintained separate from the equipment. Additionally, Lafferty urged students to be aware that if their computer is stolen, automatic log-ins can make it easy for a thief to access information or send
inappropriate messages with their account. Students should use password protection and require a person to log in every time the computer goes to sleep or powers down. Lafferty said that community members should report anything that seems out of place or suspicious immediately to DPS at 717337-6911 or to the police at 9-1-1 as this could aid in the identification of the person(s) responsible. “If you see something, say something,” he said.
Senior Hayley Jacobsen, who was working in the library when two students reported that they had their laptops taken, said that thefts definitely changed the way she feels about safety on campus. “I never thought twice about leaving my computer around before. I was so shocked I actually thought they were kidding.”
Bream Gym (left) and Musselman library were both the sites of laptop thefts over the past few months. Gettysburg College and the borough have been looking into these incidents since then.
Money in politics: discussing “name your price” democracy
Democracy Matters executive director Dr. Joan Mandle talks about politics B y J ulia S ippel S taff W riter
As class resumed on March 14 and 15 after spring break, students involved in Democracy Matters as well as students in a few classes were able to meet Dr. Joan Mandle, the executive director of Democracy Matters. A Colgate University professor and founder of the school’s Center for Women’s Studies, Dr. Mandle is passionate about issues of policy and democracy, particularly in regards to the economics of politics. At present, a small portion of wealthy individuals provide the funding for elections--- totaling more than eight billion dollars for the upcoming presidential contest. “The amount of money we’re spending on this election is. . . absurd.” Less than .25% of Americans are contributing to this vast amount of financial resources.
In the light of a cynical populous, Dr. Mandle affirms that awareness and recognition can lead to a newfound hope in American politics. She presents an alternative that is already happening in places like New York City: public financing. Public financing could break down to about six dollars per person per election cycle. As more people recognize their dissatisfaction with the state of funding for American politics, exchanging a McDonald’s meal for democracy is a hopeful alternative. “Young people currently outnumber senior citizens,” Dr. Mandle said of the electorate. She emphasized the importance of finding the positive than just voting to say “no.” “I learned all that I know from Martin Luther King,” she elaborated. Look to the “I Have A Dream” speech and realize what the
country could be. It comes down to asking the general people, “What’s bothering you?” she explained. “The big funders do not give you money without wanting something back.” In turn, their benefits come before those of the people -- case in point, the prevalence of seemingly avoidable student debt and a political disconnect regarding climate change. Students looking to contribute to the discussion of these issues can join Democracy Matters and about 200 other organizations on April 17 for a “Democracy Awakening” in Washington D.C. Change will not be immediate, of course, but each step--- each individual’s participation--- will prove crucial. In turn, a “new dawning of awareness” can arise, bringing back the government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” to America.
Weird News of the Week
Dr. Joan Mandle is the executive director for the national Democracy Matters organization, and is also a Colgate University professor and founder of the Center for Women’s Studies.
Senate Update
By Kayla Britt News Editor
March 21, 2016
Don’t Try This One at Home 52-year-old Ricky Charles, who is the owner of the Inferno’s Challenge entertainment company, was injured in a freak accident while performing fire breathing at a high school pep rally. Apparently he used a new lighter fluid, which he had not practiced with. Thankfully he is in recovery at Delray Medical Center. Practice next time, please? The Treehugger An unidentified man is reportedly refusing to get down from the top of an 80-foot Sequoia tree in Seattle, Washington. His appearance has been likened to that of Yukon Cornelius in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, although no one has seen him up close and personal. Local officers have attempted to coax him to climb down, but believe it is in everyone’s best interest to take it slowly so no one is hurt. He’s certainly taking the term “treehugger” to the next level.
By Brooke Gutschick Student Senate Secretary
Student Senate Bullet Points •
Servo Discussion Night will take place next Tuesday,
March 29 from 5:00-8:00pm. The night is meant to foster discussion about the campus climate, serve as an extension of the Town Hall meeting, and create conversation amongst strangers and acquaintances. •
Vibe was allotted $297
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College Democrats was allotted $1,000
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Young Americans for Liberty was allotted $1,000
•
China Culture Club was re-recognized
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Rotaract Club was re-recognized
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ACM was re-recognized
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Cooking Club was re-recognized
Students are welcome to attend the weekly meetings of the Student Senate Mondays at 7 p.m. in CUB 260.
Interested in writing for News?
Get your article on the front page of The Gettysburgian Contact Kayla Britt (britka01) for more details!
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A&E ♦
Thursday, March 24, 2016
L e t ’ s T a l k A b o u t P o e t r y : WZBT: Gettysburg College’s The Reason for Rhyme Very Own Radio Station B y E mily P ierce S taff W riter Time for a slightly controversial opinion: there’s nothing wrong with poetry that rhymes. Rhyming gets a bad reputation. I get it. You don’t want to feel like you’re in a Dr. Seuss story on your quest for emotional fulfilment through poems. Shakespeare seems like fun from the outside, but if you wanted to hear words in rhythmic sing-song you’d have to just put on your copy of The Phantom of the Opera. T r u s t m e , I completely understand where you’re coming from. I tend to avoid rhyme in my poetry, mostly because I hate being accused of pedantry. At this point, it is honestly kind of an ego thing. If so many people hate rhyme, though, why does it still pervade through even today’s poetry? T h e a n s w e r is because it’s one of storytelling’s only true constants. Granted, the reason why we tend to associate heavy use of rhyme is because of its prevalence in material aimed towards children. But rhyming text is proven to be helpful in
aiding memory retention in children. While the specific rhymes only really stay in the child’s short-term memory, word association sticks more permanently in long-term memory. We teach kids “nursery rhymes” for a reason, not “nursery bits of prose that sound kind of nice but are difficult to remember in the long run.” The former seriously sticks longer. It’s science. Let’s look back at Shakespeare. While not all parts of his plays and sonnets are written in characteristic iambic pentameter, the “A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D, and so forth” rhyme scheme remains frequently associated with his work. It’s not just there to give the Bard room to flex his chops. Rhyming was a significant artistic choice that promoted accessibility to audiences in the Elizabethan age who would usually only be able to access entertainment from peers or from passion plays. The proletariat defined Shakespeare’s s u c c e s s , a r g u a b l y contributing to the lasting power of his wordssomething that would never have happened without rhyme. By discounting the value of rhyme, we also
fail to acknowledge the artistic aspects of popular songwriting. Certainly, there are a few songs with no internal rhyme scheme. But the completeness of ideas within the small space of a musical piece is arguably the utmost priority in creating songs. Moreover, a good rhyme— and a good lyricist—can make significant waves. The core of hip-hop and rap music, some of the most popular genres around today, lies in the structure of each piece’s lyrical content; even slant rhyme, where the parallel between words may not be immediately concise, makes an enormous difference. Although rhyme within poetry might not be your particular cup of tea, its value as a literary device within both art and entertainment as a whole is undeniable. Rhyme has been used to help the brain in development, break down classist social barriers, and provide entertainment and introspection through song and spoken word. When you next choose to write fair words, consider rhyme with which to be heard.
In Theatres Near You Majestic Theater
25 Carlisle St, Gettysburg, PA 17325 Anomalisa 1 hour, 30 minutes – R Charlie Kaufman’s first stop-motion film about a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. Friday - Saturday (3/25 - 3/26) - 4:15 PM and 7:15 PM Sunday (3/27) - CLOSED Monday (3/28) - 4:15 PM Tuesday - Thursday (3/29 - 3/31) - 4:15 PM and 7:15 PM Youth 2 hours, 4 minutes – R A retired orchestra conductor is on holiday with his daughter and his film director best friend in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip’s birthday. Friday - Saturday (3/25 - 3/26) - 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM Sunday (3/27) - CLOSED Monday - Thursday (3/28 - 3/31) - 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Gateway Theater Routes 30 & 15, Gettysburg, PA
FRIDAY MARCH 25TH THRU WEDNESDAY MARCH 30TH **NO SHOWS AFTER 7:50PM MONDAY THRU THURSDAY** **BARGAIN TUESDAYS – ALL SEATS $5 – ADDITIONAL FEE FOR 3D** GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 PG NO PASSES STARTS FRIDAY APRIL 1ST BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE 2D PG-13 NO PASSES (1:00) (2:00) (4:00) 7:00 7:45 9:40 BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE 3D PG-13 NO PASSES (1:30) (4:45) 8:00 3D PRICING MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 PG-13 NO PASSES (1:30) (4:30) 7:15 10:10 THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT PG-13 (1:10) (4:10) 7:10 9:55 MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN PG (1:20) (4:20) 7:20 9:50 ZOOTOPIA 2D PG (1:10) (1:40) (4:10) (4:40) 7:10 7:40 9:40 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE PG-13 10:00
WZBT 91.1 FM is Gettysburg College’s Radio Station. Style described as Indie/ College Radio, the station provides the community with news programming as well as varying genres of music regularly. Tune in everyday to see what’s new on WZBT. Streaming live at: http://tunein.com/radio/WZBT-911-s24329/ You can also check out WZBT at: www.wzbt.org https://twitter.com/WZBT https://www.facebook.com/wzbt911 WZBT’s top weekly adds and albums WZBT Radio 200 | ‘Top 5 New Releases’ | CMJ 1408 1 2 3 4 5
BLACK MOUNTAIN IV Jagjaguwar [**CMJ outputting single] IGGY POP Post Pop Depression Concord-Loma Vista HEAVY Hurt And The Merciless ADA-Bad Son BOB MOULD Patch The Sky Merge GOLDEN DAZE Golden Daze Autumn Tone
WZBT Radio 200 | ‘Top 10 New Albums’ | CMJ 1408 1 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Painting With Domino 2 MAVIS STAPLES Livin’ On A High Note Anti 3 QUILT Plaza Mexican Summer 4 TEEN Love Yes Carpark 5 DEATH BY UNGA BUNGA Pineapple Pizza Jansen Plateproduksjon 6 CHARLES BRADLEY Changes Daptone 7 EERIE WANDA Hum BBIB 8 MICHAEL NAU Mowing Suicide Squeeze 9 LUCINDA WILLIAMS Ghost Of Highway 20 Highway 20 10 LUCY DACUS No Burden EggHunt
Food for Thought: The Bravery of Reading B y E mily P ierce S taff W riter The most wonderful thing about literature is its ability to elicit emotions from readers. This facet of its nature is also absolutely terrifying. After all, why should words arranged on a page have any effect on us? That big, scary “real world” everyone always talks about should be more than enough to satisfy us. The difference lies in that we choose to read, for a variety of reasons. I would argue that all literary pursuits across history, from epics to novellas to the Sunday morning comics, are created with learning and catharsis in mind. Those end goals do not become artificial merely because a human intends to generate them in readers through their work. Rather, there’s almost something more tangibly real about seeking truth and comfort outside of the life one leads. Both the creators and the seekers of literature, then, ought to be considered remarkably brave. As creatures who base perception in aspects of ego, readers naturally seek reflections of themselves in any particular text. I look
back on binge-reading the saddest love poetry I could find after the realization that my “flirtationship” was a bust, finding kinship in the historically brokenhearted. Granted, I think Edna St. Vincent Millay would probably roll her eyes at my borderline melodrama. But it was what I needed at the time: tangible proof that I wasn’t alone. So, too, do many others seek themselves through the words of another. There is comfort to be found in closure, as poems and books will always end while our only guarantee of finality is in death. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow morning, readers will project (whether consciously or not!) themselves onto their reading material, searching for answers. Isn’t it also intriguing to find similarity even through differences? Frankly, I’d find it very boring to read only about people who look or think as I do. In seeking emotional resonance through reading, we can also be transported into different places, times, and mindsets. Reading is more than just a cheap travel substitute; it is an all-too-important tool for the expansion of minds. Luckily, the initiative for promoting self-discovery and satisfaction through
Let’s Celebrate! On Friday, March 25, 2016 between 8pm to 10 pm, Gettysburg dance troupes, BOMB Squad and VIBE are having a party to celebrate the art of dance! Featuring performances from VIBE, BOMB Squad and a Special Choreographers Collaboration Dance Tribute! The event will be in the Attic and admission is free.
literature frequently starts when readers are very young. Indeed, children are probably the bravest readers of all, having devoted part of their short time on Earth to discovery for discovery’s sake. The self-preservation provided through reading and writing allows us a better picture of our youth. Even as we cross the bridge between childhood and adulthood, never to return, we can still look back and wave at who we used to be; this act becomes easier and easier as we read. The demand for diversity in children’s literature becomes louder and louder, with good reason. Marley Dias, an eleven-year-old from New Jersey, told her mother that “[she] was sick of reading about white boys and dogs” (Jezebel) as the only protagonists of books marketed towards her age group. The young activist started a movement called #1000BlackGirlBooks and travels throughout America to discuss the importance of emphasizing diversity in education. Certainly, Dias is one of the bravest readers I have heard of, making it her mission to give all children an opportunity to connect with the literature they are offered.
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MONEY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Page 4
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Apple puts up a fight with Pregosaurus-rex: research allows FBI, protection questioned for gender identity in fossils By Eileen Gazzola Staff Writer Apple has progressed tremendously over the past decade, and it is not stopping anytime soon. Government policy and technology sometimes find themselves in disagreement as evidenced by Apple’s rapid expansion and subsequent conflicts. Currently, Apple has used encryption technology that protects users information on their iPhone. However, the FBI wants to gain this otherwise unauthorized access. They have tried many times to break into phones- and failed. This is why they are asking Apple to create a special version of iOS that allows the unlocking of the iPhone of a criminal or terrorist, and they are using the All Writs Act Law of 1789 to argue their point. This is being run through the federal court. They mainly want this access so that they
can break into Syed Farook’s phone, and for other similarly watched individuals. However, this could be a slippery slope if the FBI wins the case. Other states and federal judges will face the same problem wherein governments demand the same access. This brings to the table controversy regarding privacy and how much control the government can have over personal information. But, we do not have to worry about this just yet. Apple has not given in to this demand quite yet and they are still producing iPhones that are strongly encrypted and cannot be broken. The government, too, cannot crack the codes. Creating a loophole for the government to use as a peephole into personal information can cause less obvious problems too. It requires technology providers to change all of their products, in addition to
having the government change their laws regarding privacy and information access. As for the future, hacking into computers and iPhones will only get more difficult due to new technology of quantum computers. This type of computing is different from digital computers, because instead of formulas using 1’s and 0’s, these computers will use qubits, which can represent many values at the same time. It will be interesting to watch who is crowned victorious in this battle. Either Apple will compromise the privacy of its customers, or the government will gain access an even larger and more fragile sum of digital data. Photo Courtesy of mashable.com
Photo Courtesy of venturebeat.com
Apple and the FBI are throwing punches as the FBI has asked the corporation to allow them usually unauthorized access into individual’s iPhones; Apple has yet to give in to the demand for protection of users.
Research asks if Alzheimer’s is a communicable disease By Erin Stackowitz Staff Writer Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that impairs cognitive functioning and ultimately leads to dementia, affects five million people annually and is the cause of eighty-three thousand deaths per year, according to The Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC estimates that by 2050, the number of people annually affected by Alzheimer’s will nearly triple to fourteen million. Due to the disease’s tenacity and constant increase researchers are working tirelessly to find a solution to this pervasive disease. Recently, a controversial study published by Nature has suggested that the neurodegenerative disease might be transferred from one person to another through medical procedures and surgeries involving contaminated implants or injections. John Collinge, a researcher a UCL Institute of Neurology, found evidence that abnormal brain proteins known as amyloid
fibrils and prions that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease could have been transmitted to healthy patients by specific medical procedures that took place in the early 1980s. Collinge studied the autopsies of four patients that received hormonal injections from human cadavers and found that the preparations were contaminated with a mis-folded protein, a prion, that causes a rare and deadly condition called Creutzfeldt– Jakob disease (CJD), which subsequently lead to all of the patients dying in their late 40s. Not only did the autopsies of these patients contain the prions, but they also contained white plaques (deposits of amyloid-B protein) unique to Alzheimer’s disease. These findings were remarkable because all of the patients died at a relatively young age and had no history of genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s in their families, two conditions that are normally requirements of Alzheimer’s disease. The findings have prompted researchers to question wheth-
er or not the disease is now something that is transmissible and is a result of medical procedures inadvertently transferring amyloid-B protein. To further support this theory, Collinge repeated his findings in animal studies but was not able to definitively prove whether or not transmission through a medical procedure did in fact cause the amyloid pathology in humans. Collinge also was not able to diagnose the patients with Alzheimer’s disease because the disease was not able to progress due to the fact that the subjects died from CJD. Currently, there is no evidence that any medical procedure used today, including blood transfusions and routine surgeries, can transfer these amyloid proteins from one person to another, but research on the dangers of amyloid proteins are being examined and hopefully this will allow scientists to become one step closer in determining the cause of this debilitating and destructive disease.
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A 3D printed jaw bone and ear; bioengineeers at the Waske Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have created functioning cartilage for mice with hope for human patients soon. B y A phra M urray digging and excavation of the Despite the fact that both the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which male and females have unique S ta F W riter Bone fragments of an- upon closer inspection, turned sexual signaling traits such as cient organisms or fossils out to have calcium deposits whistles, colorful crests and are sometimes considered to indicative of a female egg- horns, scientists were unable have little to no information; laying organism. Both chemi- to assign those attributes to a they provide insight into the cal testing and microscopic specific sex. This discovery therefore build of the creature and also works were done on the 2005 bone sample and showed that has some much larger conseprovide an interesting display the predictions were indeed quences and implications in at a museum. correct. the world of paleontology. However, recent discovBecause the technology Firstly, it has given rise eries of the remains of what is h a s o n l y r e c e n t l y b e c o m e to the development of analytiunderstood to be Tyrannosauavailable, these discoveries cal techniques in the examirus Rex show that she was in are coming years after the nation of fossils but has also fact pregnant when she died. bones were first excavated. proven to give light to at least This interesting discovery has Furthermore, the accidental two other remains of Tenotoallowed paleontologists and discovery became even more saurus and Allosaurus, that archeologists alike clues as interesting because these bone died either just before, during, to how to distinguish between male and female carnivorous deposits are only present in or just after laying eggs. females in the egg-laying Furthermore, these techdinosaurs. period, making them extraorniques have laid the ground The discovery of the dinarily rare. That they were work for returning to previmassive fossil itself, in 2005, discovered on a break is alously discovered fossils and was almost entirely accidenmost fairytale like. beginning the processes of tal. Bob Harmon, one of the U n k n o w n b y m o s t identifying whether they were excavators working at a site in Montana, sat down for a break of the public, prior to this male or female, and thus conand felt the fossil jutting into discovery, paleontologists tinuing to learn more about found it near impossible to these ancient creatures. his back. These happy accidents distinguish between male and then lead to three years of female carnivorous dinosaurs.
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FEATURES Health or Hoax? Judging Crime in Gettysburg the ZMA supplement Page 5
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Photo courtesy of Pablo Torres Costa
The supplement ZMA offers a number of promising benefits, but is it worth pursuing? The science behind the supplement delivers a complex answer. mineral shares many of the ing to an increase in cortiB y A ri S naevarsson same functions as zinc. And, c a l a r o u s a l d u r i n g R E M F eatures E ditor F o r t h i s e d i t i o n o f as we might imagine, it is sleep, the stage during which “Health or Hoax?” I wanted found in many of the same dreaming is most vivid. That said, it is imperato cover a supplement that foods. The final component of tive to read between the lines had piqued my interest a this supplement is vitamin in such studies, as further while back when a trial run B6, which functions as an inspection tells us far greater of it gave me some of the i m p o r t a n t c o e n z y m e f o r amounts of the nutrient than strangest, most realistic m a n y f u n d a m e n t a l m e t a can be found in the typical dreams I had ever had. bolic reactions and helps the serving of ZMA are required The supplement, Zinc body produce important neuto elicit such an effect. Monomethionine Aspartate rotransmitters, like serotonin The anecdotal preva(or ZMA for short), is said to and norepinephrine. lence of these weird dreams boost testosterone, improve A n d , o n c e a g a i n , w e when taking the supplement sleep, and aid in recovery find this in the same types may still hold some weight, and muscle building. of foods. as lower dosages might still These are the supposed T h e s i m i l a r i t i e s i n cause a low-grade cortical benefits I will be examt h e s e n u t r i e n t s ’ f u n c t i o n s response, but this is entirely ining and challenging in and sources speaks to the conjecture. today’s article. I will also p r o b a b l e i n t e n t i o n b e h i n d The takeaway: Cerbriefly touch on the effects combining them. tainly, the claims made for on dream state I mentioned, So what does the actual ZMA supplementation can but I will focus the article science say? be ascribed to intake of each on its primary benefits. I t p r o v e s d i f f i c u l t t o of its individual ingredients, First off, what is f i n d b i g , c o m p r e h e n s i v e but no current merit stands ZMA? s t u d i e s o r r e v i e w s o n t h e for its use as a compound Put plainly, it is a comsupplement that provide any supplement. pound supplement, compromising answers. Furthermore, the composed of zinc in monomethiT h e o n e m a j o r s t u d y b i n a t ion of supplemental onine and aspartate forms, I w a s a b l e t o f i n d , l o o k zinc and magnesium, even magnesium in its aspartate ing at the effects of ZMA i n t h e i r s upposedly most form, and vitamin B6 in the supplementation on training “bioavailable” forms, poses form of pyridoxine hydroadaptation, found absolutely the potential issue of comchloride. no correlation between the petitive inhibition, meaning I mention the respecboth nutrients mar one antive nutrients’ forms for the two. My one major concern other’s respective absorption sake of explaining the supwith the supplement in its rates. plement’s name; do not get current form is the possibilWant to boost testostoo hung up on them. ity of supplemental zinc and terone? Before I get into Eat a diet high in l o o k i n g a t t h e d i r e c t e v - magnesium (note: in synthetic form, not natural) compethealthy fats, get plenty of idence for supplemental i n g f o r a b s o r p t i o n , w h i c h s l e e p , p ractice tools for ZMA, let us examine the does seem to be grounded in stress management like mind main functions of each of its empirical evidence. body relaxation, and hope ingredients. W i t h t h e l i m i t e d y o u w o n t h e g e n e t i c lotZinc plays vital roles amount of support behind tery. in cell division, cell growth, Want to improve clotting, antioxidant defense its proclaimed benefits and this potential issue existing, sleep? (as well as general immune Turn off all electronics system functioning), and the supplement’s claims should be met with heavy at least 30 minutes before carbohydrate breakdown skepticism. bed and maybe consider pur(accompanied by its enhancBefore wrapping this chasing a blue light-filtering ing of insulin action). Foods high in zinc in- up with my takeaway mes- pair of glasses or a sleep clude seafood, chicken, red sage, I want to briefly men- mask. Want something to meats, green leafy vegeta- tion the topic of ZMA’s effects on dreaming. aid in recovery and muscle bles, nuts, and seeds. A n e c d o t a l l y , i t h a s building? Magnesium helps Make sure you are getmaintain normal nerve and b e e n b r o u g h t u p b y u s e r s that oddly vivid dream exting an adequate daily camuscle function, promotes periences were elicited when loric and protein intake, ima healthy immune system, taking the supplement. prove sleep habits, and work helps regulate blood glucose It appears that this efo n m o b i l i t y and stretchlevels, and plays an essential f e c t s t e m s f r o m t h e p y r i ing. role in muscle protein syndoxine (vitamin B6), and thesis. A s w e c a n s e e , t h i s evidence points to it lead-
Interested in writing for Features? E-mail Ari at snaear01@gettysburg.edu
B y A ndrew M ilone F eatures C olumnist
In October, armed robbers hit Laslow’s Pharmacy in Gettysburg, a place where not a lot of crimes happen. This drug robbery caused owner Dona Laslow to hire regular security. Gettysburg Borough Police Chief Joe Dougherty believes a crime like this is rare. In fact, he moved to Gettysburg for a reason. He said, “Of all the places I could have chosen to retire, this is where I wanted to retire to. I never expected to be a cop again, and here there really is nowhere in town that I’m fearful of letting [my son] go.” The store owners will hear about the occasional car being broken into or occasional alcohol or drug related mishap, but overall many of store owners speak of Gettysburg as a safe place to live and run their businesses. The shop owners don’t consider stealing a threat. George Lower, who helped in founding Lord Nelson’s Gallery on Chambersburg Street, has lived in the area his entire life. “I’ve never even given [stealing] any thought,” he
said. “The little bit of shoplifting I’ve seen, after being in business in this area all my life, is very minor.” Scott Weiksner, who has worked at A Little Irish Too for over a year has never heard of alcoholism as being an issue in Gettysburg. “No more than any other town,” he said. “There are a lot of bars, a lot of tourists but never really gets out of hand.” Crime in Gettysburg includes disorderly conduct, loud noises, underage drinking, and public intoxication. “There is a homicide every ten years or so while burglary and theft are not common,” said Chief Dougherty. “The average person never even comes into contact with a cop during their time in Gettysburg.” He settled in Gettysburg after 31 years in Reading, which is known to be one of the crime capitals of the nation. At one point, it was on a FBI list of the most dangerous cities in the US. At times in Reading, Chief Dougherty would come across two shootings at once, but in Gettysburg there is almost a guarantee that a similar event
would never occur. “One of the things that I think you can judge a community by, is some of the strange things that it does,” said Chief Dougherty. “Something I have never seen in all the time that I’ve ever been here was a car parked at a fire hydrant. Even on duty or off duty, I’ve never seen it but if you go to other cities that’s just reserved parking, and I think that’s really emblematic of the fact that we got some really good people around here.” Alyra Parker, a sophomore at Gettysburg College, is from Reading and has heard stories of crime that goes on in center city but has never experienced crime. “In the city, crime happens every day,” said Parker. “Robberies, murder, things like that but crime within the school, I think we had the reputation of being the dangerous school.” Over 7,000 people reside in Gettysburg. Chief Dougherty said, “one of the things, if you look at today’s media, you don’t realize as an average person that 99% of the people you meet are decent people.”
makes you feel frazzled and uneasy. Learn to identify the signs that lead to that overwhelming feeling and try to avoid them. If you cannot avoid the stressors, plan ahead and mentally prepare a plan on how to tackle them. Breath. Practice meditation. Get a massage. Even drink a warm cup of tea. Practicing soothing activities has been shown to be a great stress management tool. This allows you to exercise your mindfulness, become aware of your body and center yourself in a place of calmness and relaxation. Take ten minutes each day to shut down and focus on the present. You can even try talking to someone about your stressors, becoming aware and actually listening to your inner self. Be picky with what you eat. Some foods are proven stress relievers. Many people feel instantly relieved when they eat crunchy foods. The aggressive nature of biting down onto something allows you to get out some frustration in a healthy way. Try reaching for some carrots, nuts or pretzels the next time you feel a wave of stress coming over you. Also, make sure you are getting enough antioxidant-rich
foods, as they are proven to lower cortisol levels, the stress hormone, and blood pressure. Try to incorporate berries into your diet to prevent stress from rising, and even freeze them to get the added crunch factor! Exercise. One of the best ways to let some steam off is to get moving. Physical activity produces endorphins, or those happy hormones that make you feel so good after a tough workout. However, even something as simple as going for a walk is enough to stimulate the release of endorphins. If your stress levels have you feeling tight and edgy, try stretching to relieve some muscle tension. Make sure you pick a form of exercise you like, as you are more likely to stick with the routine if you enjoy it. Exercise should not be yet another stress factor in your life. Stress is a common and standard part of the college experience. However, it can be limited and controlled if you take the right steps. So the next time you are on high alert, try one of these activities to prevent you from crashing and burning.
More details about your creation will be requested closer to the event, so you do not need to have your specific idea to sign up. If you’re curious and want some examples of “edible books” you can check out last year’s sub-
missions in The Cupola: http://cupola.gettysburg. edu/edible/. We hope you will sign up now to contribute an edible creation to the event. You must register by Thursday, March 31 in order to participate.
How to manage your post-break stress By Meredith Cox Health & Wellness Columnist
Papers, projects, presentations, oh my. Spring Break is officially over. Professors are assigning work like there is no tomorrow and Musselman Library is now the most crowded place on campus. We have officially reached crunch time and need to power through to the end of the semester, which is less than six weeks away! Stress can be unavoidable, but is also manageable. Here are some ways you can stay sane over the next few weeks while also remaining productive and successful. Identify Your Triggers. One of the easiest ways to manage stress is to just avoid it in the first place. Being able too recognize the factors that make you feel stressed will make it easier to avoid that anxious state. The next time you feel swamped, think about what led you to that feeling. Maybe it was putting a paper off until the last minute, having a disorganized calendar, or even talking to someone who
Create an edible book! B y M eggan S mith M usselman L ibrary C olumnist
In celebration of National Library Week, Musselman Library will be hosting its 3rd annual Edible Books Festival on Monday, April 11th from 2-4pm in room 18 of the Library. This year participation is open to all students and employees of the College. If you’re an avid reader, baker, or humorist then this event is for you! Just think of your favorite book title and get ready to show off your culinary skills. There will be prizes awarded for the Best Taste, Best Look, Punniest, and Best in Show. If you are interested in participating, go to the Google form (http://goo. gl/forms/5Fpdet2Q7D) to indicate your intention to participate.
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
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OPINIONS Page 7
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Note: The opinions published in this section are those of the individual writers and are in no way representative of the views of The Gettysburgian staff, The Gettysburgian or Gettysburg College.
Women’s Issues: Continuing the fight for access to abortion and expanded reproductive justice B y I sabel G ibson P enrose O pinions E ditor Over the summer I attended an event put on by a group known as Feminists for Life. Their tagline is “Refuse to Choose – Women Deserve Better Than Abortion.” I went to their event because I was genuinely interested in what they wanted the feminist movement to be, and what their alternative to abortion was. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised (would they talk about more education? Free condoms and birth control for everyone?) I went in with an open mind. Over the course of the afternoon four mothers spoke, each spinning a tale of how wonderful their life as a mother was and how glad they were to have refused to get an abortion. They intoned that society tells young women they are not ready for motherhood, but that every young woman is ready. Bizarrely, none of the speakers mentioned a single form birth control. Even more bizarrely, none of the speakers acknowledged that maybe some women don’t want to be mothers. Not when they’re
young – ever. They also didn’t acknowledge that 61 percent of women who get abortions already have a child, and that maybe there are legitimate reasons to want to get an abortion. They were solely focused (almost to a forceful degree) on encouraging women to have children, which is one of many tactics employed by the anti-choice movement. Other tactics include passing laws that restrict abortion under the guise of protecting women’s health. Texas is one of the most recent states to put antichoice views into law, with HB2. HB2 was challenged by Whole Women’s Health and the case has gone to the Supreme Court for a decision. A few weeks ago, I attended a rally outside the Court to show my support for Whole Women’s Health and the women of Texas. While I was there I encountered some anti-choice pushback. On my way to the rall,y an older woman stopped me on the street and asked me how I would define abortion. I replied that abortion was a procedure to remove a cluster of cells from a uterus so they do not grow anymore and do
not become a fetus. Her reply came swiftly, “Well, if I hit you over the head with a hammer, you wouldn’t grow anymore.” I was blown away, both by that violence she was evoking and by her sheer unwillingness to understand what abortion really was, but that I should not have been surprised. To quote a recent article authored by a member of the Young Americans for Freedom, “To keep it simple, life begins at conception.” This rhetoric is the end all, be all of the anti-choice movement’s. Fetuses are people, women who get abortions are murderers, blah, blah, blah, life begins at conception. Unfortunately, this scientifically and factually inaccurate statement is anything but simple. Imagine for a moment that life did begin at conception and that the moment a fetus is conceived it is a person in the same sense that I am a person. Even this imaginary scenario would not justify the criminalization of abortion. It would not, because of the concept known as “bodily autonomy.” Bodily autonomy (also sometimes referred to as bodily integri-
ty) is the cultural concept that emphasizes the importance of a person’s control over their own body. Because of bodily autonomy the government cannot force someone to use their body in ways that person does not want. If my brother was dying of a rare kidney disease and I had the only kidney in the world that would save his life, nobody could force me to donate that kidney. It would be illegal to force me to donate that kidney. I could choose to, if that is what I wanted to do with my body – but here again is that pesky concept of choice, of letting women decide what they do with their own bodies. In the same way that the government cannot legally make me donate a kidney, they cannot force anyone to donate blood or even to donate their organs after death – and even after death the person had to consent to be an organ donor in life to make any donation possible. That’s right, dead bodies get more bodily autonomy than women in Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona and all the other states that have restricted abortion ac-
cess. In the last five years, 300 abortion restriction laws have been passed. The antichoice movement’s goal to take away every pregnant woman’s bodily autonomy is clear. It’s clear because you don’t see anyone out on the streets harassing people who walk past blood centers without donating. You don’t hear conservatives calling for more forced kidney donations. You definitely don’t see any legislation in the w orks to get rid of organ donor labels on driver’s licenses. These things demonstrate that in the eyes of the anti-choice movement, dead bodies are actually more worthy of control over their bodies than living, breathing women are. When you accept all these facts the issue driving those who limits access to abortion becomes clear. Restricting abortion access is not about saving babies and it is not about helping women. It is about control. It is about eliminating choice. The ugly truth behind the anti-choice movement is that they are not interested in anything besides keeping women from making choices about their bodies.
Our moment of imaging life begins at conception is now over. We are back in one of the countless moments where medical science has proven “life begins at conception” to be nothing more than a fallacy designed to manipulate women into carrying out pregnancies they do not want and frequently cannot handle. The anti-choice movement actively and aggressively tells women all across America that they must give up their bodily autonomy, a right that every American has, for nine months, all for the sake of something that those anti-choice individuals view as “life”. This is obviously, painfully, disgustingly unethical and it must stop. The battle against antichoice people is going to be an uphill one but I know I will never stop fighting. We, as women need as much (if not more) control over our bodies than corpses. Women are more than uteruses. We are allowed to choose whether or not we have children. We demand to choose, because women deserve the right to reproductive justice.
Bite-Size Opinions: Big A message from a minority thoughts in small pieces class president of a PWI Sometimes we don’t need more than a few words to give an opinion on something. Here are the easily digestiable thoughts of the week!
B y I sabel G ibson P enrose O pinions E ditor Starring Judge Sarah Palin Reports have emerged that American political punch line and general nut job Sarah Palin is in talks to develop and star in her own courtroom reality show. Despite not having anything even remotely resembling a law degree (except potentially a fake printout framed on her wall next to so many stuffed moose heads) Palin may soon serve as a television figure of judgment. I like 2016 because it’s a year that Saturday Night Live stopped having to write any original content. The premise of Sarah Palin’s judge TV show is so unbelievable and hilarious that it totally makes sense for the time that we’re in. The way this election cycle is going I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2017 Donald Trump is president and by 2020 we see “judge” Sarah Palin nominated to the Supreme Court. I wonder if Senate Republicans would stop sitting on their hands and hold some hearings if the personification of all their nightmares was nominated to the high court. Refugees Rescue Politician German right wing politician Stefan Jagsch, who is sometimes referred to as a “neo-Nazi” and is staunchly anti-refugee, crashed his car into a tree and was knocked unconscious this past week. Two Syrian refugees rescued him from the accident that reportedly left Jagsch seriously injured, performed first aid, and waited with him until an ambulance arrived. This incident either proves that
God has a sense of humor or that karma is not real. I’m not sure which is right but I know that those compassionate Syrian refugees would be better at serving the people of Germany than Stefan “Integration is Genocide” (one of his more infamous antirefugee statements) Jagsch, who released a statement saying he cannot comment on his rescue because he was unconscious at the time, will ever be. Make America…more slut shame-y? The anti-Donald Trump political action committee Make America Awesome released a meme style ad this week with a picture of Trump’s wife Melania posing nude (originally shot for British GQ in 2000) but for some jewelry and lying on what appears to be fur. The ad reads “Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady. Or, you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday.” Look, Make America Awesome; this meme/ad combo was really stupid. Like, unbelievably stupid. There are a million and one reasons not to vote for Donald Trump. To name a few: he’s sexist, racist, blustering, bigoted, a liar, a failed businessman who has run several ventures into the ground and he has no political experience. But the choices of his wife have literally nothing to do with him as a presidential candidate. I am as committed to stopping Trump as any good liberal, but slut shaming his wife for posing in a magazine without clothes? Do better. Let’s find a way to campaign without being sexist dirtbags, okay? That would really make America awesome. Delayed Sequels Are Everywhere There are trailers circulating
for Bridget Jones’s Baby, the first Bridget Jones film to be released since 2004 and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is coming out this week, fourteen years after the original was released. I love nostalgia but this is ridiculous. What possible reason could there be to pick up the story of Toula Portokalos besides to bring a paycheck to the actress from My Big Fat Greek Wedding (and nothing else notable) and the guy who played Aidan on Sex and the City, who has been paying his bills by narrating Applebee’s commercials during the last few years? There isn’t one. The early 2000s were terrible and everyone should stop indulging trips to back then. Special Session in North Carolina Lawmakers in North Carolina called a special state legislative session this week so they could get to the very important task of blocking antidiscrimination legislation. The city of Charlotte recently passed a bill expanding their civil rights statute to include protection of people based on their marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Clearly such horrifying measures as letting people exist in a city without being discriminated against because of who they are or who they love could not be allowed to stand, so the South Carolina state legislature is stepping in. Thanks guys, the bigots and homophobes really needed a win this week. Springtime Shoutout to you, springtime. Sundresses and pastel shorts are back and I am 100% here for it. Go outside, everyone!
By Anthony Williams Contributing Writer
I attend Gettysburg College on a full scholarship and the professors are excellent here and the campus is quite scenic. But social life here at Gettysburg, if you’re a minority, has the potential to leave you feeling like an outsider. When a heteronormative, classist and culturally appropriating Greek system hosts a “Ghetto Fabulous” mixer where students excitedly don baggy clothing or a “Pocahontas” bash where party goers arrive in “festive” Indian costumes (among other pernicious and downright disgusting “themes”), this is a problem. Hearing comments from p eer s lik e “n o b o d y r eal ly cares about black people”, is a problem -- because in a class of 694 at a PWI (predominately white institution) EVERYONE hates gays, blacks, and Latinos for instance, right? That’s how I was elected of course. *insert overly passive aggressive emoji here*. Taking the bigger picture into account, as someone who would like to rush a fraternity, I understand that not all who exist in the Greek system at Gettysburg College fit this troubling image. I also understand that not all of the students in the general student body share this tragic ignorance. It is the minority of the oppressors which disturbs the majority of the oppressed. My acceptance to Gettysburg was a milestone which came to me as no prize for being a minority, nor did the full scholarship. As a gay, black, and Latino minority at Gettysburg and as the active class president of a class of 694 strong at a PWI, I have often felt insecure and have wondered about how some feel about a triple minority such as myself representing them. Now I kind of like the badass idea of someone with my profile ruffling the feathers of the political cli-
mate of some here at Gettysburg, but in all honesty, it shouldn’t have to be this way. I shouldn’t feel any insecurity and ought to delight in ruffling those feathers and pissing of those oppressive predatory birds. A large swath of Gettysburg students whether white, black, Hispanic, international, gay, straight – they get it. Some students actually get it. I mean, the fact that I was elected is evidence that many on campus believe in me despite my differences from them. Dear other other minority leaders in other overwhelmingly oppressive collegiate climates, such as myself, who face prejudice due to their ethnicity or their parent’s annual income: you are allowed to move on up in the world. It once seemed to me that success was like a mountain, the higher up you got the whiter it appeared. Inevitably if people aren’t familiar with your culture then they are going to appear ignorant, because they are. Period. The responsibility of those who are ignorant is to get educated and if the oppressed and misrepresented want to be understood then we must seek to understand those who oppress and misrepresent and educate them. Now I understand that fear is really at the root of these issues, putting minorities and the majority alike into boxes based on what they look like, how they talk, what the color of their skin is, in order to feel more comfortable in our own clothes, speech, skin color, and culture. When multiple cultures are placed into a box together,from considerably different worlds it’s (sadly) instinctive and all too familiar to become afraid. So we label people that are different from us in an effort to make ourselves feel more comfortable in our own worlds. This is normal. But, students shouldn’t be afraid of each other. Instead, we ought to learn from one another. We
ought to embrace differ ences and celebrate them. When I competed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business during Wharton’s annual investment competition (shoutout to Aberdeen Asset Management), I learned lots from the teams from India, as they did from me. We came from different levels of education, had different religions, spoke with accents that were alien to one another – we were culturally different. However, we were competing in the same competition and were united by our common values and passions associated with our mutual interest. Without openly engaging one another we could not be [truly intellectual] leaders driven by curiosity and diversity in the hopes of learning from one another, and with the ambitions of bettering ourselves and the world around us – we weren’t afraid to learn. As college students and responsible citizens of the world, we should strive to exist in a community where differences in color, language, sexual orientation, our preferred personal pronoun and the like are celebrated. We cannot be afraid to learn and to accept. Equal opportunity is the first step towards initiating the next big change in our world. Without it, millennials are in for a troublesome cycle of history as it will, yet again, repeat itself due to a simple lack of effort to learn from it. Gettysburg is a stark example of how change is possible -- that it can happen, but is also the poster child for why it needs to happen. To the oppressed: let’s go ruffle some feathers, educate the ignorant, and make America great again. To the oppressors: expand your minds, open your hearts and grow the f*ck up.
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SPORTS
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Bullet Shot: Athlete of
Athlete of the Week the Week
Sophomore Tyler Dougherty, courtesy of GCC&M. By Claire Healey Staff Writer The Gettysburg College men’s swim team finished thirty-four out of fifty-seven at the NCAA Division III Championships, with only one swimmer competing. Sophomore Tyler Dougherty represented the Bullets in an outstanding meet, where he competed against the best of Division III swimming. To begin the weekend, Dougherty competed in the 50-freestyle, one of the most competitive events of the entire meet. He finished thirteenth with a time of 20.51, which was only 0.16 seconds away from his career best time. By placing in the top sixteen, Dougherty was also able to earn his first AllAmerican honorable mention of the meet. On day two of swimming, Dougherty’s competitive spirit really shined. Going into prelims in the 100-breastroke he was seeded twenty-second, well out of finals contention, but with a school record setting performance, he placed sixteenth and made it back for the finals. During finals he placed fourteenth, which earned him another Honorable Mention All-American recognition. Dougherty continued this streak in the 100-freestyle. In prelims, Dougherty was able to place eighth with the second fastest time of his career, which earned him a spot in the championships final. With a time of 44.88, Dougherty placed seventh and earned his seventh All-American honor. “He had a great meet and he’s progressing. He’s faster than he was last year. He’s got a couple of more years and I think he’s going to keep doing great things for us,” said head coach Mike Rawleigh. Gettysburg will look to Dougherty to be a strong competitor again next season. Congrats to Dougherty for being this week’s “Bullet of the Week!”
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Bullets’ pitching staff WHIPping the competition Analysis of pitching rotation sheds light on Gettysburg College’s depth and strength By Jason Heath Contributing Writer Two common aphorisms in the baseball community are that “good pitching always beats good hitting” and that “pitching wins championships.” With these thoughts in mind, Gettysburg College has good reason to be optimistic this season. They currently possess the lowest earned run average (ERA) in the Centennial Conference and are second in strikeouts per game. While terms such as “strikeout” have garnered enough popularity to become incorporated into every day conversation and most common baseballs fans are familiar with ERA, one more obscure statistic used to measure a pitcher’s efficiency is walks and hits per inning pitched, or WHIP. As the name suggests, WHIP is calculated by adding up the walks and hits a pitcher has allowed and dividing that sum by the amount of innings he has pitched. Although less popular than other statistics, WHIP is useful if one knows how to use it. One of the best uses of WHIP is for analysis of luck. If Pitcher A has a lower ERA than Pitcher B but Pitcher B has a significantly lower WHIP than Pitcher A, it is likely that Pitcher A is getting luckier than Pitcher B. Although Pitcher A is allowing more base runners than Pitcher B, fewer of A’s base runners are coming across to score. Hence, it is likely that Pitcher B’s base runners just happen to get on
Photo courtesy of David Sinclair,GCC&M Photo courtesy of David Sinclair,GCC&M
Junior pitcher Rich Power is leading the Bullets to victory this season. base in bunches, while Pitcher A’s runners are more spread out over the course of games. Pitching with runners on base certainly has some skill involved; the fact that certain pitchers are better than others at getting out of jams is not a pure chance. Therefore, WHIP cannot be used as a perfect measure of luck. It can be an excellent measure of sustainability. All of the base runners allowed by a pitcher with a high WHIP but low ERA are bound to catch up with him, and his ERA, eventually. Likewise, if a pitcher has a relatively high ERA but low WHIP, it is probable that the pitcher has had some misfortune but that his ERA has some good karma coming for it. All of that being said, it
is no fluke that Gettysburg’s arms rank first in the Centennial Conference in ERA. The Bullets also boast the top WHIP in the conference, which is at a superb 1.21. To put that into context, the Chicago Cubs had the MLB’s lowest WHIP at 1.15 in 2015 and the Colorado Rockies had the highest at 1.51. In the Centennial Conference this season, the next lowest WHIP is 1.38, belonging to McDaniel College. The highest WHIP in the conference is that of the Muhlenberg Mules at 1.65. An additional benefit of WHIP is that it directly takes into account walks surrendered, unlike most common pitching statistics. Limitation of bases on balls can sometimes go unnoticed to the common fan, but as Rich
Power, junior pitcher, puts it, “Limiting walks is definitely every pitcher’s goal.” In this regard, Gettysburg has been excellent. On average, they give up only two free passes per game. Power, who has averaged just one walk surrendered per start and has not walked a batter over his last two outings, attributed much of the pitching staff’s success to “simply throwing strikes,” a fundamental which often gets lost in the world of blazing fastballs and biting breaking balls. In addition to pounding the strike zone, Power accredited the staff’s success to its competitive nature and depth. “We are a very competitive group of guys who push each other a lot in practice...Everyone on the staff has the ability to go
out and there and shut the opponent down.” Statistically, Power has seen the most success among Bullets pitchers this season. The southpaw is 3-0 in his three starts, including two complete games, one of which was a shutout against Rivier during the team’s spring break trip to Florida. His ERA and WHIP both rest at a remarkable 0.90, and he strikes out, on average, about a batter per inning. He has a Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Week award to show for his performance. His key to success this season? Focus. “My mindset on the mound is just to focus on the batter,” he said. “I try not to worry about who’s on deck or on base or what the batter has already done. I just like to focus on the present.” When it comes to his success in limiting walks, Power also accredited concentration. “I try not to take my eyes off the pocket of the catcher’s glove and have had some success with it so far,” he told the Gettysburgian. It is said that numbers never lie, and the numbers clearly show that the Bullets’ pitching staff is the best in the Centennial Conference this season. Although Power is just focusing on the present, Gettysburg’s low WHIP indicates that there is more excellence on deck for the Bullets pitching staff. If pitching really does win championships, Gettysburg could be in store for a special season.
Women’s lacrosse start off season at 5-1 Lady Bullets employ motivational one word strategy for successful 2016 season By Emily Sheehan Staff Writer The Gettysburg women’s lacrosse team is no stranger to success. With fourteen straight trips to the NCAA tournament and a 2011 national championship under their belt, Coach Cantele and the 2016 Bullets seem to know just what they are getting into. In the preseason poll the Bullets were ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic division, and after a 5-1 record to start the season off, Gettysburg is ranked sixth in the nation. But how do the Bullets achieve such abundant success? Teamwork is the biggest factor in the Bullet’s success, and this year they are achieving that success through a collection of words. Each player on the team has chosen a specific word to live by for the season, and the words are meant to become a reoccurring theme to the girls throughout the season. In a recent interview, firstyears Jenna Letigeb and Steph Colson were able to share their feelings on how the one word policy has impacted their season thus far. Jenna said, “My word, resilient, is very personal and definitely has a lot of meaning to me. I think that choosing one specific word to come back to throughout the season has really
helped me to stay focused on, and to not lose sight of, the person and the player that I wanted to be right from the beginning of the season.” The girls continuously motivate each other to stay true to the word they picked, both on and off the lacrosse field. They hold each other accountable to their word when it becomes hard, and motivate each other in both practices and games. Jenna said, “Choosing this one word has definitely created a strong team mentality in all of us because even though we all have our own specific and personal words, the reason we want to live them out in our play is because of each other.” First-year midfielder, Steph Colson, was also able to give her perspective on the one word mentality the women’s lacrosse team holds. Steph said, “My word is believe. As a freshman, I really wanted to come into the season believing in myself and my abilities and believe in my other teammates which is a big part of being a part of a team. I love the one word because it holds each of us accountable for not only ourselves but others as well.” Day after day the women’s lacrosse team inspires each other to live out the meaning of their word both for themselves, and the good of the team. It is
Photo courtesy of David Sinclair,GCC&M
Women’s lacrosse ranked sixth in the latest IWLCA Division III Poll. through the strength that they get from each other that they are able to come together as a unit and be so successful. As for the rest of the season the team has very high hopes. Jenna said, “I see big things for our team just because
of how hard every single person is willing to work for the girl beside them!” Steph said, “Our team is so strong this year and I’m so excited to see where the year takes us.” Next the Bullets take on
Haverford at Clark Field for a home game this Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m. Good luck to the women’s lacrosse team on a successful rest of the season!
Gettysburg bats down Penn State York in home opener Bullet sluggers dominate play, Brown owns pitching mound for seven innings with strong relief bench By Sean Brower Contributing Writer The Gettysburg College baseball team started its home season on March 18, with a dominating 13-2 victory over the Penn State York Nittany Lions. Every player in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, all of which supported junior Eric Brown, who turned in a strong performance, going seven innings and allowing only two runs. “It feels good. I mean, the guys behind me played great.
So, you know, [I’m] just trying to throw strikes and get groundballs and get outs and that’s what I did,” said Brown, who struck out six Lions, only running into trouble in the seventh inning. Guiding Brown through the windy conditions was his catcher, junior Will Anderson. “Eric threw great. He was hitting his spots all day, keeping them off balance with his off-speed stuff. I just told him to focus up, throw strikes, and let the defense make the plays for him,”
said Anderson, who recorded three hits, three RBI’s, and three runs. He fell a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. The most notable highlight of the afternoon was sophomore Logan Sneed, who tied a school record with five hits. “I’ve been seeing the ball well, and trying to stick with what I’ve been trying to do, hit the ball the opposite way, and I’ve been able to see some fastballs, put some good swings on the ball, so I feel pretty confident out there
right now,” said Sneed, who, as with Anderson, scored three runs and fell a home run shy of the cycle. Anderson, Sneed, and the rest of the Bullets’ offensive went to work immediately. In the bottom of the first, senior Luke Lawrence and Sneed both singled, before Anderson hit a towering two run triple off the right field fence. Before the inning was over, two more runs scored. Seniors Henry Klimowicz, Andy Kel-
ley, and Steve Wright each had productive at bats, producing the third run. The fourth scored on two errors by York shortstop Nicholas Schuler, allowing Kelley to score from third. The Bullets would also score in the second, third, sixth, and seventh. In the latter inning, Sneed, junior Connor Tom, and Anderson recorded consecutive hits to start the frame to produce the team’s twelfth run. The thirteenth and final run scored, courtesy of an RBI double by Wright,
driving home Tom. The Bullets would have caused more damage, had York center fielder Jonny Stratton not robbed Klimowicz of extra bases with a great running grab. “It’s just great to be able to put some runs on the board and get a win for Eric Brown, who’s been pitching well and I think everyone’s been hitting well, so it was a nice team win,” said Sneed. Come support the Bullets at their next home game this Friday, March 25 at 3:30 p.m.